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International issues, social issues, punditry and New York

From The National Interest, Beyond American Hegemony: If the Iraq War is seen as merely a bad application of a fundamentally sound U.S. grand strategy of hegemony, the United States will set itself up for other self-inflicted disasters in the future. An excerpt from A Capitol Idea: Think Tanks and US Foreign Policy pdf. A review of Stoic Warriors: The Ancient Philosophy behind the Military Mind. Inside the jihadi worldview: One man tells of what it is like to think like a terror suspect. A review of The Reluctant Fundamentalist by Mohsin Hamid. William Langewiesche’s The Atomic Bazaar, his new book on proliferation, is quite scary. The good news is that he gets most of it wrong.

From The Mises Institute, an article in defense of strip malls. Can block clubs block despair? Why do some poor communities fall apart while others cohere? Community organization can make a difference — up to a point. Being Unemployed: The toughest lack of a job you'll ever love. Matthew Yglesias on why a guest-worker program is bad for immigrants, bad for native workers and bad for America. A review of Tariq Modood's Multiculturalism: A Civic Idea. Recently the government has moved away from the idea of terrorist-as-murderer, with terrorism charges sought when all the evidence shows that the defendants took affirmative steps to make sure no one would be endangered.

From Reason, Crackbrained Crack Crackdown: There's no rational basis for the federal government's cocaine sentencing policy. A review of Martha Stewart's Legal Troubles. Can a public figure have a private life? Peter Singer wants to know.

From the Annals of Medacious Punditry, an article on the work of Larry Kudlow, Pin Striped Perfidy. An interview with Kevin Drum of The Washington Monthly on blogging. An article on how Spencer Ackerman got Too Hot for TNR. Getting beyond hollow, theatrical contrarianism and into a realm of real, good-faith debate will require overhauling the way that writers, especially political writers, make their living. What's the point of books? John McWhorter investigates. From Human Events, here are the Top 10 books Nancy Pelosi should read. An interview with Marcus Stern, author of The Wrong Stuff: The Extraordinary Saga of Randy “Duke” Cunningham, the Most Corrupt Congressman Ever Caught. Dancing into the Majority: Once alienated, grassroots activists are finding ways to work with the Democratic Party establishment.

From The Village Voice, Secrets of the Mob: Geezer gangster George Barone sings like a canary. A review of White Ethnic New York: Jews, Catholics, and the Shaping of Postwar Politics. From The New York Observer, The Bad Old Days: Remember flashing? Abe Beame? Robin Byrd? $300 West Side rents? Wake up and recall the urine! If you can’t, the vets say you’re not a real New Yorker. And congratulations, New York! You are home to the worst national park in the country