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Military contractors from Latin America are playing a far greater role in Iraq than most people realize, and the implications will be felt from Baghdad to Bogotá.

It’s been 50 years since a tiny, bleeping orb named Sputnik triggered a decades-long competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to rule the heavens. But if you thought the space race was over, think again. In this week’s List, FP looks at the five hottest contests for space dominance.

Toby Dodge, one of the world’s foremost experts on modern-day Iraq, has been visiting the country regularly since 2003. FP recently sat down with a deeply pessimistic Dodge to get his take on U.S. Gen. David Petraeus, the surge, and the Biden-Gelb plan for partitioning Iraq.

Environmental advocates have finally managed to put the issue of global warming at the top of the world’s agenda. But the scientific, economic, and political realities may mean that their efforts are too little, too late.

Military experts have a saying: Amateurs study strategy; professionals study logistics. When it comes to geopolitics, professionals study demographics. For this List, FP surveys the five population trends that will do most to shape our world in the years to come.

Reporting on the ground in Iraq suggests the surge is going better than even Petraeus and Crocker let on. The challenge now is to make sure their efforts aren’t wasted when U.S. troops start coming home.

The mortgage crisis began in the United States, but it might not end there. For this week’s List, FP takes a look at some of the countries in Europe whose housing markets may be in for a rude shock.

John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt made waves in 2006 when they argued that a powerful “Israel lobby” distorts U.S. policies in the Middle East. Back with a new book expanding on the same topic, these noted realist scholars sat down with FP to explain why they are speaking out.

Pervez Musharraf is wobbling, and his political adversaries are moving in for the kill. But Pakistan’s former leaders are hardly the democratic saviors they present themselves to be.

Six years after the attacks of September 11, FP looks back at some of the critical essays and arguments that shaped the international debate on the war on terror.

After six years, two wars, and dozens of senior al Qaeda figures arrested, Osama bin Laden and his chief associate Ayman al-Zawahiri remain at large. In this week’s List, FP runs down some of the other most dangerous senior al Qaeda leaders who are still on the loose.

Granted unparalleled access as an official military observer, Brian Steidle has chronicled Darfur’s horrors at uncomfortably close range. FP spoke with this Marine Corps veteran and author about his new film, the conflict in Sudan, and his hope that the world can finally stop the killing.