Great article. A bit lengthy for my tastes though.
My thoughts:
No one personal observatation or even a group's observation can truly pin-point the cause behind something. Life is heuristic not algorithmic. With that in mind, I do have a hard time taking this article as the absolute truth, especially since it is highly opinionated. Just because you provide countless examples that represent your opinion, does not make them the truth. However, I do agree with the article a great deal.
The author kept putting forth the example of only the socially/politcial/monetary elite becoming representative of a nation. This occurs in other aspects of life beside foreign relations as well. When the term "elite" is used, it represents an extreme diversion from the average, good or bad. So let's focus on the negative extreme for my example. Three students graduated from the University of Advancing Technology, a school that specializes in different aspects of the videogame industry, and are hired by Rainbow Studios, a nearby company, to be AI programmers. Out of the particular three, there is one that stands out among them. This is not because he has strong leadership qualities, but simply because he's very boistrous and argumentive, not to mention cocky. He could very well be the best programmer out of the three, but Rainbow Studios is not going to tolerate his bull-crap and his constant arguing. They are going to disband him, possibly the other two, and forever blacklist UAT. Why? Simply because this schmuck was a representative of the school and not only that, but was the "elite" member of the three. Game creation is a serious money-making business, companies can't afford to burned by employees who disrupt the team or don't want to work. Thus they and their associations are labeled.
The other problem is that people love to shift blame. Why try to take responsibility? Hell I can sue and get a large monetary compensation if I don't take responsibilty. Or I could just keep telling people one thing and they'll believe me simply because I'm an "elite." Blah, blah, blah, rant, rant, rant, and so on... Of course, this example is highly opinionated.
I think I'm done now.