Response: What happens in Afghanistan this year would be crazy for any one to predict. The major influences on its 2008 history will be both internal and external, of course. But the external factors will be the most important.

Inside Afghanistan, the cacophony, the collision of different pressures, events and enterprises are familiar and continuing. President Karzai’s efforts to keep his coalition ... more

Response: Australia begins 2008 with a vastly altered political landscape following the election victory of Labor’s Kevin Rudd, which ended 11 years of conservative rule. Mr Rudd’s decisive victory in November over veteran Liberal leader John Howard has triggered expectations of change across the spectrum of Australian social and political life.

But the pace of this change may be less sweeping than man... more

Response: Brazil in 2008 will see a number of significant issues related to the country’s position on the global stage and her relative stability at home.

As Brazilian energy company Petrobras continues to push forward with oil discovery at home, improving its position vis-à-vis Brazilian domestic energy needs, the oil giant may become more of a foreign policy tool used to pressure allies in Bolivia a... more

Response: Britain has been enjoying the longest period of sustained growth in its modern history. The economy has grown every quarter since 1992. In the period from 1992 to 2006 the economy grew by 49 per cent in real terms. But can this impressive record be sustained? And if it isn’t, what will the implications be for the government of New Labour’s Gordon Brown, who took over from Tony Blair in 2007?

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