From FT, for more than a generation Japan has been a rich country with the second largest economy in the world. But it has always been treated as an exception. Where Jesus spent his old age: Forget the Da Vinci Code: This Japanese farming village knows that Christ died here, at age 106. And they have the "tomb" to prove it. With both US and Russian bases, Kyrgyzstan is caught in the middle of a battle for military dominance.
From New Statesman, for years, the west saw Africa as a distant "hell" of coups, refugees and revolutions. But its writers tell a different - and more disturbing - story. A review of Oil on the Brain: Adventures from the Pump to the Pipeline by Lisa Margonelli and Poisoned Wells: The Dirty Politics of African Oil by Nicholas Shaxson. A review of When a Crocodile Eats the Sun: A Memoir of Africa by Peter Godwin. It's the oldest territorial dispute in Africa, but it has been dormant for over a decade and a half. Now, Western Sahara sees economic growth in its future. The increasing presence of sub-Saharan Africans in Morocco is forcing the people of the north African country to look behind as well as across to Europe.
The Good American Tackles Sudan: For years, activist John Prendergast has been searching for a solution to the Darfur crisis, one of the bloodiest ongoing wars in the world. But policy makers have consistently looked the other way. What can be done? Frustrated by the West’s failure to halt the slaughter in Sudan, Darfur advocacy groups are pinning their hopes on a country they see as genocide’s enabler in chief: China. But in pressuring an indifferent Beijing, activists are merely helping Western governments evade responsibility for a humanitarian crisis that they could do far more to stop. Will U.N. peacekeepers really be allowed into Darfur? Eric Reeves wants to know.
From The Economist, in vino veritas: Europe's belief in the market wavers when it comes to viticulture; and suddenly, the old world looks younger: Reports of Europe's death are somewhat exaggerated. A review of Flag on the Mountain: A Political Anthropology of War in Croatia and Bosnia by Ivo Zanic. Bohemian Rhapsody: An interview with Vaclav Havel on cigarettes, and the continuing struggle between conscience and tyranny. From Scottish Left Review, a review of Is there a Scottish Road to Socialism? and Tom Nairn looks at recent political developments in Britain in the post-Scottish Election period. From CJR, if the press were an animal, what kind of animal would it be? An article on Tony Blair’s temper tantrum.
With the United States growing more diverse, and the world pushed closer by globalization, fluency in a second language might not be a bad job skill for a president. First-Family Values: In 2009, for the first time, we could have a president and spouse who live like the rest of us. The great drama in American politics today revolves around the question: What is the Republican Party? Giuliani, McCain, Romney, … Haines? He's the most relentless Republican presidential candidate. You've never heard of him. In parsing the Fred Thompson boom, don't underestimate the call of the drawl. Social conservatives threaten to leave GOP if Rudy Giuliani is nominated; controversy part of larger ideological split. The Giuliani-Driven Christians: Paul Gottfried on Giuliani’s newfound faithful. And on the GOP's lonely anti-war candidate: Meet Congressman Ron Paul — staunch libertarian, outspoken critic of American hubris, and Republican presidential contender.
