Newsweek International articles from May 2009

Newsweek International archives from May 2009

Muslims in London.(International Edition; Mail Call)(Letter to the editor)
May 4, 2009... Readers responding to our March 23 story "Jihad Chic Comes to London" were wary of Muslims in the West. One said, "Muslims want to transform Europe into Eurabia." Another said that traditional beliefs are OK, but "it is the 'blood and chaos...

Captain Sarkozy Attacks.(International Edition; PIRATES)(France fights off piracy)
May 4, 2009... Byline: Christopher Dickey France puts its prestige on the line against the pirates. It's winning--and America could, too. In the dusty pirate havens of Puntland, a state within the failed state of Somalia, Kalashnikov-bearing...

Sure, Kidnap the Man.(World Affairs; FRANCE)(kidnapping executives)
May 4, 2009... Byline: Tracy McNicoll; With Stryker McGuire in London In a global downturn, every nation has deep gripes. But only the French have a wave of bossnappings. There may be plenty of good reasons to be angry at your boss these days. But...

How Fidel Snookered Everyone.(Jorge Castaneda; POINT OF VIEW)(Fidel Castro's criticism of Barack Obama)
May 4, 2009... The summit exposed Castro's peers in Latin America, not Obama, as the real innocents abroad. Geopolitics makes for strange bedfellows indeed. After President Barack Obama's performance at last weekend's Summit of the Americas (and before...

Pakistan's Self-Defeating Army.(International Edition; POINT OF VIEW)
May 4, 2009... Rather than serve as a bulwark against chaos, the Army has helped destabilize Pakistan. For far too long, the myth that Pakistan's army is the only thing holding the country together--and keeping the terrorists at bay--has held sway in...

A Lean, Green Detroit.(International Edition; CARS)(automotive industry)
May 4, 2009... Byline: Melinda Liu China is now the world's largest market for cars; Chinese leaders aim to own the biggest piece of it. American tastes dominated the world's automotive market for a century, but all that's changing now. Today it's...

A Green Trade War?(World Affairs; ENVIRONMENT)(cutting emissions)
May 4, 2009... Byline: Stefan Theil The U.S.'s coming around on climate change was supposed to be good news. Instead, it's trouble. Be careful what you wish for. For years, much of the world has been bashing America for refusing to cooperate in the...

Happy Days Are Here Again.(International Edition; RECESSION)(effect of recession on movies and books)
May 4, 2009... Byline: Joshua Levine When it comes to popular entertainment, cheap and cheerful is the new manifesto. The art house will have to wait. In 2006, a grim little thriller called "Red Road" won the Cannes jury prize for Advance Party, a...

Ending The Washington Consensus.(International Edition; THE LAST WORD)(Michelle Bachelet)(Interview)
May 4, 2009... Byline: Michelle Bachelet After her father was tortured and died in one of Gen. Augusto Pinochet's prisons, Michelle Bachelet endured her own imprisonment and went into exile with her mother. But the pediatrician returned to Chile to...

The Bogus Bank Recovery.(Global Investor)
May 4, 2009... Byline: Rana Foroohar At its core, the financial crisis is about uncertainty; who's holding what, how much it's worth, when it will blow up. If you take the headlines at face value, it has been a good month for banks. Wells Fargo...

Rolling on the River.(The Good Life; TRAVEL)(cruise ships)
May 4, 2009... Byline: Sana Butler Many of the world's great cities were built along rivers, making them easily accessible for trade and exploration. Today, riverboat cruises remain one of the most alluring and efficient ways to tour them. Like ocean...

Seeing Britain, Narrowly.(The Good Life; CANALS)(United Kingdom's canal routes)
May 4, 2009... Byline: Christopher Werth Britain may be an island surrounded by majestic sea-scapes and old, beguiling ports, but its finest waterways actually lie inland. The U.K. has 3,200 kilometers of navigable canals, left over from the 19th...

Perspectives.(International Edition)
May 4, 2009... "All these techniques have now been ruined!" Karl Rove, former adviser to George W. Bush, on the Obama administration's release of Bush memos laying out a handbook for torture "Well, I think it was a nice gesture to give me a book....

Barack Obama Is No Jimmy Carter. He's Richard Nixon.(International Edition; THE NEW REALISM)
May 4, 2009... Byline: Michael Freedman Republicans have been trying to link Barack Obama to Jimmy Carter ever since he started his presidential campaign, and they're still at it. After Obama recently shook hands with Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez,...

Green Gets Red Light.(International Edition; VENTURE CAPITAL)(clean technologies )(Brief article)
May 4, 2009... Byline: Barrett Sheridan As oil shot up to $150 a barrel last year, venture capitalists (VCs) poured money into clean technologies like NASA-caliber fuel cells, on the belief that their costly, sci-fi-inspired advances would remain...

Islamist Overreach.(International Edition; PAKISTAN)(Brief article)
May 4, 2009... Byline: Sami Yousafzai And Ron Moreau Last week yet another militant victory in Pakistan had many fretting that the country's capital could also soon fall to the Taliban. After Islamists swept into the populous Buner district, just 60...

Mail Call: Asian Ego Rising.(International Edition)
May 18, 2009... Many readers took our cover story on how the global crisis is accelerating the rise of China and India against the West ("Asia Rising," March 30) as proof of Asian virtues--a lesson in the wisdom of saving. Said one, "Asian countries have...

It's Not Dead Yet.(International Edition; BRITAIN)(Labour Party)
May 18, 2009... Byline: William Underhill Labour may be struggling. But its Blairite model is surprisingly resilient. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown still occupies 10 Downing Street, but the eulogies for his party's New Labour philosophy are...

In Galileo's Footsteps.(International Edition; ASTRONOMY)(European Southern Observatory's telescope)
May 18, 2009... For the first time in hundreds of years, the most powerful telescopes may soon come from Europe. Galileo has been getting a lot of press lately, and no wonder. Four centuries ago this year, the Italian genius pointed his small, primitive...

No Time to Retreat.(International Edition; CHINA)(China's Growth Enterprise Market )
May 18, 2009... Byline: Duncan Hewitt Beijing could have used the crisis as an excuse to slow market reform. Instead, it's all systems go. You wouldn't think that the worst economic downturn in 70 years would be a good time to open a new stock...

Why the Markets Are Up.(International Edition; POINT OF VIEW)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Barton Biggs; Biggs is managing partner at Traxis Partners hedge fund in New York. To understand the rally, recognize that the GDP statistics you are reading are already out of date. Equity markets around the world are surging...

Wesley K. Clark: Still the Essential Alliance.(International Edition; THE LAST WORD)(Interview)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Adam B. Kushner There was an overmilitarization of U.S. foreign policy and too much focus just on areas with an imminent threat. Today former presidential candidate Wesley Clark is a Democratic graybeard, but not so long ago,...

Where Pakistan is Winning.(International Edition; POINT OF VIEW)(Essay)
May 18, 2009... The military is barely holding off Islamists in some areas--but in others it has notched up a string of successes. Pakistan is under siege. Late last month the Taliban, empowered by a peace deal struck with the government in the Swat...

In Praise of Celebrity Football.(International Edition; GAME POINT)(Essay)
May 18, 2009... Myth 4: Only a handful of teams have enough money to win year after year. This is simply not true. Is there too much money in European football? Its critics say some of the top teams are spending such enormous sums that no one else could...

A Recess From the Recession.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(tourism and travle industry)
May 18, 2009... We need a vacation more than ever. Battered and broke, anxious and exhausted, we are desperate for an escape from our day-to- day lives. Yet in this new age of austerity, jet-setting has been jettisoned, private yachts docked and presidential...

Top Secrets in South America.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(Travel narrative)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Mac Margolis; With Brian Byrnes and Jimmy Langman Brazil, Argentina and Chile offer the intrepid visitor stunning treasures--and at little or no cost. When I first visited Rio De Janeiro back in the early '80s, I did all the...

Without the Crowds.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(national parks)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Jaime Cunningham In some of the world's most remote--and stunning--national parks, it's just you and the wildlife. The world's national parks offer fresh air, wildlife, scenic vistas and breathtaking topographic formations. And...

Staying Home for the Holidays.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Sophie Grove; With Alexandra A. Seno and Anita Kirpalani Strapped vacationers are discovering the attractions in their own backyards. Bad news for the global economy. Juliet Murrell has packed her suitcase. but she's not going...

Back From Abroad.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Duncan Hewitt Encouraged by government subsidies, many Chinese travelers are seeing their own country for the first time. Like many of China's newly wealthy middle class, Dai Xiaolang, a Shanghai housewife in her early 50s, has...

Bunking With Friends.(International Edition; THE HOME FRONT)(on second homes and freeloaders)(Essay)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Sameer Reddy Should houseguests be expected to empty the dishwasher? And what if they break something? It sounded like a great idea. my mother had a family apartment in Pune, India, that she had inherited. But since she rarely...

No Big Hurry.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(taking long trips during the recession)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Michelle Jana Chan For some, there's no better investment right now than a long, leisurely trip. Everyone is looking for a good investment these days. And with stocks, currencies and companies all foundering, some are finding...

Giving it a Whirl.(International Edition; SPEACIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(adventure travel)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Tara Weingarten A holiday needn't be long to be fulfilling. Quickies provide R&R in small doses. Not everyone has the time, the inclination or the pocketbook to take off a month or longer for a dream trip. Sometimes less is...

Holidays for Health.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(medical tourism)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Sana Butler People are traveling overseas for cheaper medical procedures like colonoscopies and hip replacements. Two years ago, when Suzanne Rakow was diagnosed with breast cancer, doctors recommended a mastectomy followed by...

The Old-Fashioned Cure.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Sameer Reddy; With Akiko Kashiwagi in Tokyo Forget diamond massages. Spa resorts rediscover fresh air, exercise and eating right. In the boom days, spa holidays centered on luxurious treatments, often involving extravagant...

Luxury On the Edge.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(travel destinations)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Eric Pape Countries long plagued by instability are developing posh hotels that appeal to intrepid bargain hunters. Sri Lanka is a tropical island with soft-sand beaches, sapphires in the earth and white-lace butterflies in the...

Stuck in the Rough.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(golf courses in conflict states)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Jerry Guo and Alaina Varvaloucas Bunkers are a breeze next to the land mines and stray bullets that mar the world's most dangerous golf courses. Anyone who finds the old course at St. Andrews challenging--with its mine-free...

Visiting the Second City.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(Palermo, Italy)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Cathleen McGuigan Gritty yet glamorous, Palermo is a poor man's Rome. Sicily is a magnet for tourists, with its ruggedly spectacular coastline and ancient Greek and Roman ruins. But many travelers steer clear of Palermo, the...

Sunny Skies Ahead.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(some travel destinations are not affected by the global recession)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Ginanne Brownell Buoyed by their faithful clientele, certain destinations seem immune to the effects of the global recession. The only crash that seems to be hitting Miami Beach these days is that of azure waves lapping against...

It's All in a Hard Day's Work.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(business travels during the economic downturn)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop Forget expense account meals and junkets. Companies just want their business travelers to get the job done. For years, first-class travel has been a perk of hotshot executives, who enjoyed the best seats...

Getting to the Points.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(taking advantage of points programs by airlines, credit card companies, and hotels)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Michael Hastings It's time to cash in on all that previous travel. More than ever, travelers are looking for a bargain. In a recent survey conducted by the travel-research company Global Market Insite (and commissioned by...

The Most Important Meal.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(breakfast offers of hotels)(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop Even guests who never eat breakfast when they're home have trouble resisting a well-appointed breakfast buffet on the road. A recent survey of business and leisure travelers in Asia by Le Meridien hotel...

The Guest Inspector.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(hotel undercover inspection)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Sana Butler At some point during Paul Watson's stay at a Small Luxury Hotels of the World (SLH) property, the retired communications executive gets down on his hands and knees. "My favorite place to look for dirt is in the...

Promotion Commotion.(International Edition; TRAVEL)(tourism promotion)(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Jennifer Conrad In January, Tourism Queensland put out want ads looking for a "caretaker" for Hamilton Island on Australia's Great Barrier Reef. Nearly 35,000 people applied. More important, the press picked up the story. "The main...

All for the Price Of Admission.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(all-inclusive holiday package)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Elisa Mala Tired of being saddled with extra charges, travelers are rediscovering the allure of the all-inclusive holiday. Extra charges are the bane of every traveler. Buying a plane ticket these days pretty much guarantees...

The Pizza Principle.(International Edition; SPECIAL REPORT: TRAVEL)(luxury travel)(Column)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Nick Foulkes The mark of true luxury is not the grand gesture but the simple things done well. The past 10 years or so have come to see an overbranded grandiosity characterize the smart hotel. During this time we have come to...

Between a Bull and a Bear.(Global Investor)(stock prices and the global economy)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Ruchir Sharma Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it superman? Investors can't seem to figure out whether the recent leaps in stock prices represent a brief uptick in a falling market or something more meaningful, even the start of a...

Entry-Level Exotic.(The Good Life; WHEELS)(luxury cars)(Product/service evaluation)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Tara Weingarten The rough economy has spawned a new moniker for single-digit millionaires who still may not feel wealthy enough: middle-class millionaires. Most don't belong to jet clubs or wear bespoke suits. They live in...

A Super Car by the Day.(The Good Life; DRIVING)(World Class Driving and Gotham Dream Cars)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Tara Weingarten Showy you're not. You don't have the means or the moxie to cruise the Champs-Elysees in a super-flashy SLR McLaren. But secretly, you'd die to do it. Luckily there are ways to drive dream cars that don't require...

PERSPECTIVES.(International Edition)
May 18, 2009... "I don't want to run auto companies. I don't want to run banks. I've got two wars I've got to run already. I've got more than enough to do." U.S. President Barack Obama, saying the government will not micromanage companies in which it's...

U.S. Cannot Be France.(International Edition; ALTERNATIVE ENERGY)(nuclear energy)(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Adam B. Kushner It wasn't April Fool's Day when congressional Republicans (the authors of Capitol Hill's wartime "freedom fries") declared last month that America should emulate France. They were talking about nuclear energy, which...

How To Keep The Peace.(International Edition; SRI LANKA)(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Jeremy Kahn As Sri Lanka's military all but vanquished the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last month, the 25-year ethnic conflict finally seemed to be over. But unless President Mahinda Rajapaksa gives Tamils real...

London's Lords of Spin.(International Edition; SATIRE)(director Armando Ianucci's 'In the Loop')(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Byline: William Underhill At the beginning of "In the Loop"--British director Armando Ianucci's first feature film, set in a thinly disguised, not-so-distant past--hardliners in London and Washington are pressing for war. But behind the...

Violence's Aftermath.(International Edition; WORTH YOUR TIME)(My Neighbor My Killer)(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Anita Kirpalani The Cannes Film Festival has long rewarded movies with a social conscience. But in terms of sheer gravitas this year, it will be hard to beat Anne Aghion's "My Neighbor My Killer." The film--which comes on the 15th...

Defusing a Cosmic War.(International Edition; THE BIG IDEA)(Reza Aslan's book 'How To Win a Cosmic War')(Brief article)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Katie Baker In "How To Win a Cosmic War," Reza Aslan explains why George W. Bush's war-on-terror rhetoric played right into Al Qaeda's hands--and how Barack Obama might be the best weapon yet against global jihadism. The idea:...

Number Crunching Made Easy.(Science and Technology; TECHTONIC SHIFTS)(cloud computing)
May 18, 2009... Byline: Christopher Werth Cloud computing is making high-end computing readily available to researchers in rich and poor nations alike. A dwindling water supply spells disaster for the residents of Brazil's arid Northeast, who live by...

The Engine That Could.(International Edition)(United States and Europe on economic recovery)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Christopher Dickey; With Rana Foroohar in New York City and Stefan Theil in Berlin As the economy shows signs of life, Europe's slow and steady model is proving there's more to life than hypergrowth. At the end of the race...

All Eyes Inward.(International Edition)(new Chinese artists focus on individuality)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Sonia Kolesnikov-Jessop Until recently, the way Chinese artists got famous was to talk politics. The generation that grew up during the Cultural Revolution and the difficult years that followed was highly politicized and gained...

One Man's Answer.(International Edition)(new search engine Wolfram/Alpha)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Barrett Sheridan Silicon Valley is full of imperial visionaries whose mission is to take down Google, which now controls about 64 percent of the search market worldwide. They range from Microsoft to newcomers like Cuil, but all of...

The Gop's Paranoid Foreign Policy.(International Edition)(the Grand Old Party or the Republican Party)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Michael Freedman To the Republicans, everything Barack Obama does is a sign of weakness and a threat to American sovereignty. Listening to the paranoid Republicans, you'd think that Barack Obama is working night and day to give...

Behind Turkey's Witch Hunt.(International Edition)
May 25, 2009... The Ergenekon case exposes the power of a shadowy Islamic brotherhood that controls the Turkish police. In which country does a liberal woman who educates poor girls worry about her safety when she goes home at night? Pakistan,...

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?(International Edition)(Muslims in the Netherlands)(Essay)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Frans Timmermans; Timmermans is the Dutch Minister of European Affairs. A dear friend of mine, who has worked her whole life as a nurse and doesn't have a racist bone in her body, recently said to me, "They're taking over the...

Why Ratings Are Failing Us.(International Edition)(credit-rating agencies)(Essay)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Sean Egan; Egan is a founding partner of Egan-Jones Ratings Co. and Egan-Jones Proxy Services. The credit-rating agencies won't call the next crisis, either, unless they stop getting paid by the companies they review. Several...

Tony Blair: Faith-Based Politics.(International Edition)(Interview)
May 25, 2009... Tony Blair, Britain's -longest-serving Labour prime minister, left office in 2007 as a relatively young man of 54. He's kept busy: making speeches (at roughly $150,000 a pop); serving as Middle East envoy for the Quartet of the United States,...

Why Bow to China?(International Edition)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Christian Caryl; With Mary Hennock in Beijing Many world leaders seem ready to cede Asian supremacy to Beijing-- but China may not be ready for the role. A growing chorus of pundits in Asia and the West is declaring that...

Design: Home Sweet Home.(The Good Life)(Salone Internazionale del Mobile)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Sameer Reddy In the last decade, as wild financial growth was accompanied by an explosion of ostentation, the world of high-end furniture--perched between pragmatism and corporeal comfort, and enjoyable primarily in the confines of...

Managing an Unpredictable New Age.(International Edition)(Joshua Cooper Ramo's book 'The Age of the Unthinkable')(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Michael Freedman Swine flu. Stock-market implosion. The Taliban advancing toward Islamabad. If it seems to you that every day brings with it yet another potentially earth-shattering event, you're not alone. In Joshua Cooper Ramo's...

A Stronger America.(International Edition)(Joshua Cooper Ramo's new book 'The Age of the Unthinkable')(Interview)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... In his new book, the age of the unthinkable, Joshua Cooper Ramo argues that in an increasingly complex world, the U.S. needs to manage great risks in a more systemic way and become more resilient in its response to big problems. He spoke with...

Fickle Friends in the War On Terror.(Scope)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Jonathan Tepperman Barack Obama came to office promising to work with allies in the war on terror. But recent events are proving that's easier said than done: on three critical fronts, America's partners are proving unable--or...

Where the Protesters Are Winning the War.(Scope)(French foreign investments in Iraq)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Byline: William Underhill America may yet win the war in Iraq, but France, which bitterly opposed the war, looks set to win the contracts. Foreign investment in Iraq rose 1,500 percent as stability returned last year, but U.S. firms are...

Barack Versus Business.(Scope)(President Barack Obama's economic policy)(Brief article)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Michael Freedman Barack Obama may turn out to be the most anti-big-business president in decades. His gentle bank bailouts are obscuring a get-tough stand on corporations, particularly abroad. Obama's choice for U.S. trade...

By The Numbers.(Scope)
May 25, 2009... If Europeans tend to see Muslims as one faceless "other," a new poll shows that Muslim views vary widely from country to country on abortion, homosexuality and many other social issues. For example: 87: Percentage of general European public...

Defeat in the Drug War.(Scope)(decriminalization of drugs)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Adam B. Kushner Not so long ago the only people who called for decriminalizing drugs were extremists on the left and right who distrusted the state. Now heads of state are making the call, led by those on the front line of the...

Who's a Bad Mother?(Scope)('Bad Mother' by Ayelet Waldman)(Brief article)(Book review)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Katie Baker In her new book, Bad Mother, Ayelet Waldman explores how women face undue pressure to live up to a cultural ideal that's impossible to achieve: that of the Good Mother, a June Cleaver-esque madonna who "remembers to...

The Censors Right Here at Home.(International Edition)(website Herdict)
May 25, 2009... Byline: Christopher Werth Internet censorship used to be pretty easy to spot. When China blocks YouTube or prohibits anything on the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, it's not hard to figure out what's going on. But as governments and...