Islam's Response to Contemporary Issues — Page 171
Economic Peace 171 The sense of security that was once enjoyed by the weaker countries of the world because of the rivalries between the super- powers and any chance of the poorer nations benefiting from the thawing of the cold war will fast fade out. There is going to be much greater and more earnest competition between the USA, Russia and the rest of Europe to win, monopolise and secure the markets of the Third World countries. Japan will no longer be the only serious rival to America. A new Europe emerging out of the rapid growth of the European Community and the prospective participation of Eastern Europe in a larger common market will pose a far more formidable competition to America than the rival states of Europe. The teeming millions of East Europe and Russia are looking forward to and stand in dire need of raising their living standards. Merely the rehabilitation of a closed market would not be sufficient to meet this tall order, which is likely to grow taller with the passage of time. The dire necessity of external markets to support the rising living standards in East Europe and Russia may be met by the E. C. , America and Japan. It offers little hope for the Third World countries—a bleak picture indeed for the Third World—much more so for the less fortunate people of Africa. The politicians of the economically and politically advanced nations of the world are far more concerned by the capitalist economic revolution taking place in the Far East—Japan, South Korea, Formosa, Hong Kong and Singapore. It seems that the distance between the Far East and the West is being bridged over the heads of many less fortunate Asian countries Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.