In October 1962, Kennedy confronted both the Cuban missile crisis and a war between China and India. Though Cuba got more attention then and now, that Asian crisis still holds valuable diplomatic lessons.
The Continent’s many identities and fault lines stretch back into the nether centuries of European history. All have been influenced by the immutable force of geography, which also will shape Europe’s future.
In the wake of Egypt’s revolution and subsequent elections, Westerners have focused on the Muslim Brotherhood. But the Egyptian Salafis, more fundamentalist than the Brotherhood, bear watching as well.
Though some pundits insist illegal immigration is fading as a national problem, careful study of the border situation suggests otherwise. The challenge remains serious, and large enforcement gaps persist.
Major developments in the oil sector are decisively undermining the once-defining role of the Middle East in the global energy market. The region’s potency in global affairs is on the wane, making Obama’s pivot to East Asia well-timed.
Geography and demography now trump democracy in Israel. The country pays lip service to the two-state solution while steadily appropriating the land it wants in the occupied territories.
If the United States cannot get its fiscal house in order, the dollar’s privileged position as the world’s reserve currency may be at risk—at a time when there seem to be few if any plausible alternatives.
The world we know is changing. The result is an uneasy mixture of the traditional Westphalian state system and the forces of globalization. Until we find a balance between them, this is a recipe for drift, transition and increasing chaos.
The era of U.S.-approved, iron-fisted Arab dictators is over. Washington must get used to a Middle East in which public opinion matters to a much greater extent, anti-Western sentiment abounds and political Islam emerges as a major force.
From Washington to Cairo and Tripoli, old institutions are breaking down. This special issue of TNI explores the profound global transitions taking place, examines the collapse of the Old Order and looks toward the future.
Congress is paralyzed. National debt is skyrocketing. America’s political consensus can no longer address the country’s most basic problems. We must resolve the question of what will replace it.
An intense security competition is under way in East Asia. Beijing and Washington must take care to ensure that this competition does not give way to entrenched bloody-mindedness or even outright violence.
The European debt debacle has made a mockery of the original hopes that inspired the European project. The EU may not survive the current crisis—and even if it does, it could be a severely diminished organization.
Pax Americana and the age of Western dominance are fading. Washington can manage this decline, but first it must acknowledge its reality. History moves forward with a crushing force and does not wait for the unprepared.
