Describing the changes taking place in the world after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Henry Kissinger once declared that the unification of Germany would be more important than the integration of the European Union, the fall of the Soviet Union more important than the unification of Germany, and the rise of India and China more important than the fall of the Soviet Union.
He was right.
Since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the rise of the Asian superpowers has been the most important factor in world politics. It is also the single trend most responsible for the increasing chances that the 21st century will be less warlike than the disastrous century just past. The rise of India and China is tilting the balance of world power from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The fact that two Asian powers are rising, and not just one, may promise an extended period of peaceful development.