There’s no doubt that the IOC’s decision last week marks a huge symbolic victory for Brazil, South America, and the rest of the developing world. But could the arrival of the 2016 Olympics do more harm than good for Rio de Janeiro’s poorest residents? It could depend, in part, on how the Brazilian government plans to beef up security in advance of the Games.
Also noteworthy from that Newsweek oral history is this view, from a former Taliban deputy minister, of the trouble Arab "camels" brought to his cause:
From Newsweek's very interesting oral history of the Taliban fight:
Every time it seems that Texas's application of the death penalty cannot become a greater moral disgrace, officials in the state find a way to outdo themselves.
Rather than risk alienating China before a summit with Hu Jintao next month, Obama won't meet with the Dalai Lama when the Tibetan visits Washington this week. I can understand if Obama has judged that Chinese cooperation on Iran, the economy and global warming are more important than the Tibetan cause.
In the health care debate, there is no escape from Betsy McCaughey. In 1994, the tenacious policy wonk wrote an inaccurate TNR piece that killed Hillarycare; today she's the originator of the "death panels." But there's much, much more. As Michelle Cottle explains in her new profile of McCaughey, her rise from obscurity to the lieutenant governorship of New York was marked by sexual politics and class resentment befitting an East Coast version of Sarah Palin.
- The Never-Ending Lunacy of Betsy McCaughey, by Michelle Cottle
- Did the Senate Just Kill a Crucial Ingredient of Health Care Reform? by Jonathan Cohn
- How Marrying Marilyn Monroe Ruined Arthur Miller’s Genius, by Adam Kirsch
- Dionne: Should Obama Let Afghanistan Trample His Domestic Agenda? by E.J.
Jim Jones's stern words for General McChrystal on the Sunday shows have gotten plenty of attention, but less noticed were Jones's comments about John McCain, who'd accused Jones of not "want[ing] to alienate the left base of the Democrat Party” on Afghanistan:
I'm pretty skeptical. Earlier this year I was talking to a conservative who would love to see the man be president, but even he thought it would be too classless for a senior general to challenge a sitting president in wartime under anything but the most extreme circumstances. And while there's certainly growing civilian-military friction over Afghanistan, I don't think we're anywhere near that point.
This WSJ article is the most convincing case yet for the idea that al Qaeda is severely degraded:
