‘The Post American World’ is disappointing…

Fareed Zakaria’s latest release ‘The Post American World’ is a disappointing study. I expected a lot from a scholar of his stature. Fareed talks about ‘The Rise of the Rest’ but got stuck with China and India. There is no mention of the rising importance of a country like Australia, a major raw material supplier to China and a significant Naval Power. Brazil has been mentioned in passing where as it is an important part of the ‘BRIC Countries’. Brazil poses the most serious challenge to the United States in that region. Out of the four major emerging economies, Brazil is the most significant country in terms of technology and agriculture. It might be the next food basket of the world. Canada is the largest trading partner of America and an emerging competitor in the manufacture of commercial aircrafts. Dubai could be the next airline-hub of the world. There is a lot to be said about the emerging Eastern Europe. I expected him to talk a lot about a revitalized Japan. And what about Israel, Mexico, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and Vietnam. The rise of Chindia is very misleading.

Zakaria is obviously quite taken in by the Chinese line of the next major power, but lacks the in-depth knowledge about their old civilization. China is too complex and carries lot of contradictions with it. I would rather refrain from commenting at this time. Talking about India, Fareed shows a typical mind-set of an 18 year old coming to America and making it. When he left India, it was a Nehru-Gandhi fiefdom. I also left India at the same time but was much older. Since then I have spent enough time going back and forth and understanding the post Nehru India. Fareed Zakaria and his family are the products of a Nehru legacy. Fareed has completely missed the second independence struggle led by P V Narasimha Rao (father of Modern India), Atal Bihari Vajpayee (the diplomat of India) and Dr Manmohan Singh (the architect of India). Pandit Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi only laid the foundation for India. It was Narasimha Rao, Manmohan Singh, Vajpayee, Advani and Chidambaram who actually built the country. Zakaria has dismissed a full term of BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) as a brief accident. He considers BJP a ‘Hindu Nationalist Party’ and therefore not significant. Fareed must understand, we wouldn’t be talking about India but for BJP and the ‘Nuclear Explosions’. The world did not hear the GDP or the growth rate.

A conversation between Charlie Rose and Fareed Zakharia on May 1, 2008

Zakaria does a hit job on Mottaki…

Fareed, it was a tacky job. You sounded just like an employee of CNN and not an independent and thoughtful opinion maker. Fareed Zakaria did a hit job on Manouchehr Mottaki, the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs, today on his hour-long program on CNN. Would you like Condoleezza Rice (US Sectary of State) to be spoken to in a similar tone by a foreign journalist? Or is it that the Americans are superior to the rest of the world? Who decides that only a certain country should have nuclear weapons? Is Pakistan safer than Iran? Who decides?

Barack Obama is probably right when he laments that it is the mind-set in this establishment that has perpetuated such an arrogant foreign policy. And I am not just talking about the political establishment but the media that talks like a super-power. If this is the way we conduct ourselves, dealing with friends and foes alike, we would be completely isolated. Nobody cares about our opinion in any case. Everyone seems to be freelancing. The world becomes unstable and dangerous in the meantime.

Why should Iran not feel threatened? After what the United States, Great Britain and the Russians have done to that country, during the last 100 years or more. Iran is the inheritor of the Great Persian Civilization, once a superpower in its own right. The total population of Iran is upward of 70 million people. Two thirds of the population is under twenty five years old. The country and its people have great potential. They are just going through a bad patch. Their political leadership is not exactly friendly to the world. Did we not have a Richard Nixon for a while? Do you think Nixon was more rational than Mahmoud Ahmadinejad? Ask anyone in India!

Fareed Zakaria, the next United States Secretary of State?

Fareed Zakaria is a rare political talent, available to be the next United States Secretary of State. He is a moderate and therefore could serve either a Republican or a Democratic President. A qualified journalist, now a major TV talk-show host, Fareed is a best-selling author. A graduate of Yale, he received his Ph.D. in Political Science from Harvard University. Fareed Zakaria is a soft-spoken, tough diplomat. He is politically well connected and yet very independent. Fareed wouldn’t be a political hack like the current incumbent.

The United States Secretary of State is the head of US Foreign Office (US Department of State). The Secretary of State is the highest ranked cabinet secretary and fourth in line of succession. The Department of Foreign Affairs was created by the Second Continental Congress, on January 10, 1781. George Washington reauthorized the Department on July 27, 1789 to be headed by a Secretary of Foreign Affairs. The first Secretary of State was Thomas Jefferson.

The role of the United States Secretary of State has changed in the last 10 years. It has grown many folds and no individual with limited in-sight can handle such a complex assignment. The likes of Condoleezza Rice should never again hold such office. When she took over from Colin Powell in January 2005, it seemed so logical. Little did we know then that her only qualification was her loyalty to the Bush Family. She has proved to be such a political-hack that the next Secretary would have to do major repairs, internationally.