The New World Order

There’s little question the world order is changing. Michael Mandelbaum’s The Ideas that Conquered the World, published just four years ago, defined the world’s “core” as Western Europe (EC states Britain, France, Germany and Italy), plus the U.S., Canada, and Japan: the old G-7 powers. Now US News’ Michael Barone quotes bestselling author Thomas Barnett’s having the world led by a functioning "Core" of North America, plus all of Europe, plus East Asia, rising China and India. And Tom Friedman (picture) is saying that because they are key powers, Russia, China, and India need to supply troops to make a peace settlement in Lebanon work (7.21.06 New York Times).

Barone/Barnett are hopeful about how the world is developing, and their optimism comes from the core's growing strength. As Barnett says:

Plenty of people look at the world today and see only decline and violence and chaos since 9/11. I am amazed at how little the Functioning Core of globalization has suffered since that date: no real violence or threats of same amidst our ranks, slow but steady political integration that's still not keeping up with the economic bonds that are booming, spotty but emerging sense of shared security values, and the usual pinpricks of harm inflicted by terror and God, but all in all, nothing really bad despite all this 'tumult' centered in the Middle East and the rising price of oil.

Friedman’s latest column, however, working from a similar take on the world order, offers a far darker reading:

America should be galvanizing the forces of order — Europe, Russia, China and India — into a coalition against [Middle East problems]. But we can't. . . because our president and secretary of state, although they speak with great moral clarity, have no moral authority. That's been shattered by their performance in Iraq.

[And it’s] also because China, Europe and Russia have become freeloaders off U.S. power. They reap enormous profits from the post-Cold-War order that America has shaped, but rather than become real stakeholders in that order, helping to draw and defend redlines, they duck, mumble, waffle or cut their own deals. . .

When will the Arab-Muslim world stop getting its "pride" from fighting Israel and start getting it from constructing a society that others would envy, an economy others would respect, and inventions and medical breakthroughs from which others would benefit?

When, indeed? Bush and Rice are asking the same question.