The unexpected has struck, and for unexpected reasons. In Japan, the roots of the revolutions now taking hold in many nations in the Middle East could be described with the expression, "If the wind blows, the bucket-makers prosper," meaning that events can bring about effects in unforeseen ways. One might also turn to the "butterfly effect," a term from chaos theory used to describe how small changes in a complex environment can result in major consequences elsewhere.
The term "butterfly effect" is taken from perhaps the most famous illustration of chaos theory in action: the butterfly that flaps its wings in the Amazon, triggering a series of small but crucial atmospheric events that result in a tornado in Texas. In the case of the Middle Eastern revolutionary movements, the "butterfly" could be the easing of monetary policy in the United States.
The revolutionary winds -- which have blown down dictatorial regimes in Tunisia and Egypt, and are now gusting in Libya, Bahrain and Iran -- have shown no sign of slowing down.
The U.S. aim of loosening domestic monetary policy was certainly not to inspire democratic uprisings in the Middle East. The only goal the Federal Reserve had was to juice up the U.S. economy by boosting the money supply. Central banks in Japan and Europe are also doing similar things. However, the currencies of the rich, industrialized countries flow all over the world, and have spurred price spikes in basic commodities like food and oil felt particularly keenly by the people of less wealthy nations.
Egyptians celebrate the news of the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, who handed control of the country to the military, in front of the Egyptian museum at night in Tahrir Square in downtown Cairo, Egypt Friday, Feb. 11, 2011. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
World Bank President Robert B. Zoellick recently stated that average global food prices have reached dangerously high levels, and one of the issues that have brought people onto Middle Eastern streets by their hundreds of thousands is undoubtedly the impact these high prices are having on the daily lives of ordinary citizens in the region. The power of money on the global stage is increasing, and as it bounces from one corner of the world to another in the blink of an eye -- or, more accurately, trader's keystroke -- it leaves trouble in its wake.
This is what "globalism" is, apparently. However, just how far-reaching its effects will be is impossible to see. The meeting of G20 finance ministers which recently wrapped up in Paris tried to put together ideas on exactly what monetary globalism is and how to manage it -- and failed, it would seem.
According to expert opinion, the anxiety felt by G20 finance ministers relates not only to what is happening in the Islamic world but also to inflation in China. As the engine of world growth, if the Chinese economy goes off the rails, it will take the global economy with it -- and U.S. consumers are a major source of fuel for the Chinese engine.
And so the eyes of the world turn to the thunder of the U.S. money presses; a butterfly flaps its wings in the Federal Reserve, and a revolutionary tornado strikes Tunis, Cairo, Tripoli and beyond. ("Yoroku," a front-page column in the Mainichi Shimbun)
