Dear Friends,
A brilliant 18 minute TED Talk, Is war between China and the US inevitable?, was presented just over a month ago, and it’s already had over 1.8 million hits.
The subject: whether the US will resort to war that will go global … as China becomes the world hegemon within the next few years. Across the centuries, there have been 16 times when one nation rose and another fell from power; a massive war occurred in 12 of them, killing millions of ordinary citizens.
Graham Allison, eminent Professor of Political Science at John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and part of the “Establishment,” explains the phenomenal miracle occurring in China which at this moment, shortens the very notion of America’s No.1 place in the world. This YouTube SHOCKS the senses, both in how fast China is rising and how soon this change of power will take place.
Allison provides no magic bullets. He coolly presents the world’s history with such circumstances and then questions how a US-China war (that would be the last on planet earth) could be avoided … and whether we will be aware enough to search for ways to live constructively with this rapidly escalating situation?
Are our leaders and politicians aware of Allison’s computations? I think not since they spend their time, energy and money trying to interfere with Russia’s rise in the world.
I believe that Allison’s YouTube could break through the “asleep-at-the-wheel” consciousness in mainstream America today: that is, if it gets enough coverage in mainstream media, as well as on the Internet. There is no hype in his presentation, it’s plainly put forward, even youngsters could understand his message and graphs.
Fortunately, the warning is about China … he doesn’t even mention the rise in Russia.
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives
PS: Waiting until after Christmas and Hanukkah to send this Ted Talk may be better. But every American whether Democrat, Republican or Independent needs to watch this YouTube soon for a reality check.
BTW, yesterday I turned from channel to channel to learn what America is getting from its main source of information, TV. It’s easy to see why the average Joe and Mary across the country believe that we Americans are insulated from the dramas going on across the world. This must end. How? We all have numerous email contacts. If our TV screens aren’t going to give this type of information, we must send it out as broadly as possible.
We greatly need an informed public in order to survive … and it starts with us.