India's Rising Middle Class Competing with U.S.: Obama

WASHINGTON: As a rising middle class — from Brazil to India — competes with Americans, and as new nations embrace democracy and market economies, the U.S. has to be ready to respond to this new world order, President Barack Obama said.

"The world is changing with accelerating speed. This presents opportunity, but also new dangers," Obama said in his address to the United States Military Academy at West Point in New York state.

"We know all too well, after 9/11, just how technology and globalization has put power once reserved for states in the hands of the individual, raising the capacity of terrorists to do harm.

"Russia's aggression toward former Soviet states unnerves capitals in Europe, while China's economic rise and military reach worries its neighbors," he said.

"From Brazil to India, rising middle classes compete with our own, and governments seek a greater say in global forums," he said.

"And even as developing nations embrace democracy and market economies, 24 hour news and pervasive social media makes it impossible to ignore sectarian conflicts, failing states and popular uprisings that might have received only passing notice a generation ago," Obama said.

"It will be your generation's task to respond to this new world. The question we face — the question you will face — is not whether America will lead, but how we will lead, not just to secure our peace and prosperity, but also to extend peace and prosperity around the globe," said the U.S. President.