Thom Brooks (Newcastle): The Global Justice Reader: Introduction. Gerhard Thallinger (Vienna): The UN Peacebuilding Commission and Transitional Justice (and part 2). The United Nations General Assembly approves the split of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, with a new Department of Field Support. Brazilian Sergio de Queiroz Duarte is appointed to lead the U.N. disarmament unit. American architect Michael Adlerstein is appointed to oversee the $1.9 billion renovation of the landmark United Nations headquarters building overlooking New York's East River. Water is a right, not business: An interview with Hama Arba Diallo, executive secretary of the Convention of the United Nations to Combat Desertification.
Death of the Amazon: In Brazil, environmental technocrats talk of saving the rainforest with satellite technology - but loggers, miners and farmers keep finding scams to evade the law. The Possessed: Should Yale University return its relics of Machu Picchu? And who in Peru would actually benefit if it does? A review of The Last Days of the Incas by Kim MacQuarrie. An interview with Mario Vargas Llosa on politics, and how writing can change the course of history. Is Paraguay set to be the next Latin American country to lean to the Left? From American Diplomacy, an article on Latin America's apparent turn to the Left.
A review of An Ordinary Person's Guide to Empire by Arundhati Roy. Martha Nussbaum discusses her book, The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India's Future. A review of Holy Warriors: A Journey Into the Heart of Indian Fundamentalism by Edna Fernandes. Maoists say they're fighting for the invisible tribal peoples of India. Are they terrorists, or the product of a corrupt and unjust system? A review of In Spite of the Gods: The Strange Rise of Modern India by Edward Luce. A review of India after Gandhi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy by Ramachandra Guha. Pradipta Chaudhury on India’s new caste politics. A look at how India has its own "soft power": Buddhism.
From NPQ, an interview with Dennis Ross on 18 months to avoid war with Iran. In the battle for competing visions between the US and al-Qaida, the Sunni resistance is now opposing al-Qaida in Iraq, as are the Taliban in Afghanistan, and more on Takfirism, a messianic ideology. The outcome of the battle of ideas between Americanism and anti-Americanism will set the tone of the 21st century. It will be the decisive ideological struggle of our times. Who will sound the call to service? If we are to survive as a nation with our values intact, then we must find leaders willing to make the call.
L'état, c'est moi: If President Bush thinks a 30-month sentence for Scooter Libby is excessive, what does he think about 55 years for selling marijuana? The quality of mercy is strained: Bush commutes Libby's sentence, while his lawyers come down hard on everyone else. It's hard to get too riled up about Bush commuting Scooter Libby's sentence. After years of outrageous actions by the Bush administration, "chronic outrage fatigue" has set in.
