Newsweek International articles from November 2006

Newsweek International archives from November 2006

Mail Call: Calderon's Challenge.(Letter to the editor)
November 6, 2006... Our Sept. 11 report on Mexico's elections drew diverse responses. "Felipe Calderon won because he was well prepared," wrote one. Said another, "He must unite a nation divided by PAN's dirty electoral war." Mexico's Tight Elections ...

State of Hate; The country goes on a neonationalist binge, apparently with the Kremlin's blessing. The question is, why?(Russia)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Owen Matthews and Anna Nemtsova Russia is becoming an increasingly scary place. Ask Marat Gelman, whose gallery made the mistake of hosting a show by a Georgian artist at a time when Georgians are the subject of official...

Opinion: Dealing With Serbia; Kosovo may soon become Europe's newest independent nation. But it will be a painful birth, especially in Belgrade.
November 6, 2006... Byline: Michael Meyer Serbia is crafting a new constitution, and a troubling document it is. The preamble establishes Cyrillic as the nation's official alphabet, notwithstanding substantial minorities of Albanians, Hungarians and Muslims....

A Mountain of Trouble; Pyongyang's nuclear test has dulled the appeal ofMt. Kumkang as a symbol of Korean solidarity.
November 6, 2006... Byline: B. J. Lee Last week the famous autumn leaves of Mt. Kumkang weren't as colorful as they normally are. A hot, dry summer had dulled the foliage, and worse, the scenic mountain was enshrouded by heavy clouds--a harbinger perhaps of...

Tokyo's Own White House; Japan's prime minister is hoping to bolster his inner circle at the expense of the bureaucrats.
November 6, 2006... Byline: Akiko Kashiwagi Just days after Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe took office, North Korea conducted its first nuclear test, sparking what some politicians in Japan called an unprecedented national-security crisis. But ironically,...

Britain: Return of the Toffs; Is class dead in modern Britain? Tory leader David Cameron and his Old Etonians hope so.
November 6, 2006... Byline: William Underhill David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party, washes dishes in the family kitchen. Laundry dries in the background, and a child calls out for attention. As he looks into the camera, introducing his new video...

Can Bali Bounce Back? How terror took the top end off a tourist paradise.
November 6, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Kent Transport, sir?" Wayan Oka, 28, spends much of his day hanging out with his friends on Monkey Forest Road in the town of Ubud. Indeed, walk down the streets of Bali's cultural capital, and in 10 minutes you'll be...

Growing It All Sky High; London plans a spate of dazzling new skyscrapers. But how will they look beside St. Paul's Cathedral?
November 6, 2006... Byline: William Underhill Developer Irvine Sellar is thinking big. On the drawing board: a soaring [pounds sterling]500 million pyramid right beside the Thames, designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano. "We believe that we are creating a...

The Rebirth of a Rebel; Sandinista leader Daniel Ortega, on the verge of capping a remarkable political comeback, is still Washington's bete noire.
November 6, 2006... Byline: Joseph Contreras On a balmy autumn evening thousands of Nicaraguans mill about the main plaza of the city of Leon, waiting for a glimpse of their hero. Guerrilla turned president Daniel Ortega, once the scourge of the Reagan...

The Pride of the Orient; A new exhibit in Paris explores the fruitful but little-known artistic interchange between Venice and the Islamic world.
November 6, 2006... Byline: Amber Haq As an ancient naval power, bustling cultural capital and center of European trade, Venice has long held the world in thrall with its beauty and heritage. And yet one aspect of its history has often been understated: its...

The Hills Are Alive; A talented Manipuri troupe goes on tour in the West.(The Chorus Repertory Theatre)(Nine Hills, One Valley)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Vibhuti Patel For 40 years, the tiny hill-state of Manipur in the remotest corner of northeastern India (bordered by Bhutan, Burma and Bangladesh) has been embroiled in bitter strife between its various ethnic communities, and...

Interview: New Channels of Diplomacy; Japan's first national-security adviser on her still-vague role.(Yuriko Koike)(Interview)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Akiko Kashiwagi Yuriko Koike, 54, could become Japan's Condi. A former member of Parliament and Environment minister, she was recently appointed the country's first national-security adviser. The responsibilities of the new post...

Goading the Enemy.(Martin Amis)(Interview)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Silvia Spring Martin Amis has always courted controversy. From dramatic feuds with fellow writers Christopher Hitchens and Julian Barnes to his stormy relationship with his father, Kingsley, the 57-year-old Amis has been vilified...

Korea Breaks The Mold; For a country nearing a per capita income of $20,000, the sclerotic service sector is a major anomaly. And it may explain the slowdown.
November 6, 2006... Byline: Ruchir Sharma (Sharma is the head of emerging markets at Morgan Stanley Investment Management) During the boom years in east asia, the economy and the stock market were distant cousins. A case in point was South Korea, where the...

The Good Life.(pearls)(Rio de Janeiro)(chinese eateries in New Delhi)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Karla Bruning, Mac Margolis, Ron Moreau, Sana Butler, Tara Weingarten Style: Pearls Updated These are not your grandmother's pearls. With fresh designs and combined with dazzling jewels, modern strings have come a long way...

Perspectives.
November 6, 2006... Byline: Quotation sources: AP (2), Daily Mail, Reuters, Dow Jones, BBC "Iraq is a pure failure. " Former U.N. chief weapons inspector Hans Blix, standing by his original opposition to the U.S. invasion "We're modernizing the...

Periscope.(Israel plans border moat)(Vicente Fox)(Standard Chartered Bank acquires Hsinchu International Bank)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Kevin Peraino and Joanna Chen, Joseph Contreras, Jonathan Adams, Sean Smith, Nisid Hajari Israel: Playing Keep Away In search of a creative way to stop militants and weapons smugglers from infiltrating from across the...

Aerospace: A Safer Airplane?
November 6, 2006... Byline: Silvia Spring George W. Bush might have one of his post-9/11 wishes granted. Shortly after the 2001 attacks, the U.S. president said he'd like to see a plane that could be controlled from the ground in the event of a hijacking. In...

Invisibility: Cloaking Device.(SensorMetrix)(Brief article)
November 6, 2006... Byline: Karla Bruning Trekkies, it's time to get excited. A team of researchers from Duke University, Imperial College and the technology firm SensorMetrix has finally taken a step toward catching up with Klingon technology: they've...

Mail Call.
November 13, 2006... The Blair Legacy Our Sept. 18 report on Tony Blair's legacy drew spirited responses. "Blairism would be a disastrous death wish," huffed one, "he's destroyed his country and changed its character." Griped another, "He's detested for his...

Ministers of Death; How to rein in Iraq's increasingly bloody militias? The government has a plan, but it's a pretty big gamble.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Scott Johnson (With Christian Caryl in Baghdad) They call him the "Shiite Zarqawi," in testament to his brutality and growing political reach. And when Iraqi gunmen captured a U.S. Army translator, Ahmed Qusai al-Taie, as he left...

Asia's New Gods; History and culture have helped the region push religion out of the public sphere, so it can surge toward modernity.(Cover story)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Kishore Mahbubani (Mahbubani is the dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, and author of "Can Asians Think?") Most Asians are unaware that Christian evangelical movements have...

Running Out of Options; Musharraf has tried both hard and soft tactics to stamp out radicalism along Pakistan's border. Neither has worked.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Zahid Hussain It was just before dawn when the residents of Chinagai, a small border village in the Bajaur tribal area, woke up to a thunderous blast. Then came three more explosions in quick succession. The missile attack reduced...

Diamond in the Rough; Can the first free vote in 40 years help save the Democratic Republic of Congo?
November 13, 2006... Byline: Rod Nordland Thirteen-year-old kamwala Bijicka wants to be a doctor when he grows up. But right now he's a school dropout digging for diamonds with the rest of his family, working by hand and hoping their pit doesn't collapse. On...

Britain: The Shadows of Suez; Thanks to Iraq, the 'special relationship' will never again be the same.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Stryker McGuire The year was 1956, in the twilight of the British Empire. A crisis loomed in the Middle East. Gamal Abdel Nasser, the Egyptian president, had nationalized the Suez Canal. Prime Minister Anthony Eden was determined...

Bundeswehr Blues; Germany plans to remake its Army into a rapid-reaction, humanitarian-intervention force. Can it?
November 13, 2006... Byline: Stefan Theil Never during its four-year deployment has the German Bundeswehr's contingent in Afghanistan gotten such a rash of coverage. Two weeks ago, the troops were at the center of the "Skulls Affair," after a tabloid published...

India's Secret Weapon; Nonresident Indians were once viewed with suspicion. But now they and their money are coming back home.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Jason Overdorf In a way, the story of India and its diaspora reads like a Bollywood script about two brothers, the younger one rich and successful, the older one poor but closer to the family. And now, not too late in life, they...

Curse of Friendship; Do China and India represent a new kind of player in emerging markets? They say so. But outsiders doubt it.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Silvia Spring It's not wise to go into business with old friends, or so the saying goes. Yet one of the arguments from investors pouring out of China, India and other rising economies is that they are natural friends to other...

The Mother of Chile; Isabel Allende's new novel celebrates the Spanish conquistadora who helped create a new nation.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Amber Haq Isabel Allende is in a fiery mood, lambasting the traditional bias of history books. "When you learn about the Spanish conquest of the New World, all you read about is the conquistadors," she says sharply. "Our history is...

Forced Out; The refugee experience, in their own voices.(Belonging: Voices of London's Refugees)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Ginanne Brownell At first glance, it lookslike a lovely day. The green grass shines in the sun, yellow wildflowers sprout across the fields and trees are in full bloom. Streaming down this bucolic hillside are dozens of people. One...

Faith's Comeback; How demographics will reawaken religion in Europe.(Cover story)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Eric Kaufmann (Kaufmann, a professor at Birkbeck College, University of London, is author of "The Rise and Fall of Anglo-America." This article is abridged from the current issue of Prospect magazine in Britain.) The modern western...

A President's Last Stand? A corruption scandal slams Taiwan's Chen Shui-bian.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Adams Annette Lu, Taiwan's vice president, was on a windswept island in the Taiwan Strait when the call came. Back in Taipei, prosecutors were about to indict President Chen Shui-bian's wife for allegedly misusing state...

The Last Word: Klaus Kleinfeld; 'We've Got Tail Wind'.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Emily Flynn Vencat If Siemens's 48-year-old ceo, klaus kleinfeld, has a motto, it must be: "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em." After realizing that Siemens couldn't compete with Nokia's cell-phone technology last year, Kleinfeld...

Time to Solve Immigration; After Nov. 7, it will make enormous political sense for all sides to come together.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Fareed Zakaria (Write the author comments@fareedzakaria.com) If Iraq was the dominating topic of the election season in the United States, immigration is the issue that wasn't. Despite the efforts of populist and nativist...

Periscope.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Nisid Hajari, Michael Meyer and Anna Nemtsova, Brad Stone, Joanna Chen and Kevin Peraino, David Ansen, Nicki Gostin Letter From the Editor Much is at stake in this week's midterm elections in the United States, not least...

Periscope.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Dorothy Kalins, Jason Overdorf, Florence Villeminot, Tara Weingarten, Megan Cokely Style: Food Books BY DOROTHY KALINS For the first time in years, there's reason to celebrate the food books of fall. Finest among them is...

Perspectives.
November 13, 2006... Every great work of art goes through messy phases. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, chief spokesman for the U.S. military, arguing that Iraq, too, could yet turn out to be a success "Who Wants to Destroy Our Money?" Front-page headline of the...

Security: That PC's a Rogue.
November 13, 2006... Byline: Benjamin Sutherland When an identity thief fleeces a financial firm or retailer with stolen credit-card numbers, there's no stopping the fraudster from returning to the Web site armed with yet another stolen identity. Now companies...

Bigger, Brighter and...Cheaper?(Novalux television )(Brief article)
November 13, 2006... Byline: Barrett Sheridan Television screens are getting bigger--and they're about to get more colorful and brighter as well. Sunnyvale, California-based Novalux built a set that uses thousands of mirrors to direct a low-power (and...

Mail Call: The Real China?(Letter to the editor)
November 20, 2006... Our Sept. 25 report on China's image problem caused some readers to rush to Beijing's defense. One reminded us, "China doesn't have an expansionist agenda. It's not disturbing the world by harping on democracy." Retorted another, "The true...

The Song Of The South; Hanoi's communists won the Vietnam War, but southern-born reformers are leading an economic boom as the country opens up to the world.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michael Hastings and George Wehrfritz Grainy black-and-white photos show thin men riding bicycles along streets devoid of cars. A prominent chart tracks paltry monthly rice allotments to every category of Vietnamese, even communist...

Tale Of Two Cities: Clean Slate; Our Baghdad correspondent visits Saigon and discovers the real reasons that Iraq shouldn't be compared to Vietnam.(Travel narrative)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Michael Hastings A dust storm blew over Baghdad as I tried to leave last month, kicking up enough sand to clog my nostrils and cancel all flights for the day. I spent the night at the airport--the guest of a 19-year-old friend...

Hidden History Of the Arabs; Even for the most empathetic Arabs, the Holocaust is still a faraway event--Europeans killing their own--for which they paid a price.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Robert Satloff (Satloff, director of The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, is the author of 'Among the Righteous: Lost Stories From the Holocaust's Long Reach Into Arab Lands') A Moroccan cartoonist recently took top...

The Great Job Machine; Despite its laggard reputation, Europe continues to grow faster, and create more jobs, than America.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Emily Flynn Vencat America's employment model is the envy of the world for its ability to create jobs nearly as fast as its population expands. Old Europe, on the other hand, tangles its labor force in so much red tape that high...

The Power of We; Companies are using YouTube-like technology to tap the ideas and energy of employees.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Emily Flynn Vencat Rebecca Hosch isn't your typical inventor. As an administrative aide at a military software company, she spends most of her time poring over pattern-recognition algorithms and other arcana. But her world opened...

China's Art Factory; A bold new generation of artists is less interested in politics than in making money. And there is plenty to be made.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Jessica Au Wander through Beijing's crowded Tiananmen Square and you may come across Han Bing walking a cabbage on a leash. Han's cabbage is not a one-act vegetable; it's walked on the Great Wall, along the beach at the resort town...

This Land Is My Land; Capturing humanity's conflict with nature.(Ecotopia)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Jennie Yabroff There are few glimpses of utopia in "Ecotopia," the new show at the International Center of Photography in NewYork. A more apt title might be "Man vs. Nature," as the message of nearly all the works is that our...

Taking China to Court; Environmentalists have found an all-American way to challenge the worst polluters--class-action lawsuits.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Sarah Schafer Earlier this year, villagers in Xiping, in the southern Chinese province of Fujian, scored an unprecedented victory in a country still struggling to build a sound legal system. With the help of the Legal Center for...

War Without End.(Brief article)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Photos by O Sakamaki-Redux For the long-suffering citizens of Sri Lanka, the 23-year civil war between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels is a nightmare from which they cannot awake. In recent months, fighting has flared across...

A Museum Gold Rush; Nothing draws crowds like a bit of ancient bling.(gold artifacts)(Brief article)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Jonathan Mummolo It has driven nations to war, civilizations to the pinnacles of prosperity and desperate explorers to their demise. And when it comes to driving crowds to museum halls, the allure of gold is no less potent. ...

Redrawing the Plans; Architect Renzo Piano goes with the Whitney's flow.(Interview)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Cathleen McGuigan While museums around the United States have been opening glamorous additions by star architects, the Whitney Museum of American Art can't seem to get its act together. Since 1985, it has shelved two high-profile...

Hello, You've Got Game Show! Viewers dig "Gold Rush," a new Internet series from reality TV's Mark Burnett. Here's how he made AOL a "Survivor."
November 20, 2006... Byline: Johnnie L. Roberts Last week on "Gold Rush": who walked away with $1 million in genuine gold bars? Was it Michael Kearney of Memphis, who holds a world record for graduating college at 10? Was it David Delaserda, the unemployed...

Global Investor: Beware the Road Shows.(international trade)(Viewpoint essay)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Jeffrey E. Garten (Garten is the Juan Trippe Professor of international trade and finance at the Yale School of Management, and was under secretary of Commerce in the Clinton administration.) Look around. This week alone, U.S....

The Good Life.(fashion, travel, food)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Rebecca Hall; Michelle Jana Chan; Ginanne Brownell; Jessica Au; Barbie Nadeau; Michelle Jana Chan; Tara Weingarten Fashion: The New Black Tie By Rebecca Hall It can only mean one thing when your party invitations start...

Perspectives.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Quotation sources sources: CNN, Reuters, New York Times, Miami Herald, L.A. Times "It was a thumping. " President George W. Bush , on the Republicans' midterm-elections defeat "[They have] one condition, that the siege...

Periscope.(Democrats on human rights)(Lumalive fabric)(John Bolton's appointment)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Malcolm Beith, Melinda Liu and Rachel Makabi; Linda Stern; Mark Hosenball; Rebecca Hall; Malak Hamwi; Nisid Hajari Washington: A Worried World The Democrats' victory in last week's U.S. midterm elections thrilled many Europeans...

Recycling: This Old Gadget.(refurbished cell phones)
November 20, 2006... Byline: Silvia Spring When you bought that fancy cell phone with the two-megapixel camera, you probably didn't think twice about throwing your old cameraless model in your sock drawer. If so, you have lots of company. Britons trade in 15...

'TropicAlia' Paradise; Brazil's colorful culture, served with a political edge.
November 20, 2006... Byline: Jennie Yabroff In 1967, Brazilian artist Helio Oiticica put together an installation at Rio de Janeiro's "New Brazilian Objectivity" show featuring sand, trees, gravel, fabric panels and a cage holding two live parrots. Visitors...

Counterpoint: Setting Themselves Apart; This is no 'personal' decision. The fundamentals of modern civil society are at stake.(Muslim women and the veil)(Cover story)(Viewpoint essay)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Ayaan Hirsi Ali (Hirsi Ali, a former member of the Dutch Parliament, is author of "The Caged Virgin" and a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington.) British Prime Minister Tony Blair says the Muslim veil is a mark...

Ready To Lend A Hand; Asia's youth are often characterized as money-grubbing "me-firsters." But increasingly, the region's new rich are looking to help others. Meet the "we generation.".
November 27, 2006... Byline: George Wehrfritz (With Marites Vitug in Manila and Joe Cochrane in Jakarta) The humanitarian response to the 2004 asian tsunami was swift and global. But of all the tasks outside relief agencies and foreign soldiers undertook, none...

Spoiling For a Fight; Successful Chinese yuppies are bumping up against their country's authoritarian system--and for the first time they're learning to stand up for their rights.
November 27, 2006... Byline: Sarah Schafer Former physician Chen Xiaolan has made a name for herself exposing some of the many medical quacks in China, along with their bogus cures. Last year she persuaded government officials to close down a company in...

Japan: Devoted Dads; The redoubtable salaryman is seeking a more balanced life. Hellish hours at work are out. Family life is in.
November 27, 2006... Byline: Akiko Kashiwagi Until recently, Kouji Yamaguchi was the classic Japanese salaryman. Totally devoted to his job as the manager of a home design/construction company in Tokyo, the 45-year-old Yamaguchi worked about 60 hours a...

Booting Trade; The Democrats have turned on the global free market, and that spells big trouble for Bush going forward.
November 27, 2006... Byline: Stephen Glain It looked like another thumping for George W. Bush. He arrived in Vietnam for a trade summit last week empty-handed, having just lost his party's majority in Congress to the Democrats, who shot down the bilateral...

Do It Yourself, Robot; If machines are to emerge from the factory and enter our homes, they'll need to learn to be self-reliant.
November 27, 2006... Byline: Fred Guterl Christmas day 2003 was a gloomy time at the National Space Center in Leicester, England. Scientists waited all day for a signal from the European Space Agency's Beagle 2, announcing its successful landing on Mars, but...

The Girls From Brazil; A crop of silky new vocalists is breaking rules while remaining true to the country's musical traditions.
November 27, 2006... Byline: Mac Margolis At a glance, Daniela Procopio would not likely pass for a diva of the Brazilian stage. Petite and with a timid smile, she lacks the commanding presence of pop singer Marisa Monte, who played to packed houses on her...

Beyond The Veil; Few controversies divide Europe more deeply than the question of the Muslim veil. But is it the mark of separation it seems?
November 27, 2006... Byline: Fareena Alam (Alam is editor of the British Muslim magazine Q-News.) The Dutch government just announced that it's seeking to ban the Muslim veil in public places. The Vatican has declared that veiling shows disrespect for local...

Seeing Clearly; The use of head covers among women has always been driven by shifting political and social forces.
November 27, 2006... Byline: Carla Power and Rebecca Hall Aside from the flag, no piece of cloth in history has been imbued with as much power to liberate and oppress, rally and divide as the veil. Throughout the Muslim world, women have donned the veil as a...

The Last Word: Ziad Abu Amr; Looking for a Fresh Start.(Interview)
November 27, 2006... Ziad Abu Amr is ready to jump back into the fray. the well-respected veteran negotiator and independent politician is on the shortlist to become the new foreign minister for the Palestinian Authority. His nomination is part of a broader effort...

Were Hedge Funds Ever Hot? After correcting for hedge funds that die early or never reach the public eye, returns average 10.5 percent, close to the S&P 500 average.
November 27, 2006... Byline: Henry Blodget (Aaron Blodget, a former securities analyst, is president of Cherry Hill Research, an industry-research firm.) Enthusiasm about the world's hottest investment vehicle--the hedge fund--has sagged of late, thanks to...

The Good Life.(London)(wine auctions)(Boston sights to see)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Sana Butler, Susan H. Greenberg, Jenny Hontz, Megan Cokely, Ginanne Brownell Travel: Private Collections By Sana Butler Next time you're in London, don't fret if you're too busy with meetings to visit the Churchill Museum....

International Perspectives.(U.S. policy toward Tehran)
November 27, 2006... We are prepared... for a direct dialogue with Iran. David Satterfield, senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on possibly reversing nearly 30 years of U.S. policy toward Tehran "[He] revived the economics of liberty...

The Moon Rocks On.(Brief article)
November 27, 2006... Byline: Monique Mugnier As every 9-year-old knows, the moon is dead. Textbooks say that volcano's, geysers and other signs of geological activity ended a billion years ago. Not so fast, says Peter Schultz, an astronomer at Brown...