•While you call it the post-American world, you see millions of people around the world shedding tears when they watch Obama giving his victory speech. The American virus infects the whole world’s financial and economic system. The global economy will not improve unless the American economy recovers. So, it’s not exactly a post-American world.

As I keep saying, America remains the central power. But if you think about the Obama thing, I think you are absolutely right. It’s a global phenomenon and it may be a story of both America’s importance and the extraordinary nature of communication. We really have become one planet in that we were all watching this one election at the same time. Your TV channels were all there. But what I am talking about is the hard issue of power. You appreciate this, Shekhar. The issue is can you make other countries do what you want them to. And I say that on that crucial dimension, it is not an American world anymore, it is the post-American world. If the US wants to change the outcome in Afghanistan today, it will find that it cannot do it on its own. If it wants to change the outcome in a lasting way in Iraq, it will need to involve the neighbours, including Iran. If it wants to change the global financial system, it will need China. Take that one country. If the US doesn’t get cooperation from China on the global economy, it is impossible to do anything. Now that’s a very different world from 10 years ago. When the Asian economic crisis happened, Washington issued fiat after fiat, dictating to the world what it should do. That world is gone.

... contd.