I'm not sure whether you're aware but Robert Kaplan joined Stratfor some months ago, adding his considerable intellectual capital to George Friedman’s. I was recently in Austin and met Kaplan, whose writing I have admired for years, whether or not I have agreed with a particular thought line.

He recently penned a short (for him) essay on the soft power of Europe and the welfare state that underpins it. I suggest you read it thoughtfully (and overlook his note on US growth at 2.7% – it is not critical to the point). Perhaps it is because I read it on my flight to Greece (where I am writing now – I find myself writing more and more in planes of late), but there is something that just feels right about it. How much is the solidarity of the state dependent upon the delivery of welfare promises? More from Greece later! Read on and think.