Miscellaneous: Oh, Canada: Americans have no monopoly on crises of national identity. Scott McLemee takes off to the Great White North. King for a Day or Two: With democracy flourishing in most corners of the globe, the very idea of monarchy seems a quaint throwback to a bygone age. And today, many are the kings who sit uneasily on their thrones. A look at some of the royal families who just might be on their way out. An excerpt from Cold War Frontiers in the Asia-Pacific on Micronesia as an "American lake". Here is a list of the world's most ridiculous laws or urban myths - were not quite sure. Reincarnation rules: But only if the Chinese Communist Party says so. Nobel Prize winner Edmund Phelps believes "corporatism" dooms Europe to lag behind the US.
Joseph Nye on the changing face of energy security. Exhibition Game: An article on Hezbollah's creepy new museum. Land of the old general: Visiting Paraguay, Ben Davies finds a decaying country that still bears the scars of dictatorship. Drawing lines in melting ice: Despite the ungainly scramble for a slice of the Arctic's tantalising riches, no nation can master the region alone. Leo Tolstoy once described the Tsarist system as "Ghengis Khan with a telegraph." Given the communications conquest of recent weeks, cyber warfare is almost certainly going to be a continuing threat. Dani Rodrik on the value of being undervalued.
From FT, here's the rough guide for politicians choosing a vacation. A White House manual that came to light recently gives presidential advance staffers extensive instructions in the art of "deterring potential protestors" from President Bush's public appearances around the country. Sic 'em With the Rally Squad: And other tips for dealing with demonstrators from the Presidential Advance Manual. From Truthdig, Scott Ritter on Why Cheney Really Is That Bad. Draft Numbers: If we want to take on the world's problems, we may need the draft. Still want to? Daniel Pearl's name you know. Chauncey Bailey's, you probably don't. Both men were murdered presumably because of what they did for a living.
