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.”

New Yorker – George Packer asks can the Burmese people rescue themselves and can the junta be circumvented?
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The Atlantic – Robert Kaplan writes that as China and India vie for power and influence, Burma has become a strategic battleground. Four Americans with deep ties to this fractured, resource-rich country illuminate its current troubles, and what the U.S. should do to shape its future.
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Washington Post – Robert Kagan succinctly places the Russian – Georgian War in proper perspective???

Daily Telegraph – Vladimir Putin sends emphatic message of global importance: Russia’s pounding of Georgia means it will use force to protect all 25 million Russians in states that belonged to the Soviet Union
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Financial Times – Niall Ferguson looks at the current state of China today and the challenges it faces.
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Foreign Affairs – Fareed Zakaria writes that despite some eerie parallels between the position of the United States today and that of the British Empire a century ago, there are key differences. Britain’s decline was driven by bad economics. The United States, in contrast, has the strength and dynamism to continue shaping the world — but only if it can overcome its political dysfunction and reorient U.S. policy for a world defined by the rise of other powers.
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Foreign Affairs – While the crisis in Darfur simmers, the larger problem of Sudan’s survival as a state is becoming increasingly urgent. Old tensions between the Arabs of the Nile River valley, who have held power for a century, and marginalized groups on the country’s periphery are turning into a national crisis. Engagement with Khartoum may be the only way to avert another civil war in Sudan, and even that may not be enough.
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Foreign Affairs – The United States’ unipolar moment is over. International relations in the twenty-first century will be defined by nonpolarity. Power will be diffuse rather than concentrated, and the decline as that of nonstate actors increases. But this is not all bad news for the United States; Washington can still manage the transition and make the world a safer place.
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Foreign Affairs – Even critics of Hugo Ch·vez tend to concede that he has made helping the poor his top priority. But in fact, Ch·vez’s government has not done any more to fight poverty than past Venezuelan governments, and his much-heralded social programs have had little effect. A close look at the evidence reveals just how much Ch·vez’s “revolution” has hurt Venezuela’s economy — and that the poor are hurting most of all.
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Spero – An essay summarizing Robert Kaplan’s keynote address at Foreign Policy Research Instituteís Fourth Annual Partners Brunch.
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New York Times – Niall Ferguson review’s Philip Bobbitt’s new book, entitled “The Wars for the Twenty-First Century.”
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The Atlantic – Robert Kaplan writes that Calcutta has been renamed. Now, with investment on the rise, tech companies moving in, and a growing middle class, can it be reborn?
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Foreign Affairs – Americans generally belittle the role of ethnic nationalism in politics. But in fact, it corresponds to some enduring propensities of the human spirit, it is galvanized by modernization, and in one form or another, it will drive global politics for generations to come. Once ethnic nationalism has captured the imagination of groups in a multiethnic society, ethnic disaggregation or partition is often the least bad answer.
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Foreign Affairs – Thanks to global warming, the Arctic icecap is rapidly melting, opening up access to massive natural resources and creating shipping shortcuts that could save billions of dollars a year. But there are currently no clear rules governing this economically and strategically vital region. Unless Washington leads the way toward a multilateral diplomatic solution, the Arctic could descend into armed conflict.
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New York Times – Robert Kaplan on the future of NATO.
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Foreign Affairs – A climate of fear and a sense of powerlessness caused by the threats of terrorism and natural disasters are undermining American ideals and fueling political demagoguery. Rebuilding the resilience of American society is the way to reverse this and respond to today’s challenges.
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The Atlantic – Robert Kaplan writes that with rising Islamic fundamentalism, weak government, and not enough dry land for its 150 million people, Bangladesh could use a break. Instead, it must face the catastrophic threat of climate change.
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The Atlantic – James Fallows writes that the Chinese are subsidizing the American way of life. Are we playing them for suckers – or are they playing us?
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Foreign Affairs – China’s rise will inevitably bring the United States’ unipolar moment to an end. But that does not necessarily mean a violent power struggle or the overthrow of the Western system. The U.S.-led international order can remain dominant even while integrating a more powerful China — but only if Washington sets about strengthening that liberal order now.
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New York Times Magazine – Just a few years ago, Americaís hold on global power seemed unshakable. But a lot has changed while weíve been in Iraq ó and the next president is going to be dealing with not only a triumphant China and a retooled Europe but also the quiet rise of a ë”second world.”
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