online archive
1:12PM
JUN 8 2007
International law, political thought, science and academia
From the European Journal of International Law, Bruno Simma (ICJ) and Dirk Pulkowski (Munich): Of Planets and the Universe: Self-contained Regimes in International Law; Steven Wheatley (Leeds): The Security Council, Democratic Legitimacy and Regime Change in Iraq; Marko Milanovic (BCHR): State Responsibility for Genocide; Patrick Dumberry (GIIS): New State Responsibility for Internationally Wrongful Acts by an Insurrectional Movement; a symposium on WTO "Constitutionalism": Joel P. Trachtman (Tufts): The Constitutions of the WTO; Jeffrey L. Dunoff (Temple): Constitutional Conceits: The WTO's "Constitution" and the Discipline of International Law; a review essay on Legalizing Lawlessness: On Giorgio Agamben's State of Exception; a review of Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law by Antony Anghie; a review of Denial of Justice in International Law by Jan Paulsson; and a review of State Sovereignty: The Reconstruction and Meaning of the Notion in International Law by Roman Kwiecien.
A review of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Utility: Happiness in Philosophical and Economic Thought by Anthony Kenny and Charles Kenny. A review of Reinventing "The People": The Progressive Movement, the Class Problem, and the Origins of Modern Liberalism by Shelton Stromquist. A review of Attendant Cruelties: Nation and Nationalism in American History by Patrice Higonnet. A review of Robert Service's Comrades: A World History of Communism. A review of Cannibal Island: Death in a Siberian Gulag by Nicolas Werth; The Unknown Gulag: The lost world of Stalin’s special settlements by Lynne Viola; and Gulag: Life and death within Soviet concentration camps by Tomas Kizny.
From Discover, an article on The Math Behind Beauty: A plastic surgeon computes the perfect face; and a look at The Real Story on Gay Genes: Homing in on the science of homosexuality—and sexuality itself. Only 55 percent of men are satisfied with the penis nature gave them. Now British scientists are trying to persuade men suffering from penis anxiety not to worry, saying most men afflicted by "small penis syndrome" actually have average-sized members. High self-esteem may be culturally universal: The notion that East Asians are self-effacing and have low self-esteem compared to Americans may well describe the surface view of East Asian personality, but misses the picture revealed by recently developed measures of self-esteem.
From Campus Progress, an article on reauthorizing No Child Left Behind and why it hasn’t saved American education. "Do you think you can teach our students?" Having a Ph.D. from an Ivy League university can open some doors for you, but it can also close others. Student Veterans: They’ve served their country in Iraq, Afghanistan and throughout the world. But a whole new set of challenges await when they return to campus and readjust to civilian life. From Der Spiegel, Poland's education minister wanted to replace classic works of literature on the school syllabus with patriotic and Catholic authors. But Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski has overruled him, reassuring the Poles that their children will be taught Goethe, Dostoyevsky and Conrad. Reality—Better than Fiction: A literature student, excited by physics but turned off by how it was taught, took to inventing her own theories of the universe. Then a university course showed her that reality is more interesting than anything she could invent.
1:12PM
JUN 8 2007
Miscellaneous
From Daedalus, Norbert Schwartz (Michigan): Judgments of Truth and Beauty. From New English Review, Ibn Warraq on The Nature of the Literary Evidence: A Dialogue On Methodology With Apologies To David Hume. Here's a list of the 10 books which the British public felt best defined the 20th century. A review of Fathers and Sons: The Autobiography of a Family by Alexander Waugh. A review of The Diana Chronicles by Tina Brown. Not quite the gentleman: Remembered as an icon of imperial Britain, Elgar has long been misunderstood. A review of The Last Mrs. Astor: A New York Story by Frances Kiernan. Dishing the 2006-07 Broadway Theater Season: Why is Broadway so unhip?
From American Heritage, a review of Weeki Wachee, City of Mermaids: A History of One of Florida’s Oldest Roadside Attractions. Christopher Bonanos on the American heritage of American Heritage. A review of James Fenimore Cooper: The Early Years by Wayne Franklin. A review of Josephine Baker in Art and Life: The Icon and the Image by Bennetta Jules-Rosette. A review of This Time, This Place: My Life in War, the White House and Hollywood by Jack Valenti (and more). A review of The Mafia at War by Tim Newark. C.L.R. James Meets Tony Soprano: As the HBO classic comes to an end, Scott McLemee revisits an early analysis of the gangster as American archetype.
From The Walrus, It’s a Dog’s Life: They’re not just pets anymore — they’re teachers, preachers, shrinks, and philosophers; The Perfect Seat: A short course on sitting down; Advanced Search: Ali Symons on how a real-life Google query goes awry; and The Last Laugh: Why Canadian satire can’t measure up to Stewart and Colbert. From Australia's Arena, Blackfella Beats and New Flows: Powerful to Aboriginal youth, yet virtually invisible to mainstream white Australia, a new and distinctly Aboriginal form of hip-hop is gaining momentum.
From The Portland Mercury, The H-Word Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Word "Hipster". The End of the World as We Know It: A survey of new post-apocalyptic fiction. How to keep it simple: Overwhelmed by the information age? Then you need discipline. Cracking Down on "Murderabilia": Notorious prisoners' artwork, notes and even nail clippings are hot items online. But a new law might put a stop to it. Crime novelist Patricia Cornwell tries to ward off Internet attacker.
From Spiked, "It looks like Lisa Simpson giving head": The bizarre squashed swastika that is the London 2012 Olympics logo perfectly captures the authorities' confusion about what the Games are for. Whence the !@#$? A look at how a dirty word gets that way. The Art of Aphorisms: If it’s true that "syllables govern the world," then you gotta give it up for aphorists.
1:12PM
JUN 8 2007
American foreign policy, conservatism, political economy and religion
From The New York Sun, a review of The Idea that Is America: Keeping Faith with Our Values in a Dangerous World by Anne-Marie Slaughter. From The National Interest, Losing Mythic Authority: The question is in part: How big is America’s failure? But more significantly, what are the consequences?; a review of In Defense of the Bush Doctrine by Robert Kaufman; and Andrew J. Bacevich reviews History of the Office of the Secretary of Defense, Vol. V: The McNamara Ascendancy, 1961–1965.
From TNR, Paul Berman on Bernard Kouchner's views on pre-war Iraq and his reaction to the war. From Reason, Left, Right, and Wrong: Desperately searching for a libertarian foreign policy. Form Foreign Policy in Focus, an essay on what the Peace Movement should do now. An interview with Noam Chomsky on his latest book, Interventions. What leads someone to become an activist? Research shows parental beliefs, individual personality and a sense of community can all prime someone for a role as an activist. Nothing will convince our euphonious intellectuals of the chronic nonsense purveyed in their writing unless they or their loved ones should be incinerated in one of those terrorist attacks they habitually downplay. An interview with Mark Steyn, author of America Alone: The End of the World as We Know It. John Derbyshire on The New Communism.
From OpedNews, here's an open letter to libertarians by Paul Donovan. Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr. on Rothbard, Hazlitt, and Hutt, three national treasures and on Two Views on Social Order: conflict or cooperation? An interview with Linda Bridges, author of Strictly Right: William F. Buckley Jr. and the American Conservative Movement. Heather Mac Donald on the Republicans’ Hispanic Delusion: Amnesty is not just wrong in principle, it’s bad politics.
From Against the Current, Charles Post on The Myth of the Labor Aristocracy (and part 2); and responses on The Roots of Conservatism; more on Autonomy; but is it Myth—or Reality?; and a reply by Post. From Forbes, the AFL-CIO's Linda Chavez-Thompson on why it's time to end worker exploitation. Tough Luck, Ladies: The Roberts Court rules that six months into being screwed by your boss, pay discrimination is your own damn fault. From Dollars & Sense, an article on The Homeownership Myth: A contrarian asks whether homeownership really benefits low-income families; and Slicing Up at the Long Barbeque: Who gorges, who serves, and who gets roasted? An interview with James Scurlock, director of the acclaimed documentary about the credit industry, Maxed Out.
From The Nation, The New Atheists: An increasingly outspoken community of atheists and agnostics is getting fed up with being marginalized, ignored and insulted. Holy War! A new army of atheists is taking no prisoners in its battle with God and his self-appointed faith dealers. Different Argument: An interview with Christopher Hitchens, and he answers your questions on God, life, and the universe. The Postmodern Buddha: Spirituality is as close as the nearest gift shop. Disgruntled Italian Catholics are increasingly turning to the internet to leave the Church by getting "debaptized" — but typically, the Pope isn't making the process web friendly.
1:12PM
JUN 8 2007
The South Pacific, Africa, the environment and the megacity
From In These Times, Fighting Corporate Copper in Bougainville: Multinational polluter Rio Tinto sued under Alien Tort Claims Act for causing deaths of 10,000 Papua New Guineans. Almost entirely dependent upon foreign aid, cash-starved countries in Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia vacillate between forming diplomatic ties with China or Taiwan based on the amount of funds involved. An essay on The Kingdom of Tonga and the Fight Against Feudalism in the Pacific Islands. Fiji has had four coups in 20 years, but Owen Sheers finds racial harmony survives despite the political tension. A review of The Fragile Edge: Diving and Other Adventures in the South Pacific by Julia Whitty. No Man is an Island: Evidence of our actions is everywhere—even on a remote Pacific atoll.
From Cosmos, Unnatural Selection: The power and beauty of the natural world is everywhere in the wilds of Africa, as is the possibility of tragedy and death; and landmines, chemical agents and hunting for bushmeat all take a heavy toll on wildlife during war, but on occasion animals can fare surprisingly well in times of conflict.
From Vanity Fair, Jeffrey Sachs' $200 Billion Dream: Extreme poverty can be eradicated, insists superstar economist Jeffrey Sachs—all it takes is determination, focus, and, well, money; and The Lazarus Effect: Aids is no longer a death sentence, thanks to miracle drugs. But millions still can't afford them. Enter the consumer-action strategy of (Product) Red. How Bono made Africa the focus of several Vanity Fair covers: First, it was The Independent. Now Bono has guest-edited the world's glossiest magazine. David Usborne tells the inside story of Vanity Fair's Africa Issue - and how its 20 stunning covers were created. Al Gore wins Spain's prestigious Prince of Asturias award for his work in defending the environment, the latest feather in the cap of the politician-turned-activist.
A vast rift yawns between the three players that matter most when it comes to stopping climate change: Europe, China, and the United States. Finding a language that speaks to ourselves: A review of Heat: How to Stop the Planet from Burning by George Monbiot. Here Comes the Heat: New research suggests climate change could be faster and more furious than anyone expects. Everybody talks about the weather; now, all of a sudden, it’s controversial. Rising seas, spreading deserts, intensifying weather and other harbingers of climate change are threatening cultural landmarks from Canada to Antarctica.
From Spectrum, a special report on A How-To Manual for the Megacity, including Engineering The Megacity: How technology can make our urban future better; How to Build a Green City: Shanghai hopes to build the world's first truly sustainable city; How to Measure a City's Metabolism: Taking stock of London's appetites; How to See the Unseen City: A veritable museum of forgotten infrastructure lies buried beneath a city's streets; How to Build a Mile High Skyscraper: Behemoth buildngs are becoming practical, thanks to new technologies and innovations in construction materials; How Not to Make a Megacity: On a good day, Lagos is exasperatingly corrupt, poverty-ridden, and dangerous; How to Design a Perfect City: Paolo Soleri imagines systems as intricate and insular as ocean liners; How to Keep 18 Million People Moving: São Paulo operates the world's most complex bus system; Made-to-Measure Mass Transit: Driverless cars aim to give each passenger a customized ride; and megacities by the numbers.
