From New English Review, Theodore Dalrymple on Austria and evil; Rebecca Bynum on the myth of equality; and an essay on the philosophic principles and mechanisms of democracy (and part 2 and part 3). From Vanity Fair, a look at how Jacqueline Kennedy turned the unprecedented, perilous loan of the Mona Lisa into a powerful Cold War symbol; Christopher Hitchens on America the Banana Republic; James Wolcott has lived through a lot of hair-raising times, but now he’s sure the world is going to hell in a handbasket — and, God knows, the media are only making it worse; and now that David Levine, the greatest caricaturist of the late 20th century, is going blind, is he owed more than a fond farewell? From World Politics Review, there are no quick solutions to the Somali pirate crisis. Whenever word comes

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