Berlin
A Global Toolkit for Cities
Last week at the World Urban Forum in Rio de Janeiro, the Citistates Group unveiled what promises to be an engaging and provocative new online forum, Citiscope. Citiscope aims to be the “go to place to find the latest news and trends on fresh ideas, approaches, and ways to help the world’s cities work better for all their people.” READ MORE >>
Behold China
Really, I don’t care if there is an American ambassador in Damascus. It’s true, given the environment, that he might be shot by terrorists. But, otherwise, why not? We had U.S. diplomats in Tokyo, Berlin and Rome until just after Pearl Harbor. Of course, they did no good. But probably, they also did no harm—except prolonging the illusion that America was at peace with the host countries. Why doesn't the administration just say that we are returning to our embassy in Syria because Syria is a player in the Middle East? Basta! READ MORE >>
The Baby Lottery
Saint and Sinner
Bitter Spring: A Life of Ignazio Silone By Stanislao Pugliese (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 426 pp., $35) READ MORE >>
Proxy War
When President Obama launched a massive humanitarian-aid response to Haiti's earthquake last month, not everyone took his magnanimity at face value. Hugo Chavez, for example, accused him of "occupying Haiti undercover" and then upped the ante by saying the earthquake had been caused by an American "tectonic weapon." A minister from France, Haiti's former colonial ruler, complained that the U.S. response should be "about helping Haiti, not about occupying Haiti." READ MORE >>
The Hunger Artists
Dancing In the Dark: A Cultural History of the Great Depression By Morris Dickstein (W.W. Norton, 598 pp., $29.95) Dorothea Lange: A Life Beyond Limits By Linda Gordon (W.W. Norton, 536 pp., $35) American Hungers: The Problem of Poverty In U.S. Literature, 1840-1945 By Gavin Jones (Princeton University Press, 248 pp., $38.50) READ MORE >>
Indecent Proposal
The Invention of the Jewish People By Shlomo Sand Translated by Yael Lotan (Verso, 400 pp., $34.95) READ MORE >>
John Yoo is Surrounded by Communists!
I see various groups are protesting a decision by a California government lawyer to teach a course with you that starts on Jan. 12, claiming he is legitimizing your unethical behavior. At Berkeley, protesting is an everyday activity. I am used to it. I remind myself of West Berlin--West Berlin surrounded by East Germany during the Cold War. READ MORE >>
Line of the Day: Ron Brownstein
From a smart, provocative column about Governor Howard Dean and those who think it'd be better to scrap the Senate bill and start over: For Dean to insist that Senate Democrats start over after that grueling struggle is a little like suggesting that American troops on the outskirts of Berlin in 1945 should have retreated back to France because D-Day wasn't choreographed just right. READ MORE >>
