Continuing with our global look at reaction to President Obama’s Afghan strategy, particularly within NATO, this article from Italy’s La Stampa will warm the hearts of those who believe that President Bush was on the right track.
With some startling statistics, columnist Lucia Annunziata lays out the case for why Obama must follow the course laid out by the much-disliked George W. Bush.
For La Stampa, Lucia Annunziata writes in part:
“To understand Obama’s decision on Afghanistan, it’s worth going over some numbers. In 2000, Western countries alone produced 55 percent of world’s wealth, whereas by 2025, they will produce 40 percent. At that time, Asia will produce 38 percent, compared to the current 24. Essentially, it’s a draw. Demographically, the relationship between West and East can be told in even more spectacular terms: by 2025, the population of America and Europe will make up 9 percent of the world’s population (in the nineteenth century, at the height of its influence, Europe alone represented 22 percent, which is what the population of China represents today), while the whole of Asia will host 50 percent of world citizens. That is to say: in fifteen years, one of every two people in the world will be Asian.”
Explaining that addressing these shocking figures was what lay behind President Bush’s policy of containment and invasion, Annunziata writes:
“This is why he [Obama] cannot abandon Afghanistan; why he cannot help but engage in a tug of war with Iran; why he cannot but consolidate U.S. influence in Iraq – in short, why he cannot but finish the work that Bush began. In the world, as we said, the West is going to be a minority. It’s important – and this also applies to Europe – that being a minority doesn’t also end up meaning being marginalized.”
By Lucia Annunziata
Translated By Enrico Del Sero
December 3, 3009
Italy – La Stampa – Original Article (Italian)
To understand Obama’s decision on Afghanistan, it’s worth going over some numbers. In 2000, Western countries alone produced 55 percent of world’s wealth, whereas by 2025, they will produce 40 percent. At that time, Asia will produce 38 percent, compared to the current 24. Essentially, it’s a draw. Demographically, the relationship between West and East can be told in even more spectacular terms: by 2025, the population of America and Europe will make up 9 percent of the world’s population (in the nineteenth century, at the height of its influence, Europe alone represented 22 percent, which is what the population of China represents today), while the whole of Asia will host 50 percent of world citizens. That is to say: in fifteen years, one of every two people in the world will be Asian.
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