--- description: Russia gives NATO purpose, Modi and Abe counter Xi Jinping, and what labor unions don't do for America anymore. title: These Are the Best Ideas of the Day image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Ideas](/section/ideas/) ## Ideas Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Innovation](/tag/innovation/) ## Innovation Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Five Best Ideas of the Day: September 3 by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 3, 2014 4:07 PM CUT by [The Aspen Institute](/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 3, 2014 4:07 PM CUT **1\.** [**Russia’s power play could be the best way to reinvigorate NATO.**](http://www.newyorker.com/news/john-cassidy/putin-has-done-nato-a-big-favor "undefined") By John Cassidy in the New Yorker **2\.** [**Why India and Japan need each other – badly.** ](http://time.com/3255880/japan-india-narendra-modi-shinzo-abe-business-economy-trade-china/ "undefined") By Michael Schuman in Time **3\.** [**One way Congress can speed things up for the Foreign Service – appoint career ambassadors en masse.**](http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-the-senate-republicans-foolish-fight-over-ambassadors/2014/09/02/b781fe40-32ec-11e4-a723-fa3895a25d02%5Fstory.html "undefined") By David Ignatius in Washington Post **4\.** [**Labor unions in decline are no longer assimilating immigrants, counteracting racial inequality or equalizing incomes.**](http://blogs.hbr.org/2014/09/what-unions-no-longer-do/ "undefined") By Justin Fox in the Harvard Business Review **5\.** [**Congress must debate and vote on our growing military involvement in Iraq.**](http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-edwards-congress-iraq-constitution-20140902-story.html "undefined") By Mickey Edwards and David Skaggs in the Los Angeles Times  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/ "undefined") _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3264283/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-3/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3264283/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-3/"},"headline":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: September 3","datePublished":"2014-09-03T16:07:53.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T04:43:04.360Z","description":"Russia gives NATO purpose, Modi and Abe counter Xi Jinping, and what labor unions don't do for America anymore.","url":"https://time.com/3264283/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-3/","keywords":["Innovation","russia","Congress","School","India","Iraq","China","U.S.","Japan","student","NATO","training"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3264283/five-best-ideas-of-the-day-september-3/","name":"Five Best Ideas of the Day: September 3"}}]}] ```