Enjoy The Second World: How Emerging Powers Are Redefining Global Competition In The Twenty-first Century Articulated By Parag Khanna Represented In Interactive EBook

كان التاريخ هو الذاكرة الذى تعمل إلى الخلف فقط فهو أردئ أنواع الذاكرة و الجغرافيا السياسية على عكس ذلك فهى تنظر إلى الخلف بهدف التطلع إلى الأمام. . كيف كان العالم من كان يملك من سيملك

اختيار مجتمعات العالم الثانى كمحور إهتمام اختيار أمثل مجتمعات العالم الثانى تحدد شكل العالم. . و هم وحدهم من يملكون القدرة على التحكم فى مصير دول العالم الأول و تحديد مدى قوتها و تأثيرها على الشأن العالمى فمجتمعات العالم الأول لا تكون كذلك من دون مساندة او التحكم القهرى أو الإختيارى فى مجتمعات العالم الثانى. مسألة حدود و موارد و أيقونات إقتصادية عالمية ثم يأتى بعد ذلك دور تلك الترسانات العسكرية و من قال أن الحروب و الإحتلال فى شكله القديم انتهى يوما !

الولايات المتحدة و الإتحاد الأوربى و الصين الذى يرى باراج خانا أنها الثلاث قوى العظمى المسيطرة اليوم تتقدمهم الولايات المتحدة بفارق و لكن الإتحاد الأوربى و الصين سيتصدرون المشهد يوما لا محالة و دليل على ذلك تلك الخطوات الواثقة الذى يسير بها كلا منهما يرسمان بها دورا محددا فى العالم يجعل الجميع يحتاج إليه و محاولة لتهميش دور أمريكا. صراع الدولار و اليورو و الين. . المؤلف لا يرى روسيا قوى عظمى مصنفة و السبب فى ذلك مساحتها الشاسعة و اختلاف ثقافة شعوبها.

شعوب أخرى تكافح و تناضل حتى يمنحوا الفرصة لذويهم أن يقررا إذ كان يريدون أن يكون لهم صوت مسموع عالميا تقدمهم الراحل هوغو تشافيز و شعبه و يحاول أن يخطو فى نفس الفكر. . البرازيل و الأرجنتين كل بسياساته المختلفة. أما بخصوص هذه المنطقة منطقتنا فيبدو أنها منذ زمن بعيد قررت أن تكون تابع لمن يسيطر لا دور لها غير تقويته بمواردها الغنية و أهمها النفط. . و لكن لا كلمة لها فى تحديد من يسيطر. شعوب مناضلة و شعوب مناضلة تقتلتها و تكتمها حكامها.

فى آخر الكتاب يستهجن المؤلف التردى الأخلاقى للسياسة الخارجية الأمريكية و الخطط الخارجية بعد هجمات الحادى عشر من سبتمبر الذى تزيد كره العالم لهم لدرجة جعلت الأمريكيين أنفسهم غير متأكدين من إذا كان الإنخراط فى الشأن العالمى يستحق كل هذا العناء وبدلا من أن يبنوا إستمثاراتهم فى نيويورك أصبحوا يفضلون عليها لندن و هونج كونج. Ive read his chapters on the Middle East Egypt, Saudi, and the rest of the GCC states.
I expected far more from this book, While Khannas style of writing is really attractive, the amount of information, research, and even analysis was really shallow.
Nothing in the Middle East chapters more than what you read in NYT, TIME, or Newsweek, would recommend the book by Fareed Zakaria: The PostAmerican World and another by Parag Khanna: The Second World: Empires and Influence in the New Global Order.
Both books offer thoughtful insights in the ongoing shifts in the balance of power that reshape the international order.
They provoke discussions on the opportunities and challenges that America faces as its relative power declines and as it adapts to an increasingly multipolar world.
These books and the discussion surrounding them inspired me to offer a seminar "The New Economic Order in the PostAmerican World" this winter.
Anu Bradford This book is going to shape my worldview for a long time, I think, It's a great overview of how the current geopolitical powers U, S. , the E. U. and China exert their influence on "second world" i, e. , partially developed countries, and how those countries can best interact with the big guys to further their own development.
Let's just say the U, S. better get its act together fast if it wants to stay a firstworld country,

Khanna is clearly an excellent researcher and theorizer, but he also writes with a playfully poetic voice.
The basic concept of this book is tantalizing: a survey of the "second world" those countries which straddle the economic line between the developed countries of the first world and the poor countries of the third world.
Unfortunately, Khanna is a glib"citizen of the world" who tries too hard to seem knowing, I almost put the book down when I saw the title of the first chapter: "Brussels: The New Rome.
" Excuse me What follows was a shortpages! description of the wonders of the European Union that read like it was written by the EU's mom.


A few pages later, I put the book down for good when I read the following "insight" about Russia: "The former KGB headquarter in Moscow is now a highclass disco: Russians today are consumers, not citizens.
In the unfolding hypercapitalist coup, the SUV with tinted windows is the vehicle of choice for the perpetually insecure business caste that lives each day like its last, partying with exotic lions and dominatrix dancers, complete with plenty of caviar.
"

"Hypercapitalist coup!" I agree that Russia is up to something, but what Khanna describes is aboutyears out of date.
If there is such a thing as a "Bad Friedman Award" like a "Bad Hemingway Award" for Internationalists, Khanna would win first prize.
If you're interested in International Relations, and you're fedup with the classic powergameanalysis, this is your book.
Khanna has produced a book that is breathtaking in its scope: he covers almost the whole world with the very sad exception of subsaharan Africa, somecountries are screened, pointedly, most of them withinpages.
The overall picture: the American empire is in decline, Europe is a very good alternative, but China will certainly rule the waves, by.
Khanna's great novelty is that he's the first to take globalism really serious, Stimulating reading, although I do not fully agree with his too contemptive analysis of US politics and society.
In The Second World, scholar Parag Khanna, chosen as one of EsquiresMost Influential People of the TwentyFirst Century, reveals how Americas future depends on its ability to compete with the European Union and China to forge relationships with the Second World, the pivotal regions of Eastern Europe, Central Asia, South America, the Middle East, and East Asia that are growing in influence and economic strength.


Informed, witty, and armed with a travelers intuition for blending into diverse cultures, Khanna depicts secondworld societies from the inside out, observing how globalization divides them into winners and losersand shows how China, Europe, and America use their unique imperial gravities to pull the secondworld countries into their orbits.
Along the way, Khanna explains how Arabism and Islamism compete for the Arab soul, reveals how Iran and Saudi Arabia play the superpowers against one another, unmasks Singapores inspirational role in East Asia, and psychoanalyzes the secondworld leaders whose decisions are reshaping the balance of power.
I never saw a book use the word "diaspora" as much as this one, I actually want to go back and count,

That said, an interesting book that covers a tremendous amount of ground, Perfect for my short attention span, the chapters read more like magazine articles, something you'd encounter in The Economist, perhaps.
I've read some other reviews of this book stating that there was a serious need for fact checking, but it could possibly be that the author's tone is less factual, more opinionated.
Certainly not a fan of the US, A graduate student's mind dump of information and disembodied quotes about rising countries and the struggle for their place in the world.
Not my favorite, but a good overview of the emerging world order from a geoeconomic perspective, A good companion book is Robert Kagan's The Return of History and the End of Dreams, This book should be required reading for everyone in foreign affairs, For me it was a total eyeopener into the shifting political loyalities of the inbetween countries, Empire building, naturl resources, trade routes, corruption and greed, fear and military build up, ecological disaster, criminal syndicates in government, spies and doublecrosses: these are our world history and our present day state.
The odds are stacked against us, Never in my life have I read a book that was so consistently wrong, Every bit of analysis made and every prediction are just so bafflingly false that I was almost impressed.
I give it two instead of one only because reading it was a really enjoyable experience.
Every chapter brought an assertion that was even crazier than the last, and I got a good laugh out of every one.


Khanna uses the word "diaspora" about fifty times throughout the book like he had just learned the word before starting.
Also, once every four or five pages we get a quote from some totally real person not named Parag Khanna that the author definitely talked to.
Who needs citations All the quotes are basically the same, which is another sort of punchline scattered through the book.
"'I agree with Parag Khanna completely, and I live in the place he's talking about, so you should too.
' mused a Sunni former diplomatsurgeon selling kabobs outside of the Bosnian embassy in Moscow, " Also, every country is really at least four countries, and every region on Earth is like the Balkans in some way.
Another favorite trend of mine is his painfully bad metaphors which he always has close at hand.
"Just like the cevapi the region is known for, the former Yugoslavia is a lot like a bunch of sausages rolling around together and getting grease all over my fingers.
"

The real factual and logical errors are two many to list, so I'll pick a few of his heavy hitters.
He claims that the EU worked an economic miracle on Ireland, Spain, and Portugal just like it will soon work a miracle on Eastern Europe.
Just look at those regions today and you'll see how crazy this is, Slams Hugo Chavez for being a part of OPEC and thus controlling the amount of oil being extracted, as well as for a few baldfaced lies.
Criticizes China for building hospitals, putting up telephone lines, reducing school costs, and creating jobs in Xinjiang These are his exact words!.
And just a million more absurdities,

I wouldn't recommend reading at all, but if you're informed and pick this book up without knowing it's quality, you'll have a good laugh.
Very good info but not great, In the end, it boils down to geopolitical concerns of natural resources vs globalization,

The two global impulse are geopolitics and globalization with concomitant access to natural resources, power, and stability.
He states thend world economies is where the opportunity as well as huge risks lie b/c of its unreliable governments.
He states that the US should have a "diplomaticindustrial complex, The three superpowers in the world are the US with its diplomatic coalition building, the EU with its diplomatic consensus, and China with its consultancy approach to diplomacy.
nd world success lies with aligning itself with one of the three superpowers or to play one off the other.


What continues to surprise me is how much access to natural resource energy supply influences geopolitical military considerations.
What I once considered absurd going to war for oil, does not seem so out there anymore.
After reading enough foreign policy books, I now see there is a definite connection between national security prerogatives and access to international natural resources.


I think he is correct in stating globalization is a force for world peace because countries deeply enmeshed in global supply chain will find it harder to break their interconnected economies just to declare war on its neighbor.
I also agree with his assessment that before democracy can take root people must be able to afford their basic necessity and they must have secure and stable government for trade to occur.


Geopolitically speaking, China remains the greatest "threat" to Pax Americana not the EU because the EU is too fragmented to go against longterm American interest whereas China is united politically.
The "war" of the future will be mainly economic between countries and those who are interconnected via the global supply chain vs.
failed states which will harbor terrorist groups, China competitive advantage is it's population and manufacturing output, American competitive advantage is its military might and innovative centers, and European competitive advantage is its marketplace that while per capita wage is less than the US, they have double the US population.


In the longterm, Khanna wants Congress to focus on debt reduction, infrastructure upgrade, education, and making innovation and entrepreneurial spirit continue to be synonymous with America.


EU and East European powers:

EU power will really come from dictating its regulations in order to skew its marketplace towards a more environmentally friendly world.
According to Khanna since EU marketplace is the largest in the world their economic regulations will effect multinational business if they want to partake in its huge marketplace.
I wonder if part of the EU's strategy has to do with getting away from Russia energydependence.
In the US, California will press for a more environmentally friendly US,

Russia petrocracy is dominated by energy sector of oil and natural gas reserve, Apparently, Gazprom and KGB complex is a dangerous complex that reinforces each other at the expense of liberal democratic institutions.


Ukraine proves that democracy without a strong leader who ushers it in cannot happen before conditions on the ground are met.
In Ukraine, democratic movement led to the curse ofrd world democratic governments everywhere, crony capitalism and oligarchy.
But, at least, there is a conscious movement by the younger generation toward EU not authoritarian Russia.
Once Ukraine falls solidly into the EU way of democracy perhaps there will be a domino effect into Russia so that liberal transparent democracy will shine in Russia too.


Balkans grass roots movements with Serbia and Bosnia are pushing for a more EU style democracy and away from ethnic loyalties that can push it to Iraqistyle sectarian violence.
Bosnia and Serbia is the equivalent to Iraq and Afghanistan of Europe,

Caucus Azerbaijan/Georgia are countries important to Europe only as a pipeline of the Caspian Sea that is an alternate to Russian oil/gas dominance.
So, it behooves the EU to stabilize this region toward a more EUstyle democracy, But, because it is far from EU proper the only use of these Caucus countries is energy, the push to liberalize will not be there if endangers energy supply.
Energy interests and democratization is the only hope for Georgia,


Turkey is the most powerful, secular, democratic Muslim state, The EU is hesitant to include Turkey into its fold because it is still a poorer per capita than the EU as a whole although it is part of NATO.
The question is can the EU with its current precarious economic plight to include a poorer partner in Turkey with a large population The US wants Turkey to be a part of the EU as a showcase to Muslim countries that the West and Muslims can work together for the common good.


The geopolitical upside for including Turkey in the EU versus the global jihadi movement is that it can use globalization from within to change the Arab world into a more moderate version of itself.
Having an EU membership is an incentive, Turkey is being pushed to have more of a Westernstyle transparency as well as giving ethnic minority rights which ultimately is good for the rights of the individual.
Turkey seems to have a good balance between military, secular, and Muslim elites, Unlike other Muslim countries, Turkey has forces that are prodevelopment, democratization, and modern Islam of the Alevi and Sufi variant.
Even the AKP is a Sunni Islamist party that has a proEuropean development and justice agenda,

Turkey's biggest geopolitical strategy that seems to be working is playing the US, EU, Russia, Iran, and Israel off each other thus making them a regional powerhouse.
There biggest use to the EU is they are the final stop of the oil and gas pipeline of Russia, Iran, and, Caucus republics into Europe.



Central Asia:

The sphere of influence of Central Asian regions which include the Stans and AfPak lies with China and Russia which are competing for regional influence.
Apparently with the power vacuum left by the Soviet Union, China has created the Shanghai Cooperation Organization a la NATO which is a multiorganization that seeks stability within the region.
If it were not for the failed state status that most of these countries have that breed Islamic extremism that seek the destruction of the West, I would say we should leave these states SCO to decide in its regional stability.
China has the most influence in these authoritarian areas because it is pouring in money for infrastructure in exchange for oil reserves and it is staying away from democratization efforts.


This area is important for China and the EU because of its enormous oil and gas reserves as well as flow of illegal weapons, drugs, and Islamic militants.
The issue is its inhospitable terrain and mixture of clashing ethnicities,

Russia Far East and Siberia although high in natural reserves has very low population whereas China is encroaching in Russian land because of its high population with nowhere to go.
This can potentially be regional war because of population encroachment by Chinese vs, Russian land integrity.

Chinese province of Tibet and XinJiang are wanted by the Chinese because of its natural resource as well as the key gate way for trade of export of goods in exchange for inflow of energy from the Stans.
China seeks to integrate their territories into an internal whole by force if necessary as seen in Tibet and the Uygurs population of XinJiang province.
Chinese also seek to repopulate these areas with Han Chinese similar to what White people did to the "unpopulated" West.



Kazhkstan is apparently the most successful of the stan due to the dictator's good stewardship and liberalization and diversification of the economy.
From among the stan's, the private sector accounts for more of its economy and workforce, As oppose to Kazhkstan, Uzbekistan was the most promising because of its infrastructure, natural resources, and urban center has a stagnant economy because of Karimov pushed extreme nationalism and against globalization.
The nationalism also began an extreme crackdown of all dissident which leads to the growth of Islamic extremism as the alternative to his regime.
Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan are similar in its failure to take advantage of their pipeline gifts to cure the ills of their society.


The worst of the problems is the AfPak region in which weak government institutions has led to either totalitarian military rule or Islamic fundamentalism as the government of choice.
China influences Pakistan more than America because of their development projects that China gives Pakistan, Apparently, the military owns the most businesses in Pakistan, Although America gives Pakistan military aid, we also demand Islamic crackdown within Pakistan thus causing a defacto civil war in Pakistan.
The alternative for America is worse because the alternative would be an Islamic regime within nuclear Pakistan or continuing terrorist training camps in the FATA regions.



South America and Mexico:

South America is plagued by political instability that gives rise to failed states that allow drug trafficking to the US.
South America is important to the US for its trade, counterdrug trafficking efforts, and natural resources, Globalization has allowed South America to leave the US Western hegemony in favor of EU and China.
Again for South America especially Venezuela, China is the ideal trading partner because they keep out of internal politics.
Khanna implies in the tension between globalization and democracy, free trade always wins, South America benefits from the US insistence on free trade with Mexico, Brazil, and Chile reaping the greatest rewards.


In his chapter on Mexico, Khanna states US attempts to stem the tide of illegal immigration should include substantial development aid such as education grants so Mexican can compete with China in skilled manufacturing labor as well as microfinance loans.
Globalization inequalities combined with China predominance has led to massive Mexican unemployment which leads to a spike in illegal immigration into the US.
Although American businesses benefit from the migrant workforce that allows lower pay for more working hours, illegal immigration is stressing American social services such as education

and health care.
Mexico is also the main drug trafficking route into the US in exchange for illegal guns that flow into border towns which are populated with organized crime.


Venezuela's Hugo Chavez shows the failure in the policy of democratization in areas with a large poor and uneducated population.
Constant high energy prices has allowed Chavez to consolidate his power and squeeze the professional middle class that has allowed a massive brain drain in the area while further impoverishing the impoverished.
Chavez seeks to unseat the US with China as its main export trading partner, Thus underscoring the huge problem of democracy diplomacy in place of our massive energy requirements,

Columbia's strong institution of the presidency, judiciary, and central bank has allowed foreign investment capital to continuously flow towards it.
Uribe's efforts in "war on drugs" combined with neoliberalism policies has brought stability to Colombia, But the lack of development funds in diversifying farmers crops away from poppy seeds and coca plants is simply shifting the drug growers to the periphery not getting rid of them.


Brazil is South America's main economic engine and harbinger of freetrade in the region because of its huge natural resource reserve combined with its massive economy combined with its unified Brazilian ethnic diversity which spans Africans with Lebanese, with Italians, with Japanese that are the largest outside of their respective countries.
of South America's topcompanies come from Brazil, But like other globalized states there is rampant inequalities in Brazil with the bottom half unable to meet its basic needs thus creating unprecedented crime.
Brazil is the poster child of thend world,

Whereas Argentina used to be the go to South American the current distinction now goes to Chile.
It seems that Americanbacked dictatorships are a good stepping stone to market economic prosperity from Pinochet's Chile, to Suharto's Indonesia, to Attaturk's Turkey, to Ben Ali's Tunisia.
Other factors that contributes to Chile preeminence is significant German immigrant's work ethic to its present day investments in education and technology to its free trade agreements to China, US, EU, Japan, and South Korea.
It also has low corruption in its government versus openness of its trade,


MIDDLE EAST: Arabic language and Islamization are the two regional forces shaping the Arab world today.
The internet is a social activity for Arabs because Internet cafes is the preferred location where they surf.
The concept of a United Umma is more of a concept than an actual reality, Arab regimes are more concerned with stability of their respective regimes than development or democracy, thus they will just develop just enough to be relevant but not too much to destabilize their regimes.


North Africa:

The reason that that the Spring Revolution started in North Africa is due to its proximity to the Europe and thus large trade that Europe represents.
US AFRICOM was created to combat terrorist cells that sought to destabilize energy producing West African countries.
Americanbacked strong man Ben Ali produced for Tunisia women's rights, widespread literacy/ home ownership rights, and social equality that it later led to him being ousted from power.
Morocco is Europe experimentation on how to gradually liberalize an Arab country, Although still an absolute monarchy, the current King is liberalizing his country allowing political parties and dissident voices to form NGO's thus allowing it to progress.
Algeria's oil profits is its curse which has allowed the typical Arab dichotomy of military rule or Islamic fundamentalism to thrive.


Libya's Gaddafi regime clamped down on entrepreneurship but was ousted because Libyan's citizenship want freedom.


Egypt has water supply issues, Egyptian want a stable Palestine because they are straining the social service sector of Egypt similar to what illegal immigrants are doing to the US.
Being the largest Arab state and its cultural, economic, and political hub underscores the importance of it being a stable democracy like Turkey in moderating Islamic militancy.
Khanna states "Egypt is the Arab tipping point for both Islamism and democracy, " The reliance of tourism as a major part of their economy as well as true democracy will moderate Islamic extremism in Egypt.
If one combines America's democratic promotion with EU and Chinese development funds pouring into Egypt, Egypt should be well on its way to a productive modern society a la Turkey.
Mumbarak being ousted really comes from Egyptian high unemployment and young population, Good thing economic diversification was on its way before the revolution broke out,

North Africa worst case scenario is that Islamist will take over and create a totalitarian rule.
But if this happens, they will still have to focus in ruling a country rather than focusing externally toward global jihad.
Iran's restless population shows that people do not like totalitarian regimes be if fascism, communism, or Islamism.


Israeli/Palestinian issue Palestinian explosive population growth has made a Palestinian state as necessity for Israel if they want to keep their state Jewish.


Jordan Jordan is a country of stability amid the region's wars thus profiting despite its dearth of national resources except for fresh water because the Arab middle class from Palestine to Syria, to Iraq, to Syria all go to Jordan away from areas where they are prosecuted.
Like Morocco, the Jordanian monarchy is development oriented with excellent educational opportunities and inspiring a nascent IT sector.
Foreign investment is pouring in because of its political stability and reverse braindrain is occuring,

Syria Baathist socialism combined with Asad's dictatorial regime has made Syria stagnant,

Lebanon democracy masks sectarian division, Lebanon is not united over anything because of its sectarian division thus its weak state of affairs has allowed Hezbollah to be a government within a government and significant meddling of both Syria and Israel in domestic affairs.


Iraq can devolve into Lebanesetype sectarian divisions that will weaken the Iraqi state so that ignificant interference between Syria/Saudi Arabia for Sunni loyalty and Iran domestic interference for Shia loyalty may destabilize the region.
Meanwhile the Kurds will become more and more autonomous and may agitate for a greater Kurdistan, Clinton's strategy of nation building in the Balkans should have been emulated by Bush but Bush's neoconservatives did not believe in nation building so now we have a weak Iraq that may crack at any time.


Iran Iran seeks strategic freedom from foreign interference, Although Iranian youth look to America as a model in freedom, they do not like American help in pushing for democracy thus despite neoconservative criticism of Obama distancing himself from Iranian democratic movement, I believe it was the right move.
Ayatollah's revolution successes has to do more with discontent with Shah and SAVAK rather than the general population wanting an Islamic government.
Ahmadinejad was elected because of his populist appeal and anticorruption agenda of a corrupt bureaucracy, Iran will remain a regional power because of its vast oil and gas reserves that demand hungry EU and China continuously buys, a strong army funded by its oil profits and weaponry upgrade from trade with China and Russia supplies nuclear knowhow.
With a stagnant economy other than oil and increasing young unemployed population, the Islamic revolution is an anathema to the youth population of the country and looks to America as a friendly model.



Gulf States produceof global energy output thus ensuring it to be a top geopolitical player into the foreseeable future.
Becauseof Asian energy needs come from the Gulf States, a drop in demand from US will not hurt it at all.
Conversely because of the burgeoning global middle class oil and gas demand will continue to be high thus affecting the price.
Today, America provides the Gulf States security with Qatar, Bahrain, and Kuwait as main basis, The Gulf State seek US protection as barrier to Saudi Wahhabism and Iranian Shia Islamism,

Saudi Arabia Although the west loves Saudi's oil and gas reserves, we are scared by the royal family derives its legitimacy from funding Wahhabism which in turn funds Islamic militants across the world.
While Wahhabism is practiced by many Saudi's, the royal and business elite live amoral lives of loose women and material excess.
Because of theoil spike in price, the Saudi's have begun a redevelopment of much of its land thus allowing increase education and diversification of the economy.


UAE: Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the twin HK and Las Vegas of the Arab world where high finance mixes with the goto sin city character in the Arab world.
UAE proves where there is ultrastrict excess of religious interpretation, there will be excess in materialism and sexual underground as a counter force present.
Dubai workforce are basically modern day immigrant slaves, .