Small Wars Journal – Ten Questions With Thomas P.M. Barnett

A question and answer session with Thomas P.M. Barnett, on the occasion of the publication of his new book entitled “Great Powers: America and the World after Bush.”

Foreign Affairs – The Myth of the Autocratic Revival: Why Liberal Democracy Will Prevail

Autocracies such as China and Russia do not represent a sustainable alternative to liberal democracy. In fact, the pull of liberal democracy is stronger than ever.

Globe and Mail – ‘There will be blood’

An interview with Harvard economic historian Niall Ferguson who predicts prolonged financial hardship, even civil war, before the ‘Great Recession’ ends.

Foreign Policy – The Axis of Upheaval

Niall Ferguson writes that we should forget Iran, Iraq, and North Korea—Bush’s “Axis of Evil.” As economic calamity meets political and social turmoil, the world’s worst problems may come from countries like Somalia, Russia, and Mexico. And they’re just the beginning.

Foreign Affairs – The Great Crash, 2008: A Geopolitical Setback for the West

The financial crisis has called into serious question the credibility of western governments and may precipitate an eastward shift of power.

Foreign Affairs – Where Are the Civilians? How to Rebuild the U.S. Foreign Service

If it hopes to achieve its foreign policy agenda, the Obama administration will need to undo the damage to the Foreign Service wrought by the Bush administration.

Foreign Affairs – Beyond Iraq: A New U.S. Strategy for the Middle East

To be successful in the Middle East, the Obama administration will need to move beyond Iraq, find ways to deal constructively with Iran, and forge a final-status Israeli-Palestinian agreement.

The Atlantic – Iran’s Postmodern Beast in Gaza

Robert D. Kaplan writes that Israel has, in effect, launched the war on the Iranian empire that President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, in particular, can only have contemplated.

The Atlantic – Sea Change

Outstanding map showing how the Arctic is changing from an impenetrable wasteland into an oceanic crossroads.

Economist – Flying anything to anybody

The rise and fall of Viktor Bout, arms-dealer extraordinaire, shows a darker side of globalisation.

Washington Post – The Guns of Anarchy

Mark Bowden surveys the current situation in Somalia.

Wall Street Journal – The Ascent of Money

An excerpt from Niall Ferguson’s new book…

Washington Post – A Gentler Hegemony

Robert D. Kaplan writes that the US is declining slower than we think….

The Economist – Let the sun shine in

Satellites that beam solar power to earth have often appeared in science fiction. Will they ever become reality?

Foreign Affairs – The Latter-Day Sultan: Power and Politics in Iran

The real decision-maker in Iran is Supreme Leader Khamenei not President Ahmedinejad. Blaming Iran’s problems on President Ahmadinejad inaccurately suggests that Iran’s problems will go away when Ahmadinejad does.

New York Times – The other Middle East

Robert D. Kaplan writes that South Asia and the Middle East are now part of one long continuum…

The Atlantic – Behind Mumbai

Robert D. Kaplan offers insight into the Hindu-Muslim tensions festering within India

The Atlantic – Their Own Worst Enemy

James Fallows writes that as China prepares to take its place as the world’s dominant power, it faces confounding obstacles: its insularity and sheer stupidity in delivering the genuine good news about its own progress.

The Atlantic – Obama’s Foreign Policy: Buying in at the Bottom

Robert D. Kaplan writes that George W. Bush has poised America for a diplomatic rebound, which the next administration will get the credit for carrying out.

Foreign Affairs – What Has Moscow Done? Rebuilding U.S.-Russian Relations

The next president will have to reassess the U.S.-Russian relationship and find the right balance between pushing back and cooperating.

Washington Post – Team ‘Chimerica’

Niall Ferguson on how China+America=Chimerica.

Foreign Affairs – The Politics of Hunger: How Illusion and Greed Fan the Food Crisis

Politicians have it in their power to solve the food crisis, but they must be willing to end the biases against big commercial farms and genetically modified crops and do away with farm subsidies.

Vanity Fair – Wall Street Lays Another Egg

Not so long ago, the dollar stood for a sum of gold, and bankers knew the people they lent to. Historian Niall Ferguson charts the emergence of an abstract, even absurd world—call it Planet Finance—where mathematical models ignored both history and human nature, and value had no meaning.

Vanity Fair – Empire Falls

Historian Niall Ferguson writes that they called it “the American Century,” but the past hundred years actually saw a shift away from Western dominance. Through the long lens of Edward Gibbon’s history, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Rome 331 and America and Europe 2006 appear to have more than a few problems in common.

Aviation Week and Space Technology – Ben Bova, the prolific sci-fi novelist, has a big idea for the next president – enlist NASA in a crash program to launch a commercially viable space solar power industry in the U.S. “before the end of your second term.”