A trip to Iran could not come at a better time, geopolitically speaking, due to a variety of domestic and regional factors.

The United States is moving into an election cycle, when foreign policy initiatives tend to be frozen. Given the dynamics of the Obama administration and this election, the freeze will be more intense than usual.

Unification has no moral claim on Europe beyond promising prosperity and offering a path to avoid conflict. The problem arises when the prosperity stops.

The first mission of the war that followed 9/11 was to prevent any further attacks. That mission was accomplished.

Moammar Gadhafi appears to be on his way to defeat but he is not there yet, and the ability of his enemies to govern Libya is doubtful.

An approaching U.N. General Assembly vote on Palestinian statehood could be a motivating factor behind Hamas' (among other groups') strategic intent to create a crisis between Egypt and Israel.

If the assumptions on the Arab Spring of this past January and February prove insufficient or even wrong, then there will be regional and global consequences.

The current crisis must be understood as a global event with one overriding theme: the relationship between the political order and economic life.

What is clear in both Jakarta and Bali is that the locals are tired of picturesque poverty, however much that disappoints the tourists.

For Germany, neither option was pleasant: Write off the possibility of Europe becoming a great power or underwrite two trillion euros of government debt. Germany has now decided.