The world is facing epic change. How will we cope?

[katty]

more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/nov/23/india-america-globalisation

The world is facing epic change. How will we cope? An America survey shows that US hegemony is over and that the centre of power is moving firmly to the east

Amit Chaudhuri
guardian.co.uk, Sunday November 23 2008 00.01 GMT
The Observer, Sunday November 23 2008

Late last week came the announcement from the intimidatingly named National Intelligence Council (the 'leading American intelligence organisation') that the end of American hegemony is imminent; that the unipolar world will, before long, cease to exist; that new locations of power are emerging.

The shift has been heralded for some time, if not by the US authority that provides 'unvarnished' intelligence to US policy makers; so we already have an idea of what those new locations are. Nevertheless, I found myself scouring the report in the paper to see if my country of birth had been mentioned. In the third paragraph, like characters in a frequently perused novel, I found the emerging economies of India, Brazil and China, which, predictably, seem to be a source of a great deal of the anxiety.

Two things, however, gave this fairly unsurprising assessment a new meaning and urgency. The first was that the pronouncement came from the National Intelligence Council and not from a liberal columnist or a developing-world economist. The second was that the familiar names of China, India and Brazil were being mentioned, in this instance, in the wake of calamitous damage to the market earlier this year. Not long ago, the emergence of the Chinese and Indian economies was a confirmation of the transformative powers of the free market and fitted in perfectly with its triumphalism. Now, with America and Europe set to borrow money from India and China, this reassuringly optimistic, self-congratulatory, but one-dimensional narrative may have to be reconfigured.

[Warpy]

1. The more quickly you adapt to changing situations

the more likely you are to come through these interesting times intact.

The more you cling to notions of the way things should be, the less likely you are to survive.

I'm afraid we're all going to have to learn how to live with a lot less.

That's OK, you know. It's possible. I've certainly done enough of it.

[movonne]

3. What you said....

[natrat]

2. "All I need are some tasty waves, a cool buzz, and I'm fine. .." Jeff Spicoli

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

4. Shiva Nataraj

Shiva, the Lord of Destruction, is really the Lord of Change. To change, one must destroy one's present, including one's concepts and prejudices, and learn. Shiva dances upon the dwarf of ignorance, teaching us to learn and to rise above our limitations with joy.

[murray hill farm]

5. That...

is sooooo beautiful.

[snappyturtle]

6. I find this most depressing. Guess I'm getting too old to find change

such as suggested in the article, to be exciting. I liked the way things used to be a long, long time ago...I know they weren't perfect but at least we weren't look upon as scrondrels.

[MasonJar]

7. We were not good stewards of power so it is time for a change.