The ‘Second World’ is a book which I had recently read (Its new paperback edition) authored by Parag Khanna, a fellow with the New America Foundation. I had got hooked to his writing by watching his TED Talk, which I thought was a fascinating and a refreshing take on the Post-Soviet Geopolitics and its ramifications on the developing world power dynamics. Its a book on the Developing World, Globalization and the geopolitical chess-game for the hearts, minds and markets of the developing world. The book covers Central Asia, South East Asia and Latin America comprehensively. The books USP is its honesty and ‘no holds barred’ approach to analysing power dynamics. The analysis of the politics of the Arab World is a note-worthy mention as well.

The author is very impressed with Singaporean way of Governance (I second him on this point completely) and completely omits India and Pakistan out of this purview of research. The book’s approach is very meticulous in its details and filled with quips and anecdotes which makes it a fun read.

The book is a relevant read even after two years of its publication.

On this Christmas day, lets remember why is Christmas is Christmas…it is because Jesus Christ of Nazareth was born as a symbol of hope and love for his people. Christmas has been turned into a day where the retail industry has a field day- with all shopping and the dining (well, drinking in some parts of the world)…Christmas and the holiday season has been a time period for economic vibrancy creating part-time and temporary jobs  as well as tourism dependent economies depend on this time of the year for a financial short in the arm.

On this Christmas lets remember the resource poor but spirit rich cousins in our backyard, our kampung or our community. Lets buy someone dinner, lets buy a gift for the elderly and more importantly lets spend some valued time with our loved ones in this rat race called work-life.

Lets have a Christmas to remember!