FYI from BATR

America and the world enter 2006 on the strength of some powerful geopolitical and economic trends that are bound together by the unrelenting pace of globalization, which despite causing unease in many pockets quietly continues more unchallenged and faster than ever before. This rapid globalization feeds the underlying strength and stability of the world economy, especially as the United States and China continue to drive growth well beyond their borders in places such as Europe, Japan and Latin America. However, despite the enhanced efficiency of the global economy and enormous benefits it brings, the forces of globalization will continue to feed unease that will be at the center of most of the world's economic, social and political issues in 2006 as leaders and policymakers continue to struggle with its paradoxes.