HONOLULU -- I am often asked why our think tank is located in Hawaii. Apart from the sun, sand, sea and surf, there is a very good reason: The world looks very different from Honolulu. We're parked in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Tokyo is a lot closer than Washington, D.C. When we look out over the horizon, it's Asia that shapes and dominates our thinking.
Don't get me wrong; there are lots of people in the U.S. capital who know a lot about Asia. The Bush administration in particular has an unprecedented number of Asia hands in senior positions. But the mind-set in Washington is still Atlanticist in orientation. The tendency is to see the world through a European filter.
That makes sense. Core U.S. interests traditionally have been situated in Europe. Europe has been America's preferred interlocutor for international engagement. Most diplomats and academics cut their teeth on European studies or strategic studies that focused on Europe. Europe has provided the logic, history and paradigm for intellectual understanding of the world.
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