Economist, May 15

The editors find a silver lining in Chinese outrage over the bombing of its Belgrade embassy: The famously withdrawn country may finally expand its role in world affairs. ... The magazine defends day traders. The onliners have helped the market by driving down commissions and encouraging efficient pricing. ... A column feasts on Larry Summers' ill-suitedness for the politicking-heavy job of treasury secretary ("Imagine the effort required for this man to feign interest in the idiotic ramblings of some member of Congress, next to whom the stupidest graduate student Mr. Summers ever met was John Maynard Keynes.").

New Republic, May 31

The cover story argues that NATO has been more a relief organization than a military force in the Kosovo crisis, sheltering and protecting the displaced as the U.N. relief operation became mired in bureaucracy. "NATO is not in the business of meals on wheels; it should be in the business of guns and missiles," an American soldier sighs. ... An editorial argues that the embassy riots in Beijing are a warning that the United States should stop underestimating anti-American sentiment in China. ... A piece explains the drubbing Gen. Wesley Clark has received from fellow military leaders. Clark's peers are suspicious of his pedigreed background and political connections; worse, NATO's half-hearted military strategy smells to them of another Vietnam. ... A delightful essay slams Germaine Greer's new book as "a sour and undiscriminating litany of charges against men."

New York Times Magazine, May 16

The second installment of the magazine's year 2000 series is devoted to women, "the shadow story of the millennium." (Click here if you missed the first installment.) ... A brief history rates monogamous marriage, education, employment, and improved health among the major developments in the lives of females over the last thousand years. An accompanying time line illustrates women's progress, beginning with a 12^th-century German nun and ending with Purdue University's 1999 women's basketball team. ... A piece reports that Japanese scientists are close to creating the first artificial womb. Drawback: American researchers suspect that fetuses perceive their mothers' emotions in utero. ... An article surveys changing attitudes toward female sexual pleasure, from St. Thomas Aquinas' 13^th-century allegation that "woman is defective and misbegotten" to a 1995 study suggesting that orgasms may be linked to fertility. ... The magazine's food columnist gushes over Martha Stewart, calling her "America's superego."

Time and Newsweek, May 17

Newsweek blasts the hype surrounding Star Wars: The Phantom Menace (its star turns in major magazines were "carefully engineered" by Lucas) but splashes the film on its cover anyway. Inside, a critic brands the film "a big disappointment." Carrie Fisher, a k a Princess Leia, dryly reminisces about her metal bikini and crush on Harrison Ford during the filming of the original trilogy but says she can't even remember what the third installment was called. Time applauds the film's splashy special effects but deems it short on "human magic" (for more early returns, check Slate's own "Summary Judgment").

Time's cover profile of Madeleine Albright defends her Kosovo policy from charges of poor planning and incoherence, and tallies her successes instead: She consolidated European support for airstrikes at Rambouillet, has deftly cultivated consensus among NATO's member countries, and is drafting a "mini-Marshall Plan" to restore stability to the Balkans. ... The magazine tracks how Albanians around the world are funneling money to the Kosovo Liberation Army. Émigrés write checks to organized fund-raising networks, which then smuggle cash and weapons over remote Albanian roads into Kosovo.

Newsweek wonders how George W. Bush will survive the transition from honeymoon to full-fledged campaign. ("If Bush were a movie, he'd be the new Star Wars: the closely guarded, breathlessly anticipated next episode in a multigenerational saga of family destiny.")... Time lauds Elizabeth Dole's New Hampshire debut, citing her gutsy stances on gun control and huge potential to win centrist voters. She "is running the campaign she wanted her husband to run."