Foreign Policy, September/October 2000

FP goes bimonthly. … An article argues that globalization will make the world happier, citing sociological studies that indicate that increases in wealth will bring proportionally greater happiness in poor countries. A subsidiary point: Increased wealth tends to make rich countries more psychologically unstable. … A piece describes those crazed suicide bombers as effective and rational weapons in the terrorist syndicate arsenals. Suicide bombers can be stopped if law enforcement authorities strike at the organizations that train them. … An article exposes Bush and Gore as foreign policy twins. Both are pro-free trade, moderately pro-humanitarian intervention, pro-missile defense, and moderately pro-foreign aid. Neither has much room to move, either. Increasingly, presidents find themselves boxed in by such NGOs as Oxfam, Human Rights Watch, and the World Wildlife Fund, whose expert staffs help set the foreign policy agenda in Congress and in the media.

New York Times Magazine, Sept. 10

The cover story decries the breakdown of the juvenile justice system. By making it easier to try juveniles as adults, tough-on-crime states have turned adult prisons into finishing schools for young troublemakers. … A profile of French novelist Michel Houellebecq (say "WELL-beck") explains why he poses such a threat to the literary elite. They are steeped in the mythology of the 1960s, but his books blame that decade for everything from selfishness to maldistribution of wealth to joyless sex. … An article previews the next Israeli-Palestinian conflict, between Israeli Jews and Israeli Arabs (who make up 18 percent of the population). The Arabs demand full citizenship, and Knesset members Azmi Bishara, a radical, and Nawaf Massalha, an accomodationist, are leading a debate among Arabs about how they will fight for it.

New Republic, Sept. 18

The eyes of the Bush and Gore campaigns are upon Texas, argues the cover story. Bush portrays the state as the easygoing place where the American dream comes true, and Gore casts it as a Third-World backwater. In fact, Texas is modernizing rapidly: The state's high-tech employees outnumber oil workers and farmers combined; it leads the anti-sprawl movement; and it has become increasingly interracial without any white backlash. … A piece lambastes Dick Cheney's lethargic campaign style. He's worse than boring: He absolutely hates interacting with real people. And the seriousness he was supposed to bring to the campaign affects only defense and finance. He doesn't care about Social Security and Medicare.

Economist, Sept. 9

The cover story blasts OPEC for wanting to keep oil prices high. If consuming economies continue to suffer, central banks will rein in demand, and oil prices will drop sharply in the long run. Only Saudi Arabia has been a force for stabilization. … A piece  criticizes the international community for engaging the military dictatorship in Myanmar. Though the current government has shown repeatedly that it will not tolerate even the beginnings of democracy (most recently by detaining the opposition leader), Myanmar maintains cordial relations with China, India, and the Association of South-East Asian Nations. … A piece criticizes the Chinese government for razing hutongs, centuries-old neighborhoods of narrow alleyways, to build huge avenues and austere high-rises. The hutongs are the last remnants of the Beijing laid out by Kublai Khan.

Time and Newsweek, Sept. 11

Both go with breathless Olympics previews and Marion Jones covers that tout the indomitable Olympic spirit that keeps bringing nations and athletes together despite all the bribery, steroids, and terrorism. Time and Newsweek run similar profiles of Jones, the American sprinter who boasts that she'll win five gold medals in Sydney. Jones' good nature is contrasted with that of her husband, C.J. Hunter, a gold-medal contender in the shot put, who treats the press with contempt (both pieces cite European tabs that call the couple "Beauty and the Beast"). Both mags run drug-use primers (click here for Newsweek's), and Time throws in a long travel piece about "the real Australia."