Quite Obviously Power Will Continue To Play

In The Coming Decades, Questions Of Identity, Meaning Cultural Heritage, Language, And Religion Will Play A Central Role In Politics.

Also, Of Course, For Most Of This Time Most Americans Thought Of America As A White Country With, At Best, Only A Very Segregated And Subordinate Role For Blacks.

Israel Has Military Capabilities Including Nuclear Weapons, Far Surpassing Any Other Power In The Middle East, But It's A Small Country. The Rest Of The Middle Eastern Peoples Are Muslim And Israelis Are Not, So It Is Hardly In Any Position To Become The Leading Power.

I Think In Theory, The United States Finds It Much Easier To Deal With Situations Where There Is A Leading Country. You Can Go To The Leaders Of That Country And Say, For Example, To India, "there Are All These Problems In Bangladesh, We Really Have To Do Something About It, What Do You Suggest We Can Do To Work Out A Common Policy?" But When You Don't Have The Equivalent Of India, You Have To Go Capital To Capital Trying To Put Together A Coalition, Which Is Extraordinarily Difficult, Especially In The Arab World, Because Of The Historic Rivalries And Branches Of Islam.

The Question Really Is What Will Be The Central Focus Of Global Politics In The Coming Decades And My Argument Is That Cultural Identities And Cultural Antagonisms And Affiliations Will Play Not The Only Role But A Major Role.