Federico Bordonaro

For the vast majority of the Earth’s inhabitants, place of birth remains the most powerful determinant of a lifetime’s experiences. Even in the modern era of mass migration and global interaction, place of birth is crucial. Our world remains a jigsaw of countries, a patchwork of religions, a Babel of languages and a mosaic of innumerable customs and traditions. One’s chances of surviving through infancy and childhood, and later one’s opportunities for advancement in a competitive world, are strongly influenced by one’s place of birth. And this means that geography — environmental, cultural, economic, and political — is destiny. To understand the geographic layout of our world is to comprehend the challenges of its diversity.

Harm De Blij

Intervista per NewsWeek:

Canberra has also vowed to join a multibillion-dollar U.S.-Japanese effort to construct a missile-defense shield. The plan calls for Japan to contribute valuable high-tech expertise and could see Australia offer its powerful ground-based radar, which can spot distant missile launches better than a sea-based system. The missile shield will ostensibly be dedicated to warding off attacks from North Korea. But many observers see it as a hedge against Beijing. Federico Bordonaro of the Rome-based think tank PINR argues, “The U.S. is going to need Australia’s support for checking an ambitious China in the region.”