World in transition to Asia's century says Tom Glocer

"…it does feel to me as if we are living through the transition from America’s century (20th) to Asia’s century (21st). (Europe’s century was obviously the 19th),” he writes in his latest blog posting. “Despite all our challenges, I remain optimistic about the United States. Sure we need to begin living within our means and not treating the roofs over heads as a revolving credit facility, but the productive and innovative capacity of the country is still great and Asia’s rise need not be a zero sum game. Nonetheless, America’s reign as the world’s only superpower will have been short-lived."

He added: “Don’t count out the Gulf. While Dubai’s current problems are well known, it would be wrong to conclude that Abu Dhabi, Qatar and Bahrain are all one large palm-shaped sand bar stretching into the sea. Anyone for the 22nd being Africa’s century with the Gulf its major trading hub?"

In India, Glocer told an interviewer that Thomson Reuters is moving more international jobs to India and other Asian nations as the developed world is still emerging from the worst recession after the credit crisis.

Glocer wrote his blog on the long way home to New York from a 12-day end-of-year trip to Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. "While Asia and the Gulf are regular destinations for me, I seldom try to cover this much ground in such little time,” he noted. “Fun for the aging body it is not." ■