Economist, Jan. 26 An article ponders the future of the Palestinian Authority after Hamas’ surprising landslide victory, asking whether Hamas will form a coalition government with Fatah or attempt to govern on its own. The authors also raise questions about relations within the fractured Fatah Party and the PA’s future relationship with the Israeli government. “All this will determine how willing foreign donors are to work with the PA. It needs their help to avert a looming fiscal crisis, bring the security services under a single chain of command, crack down on lawlessness and get development projects going in Gaza.”… An editorial gives short shrift to Evo Morales’ initial moves as the first indigenous president of Bolivia. Morales has chosen a cabinet that “consists mainly of activists from the social movements that vaulted him to power” and who have little political experience, according to the commentary. It also pans Morales’ inauguration speech, in which he expressed an affinity for Che Guevara and socialist ideals. “His first actions smacked more of radicalism than pragmatism.”—M.M.
New Republic, Feb. 6 The cover article lambastes Glenn Lowry, the director of the Museum of Modern Art, for losing sight of the museum’s unique visions while being caught up in a frenzy of fund-raising and building. The author derides recent corporate-sponsored shows for pandering to the expectations of tourists and finds fault with the new building. “In Lowry’s museum, the only important work of art is the one for which a trustee can be persuaded to cough up a few million dollars—or the one that a tourist will plunk down the $20 admission fee to see.”… An article chastises Georgian president Mikhail Saakashvili for his increasingly militaristic and authoritarian tendencies. Since taking office, Saakashvili has repeatedly stressed his desire to reintegrate—in his words,”liberate” and “reclaim”—the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia. With this goal in mind, he ramped up military spending by 40 percent in 2004. Dubbing Abkhazia a “pariah statelet,” the author warns against Saakashvili’s bombastic nationalist rhetoric and indicates that he is willing to let the separatist conflicts escalate, making Georgia “yet another tinder box in the Caucasus.”—S.S.
New York Times Book Review, Jan. 29 Garrison Keillor calls bullshit on Bernard-Henri Lévy’s American Vertigo, arguing that the French philosopher’s travelogue and mediation on the United States is just a string of clichés and sophomoric speculation. “There is nobody here whom you recognize,” Keillor writes. “You’ve lived all your life in America, never attended a megachurch or a brothel, don’t own guns, are non-Amish, and it dawns on you that this is a book about the French. There is no reason for it to exist in English, except as evidence that travel need not be broadening.”… Liesl Schillinger reviews Olga Grushin’s The Dream Life of Sukhanov, a novel about a Soviet painter who abandons his ideals to win the Party’s favor in the 1960s and then loses his grip and his position during the reforms of the 1980s—a fitting irony. Schillinger has mixed feelings about the book—in part because the protagonist is at first so unpleasant—but it prompts her to ponder: “How and when do you write about a wound inflicted on a nation not in one day but over most of a century?”—B.W.
New York Times Magazine, Jan. 29 A cover story on American evangelical missionaries in Africa profiles the Maples family, who gave up their middle-class life in California to proselytize in the Kenyan bush. The article recaps both the tremendous success of such missionaries—about 10 percent of sub-Saharan Africans were Christian in 1900, and as many as 70 percent are today—and also the recent focus of American churches on the continent’s humanitarian crises. The Mapleses, for example, break from their forebears in that they are self-consciously sensitive, hoping to Christianize the local Samburu tribe without railroading their culture. … James Traub argues that the 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, which guarantees the “inalienable right” to research and develop nuclear technology for peaceful purposes, needs to be rethought. The language gives countries bent on the bomb, particularly Iran and North Korea, too much cheating room. He suggests revisions that would at least delegitimize the rogue states, allowing the U.N. Security Council—for example—to take action against them.—B.W.
Rolling Stone, Feb. 9 A profile of the music industry’s latest demigod Kanye West reveals an unapologetic and unabashed supersized ego. Reflecting on his rise to the top of hip-hop, West, who was raised by a former English professor, posits that the last line in his current hit “Gold Digger”—“he leave yo’ ass for a white girl”—is indicative of his success. “This is why I get paid the big bucks. It’s lines like that that separate the good from the great,” he says. … An article slams Republicans for their reform efforts in the wake of the Abramoff scandal. The author takes umbrage at the GOP tapping David Drier to head up the reform effort, quoting one Democratic staffer who calls it “the biggest fucking joke you can possibly imagine.” He goes on, “Drier was a symbol of the institutional corruption that allowed DeLay to almost single-handedly manipulate Congress like a marionette for the Abramoffs of the world.”— Z.K.
Harper’s, February 2006 The great-great-grandson of Charles Darwin covers the “Dover Monkey Trial,” introducing the characters who played out the intelligent-design lawsuit against a Pennsylvania school district: the unlikely plaintiffs—a single mom and her two punkish daughters—the well-heeled attorneys, and the drug-addicted board member who came off as a zealot looking to drag the town back to the Dark Ages. … A piece defines “the player” as a gangster, a political insider, a member of the club. On the corner or in the White House, “[a] player is characterized by the consciousness that he is different from ordinary people. That difference is key to his self-understanding.”… An article looks at China’s experimentation with the idea of “eco-effective” cities that use waste for fuel, recycle water, and are powered by solar energy. The piece expresses concern that citizens are being bulldozed out of the way to accommodate these green towns.—M.M.
Weekly Standard, Jan. 30 Fred Barnes’editorial suggests that it is Congress, not the lobbying system, that needs reform. The malignancy lies in “the incentives to corruption produced by the spending and budget practices of Congress.” And, when the dust settles after the Abramoff scandal, Barnes suspects all hands will be back in the cookie jar sooner or later: “In all likelihood, Congress will take the cosmetic approach, with a few innocuous reforms of lobbying,” he writes.… An article reports on a group of Saudis who are attempting to undermine the Wahhabi-influenced theocratic society with the debut of “Saudi Blogs,” a blog that brings together other Saudi bloggers with links, reviews, and even meet-ups. Despite laws prohibiting the mingling of the sexes in everyday society, the blog has attracted a number of women who now have a forum where they can vent about the indignities of a grown woman having to kowtow to her 15-year-old son. The author concludes that, “The spirits of the pamphleteer Benjamin Franklin and the great communicator Ronald Reagan must be tickled.”—Z.K.
Time and Newsweek, Jan. 30 Bin Laden: Both newsweeklies address the latest Osama Bin Laden audiotape. Time describes the al-Qaida leader’s voice as “muffled, labored, weak,” while Newsweek calls his tone “menacing and gently lilting.” Both magazines report that U.S. intelligence officials assert that recent attacks on al-Qaida leadership and “turmoil in al-Qaeda’s high command” are leading the war on terrorism in the right direction. Time features the mug shots of al-Qaida operatives who are at large or have been captured or killed by the U.S. and its allies. A Time breakout details how divisions along ideological lines between Iraqi insurgent groups and al-Qaida may be weakening the group’s stronghold in Iraq. The Newsweek article probes the thinking behind the decision to launch a Predator missile that reportedly killed top al-Qaida members, in addition to women and children.
Odds and ends: The Newsweek cover story explores why boys are underachieving in droves academically and what can be done to bolster their performance. High student-to-teacher ratios, less physical education, and “misguided feminism” have all been blamed for the down trend. Now, educators and parents are looking to mentors, scientific research, and “boy-friendly classrooms” to stem it. …Time profiles Bill Ford, CEO of Ford Motor Co. Despite skepticism that he doesn’t have the business chops to get the job done, Ford plans to jettison thousands of workers, close several production plants, and pursue increased production of hybrid vehicles in hopes of salvaging the troubled family business. … Time reports that unpublished photographs of Jack Abramoff with President Bush are leading some to question the president’s claim that he doesn’t recall meeting Abramoff. While the article says that Bush’s ” memory may soon be unhappily refreshed,” it also points out that at least some of the photos could be from fund-raising receptions, where the president poses for lots of photos, “many with people he does not know.”—M.M.
