The Spectator

Letters | 1 December 2007

Readers respond to recent articles in The Spectator

issue 01 December 2007

New world order

Sir: Poor old Irwin Stelzer is stuck in an Atlantico-centric world in which the main debate is still about choosing between Europe and America and deciding which side of the Atlantic Ocean is top dog (‘The Special Relationship is between Washington and Brussels’, 24 November).

When will Washington, or Brussels, grasp that this world has now disappeared? Power and influence have now moved away from the Atlantic powers and in three new directions — to a billion or more participants in the world wide web, to two billion-plus new capitalists in Asia and to the lands of the petrodollars — the latter two now generating most of the world’s savings and exporting the capital which drives the planet’s economy (and buys up our assets).

British foreign policy now has to tune into these entirely new networks of which, incidentally, the transcontinental, trans-north-south, multifaith Commonwealth will be an increasingly useful and important element.

Comments

Join the debate for just $5 for 3 months

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for $5.

Already a subscriber? Log in