> The US is the alpha male for the moment but it's ageing, overcommitted
> and
> its internal organs are increasingly diseased and at war with each
> other. In
> time, the Europeans and the East Asians will become assertive,
> assuming of
> course that they are able to manage their "internal" contradictions and
> conflicts sufficiently.
Exactly. I get so tired of the essentiallist line that "Americans are the quintessence of evil, but over in (name your favorite part of the world) people are just so nice." (And yes, the main reason I get tired of it is that I happen to be an American. Also, I have a dislike of sloppy thinking.)
For example, remember the nice East Asians who happened to live in Japan, about 60 years ago? A culture which reputedly values politeness above all else. Ask the Chinese and Koreans and other folks in their neighborhood how polite the Japanese were in those days. People in whatever part of the world, whatever the color of their skin, change from nice to nasty and back to nice again "depending on the conditions," as the Three-Penny Opera song says.
Jon Johanning // jjohanning at igc.org __________________________________ When I was a little boy, I had but a little wit, 'Tis a long time ago, and I have no more yet; Nor ever ever shall, until that I die, For the longer I live the more fool am I. -- Wit and Mirth, an Antidote against Melancholy (1684)