Economist, Oct. 22 A cover story on Iraq’s constitutional referendum makes a case for limited optimism: Early results indicate that the referendum will pass, and the Sunni Arab minority appears to have voted in larger numbers than it did during January’s parliamentary elections. But most Sunni Arabs seem to have voted against the constitution, proving that divisions remain strong, and the news from civil society and the battle against the insurgency remains bad. The article hedges its bets on the future, allowing that Iraq may “evolve in fact into three mini-states,” but also that unity is still possible. … A business story on Web portals explains why Google, Microsoft, and Yahoo! are all trying to partner with AOL: An analyst explains that each fears the bump in market share for the competitor that makes the successful deal. Google may have the most to lose since AOL currently uses Google search technology in place of one of its own—an arrangement that provides Google with 11 percent of its revenue.—B.W.
New Republic, Oct. 31 An article concludes that the current case of conservative cannibalism over the Miers nomination is just a smoke screen for their beef with the administration over Iraq. The visage of Bush as a “clear-eyed” commander in chief is “so central to recent Republican political success that most conservatives are loath to criticize it directly.” The nomination serves up the perfect moment “to begin divorce proceedings against Bush and, more important, his war.”… An article profiles Americans for Dr. Rice, an organization dedicated to drafting the secretary of state for president. Through an aggressive media and grass-roots campaign, the organization hopes to enter the hearts and minds of fellow GOPers because, says group founder Crystal Dueker, Republicans have been portrayed cartoonishly “as a bunch of sexist, racist, mean-spirited old white guys” for too long. Dueker hopes a Rice candidacy will give prove that “we all feel the same way [as Democrats] when it comes to women.”— Z.K.
Nation, Oct. 31 An article assesses Arnold Schwarzenegger’s governorship. Swept into office when California voters turned on Gray Davis, Schwarzenegger may have been able to win over finicky moviegoers, but Californians as a whole have proved resistant to his charm. He’s alienated legislators by calling them “girlie men,” and he hasn’t won over the state’s powerful unions. In fact, elected as someone who would not cater to the special-interest milieu of Sacramento, Arnold “has raised more corporate cash than any previous California governor.” With two Democrats declaring their candidacy and fellow Hollywood part-time politicos Warren Beatty and Rob Reiner making noise, the article concludes that the Terminator’s hopes for a second term could be terminated. … On the eve of its 20th anniversary, Emily’s List receives kudos. The PAC dedicated to electing pro-choice female Democrats to higher office started in the basement of founder Ellen Malcolm, and it has since become one of the wealthiest PACs in America.— Z.K.
New York, Oct. 24
The cover story asks whether Jews are really smarter than everyone else, focusing on a study published this summer that suggests a connection between increased intelligence and several genetic diseases to which Ashkenazi Jews are particularly susceptible. Jews score higher on IQ tests and win a disproportionate number of Nobel Prizes and international chess championships. But the study in question is far from conclusive. Geneticist Neil Risch dismisses it: “This is like saying, ‘Because Europeans have a high rate of cystic fibrosis, hemochromatosis, and Crohn’s disease, the genes for those disorders must cause great ability to play tennis.’ “… Also inside is a profile of architect Santiago Calatrava, who now has a residence in Manahattan and is at work on two projects there. The Spanish architect explains what has drawn him to New York: “September 11 has given the city more depth, making it more profound. … It is now like Athens or Rome or Jerusalem, one of those great cities that has been historically hurt and then rebuilt itself.” —B.W.
New York Review of Books, Nov. 3 Timothy Garton Ash reports from Iran, where he finds a complicated political system with multiple power centers and a population that speaks and acts differently in public and in private. But he concludes that the “ideological dictatorship” of the clerics is both overwhelming and stable. The best hope for change, he writes, lies in Iran’s demographics: Two-thirds of the population is under 30, and the young are well-educated, underemployed, and politically savvy. “Their ‘soft power,’ ” he writes, “could be more effective than forty-five divisions of the US Marines.”… Also inside is an excerpt from a Human Rights Watch report on the torture of Iraqi prisoners, based on interviews with three officers. Torture in their division was routine. According to the account of “Sergeant A,” “The ‘murderous maniacs’ is what they called us at our camp because they knew if they got caught by us … then it would be hell to pay. … It was like a game. You know, how far could make this guy go before he passes out or just collapses on you.”—B.W.
New York Times Magazine, Oct. 23 A profile chronicles the downfall of Lt. Col. Nathan Sassaman. In 2003, Sassaman commanded 800 soldiers in Balad, located in the violent Sunni Triangle. When he wasn’t setting up the town’s municipal infrastructure and organizing elections, Sassaman was also trying stamp out a Sunni-centered insurgency. His unit’s aggression in hunting down insurgents was simultaneously praised and criticized by higher-ups until the night five of his men crossed the line by using “nonlethal” force to deal with two Iraqis who had allegedly broken curfew. What followed was a death, a military trial, and Sassaman’s early retirement from the Army. … A profile of actress Diane Keaton reveals that the 59-year-old mother of a 10-year-old and a 4-year-old has figured out how to be a hands-on single parent and has kept snagging great roles in a town that considers women over 30 on the verge of decrepitude; but there is one thing Keaton hasn’t been able to crack: men. “Being in love” reflects Keaton, “brought out the worst in me.”—Z.K.
Weekly Standard, Oct. 24 In light of Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s investigation into the leak that exposed the identity of CIA agent Valerie Plame, the cover re-examines Joseph Wilson’s position on Iraq and Nigerien yellowcake and accuses Plame’s husband of “telling flat-out lies.” The piece draws attention to, among other key dates, July 7, 2004. “On that date, the bipartisan Senate Select Intelligence Committee released a 511-page report on the intelligence that served as the foundation for the Bush administration’s case for war in Iraq. The Senate report includes a 48-page section on Wilson that demonstrates, in painstaking detail, that virtually everything Joseph Wilson said publicly about his trip, from its origins to his conclusions, was false.”… A review of two recently translated books (a memoir and a biography) chronicling the lives of four much-persecuted 20th-century Russian poets (Osip Mandelstam, Anna Akhmatova, Marina Tsvetaeva, and Boris Pasternak.) accuses their authors of trying to “mitigate the inhuman nature of Stalinism.”—B.B.
New Yorker, Oct. 24 An article focuses on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s fight against malaria. The organization has been criticized for focusing on “cutting-edge, next-generation vaccine research” rather than more practical and immediate solutions. The piece mentions, however, that the foundation recently donated $35 million toward purchasing mosquito nets, medicine, and insecticide in Zambia with the hope of decreasing deaths by 75 percent in three years. “[T]he greater goal is to create a model of what is possible in a poor African nation.”… A profile of comedian Sarah Silverman notes that she “moves like a vervet monkey,” who “talks about herself so ingenuously that you can’t tell if she is the most vulnerable woman in the world or the most psychotically well defended.”… The magazine has an excerpt from Truman Capote’s recently discovered first novel, Summer Crossing. In it, a proto Holly Golightly romances a blue-collar man.—B.B.
Time and Newsweek, Oct. 24 Iraq: A man calling himself “Abu Qaqa al-Tamimi” tells Time he has helped plan 30 suicide bombings in the last year. He gets the bombers “everything from safe houses to target information and explosives” and behaves as a “religious guide and all-around father figure.” He prefers non-Iraqi jihadists but fears they want to install a Taliban-style government in Iraq. “One day, when the Americans have gone, we will need to fight another war, against these jihadis. They won’t leave quietly,” he says. … In an article about Saddam Hussein’s trial, due to start this week, Newsweek claims, “[W]hile the country’s new leaders try Saddam, he will seek to turn the tables and put them on trial.” Some worry that Iraq is still too fragile to handle the trial. A former U.S. official believes that it will encourage the insurgency in the short term but ultimately foster “truth-and-reconciliation.”
Pakistan:Time views the Pakistani government’s sluggish response to the Kashmir earthquake through the lens of the war on terror. An article notes that jihadist groups have stepped in to provide disaster relief and quotes a survivor as saying, “Musharraf has given us the earthquake; they have given us life. And if they ask me, I will go for jihad with them.” According to the piece, U.S. officials claim that the military can’t “make an open-ended commitment” to earthquake relief because that would distract them from fighting terrorism in Afghanistan. …Newsweek is more optimistic. It quotes a leader of the jihadist group Laskar-e-Taiba who says his men are putting down their arms to help the victims. The piece explains that Laskar has acquired 100 mules to convey supplies to remote mountain villages. Additionally, a coalition of militant groups, The United Jihad Council, declared a “unilateral truce” in Indian Kashmir, particularly in the hardest-hit areas.—B.B.
National Review, Oct. 24 An article examines the struggles some conservative scholars face at America’s universities. Professors who question “the tenets of political correctness” can find themselves facing discipline without due process because they “hurt the feelings” of students; and some are even passed over for tenure despite stellar credentials. If this trend continues, the article concludes, right-of-center faculty may become “an endangered species on campus.”… An article reveals that the New Orleans’ “good Samaritan” evacuation plan did work after all. In the immediate aftermath, pundits and officials estimated the death toll between 10,000 and 60,000. More than a month later, only 1,000 bodies have been recovered. What saved the city from such massive devastation? A menagerie of “military units, volunteers, and state and local first responders” that rescued more than 50,000 people. Coast Guard Rear Adm. Bob Duncan reports that “one of the biggest problems was that so many helicopters were operating they risked crashing into one another.”—Z.K.
Economist, Oct. 15 The cover wonders who will succeed Federal Reserve Chair Alan Greenspan, who is scheduled to retire on Jan. 31. Stressing that it’s the “most important economic-policy job” in the world, the magazine champions Don Kohn, “a governor on the Federal Reserve Board, who is not affiliated to any party.” A longtime veteran of the Fed, Kohn has attended its meetings longer than Greenspan has and possesses a “vast experience of monetary-policy decisions and financial crises.”… A piece about the Kashmir earthquake insists that even poor countries can afford to make the improvements that would stave off earthquake-related deaths. The article also criticizes Americans for not sending more aid more quickly. Noting that Pakistan hasn’t been as open to receiving Indian aid as it could be, the article stresses “it is a matter of sadness” that India and Pakistan haven’t put aside their differences.—B.B.
New Republic, Oct. 24 After a visit to Provincetown, a longtime haven for gays, Andrew Sullivan proclaims“The End of Gay Culture.” Noting that the divisions between homosexuals and heterosexuals seem increasingly less important in some places, Sullivan writes, “For many of us who grew up fighting a world of now-inconceivable silence and shame, distinctive gayness became an integral part of who we are. It helped define us not only to the world but also to ourselves. Letting that go is as hard as it is liberating, as saddening as it is invigorating.”… Another piece examines a Senate bill that calls for a language czar to help Americans (especially “diplomats, intelligence analysts, teachers, medical and social services professionals, court interpreters, and law enforcement officers”) increase their proficiency in foreign languages. The essay affirms the need for such a position, but points out that, “as currently envisioned, the language czar has no real power to enact change.”—B.B.
Nation, Oct. 24 More than a year after his death, Pat Tillman remains an enigma. An article reveals that the political philosophy of the NFL-player-turned Army Ranger was more in line with the MoveOn.org crowd than with the Young Republicans. Tillman’s mom says he was a fan of Noam Chomsky, and an Army bud confides Tillman thought the war in Iraq was “so F***ing illegal.”… The Republicans’ recent scandals, charges of cronyism, and Katrina blunders present Democrats an opportunity to escape the 25-year chokehold conservatives have had them in “only if [they] can make themselves a compelling force for change,”advocates an article. Besides breaking down a nine-point plan of action for Dems, the author suggests party members do some soul-searching to discover if they are as hungry for change and power as Newt Gingrich and his backbenchers were in the mid-’90s.—Z.K.
