TW: Have posted in the past regarding how the election of Obama and just as importantly the passing of the W. Bush Administration shifts the focus somewhat from how the U.S. has "failed" to address to world problems to how the rest of the world needs to step up as well.
From Bowring at Int'l Herald Tribune:
"...It has long been an article of faith in much of Asia, and China in particular, that for all the U.S. talk of being a multi-racial, melting-pot country, in reality it was run by and for white people. Non-whites were a sporting and entertainment sideshow.
To say the least, that perception will need radical revision, which in turn raises question marks over race-based policies pursued in several East Asian countries. By implication it asks questions about a Han civilization obsessed with China's failure to deal fairly and effectively with Tibetan, Uighur and other minorities.
It may also make the Chinese think twice about their own ingrained attitudes to black and brown people. For Japan and Korea, it highlights the failure of policies of racial exclusiveness which make the immigration of people without Japanese or Korean ancestry extremely difficult, with the result that with their very low birth rates, their populations are headed for steep decline.
It puts into focus the increasingly grotesque nature of Malaysia's policy of preferences for Malays, originally designed to bring about economic equality, but which has become a system of dominance over Chinese and Indian minorities...
There is no mileage for the United States in lecturing others about their records on racial or dynastic politics...But the profound impact that the United States has had in the past and can have again merely by setting an example should not be forgotten even at this time when its economy is badly wounded and the limits of its military power exposed..."
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/11/06/opinion/edbowring.php
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