There is a moderate presidency in store for the United States, one that will pursue gestures of solidarity more so than confrontation, but will also be marked by very controversial decisions to face up to the changes in the national and international economic, financial, and political systems.

Obama is banking on dialog and change. There will be reforms, but not those that many are imagining. The permanent and changing reality will impose a pragmatic agenda that will go beyond his good intentions.

Learn what challenges the White House’s new tenant will face when trying to implement the changes in foreign policy and security matters promised during the campaign.

• Change in the United States... but what kind of change?
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With its recent election of Barack Obama, the United States has torn down cultural barriers and shifted away from President Bush and the Republicans. While this may be cause for rejoicing, the author reminds that Obama is a cautious and center-left politician, poised to assume office with the nation in the midst of a great financial crisis and embroiled in multiple wars overseas.

• How to make the multipolar world more stable
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What lessons can be learned from the fall of Lehman Brothers? Is Lehman’s bankruptcy only a financial matter? How can an investment bank go bankrupt? What happens when it goes bankrupt? Why has Washington not intervened now if it did do so in the bankruptcies of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and Bear Stearns? Can more banks go bankrupt? Why is this crisis lasting so long? How did it all begin? What consequences can this have for the average citizen?

Find out why the crisis in South Ossetia has constituted a tough international setback for Russia and the Slavophile and pro-Oriental positions that the new president Medvedev and his prime minister Putin defend. However, should Europe expect some type retaliation by Moscow in terms of energy?

Barack Obama faces a particularly troubled world and a different America. Iraq, Iran, the Middle East, Cuba. Climate change, poverty, and energy. The economic crisis, the boredom of the middle class, and health reform. Immigration, NAFTA, and the renegotiation of trade agreements. Diplomacy vs. force. International terrorism. The list of problems and challenges goes on and on. Obama must transform his message of hope (We can change) into an action plan, explaining how he will face these challenges in the new multipolar world of the 21st century.

• Barack versus "Billary"
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The most important ecologist groups in the United States work with lawyers, scientists, economists and lobbyists inside the political system and the economic establishment; in addition, an alternative movement has developed, which focuses its work on environmental justice, conservation and political impartiality. They all fight to avoid the apathy of the United States society, which is more worried by terrorism and the economic crisis than environmental protection.

Today Brazil receives an important flow of capital in the form of direct, as well as financial, investments, partly induced by the differential between the American and domestic interest rates. What would happen if the United States were to effectively slip into a recession and the Federal Reserve were to decide to continue lowering the rates? What would the consequences for the local economy be?

• Brazil is looking to accelerate its growth
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• The Globalization of Brazil
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