A belated welcome, Cursquid. (No relation to a Dogfish, I suppose?) I've missed all this whilst I've been moving house. (Strange expression: my old house is exactly where it has been this last three hundred years - it is I who have moved.)

I have always read the Arthur C.Clarke quote as being an anti-nationalist remark, and have liked him all the more for it. I believe that nationalism has been the cause of many more evils than the pursuit of money - and goodness knows that is plenty. I must here make a differentiation between nationalism, which is an excessive belief in the worthiness of your own country/race, to the extent that anyone or thing from anywhere else is, ipso facto, inferior, and patriotism which is a love of the country of your birth or adoption.
The latter is right and proper, and good. It makes you cheer your side in football matches, etc, and feel homesick when you are "abroad"
The former tends to lead to the excesses of racism.