December 18, 2008

A spectrum of thoughts on Fareed Zakaria

By: David Polansky

Reading this Newsweek piece by Fareed Zakaria brought to mind two points:

1) Zakaria is an interesting bird, belonging to a school of thought that might be termed “declinism, except.” Essentially,

In a world characterized by change, more and more countries—especially great powers like Russia and China and India—will begin to chart their own course. That in turn will produce greater instability. America cannot forever protect every sea lane, broker every deal and fight every terrorist group.

However,

This is a rare moment in history. A more responsive America, better attuned to the rest of the world, could help create a new set of ideas and institutions—an architecture of peace for the 21st century that would bring stability, prosperity and dignity to the lives of billions of people.

So, in other words, the window of U.S. hegemony is closing as other great powers around the world being to assert their interests in contravention of U.S. wishes. Fine. At the same time, within those last few moments before the window latches completely, the U.S. has it within its power to totally rewrite the rules of the international system and create a sustainable world order for decades to come.

Funny how that works…

And 2) has anybody else noticed this eerie similarity: