The Bush years are seen positively, for they coincide with the consolidation of India s international status and emergence as America s key diplomatic partner in Asia.

The other major problem facing NATO is linked to the United States loss of the moral high ground.

But the global economic crisis has weakened Russia s oil economy, shattering the KGB s dreams of a return to superpower status.

Unlike the peaceful secession of Montenegro in 2006, the loss of Kosovo represents a damaging blow to Serbia, given its place in the national consciousness.

Given its growing profile, China must do far more to demonstrate its bona fides as a responsible global leader or risk undermining the system that has enabled its own miraculous rise.

Having grown up in a China that is now accepted as a legitimate great power, the new generation of leaders will be more impatient about China resuming its place as the paramount power in Asia.

This restatement of fundamental precepts restored Confucianism to a primacy in China and neighboring states that remained unchallenged for 700 years.

International goodwill will probably be the key to his success, if not in re establishing American hegemony, then at least in making America the indispensable nation once more.

Leading up to the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference (Copenhagen Summit), the University of Copenhagen held the conference where the need for comprehensive action to mitigate climate change was stressed by the international scientific community.

Russia should recognize that it has neglected its position in Asia for too long, and that only when it returns Japan s Northern Territories can Japanese expertise be brought seriously to bear in developing Russia s Far East.

Japan, arguably the hardest hit by the global recession, faces an increasingly severe moral, demographic, and governance crisis, highlighted by its recent loss, to China, of its status as the world s second largest economy.

That this is untrue is demonstrated by those, from Russia s Vladimir Putin and Venezuela s Hugo Chávez to Iran s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Zimbabwe s Robert Mugabe, who are exploiting America s loss of standing and influence.

Yet some states view such weapons as a status symbol, and some view them as offering the ultimate deterrent against nuclear attack, which largely accounts for the estimated 26,000 that still exist.