Here are a few images from last night's Top 100 Global Thinkers event at Washington's Corcoran Gallery of Art.

Our panel featured (from left to right) Brazilian Foreign Minsiter Celso Amorim, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, moderater Gwenn Ifill of PBS, U.S. Sen. John Kerry, and electric car entrepreneur Shai Agassi.

Kerry speaks during the panel discussion. "We [in the United States] are dragging our heels while the world is moving at a very accelerated rate," Kerry told the audience.

Washington Post Company CEO Donald Graham and Foreign Policy Editor in Chief Susan Glasser present a special award to Amb. Richard Holbrooke, former managing editor of FP.

Holbrooke speaks with Amorim and Davutoglu following the panel.

Secretary of Energy Steven Chu.

Former Chilean president Michelle Bachelet.

Inventor Peter Scott demonstrates his revolutionary "rocket stove."

Davutoglu jokes with New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

Were you at the event? Send us your photos and we'll post the best ones here.

There's change, and then there's really big change, of the earth-shattering type. The November issue of Foreign Policy brings you meditations on both. In the coming weeks, U.S. President Barack Obama is likely to find his job that much harder, with the unwelcome change of a significantly more Republican Congress than the one he has dealt with so far -- and the inevitable consequences for how he steers America's course in the world. But there's also opportunity for Obama amid the politicking, which is why this issue features a presidential Plan B: 14 ways for him to seize the moment, by leading thinkers such as economics guru Nouriel Roubini, former CIA Director R. James Woolsey, and climate-change prophet James Hansen. They came up with an array of creative ways for Obama to hit his own reset button, from a global-warming plan of attack that might be genuinely politically popular to specific proposals for avoiding another plunge into global recession. We also consulted historian Robert Dallek, whose bestselling chronicles of America's 20th-century leaders have made him an expert on the tyrannical power of a few misguided metaphors when it comes to presidents trying to make tough decisions about war and peace. His must-read essay, "The Tyranny of Metaphor," starts on page 78.

Read on

Quiz question for the week:

Which country spends the most time on social-networking websites?

a) Italy    b) Japan    c) United States 

(For those of you who don't subscribe to the bimonthly print edition of Foreign Policy, you're missing a great feature: the FP Quiz. It has eight intriguing questions about how the world works.)

Answer after the jump ... 

Read on

At 12 p.m. EST today, FP is beginning an exciting new collaboration with Midday with Dan Rodricks, a daily public affairs show on Baltimore's NPR station, WYPR. 

Today, the entire two-hour show will feature FP editors and contributors speaking with Dan and taking calls from listeners. From 12 p.m. 1 p.m., Aaron David Miller will discuss his article, "The False Religion of Middle East Peace" with Managing Editor Blake Hounshell. From 1 to 1:20, Editor in Chief Susan Glasser will talk about "The Billionaire Dissident," her profile of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. From 1:20 to 1:40, Net Effect blogger Evgeny Morozov will talk about his article, "Think Again: The Internet." From 1:40 to 2, your truly will be on talking about some of our recent lists.

Baltimore residents can list in at 88.1 FM. Everyone else can stream it live here.  You can call in with questions toll-free at 866-661-9309. 

It should be a good time. Hope you can join us. 

The FP Morning Brief hit a major milestone today, passing 25,000 e-mail subscribers. When you factor in those of you who read the brief on Passport or the Global News page, that's a pretty impressive group of well-informed people! In fact, if the recent New York Times profile of Politico's Mike Allen is to be believed, the MB is now closing in on the "e-mail newsletter that some of America’s most influential people will read before they say a word to their spouses."

I highly recommend at least saying good morning to your spouse before loading up the brief, but whether you're a foreign-policy practitioner, student, or an interested reader, it's a great (and free) way to quickly get up to date on the world's most important events.

Click here to sign up.

Just in case your Internet's been down for the last five hours, the U.S. vice president uncorked a Bidenism for the ages today while introducing President Obama at the signing of the health care reform bill today:

The White House doesn't seem too upset about it, nor should they be. Whatever you think of the bill, it's hard to dispute the accuracy of Biden's statement, and in any case, you can't fault the guy for enthusiasm.

But with health care out of the way for now, there are a number of "big fucking deals" looming for the administration on the foreign-policy front, and we just happen to have posted some great reading material on them:

1. Israel and the settlements: Even as the health care debate raged, the dispute over Israel's settlement construction in the West Bank continued to grab headlines, also involving Vice President Biden. Lara Friedman and Daniel Seidemann argued that Israel's government is being disingenuous when it treats Israeli control of East Jerusalem as a widely-accepted obvious fait accompli, David Rothkopf made the case that "getting tough" with Israel over settlement construction will be counterproductive in the long run, and Stephen Walt cautioned against tying Iran policy too closely to the Israeli-Palestinian issue. 

2. Afghanistan: Obama still faces a tough road ahead to demonstrate that the increased U.S. troop commitment in Afghanistan can be effective and the next immediate challenge is likely to be the Taliban stronghold of Kandahar. A recent FP photo essay surveyed the terrain. Katherine Tiedemann's AfPak Daily Brief continues to be an invaluable resource for following the latest developments in Obama's war. 

3. Iraq: The factions continue to fight it out as Iraq's election results continue to trickle in, but with violence still relatively low, the Obama administration has made it clear it has no intention to delay the pullout of U.S. troops from Iraq. For a more pessimistic take, see Tom Ricks's ongoing Iraq: The Unraveling series, which includes periodic input from the likes of Gen. Raymond Odierno. Stephen Glain's piece on how Iraqi oil is poised to shake up the OPEC power-structure is also a must-read. 

4. China/Google: The search giant's recent decision to shut down it's censored Google.cn portal is likely to push the issue of Internet freedom, as well as U.S.-China relations, back into the public eye. Blake Hounshell and Christina Larson both weighed in on the impact of Google's decision here at Passport, while Evgeny Morozov noted the overlooked story behind the headlines -- China's tech companies going global. 

5. Pakistan It's almost a cliche at this point that there's no way for the U.S. to win in Afghanistan without addressing neighboring Pakistan. With a first ever strategic dialogue session between the two countries approaching, Arif Rafiq explains what Pakistan wants from the United States. Christine Fair also argues why nuclear cooperation with Pakistan might not be such a bad idea. 

6. Iran: Between the nuclear issue and the Islamic Republic's increasingly repressive tactics toward its own people, the Obama administration's engagement policy has faced a tough first year in Iran, and 2010 isn't likely to be much easier. Karim Sadjadpour recently recommended a few things Obama should say to Iran in his address for Nowruz, the Persian new year. Based on the speech Obama gave, the White House seems to be thinking along similar lines.

7. Russia: To paraphrase Henry Kissinger's famous line about Europe, who should we talk to when we want to talk to Russia? Jamie Fly and Gary Schmitt argue that Obama is making the same mistake by cozying up to Dmitry Medvedev that his predecessor did with Vladimir Putin. 

It's not every day that former presidents write us letters. And here at FP, we knew we had quite a document on our hands when Jimmy Carter took the unusual step of writing in to defend his legacy in response to Walter Russell Mead's article,"The Carter Syndrome." As Jared Keller of the Atlantic noted, "This comparison may be relatively commonplace, but the reaction was not." Since the letter appeared, it's been fascinating to watch the reactions to the letter from both sides of the political spectrum.

Obama's critics were understandably delighted that it was Carter, who was upset by the comparison to Obama. Fox News' Sean Hannity was positively giddy: 

Former President Jimmy Carter is fuming. Given his disastrous record in office you would think that he would be happy to be compared to the Anointed One, but apparently President Obama has made such a mess that even Carter is now distancing himself.[...]

Judging by the way things are going, I predict by 2012 President Obama will want to be compared to Carter.

Rob Port of the Say Anything blog had a similar reaction:  "You know things are bad when Jimmy Carter doesn’t want his legacy tarnished by comparisons to you."

As Drew Grant of Mediaite pointed out, this isn't quite correct. Carter's letter was a defense of his own record, and contained no criticism of Obama's. Carter was objecting to the idea that his legacy should be considered a benchmark for failure.

Other writers took note of the anger of Carter's tone.  "[Carter] can get good and cranky when he feels his legacy is being misrepresented," wrote Politico's Glenn Thrush. Tigerhawk said the letter showed that Carter "has the thinnest skin of any postwar president with the possible exception of Richard Nixon. " At RealClearPolitics, Jeremy Lott put the letter foward as an example of "how not to defend your legacy":

Normally, when a piece appears in a major media outlet that riles up a former U.S. president, he calls a few former aides, advisers, and sympathetic academics. They launch a coordinated attack on his behalf without ever quite admitting that they were put up to it. This creates the illusion of a groundswell of support for a venerable public figure and it allows the one time commander-in-chief to appear above the fray. Reporters will ask him about it and he can quote the experts who came to his defense.

Instead, Carter decided to take matters into own hands. The results are not good. From first sentence to last, his letter demonstrates paper thin skin, arrogance, and the flawed judgment that turned him into a one-term president.

Not all commentators found the letter unconvincing, though. For instance, the New America Foundation's Michael Cohen called Carter and Brzezinski's letters "a pretty compelling case on behalf Carter's foreign policy legacy."

The funny thing about all of this is that, as Mead himself has wrote in his response, the article wasn't even really about Carter but about "the intellectual, cultural, and political challenges [Obama] faces.”

Responding on his own blog to the article's critics, Mead writes:

"Of this group of dissenters... President Carter is the only person I’ve voted for, and I  am honored to have his reply, even if we don’t reach the same conclusions."

As part of an open-source  assessment of "security, safety, and border control" threats associated with the Winter Olympics, the Department of Homeland Security's National Operations Center has launched "Social Media Event Monitoring Initiative" to see what's being said online. This entails "monitoring publicly available online forums, blogs, public websites, and message boards" to assess possible homeland security threats. Among the many fine online sources the NOC is monitoring, is this blog!

Our Olympics coverage has been pretty minimal this year so I can't imagine we've provided a whole lot of useful intel, but thanks for reading, guys! Have you checked out this cool photo essay yet?

(Thanks to Josh R. for the tip.) 

ForeignPolicy.com published well over 1,000 articles, lists, photo essays, and various other pieces in 2009, so coming up with a concise list of favorite reads is a tough task. FP's readers have already weighed in with their own doom-and-gloom-packed, crowdsourced list; so here, in no particular order and with apologies in advance for any oversights, are some of my personal faves:

The Soccer Wars, by Ursula Lindsey

An after-action from the front lines of the Middle East's most bitter conflict.

How They Killed Chechnya's Conscience, by Anna Nemtsova

A heartbreaking cri de coeur on the murder of actvist Natalia Estemirova. See also William Browder's unbelievable account of his lawyer's unjust death in a Russian prison.

He's Got the Law (Literally) in His Hands, by Jina Moore and Glenna Gordon

The incredible story of how one man is holding Liberia's legal code hostage.

Israel Turns on Itself, by Noah Efron

A moving, introspective take on this summer's ultra-Orthodox riots.

Germany Has a Gay Minister -- Yäwn!, by Cameron Abadi

A fabulous profile of Guido Westerwelle, and a broader tour of Germany's newfound tolerance. (Bonus picks: For a look at how Latin America has become a new gay Mecca, check out "Is Latin America's Closet Half Empty?" by Javier Corrales. And for a depressing look at gay rights in Africa, read Michael Wilkerson's dispatch, "Uganda's Outrageous New Sex Law.") See also Abadi's insightful profiles of European diplomats Fogh Rasmussen and Carl Bildt.

Never Again?, by Andrew Stroehlein

An insightful reflection on the Holocaust can't teach us about modern-day genocide.

The World's Worst Daughters and The World's Worst Sons, by Joshua Keating

These twin FP lists about dictator progeny run amok are classics of the genre.

How We Invaded Afghanistan, by Oleg Kalugin

I was fascinated by ex-KGB General Kalugin's book, and this excerpt is a revealing example of the poor Soviet decision-making of the Brezhnev era.

The Idiot's Guide to Pakistan, by Nicholas Schmidle

This brilliant and witty distillation of Pakistan's perils and politics is in FP's old template, so it might be a bit hard to access at the moment, but it's still well worth reading (just hit refresh until it works).

The Militarization of Sex, by Hanin Ghaddar

The story of Hezbollah's halal hookups. Need I say more?

Ed Burtynsky's Oil

I love these photographs of the nasty, but necessary stuff that makes our vehicles go. For another stunning, large-format set of image, check out "Planet Slum," with photography by Jonas Bendiksen and captions by Christina Larson. And don't miss "Portraits of Instability" from the world's failing states.

The Terrorists Among Us, by Peter Bergen

This prescient piece, adapted from Bergen's testimony before Congress, is the most balanced and comprehensive take on the al Qaeda threat to the U.S. homeland that I've seen anywhere. (For another intelligent, nuanced contribution from  a New America Foundation author, see also Steve Coll making the case for humility in Afghanistan.) To see Bergen letting it rip, check out his earlier essay, "Cheney's Jihad."

Indian Winter, by Kapil Komireddi

A smart dispatch on what the censorship of a film about India's founding father shows about New Delhi's cautious relationship toward its own history.

Assassination: A Brief History, by George Jonas

The author who wrote the story behind the film Munich reviews the sordid past of "targeted killings."

The Other Vaclav, by Jiri Pehe

A devastating profile of the Czech republic's ridiculous president.

China's Ring of Power, by John Lee

How Beijing is trying to corner the market on a little-known, but much coveted strategic commodity.

Mr. Fix-It, by Julia Ioffe

Vladimir Putin's star turn as the Russian Oprah.

Obama's Eminence Grise, by Brian Winter

USA Today's foreign editor profiles George Mitchell, Washington's top under-the-radar man.

Hawk and Dove, by Nicholas Thompson

A highly revealing excerpt from Thompson's highly original book about Paul Nitze and George Kenner.

How China Cooks Its Books, by Jordan Calinoff

FP beat up on China's dubious economic statistics on a number of different occassions this year, but Calinoff's original reporting added a fresh and unique dimension to this arcane but  fascinating subject.

The Next Osama, by Jarret Brachman

A profile of Abu Yahya al-Libi, who at the time of writing was seen as al Qaeda's heir apparent. See also Imtiaz Gul on the untimely demise of Baitullah Mehsud and Imtiaz's Ali's profile of Mehsud before his death by Hellfire missile.

Think Again: Africa's Crisis, by Charles Kenny

Kenny, who also penned our November cover story on how television is changing the developing world, has a smart take on Africa's often overblown woes.

Saigon 2009, by Thomas H. Johnson and M. Chris Mason

The Afghanistan-as-Vietnam anology that spawned a cottage industry.

LiveStrong for Make Benefit of Kazakhstan, by Joe Lindsey

Why did Lance Armstrong race for Team Astana in the Tour de France? Lindsey explains.

Welcome to Hamaswood, by Sharon Weinberger

A trip inside the Palestinian militant group's movie studio.

A $9 Trillion Question, by Peter Schaeffer

Rethinking the legacy of microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus.

Call in the Cavalry!, by Patrick Devenney

What a 19th century British military handbooks tells us about how Afghanistan can be won -- or lost.

Don't say you weren't warned department:

Planning for the Worst in Honduras, by Michael Shifter

Yemen's Well Runs Dry, by Gregory Johnsen and Christopher Boucek

The Inept Captain of a Sinking Ship, by Tobias Harris

Guilty pleasures:

Pakistan's Baghdad Bob, by David Kenner

The Top 10 Craziest Things Ever Said During a U.N. Speech, by Joshua Keating

Europe to Europe: WTF?, by Annie Lowrey

There's a lot more where that came from, but FP's midyear redesign makes it a tad more difficult to pull out pieces from earlier in the year. Readers, what were your favorites? What would you like to see more -- and less -- of in 2010?

Here's a clip from the number one item on Foreign Policy's 2009 "Stories You Missed," the opening of Arctic sea lanes to international commercial traffic: 

Scientists' latest observations suggest that the Arctic might be largely ice-free during the summer within the next decade. The environmental consequences -- increased flooding in coastal regions around the world and extinction of local animal species -- are well known. But the thaw also opens possibilities for geopolitical competition. Russia has literally planted its flag beneath the Arctic ice, staking a claim to newly accessible natural resources, much to the consternation of the other northern states. The newly opened route will also benefit Russia by bringing new business to its eastern ports. With the scramble for the Arctic's riches heating up, even peaceful Canada has been holding war games to prepare for possible military confrontation.

Here's Secretary of State Hillary Clinton telling Newsweek about some issues that are "neither urgent nor important today might become one or the other by next year or the year after".

An area that we're beginning to pay attention to, which is not in the headlines, is the Arctic. With the melting of the ice, with sea lanes opening that were never there before, or only-seasonal lanes becoming more all-weather, with five countries ringing the Arctic, which is an ocean, not a land mass like Antarctica. With Russia saying that they are going to have an expedition next year to plant their flag on the North Pole. With Canada saying, "No, you'd better not." This is an area that we have to pay real attention to, but it's not an area that I get called about by reporters or have to answer questions about at the White House yet.

You heard it here first. 

Over at Mothership Slate, Justin Peters has a clever piece imagining what restaurants based on some of the most popular American magazines and news Websites might look like. For instance,

Esquire: "Choose between Seven Lunches We Love, all of which involve ground beef; the barbecue-sauce sommelier will assist your efforts to build a Best-Dressed Burger."

Huffington Post: "Marvel at the 47-page menu of hot entrees, most of which are sourced from other, better restaurants."

And Slate itself: "The kitchen will occasionally convince you that everything you know about curly fries is wrong."

So naturally, we started thinking about what you would find at a Foreign Policy-run eatery. I imagine that we would take healthy but unexciting ingredients prepared by expert nutritionists from around the world and then arrange them into pretty shapes and cover them with delicious, delicious cheese sauce. The Rising China Souffle, Failed State Stew (just dropped on your table without a bowl) and Putin's Polonium Pelmeni are favorites. Your waiter would also be constantly informing you that the food you really should be eating isn't even on sale in America yet and you've probably never heard of it, but it will be your favorite food next year -- unless it kills you.

What else would you like to see?

FP's own Marc Lynch got a ton of attention (and rightly so!) in the blogosphere and the MSM for his brilliant post on what the beef between Jay-Z and The Game can teach us about American hegemony. It was only a matter of time before the participants themselves weighed in. (This is The Game we're talking about.)

A reporter in New Zealand asked the L.A. rapper, currently on tour, to respond to Marc's post: 

In a recent Foreign Policy article, George Washington University Professor Marc Lynch, likened the feud to the battle of global hegemony -- with Jay Z in the role of the United States, and The Game as the "erratic wildcard": Iran and North Korea.

The Game asks for an explanation of why that's not a favourable comparison, before likening Lynch to Greenland -- isolated from the top writers in the world -- and Jay Z to Iceland "coz he's gone cold".

The Game should be wary. Marc's got a lot of friends in the D.C. foreign-policy blogosphere and they don't play. Matt Yglesias and Spencer Ackerman have already weighed in. Here's Ackerman:

The Game is treating a reconcilable as an irreconcilable. He's like Abu Musab al-Zarqawi! Marc Lynch is a middle-class, fence-sitting Sunni Iraqi -- surely an academic -- in Diyala or Anbar or Baghdad, judiciously able to see both sides of the U.S. and AQI feud and not particularly inclined to throw his lot in decisively with one or the other. And here's The Game, trying to humiliate Marc in public for apostasy or cut his fingers off because he enjoys a cigarette. Defeat sets in right there. Soon will begin Marc Lynch's Awakening. Which is a good name for a mixtape. 

Like I said, Abu Aardvark rolls deep.

Lefty Shivambu/Gallo Images/Getty Images

We're thrilled to announce that the National Geographic documentary "Illicit: the Dark Trade," based on the bestselling book by FP Editor in Chief Moisés Naím has been nominated for two Emmy awards in the categories of "Oustanding Investigative Journalism (long-form)" and "Graphic Design and Art Direction". The film features extensive interviews with Naím as well as recent FP contributor Minxin Pei.

Here's the trailer:

With all these Twitter Revolutions breaking out all over the place, it certainly seems like that whole online social networking thing is here to stay. Good thing FP has already got Web 2.0 on lock!

If you haven't already, be sure to friend us on our newly spruced-up Facebook page, where you can find regular updates from the magazine and interact with other readers.

Or if Twitter's your thing, you can follow @FP_magazine for a regular feed of the best new FP content.