What is at stake is immense. Will those who believe in peaceful co-existence triumph,matching the growing economic power and wealth with a politics and culture at ease with the 21st Century?Or will the victors be those that seek to use that economic wealthto create a politics and culture more relevant to the feudal Middle Ages?Thousands of miles from here, this struggle is being played out in the suburbs of Baghdad and Beirut and the Gaza strip.But the impact of its outcome on our security and way of life will register in the core of our well-being.In fact, if I had to sum up my view of the world, I would say to you:turn your thoughts to the East. Not just to the Middle East. But to the Far East.For the first time in many centuries, power is moving East.China and India each have populations roughly double those of America and Europe combined.In the next two decades, these two countries together will undergoindustrialization four times the size of the USA's and at five times the speed.We must be mindful that as these ancient civilizations become somehow younger and more vibrant, our young civilization does not grow old.
