Okay, so we haven't exactly reset our calendars to Year One, anno whatever. But 9-11 did change enough of the US, and its worldview, to worry about the economic landscape.

To begin with, what was the attack really on-America, Capitalism or Freedom? All three, Americans have concluded, especially those who see the US dollar bill's Eagle as a three-in-one symbol. The pity is that they neglect the fourth part of the American prosperity formula that the Eagle is meant to symbolise: immigration. Or rather, the power of information and ideas (best imported, as Silicon Valley does) as economic boosters. If reports of heightened xenophobia are true, then the US is sliding into the very trap it ought to fear most. The recent demonisation of Big Business, support for Big Government, disregard for Civil Liberties, jumpy airport guards, return of identity consciousness and even the inability to laugh at one's own foibles-are all bad signs.

Much economic damage has already been done. India, for example, has had to suffer the ugly fallout of subcontinental uncertainty, with the theatre of violence shifting to Asia. Fear tends to paralyse investment.

Now, worse could come, hurting economies worldwide. With oil prices heading up, the US budget surplus vanishing, accounting scandals surfacing and dollar assets losing appeal, the US economy might enter a second recessionary dip. The first dip, of course, started almost a whole year before 9-11, an indication that the link is far from direct. Wall Street sensed trouble six months even before that.

That complicates life for the US. Even hawks realise that an enlightened strategy would deliver better results than a simplistic Clash-of-Civilisations response.

In the non-US-centric analysis, 9-11 was not an attack on America, Capitalism or Freedom at all, but on a superpower reckoned to be so militarily vain and intellectually deficient that it could be provoked into a reckless fury that would serve the attackers' domino purposes-of portraying Uncle Sam as a US-made monster laying claim to supernatural authority, of thus inflaming 'street' anger in West and Central Asia, and then of overthrowing the whole set of regional regimes (particularly those rich in oil and uranium).

As a calculated bid for consolidated power, it was as shocking in its audacity as its ruthlessness. If it failed, goes the theory, it was partly because the US was cautious, and partly because 9-11 was a last-gasp strike; the attackers had already been divested of their self-made halos by the influence of modernity.

Make no mistake, the tension still runs high. The US still feels oil-insecure. The fairness of its leadership is under question. Peace in Asia remains fragile. So too the world economy. The world still needs to defuse a potential conflagration that could end up igniting all those hydrocarbons et al, or devastating the world economy just on the fear of such a holocaust.

America's best option, perhaps, is to make foreign policy a function of consistent principles, rather than oil realpolitik (as exemplified by the Great Game in Central Asia). What's self-evident to US citizens ought to be self-evident to others too. This would mean working towards a convergence of ideals, with the world saying 'No' to anyone trying to place himself (or his control tools) beyond accountability to the world's people. It would also mean granting a stake in US-led globalisation to as many constituencies as possible.

Granted that if the US is to lead the world, it can't shirk the tough jobs. But military intervention wouldn't work if the world's people don't see it as justified. Miscalculations could prove costly.

India, for its part, needs to insulate its economy from regional havoc. The country has suffered already, forcing it to stake a play in the Great Game by setting up a small Tajik military base. Now, a lowering of subcontinental risks could give the economy just the relief it needs to get into revival mode. What India needs most is the spirit of a peace treaty that is global in scope, based not on egos but on principles applicable to all.