At their worst, Top Ten lists are ridiculous and arbitrary. At their best, however, they provide impetus and clarity. Professor Cole's list is the best Top Ten I've seen in a long, long time.
I have a lot of respect for Professor Cole. I first discovered his weblog just days after he started it, and from the beginning it showed a lot of insight into what was going on overseas that was missing in other weblogs. I even helped him set up his first RSS feed. Nowadays, he's rightfully getting serious attention from journalists and the mainstream media. Hopefully, people in Washington will pay attention, too.