Newsweek International articles from December 2001

Newsweek International archives from December 2001

Onward, Christian Soldier.(Tony Blair)
December 3, 2001... Another day, another mission. flying high over the English Channel toward Germany, Tony Blair puts the finishing touches on a speech that would lavish praise on Chancellor Gerhard Schroder for committing troops to Afghanistan--Germany's first...

Blair for the Record.(Tony Blair)(Brief Article)(Interview)
December 3, 2001... It took not only the clout of American superpower, but also the global networking of British Prime Minister Tony Blair to build the broad coalition behind the post-September 11 war on terror. Blair was headed for Germany last week when...

Back To The Future.(foreign-policy themes from Britain's imperial past)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Amoral foreign policy? No other European prime minister would even think of it. Tony Blair's global diplomacy is quintessentially British, rooted in the 19th century, when Britain was a superpower and India was under its rule. It is 1829...

Behind the Pink Slips.
December 3, 2001... Heads are rolling across Europe, and the list of axmen reads like a Who's Who of blue-chip companies. More than 400,000 job cuts have been announced by the likes of Philips, Alcatel, Deutsche Bank and Ericsson, and that's just the publicly...

Under the Hole in the Sky.(ozone layer over Punta Arenas, Chile)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Maria Alvarado can tell whether it's a green-light day or an orange- light day or, as happens more frequently these days in the Chilean town of Punta Arenas, the world's most southerly city, a red-light day. Alvarado, 35, works 12-hour shifts...

Inside the Bubbles.
December 3, 2001... When German designer Jil Sander sold a majority stake of her fashion company in 1999, the ever-shrinking fraternity of independent fashion houses took notice. Sander had become a major influence on design, and a respectable business, with $200...

Flame Out and Prosper.(executive compensation)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... When Europe wants to insult British business culture, they call it "Anglo-Saxon," by which they mean "almost as greedy as the Americans." So the Continent will be tickled to know that even many Brits are embarrassed by the latest "incentive"...

Attack of the Killer Weed.(seaweed)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Restaurants along Italy's Mediterranean coast are known for seafood dishes such as risotto with squid ink, spaghetti with clams and fried calamari, but increasingly they are serving a delicacy that has scientists worried: fried algae. Not that...

Curry on the Catwalk.(high fashion industry in India)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... India has long been the source of beautiful fabrics and embroidery. But its own high-fashion design industry has been virtually nonexistent-- until now. This fall Delhi-based designer Ritu Beri presented her third women's ready-to-wear...

The Kids Are Not Alright.(China)(Statistical Data Included)
December 3, 2001... A rhyme currently popular among school kids in Hunan province seems to parody the swaggering American youth ethos: "Going to school is a real drag/And it costs lots of money/Why not join a gang? Food, drink, status/And sleep each night with a...

China's Smack Attack.(heroin)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 3, 2001... In a tiny, darkened room on the outskirts of Beijing, Zhang Qiu watches his girlfriend inhale heroin smoke. She bends over a scrap of foil, holds a lighter underneath, then sucks in sharply as the whitish powder vaporizes. Zhang, 24, has...

The Royal Craftsman.(son of Princess Margaret, David Linley)(Interview)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... As the son of Princess Margaret and Lord Snowdon of Britain, David Linley grew up in homes (and castles) filled with some of the world's most beautiful furnishings. Apparently he took notice. In 1985 he launched Linley, a company specializing...

Finding the Silver Lining.(David Lynch)(Brief Article)(Interview)
December 3, 2001... Three years ago director David Lynch pitched a television series called "Mulholland Drive" to ABC, the American TV network. Like "Twin Peaks," Lynch's wildly successful series of a decade ago, "Mulholland Drive" was surreal, esoteric and very...

Marketing America.(Chris Barrett, Luke McCabe, First USA Corp.)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Before the shadow of terrorism fell across the land, the two great neuroses of modern American life were probably the ubiquity of commercialism and the iniquity of paying for a college education. So as freshmen all over the United States try to...

International Mail Call.
December 3, 2001... Closing the Door to Intolerance Our Nov. 5 story on Islamist groups living in Europe drew an angry response from readers critical of the continent's loose asylum laws. "It seems easier to get into Britain or Germany by claiming asylum than...

International Perspectives.
December 3, 2001... "And they ask, 'Why do they hate us?'" Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, on the United States, which will host Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon at the White House next month, after another spate of alleged Israeli violence against...

The New Old Boys' Club.(European Union)
December 3, 2001... Eurocrats love to call the European Union a "family." The reality? Everybody knows it's a club. Like any elitist fraternity, it defines itself as much by who's out as who's in. Such standards were tough for the "outs" when there were only...

Former Glory.(Russia)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Remember spheres of influence? They're back. Russian President Vladimir Putin has been talking of a new world order, embracing the West and making friends in Washington. But closer to home, especially along Russia's southern (formerly Soviet)...

Consolation in Consoles.(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Stock markets are rebounding. U.S. consumer confidence is up, surprisingly. Economists are crafting mathematical models to explain why it's too soon for optimism. But peri has its own index of economic buoyancy. Call it the GameScape--and it's...

Osama, Moms and Moods, Osama's New Suits.(includes multiple articles)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... Intelligence sources say that Osama bin Laden has also been preparing for a chemical or biological attack. German intelligence officials have told the United States that right before September 11, bin Laden ordered 200 gas masks and 200...

New Habits.(Franciscan monks)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... After 150 years of donning heavy black robes, the Third Order Regular of the Franciscan monks of Assisi are sporting sleek new habits. The latest high-tech feature? Pockets. Critics are outraged. Friars should dress like the poor. But they do...

Movie Time.(David Mamet)(Brief Article)
December 3, 2001... David Mamet: playwright, novelist, essayist, lecturer and a prolific filmmaker, too ("The Spanish Prisoner," "State and Main" and now "Heist"). Is he leaving the theater in pursuit of celluloid riches? PERI meets Mamet. The poor theater....

Chinese Exports.(tourists)(Statistical Data Included)
December 10, 2001... On a good day, the wait at the Lo Wu border crossing between Hong Kong and the mainland Chinese city of Shenzhen can last up to an hour. During holidays or on weekends, the place resembles a churning ocean, with stranded travelers milling...

Old Stasi Never Die.(East German Communist elite network operating, Germany)(Brief Article)
December 10, 2001... Retired police chief Manfred Kittlaus looked out at the angry teenagers and realized he had made a foolish mistake. While lecturing the civics class at an East Berlin high school, Kittlaus revealed that he had a longstanding admiration of...

Tourists of the Night.(prostitutes from China in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 10, 2001... Not all the mainlanders pouring into Hong Kong these days come for the tram ride up to Victoria Peak. Among the 1,500 Chinese allowed in per day are growing numbers of prostitutes. Crime syndicates have taken to recruiting young women across...

Beware the Bugaboo.(deflation in Japan, United States economics)(Brief Article)
December 10, 2001... To hear the economists tell it, a specter haunts the globe: the downward spiral of prices called deflation. WHAT'S WRONG WITH LOW PRICES? most consumers will ask. Look at Japan: deflation there means that a McDonald's hamburger that used to...

Artful Holidays.(worldwide museum exhibitions)(Brief Article)
December 10, 2001... For perfectly understandable reasons, more people are staying home for the holidays this year. A little loath to get on airplanes during a hot war on terrorism, they're gathering around the dinner table and embracing loved ones. But however...

Singing and Dancing.(theatre in Germany, Israel, France, Japan, United Kingdom)(Review)
December 10, 2001... There is plenty to be seen--and heard--in theaters and concert halls, too. So book your tickets, sit back and enjoy! The joy of movement is on ready display in Paris. At the Palais Garnier, the Opera de Paris Ballet will mount a new...

Truth and Consequences.(Vicente Fox, Mexico)(Brief Article)
December 10, 2001... When Mexican President Vicente Fox came to power, he promised a thorough reckoning of his country's murky past. There are many mysteries to solve--from a 1968 student massacre to several high- profile murders in the early 1990s. But last week...

The Rand Ratchets Down.(South Africa)(Brief Article)
December 10, 2001... The Hollywood action thriller "The Piano Player" was supposed to be filmed in southern Turkey. But after the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, the film's insurer thought better of it--even though the Turkish lira is a bargain...

Falling Off the Radar Screen.(North Korea)(Brief Article)
December 10, 2001... Not long ago the conditions described in a Caritas International report about a recent trip into North Korea would have given most people pause. Its authors recall sitting in unheated homes in temperatures well below freezing, with windows...

Muslim Rage.(Aki Nawaz)(Brief Article)(Interview)
December 10, 2001... Before September 11, the British group Fundamental was just another rap outfit. But ever since, its radical message urging Muslims to fight a racist West has taken on new meaning. On albums like "Erotic Terrorism" and "Seize the Time,"...

Perspectives.
December 10, 2001... "There are lots of limbs and dead bodies." Michael Perry, at the Ben Yehuda mall in Jerusalem after suicide bombings that killed at least 10 bystanders and wounded more than 150 "My job is to defend the Constitution from its enemies. Its...

Who's Abu?(Abu Qatadah)(Brief Article)
December 10, 2001... Abu Qatadah, dubbed Osama bin Laden's "European ambassador" by the press, didn't live like a diplomat, sharing a shabby house in London with his wife and four children. He had been on welfare since 1994, until his benefits were frozen shortly...

Trouble At Home For the Allies.(Brief Article)
December 10, 2001... The first target of the September 11 reprisals was Osama bin Laden, and the world pretty much agreed. Next came the Taliban, making some allies restless. Now Iraq may come into the cross hairs, and many leaders in the so-called coalition are...

Geeks in Greece.(tourists plane spotting suspect)(Brief Article)
December 10, 2001... Since the terror attacks, even a hobby can get you arrested. In early November, 12 Britons and two Dutch tourists found that out while vacationing in Greece. They were "plane-spotting," which entails hanging out at airports and identifying...

Merchandising Mussolini.(fascination with Benito Mussolini)(Brief Article)
December 10, 2001... The Italian fascist dictator Benito Mussolini has become a fashion trend among a new generation of Italians. T shirts, baseball caps and calendars with his name or likeness are selling like Britney Spears albums. Several former Mussolini homes...

Could She Be An Empress?(Japanese Crown Princess Masako gives birth to baby girl)(Brief Article)
December 10, 2001... On Saturday, Japanese Crown Princess Masako gave birth to a new member of the world's oldest imperial lineage--a healthy, 3.1 kilogram... girl. Because of her gender, the baby can't inherit the throne. But calls abound for the need to rescue a...

The Mystery Money Men.(Marwan Al-Shehhi)(Brief Article)
December 10, 2001... Investigators probing the background to the September 11 attacks think they know how a lot of money made its way to two hijack-team leaders. But finding out who put up the cash is proving a more daunting task. Sources close to the...

Mail Call.
December 17, 2001... Torture and the Modern World Jonathan Alter's Nov. 5 Opinion piece, "Time to Think About Torture," elicited vigorous protest from many readers. One equated the use of torture with "going back to the Middle Ages." Many also considered the...

Rising From the Rubble.(redevelopment of Afghanistan)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Afghanistan is the picture of an unmade nation. Its cities are half rubble. Schools and hospitals are decrepit and unstaffed. The few roads are often more treacherous than driving through the desert, except where some of the country's millions...

Founding Mothers.(women in Afghanistan)(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... Massouda Jalal, 35, strides confidently down a hall at the World Food Program offices in Kabul. Staff members call her Dr. Jalal, although she never got the doctorate she was seeking in pediatrics five years ago, when the Taliban arrived in...

The Promise, the Peril.(rebuilding nations)(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... How do you build a nation? Leaders have asked that question for literally thousands of years. From Shaka Zulu to Bismarck, military rulers did it by uniting disparate clans through the conquest of land and the cultivation of "national" pride....

Power to The Poor.(poorer nations leading global economy)(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... The engines of the world economy are now found in the most unlikely places. They are humming in China, which makes sophisticated, high-tech goods so cheap that others are scrambling to keep pace. In Russia, the latest sign of capitalist...

Calling All Cybercops.(monitoring credit card use)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... Criminals can be predictable. A pickpocket might buy a tank of gas, fancy jewelry and the latest computer in one frenzied hour with a stolen credit card. That's why a legitimate cardholder on a rapid-fire shopping spree may find the credit-card...

How To Put The Pieces Together.(Afghanistan)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Vieira De Mello, United Nations transitional administrator in East Timor, has served in U.N. humanitarian and peacekeeping operations for more than 30 years, most recently in Cambodia, Bosnia, Africa's Great Lakes region and Kosovo. ...

?Adios, Amigos?(United States relations with Latin America)
December 17, 2001... It was Colin Powell's first foray into South America as U.S. Secretary of State. The three-day trip to Peru and Colombia was supposed to show the Bush administration's commitment to the U.S.-financed war on drugs. But Powell never made it to...

Dollarize or Die.(Argentina's economy)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... Without a dramatic rescue, Argentina is almost certain to begin defaulting on its $132 billion debt. The peso, pegged one-to-one with the U.S. dollar since 1991, might survive default, but that is unlikely. It could become a floating...

The Escape Route.(eliminating world poverty)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... Goldin is director of development policy at the World Bank. He writes in his personal capacity. Amy Heyman assisted in drafting this piece, which draws on the World Bank report "Globalization, Growth, and Poverty: Building an Inclusive World...

Wrong Numbers.(corporate fraud)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... American regulators, business leaders and shareholder activists have been lecturing other countries for years about the need for more "open and honest" markets and for more transparency in the corporate sector. As the sordid Enron collapse...

Superbug Killers.(bacteriophages)
December 17, 2001... Alfred Gertler had never been so ill. In 1997 the 45-year-old jazz musician was hiking in Costa Rica when he fell and broke his ankle. He contracted a staphylococcus infection so severe that flare-ups kept him in bed for weeks at a time....

Through a Lens Slyly.(David Hockney's theories of painting)
December 17, 2001... The renowned English painter David Hockney says the a-ha! moment for him came during a visit to a 1999 Ingres exhibition at London's National Gallery. He was looking admiringly at a suite of portrait drawings the French academic master made...

The Colors of Despair.(No Saints or Angels by Ivan Klima)
December 17, 2001... Meet Kristyna. Right from the start of Ivan Klima's latest novel, "No Saints or Angels," the middle-aged, divorced dentist in Prague is flirting with despair. She is--in her own words, since Klima writes in the first person--"shivering with...

Digging for Mysteries.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Agatha Christie has mesmerized generations of readers with gripping tales of murder and deceit, set in some of the world's most exotic locales. Her mysteries have sold more than 2 billion copies in 44 languages. But few fans know that Christie...

Second Thoughts.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... From Tony Blair to George W. Bush to Gerhard Schroder, everyone agrees that the war on terror won't be won solely in the mountains of Afghanistan. This is also a fight on the home front. Across Europe, governments are following America's lead:...

'A Deep Friendship'.(Brief Article)(Interview)(Excerpt)
December 17, 2001... In the midst of a crisis sparked by an outbreak of terrorism inside Israel, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon took time to talk with NEWSWEEK's Lally Weymouth about the tense situation and his hopes that negotiations can be resumed with the...

Bah, Humbug!(Christmas celebrations)(Brief Article)(Column)
December 17, 2001... HITCHENS is a columnist for Vanity Fair. It's Nov. 26. Exactly a month to what the British call "Boxing Day" and I (with relief) welcome as the day after Christmas. Big Illinois carpenters are doing their stuff in the lobby of the Hilton...

Perspectives.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... "I thought they were coming to attack us. But they weren't. They were running away." Afghanistan's interim leader Hamid Karzai, on the Taliban fleeing Kandahar, their last stronghold "It isn't what they would have chosen for him." Bill...

New Power for the President.(promoting global trade)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... The world has certainly changed. Not because the war in Afghanistan is all but over and the forces of terror are on the run, although that may be part of it. More important is President George W. Bush's other victory, a battle Bill Clinton lost...

Old Boy's Club.(Cyprus)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... High hopes for a breakthrough in the 27-year-old Cyprus conflict emerged from last week's meeting between the Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders, Glafcos Clerides and Rauf Denktas. Denktas, 77, invited his old pal Clerides, 82, to dinner at his...

Murder Spree.(murder of Marika de Klerk)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... In most countries, last week's murder of Marika de Klerk would seem to represent only a random act of violence. For South Africans, it underscored a wider point: with 21,000 annual murder victims, not even a former First Lady is safe. Mrs. de...

War Watch Flying Right.(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... Afghanistan's national airline, Ariana, is back in the air. At least its two surviving planes are. The fleet was largely destroyed by U.S. airstrikes, but the show goes on. A 50-seat flight bound for Herat took off from Kabul on Thursday. And...

Heating Up?(global warming affects Mars)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
December 17, 2001... It seems we're not alone in the universe, especially when it comes to big problems. Researchers say that Mars, too, may be a victim of global warming. The planet's solid carbon-dioxide polar caps seem to have receded over the past Martian year...

ArRum With a Modern View.(Islamic club)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... The crowd at the bar might belong to any of London's new-wave nightspots. But this is ArRum, an Islamic club that recently opened in London's hip Clerkenwell district. The name is taken from a verse in the Quran that promotes diversity. Instead...

First Person Global.(Salang Tunnel)(Brief Article)
December 17, 2001... There may be better ways to get from Taloqan to Kabul, but they don't take you through the Salang Tunnel. And it would have been a shame to miss it. Built in the 1960s, a decade later it served as the backbone of the vast Soviet military...

One Night in Bangkok.(Brief Article)
December 24, 2001... So much for the Wild, Wild West of the East. A wave of government-imposed morality has swept through Bangkok since last summer, when Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra launched a campaign against "social evils." Go-go bars, street beer...

Bush Walks, Putin Shrugs.(George W. Bush)(Brief Article)
December 24, 2001... President George W. Bush announced last week that the United States would withdraw from the anti-ballistic missile treaty in six months, but he emerged unscathed politically. With the war on terror, "Who's going to complain?" said a former...

Currency Euro Follies.
December 24, 2001... The Irish like to keep it in the mattress. The Germans stash it in Luxembourg bank accounts. The Spaniards, some say, hide it in the freezer. They call it dinero negro--black money that by any other name might be Deutsche marks, lire or...

Mail Call.
December 24, 2001... Lally Weymouth's Nov. 19 interview with Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf led readers to e-mail us their surprised reactions. Most scoffed at General Musharraf's claim that he "will introduce democracy" in Pakistan while continuing as...

Is Cavallo Cornered?(Domingo Cavallo)(Brief Article)
December 24, 2001... Argentina made a crucial debt payment last week, avoiding (for now) a plunge into the abyss. But Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo's days may be numbered. He's managed to alienate everyone and his banker. A catalog: The public: At his...

Fruit of the Loon.(John Robert Burck)(Brief Article)
December 24, 2001... The "Naked Cowboy" actually wears cowboy boots and briefs--but he still stops traffic in New York's Times Square. Aspiring country singer, bodybuilder and patriot John Robert Burck performs his brand of artistry in the flesh (standing around...

The Walls Came Tumbling Down.
December 24, 2001... Photo: Even a superpower can be brought low: To say that no one anticipated the tragic events of September 11 would be an understatement. When 19 men hijacked four U.S. airliners, driving three into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, the...

One Euro, One State.
December 24, 2001... The euro arrives at the stroke of the new year, and the Continent is abuzz. This week Europeans can buy some 200 million starter packs to get a good look at their new money. Armies of delivery trucks are streaming to the banks that must stuff...

Dumping On America.(Brief Article)
December 24, 2001... With a steel trade war brewing, you'll be hearing a lot in coming weeks about how Europeans and Asians are "dumping" on America. But what exactly does that mean? Literally, dumping is the export of goods at prices below their cost of...

Let the Games Begin.(World Cyber Games 2001)
December 24, 2001... Row upon row of terminals fill the cavernous hall. This could be NASA's mission control in Houston, or a war room buried in a mountain somewhere near Washington, D.C., so intense are the cathode-illuminated faces, so passionate the...

The Politics of Celebrity.(Sisy Chen)(Brief Article)
December 24, 2001... No one doubts that Sisy Chen is a star. The flamboyant 43-year-old TV host known as Taiwan's Oprah Winfrey has spawned several immensely popular television and radio programs. Fans beg for her autograph on the street. A few years ago Taiwanese...

Psychological Warfare.(Brief Article)
December 24, 2001... Retired Gen. Bariali Sabir's body is as disfigured as the Afghan landscape. Today the 53-year-old Army man, who lost his job under the Taliban, is back in Kabul's Military Hospital complaining of severe arthritis from decade-old bullet wounds....

Letter From America: Patriot Games.(Brief Article)
December 24, 2001... Years ago, on a Hollywood soundstage, an actor threw such a tantrum that the next day he felt compelled to apologize to an assembly of the cast and crew. This is not as rare as it sounds: most actors, after a big meltdown scene, like to follow...

Kandahar: The Movie.
December 24, 2001... During the Taliban's rule in Afghanistan, images were the enemy. Photographs and paintings were considered impure. Needless to say, no movies were allowed to be made. But in 1999 acclaimed Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf shot the urgent,...

First Person Global.(Brief Article)
December 24, 2001... In a futile effort to survive the unending drought, Jalmuhammad Ahad began selling his possessions. He peddled his livestock and family heirlooms, even the teakettle. Finally, he decided enough was enough. There was no food left and little...

Perspectives 2001.
December 24, 2001... "We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail." President George W. Bush, in a speech to a joint session of Congress "They're going to wonder how you knew that, George." British Prime Minister Tony Blair, after President Bush...

Decisions...(Silvio Berlusconi on European Union's policy allowing for extradition of criminals)(Brief Article)
December 24, 2001... If you have to shoot yourself in the foot, should it be the right or the left? Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi faced that Hobbesian choice last week. Would he follow his European brethren and toe the line on the so-called European...

The Turkish Dilemma.(Brief Article)
December 31, 2001... Will they or won't they? That's what Washington asks about Turkey's joining in a military campaign against Iraq. The last time Ankara went along with such a venture, in the gulf war, it paid a hefty price. Sanctions cost $40 billion in lost...

It's Your Funeral.(Argentina)
December 31, 2001... Wan Cho Ju arrived in Argentina more than a year ago, joining the swelling ranks of Asian immigrants searching for a better life. He took over a mom-and-pop grocery store in the working-class Buenos Aires suburb of La Ciudadela and was...