Newsweek International articles from April 2003

Newsweek International archives from April 2003

Anxiety and the Brain.
April 7, 2003... Our March 3 story about fear's effect on the body drew letters of thanks from many readers. Sharing their worries during times of "government-induced fear," when "the imminence of a third world war is causing lots of stress," readers praised a...

Who Speaks for Europe?(French political activities relating to Iraq)
April 7, 2003... Once again, there were the ghosts of war. As George Bush and Tony Blair met on a mountaintop outside Washington to assess the conflict in Iraq- -and chart a post-Saddam future--they must have been mindful of Roosevelt and Churchill, who also...

Richly Resented.(World on Fire: How Exporting Free Market Democracy Breeds Ethnic Hatred and Global Instability)(Book Review)
April 7, 2003... In 1994 Amy Chua received some very bad news: her aunt had been murdered in the Philippines. A wealthy Filipino-Chinese, she'd had her throat slit by one of her many servants, a Filipino chauffeur. At first it appeared to Chua--an American--to...

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?(Europe and the United States' different views)(Brief Article)
April 7, 2003... When Robert Kagan first published his essay "Power and Weakness" last year in the small U.S. journal Policy Review, he stunned readers on both sides of the Atlantic with his assertion that America and Europe no longer share a world view. By...

Iraq and the Lessons of History.
April 7, 2003... "Who controls the past controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." Judging by the rhetorical battle over the putative lessons of history during the run-up to the war in Iraq, George Orwell's famous dictum resonates...

Don't Make Truman's Mistake.(US policy towards North Korea)
April 7, 2003... Japanese intelligence experts who track the whereabouts of "Great Leader" Kim Jong Il say North Korea's shadowy strongman hasn't appeared in public in more than a month. What's he doing? Their best guess is that, like millions of people around...

The Asian Factor.
April 7, 2003... If Jeffrey Garten's warnings scare you, perhaps you shouldn't read this. But there are some very smart people who now worry that global conflicts could tip over the most dangerous imbalance in the world economy. For years now, foreigners have...

Tracking a Killer Virus.
April 7, 2003... Dr. Clive Cockram remembers the last time he slept in the same bed as his wife. It was the morning of March 10, the day he and his colleagues at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Hong Kong found themselves at the forefront of one of the most...

From Russia With Love.(United States, Russia and the Iraq War)
April 7, 2003... The U.S.-Russia relationship has always had its tricky moments. But things have begun to look a lot trickier since Washington accused Russian companies of supplying Saddam Hussein with weapons that could kill U.S. troops in Iraq. Just days...

It's Getting Serious.(anti-Americanism effect of American business abroad)
April 7, 2003... Will a rising tide of anti Americanism engulf American companies operating abroad? I have spent most of my career working with these companies. As a member of Secretary of State Henry Kissinger's staff in the 1970s, I was involved with...

Queen Noor.(Interview)
April 7, 2003... Jordan's 51-year-old queen noor is in a unique position to reflect on America's war in Iraq and the turmoil in the Middle East. The former Lisa Halaby is an American-born Jordanian of half-Arab ancestry. She was educated at Princeton University...

The View From the Counter.(US economy)
April 7, 2003... Whenever I want to know how the American economy is going, I ring my friend Jamis in California's Silicon Valley. Jamis McNiven is the proprietor of Buck's Diner in Woodside, where the big venture capitalists on nearby Sand Hill Road drop by to...

Perspectives.
April 7, 2003... "We didn't know they would fight like this." U.S. Lt. Gen. William Wallace, commenting on the unexpected determination of Iraqi troops "There's no beer, no prostitutes and people are shooting at us. It's more like Portsmouth." An unnamed...

Periscope.
April 7, 2003... HALLIBURTON Cha-Ching Cheney The stock market may be suffering, but Operation Iraqi Freedom has sure been good for business at Halliburton, the Houston oil-services company famous for its former CEO, Dick Cheney. And the vice president...

Bloggers Over Baghdad.
April 7, 2003... As dawn approaches, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake readies a dispatch on the war in Iraq. From his home in southern England, Mandrake awaits word on British troop movements, casualty estimates and the reaction from Arab news agencies. "[T]his is...

A Messianic Mission.(Letter to the Editor)
April 14, 2003... Praising our March 10 cover story on President Bush's religiosity, readers expressed dismay and insisted on church-state separation. Even Christians rejected Bush's brand of Christianity. Wrote a priest, "I've yet to encounter the God who...

Now, the Palestine Question.(UK and U.S mediation in Israeli conflict)
April 14, 2003... In 1919 Britain's foreign secretary, Arthur Balfour, drafted a candid memo on Europe's diplomatic record concerning Palestine. European powers, he wrote, "have made no statement of fact that is not admittedly wrong... and no declaration of...

The Uncredible Hulk.(U.S war against Iraq; Spanish media coverage, international views)
April 14, 2003... It was day 14 of the war, and the headlines in the Spanish papers were awful. ABC of Madrid: civilian victims mount. El Pais, Madrid: dozens of women and children die. El Periodico, Barcelona: the daily massacre in iraq. At the Madrid...

An Asian Contagion.(affect of SARS on Asian travel, economy)
April 14, 2003... Something is missing at Korea Ginseng Chicken Soup: hungry diners. Until recently, tourists from China, Hong Kong and Taiwan thronged the popular Seoul eatery to savor its signature dish. Nowadays the supper crowd has shrunk to a few dozen each...

The Fat Lady Is Singing.(chinese opera)
April 14, 2003... Zhang Minglu remembers a time when Beijing opera buffs were so enthralled with his performances that they would throw gold coins onto the stage. "In my day, 80 percent of the people loved opera, and they could spend the whole day at the opera...

Raising a Sensitive Man.(Movie Review)
April 14, 2003... When victor Vargas catches his sister, Vicky, gossiping on the phone about his affair with the unpopular "Fat Donna," he tosses the phone-- an old rotary-dial model--out the window. It doesn't deter Vicky, who continues maligning her older...

A Harrowing Brazilian Bus Ride.(Bus 174)(Television Program Review)
April 14, 2003... Bus 174," the jolting new documentary by Brazilian director Jose Padilha, opens with a dizzying aerial shot that races high over Rio de Janeiro. It's a lovely take, but this is no postcard. In seconds, the camera skims from silver ocean and...

'A Matter of Hygiene'.(controlling contagious diseases; severe acute respiratory syndrome)(Interview)
April 14, 2003... Each year, it seems, a new microbe emerges to strike fear in the hearts of microbiologists--and, every once in a while, the rest of us as well. SARS is only the most recent of a succession of new pathogens to have emerged in recent years....

Buying American.(postwar Iraq reconstruction contracts)
April 14, 2003... Is America monopolizing the business of rebuilding Iraq? In recent weeks Washington has handed out initial contracts for fighting oil fires and reconstructing roads, bridges and waterways--all to American firms, which could end up earning...

The Gathering Storm.(war in Iraq; media coverage and after effects)
April 14, 2003... The boy looks forward to his aunt's visits. What boy wouldn't--she showers him with Disney videos, LEGOs and Toys "R" Us electronica brought home from frequent trips to Washington: cultural sweets on which children the world over now are...

Bill Maher.(Interview)
April 14, 2003... Talk-show host and comedian Bill Maher was only living up to his reputation when he spoke his mind after the World Trade Center bombings. His television show, "Politically Incorrect," had won a loyal following by offering heated and sometimes...

Frying the French.(renaming 'French' food in the U.S.)
April 14, 2003... They were the best of fries, they were the worst of fries. Forgive the Charles Dickens, but I am writing my own tale of two cities right now-- and both are New York. The plot, of course, involves the Side Dish Formerly Known as French...

Perspectives.
April 14, 2003... "A person is a human being regardless of nationality." Iraqi lawyer Mohammed, on why he risked his life to provide the information that led to the rescue of injured American POW Jessica Lynch "What we need now is not just a regime change in...

Periscope.
April 14, 2003... IRAQ Fighting Over the Spoils In the heavyweight prizefight over Iraq's future, the winner of round one seems to be Secretary of State Colin Powell. For months the Bush administration has been deeply split over how to move from a U.S....

Shining A Light On Pain.(therapeutic light-emitting diodes)
April 14, 2003... The marine's voice had an edge of urgency. As he explained to physical therapist Ben Freeman of Castle Rock, Colorado, in January, his unit was about to ship out to war. But his upper back was so sore that he was hardly in fighting trim. He had...

Bunker Down.(bombproof housing from Corus Group PLC and Dominick Hunter Group PLC air filters)(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... Forget hiding in the basement. Brits worried about their safety can now purchase a completely bombproof house, made by the steel manufacturer Corus. The Surefast shelter, launched earlier this month, is constructed out of steel panels that are...

Travel Tips.(telecommunication services)(Brief Article)
April 14, 2003... In these uncertain times, we're both more mobile and more desperate to keep in touch with what's happening in the world. Fortunately, several new services have sprung up to keep one informed--and out of harm's way. Mobile messaging: Text...

The Butcher of Iraq.
April 21, 2003... Readers of our March 17 cover story on "Saddam's War" lambasted George W. Bush. "Blood stains," one said of "the atrocious casualties of war." Wrote another: "Bush has re-created the 'ugly American'." But a Muslim emphasized, "This butcher...

Driving a Hard Bargain.(North Korea's nuclear weapons plans)
April 21, 2003... It's never easy divining Pyongyang's intentions from its pronouncements--especially when it's talking out of both sides of its mouth. Late last week North Korea's Foreign Ministry indicated it might consider multilateral talks over its nuclear...

Familiar Faces.(Carlos Menem)
April 21, 2003... Carlos Menem looked like a shadow of the rabble-rouser who won the Argentine presidency in 1989. With reading glasses perched on his nose, he stumbled over the words in a prepared speech to 1,500 businessmen in a Buenos Aires hotel last week....

How To Make A Virus.(severe acute respiratory syndrome)
April 21, 2003... It's time to feed the pigs. a Chinese farmhand goes pen to pen filling troughs with slop--a gray, foul-odored amalgam of unidentifiable garbage purchased from restaurants in nearby Guangzhou. The pigs squeal with delight and tuck into their...

A Fresh Look at Chekhov.(Anton Chekhov)
April 21, 2003... When Chekhov lay dying in a spa town in Germany's Black Forest, his doctor ordered oxygen, only to have the playwright insist it was too late and request a bottle of champagne instead. It was a curiously appropriate end to the life of a man...

'Helpfully Neutral'.
April 21, 2003... Call it a tale of two Tehran embassy seiges. The first, which occurred on the day U.S. forces took Baghdad, saw 350 students and clerics gather to chant antiwar slogans outside the British Embassy in downtown Tehran. It was a strangely muted...

A Producer to the End.(Sam Spiegel)
April 21, 2003... When Natasha Fraser-Cavassoni told director Billy Wilder she was writing a biography of Sam Spiegel, the legendary Hollywood producer of "Lawrence of Arabia" and "Bridge Over the River Kwai," Wilder howled. "Sam Spiegel! That's quite a...

Sending Up Hollywood's Celebrities.(My Last Movie Star)(Book Review)
April 21, 2003... Allegra Coleman is Hollywood's latest It Girl. With her tangled blond hair, nut-brown tan and liquid legs spilling out of tight cutoffs, the gum-chewing starlet seduces not only America but also, surprisingly, Clementine James, a jaded magazine...

The Last Thing Iraqis Need.
April 21, 2003... Unfortunately, I am a lousy tennis player. Otherwise I would have had a great time in So Tome, a wonderful equatorial island off the Atlantic coast of Africa. My friend, a United Nations employee, played every day, early in the morning and at...

Helene Faussart.(Interview)
April 21, 2003... The current boycott by some Americans of all things French does not include Les Nubians, a pair of French-African soul sisters who have just completed a hit concert tour in the United States to support their new album, "One Step Forward"...

Ready for the Real Scoop?(celebrity gossip)
April 21, 2003... No matter whether you support it or not, this war is exhausting business. From Internet rumors to CNN pundits to endless elevator conversations, we should all take a deep breath and think about something else. Like sexy celebrity gossip. ...

Perspectives.
April 21, 2003... HONG KONG WILL TAKE YOUR BREATH AWAY. Former tourist advertising slogan which, in light of the SARS virus outbreak, has been changed to THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HONG KONG "Chirac has apologies to make... Whether he will is another question."...

Periscope.
April 21, 2003... Investment: Long Shots, Safe Bets? Since when have countries like Brazil and Russia become a safe investment bet? Since October of last year--that's when global investors, frustrated with tanking stocks and low yields on U.S. and European...

Springing Forward.(fashion)
April 21, 2003... The economic down-turn and the war with Iraq haven't put a damper on fashion. Indeed, this spring's designs are among the most upbeat in years. Marc Jacobs, Giorgio Armani and Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga have livened up their lines with...

Flat and Fabulous.(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... Footwear designers have finally taken mercy on screaming arches this season: they've brought back the ballerina flat--a welcome revival after seasons of nosebleed stilettos. These no-heel styles range from demure pale-pink numbers from MARC...

Designs on Tea.(Alessi S.p.A.)(Brief Article)
April 21, 2003... Coffee, tea or cutting-edge design? Alessi, the upscale Italian housewares manufacturer, has called on 22 architects to unleash their creativity on the humble coffee-and-tea service--the reprise of a successful experiment some 20 years ago. The...

Mail Call.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... Our March 24 cover story on U.S. arrogance drew nearly unanimous praise from overseas readers. "Sagacious criticism," lauded one. Others hoped that "it reached U.S. readers," or that the administration would "heed such sensible reports." A...

Divided They Stand.
April 28, 2003... Last week's Athens summit was to be a triumph of European unity after a century of wars, hot and cold. The formal admission of 10 new countries into the European Union went off without a hitch. But that only means the Continent's real problems...

Slow Progress.(Basra, Iraq)
April 28, 2003... When clocks in Iraq were moved ahead one hour on April 1, the people of Basra didn't get the message. They were too busy coping with invading British troops, a loss of power and, later, looters to make the change. Most residents barricaded...

Chirac's Great Game.(Jacques Chirac)
April 28, 2003... Late in life, Francois Mitterrand let slip the news of a secret war. "France does not know it yet, but we are at war with America," reports his biographer, Georges-Marc Benamou. "A permanent war... a war without death. They are very hard, the...

A Frosty Friendship.(Russia and the U.S. at odds over Iraq)
April 28, 2003... Vladislav Achalov has only good things to say about Saddam Hussein. He is a "strong man," he says, "fighting for his country." A former deputy Defense minister in the U.S.S.R., Achalov met Saddam "several times" during his frequent visits to...

A New Love For the Local.(embracing traditional design in China)
April 28, 2003... Traditional Chinese design has long been more popular abroad than in China. Shoppers from Vancouver to Vienna snatch up red lacquer furniture, silk floral fabrics and cloisonne jewelry. But middle-class Chinese--who still equate "chic" with...

Lessons of Cambodia.(Cambodia After the Khmer Rouge: Inside the Politics of Nation Building )(Book Review)
April 28, 2003... It sounds familiar: a big, powerful nation invades an erratic smaller one, in the name of self-defense. After all, the little country's tyrannical regime has committed atrocities against its own people and attacked its neighbors. The brief war...

Reining in the Warlords.(Afghanistan)
April 28, 2003... Afghan warlord Ismail Khan, the governor of Herat province, tries his best to sound like a loyal subordinate. When asked if he submits to President Hamid Karzai's authority, Khan laughs and points to a portrait of the president hanging on the...

Disturbing the Peace.(the Free Aceh Movement of Indonesia)
April 28, 2003... Suthep Anuchon is a man in a hurry. The 31-year-old Thai national was pacing in his office in Indonesia's war-torn Aceh province as his staff packed up fax machines, computers and files in a 500-pound safe. Anuchon is no dodgy businessman...

Is This Axis Evil?(Could Wal-Mart, China and the Internet cause deflation)
April 28, 2003... It may not be evil, but it is an axis. Quietly, the strengthening powers of China, the Internet and Wal-Mart are fueling a global surge in cutthroat competition, driving down prices worldwide. China continues to evolve as the world's largest...

The World of the Gulag.(Gulag: A History)(Book Review)
April 28, 2003... During a couple of tours as a correspondent in Russia and Germany, I was struck by a remarkable contrast. Visitors to Moscow are happy to snap up memorabilia featuring hammer-and-sickle emblems and images of Lenin and Stalin, but visitors to...

'They Want to Up the Ante'.(Interview)
April 28, 2003... South Korea's new President Roh Moo Hyun owes his election victory in large measure to young voters who are more adamantly anti-American than their parents' generation. But, to soothe tensions with Washington and to make up for the relative...

Cry for Me, Baghdad.(Iraq's foreign debt)
April 28, 2003... Back in the late 1970s, Iraq was on a short list of the world's most successful developing countries. Baghdad cafes were bustling with a well-educated professional class that presided over a thriving economy, which has since shrunk from $100...

A Hollow Triumph?(Olusegun Obasanjo's election in Nigeria)
April 28, 2003... He waddles like a small bear and smiles like a favorite uncle, but when he speaks--or rather growls--people tend to sit up. Gruff old soldier, international statesman and born-again Christian, 66-year-old Olusegun Obasanjo seemed likely last...

Second Guessing.(North Korea's nuclear arsenal)
April 28, 2003... The search is on for krypton 85. At this moment American EP3 spy planes are probably sniffing for trace elements of that radioactive particle floating in the atmosphere near the North Korean shore. If they detect any atypical isotopes, the...

Ayatollah Al Hakim.(Mohamad Baqir Al Hakim)(Interview)
April 28, 2003... Ayatollah Mohamad Baqir Al Hakim may hold the key to a stable post- Saddam government in Iraq. Head of the dominant Shiite exile group, the Tehran-based Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, or SCIRI, he is a possible future...

No Smoking! It's the Law!
April 28, 2003... Foreigners visiting New York are always surprised by the platoons of people lurking in the doorways and outside office buildings, furtively puffing cigarettes even in appalling weather. Now comes Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has just signed the...

Perspectives.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... "This is really sand in our eyes." Unnamed U.S. official, on North Korea's announcement, days before multilateral talks were scheduled, that it would start reprocessing spent plutonium "No to America, no to Saddam, our revolution is...

Periscope.
April 28, 2003... Iraq: Where's the Wealth? As a young man, Barzan al-Tikriti was "excessively violent and lazy," say U.S. officials. As chief spy for his half-brother Saddam Hussein in the early 1980s, Barzan's name was synonymous with cruelty:...

The Icy Final Frontier.
April 28, 2003... In 35 years of skiing, Halsted Morris had never seen anything like the slopes of Baffin Island. Located in the Arctic Ocean, off the coast of Nunavut in northern Canada, the island is made up of ice-cream-cone- shaped summits, 100-foot glaciers...

Healed by the Sea.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... Seawater treatments have long been credited with helping French women maintain healthy, glowing skin and slim figures. (Of course, copious amounts of red wine, fine cheeses and access to great shopping don't hurt.) Known as...

Laugh Riots.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... We live in troubled times, but nonstop news can get overwhelming. Take a two-hour vacation from reality with these slapstick flicks: This Is Spinal Tap ('84) A rockumentary turned mock-umentary. What's funnier than a zucchini down the...

Saab 9-3.(from Saab-Scania AB)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... News flash: the new Saab 9-3 doesn't have a hatchback. That's right, no hatchback. If you're thinking "so what," you're definitely not a die- hard Saab fan. Saab is one of those brands that inspires a cultlike following, and loyalists are...

From Harvard Med.(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... Dieting doesn't have to be an exercise in masochism. By replacing your current rations with similar--but much healthier--alternatives, you can painlessly gain fiber and cut fat. Over time such small changes add up to huge improvements in your...

Keeping it Cool.(wine)(Brief Article)
April 28, 2003... If you're a wine lover, you've probably got a few bottles stashed in a closet or under the bed. And you probably know that fluctuations in temperature can quickly turn a lovely 1999 California Cab into vinegar. So do you really need one of...