As I have written before, the political and economic reality is East Asia is that China has become the dominant local power, and its relative dominance grows by the year.

FORBES: Connect

That dominance often expresses itself in terms of relative height.

FORBES: How to Detect Respect - or Disrespect: Body Language Quick Takes #7

First and foremost, some of the better sides in Europe's other top leagues are considerably better, not just relative to the 2006-2009 era of English dominance, but also compared to their own domestic leagues.

WSJ: Soul Searching for Premier League

Japanese mobile-phone makers were so busy competing with one another at home, they took their eyes off the international arena, allowing relative unknowns Nokia and Ericsson which correctly anticipated the dominance of GSM to grab the largest slices of the pie.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Phone Wars: Episode 3G