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"The Post-American World" | U.S. in need of legitimacy

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?document_id=2004417474&zsection_id=2002119537&slug=zakaria16&date=20080516

By Alan Moores

Special to The Seattle Times

Even if we Americans already know that our country has lost some of its game over the past, say, eight years, Newsweek International editor Fareed Zakaria delivers this message in an altogether new, almost buoyant context.

"This is a book not about the decline of America but rather about the rise of everyone else," he writes in the first sentence of "The Post-American World" (Norton, 292 pp., $25.95).

It's about a China whose economy has doubled every eight years for the past three decades; a young and vibrant India emerging from debilitating poverty; a Russia newly flush with oil revenues; and strengthening economies worldwide, from Europe to the Middle East to Latin America.

These countries are not only wealthier, they're also expressing themselves in "new narratives," as Zakaria calls them, from more self-assertive diplomatic stances to an explosion of non-English-language media to a circumvention of the U.S. nexus in favor of greater multilateral trade.

Zakaria doesn't see these changes as inherently bad — for instance, he calls the economies of China and India, with their low-wage work forces, the "two great global deflation machines."

Rather, it's how the U.S. adapts to these changes that concerns him most.

America might have far to go, starting with the way we treat other cultures. Zakaria tellingly quotes Briton Christopher Patten, former European commissioner for foreign relations, who describes the arrival of American Cabinet officers to a conference abroad: "Hotels are commandeered; cities are brought to a halt; innocent bystanders are barged into corners by thick-necked men with bits of plastic hanging out of their ears. It is not a spectacle that wins hearts and minds."

This attitude is certainly an embarrassment, but given that America is also capable of creating the Marshall Plan, facilitating an Egyptian-Israeli peace accord and serving as an "honest broker" globally, such imperiousness may not be permanent.

More worrying for Zakaria seems to be our predilection for isolationism vs. internationalism, a tension being fully played out in this year's presidential primaries.

Reading Zakaria, it's hard not to reference Thomas L. Friedman's seminal 2005 "The World Is Flat," which sounded an alarm over the growing global competition America faces. If Friedman's study was more urgent in its call for a new American competitiveness, Zakaria is more sanguine in that respect.

He argues that our economy and military are strong, our educational system dynamic (Friedman's thesis notwithstanding) and our trade mechanism vital. (Oddly, the elephant in the room — global warming — is left largely untouched.)

Departing from Friedman, Zakaria emphasizes a need for America to restore its legitimacy. "The United States has every kind of power in ample supply these days except one: legitimacy. ... Legitimacy allows one to set the agenda, define a crisis, and mobilize support for policies among both countries and nongovernmental forces like private business and grass-roots organizations."

Illustrating the point of America's lost legitimacy, the author recently reminded PBS interviewer Charlie Rose that 19 years ago, pro-democracy demonstrators erected a likeness of the Statue of Liberty in Tiananmen Square. That probably would not happen in a demonstration there now, he argued.

Copyright © 2008 The Seattle Times Company

Arab countries must grow up and modernize

I visited the Japanese cell phone company DoCoMo in Tokyo recently. A robot made by Honda gave me part of the tour, even bowing in perfect Japanese fashion. My visit there coincided with yet another suicide bomb attack against U.S. forces in Iraq. I could not help thinking: Why are the Japanese making robots into humans, while Muslim suicide squads are making humans into robots?

The answer has to do in part with the interaction between culture and natural resources. Countries such as Japan, Korea, Taiwan and China have relatively few natural resources like oil. As a result, in the modern age, their first instinct is to look inward, assess their weaknesses, try to learn as much as they can from foreigners and then beat them at their own game. In order to beat the Westerners, they have even set aside many of their historical animosities so they can invest in each other's countries and get all the benefits of free trade.

The Arab world, alas, has been cursed with oil. For decades, too many Arab countries have opted to drill a sand dune for economic growth rather than drilling their own people -- men and women -- in order to tap their energy, creativity, intellect and entrepreneurship. Arab countries barely trade with one another, and unlike Korea and Japan, rarely invent or patent anything. But rather than looking inward, assessing their development deficits, absorbing the best in modern knowledge that their money can buy and then trying to beat the West at its own game, the Arab world in too many cases has cut itself off, blamed the enduring Palestine conflict or colonialism for delaying reform, or found dignity in Pyrrhic victories like Fallujah.

To be sure, there are exceptions. Jordan, Qatar, Bahrain, Dubai, Morocco and Tunisia are all engaged in real experiments with modernization, but the bigger states are really lost. A week ago we were treated again to absurd Saudi allegations that "Zionists" were behind the latest bombing in Saudi Arabia, because, said Saudi officials, "Zionists" clearly benefit from these acts. Someone ought to tell the Saudis this: Don't flatter yourselves. The only interest Israelis have in Saudi Arabia is flying over it to get to India and China -- countries that actually trade and manufacture things other than hatred of "infidels."

The Bush team has made a mess in Iraq, but the pathologies of the Arab world have also contributed -- and the sheer delight that some Arab media take in seeing Iraq go up in flames is evidence of that. It's time for the Arab world to grow up -- to stop dancing on burning American jeeps and claiming that this is some victory for Islam.

One thing about countries like Singapore, Korea, Taiwan and Japan, they may not have deserts but they sure know the difference between the mirage and the oasis -- between victories that come from educating your population to innovate and "victories" that come from a one-night stand by suicidal maniacs like 9/11.

As I said, the Bush team has made a mess in Iraq. And I know that Abu Ghraib will be a lasting stain on the Pentagon leadership. But here's what else I know from visiting Iraq: There were a million acts of kindness, generosity and good will also extended by individual U.S. soldiers this past year -- acts motivated purely by a desire to give Iraqis the best chance they've ever had at decent government and a better future. There are plenty of Iraqis and Arabs who know that.

Yes, we Americans need to look in a mirror and ask why we've become so radioactive. But the Arabs need to look in a mirror too. "They are using our mistakes to avoid their own necessity to change, reform and modernize," says the Mideast expert Stephen P. Cohen.

A senior Iraqi politician told me that he recently received a group of visiting Iranian journalists in his home. As they were leaving, he said, two young Iranian women in the group whispered to him: "Succeed for our sake." Those Iranian women knew that if Iraqis could actually produce a decent, democratizing government it would pressure their own regime to start changing -- which is why the Iranian, Syrian and Saudi regimes are all rooting for us to fail.

But you know what? Despite everything, we still have a chance to produce a decent outcome in Iraq, if we get our eye back on the ball. Of course, if we do fail, that will be our tragedy. But for the Arabs, it will be a huge lost opportunity -- one that will only postpone their future another decade. Too bad so few of them have the courage to stand up and say that. I guess it must be another one of those "Zionist" plots.

New York Times News Service

Copyright C 2004 Deseret News Publishing Co.
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.

9/11 Is Over

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Published: September 30, 2007

Not long ago, the satirical newspaper The Onion ran a fake news story that began like this:

Fred R. Conrad/The New York Times

Thomas L. Friedman

Go to Columnist Page »

“At a well-attended rally in front of his new ground zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11. ‘My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise,’ said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. ‘As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all.’ If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world’s conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions.”

Like all good satire, the story made me both laugh and cry, because it reflected something so true — how much, since 9/11, we’ve become “The United States of Fighting Terrorism.” Times columnists are not allowed to endorse candidates, but there’s no rule against saying who will not get my vote: I will not vote for any candidate running on 9/11. We don’t need another president of 9/11. We need a president for 9/12. I will only vote for the 9/12 candidate.

What does that mean? This: 9/11 has made us stupid. I honor, and weep for, all those murdered on that day. But our reaction to 9/11 — mine included — has knocked America completely out of balance, and it is time to get things right again.

It is not that I thought we had new enemies that day and now I don’t. Yes, in the wake of 9/11, we need new precautions, new barriers. But we also need our old habits and sense of openness. For me, the candidate of 9/12 is the one who will not only understand who our enemies are, but who we are.

Before 9/11, the world thought America’s slogan was: “Where anything is possible for anybody.” But that is not our global brand anymore. Our government has been exporting fear, not hope: “Give me your tired, your poor and your fingerprints.”

You may think Guantánamo Bay is a prison camp in Cuba for Al Qaeda terrorists. A lot of the world thinks it’s a place we send visitors who don’t give the right answers at immigration. I will not vote for any candidate who is not committed to dismantling Guantánamo Bay and replacing it with a free field hospital for poor Cubans. Guantánamo Bay is the anti-Statue of Liberty.

Roger Dow, president of the Travel Industry Association, told me that the United States has lost millions of overseas visitors since 9/11 — even though the dollar is weak and America is on sale. “Only the U.S. is losing traveler volume among major countries, which is unheard of in today’s world,” Mr. Dow said.

Total business arrivals to the United States fell by 10 percent over the 2004-5 period alone, while the number of business visitors to Europe grew by 8 percent in that time. The travel industry’s recent Discover America Partnership study concluded that “the U.S. entry process has created a climate of fear and frustration that is turning away foreign business and leisure travelers and hurting America’s image abroad.” Those who don’t visit us, don’t know us.

I’d love to see us salvage something decent in Iraq that might help tilt the Middle East onto a more progressive pathway. That was and is necessary to improve our security. But sometimes the necessary is impossible — and we just can’t keep chasing that rainbow this way.

Look at our infrastructure. It’s not just the bridge that fell in my hometown, Minneapolis. Fly from Zurich’s ultramodern airport to La Guardia’s dump. It is like flying from the Jetsons to the Flintstones. I still can’t get uninterrupted cellphone service between my home in Bethesda and my office in D.C. But I recently bought a pocket cellphone at the Beijing airport and immediately called my wife in Bethesda — crystal clear.

I just attended the China clean car conference, where Chinese automakers were boasting that their 2008 cars will meet “Euro 4” — European Union — emissions standards. We used to be the gold standard. We aren’t anymore. Last July, Microsoft, fed up with American restrictions on importing brain talent, opened its newest software development center in Vancouver. That’s in Canada, folks. If Disney World can remain an open, welcoming place, with increased but invisible security, why can’t America?

We can’t afford to keep being this stupid! We have got to get our groove back. We need a president who will unite us around a common purpose, not a common enemy. Al Qaeda is about 9/11. We are about 9/12, we are about the Fourth of July — which is why I hope that anyone who runs on the 9/11 platform gets trounced.

Lead, Follow or Move Aside

By Thomas L. Friedman

Getting our national climate regulations in order is necessary, but it will not be sufficient to move China.

China today is entering a really delicate phase on the climate-energy issue - the phase I like to call "The Wal-Mart environmental moment." I wish the same could be said of America and President Bush.

The "Wal-Mart environmental moment" starts with the C.E.O. adopting a green branding strategy as a purely defensive, public relations, marketing move. Then an accident happens - someone in the shipping department takes it seriously and comes up with a new way to package the latest product and saves $100,000. This gets the attention of the C.E.O., who turns to his P.R. adviser and says, "Well, isn't that interesting? Get me a sustainability expert. Let's do this some more."

The company then hires a sustainability officer, and he starts showing how green design, manufacturing and materials can save money in other areas. Then the really smart C.E.O.'s realize they have to become their own C.E.O. - chief energy officer - and they start demanding that energy efficiency become core to everything the company does, from how its employees travel to how its products are manufactured.

That is the transition that Lee Scott, Wal-Mart's C.E.O., has presided over in the past few years.

Last July, Mr. Scott was visiting a Wal-Mart in Las Vegas on a day when the temperature was more than 100 degrees. He happened to notice that a Wal-Mart staple - inexpensive Styrofoam coolers - were not being promoted by the store's associates. As Andrew Ruben, Wal-Mart's vice president for sustainability, told me: "Lee walked into the store and said, 'It's 105 degrees. Why aren't we selling any coolers?' The associates said, 'We don't want to sell Styrofoam coolers because of their impact on the environment.' So Lee called us afterwards and said: 'We're going to have to figure this out.' By that he meant innovation of a different kind of cooler" that doesn't come from petroleum-based Styrofoam, which is not biodegradable and usually not recycled.

Wal-Mart on Monday also announced a partnership with the Carbon Disclosure Project (C.D.P.) to measure the amount of energy used to create products throughout its supply chain - many of which come from China.

Said C.D.P. Chief Executive Paul Dickinson: "Wal-Mart will encourage its suppliers to measure and manage their greenhouse gas emissions, and ultimately reduce the total carbon footprint of Wal-Mart's indirect emissions. We look forward to other global corporations following Wal-Mart's lead."

China's leadership is not where Lee Scott is yet. Chinese officials still put their highest priority on growing G.D.P. - their bottom line. But for the first time, the costs of this breakneck growth are becoming so obvious on China's air, glaciers and rivers that the leadership asked for briefings on global warming. Many Chinese mayors are looking to get clean-technology industries - like wind turbines and solar - started in their cities.

At such a key time, if the U.S. government adopted a real carbon-reducing strategy, as California and Wal-Mart have, rather than the obfuscations of the Bush team, it would have a huge impact on China and only trigger more innovation in America.

Mr. Bush will be convening his climate photo op - oops, I mean "conference" - in Washington tomorrow, which will include Chinese and Indian officials. But, as Rob Watson, the C.E.O. of EcoTech International, which works on environmental issues in China put it: "The Chinese are not going to take anything we say seriously if we don't set an example ourselves."

avid Moskovitz, who directs the Regulatory Assistance Project, a nonprofit that helps promote green policies in China, was even more blunt: "The most frequent and difficult question we get in China with every policy initiative we put forward is: 'If it is so good, why aren't you doing it?' It's hard to answer - and somewhat embarrassing. So we point to good examples that some American states, or cities, or companies are implementing - but not to the federal government. We can't point to America."

Too bad. "It was America which put environmentalism on the world's agenda in the 1970s and

'80s," recalled Glenn Prickett, a senior vice president for Conservation International. "But since then, somehow, the wealthiest and most powerful country on the planet has gone to the back of the line."

Leadership is about "follow me" not "after you." Getting our national climate regulations in order is necessary, but it will not be sufficient to move China. We have to show them what Wal-Mart is showing its competitors - that green is not just right for the world, it is better, more profitable, more healthy, more innovative, more efficient, more successful. If Wal-Mart can lead, and California can lead, why can't America?

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