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Simeon Mitropolitski is a Canadian analyst, of Bulgarian origin, and a former syndicated columnist with the Bulgarian News Agency (BTA). He is the author of several hundred articles dealing with hot political and economic topics, both national and international.

He was part of the first group of Bulgarian intellectuals and students that began the opposition movement that finally put an end to the communist regime in this country in 1989, and in 1996-1997 participated in international observation teams during the elections in several Balkan countries - Romania, Albania and Bulgaria.

In 2002 Simeon and his family moved from Bulgaria to Canada where they live now in Montreal, province of Quebec. Simeon is a Master of Political Science from McGill University and a B.A. of Political Science and History.

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Many thoughts came to me looking at the Asian natural disaster that put end of so many lives. Many of them found echo in myriad of web-blogs, media and independent analysts around the world. There isn't need to repeat them all. What's important to me now is to understand if this tragedy has made the world closer and more united than before December 26. As comparisons I'll use two events from my lifetime, the Ethiopian famine of 1984 and the Terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001.

1984 was exceptional year not because of the Orwell's anti-utopian prophecy but because it showed international solidarity unmatched earlier in times of peace. Millions in developed countries were able to see millions in one developing country going to die from starvation. In the age of TV it wasn't possible to deny existence and scope of the African tragedy. The Western aid was wide-ranging uniting governments, private companies and individuals. For the communist block the aid was strictly governmental and as little as possible. For most of the remaining world the Ethiopian famine was a non-event. American and European rock singers recorded "We are the World". If such one world really existed it was only a product of western public opinion so dear to the constructivist philosophers.

The first real planetary event was 9/11/2001. Unlike Ethiopia in 1984 there were no countries pretending to stay indifferent. For days and even weeks this was the main topic of any conversation and speech, private and public. The world seemed united, but this was only a superficial perception. The interest of the event was common, but the attitudes widely differed from country to country. The Westerners mourned the victims. On the other extreme Palestinians (as shown on CNN) cheered the news. Between these extremes there were all shades of gray. 9/11 didn't unite the world; it just showed its internal contradictions.

Will the devastating tsunami in Asia produce one world mentality? Unfortunately the reactions during the first week show we're far from that goal. The Western compassion was even stronger than in 1984. Some say this is due to the more sophisticated technologies like Internet and videophones. People could see on their screens disaster unfolding almost instantly. Their help if it's money could also reach the disaster areas almost instantly. Thus the sense that the world gets smaller and more familiar is real. Around the world the interest varied from "much concern" to "little concern". It would be unfair to put equation sign between the wealth of a nation and its response. Many rather poor nations made at least symbolic gestures of solidarity. Other rather rich governments concentrated their efforts only of bringing back their nationals from devastated countries. It isn't only about the governmental reaction. In some countries like the United States governmental share is traditionally modest compared to private donations. In some other countries there were almost no private donations to compensate for the modest state compassion.

Simply browsing different national media shows how various reactions may be. For some it makes headlines for a week, for others it's no more than a means to fill empty news spaces during the holidays. Asian tsunami wasn't enough to make us feel like one world and stand above our conflicts that seem so ridiculous facing these deaths and destructions. How big the next disaster should be to make us change our mentality?

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