We have all heard of the oft repeated adage “Money is root of all evils.” So can this vicious master be tamed and used for something as elusive as “World peace”?

Sounds quite quixotic and farfetched now, doesn’t it? If you are sane enough you wouldn’t obviously let your friend drown who owes you 10 grand and as a teenager you wouldn’t rebel against your parents lest they cut your money supply. Yeah, yeah there are exceptions but who cares, having studied mathematics you understand the power of assumptions. On a factual level this all played part in rise of Germany post WW1. In a lopsided treaty of Versailles Germany was forced to pay reparations totaling 132 billion Marks. Germany had no option but to hyperinflate, which in layman terms wasn’t good for Allies who had no options but to support their good friends in Deutschland.

Everything was hunky dory until certain Mr Fuhrer arrived on the scene, but that’s something for another day. Point being the familiar foes can be transformed into friends when self-interest is involved, and what better motivator than ‘money’. You could argue this was all before full blown capitalism, but this is even better with countries linked to each other like never before. What stops belligerent China from attacking a rather diminutive Japan (compared to its military might prior to WW2) over energy rich islands of Senkaku/Diaoyu? There could be multitude reasons but major being a number in excess of $ 300billion.That is the amount of bilateral trade between Asian giants in dollar terms.

North Korea for all its war rhetoric won’t probably do a thing because major source of its income is from foreign aid and inbound hard currency from South Korea and China. But then again it’s ‘North Korea’. When the countries are linked through a web of money then there is much more to lose when there is disruption in ties and it certainly affects investor sentiments. That doesn’t mean that this web is panacea and would solve all the problems under the sun but it would certainly help in a big way. Certainly paper/plastic (as you wish to perceive) is mightier than sword. So when the next time issue of India and Pakistan pops up could the answer lie in going marwari and gujrati way??