THE WORLD: "Shaking Up the Boardroom at World Government Inc.," by James Traub, New York Times, 4 January 2009.

Interesting piece that argues that the November and coming April G-20 summits on the global financial crisis essentially signals the irrelevancy of the G-8 club.

By the time the G-8 convenes in Rome two months later [after the April G-20 meet], it may be all but defunct; Italy, this year's host, is considering whether to throw open the meeting to new members.

Blueprint for Action's primary arguments (strategic alliance with China, the logical central role of the G-20, Iran getting its bomb no matter what we do, and the logic of going after North Korea [again in famine crisis and now with the bomb for real]) all look fairly prescient today, with the current financial crisis making the logic even clearer.

The reinvention crowd (I count myself among them) tends to focus on the UN, but I see little utility or possibility there. Better to focus on the Bretton Woods organizations, especially the IMF, where voting weights are totally screwed up, and the G-20.

This article is a great overview in that sense.