From The Situationist, an article on the situation of Interrogation and Marketing. Top government officials from several countries gathered in Italy in late May to discuss torture and rendition. In the background loomed the knowledge that CIA officers may soon be put to trial for seizing a terror suspect in Milan in 2003. If the Bush administration forces the CIA to drop "tough" interrogation techniques like waterboarding, the agency will probably fall back on a brutal method that leaves no physical marks. A review of Five Years of My Life: A Report from Guantánamo by Murat Kurnaz and Helmut Kuhn, and a review of Bad Men: Guantánamo Bay and the Secret Prisons by Clive Stafford Smith. What kind of process is due detainees? Benjamin Wittes on terrorism, the military, and the courts. The introduction to Liberty Under Attack, published by The Century Foundation.
Spoils of War: Bush cronies are cashing in on terror. And so can you. More than 58 Arabic linguists have been kicked out since “don’t ask, don’t tell” was instituted. How much valuable intelligence could those men and women be providing today to troops in harm’s way? A review of Sexual Decoys: Gender, Race and War in Imperial Democracy by Zillah Eisenstein. A review of Spy Wars: Moles, Mysteries, and Deadly Games by Tennent H. Bagley (and more). A review of Perfect Spy: The Incredible Double Life of Pham Xuan An, Time Magazine Reporter & Vietnamese Communist Agent by Larry Berman. A review of Driven Out: The Forgotten War Against Chinese Americans by Jean Pfaelzer. From Against the Current, a review of Max Yergan: Race Man, Internationalist, Cold Warrior by David Henry Anthony and Caribbean Crusaders and the Harlem Renaissance by Joyce Moore Turner; and a review of Afro-Orientalism by Bill Mullen.
From The Sun, The Unseen Life That Dreams Us: An interview with John O'Donohue on the secret landscapes of imagination and spirit; Nature-Deficit Disorder: An interview with Richard Louv, author of Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder; and The Myth of Tough Love: An interview with Maia Szalavitz, author of Help at Any Cost: How the Troubled-Teen Industry Cons Parents and Hurts Kids. Why are we such worried parents?
The Compulsive Philanthropist: Zell Kravinsky explains why he would have kept on giving, even after giving away $40 million to charity and donating his kidney to a stranger. Imagining the Future: Bruce Mau on why the cynics are wrong. Death Wish 7 Billion: Freud says we are all subject to the pleasure principle — which includes the death wish. Is he right? Evolution has made three attempts to create a hyper-multicellular organism: an ant-hill, communism, and the internet. The last attempt seems to be crowned with success. Can the Thing act? Why not? If I were in its place I would do three simple things.
