The View from the East

Kishore Mahbubani, Dean of the School of Public Health at the National University of Singapore, thinks the West has a major problem: it cannot see that the world has entered a new era. In his view, as expressed in the May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, we assume that we are the source of the answers to the problems of the world when, in fact, we are a major source of the problems. I think he’s correct in his assessment that we have failed to acknowledge that we are living in a changed world, a world in which the West has some very serious competition.

Mahbubani riffs on four areas where the West, in his judgment, has screwed up: the Middle East, nuclear non-proliferation, trade liberalization and global warming.

Of course, Iraq is at the top of the list when he speaks of the Middle East. But he discusses it in terms of its impact on international law. Since we did not have UN sanction to attack Iraq, how can we go ballistic over the failure to follow UN principles by Iran and North Korea? No mention of the Middle East can exclude Israel; here Mahbubani lists a few of the opportunities we, the U.S., have failed to pursue.

Israel also figures in the discussion of the nuclear non-proliferation treaties. Again, in applying the idea that what’s good for the goose is good for the gander, Mahbubani asks why Israel has not been sanctioned for having nuclear weapons. And why have we looked the other way with regards to India and Pakistan going nuclear? One aspect of the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty called for the U.S. and Russia to substantially reduce their nuclear arsenal. How much has taken place?

Global free trade has been fine when the West was the leader and had little competition. Now Mahbubani feels that the West is getting chicken as the competition has increased significantly and cites the difficulties surrounding the Doha Round as indicative of the problems.

As for global warming, Mahbubani is clear. The West is responsible for most of the greenhouse gases emitted over the past centuries. It is still the biggest emitter. It should pay most of the cost of combating global warming.

Admittedly, some of Mahbubani’s claims are tenuous. But his fundamental insight that we need to look in the mirror is critical to our future success and that of the world.