The Mother of All Super Powers

END OF HISTORY: Rethinking superpower in the 21st century

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THOMAS FRIEDMAN Three-time Pulitzer winner & author

Covid-19 struck its most devastating blow at the heart of the United States. The US, with over 700,000 deaths and counting (nearly twice India’s toll), continues to be the country most affected by the pandemic. The world superpower was suddenly left vulnerable. For Pulitzer prize winning author and columnist Thomas Friedman, Mother Nature was the victor, the sole superpower. Friedman had famously said 15 years ago that the world was flat because it had created a telecommunications platform where more people in more places could collaborate, compete and connect in more ways than before. The pandemic for him was another defining moment for this flat world. It exposed countries that did not have good healthcare systems and the politics to enable collaboration. But it also showed that the world is getting flatter—more digitised and hence more fused.