US talk of isolation jars with growing links in Europe and Asia

"WATCH the ball!" - coaches often shout. No matter if the player is defending against an opponent in a team game, or is receiving from a pitcher in baseball, or is paired up in a doubles tennis match - all these players are urged to watch the ball, not the antics of the rival. Watch the ball, not the man - for the "men" cast meaningful glances and alter their body stance as a subterfuge: it's the ball that counts.

I worry about the United States as Americans seem to have only one thing in view - their presidential elections. Their voting day is far off - Nov 8 - but the candidates have been mesmerising the public with their belligerent words, tone and gesticulations. All the time, the frontrunners give the impression that if they win, and become president, they will close down the nation, erect barriers and ignore the rest of the world.

From its earliest days, the US supported people who had fled from Europe to a new freer land; yet successive presidents supported isolationism, even up to James Monroe, the fifth president, the last of the Founding Fathers, who determined in 1823 ". . . in the wars of the European powers, in matters relating to themselves, we have never taken part, nor does it comport with our policy, so to do". Nowadays, their "eyes are off the ball"!