Color us confused. Despite occupying a position squarely at the center of the frenzied 24-hour cable news cycle, CNN’s Fareed Zakaria delivered a surprisingly upbeat keynote presentation on the state of the world and America’s role in it.
Speaking at Schwab Impact 2015 in Boston on Wednesday, the pundit, columnist and best-selling author noted the increasing influence of western values throughout the globe, noting that countries and regions as diverse as Indonesia, India, Uganda, China, Japan and the European Union have all recently elected pro-business, pro-market leaders. At the same time, he downplayed the impact Middle East strife will have on world economies.
“The Middle East is a region with roughly 300 million Arabs, yet their GDP output is the equivalent of Finland,” Zakaria said. “That means if Nokia has a particularly good year, it can outperform the entire region.”
He added by way of example that conflict in Iraq, Syria and elsewhere has had almost no effect on gas prices; indeed, they’ve fallen since the fighting began.
“This is based on two reasons. The first is with the increase in hydrocarbon fracturing technology, but there is also the fact that the world has largely already discounted the Middle East, so the shock predicted by many smart people never occurred.”
He noted America’s prominence around the world, prominence he sees increasing “as far as the eye can see.”
“Nine out of the 10 largest market-cap companies are American. It wasn’t very long ago that that was not the case. It’s the most dynamic economy in the world and dominates like no other in history.”
Turning within to domestic issues, Zakaria noted that it’s easy to wish for an idealized version of what government should be, but when compared with other government systems around the world, the United States is surprisingly good.
“Don’t worry, be happy—you’re in the United States,” he quipped.
When asked about Russia, and specifically if Putin was really a player on the world stage or merely acting the part to boost support at home, Zakaria recounted a conversation with a Russian friend.
“He said he was proud of the patriotic rhetoric he saw on the T.V., but then he would go open the refrigerator and it would be empty. In a contest between Putin and the refrigerator, the refrigerator will win every time.”