A COUPLE of months ago, I wrote my Sunday Age column about the oil price and the reasons why it remained so high.

It has now become clear to many that my article was the catalyst for a correction in the oil price around the globe. Now that oil is around the mid-60s in US dollars a barrel, I can't help but feel a little under-appreciated by world economists for the lack of recognition I've received for fixing this problem.

But alas, there are many other big issues that I need to tackle, and there are none bigger than the one I'm about to solve today.

Last Monday night, I was honoured with being named in the All-Australian team. Although all footballers strive for team success, to be named in such a side, consisting of some of the greatest players ever to play the game, is a huge honour and something that makes you feel proud.

While I was watching the live telecast in Perth, waiting for my interview with Clinton Grybas to start, I began thinking about the international rules series and what a strange concept it was playing for Australia against Ireland.

It is strange because all year, players in opposition teams are "the enemy", week-in, week-out. They're the players you're competing against and they are the players you're trying to beat.

But, with the click of a finger, in the selection of the international rules team, those same players become teammates. Instead of trying to expose one another's weaknesses, you try to assist them, and others do the same for you.

Once a bigger enemy is confronted - like Ireland - it's amazing how quickly AFL players will band together.

I think herein lies the key to solving terrorism and the various wars going on around the world.

What I'd like to see happen is for the CIA or maybe even the United Nations to create the world's biggest hoax.

I'd like to see them convince the world that there was a well-armed, well-trained alien invasion on its way to earth - a group of aliens who planned to overtake Earth because they needed a new planet to dump their sewerage and nuclear waste.

Surely if this story was made believable enough, the Taliban and the United States, and Israel and the Palestinians would all come together to combine forces against the common threat.

Of what importance would the little Gaza Strip be when we were a chance to lose the whole planet?

I do admit that there could be a few problems encountered with my solution to the various wars in the world today. For instance, even if my initial plan worked, you would still need some very good spin doctors out there to continually convince the world that the aliens had postponed their planned invasion, but that they were still definitely coming.

But I'm sure this could be done easily enough. All Channel Nine needed to do to convince me that people could go back in time and kidnap dinosaurs was put Charles Wooley's voice on as narrator of Prehistoric Park. And it seemed to work OK in the movie Wag The Dog, where the spin doctors pretend the US is at war with Albania to distract people from the president's extramarital affairs.

The world is becoming a much smaller place and, now more than ever, countries are relying on one another to function. The US consumer can afford to keep buying products only if they're made cheaply in China, China can continue to build infrastructure only if it continues to import resources from countries such as Australia, and the Australian economy will greatly slow down should the need for our resources dwindle.

I think that in this day and age, patriotism is a misguided passion. Patriotism helps build an "us against them" attitude, an attitude I think is outdated. For, if China's pollution levels skyrocket out of control in the next two decades due to its increased energy consumption, then it won't just hurt China, it will hurt the entire world.

Perhaps the powers that be won't need to create a make-believe common enemy. Perhaps the environmental challenges being faced across the globe will be enough of a threat for different societies and countries around the globe to band together.

But, from my one experience of playing in the Australian team four years ago, once you put pride to one side, it is a great feeling joining forces with your competitors and surging towards a common goal.