The United States and the New Global Age
June 4th, 2008
We have now entered the Shift Age, the global stage of humanity’s evolutionary journey. What this means is that the U.S. must redefine itself within this new global age. During the second half of the 20th century, the U.S. was a super power, the super power that lead the Western bloc of nations in contrast to the Soviet Union which was the other super power that lead the Eastern bloc. Unfortunately, when the Soviet Union crumbled in the early 1990s the U.S. simply accepted victory and did not spend time reflecting what this meant.
What does it mean to be the sole super power? What does it mean to be a super power in this new global age? There was no national discourse at all on this subject. Where once we defined ourselves as the good guys against the bad guys, the country that stood for Capitalism against Communism we did not reflect on the fact that this definition of who we were had changed. We entered the new millennium without a new sense of what being a global power meant. Without a clear adversary to help define us, we lost our way. This has, in part, been part of the problem that has led us to have a greatly reduced stature in the world.
This has been a topic of conversation for me with numerous CEOs around the country in recent months. It will merit further discussion here in the months ahead. What prompts mention of this now is a great TV interview sent to me by a regular reader of this blog. Tom Hudson is anchor and managing editor of “First Business†the top rated syndicated business program in the country [Full disclosure: I have appeared twice on ‘First Business’, once to comment on the future of newspapers and a second time on the future price of oil]. Tom just conducted an interview with Ambassador Nabil Fahmy, the Ambassador to the United States from the Arab Republic of Egypt. In the first part of the interview Ambassador Fahmy touches on this very point, that America needs to rethink how to reposition our power in the new global world.
Ambassador Fahmy is not only insightful about the need for America to rethink its’ role as a power in this new world, he is extremely articulate and impressive. He is a breath of fresh air and a change from the superficial Iraq war lathered image America has of Arab leaders from the Middle East.
June 5th, 2008 at 2:26 pm
from what i can see in asia america is only incidental background … cannot even say that culture comes from there anymore, because fashion is global, all the asian countries have their own well-developed pop scenes, music scenes, film …. no one is looking to america for validation about anything, self-contained and self-generating culture creation is happening completely independently of any reference to anything but itself
which is good
and the same seems true in property development, finance, advertising …. everybody defines themselves by a kind of universal metric that may once have started in america but is simply global.
what wins out? good design, but from plumbing fixtures to lighting that is often from europe, the malls are incredibly modern, filled with amazing stuff, little of it recognizably american
there is some american tv, perhaps the result of syndication deals, but clerks in shops on broadband are watching youtube, cnn is simply an american propaganda organ and not important, the global sport is football, then tennis, then maybe basketball,
basically, america may not be marginalized but it is simply one of the countries on the earth, and while rich, is clearly ignorant in so many ways, i.e. that wealth hasnt bought much
and i think this is all good. nationalism is a disease that simply has to be overcome. it doesnt accomplish what it used to
i still haven’t bought your book. am back in singapore next month, should have amazon ship it there
enjoy, gregory
June 5th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
about power, and what is i suppose military power, at root …. most countries know about military coups, or authoritarian regimes, the brute and crude nature of military power, and how destructive it is … they know this first hand from their own histories … so american poser, ha, interesting typo, power, is not respected in the way that americans think of it … everybody else knows that it is brute and ugly, and the same is true with american power as well. nothing is noble about it at all …. except in the american mind of course …
america, no