The word “modernization” has become ubiquitous in almost all major government policies and initiatives since the 2009 release of Russian president Dmitry Medvedev’s “Go Russia!” policy manifesto, where he called for the modernization of Russia’s economy and society. This has been especially evident in Russian foreign policy, which has been seeking to attract foreign investment in new high tech sectors of the Russian economy in order to further the cause of modernization.

From this year forward, longtime U.S. ally Saudi Arabia will supply more oil to China than the U.S. In 2010, the Middle East and Saudi Arabia accounted for 18% and 12% of U.S. crude oil imports, respectively. That same year, 46% of China’s crude oil imports originated in the Middle East and 19% came from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. While U.S. demand for oil has plateaued, China’s demand is expected to increase rapidly for at least the next two decades.

Pieces of rock from a dynamited boulder fly all over. An army of excavators, bulldozers, loaders, and scores of heavy machines dig through the giant Omo gorge in Southern Ethiopia near the Kenyan border.

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Knight Kiplinger, Editor-in-Chief of Kiplinger.com joins us to explain the strength of the U.S. dollar and the international currency market.