– National Intelligence Council – A fascinating prediction of what the US intelligence community thinks the world will look like in 2030. If you can’t read the whole report, try the Executive Summary.

– Air Force – The US and Australia are bolstering their close but quiet military relationship.

– New York Times – Niall Ferguson reminds us that history does not turn on a dime…

– Foreign Policy – The Arctic is the Mediterranean of the 21st century.

– German Radio – The countries bordering the Caspian Sea are increasingly flexing their military muscles. The Iran crisis and unresolved conflicts over natural resources have added to the tensions in the region.

– The Diplomat – In his new book, The Revenge of Geography: What the Map Tells Us About Coming Conflicts and the Battle Against Fate, Robert Kaplan (Stratfor Global Intelligence) contends that current global conflicts, including wars, political instability, and clashes over religion, can be better understood and even forecasted through close examination of the maps that chart our world. In this Q&A, The National Bureau of Asian Research’s Abraham Denmark asks Kaplan how this theory relates to the Asia-Pacific and what challenges geography will present for the United States’ policy toward the region.

– Economist – The bickering over islands is a serious threat to the region’s peace and prosperity.

– Wall Street Journal – To understand today’s global conflicts, forget economics and technology and take a hard look at a map, writes Robert D. Kaplan.

– Wall Street Journal – James Webb on the current state of affairs in the South China Sea.

– Newsweek – Niall Ferguson does not believe our future is as bright as Silicon Valley would lead us to believe…an interesting look at a historian’s view of the future.

– BBC – South Korea’s president is visiting islands also claimed by Japan, in a move set to raise diplomatic tensions.

– US Naval Institute Proceedings – The first draft of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) was completed in 1982. The treaty provided a broad legal framework governing movement on the sea and the proper handling of sea-based resources. By 1994, treaty revisions had alleviated U.S. concerns regarding deep seabed mining. President Bill Clinton signed and forwarded it to the Senate for advice and consent, but it was never ratified.

– Stratfor – Robert D. Kaplan analyses the current situation in Syria.

– The Atlantic – Robert D. Kaplan on how a former enemy became a crucial U.S. ally in balancing China’s rise

– Stratfor – Robert D. Kaplan writes that the Obama administration “pivot” to the Pacific, formally announced by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last November and reiterated more recently by the president himself, might appear like a reassertion of America’s imperial tendencies just at the time when Washington should be concentrating on the domestic economy. But in fact, the pivot was almost inevitable.

– Stratfor – Robert D. Kaplan compares the situation in Europe in 1848 to today’s Arab Spring.

– BBC – British efforts to help topple Colonel Gaddafi were not limited to air strikes. On the ground – and on the quiet – special forces soldiers were blending in with rebel fighters. This is the previously untold account of the crucial part they played.

– New York Times Magazine – To know the future of Egypt, watch what happens to Mohamed Beltagy, the embattled hero of the revolution.

– Christian Science Monitor – Martin van Creveld writes that many analysts say the Middle East is the focus of a geopolitical power struggle between the United States and Iran. That misses the primary thread of events – namely, the ongoing soft partition of the Arab republics between Turkey and Iran, with Turkey the stronger power.

– US Naval War College Review – An analysis of the geopolitical issues surrounding the South China Sea.

– The Economist – China is using a new tool to boost its influence abroad. Is it the right one?

– New Yorker – How far can the resistance to Vladimir Putin go?

– New York Times Magazine – Sure, they can be infuriating, not to mention duplicitous, paranoid and self-pitying. But you try being a U.S. ally.

– The Atlantic – Pakistan lies. It hosted Osama bin Laden (knowingly or not). Its government is barely functional. It hates the democracy next door. It is home to both radical jihadists and a large and growing nuclear arsenal (which it fears the U.S. will seize). Its intelligence service sponsors terrorists who attack American troops. With a friend like this, who needs enemies?

– Economist – America reaches a pivot point in Asia.