Economist, Dec. 22 The special Christmas issue features quirkier articles than the standard Economist fare. … One article weighs the various explanations given over the years for the Star of Bethlehem. Kepler thought it was a supernova. Other astronomers hypothesized that it was an eclipse of Jupiter. A recently published book says, no, it was a meteor shower. … A piece goes in search of the perfect espresso and finds it in Trieste, Italy. … An article mourns the pathetic state of manhood today. Men have been emasculated, displaced from their traditional domains, outperformed in school by girls, and turned into purely sexual objects. If it weren’t for the fact that they’re still earning more and holding more powerful position than women, you could almost feel bad for the poor fellas. … There are also some interesting histories of the seven-day week, tango, and alcoholic beverages.— J.F.
New Republic, Dec. 31 The cover story argues that the FBI needs to be more like the CIA. The FBI excels at small, “tactical” intelligence missions: collecting evidence to get a wiretap, matching a suspect to an address, etc. But the bureau needs big-picture, CIA-style thinkers that can look at huge amounts of data and try to predict future attacks. Before Sept. 11, for example, radical Muslims tried to hijack and crash airliners at least twice. But no one at the FBI paid much attention. … A piece punctures a bit of economic conventional wisdom. The CW: As innovation increases, a product’s replacement cycle—i.e., how long it takes it to become obsolete—shrinks. Thus, we buy things more frequently; spending increases; the recession ends. But lately, innovation has made cars, appliances, even lipstick longer lasting. Thus, we buy things less frequently; spending decreases; and, maybe, the recession continues.— B.C.
New York Times Magazine, Dec. 23 The cover story profiles Bernadine Healy, the ousted head of the American Red Cross. Healy, a former medical school dean and failed Senate candidate, was a brash entrepreneur in an agency staffed with reluctant lifers. But what really did her in were her snap decisions. She fired two popular employees because they didn’t respond quickly enough to the Sept. 11 Pentagon attack. And almost by fiat, she created the controversial Liberty Fund, which raised more than $600 million but didn’t specifically earmark it for victims of the World Trade Center attacks. … A piece takes stock of the University of Miami football team’s offensive line, which features players born in Poland, Canada, Cuba, and Iran. Says one, “It’s our pride to protect [our quarterback], the skinny, little runt.”— B.C. Time, Dec. 24
The cover story says Osama Bin Laden’s days are numbered. Radio intercepts indicate he’s still somewhere in the Tora Bora caves, trapped by on all sides by mountains, troops, spy planes, and Pakistani border guards. American and British special operations troops went in last week to command bumbling Afghan warlords in the final push. … A piece describes how the Bin Laden videotape has been received around the world. President Bush aired it because he thought it proved guilt. The intelligence community hopes it will help them figure out al-Qaida’s operations. The tape has not changed the mind of the Arab world: Some say it’s a fake, and everybody assumed Bin Laden’s guilt anyway. … The annual Best and Worst. Movies: Shrek best; Moulin Rouge and Tomb Raider worst. Sports: Greatest moment, the World Series. Worst moment, the Little League World Series. Music: Best new record, The Strokes’Is This It. Worst, Michael Jackson’s Invincible.— J.D.
Newsweek, Dec. 24 The cover story envisions the Middle East post-Osama, and it’s still scary. Dictators reject democratic reform because they fear fundamentalist takeover. Fundamentalists thrive because the dictators stifle legitimate civil society. The United States should push Arab states to liberalize their economic and political cultures to prevent the further spread of radical Islam. … A piece wonders how the FBI failed to uncover Sept. 11 when it had Zacarias Moussaoui, the man indicted last week as the would-be 20th hijacker, in custody. FBI lawyers would not let agents search a floppy disk they seized from Moussaoui’s apartment, and the circumstantial evidence they gathered meant little during peacetime. Under the new regime, the FBI has more investigatory leeway. … An article, pegged to the upcoming movie Ali, examines the tortured relationship between the boxer and his spiritual mentor, Malcolm X. X gave Ali the confidence to become “the first Muslim Americans loved,” but Ali repudiated him after he squabbled with the Nation of Islam.— J.D.
U.S. News & World Report, Dec. 24 The cover story explores the politics of archaeology in the Middle East. If the Patriarchs, the Exodus, and King David really existed, then Israel has a strong claim to the region. If the Old Testament is a just a tall tale, then Palestine gains the advantage. Both sides have scholarly backers, though the “minimalists,” who doubt the Bible’s veracity, are in the minority. … A piece says that the stock market collapse has changed workers’ attitudes toward pension plans. 401(k)s used to look like a good way to get rich; now they seem more like a way to starve during retirement. Many employees long for the good old days, when employers planned for their retirement and length of service counted for something. … An article reports that the Veterans Adminstration acknowledged a link between Gulf War service and Lou Gehrig’s disease. Nobody can explain it, though theories include exposure to oil-well fires, biological or chemical weapons, or combat medicine. More than half of Operation Desert Storm veterans are being treated for service-connected disabilities.— J.D.
The New Yorker, Dec. 24
The fiction issue. A piece recounts the recounted Florida recount and laments that it didn’t inspire Electoral College reform or even serious discussion about it. The Bush v. Gore circus sucked the air out of the should-have-been movement.….… A piece checks in on the debate over whether to go after Saddam Hussein. Many administration officials, sanguine about the airstrike/rebel insurgent/special operations formula, think it can be duplicated. Military advisers, however, doubt the viability of Iraqi opposition forces.— J.D.
Weekly Standard, Dec. 24 The cover story deciphers Tom Daschle’s modus operandi. On matters directly related to the war, he gets behind the president 100 percent; on domestic issues, however, he’s all obstructionism and partisanship. The strategy is to let Bush claim political victory for the war but prevent him from taking credit for successes on any other front. … A piece credits the Army’s psychological operations team for its role in the Taliban’s rapid collapse. As America’s finest official propagandists, the PSYOPers have been littering Afghanistan with fliers proclaiming America’s benevolence and the Taliban’s brutality. Some have been downright lovey-dovey: A recent leaflet wished the Afghans a happy end to their Ramadan fast. … The editorial pillories the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and its vituperative chairman, Mary Frances Berry. The left-leaning commission recently issued a series of politically charged reports criticizing the civil rights records of leading Republicans. Now, Berry is refusing to seat a Bush-appointed commissioner.— J.F.
The Nation, Dec. 31 The cover story reports from the now-closed Afghan Women’s Summit in Brussels. The attendees were able to overcome huge differences—one showed up in leather pants and four-inch heels, others in black scarves—to produce a proclamation listing 62 demands for the new Afghanistan. However, secular democracy was not on the list, and many controversial issues concerning the pace of modernization were left on the table. … An article addresses the latest trend in corporate globalization: the migration of production from places like Mexico and Taiwan to China, where wages are significantly lower. Developing countries end up ensnared by the exploitative logic of globalization; if they do anything to try to lift wages, allow unionization, or improve environmental conditions, they end up being punished by losing business to some other nation willing to drive production costs down even further.— J.F.
