Richard Reeves: It’s Morning in China
[Richard Reeves writes for Truthdig.]
PALO ALTO, Calif.—In 1982, Richard Nixon told me he thought that by the middle of this century the world would be dominated by Asians, primarily Chinese. He reminisced about a conversation with China’s leader, Mao Zedong, in which Mao said 300 million Chinese would be willing to die for that goal—and 300 million Americans would not.
Nixon was a gifted global analyst and a racist. During a two-hour conversation, he said a confrontation was coming—probably economic rather than military—and that "yellow" (his word) Asians were simply genetically superior to Caucasians. The job of a Western leader, he continued, was to hold off that confrontation for as long as possible.
Almost 30 years later, a new book, a fascinating book, "Why the West Rules—For Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future" by Ian Morris, a professor at Stanford University, tends to push that deadline back about 50 years to 2103....
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PALO ALTO, Calif.—In 1982, Richard Nixon told me he thought that by the middle of this century the world would be dominated by Asians, primarily Chinese. He reminisced about a conversation with China’s leader, Mao Zedong, in which Mao said 300 million Chinese would be willing to die for that goal—and 300 million Americans would not.
Nixon was a gifted global analyst and a racist. During a two-hour conversation, he said a confrontation was coming—probably economic rather than military—and that "yellow" (his word) Asians were simply genetically superior to Caucasians. The job of a Western leader, he continued, was to hold off that confrontation for as long as possible.
Almost 30 years later, a new book, a fascinating book, "Why the West Rules—For Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future" by Ian Morris, a professor at Stanford University, tends to push that deadline back about 50 years to 2103....