On seeing "the next two decades as perhaps the most crucial in human history"

I am an advocate for more Mandarin and study abroad in China programs for public schools. I see the US-China relationship as the central strategic issue of this century. And that we should be doing much, much more to make that relationship as good as possible (without closing our eyes to any of the components issues in that relationship). I share the view of strategist Tom Barnett (and consider myself one of his minor followers).  Barnett now writes (on this issue) that he sees "the next two decades as perhaps the most crucial in human history." I agree. It's why I get impatient and frustrated with our educational, business and political leaders who don't see this issue and do nothing.

From Barnett's blog post "Another mention in People's Daily.com" (here):

I get asked a lot:  does anybody push for Sino-American strategic alliance in the US like you do?  And I always say, in terms of the strategic thinking community, no.  Some, like Niall Ferguson, speak about the symbiotic nature that already exists, but more as a symptom than as a basis for larger cooperation.  The reason why I push on this is that, like I argued in China Security (see just below) back in 2008, my logic of global integration and globalization's advance says this relationship must be or globalization essentially goes backward, something I don't think the planet could handle in many ways, because the sheer numbers involved in an emerging global middle class mean we've reached that all-sink-or-all-swim-together moment--resource- and cooperation-wise.  Knowing my timeline on the inevitability of political pluralism in China (I target a late 2020s/early 2030s as the rough half-century mark after Deng's initial revolutionary reforms), I then see the next two decades as perhaps the most crucial in human history--as in, get the big pieces right and all works out, but set the two biggest pieces against one another, and this can all go very badly--and backwards.

So I'm comfortable being perceived as too out-there and a bit naive on this subject, because I know I'll see the day when this logic comes to pass, and I'll be on the right side of history--betting on improvements and compromise and cooperation over degradation and ultimatums and conflict.

I told the teachers unions, who do not support my high school study abroad program proposal, that they were on the wrong side of history, and that future historians would so note. They just do not get it or understand (and don't seem to want to).