Fareed Zakaria

You can count on a few things during the U.N.'s annual General Assembly. The traffic will be bad, the speeches will be worthy (if a bit dull)—and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will say something absurd. This year the Iranian leader suggested that U.S. officials orchestrated the 9/11 attacks to save Israel and "reverse the declining American economy."

Don't forget: the bailouts worked.

But no one wants to admit it.

September 11 was a shock to the American psyche and the American system. As a result, we overreacted.

Robert Gates's latest efforts at reforming the Pentagon are modest. He is not trying to cut the actual defense budget; he merely wants to increase efficiency while reducing bureaucracy, waste, and duplication. The savings he is trying to achieve are perfectly reasonable: $100 billion over five years, during which period the Pentagon will spend approximately $3.5 trillion.

I believe we should promote Muslim moderates right here in America. That is why, after the Anti-Defamation League publicly called for moving the mosque near Ground Zero, I have returned both the handsome plaque and the $10,000 honorarium that came with it.

The idea that the average American is overtaxed is a nice piece of populist pandering. In fact, federal taxes as a percentage of the economy are at their lowest level since the presidency of Harry Truman. The simple fact is this: all the Bush tax cuts were unaffordable.

Ford's CEO on the challenge of reinventing the automobile.

"What happened in Kampala is just the beginning!" So warned Abu Zubayr, the leader of Al-Shabab, which claimed responsibility for the bombings in the Ugandan capital that killed more than 70 people who had gathered to watch the World Cup soccer final. In the bombings' wake, Al-Shabab has drawn renewed attention for its murky links to Al Qaeda, and analysts once again are warning that failed states are a mortal threat to American national security.

In Britain, even pain is popular.

The American economy is sputtering, and we are running out of options. Interest rates can't go any lower. Another burst of government spending—whether a good or bad idea—looks politically impossible. Is there anything that could protect us from the dangers of stagnation or a double dip?

The regime in Iran isn't about to fall.

I agree with virtually everyone out there who's complaining on camera and in print that our response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has been just terrible. Except that by "our" I don't mean the government's or the country's but ours—the media's.

China has seen dramatic labor protests in recent weeks, from strikes at a Honda factory to grim accounts of suicide at the vast Foxconn complex, where iPhones are assembled. One scholar calls this "the end of the world-factory model," under which China would be the globe's low-wage manufacturer.

The new line of attack against Barack Obama's foreign policy is that he's too soft, and other countries are taking advantage of him. First it was the Russians, Chinese, and Iranians. Now even the Brazilians and Turks are joining in.

A founder of Intellectual Ventures, a scientific think tank working on solutions to the world's thorniest problems—including global warming. Fareed Zakaria spoke with him about alternative energy and geoengineering.

Why Pakistan keeps exporting jihad.

The CEO of Bloom Energy on a new way of powering the planet.

How the rush to crucify Goldman Sachs is clouding our judgment and distorting public policy.

Coming to terms with Karzai.

America's green czar is counting on big breakthroughs.

The Israeli Prime Minister says his nation's security is his top priority. Too bad he's undermining it.

From an unlikely quarter—Pakistan.

It can be done. Here's how.

Why Iran's dictators can be deterred.

How moderate Muslim leaders waged war on extremists—and won.

The truth about Sino-U.S. relations.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt has long defended his company's decision to do business in China despite the restrictions that Beijing imposes on Internet freedom.

How the Democratic Republic of Google is testing China's appetite for democracy itself.

How our frenzied response to terrorism only feeds it.