How about the US' foreign policy agenda, anybody?
Europeans distrust the moralizing tone of American policy. They remember how President Bush threw down the gantlet over Iraq: "Those who are not for us are against us." Now comes McCain proclaiming that Iranian nuclear weapons are a "moral issue" on which we must be uncompromising. And not just Iran. McCain outlined an agenda reminiscent of the early days of the Bush administration. The overall imperative is to spread democracy. To that end we must increase U.S. troop numbers in Iraq, strengthen NATO forces in Afghanistan, force a halt to the slaughter in Darfur, press Putin's Russia on its domestic and international behavior, push for regime change in Belarus, stabilize the Balkans and expand the EU to include Turkey and Serbia, while extending NATO through Ukraine all the way to Georgia. (Newsweek Intl)
Problems in China:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12667617/site/newsweek/
Honestly, this is something that may make or break China. They are still very communist. There is a HUGE gap. If they liberalize the masses, they will be very poor (ie Russia), if they don't, then others continue to rise to prosperity whilst others do not.
They've got oil, we've got the internet:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12666393/site/newsweek/
All of these particular stories were taken from Newsweek Intl. Bias aside, all pretty good reads.