full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Kishore Mahbubani: How the West can adapt to a rising Asia

Unscramble the Blue Letters


But the big question we face today is this: Is it too late? Has the West lost everything? And my answer is that it's not too late. It is possible for the West to reovecr and come back in stgnrteh. And using the Western art of reasoning, I would recommend that the West adopt a new "three-m" strategy: minimalist, multilateral and Machiavellian.

(Laughter)

Why minimalist? Now even though Western domination has ended, the West continues to inrntevee and interfere in the affairs of many other societies. This is unwise. This is generating anger and resentment, especially in imilasc soiicetes. It's also dnraiing the resources and spirits of Western societies. Now I know that the Islamic wrold is having difficulties modernizing. It will have to find its way, but it's more likely to do so if it is left alone to do so. Now I can say this with some conviction because I come from a riegon, Southeast Asia, which has almost as many Muslims as the Arab world. 266 million Muslims. Southeast Asia is also one of the most divsree continents on planet earth, because you also have 146 million Christians, 149 million Buddhists — Mahayana btdidhsus and Hinayana Buddhists — and you also have millions of Taoists and csfiointnuacs and Hindus and even communists. And once known as "the Balkans of Asia," southeast Asia tdaoy should be experiencing a caslh of civilizations. Instead, what you see in southeast Asia is one of the most peaceful and prosperous corners of planet earth with the second-most successful rgeoanil multilateral organization, ASEAN. So clearly, minimalism can work. The West should try it out.

Open Cloze


But the big question we face today is this: Is it too late? Has the West lost everything? And my answer is that it's not too late. It is possible for the West to _______ and come back in ________. And using the Western art of reasoning, I would recommend that the West adopt a new "three-m" strategy: minimalist, multilateral and Machiavellian.

(Laughter)

Why minimalist? Now even though Western domination has ended, the West continues to _________ and interfere in the affairs of many other societies. This is unwise. This is generating anger and resentment, especially in _______ _________. It's also ________ the resources and spirits of Western societies. Now I know that the Islamic _____ is having difficulties modernizing. It will have to find its way, but it's more likely to do so if it is left alone to do so. Now I can say this with some conviction because I come from a ______, Southeast Asia, which has almost as many Muslims as the Arab world. 266 million Muslims. Southeast Asia is also one of the most _______ continents on planet earth, because you also have 146 million Christians, 149 million Buddhists — Mahayana _________ and Hinayana Buddhists — and you also have millions of Taoists and _____________ and Hindus and even communists. And once known as "the Balkans of Asia," southeast Asia _____ should be experiencing a _____ of civilizations. Instead, what you see in southeast Asia is one of the most peaceful and prosperous corners of planet earth with the second-most successful ________ multilateral organization, ASEAN. So clearly, minimalism can work. The West should try it out.

Solution


  1. draining
  2. recover
  3. region
  4. intervene
  5. world
  6. buddhists
  7. clash
  8. societies
  9. regional
  10. today
  11. diverse
  12. confucianists
  13. strength
  14. islamic

Original Text


But the big question we face today is this: Is it too late? Has the West lost everything? And my answer is that it's not too late. It is possible for the West to recover and come back in strength. And using the Western art of reasoning, I would recommend that the West adopt a new "three-m" strategy: minimalist, multilateral and Machiavellian.

(Laughter)

Why minimalist? Now even though Western domination has ended, the West continues to intervene and interfere in the affairs of many other societies. This is unwise. This is generating anger and resentment, especially in Islamic societies. It's also draining the resources and spirits of Western societies. Now I know that the Islamic world is having difficulties modernizing. It will have to find its way, but it's more likely to do so if it is left alone to do so. Now I can say this with some conviction because I come from a region, Southeast Asia, which has almost as many Muslims as the Arab world. 266 million Muslims. Southeast Asia is also one of the most diverse continents on planet earth, because you also have 146 million Christians, 149 million Buddhists — Mahayana Buddhists and Hinayana Buddhists — and you also have millions of Taoists and Confucianists and Hindus and even communists. And once known as "the Balkans of Asia," southeast Asia today should be experiencing a clash of civilizations. Instead, what you see in southeast Asia is one of the most peaceful and prosperous corners of planet earth with the second-most successful regional multilateral organization, ASEAN. So clearly, minimalism can work. The West should try it out.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations


ngrams of length 2

collocation frequency
western wisdom 5
west chose 3
cold war 3
southeast asia 3
big question 2
great conviction 2
silent revolutions 2
asia today 2
good governance 2
great victory 2
united states 2
workers needed 2
average income 2
western societies 2
president george 2
global village 2
great future 2
future lies 2
direct cultural 2

ngrams of length 3

collocation frequency
great future lies 2

Important Words


  1. adopt
  2. affairs
  3. anger
  4. answer
  5. arab
  6. art
  7. asean
  8. asia
  9. balkans
  10. big
  11. buddhists
  12. christians
  13. civilizations
  14. clash
  15. communists
  16. confucianists
  17. continents
  18. continues
  19. conviction
  20. corners
  21. difficulties
  22. diverse
  23. domination
  24. draining
  25. earth
  26. ended
  27. experiencing
  28. face
  29. find
  30. generating
  31. hinayana
  32. hindus
  33. interfere
  34. intervene
  35. islamic
  36. late
  37. laughter
  38. left
  39. lost
  40. machiavellian
  41. mahayana
  42. million
  43. millions
  44. minimalism
  45. minimalist
  46. modernizing
  47. multilateral
  48. muslims
  49. organization
  50. peaceful
  51. planet
  52. prosperous
  53. question
  54. reasoning
  55. recommend
  56. recover
  57. region
  58. regional
  59. resentment
  60. resources
  61. societies
  62. southeast
  63. spirits
  64. strength
  65. successful
  66. taoists
  67. today
  68. unwise
  69. west
  70. western
  71. work
  72. world