CIAO DATE: 03/2013

• Obama is borrowing George W. Bush's winning playbook

  Richard Wolffe

  With one month to go before election day, Richard Wolffe looks at Barack Obama’s campaign and finds he is borrowing from George W. Bush’s playbook.

• Republican View: Romney has the skills

  Ed Goeas

• Republican View: We need a Reaganite foreign policy

  John Bolton

  John Bolton argues that Obama's failure to exert power has left the US vulnerable

• Democrat view: Obama's in touch with the middle class

  Celinda Lake

• Democrat view: Principled pragmatism beats Bush-style bluster

  Bruce W. Jentleson, Charles A. Kupchan

  Charles Kupchan and Bruce Jentleson on the President’s national security record

• The candidates' policy platforms

  Bruce Stokes, Xenia Dormandy, Joseph K. Hurd

  Extracted from the Chatham House Election Notes series including work by Xenia Dormandy (Chatham House), Joseph K. Hurd (Truman National Security Project) and Bruce Stokes (Pew Research Centre)

• Britain must engage with a multi-tier EU

  Robin Niblett

  Bad time to play call my bluff

• Fast food on the frontline

  Tony Karon

  US fast-food outlets under fire should tighten local links

   

   

• Kremlin struggles to exert influence in a weakened Europe

  James Sherr

  Gas power politics

• Internet censorship - not as bad as it looks

  Keir Giles

  Still writing the online rulebook

• Lighting Iran's nuclear fuse

  David Patrikarakos

  David Patrikarakos reveals how Dick Cheney, the US Vice-President, missed a blatant opportunity to defuse the crisis with Tehran

   

   

• Nuclear weapons could become obsolete

  Ward Wilson

  The Pennyfarthing H-bomb

• The True Size of Africa

  Thomas Cargill

  The next big thing: Once known only for hunger and war, Africa's moment has arrived

   

   

• Gareth Evans on 'Responsibility to Protect' after Libya

  Alan Philps

  ‘Responsibility to Protect' is a doctrine endorsed in 2005 which aims to end impunity for the perpetrators of atrocities such as those being committed in Syria. Gareth Evans, the former Australian Foreign Minister and a prime mover behind the concept, explains why the UN is now powerless to stop the bloodshed, and offers ideas on restoring consensus.

• The height of arrogance?

  James Nixey

  Boosting morale while straining the neck. Why countries vie to have the tallest flagpoles

   

   

• The impact of Syrian refugees on Turkey and Jordan

  Christopher Phillips

  Syria's refugee crisis is getting worse - for those who flee and for those who take them in. Christopher Phillips reports

   

   

• Divine right won't save the Arab kings

  Jane Kinninmont

  Jane Kinninmont demolishes the theory of monarchical exceptionalism

   

   

• Europe loses its Chinese cheerleader

  Kerry Brown

  Kerry Brown rues the pending departure of Premier Wen Jiabao

   

   

• Afghanistan: donors must not give up

  Shirazuddin Siddiqi

  The vibrant media scene in two war-torn countries faces challenges

   

   

• Iraq: Ten years without a ministry of information

  Abir Awad

  The vibrant media scene in two war-torn countries faces challenges

   

   

• From the Editor

  Alan Philps

• Letters

• Notebook: Matt Frei

  Matt Frei

• A date with history...The Cuban missile crisis

  Martin Walker

  Missiles and myths

• Postcard from...Ciudad Juarez, Spain

  Pascale Harter

  The airport with no planes and other futile projects that have drained Spanish coffers

   

   

• Jargonbuster questions 'evidence-based'

  Send your jargon suggestions to letters@theworldtoday.org

• Film: Bollywood for grown-ups

  Burhan Wazir

  A lesser known independent strand in Indian cinema that is prepared to talk seriously about politics

   

   

• Books: Mao's great famine

  Jonathan Fenby

  Yang Jisheng,

  Tombstone: The Untold Story of Mao's Great Famine

  (Allen Lane, £30)

   

   

• Books: Xenia Dormandy's US politics' reading list

  Xenia Dormandy

• Ten minutes with...Haifaa Al Mansour

  Libby Powell

  Saudi Arabia's first female film director has made an enchanting movie, Wadjda, about a girl and her bicycle. She talks to Libby Powell about changing the system from the inside