What Will The Next 50 Years Be Like?

A Good Half-Century And A Bad One: What Will the Next 50 Years Be Like? -- Paul Wolfowitz, The American

The world today is more secure, prosperous, and free than it was 50 years ago, but an effective Western alliance is vital if we're going to sustain that progress.

This year we begin to commemorate a series of horrific centennials — anniversaries of one of the great catastrophes of modern history, World War I.

Looking back over the century that has passed since then, the world has changed remarkably. World War I was just the first of a series of calamities that made the next 50 years without any doubt the bloodiest half-century in human history.

And yet, the last half-century has been a very different story. The world today is more secure, prosperous, and free than it was 50 years ago.

In many ways, one could say that the challenge facing the world today is how to avoid the calamities of World War I and its aftermath and to continue the progress of the last 50 years. That very progress confronts us with new challenges, particularly the challenge of incorporating a new set of powerful countries into the international system. But even though many non-Western countries are becoming increasingly important and powerful, Western leadership is still critical in this new and more complicated world.

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My Comment: I concur with Paul Wolfowitz's position that Western leadership is vital for the world to continue to progress on both the economic and political fronts .... but the costs involved in such an involvement are high .... and one has to wonder that at the end of the day .... did it make a difference and was it really worth it.