From the April issue with Hilary Swank on the cover, p. 178 (almost at the very end), Esquire now does a preview of the next issue, and right after "63 Things Worth Shortening Your Life Over," you get:
On a totally different subject, Thomas P.M. Barnett Esquire contributing editor, defense strategist, and author of The Pentagon's New Map, offers us his brief on the state of the world 2007--the good news, the very bad news, and the wild cards. [arrow points from the words "wild cards" to a picture of Dick Cheney]
A very topical piece from someone who usually looks far ahead. Bit risky, that, but fun. I had imagined it like an updating of the country profiles from the original PNM map.
Collected articles for weeks in December and January, based on Mark Warren's proposal of the piece, then wrote it fast one long weekend. Been diddling with it ever since. Completed just before leaving for Africa--and I means minutes before leaving. Lotsa drawings/pix. Very modular.
You know, I come back from Africa more jacked than ever about the piece I wrote for Fast Company about China (dropped in a management shuffle for not being business-y enough). Reading that When Nixon Meets Mao book, I'm more psyched than ever about making the argument at this point in history. The big thing I get from that book is that the visionaries know where they are in history and know when they're making history. In fact, that's the essential buzz the visionary provides: that sense that what's being argued is history in the making. Unless you're willing to operate on that plane, with all the attendant risks and requirements, there's no sense in engaging in grand strategy.
So I guess I'm disappointed not to see the "State of the World" piece and the China piece hit the streets simultaneously, because the first one says where we are in history and the second argues for the best way to make history right now--preemptively.
Like Nixon said, "give history a nudge."
We shall see.
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