Common Wealth - Chapters 1 and 2

As I got into the first chapter of Jeffrey Sachs book "Common Wealth," I could not help but be impressed by his rare optimism for what many would call world peace. I have been taught to believe that the very concept of world peace is a fairy dream, one that could not be considered serious. Yet when he mentioned the speech given by President Kennedy, I could not help but feel that his very words had release us from this bondage to continue as the world has always gone. Although I believe that much of the world thinks with a defeatist mentality when it comes to global interactions, I can't help but agree with much of what he says.
However, as I continued to read I could not help but think that many of his ideas come from a western perspective. Our world is highly globalized but there are still some intrinsic cultural values and differences that persist. Some countries of the world would never understand the concepts that he has presented. My question is should we expect them to? We are then left to decide if this is really possible because all the world would have to think the same.