Barack Obama might yet revolutionize America’s foreign policy. But if he can’t reconcile his inner Thomas Jefferson with his inner Woodrow Wilson, the 44th U.S. president could end up like No. 39.

By Walter Russell Mead

Limbo World

Dispatches from fake countries.

By Graeme Wood

This is what economic hegemony really looks like. A Nobel-winning economist shows how China will make it happen.

By Robert Fogel

What’s Spanish for Quagmire?

Mexico is not yet a failed state, but it’s waging a failed war. Five myths that have kept the drug fight going.

By Jorge G. Castañeda

The bombs awaiting Barack Obama in 2010

Introduction

R.I.P., WTO

By Paul Blustein

After Pharaoh

BY Issandr Amrani

Welcome to Qaedastan

By Gregory D. Johnsen

Africa's New Horror

By J. Peter Pham

Crimea and Punishment

Anders Åslund

A Double Dip

BY Steven Kopits

Nuclear Weapons

Obama’s pledge to rid the world of atomic bombs is a waste of breath. But not for the reasons you might imagine.

By John Mueller

It Didn't Happen

The dollar didn’t crash. Tariffs didn’t come roaring back. The world’s growing economies didn’t grind to a halt. And other scary tales that failed to come true during the crisis.

By MoisÉs NaÍm

Eurabian Follies

The shoddy and just plain wrong genre that refuses to die.

By Justin VaÏsse

The Pope and the Chancellor

What does their running battle tell us about the future of European politics?

BY Paul Hockenos

By Barbara Crossette

The new blood diamonds

Epiphanies from Ashraf Ghani

How high the moon?

Just what the doctor ordered

Top of the class

"Fair trade": a history

The Islamists are not coming

By Charles Kurzman and Ijlal Naqvi

Prime Numbers: Big senders

No heads are better than two

By Nina L. Khrushcheva

Plus, FP tests your knowledge of the world.