Avoiding conflict is good for business (and just about everything else)

It isn't easy to be an optimist these days (see my tag line on the banner), but I persevere. For New Years Day this paragraph jumped out at me from The global clash of emotions by
Dominique Moïsi. The date is December 14 so it took the Arts and Letters Daily sleuths over two weeks to find it amidst the detritus of the Old Year, but here it is. As they say, read the whole thing.

As the West and the Middle East lock horns, confidence in progress has been moving eastward. After two centuries of relative decline, China is recovering its legitimate international status. Its policy of concentrating on economic development while avoiding conflict seems to be earning Beijing both material benefits and international respect. As for India, for the first time in its modern history it has stepped onto the world stage as both an independent and an important power. Difficulties abound for both, but the optimism today is real and seems likely to last as long as growth continues.

European & American myopia notwithstanding, the world is bigger than East and West. A new center of gravity is emerging. It's too soon to say, but the new paradigm might be the Edges against the Middle. Just thinking out loud...