One World
We cannot avoid seeing it as a whole.
Flying under the radar are the debt finance crises in many countries that are at the mercy of international lenders. States that have a large and diverse manufacturing base can sustain high levels of foreign debt. Their relative dependence upon foreign exchange currencies is low since their productivity (manufacturing and agriculture) is less dependent upon inputs from foreign sources.
For much of the world, however, economic activity grinds to a stop when a country cannot afford to import critical component materials to maintain infrastructure, manufacturing and pay for labor and supplies in the health and education sectors.
There is a vicious domino effect from such dependency. States that cannot service high level foreign debt suffer higher levels of government weakness, civil unrest and are in danger of becoming failed states, susceptible to armed conflict and social disintegration.
While it is relevant for explanation to cite high levels of corruption and the uncertainties of international trade (and perhaps the predatory lending of government and non-government actors) as leading to this crisis, any search for a solution to the resultant threats to global security must consider “the now” and not rely on calls for “accountability.”
For we are at a point where putting a stop to past practices is not enough to ensure a new order of global stability. The horses, that is, are out of the barn.
I am concerned about this, as it is likely that our limited understanding of this crisis, in a world facing so many other crises, will lead us down the path of condemnation and lack of concern. “Let them reap what they have sown, etc.”
If we act as if these are simply their problems brought upon themselves, we are again failing to see the world as a unavoidably related whole, not separable into isolated parts (called nations) and for more than was the case with the original American thirteen colonies, destined to “all hang separately if not able to hang together.” The key word here is all, even the one’s with high walls and lots of guns.