Economist, May 13 A report analyzes Japanese military strength and indicates the nation is emerging from its strict reliance since World War II on America for military protection. Leaders of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and the opposing Democratic Party agree that the country’s pacifist military policies need to change. “So constitutional debate, including the possibility of rewriting the pacifist Article 9, is now on the political agenda,” the author writes. * Ongoing scuffles between Japan and neighbors China and South Korea suggest that the archipelago needs to fortify its military more quickly. … An article describes Poland’s new government as stagnant and shady. European Union members think Poland is “a cranky, unpredictable country that reeks of backwardness,” the author writes. But the country has seen huge economic gains over the last decade. The piece advises the powerful “centre-right” Law and Justice Party to create a coalition with the slightly more liberal Civic Platform instead of with “fringe” parties. “Poland has done well despite its bad governments. It could do even better with a good one.”—M.M.
New Republic, May 22 In an issue devoted to “television in the age of Bush,” James Wood provides a textual analysis of Stephen Colbert’s now infamous speech at the White House Correspondents Association Dinner, dubbing it a “good, savage op-ed piece.” He sides with the liberal bloggers who celebrated Colbert’s speech while the media ignored it. “On this, I’m with the foul-mouthers, the underground men, the crazies, the semi-literates with their paranoid monikers,” he writes. … Franklin Foer examines Simon Cowell, producer of British of tween pop turned American Idol judge. Cowell, Foer writes, has a “preternatural gift for identifying the ineffable qualities of pop stardom.” In his critiques, Cowell is harsh but fair, and his words and suggestions are often taken to heart by the performers. Foer laments that, while Cowell has the makings of a true critic, he has used his talent as a “springboard for expanding his empire of schlock.”— S.S.
New York, May 15 Kurt Andersen spins Kaavya Viswanathan’s plagiarism as a case of youthful indiscretion. Andersen reasons: “Omnivorous ambition and risk-taking pathology burn hot and blindingly in late adolescence and early adulthood.” Redemption is possible, but it will take time, he suggests, and perhaps one day “poor, perfect” Kaavya can join the ranks of other known plagiarists: Martin Luther King Jr., Laurence Sterne, Nina Totenberg, and Doris Kearns Goodwin. … The magazine publishes its list of of this year’s most influential “[i]dea merchants, social entrepreneurs, and conceptual artists. Gatekeepers, opinion-shapers, star-makers, and paradigm shifters.” Who made the cut? Some usual supsects—Mayor Bloomberg, the Clintons, The Donald, Anna Wintour; and the New York Times—and some surprises, including singer Mariah Carey; Nick Denton, the reigning king of bloggerdom; immigration activist Chung-Wha Hong; and NYU’s Red Burns, who is cultivating a stable of creative dot-commers.—Z.K.
New York Times Magazine, May 14 An article examines efforts by Google and others to scan and digitize every piece of text ever written, right down to last week’s grocery list. The ventures have spooked publishers and writers, who fear that their intellectual-property rights will be compromised. Digitization does not necessarily mean the end of paper books, according to the author, but “[i]n the clash between the conventions of the book and the protocols of the screen, the screen will prevail.”… The issue includes an adaptation from Josef Joffe’s Uberpower: The Imperial Temptation of America, which argues that U.S. foreign policy is not the only cause of international backlash against all things American. Cultural touchstones such as “grunge and Google, Madonna and MoMA, Hollywood and Harvard,” evoke ire, too, Joffe explains. “Between Vietnam and Iraq, America’s cultural presence has expanded into ubiquity, and so has the resentment of America’s soft power,” he writes.— M.M.
Weekly Standard, May 15 An article pooh-poohs the nomination of Switzerland’s Jean Ziegler to a U.N. subcommission on human rights. Ziegler calls the United States an “imperialist dictatorship” and accuses it of genocide against Cuba but was on hand at the debut of the “Muammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize.” “This hero of Qaddafi’s is a symbol—both ridiculous and painful—of an organization that rarely fails to disappoint,” the author concludes. … An article lists what Gen. Michael Hayden, President Bush’s pick to head up the CIA, needs to do in order to keep the editors at the Weekly Standard off his back. … Maggie Gallagher offers up a case study of civil rights vs. religious liberty, detailing how Catholic Charities of Boston got out of the adoption business in Massachusetts rather than comply with a state law that would have forced it to place children with same-sex couples.— Z.K.
The New Yorker, May 15 A piece chronicles the birth of Facebook.com, an Internet site that lets students get to know their peers without actually meeting them. Mark Zuckerberg, the Harvard wunderkind who created the multicampus resource has reportedly rebuffed offers to sell the business for hundreds of millions. But the buzz is bringing problems along with prosperity, the writer explains. Former Harvard cronies are claiming that Zuckerberg stole their idea, and Facebook members are staging minirevolts against changes meant to expand the site’s cozy little universe. … An article looks at how Christian psychotherapist John Worley became ensnared in a Nigerian e-mail scheme that landed him two years in jail and more than $500,000 in the hole. “I hate being taken advantage of by you evil bastards,” wrote a desperate Worley toward the end. The article traces the origin of these “419” schemes to the mid-1980s, when oil prices collapsed and poverty and unemployment gave rise to “a culture of spammers.”— M.M.
Time and Newsweek, May 15
CIA shakeup: The newsweeklies report on the resignation of CIA chief Porter Goss and the anticipated nomination of Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to replace him. Time notes that the moves represent a push by Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte to consolidate intelligence-gathering in the war on terror. Donald Rumsfeld should also prepare for a fight: “Goss’s departure means Negroponte’s next test will be facing down the Pentagon,” the author writes. Although Goss is gone, Newsweek reports that the CIA could face greater controversy in connection with Executive Director Kyle Foggo’s links to a bribery scandal involving fallen Republican Rep. Duke Cunningham. The CIA is looking into whether Foggo funneled defense contracts to an “unindicted co-conspirator” in the Cunningham bribery case. Also under scrutiny are poker parties thrown by the contractor and attended by Cunningham and Foggo that allegedly included prostitutes, Newsweek reports.
Odds and ends: The Newsweek cover package looks at how the country has changed in the 25 years since the dawn of AIDS. A series of articles examine how sexual mores have evolved, how a boy named Ryan White tried to reverse the AIDS stigma, and the devastating impact that HIV and AIDS have had on the black community. … And Time’s cover article delves into the biology of autism. Researchers have discovered that indicators such as head banging and verbal repetition may be “coping mechanisms” and not necessarily primary hallmarks of the disease, while the emotional disconnection and mental retardation associated with autism might be merely byproducts of stunted communication. “The world of autism therapy continues to be bombarded by cure-of-the-day fads. But therapists are beginning to sort out the best ways to intervene,” the author writes. … An article reports on William Swanson, the CEO of defense contractor Raytheon who’s found himself caught up in a plagiarism imbroglio. Swanson borrowed passages from an old engineering handbook for Swanson’s Written Rules of Management and also filled out the text with truisms from Donald Rumsfeld and writer Dave Barry. Swanson insists the lifted material is the result of an “innocent mix-up,” writes the author.— M.M.
Correction, May 15: This article originally and incorrectly implied that Japan’s new leader is Ichiro Ozawa. Ozawa is, in fact, the newly elected leader of Japan’s Democratic Party. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s Liberal Democratic Party won general elections in September. (Return to the corrected sentence.)
