Photo Illustrations by Kevin Van Aelst
Parag Khanna makes a long, persuasive argument in the Sunday Times Magazine about how the future of the world is in the hands of the big 3: the U.S., Europe, and China. The most important part of his essay is that it will be the rising second world (countries like Venezuela, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan) who will have the leverage as they grow, picking and choosing alliances with the big 3.

Seen in this context, the Iraq War was an act of desperation by a waning superpower run by an idiot with an oedipal complex who all too willingly bankrupted its coffers to benefit the biggest multinational corporations. And it really was about oil, securing the cheap, free flow of it, because without cheap energy, the U.S.'s economic leverage is greatly reduced. Starting in 2009, diplomacy and innovation, not arrogance, will have to rule the day. Barack will have quite a job ahead of him.

Brass and drums inside Union Square station.