Which catastrophe will be the most memorable?

So this morning I checked the news and saw the following of interest: 1)  Mounting concerns over the safety of Japan’s nuclear power plants; 2)  The joint Saudi/UAE intervention into Bahrain threatening to become a regional flashpoint; 3)  Khaddafi’s forces continuing to contradict the "dynamic analysis" of Tom Donilon gain momentum in Libya 4)  A poll ...

By , a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast.

So this morning I checked the news and saw the following of interest:

So this morning I checked the news and saw the following of interest:

1)  Mounting concerns over the safety of Japan’s nuclear power plants;

2)  The joint Saudi/UAE intervention into Bahrain threatening to become a regional flashpoint;

3)  Khaddafi’s forces continuing to contradict the "dynamic analysis" of Tom Donilon gain momentum in Libya

4)  A poll suggesting that Ameticans’ confidence in the American system of government had plunged to a 35-year low;  

5)  P.J. Crowley’s resignation for saying that the Pentagon has royally fucked-up made mistakes with respect to the incacrceration and prosecution of Bradley Manning continues to make waves. 

In other words, it looked like a full day of blog-worthy events,  So you can imagine my utter delight at the fact that I spent most of today in an uber-academic conference, confined to  a windowless, wireless room, not being able to blog about any of this. 

Unfortunately, blogging time will not be ample for the rest of the week, as I’ll be attending the International Studies Association annual meeting.  So, let me step back and ask readers the following question:  Five years from now, which of the five developments listed above will we look back and believe to be the most significant for world politics? Why? 

I think the answer will still be the Japan earthquake, but I don’t have any confidence at all in that prediction. 

Daniel W. Drezner is a professor of international politics at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University and co-host of the Space the Nation podcast. Twitter: @dandrezner

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