The World Today

A summit between the world’s two most powerful leaders is important at any time, but when China’s President Hu Jintao goes to Washington in the New Year to see President Barack Obama, there will be lots of unanswered questions about the directions their countries are taking.

Amongst the strangest sights of the recent Shanghai Expo was the British seed cathedral pavilion. Brilliantly simple in design, it stood out for touching on environmentalism whilst hovering architecturally like a real-life optical illusion. It was also one of the most popular pavilions, with long queues reflecting curiosity about the space, but also the positive light in which China sees Britain.

Counterfeiting has a long history. For most commodities it is simply the theft of brand owners’ intellectual property, a trade mark violation. But fake medicines can also kill. Political wrangling over language, and confusion over how to deal with the public health and private property aspects of counterfeiting, is hampering international action.

It was Saudi Arabian intelligence which helped prevent the explosion of bombs hidden in printer cartridges on aircraft in Britain and Dubai. Riyadh has recently been politically active in a number of conflicts in the wider Middle East, but will decline suggestions it should become a pivotal power in the region.

Sudan has seen some of the most violent conflicts in Africa with mass displacement and charges of genocide. Now a referendum is likely to see the state divided between north and south in a rare redrawing of boundaries. Still economically interdependent, the two may not be able to afford more war.

Belarus is a land between, now neither part of Russia nor a real European nation. Its president, intent on rallying the voters in this month’s election, has cast Moscow as a threat to its very survival. The reality, as he is re-elected, is likely to be another balancing act between Russia and the west.