This is GPS, the Global Public Square.

Welcome to all of you in the United States and around the world.

I'm Farid Zakaria.

We'll start today's show with the Iran's downing of that U.S. drone

and America's retaliatory attack that was called off.

Two nations brought to the brink of war.

How do they get there?

And what would a war between the two look like?

And water shortages are plaguing cities from Chennai to Cape Town.

Does the answer to the problem involve towing massive ice probes?

I will take you through this wild idea.

But first, here's my take.

The massive protests we've been watching in Hong Kong

highlights something we often tend to forget,

the fragility of the Chinese political system.

China's rise has been something of a miracle.

It is quite simply the most successful case of economic development in human history.

The country's GDP has grown around 10% a year for 40 years,

moving more than 850 million people out of poverty.

In doing so, China has also proved to be the greatest exception to a near-iron law of politics.

Decades of political science research have shown

that there is a fairly strong connection between economic growth and democracy.

...