Kaplan's Kolkata and Kaplan's Colombia

Robert Kaplan has a new piece in the April issue of The Atlantic. I would love to post it but it's not up yet on their site. Kaplan is obviously still working on his new book, this article is about his visit to Kolkata (formerly Calcutta). Apparently the name was changed in 2001. I want to say more but today is our baby girl's baptism and my wife is going to beat me posterior if I don't start wrapping this up.

CSM pronounced The Atlantic's daily post The Current as one of its "Monitor Picks." This is what they said:

Struggling to find time to wade through a 5,000-word essay on global affairs? Go the easier route, and check out The Current, where Atlantic scribes offer their pithy takes on timely topics.

Kaplan was a recent contributer with his take on Colombia and Alvaro Uribe which I consider spot on:

Venezuelan megalomaniac Hugo Chavez's dispatch of troops to the Colombian border is meant not just as an affront to the Colombians but to Colombia's ally, the United States. Chavez must have deep sense of inferiority, because Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez is everything Chavez is not. Indeed, handicapped for size and importance of the country, Colombian President Uribe is the most impressive and successful ruler in the democratic world. A quiet, workaholic, he is the opposite of a demagogue. If Pakistan or Iraq had an Uribe, they would both be increasingly out-of-the-news success stories.