Power, National Security, and Transformational Global Events : Challenges Confronting America, China, and Iran

With China holding so much of America’s debt, currency valuation issues have already caused tensions between the two superpowers. Couple this with Iran’s efforts to develop into a nuclear power, and the United States and China could soon find themselves in a global power tug-of-war. This volume explores the shifts in power that have initiated major transformational events around the world. Describing how current and emerging situations will impact the U.S., the book discusses the effect of information technology and social media tools, insights from intelligence community experts, challenges with Iran, and the rapid growth of China’s economic wealth and military power.

As the United States struggled to survive the recent recession, China quietly acquired a vast amount of U.S. Treasury bills and bonds. With China now holding so much of America’s debt, currency valuation issues have already caused tensions between the two superpowers. Couple this with Iran’s efforts to develop into a nuclear power in an area that lacks political stability, and the United States and China could soon find themselves in a global power tug-of-war.

Power, National Security, and Transformational Global Events: Challenges Confronting America, China, and Iran explores the shifts in power that have initiated major transformational events around the world. Expert contributors identify the major challenges that now confront America as a result of these transformations. Filled with authoritative insights into how current and emerging situations will impact the United States, the book illustrates the policy problems and limited choices facing America. It also:

• Describes the information technology and social media tools that were instrumental in the Arab revolution
• Provides the insights of experts from the Intelligence Community on emerging issues that will soon impact America
• Illustrates the policy problems involved in addressing the challenges with Iran
• Explores the rapid growth of China’s economic wealth and military power

This much-needed reference describes and analyzes the emergence of cyber power and its capabilities for cyber attack, cyber warfare, and cyber defense. It examines the information revolution and social media instruments, such as Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, in terms of their role and impact on the Arab revolution. It also discusses the fallacy of the decline of the United States as a superpower in terms of its formation and distribution of power resources and its continued formidable military and national security strengths.