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Thomas E. Ricks' daily take on national security.

Fukuyama sees Iran as a tactical challenge, China as the strategic one

I think that is what he is saying. Francis Fukuyama, one of my favorite big thinkers, is ending his history at Johns Hopkins SAIS and heading back to California. In the new issue of the SAIS newsletter, he is asked about the top foreign policy challenge today. This is his response: My list isn’t different ...

By , a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy.
ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images
ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images
ERIC FEFERBERG/AFP/Getty Images

I think that is what he is saying. Francis Fukuyama, one of my favorite big thinkers, is ending his history at Johns Hopkins SAIS and heading back to California. In the new issue of the SAIS newsletter, he is asked about the top foreign policy challenge today. This is his response:

I think that is what he is saying. Francis Fukuyama, one of my favorite big thinkers, is ending his history at Johns Hopkins SAIS and heading back to California. In the new issue of the SAIS newsletter, he is asked about the top foreign policy challenge today. This is his response:

My list isn’t different from anyone else’s. You have these big issues with Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran — and then China. I have believed for some time that the much more difficult problem to deal with in the long run is going to be China. We have allowed ourselves to get sucked into these wars in the Middle East, but all the while the Chinese are charging ahead. I think in time we are going to realize that’s the bigger problem."    

Thomas E. Ricks is a former contributing editor to Foreign Policy. Twitter: @tomricks1

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