A Virtuous Circle of Policies...

[WheelWalker]

An essay in today's NY Times Magazine offers some thought-provoking perspectives that I'd love to sit down and discuss with Joe Biden over our favorite spiritual condiment.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/magazine/27world-t.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087&em&en=626eef41b0e68c4e&ex=1201496400

It's worth the time to read, I think, and worth getting to the last page for a fascinating exercise:

So let’s play strategy czar. You are a 21st-century Kissinger. Your task is to guide the next American president (and the one after that) from the demise of American hegemony into a world of much more diffuse governance. What do you advise, concretely, to mitigate the effects of the past decade’s policies — those that inspired defiance rather than cooperation — and to set in motion a virtuous circle of policies that lead to global equilibrium rather than a balance of power against the U.S.?