CHANGE; AND THEN THERE'S REALLY BIG CHANGE, of the earth-shartering type. This issue of Forti6n Pouicy brings you meditations on both, In the coming weeks, US, Presidene Barack Obama is likely co find his job that much hardet, with the unwelcome change ofa significantly more Republi- can Congress than the one he has dealt with so far—and the inevitable consequences for how he steers Ameriea’s course in the world. Bur there's also opportunity for Obama amid the politicking, which is why this issue features a presidentia] Plan B: 10 ways for him to seize che moment, by leading thinkers such as economics guru Nouriel Roubini, former ca Director R. James Woolsey, and climate-change prophet James Hansen. They came up wich an array of creative ways for Obama to hit his own reset button, froma ‘global-warming plan of atack thae might be genuinely politieally popular to specific peoposaks for avoiding, another plunge into global recession. We also consulted historian Robert Dallek, whose bestselling chronicles cof Americas 20¢h-century leaders have made himan expert onthe tyrannical power ofa few misguided meta- ‘hors when it comes to presidents trying to make tough decisions about war and peace. His must-read essay, “The Tyranny of Metaphors,” stars on page 78. Ietakes our Think Again inthis issue to really conjure up change on an epoch= al scale: the monumental graying ofthe planet, already proceeding at dramatic pace and rewriting, world politics and economics in numerous and surprising ‘ways, Philip Longman’s masterful eover story takes on everything you thought you knew about global aging—and shows how it’s even more consequential than you might have imagined. Te not just America’s aging baby boomers who are turning everything associated with retirement into a hooming business if anything, the aging of Asia and the revolutionary drop in birth raesin the Mid- dle Fast portend even more significant global changes. Longman’ articles filled with astonishing detail on the very real threat of global population deeline, the myth of “geriatric peace,” and the worldwide failure of governments to adress the aging problem. I's lso cautionary tale about the perils of prognostication: ‘The piece starts with a quote from the 1968 blockbuster book, The Popula- sion Bomb, warning—with absolute certainty—that future generations would “starve to death” as.a result of exploding population growth, Avoiding such disastrously wrong predictions certainly isa cause to be taken to heart by those who've been peddling us our economie information over the last decade. The economy is the subject of a special edition ‘of our In Box section, featuring everything from former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker’ epiphanies to Prime Numbers dedicated to figuring out the tath about just how bad the jobs crisis is, plus Cie V. Prestowsitz on the myth of how che United Sctes trumped Japan inthe trade wars (and how the Chinese have figured out the eal story). In his Opening Gambit, v associate editor Charles Homans debunks the seductive bt, alas, untrue dca thatthe incredible exponential progress in computcrchips—Moores Law—that pow- cred our last few decades of technological revolution will apply to other industries “Technological change—the promise of it, and the hazards of pursuing it—is also the subject of FP ‘contributing editor Steve LeVine’s fascinating report on the geopolitical race to dominate the elecric-ear Industry of the future. The race, it turns out, may well hinge on which country—the United States or CChina—can figure out first how to reinvent a humble 19¢h-century technology: the battery. And finally, the dark side of the technological revolution is on full display in Jarret Brachman’s memoie of his years as an Incornet al Qaeda watcher. Brachman, a cis counterterrorism analyst turned academic, thinks the new al Qaeda might he even more dangerous than the old—and i's certainly a lot more attractive tothe young Americans whom the Facehook-era al Qaeda now recruits. Skeptical? Brachman’s correspondence ‘with a suburban Vieginia kid who went from watching South Park to threatening its creators with death {or insulting the Prophet Mohammed ought to convince you. Susan Glasser Novewnen 2010 1