Middle East and Israel
My second criticism -- one that again does not overtly affect the general trend of his arguments for the future, as the 'facts' are consistent with what I am familiar with -- concerns the Middle East. Again, it becomes a matter of definition perhaps clouded by a bit of remaining imperialistic lensing that may not have been fully exorcised from Starobin's generally well presented arguments.
His positions are brief as they must be by necessity when covering all of the imperial past and the main futures but more in the 'modernist' interpretations of Bernard Lewis and others who see the Middle East as its own main problem. He indicates, "The region suffers from tribalism, sectarianism, religious fanaticism, tyranny, political corruption, poverty, and a plague of gangsters peddling narcotics and weapons." He brings up the old imperial argument about keeping order, as "no one is able to step forward to take the role that America has played in keeping at least a modicum of order in places like the Middle East." Ah, yes...hmmm...compare this to his 'global policeman' thematic criticism...and what about all the other 'tribal' areas of the world, especially Africa?
First of all the current United States' version of patriotic nationalism is really nothing more than tribalism writ large (as with all modern states). While not dominant, certainly religious fanaticism had its role in the Bush regime, and when it comes to a plague of gangsters and narcotics and weapons, well, the U.S. cannot chastise anyone on those accounts. Speaking of accounts, what about the 'banksters' and economists who have ridden the U.S. into such huge realms of debt?
Yes, the Middle East has its problems, but as per the second quote on maintaining order, it would do well of the empire to step back and get out of other people's lives and let them get on with establishing their own order (this applies to Russian and China and the U.K. as well as). Sure chaos may rule for a while, sure it may be archaic for a while, but there needs to be recognition of the U.S.' imperial role in all that 'backwardness'.
Israel is accorded its rightful place. There is not a discussion of Palestine per se (some topics by necessity cannot be covered) but a very concise statement about the U.S.' relationship with Israel,
"It is understood everywhere in the Middle East, and beyond, that the Jewish state has the status of being an informal protectorate of America....It is generally considered good politics for a presidential candidate to play up U.S. support for Israel."
Back to the future
There are many other smaller points of conjecture that arise in Starobin's arguments, some surprising, some ordinary, but all are well supported. For anyone who considers themself a futurist or interested in what is coming next, it is a wonderful book to start with. It is neither apocalypse nor rapture but a well-paced, concise practical look at where we all might be headed into the middle of the current century. After America is a strong work for its concise summaries, strong support of futuristic arguments, informative, challenging, accessible, and entertaining.
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