The transition from macro to micro level is one of the main (if not the main) tendency of the development of modern technical systems.

If they double down on status quo policies, their reign will eventually give way to an extended period of populist inspired economic chaos and minority scapegoating.

So even if people did have impulses towards selfishness or greed, that's not the only thing in the skull, and there are other parts of the mind that can counteract them.

But this hesitant acceptance of a certain normality in its relations with its neighbors has always been vulnerable to a sudden eruption of Russia s famously irrational derzhava an aggressive ethos that glorifies the state and asserts its strength by pouncing on weakness.

EU Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighborhood Policy Štefan Füle insists that enlargement is progressing, but the western Balkans remains a fragile region, defined by mutually antagonistic nationalisms, incomplete state formation, deep and pervasive patterns of corruption, and endemic economic mismanagement.

In fact, worsening overcapacity, together with all the many types of price distortions still in place, may push Chinese enterprises to boost production for export markets, like the United States, where protectionist tendencies are likely to intensify in 2010 and onwards.

We need a serious dialogue among civilizations in order to strengthen the culture of peace. There is a certain arrogant mindset, however, that seeks to impose its own culture by trying to marginalize other cultures, and that in turn has resulted in a movement rejecting that approach.

And economic stagnation in the West will inevitably exacerbate distrust vis à vis the rising power as the relative gains from trade diminish and defensive and even protectionist policies likely follow no matter how much China smiles at the world.