(CNN) – CNN Cairo went to the beach Monday. It was not, alas, a day of rest. We assembled at 2 a.m. at the headquarters of the Egyptian Army's "Morale Guidance" Bureau, from where we were bussed, an hour later, to the northern coast to cover the 2009 Brightstar Exercises.

This year 17,000 troops from Egypt, the United States, Jordan, Pakistan, Germany, Italy, and Kuwait - to name a few - are taking part.

These military exercises have been conducted every two years since 1981.

There is a certain predictability about these affairs. The officers, whatever the country, are all upbeat, talking about cooperation, partnership and mutual respect.

But in the end, these are war games: A rehearsal for something to which other, far less lofty terms come to mind. The officers we interviewed - Americans and Egyptians - speak in glowing adjectives, but dodge questions about what or whom the exercises are preparing for.

I covered Brightstar 10 years ago. Back then it was also all about partnership and cooperation. But in the combat operations room of the USS John F. Kennedy, I had a premonition of what was to come. On a map of clear plastic, written in magic marker over Baghdad were the words: "Target: Saddam."

Ten years later Saddam is gone; U.S. forces are bogged down in Iraq and Afghanistan, while targets have been hit in Yemen, Somalia, and Pakistan.

Voices have been raised in the U.S. – though more loudly and insistently in Israel - calling for military action against Iran, which is accused by some of pursuing a nuclear weapons program.

Back in 1999 it was fairly clear that sooner or later the U.S. and its allies would, somehow or other, bring down Saddam Hussein. After September 11, 2001, regardless of Iraq's non-involvement in those attacks, Saddam's days were running out.

I don't think, at this moment, an attack against Iran (by Israel, by the U.S., or both) is as inevitable as Saddam Hussein's demise. But the possibility is there.

As the sun rose over the desert, I watched three C17 "Globemasters," which had flown straight from Fort Bragg in North Carolina, drop hundreds of paratroopers - mostly Americans along with a few Egyptians and Pakistanis. Later, a pair of American Cobra gunships provided air support as three huge U.S. Navy hovercraft disgorged a dozen armored humvees on a beautiful Mediterranean beach, already "secured" by U.S., Egyptian, Pakistani and Jordanian troops.

It was an impressive display of force and hardware, as well as cooperation and partnership. However it's easy to see from the weapons on display who is the senior "partner."

Sitting in the press bus on my way back to Cairo typing this with my thumbs on a blackberry, I wonder if, as the American and Egyptian officers told us, the Brightstar exercises aren't designed for a specific threat then what is the point?

MOMBASA, Kenya - The train that had hit the container truck was a bad start to our search for dock 13 - the berthing space for the Maersk Alabama.The crumpled steel of the shipping container was crunched up across the dockyard railway lines causing a seething, angry traffic jam.

We abandoned our minibus and walked through the humid East African afternoon towards the quay. Nearby the Pirate Bar, complete with skull and crossbones motif above the window, was closed for business - a sign of the times perhaps.

The Maersk officials directed us to where the rest of the media were gathering while forklift trucks placed more shipping containers in front of us so that we would have no contact with the crew.

It was dark by the time we saw the first lights of the Maersk Alabama slowly gliding into port. Soon the tugboat was pushing its stern up against the dock, and many of the crew were standing on the decks looking somewhat bemused at the media gaggle on the dock below them.

"How did you feel when the pirates came on board?" colleague Stan Grant asked one man. "Scared," he replied. "What about Capt. Philips?" someone else shouted out. "A very brave man," another sailor said.

All the while, armed men in camouflage and flak jackets moved up and down the steel steps that connect the decks.

Later another sailor put his arm around his shipmate. "He's the real hero. He jumped one of the pirates. Took him down to the engine room and jumped him there!"

Snippets of fear, bravery, and hope shouted out into the hot African night. Fragments of a story still to be fully told. Happiness for these sailors tonight. But as one of them angrily shouted out: "There's still a man out there on a boat who may be dead."

Capt. Richard Phillips. His story is unfolding in the open seas. Invisible to the world, his fate uncertain.

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Few people get to meet the leader of the Pakistani Taliban Baitullah Mehsud, so when Pakistani journalist Behroz Khan was invited to one of his rare press conferences last year, he admits his heart started thumping a little harder.

Baitullah Mehsud has claimed responsibility for many recent attacks in Pakistan.

"You know he's behind the deadliest attacks and these suicide bombers," Khan told CNN. "It is, I would say, a bit scary."

What Khan saw was not the long-bearded, menacing giant he expected. Khan said Mehsud was no more than 5 feet 4 inches tall (1.62 meters), portly, neatly dressed and a bit of a jokester.

"He seemed like a very normal person, cracking jokes and commenting on everything."

But no one was laughing in the U.S. this week when Mehsud vowed to launch an attack on Washington.

In a series of phone calls to the media, Mehsud also claimed responsibility for the recent suicide bombing of a police station in Islamabad and an attack on a police academy in Lahore.

The attacks were revenge, Mehsud said, for U.S. missile strikes on Pakistani soil. Mehsud's threat comes amid U.S. President Barack Obama's call for a crackdown on militants in Pakistan's ungoverned tribal region, Mehsud's home turf. U.S. intelligence officials also put a $5 million bounty on Mehsud's head.

Mehsud's threat may be his answer to Washington, said terrorism analyst Muhammad Amir Rana. Rana is head of the Pakistan Institute for Peace Studies, an Islamabad-based think tank that monitors militant groups in Pakistan.

"I think he wanted to give the message that if you have the head money on me, I can take revenge," Rana said.

Rana said Washington's $5 million bounty entrenches Mehsud as Pakistan's most powerful militant commander and puts him on the world's most wanted list with names like Osama Bin Laden, Ayman Al-Zawahiri and Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar.

It was alongside Mullah Omar's Taliban fighters in Afghanistan where Mehsud established a reputation as a fierce fighter in the 1990s. Mullah Omar was so impressed with the high-school-dropout-turned-militant that he named him a regional commander in Pakistan's ungoverned tribal region, Rana said.

Like his mentor Omar, Mehsud demanded never to be photographed. South Waziristan became his stronghold, a place where Mehsud still offers shelter and training to jihadists and Al Qaeda groups fighting U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, Rana said.

Mehsud was declared the leader of the Pakistani Taliban in 2007. Last year, Time Magazine called him one of the 100 most influential people in the world because of the vast network of militants he controls.

Today Mehsud is suspected of being the architect of some of Pakistan's deadliest suicide attacks and the mastermind behind the assassination of former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

Mehsud has denied involvement in the assassination. But Rana and U.S. intelligence officials said they have yet to see evidence that Mehsud is capable of striking beyond the Afghan-Pakistan region.

"Obviously he's challenging the U.S.," said Rana. "But that doesn't mean he'll go to Washington and do everything by himself."

Rana said Mehsud remains a major threat to Pakistan and U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

Journalist Behroz Khan said he doesn't think the joking militant leader he met was kidding when he claimed to have hundreds of suicide bombers and called them his atom bombs.

"He said the infidels have their own nuclear bombs so they are my atom bombs," Khan said.

SEOUL, South Korea - After more than 20 years of covering Korea, it never ceases to amaze me how seemingly blasé South Koreans can be to the North Korean threat.

Take Monday, for example, the day North Korea hurls fiery rhetoric at the South by using words such as "all-out war" and "combat ready" at South Korea and the United States.

It was a day when hundreds of South Korea's citizens were stranded in the North as Pyongyang in effect closes its borders in retaliation for U.S.-South Korean military exercises.

We take to the streets to do a story about the reaction (I'm thinking "shock and horror") of the average South Korean.  Here's what we got.

Um Sung-eun, a 25-year-old college student, said, "North Korea is threatening us, but I think they are trying to fight with the U.S., they don't mean to threaten us."

Ko Chong-Chu, a businessman old enough to be her father says, "In the past, North Korea carried out a missile test to strengthen their negotiation position.  I think they are doing the same thing again."

North Korean experts with doctorates from Ivy League universities couldn't have been more analytical.

So what gives?  South Koreans will stop traffic for miles to hold shouting matches at the mildest fender-bender. Why the seeming lack of fiery emotion where North Korea is concerned?

The best explanation I've ever received is that having lived under a North Korean threat for more than half a century, South Koreans have learned to tune most of the rhetoric out. I mean, how many times can you hear "wolf" and still jump?

Or maybe the thought of North Korea firing anything, never mind a missile, at South Korea is too horrible to even think about.

Whatever the reason, I once again retire the microphone to another non-story about a panic attack that never appeared.

When will I ever learn?

SEOUL, South Korea - I'm sitting at a coffee shop with a local Korean journalist, a fellow North Korean watcher. Our cell phones buzz at the same time. "Missiles?" he says, only half jokingly. It turned out to be just a coincidence.

A South Korean soldier stands guard at Panmunjom in the demilitarized zone between the North and South.

But for a moment there. ...

One North Korean watcher says this latest vigil is like watching storm clouds gathering. You can see it happening. You don't know if it will end up raining or not. But you've seen it before and you know you will see it happen, again and again.

Will they or won't they?

Here's the most likely scenario for the moment.

On March 8, North Korea holds its Supreme People's Assembly. This is like holding national assembly elections except that in communist North Korea, all the assembly members have already been chosen.

The important thing is that one of the already chosen ones is North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

It's one of those communist formalities that are steeped in symbolism. The symbol here being that Kim Jong-Il is still firmly in power.

If North Korea was going to fire a missile or a satellite, (a discussion for another day) the thinking is that they would do it sometime between March 8 and the date they set for the first general assembly of the "newly elected" members.

At this meeting, it is expected they will unanimously vote Kim to be the head.

It is not clear when that meeting will be, but from past experience, it should be two to four weeks after March 8.

Another theory that supports this time line is the fact that North Korea has been harshly critical of the U.S.-South Korean military exercise "Key Resolve" which will continue for most of March.

The exercise could provide the perfect excuse for North Korea to fire off a missile or a satellite. Now, as my North Korean analyst friend and I sip coffee in Seoul, we also understand that any and all of this may change.

What if Steven Bosworth, the new U.S.-appointed North Korean envoy heads to North Korea? Again, this may be fodder for another coffee session. But for now, both of us keep of cell phone close.

BEIJING,  China - Hillary Clinton's name carries celebrity status in China. She came to Beijing first as U.S. President Bill Clinton's first lady, now as President Barack Obama's Secretary of State. But the Chinese just call her "Hillary."

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chats with a Chinese church official after a Sunday mass in Beijing on February 22.

On the eve of her greatly-anticipated visit to China's capital this past weekend, Beijingers were thoughtful.

"I think she is indeed a very powerful woman," said a businesswoman. "She has a very strong personality. I even bought her autobiography."

"I'm very keen about Hillary's visit," said another man, a banker. "Actually, I really wish I could have a dinner with her, so I can hear more about her opinions on Sino-U.S. relations."

Unfortunately, Mrs. Clinton did not have time for dinner with him but did meet with China's top brass, President Hu Jintao, Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi and Premier Wen Jiabao. It was the first time a U.S. Secretary of State chose to take a maiden voyage to Asia in almost 50 years.

"I think she chose to visit China because China means a lot to the U.S.," said one woman, a psychologist. "She wants to have a more thorough discussion with China."

It's no secret the discussion was dominated by the global financial crisis, still a source of bitterness among some Chinese who believe the U.S. is to blame for the downturn.

"Since China didn't suffer as much as the United States in the financial crisis, Hillary's looking for cooperation and help," said the businesswoman.

"I think China and the U.S. should combat the financial crisis hand in hand," the banker said. "If the U.S. only cares about its own economy, other countries will be left behind."

As first lady, Mrs. Clinton once pressed the Chinese on human rights but said the issue would not sideline other priorities on this trip.

"Well, if we compare the current human rights condition with that during the Cultural Revolution, then there have been a lot of improvements," one woman said. "But China still has a long way to go."

"I think the Chinese government should allow more freedom on news," said a student from the Communication University of China. "Chinese citizens need to know more about negative opinions of our country."

Perhaps there is hope in more visits from diplomats like Mrs. Clinton. "I think she is very talented," said the banker. "I still don't know why she dropped out of the presidential campaign."

In China, it seems, she still has a lot of fans.

LASHKAR GAH, Afghanistan – Once known as "Little America," Helmand Province in Afghanistan's southern region is now considered one of the most volatile provinces in the region. Before the Soviet invasion in the 1970s, the U.S. Agency for International Development poured in vast resources and projects to help the province prosper. It built dams and irrigation systems and was welcomed by Afghans in this fertile area.

Atia Abawi poses with farmers in Helmand Province.

Now Helmand is permeated with insurgents, warfare and opium poppies. Afghanistan is responsible for producing more than 90 percent of the world's opium, more than half of which comes from Helmand.

But Afghans who remember the old days have warm memories of the American presence in Helmand.

On the one-and-a-half hour flight from Kabul to Lashkar Gah, the capital of Helmand, I was caught up in conversation with two middle-aged women who are part of the provincial council there. I asked them several questions trying to get their perspective on the situation. One of the women lived in the province through all the wars, the other left for Pakistan during the barbaric civil war that ravaged the country in the early 1990s and stayed there throughout the Taliban regime.

They told me anyone who remembers the 1960s and 1970s welcomes America's return to the province. It is expected that nearly a third of the anticipated 30,000 U.S. troops to come to Afghanistan this year will be based in the southern region where the Taliban and other insurgent groups have been gaining ground.

USAID is already there, fighting its own fight.

The organization is working to ensure the people and the province thrive once more, investing in old projects as well as the new. USAID helped the government of the province distribute to some 32,000 farmers about $400 worth of seeds and fertilizer each so they can grow something other than opium poppies.

It's a small step to fixing an enormous problem, but it's one that is welcomed by many.

"If you can just help the people of Afghanistan in this way, the fighting will go away," farmer Abdul Qadir told me to share with the world. "These Taliban and other enemies of the country will also disappear."

Qadir explained that building infrastructure and helping the people of Helmand will have more of an effect than any gun or bomb ever will.

TOKYO, Japan – In a high school English class in suburban Tokyo, a familiar voice rings out in a patriotic tone. The students are mesmerized, shaping the foreign words silently as they study the printout of the audio.

Endo's class enjoy their English lesson Obama-style.

The voice belongs not to the Prime Minister of Japan, but the new President of the United States, Barack Obama.

"The world is watching," says President Obama.

"The world is watching," recites the class.

"Mo ichido, onegaishimas," says teacher Shizuka Endo, for "Once again, please." Endo clicks ‘play' on her CD and the students try the phrase again, focusing on pronouncing the "R." Their textbook is an English language book and CD set, featuring the speeches of the American President.

"The way he speaks is different from us," says student Asato Maejima. "His speech is so persuasive."

The book isn't just a hit in Endo's English class; it's the number one bestseller in Japan. Asahi Press, the publisher of the Obama books, says the book is also number one on Japan's version of Amazon.

Asahi Press, which says the textbook is its all-time second bestselling publication, released a sequel to the book. The second book features the President's inaugural address. The book is already number two on Amazon based on book reservations alone.

"Readers who do not necessarily want to learn English unexpectedly bought the book as well as those who want to learn English," says Yuzo Yamamoto, Asahi Press Director. "People wrote us letters saying they were moved and they cried."

Part of the reason, says Yamamoto, may be that Japanese politicians lack the passion that Obama expresses. Obama's tone, says Yamamoto, is positive and gives Japan some hope. The country, which has seen a revolving door of Prime Ministers in the last few years, has reported dismal opinions of its politicians in poll after poll.

Back in Endo's English classroom, the students applaud after Obama says "Yes, we can."

"I think the English isn't just English," says Endo. "In my opinion, it is more than language, it is communication." Communication beyond words and beyond borders.

MOSCOW, Russia - At 7 a.m. Wednesday in Moscow, a crowd of faces weary from staying up all night erupted in yells of joy. U.S. Senator Barack Obama would be called President-elect Obama from that point on, and at the American-themed Starlite diner that shares a square with a giant Lenin statue, Russians and expats celebrated together.

Many Russians have high hopes for U.S. President-elect Barack Obama.

"It's a great opportunity for the world. It's a great opportunity for Russia to have such a president," said a woman named Katya. "It's an emotional event. I think the whole world will come together and I think it's unbelievably great for Russian people."

Katya shares many Russian's views. Independent polls show far more Russians hoped Obama would win. Russians at Starlite and Russians on the street say they believe Obama won't be as "aggressive" as George W. Bush has been as U.S. president, and McCain might have been.

Still, as another excited Muscovite told me early morning, "Maybe McCain would be easier for Russians to understand as he is also a kind of hardliner."

Though many want the change Obama promises, years of authoritarian rule have become familiar to those who live here. And just hours after many got the news they wished for, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev gave them the harsh rhetoric they could have expected.

Seemingly timed to coincide with the U.S. election results, in his first "State of the Nation Address," instead of congratulating Obama, President Medvedev blamed America for starting the global financial crisis, the war in Georgia, and for pressuring Moscow over a missile defense system outside its borders.

Though Medvedev later sent a "congratulatory" telegram to the president-elect, mixed messages from the Kremlin continue providing a sense that though many here yearn for a fresh start, perhaps those in charge just don't know how, or simply don't agree.

The war of the signs, symbolizing the heated times in election-gripped America.

I imagine the makers of those signs lined up at the polling stations, waiting up to four hours to cast their vote early. They want to make sure their vote counts. With two wars and a grave economic mess threatening jobs, the future of a nation is at stake.

Some Americans are still upset about the 2000 election when Democrat Al Gore lost to George W. Bush, mainly because of the results in Florida. After the U.S. Supreme Court halted a recount in the state, Bush was certified as the winner of Florida by a razor-thin margin of 537 votes! America learned then that "chad" was not just a name, it was the tiny piece of paper that a punch hole creates, which determined whether your vote counts.

Ironically, the ballot fixes made since that election are creating new problems in the 2008 election. Some of the new machines are not working right, some poll workers are not well-enough trained to handle them. How are they going to cope with an unprecedented number of voters expected to show up on election day?

People are confused and doubts are building. The number of Americans who trust their vote will count in this election has dropped by double digits from the last election in 2004. Only 58% believe their vote will be cast and counted properly, down from 72% in 2004.

And the lack of trust could be a problem. Democratic supporters could refuse to accept a loss. They expect an Obama win, given his lead in the polls.

But the polls could be wrong.

It's happened before ...

They call it the Bradley effect, named after the popular Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley after he ran for California Governor in 1982. Some polls showed the African American mayor ahead of his Republican challenger by 9 points but he still lost the election by a little more than one percentage point. Why were the polls wrong? Some election watchers say it was because many voters don't tell the truth when pollsters ask if race is a factor in their vote.

That's the Bradley effect, 26 years ago. Polling has improved vastly since then; many analysts also believe the U.S. has come a long way on the question of race.

Still, more than a quarter of a century later, the U.S. will be choosing between a Republican with decades of experience in foreign policy, and a man who could become its first African American President.

What will the Obama effect be?

We'll soon find out.