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A recent Budapest conference celebrating the causes of the nineties East European revolution and discussing the Arab Springs in perspective threw up interesting thoughts from several prominent thinkers , civil rights activists, politicians and businessmen from Aryeh Neier to George Soros as reported by Reuters.
We are slowly moving into a strange situation where nobody is firmly in control . After the cold war era the US was in the driving seat for over two decades. With a strong Europe giving sustained support firmly behind the US and the Russian block rapidly disintegrating, the world was coasting ahead steadily under the US leadership considering democracy and capitalism as the cherished goals.
However the unchallenged supremacy brought about complacency and a sense of invincibility in both the US and Europe. Loose monetary practices and a wayward financial system found them getting rapidly into debt. This debt was gladly financed by a rapidly growing China under military dictatorship wanting to expand its manufacturing base. Soon China kept investing its export surplus in the US and Europe making these economies less and less competitive.
Today Greece, the Euro-zone economies and the Libyan war are draining the western block of its limited resources. Nobody is sure if the Western recipe is a success as China is creating prosperity and making more friends by careful investment than the Western alliance is by entering into new and bloody gun battles.
Also discussed was the technology empowered revolution and the impact of diverse information source on governance. The second dominant thought here was that whereas technology it made easier to rebel, governance becomes more difficult. What they forgot to mention is that is the case today due to lack of transparency in most walks of life be it in the financial markets of a democratic society or the governance issues of a dictatorial regime. Technology can't differentiate and highlights the drawbacks of every system without bias.
Investment wizard Soros was right to point out that revolutions are rarely successful initially and take time
to mature. He talked about the failed Budapest revolution of 1956 that finally succeeded thirty three years later in 1989 and prophesied that the Arab Springs may be a long drawn affair.
A recent Budapest conference celebrating the causes of the nineties East European revolution and discussing the Arab Springs in perspective threw up interesting thoughts from several prominent thinkers , civil rights activists, politicians and businessmen from Aryeh Neier to George Soros as reported by Reuters.
We are slowly moving into a strange situation where nobody is firmly in control . After the cold war era the US was in the driving seat for over two decades. With a strong Europe giving sustained support firmly behind the US and the Russian block rapidly disintegrating, the world was coasting ahead steadily under the US leadership considering democracy and capitalism as the cherished goals.
However the unchallenged supremacy brought about complacency and a sense of invincibility in both the US and Europe. Loose monetary practices and a wayward financial system found them getting rapidly into debt. This debt was gladly financed by a rapidly growing China under military dictatorship wanting to expand its manufacturing base. Soon China kept investing its export surplus in the US and Europe making these economies less and less competitive.
Today Greece, the Euro-zone economies and the Libyan war are draining the western block of its limited resources. Nobody is sure if the Western recipe is a success as China is creating prosperity and making more friends by careful investment than the Western alliance is by entering into new and bloody gun battles.
Also discussed was the technology empowered revolution and the impact of diverse information source on governance. The second dominant thought here was that whereas technology it made easier to rebel, governance becomes more difficult. What they forgot to mention is that is the case today due to lack of transparency in most walks of life be it in the financial markets of a democratic society or the governance issues of a dictatorial regime. Technology can't differentiate and highlights the drawbacks of every system without bias.
Investment wizard Soros was right to point out that revolutions are rarely successful initially and take time
to mature. He talked about the failed Budapest revolution of 1956 that finally succeeded thirty three years later in 1989 and prophesied that the Arab Springs may be a long drawn affair.
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