For thousands of years the environmental question was how to protect humans from the ravages of nature. Just in our lifetime, the issue has now become how to protect nature from the multiplying excesses of human beings. In one sense, we humans have declared war on all forms of Nature. The critical question now is, “Are we at—or have we passed—the ‘tipping point?’”

  Also for the first time in history, the Caucasian race is no longer reproducing itself. No European country is reproducing its population; nor are Caucasians in North America reproducing themselves. For the U.S., this emphasizes the need for non-Caucasians to enter into and assume greater responsibility for all aspects of national life, especially in diplomacy and national security.

The information environment in which the individual lives has been radically altered. Through history, the transmission of information, ideas and images took place slowly, taking weeks, even months, to move around the world. Such a slow pace of information travel gave people time to adjust psychologically to a new information environment. Today, we zap information, ideas and images across the globe in nanoseconds. People have no time to adjust, no time to assimilate the new information and shape it into coherent meaning. One result is disorientation and uncertainty.

 The modernization, urbanization and globalization of China, India and other Asian nations will be the most dynamic and convulsive events of the coming decades. Billions of people will have their personal and collective lives transformed to a greater degree, in a shorter space of time, than has been experienced by any people ever before. This will eventually have profound consequences for all nations.

  We have moved from a relatively slow pace of change to an exponential rate. The rate of technological change is estimated to double every decade. Thus, so much is happening so fast in every part of the world, we no longer have any frame of reference within which to understand contemporary events. Life has become a passing blur. Thus leaders lack any larger order of purpose and significance, any guiding narrative that transcends short-term objectives and might offer common purpose to disparate cultures. At such a critical moment, only America seems to have the global reach and structure required to suggest some common pattern of meaning offering collective human existence a modicum of intelligibility and coherence (if we can regain the trust of the world). Just as the Founding Fathers expressed new themes and concepts for a fresh stage of America’s development, so now must America offer a fresh vision for a new stage of the human experience.

Global Race on to Match US Drone Capabilities - (Washington Post - June 30, 2011)

Little is known about the actual abilities of the more than two dozen Chinese models of drones that were on display at Zhuhai air show, the premier event for China's aviation industry in November. But the speed at which they have been developed highlights how U.S. military successes with drones have changed strategic thinking worldwide and spurred a global rush for unmanned aircraft. More than 50 countries have purchased surveillance drones, and many have started in-country development programs for armed versions because no nation is exporting weaponized drones beyond a handful of sales between the United States and its closest allies. Defense spending on drones has become the most dynamic sector of the world's aerospace industry. A market study estimated that in the coming decade global spending on drones will double, reaching $94 billion.