First & third world

In today's world, the mark of self-sufficiency, growth and economic maturity and independence of a nation is indicated by two factors: (i) whether a large number of foreigners wish to visit or settle in that nation - either to make a living or for business purposes or for spiritual excursions or to explore the nation's cultural richness or for other reasons that a tourist might give; ii) whether the nation has earned the right to say that it does not want foreigners on its soil, if it wanted to.
Even if many of the African and Asian countries, like India, satisfy the first condition, they fail the second. They fail the second condition either because they cannot reject foreign infiltration without risking economic loss and alienation, which is always an impending threat in today's globalized world; or because they feel the need "to be told" what to do, what to aim for, which direction to take by the leading first world countries; (or both). This latter dependency is a strange one since it is a sort of cultural slavery on the part of these ancient, albeit now, "dead" cultures, making them look up to the "master" western cultures as the leaders of this culture of globalization that began in the last century. The reason why these ancient cultures end up being slaves in this game is because they feel that only by being so they can hold onto the nostalgia of a lost cultural and spirtual greatness. The choice is straightforward: either be a spiritually bankrupt, barbaric nation without this nostalgia or be a barbaric nation with this memory attached like a parasite. The more a nation belongs in the former camp, more is its self-sufficiency and potential for leadership. Hence, America.