So why not let them dope? It turns out fans are increasingly blasé about the issue. In a recent poll of nearly 13,000 readers by the Italian sports paper La Gazzetta, about 18 percent—nearly a plurality—said that legalizing doping was the best way to level the playing field.
Allowing drugs might take care of the fairness problem, but what about the economics? Today’s cyclists compete in a world that has no value other than “performance and commercial interest,” says doping historian John Hoberman, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin. “Keeping an audience is a commercial, not an ethical, ambition.” Yet advertisers and sponsors need not worry. If anything, the Tour’s drug problems have been good, not bad, for business. Which suggests that in cycling, as in Hollywood, the old cliché holds true: there’s no such thing as bad publicity. —Jack Livings
Trouble Up High The deadly crash of a TAM Airlines jet at São Paulo’s Congonhas airport on July 17 was just the latest example of the aviation woes plaguing Argentina and Brazil. Over the past year, South America’s two largest countries have suffered two deadly accidents and a number of close calls—almost all for a surprising reason. In both states, civil aviation is controlled by the armed forces, which managed to maintain this jurisdiction when the nations returned to democratic rule in the 1980s. But far from ensuring safer skies, military control has proved fatally flawed—particularly in recent months.
Experts say the problem is underfunding and sheer incompetence; neither country’s military has the training or resources to upgrade aging infrastructure or cope with the soaring number of commercial flights. “The armed forces aren’t constructed to respond to market demands,” says William Voss, a retired pilot who now heads the U.S.-based Flight Safety Foundation. “They aren’t as quick to respond to incidents and early warning signs that are hallmarks of safety management.” And ordinary fliers are paying the price. —Joseph Contreras
Dismissing Dissent After several tough years, locals’ patience with Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai may finally be running out. With the Taliban enjoying a resurgence in kidnappings, and suicide bombings on the rise, Afghans are increasingly unhappy with his leadership.
But instead of changing course, Karzai has started lashing out. During an interview with NEWSWEEK this month, the governor of Kapisa province warned that the Taliban and Al Qaeda were exploiting a power vacuum, and criticized the central government for failing to deliver on its promises to improve security. Three days later, he was out of a job. That’s a worrisome sign; if Karzai can’t take a little flak from his own ranks, the much-feared power vacuum could soon envelop Kabul itself. —Dan Ephron
Down the Tubes In its 14 years of existence, the European Union has earned the derision of its citizens and skepticism from the United States. Now it seems set to get more of the same with a new Web video promotion. It’s on YouTube and called … EUTube! The video is a carnival ride through the continent’s confused self-image. These 50-odd clips will stun you with the effort made to make bureaucracy foxy, or simply bore you to death. In “Flying and the Environment—The EU Leads the Way,” a narrator tells us that the European commissioner for the Environment wants to see the aviation industry help combat climate change. But the most risible effort focuses on the movie industry. Never have European films looked more Eurotrashy than in montages in which all the finest clichés of many national cinemas receive an enthusiastic airing. If it can’t even get a few promotional videos to fit together, no wonder the Union’s in trouble.
Rescued Again Werner Herzog’s amazing 1997 documentary “Little Dieter Needs to Fly” told the tale of German-born U.S. Navy pilot Dieter Dengler’s escape from a POW camp in Laos. The film met with critical acclaim—but Herzog is now revisiting the subject in fictional form anyway. His new feature, “Rescue Dawn,” tells the same story, with Christian Bale starring as Dengler. Bale’s all-or-nothing approach to acting—this is the second time he’s starved himself to skin and bones for a role—is a natural match for Herzog’s gonzo filmmaking. There’s a reason Herzog loved Dengler’s story so much he needed to tell it twice: like the indestructible pilot, he has a ferocious appetite for life.
Out of Season Between Michael Bay’s impossibly awful “Transformers” movie and Thomas Harris’s “Hannibal Rising,” we’ve been inundated lately with opportunities to obliterate positive associations with once reliable brands. Now comes Billy Corgan of the sort-of-reformed Smashing Pumpkins with their first new album in seven years, “Zeitgeist.” Corgan’s release reanimates the band that brought him worldwide fame, only to tarnish its legacy with an album rendered unlikable by Corgan’s desperate drive to be liked once more. Where the Smashing Pumpkins once sounded grandly insouciant, they now sound sterile and deliberate. The lead single, “Tarantula,” seems on paper like it would capture everything so adored about “Siamese Dream.” It’s stripped to the bare elements: Corgan’s nasal vocals, a punishing guitar riff and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin’s frantic, ostentatious time-keeping. Yet something doesn’t feel right. The guitars are aggressively overcooked, and the mixing makes Corgan’s vocals sound distant, like he’s standing outside a karaoke bar. Most of “Zeitgeist” plays like the work of someone trying to replicate a phase of his life that has passed. Corgan’s gift back in the ’ 90s was taking the bombast of the ’ 70s rock he grew up with and translating it for a new audience. But when he tries the same tactic here, it doesn’t stick. Corgan sounds much more comfortable on “Neverlost,” an appealing, vibra-phone-tinged ballad that sounds much closer to his 2005 solo album “TheFutureEmbrace.” This is what’s too bad about “Zeitgeist.” By attempting to re-create history, Corgan is missing the opportunity to present perfectly good ideas that are naturally closer to where he is artistically. —Joshua Alston
Reality Check Animals may share many human emotions, but not spite, it turns out. Researchers in Germany compared how chimps and humans respond to loss. The chimps reacted in anger only when wronged: when food within their reach was taken and given to another animal. When the food was out of reach to begin with, the chimps remained indifferent. Humans, say the researchers, would be inclined to react in anger regardless.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-19” author: “Daryl Rice”
And yet for airline companies laid low by 9/11 and the 2001 recession, these are the best of times. In a recent conference call, the CEO of American Airlines crowed about “the largest quarterly profit [$317 million]” in four years. Air France/KLM’s net income rose 70 percent in the quarter that ended June 30, and the Amex Airline stock index is up 79 percent since March 2003.
This Tale of Two Airline Industries can be explained by airline managers’ doing a much better job running unwieldy empires. Customers cut airlines slack partly because they can blame other forces (like the weather) for their misery, and the majority of fliers lack an alternative. And while economic growth has boosted demand, the number of flights hasn’t kept up—precisely the secret to airlines’ success. Given the high fixed costs (planes, fuel and labor), an unsold seat represents a big loss of revenue. But rising demand and better technology and marketing have boosted the aviation industry’s load factor (the percentage of seats occupied): the U.S. figure rose from 72.3 percent in 2000 to 78.8 percent last year, while Air France/KLM’s was 81.4 percent in the most recent quarter.
Alas, fewer empty seats translates into longer lines, overbooked flights and less comfort. Travelers heading for the airport should bring along “A Tale of Two Cities.” There’s nothing like a 371-page classic to make a four-hour delay pass quickly. —Daniel Gross
The Lost Arsenal In February 2006, at a small church in Turkey, a priest was kneeling in prayer when a bullet from an Austrian-made Glock hit him in the back, piercing his heart. “Allahu akbar!"—God is great—said the shooter as he fled. When cops found the gun, it bore the serial number FYX622. In May of last year, another Muslim fanatic attacked Turkey’s Supreme Court. Four justices were wounded and one killed, with a pair of Glocks with serial numbers GFM737 and GNF823.
All three Glocks were traced to a single source: the United States Mission in Iraq had bought them for Baghdad’s Interior Ministry and Iraqi police. But the pistols have become part of a vast black market that’s fueling violence in Iraq and spreading elsewhere. It appears that thousands of guns have been put in the hands of Iraqi insurgents and death squads, and as a recent report shows, some 190,000 bought with U.S. money have gone missing since 2004. It’s unclear where those guns went, but the Turks know where some of them are, and one congregation knows too well how one of them was used. —Christopher Dickey
Beijing’s preparations to host the 2008 Summer Games have spawned a number of Olympic slogans: “One World, One Dream,” “Humanistic Olympics.” But if China hopes to gain the international respect it covets, it must commit to a “transparent Olympics,” too. Chinese authorities have yet to embrace media freedoms that the world has come to expect from an Olympic host, and in a new survey, 40 percent of 163 journalists said they’d experienced some kind of interference in their reporting, ranging from intimidation of sources to detention. For a fast-growing nation at China’s stage of development, greater transparency is the only way to appear credible. —Melinda Liu
Blame Your Friends The list of reasons a person might pack on too much weight is already long: genes, hormone disorders, a couch-potato lifestyle, love of cheeseburgers. But now add another culprit to the list: friends. Obesity spreads through social networks, according a new study in The New England Journal of Medicine—so if your friends put on weight, you’re more likely to put on the pounds, too.
How did researchers come to this conclusion? For three decades they’ve been studying more than 12,000 participants of a U.S.-government-backed health study that asked for a list of family and friends, and tracked those people over time. When one person in the study became obese, his siblings’ risk of also becoming obese jumped by 40 percent, while his spouse’s risk jumped by 37 percent. If that person had been named as a “friend” by another participant in the study, the second participant’s risk of becoming obese shot up by 57 percent. And if the friends were particularly close—meaning they both named each other on their lists of loved ones—the risk that one’s weight would follow the other’s increased by a whopping 171 percent.
Even people who’d never met were affecting each other in a six-degrees-of-separation way—and friends hundreds of kilometers apart have as much an effect as those who are close. Which means that obesity doesn’t spread among friends simply because they’re hanging out together or eating at the same places, say researchers. Rather, it spreads through ideas about what appropriate behaviors are, or what an appropriate body image might be. There’s still a lot left to figure out about these new dynamics, but if you really want to lose weight, encouraging your buddies to trim down too might not be such a bad idea. —Mary Carmichael
Shrinking Slowly What does it mean that Americans are now among the shortest and fattest people in the industrialized world? Recent studies suggest that stagnating height and expanding girth may be a sign of a decline in the overall health of Americans—particularly children. The June issue of Social Science Quarterly revealed that wealth, once a good predictor of height, might no longer hold: the United States still has the highest GDP in the world. So why hasn’t America’s wealth brought better health—and height? Health care, for one. Some 46.6 million Americans lack health insurance, which may be most evident in the well-being of America’s children. Looks like the United States has some catching up to do.
Unsecret Identity In 1954, psychiatrist Fredric Wertham, citing the bare, parted legs of Batman’s ward, Robin, said comic books promoted homosexuality. Since then there have been questions about other characters in tights. But no guesses are needed for Thom Creed, the gay superhero in the young-adult fantasy novel “Hero,” to be published by Disney’s Hyperion next month. Creed even falls for another gay superhero.
The book, by “Chronicles of Narnia” executive producer Perry Moore, who is gay, has prominent supporters: Stan Lee, co-creator of “Spider-Man” and “The X-Men,” and author Maurice Sendak lent blurbs; Lee wants to produce a movie version. And “Hero” will surely take fire.
“Hero” is part of a kid-lit trend: gay characters with “more positive” stories, says the American Literary Association’s Erin Byrne. “It’s not like, ‘I’m a gay teenager, here’s my miserable life’.” Gay characters have often met awful ends—like Marvel’s Northstar, who was impaled and resurrected as a zombie assassin. In “Hero,” Creed saves the world. —Karen Springen
Reality Check Caffeine has been blamed for everything from tooth discoloration to sleep disorders. Now researchers have found that, when combined with exercise, it may reduce your chance of skin cancer. When caffeine-drinking mice went running, scientists saw an almost 400 percent increase in the apoptosis—the physical process that eliminates precancerous cells—of UV-ray-damaged skin cells. So don’t forget your sneakers and latte next time you hit the beach. —Katie Connolly
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-31” author: “Rebecca Knight”
The military moves are part of Calderón’s broader goal of cracking down on a soaring crime rate, taking the drug war to the enemy and, perhaps most important, showing a firm hand in the face of challenges to his presidency. Six months after the vote, Calderón is shoring up his hold on the presidency, as the defeated opposition continues to challenge the legitimacy of his victory.
Whether he can achieve Uribe’s success is another matter. Elected in 2002 by a nation fed up with violence, the right-wing leader has battled urban crime with military might. The result: last week, police announced that the Colombian murder rate is at its lowest in 20 years, while a new survey by the country’s Security and Democracy Foundation showed that cities in Colombia are now as safe as those in the United States (15 percent of Colombians said they had been victim of a crime compared with 17 percent of Americans). “Uribe sensed public opinion in 2002,” says Michael Shifter, a Latin America expert at the Inter-America Dialogue think tank. “Calderón is tapping into that too.”
There are risks to the law and order strategy. Uribe has faced the wrath of human-rights activists who say he has gone too far, and analysts say Calderón is already treading dangerously by using force primarily in opposition-dominated areas like Tijuana and Michoacán. The wrong move in an area in favor of the PRD–which is still contesting his legitimacy–could trigger an escalation of violence. “It’s a big gamble,” says Shifter.
–Malcolm Beith
Roh Moo Hyun is turning into the Donald Rumsfeld of South Korea, a leader with a diplomatic touch so abrasive, he annoys his own countrymen. The difference is that Roh holds a higher office, has an even more caustic tongue and is still in power. A former activist, he is entering his last year in office with an approval rate of just 15 percent, and he seems to have lost all restraint. During a recent speech, Roh said South Korea should stop “clinging to the crotch of America” and “hiding behind the ass of the U.S.” Last week, he called the Korean national media “defective products.”
How statesmanlike. True, Roh’s mouth appeals to young backers, but it is grating on adults. His own ruling Uri Party is trying to distance itself from Roh ahead of a December presidential vote. Political scientist Lee Jung Hee calls Roh’s remarks a “desperate effort not to become a lame duck.” Expect worse to come. Calling himself “conflict-friendly,” Roh has forecast a “noisy” year ahead.
–B.J. Lee
Romania’s entry into the EU last week raised new fears of surging immigration from the east. Yet a recent survey shows that, as a whole, Europeans remains strikingly immobile.
21: Percentage of EU residents who are “regionally mobile” (have lived in a different region or country)
32: Percentage of Americans who have lived in different parts of the United States
40: Percentage of Nordic nationals who are regionally mobile
10: Approximate percentage of Southern Europeans who are regionally mobile
Anyone who’s ever glanced at a magazine rack will have noticed a slew of cover stories on the latest diet tricks. Now a study by researchers at the University of Minnesota shows that teenage girls who frequently read about weight loss are actually more susceptible to unhealthy dieting down the road. (No such link was found with boys of the same age range.) Five years after reading such articles, they were found to be three times more likely to have resorted to extreme weight-loss measures, such as vomiting or laxatives, and become twice as likely to turn to unhealthy methods like fasting or smoking than teens who ignore magazine advice.
The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, surveyed 2,516 middle and high school students in 1999 and 2004, and examined whether weight-conscious teens seek out diet articles more than the average teen. (They don’t.) “We have fairly strong support that the direction is from magazine reading to eating behaviors,” says Patricia van den Berg, coauthor of the study. “What might seem to be innocuous messages for adults, focusing on health rather than appearance, might not be so for adolescents.”
One solution: The study suggests parents limit exposure to magazines that promote a thin ideal. Better yet, says van den Berg, teach kids who publishes what–and why.
Hard-working employees encourage lazier colleagues to be more productive, according to researchers at the University of California Berkeley and the National Bureau of Economic Research.
Tracking the work speed of 370 supermarket staffers for two years, researchers clocked productivity by the second and noted changes depending on who else was working the same shift. An otherwise average employee works 1.7 percent faster when working beside a faster-than-average peer, which implies that watching quick hands is inspiring.
Fact: At the checkout, employees were placed facing in one direction. Researchers found that looking at a fast worker in front made no speed difference, but the awareness that a quick colleague was behind encouraged a faster pace. Seems knowing someone efficient is looking over your shoulder is motivation indeed.
Going nuts try ing to name that song stuck in your head? Relief may be a Web site away. “If you can hum it, you can search it,” says Jay Bose, COO of Nayio.com. His firm offers a new search engine that takes a tune you hum into your PC’s mike and compares it with a library of 500-byte “MuGenes”–virtual fingerprints of songs based on unique melodic transitions. The site returns a list of potential matches.
So far Nayio.com has encoded about 5,000 oldies and modern songs. Although Nayio wouldn’t give a success rate, Rafe Needleman, editor of tech blog Webware.com, said his Juilliard-trained wife found her songs about 30 percent of the time in a quick trial. Now if they could only design one for the shower.
Children napping in car seats are at risk of asphyxiation, says a recent New Zealand study. But it still pays to buckle the little tykes in. Crashes kill 1,200 children under the age of 12 in the United States each year. Car seats reduce the death rate dramatically–by 71 percent for infants and 54 percent for children 4 and under. Restraints also prevent 40 percent more injuries than ordinary seat belts in nonfatal crashes.
As New Orleans continues to rebuild, editors are scrambling–to revise. Zagat publishes its first post-hurricane survey of New Orleans restaurants next week, and an updated “Frommer’s Complete” guide to the Big Easy drops in February, following a pocket book in July. “In a way it felt frivolous to be doing a guidebook so soon after Katrina,” says Tom Downs, author of Lonely Planet’s new 2007 guide. “But knowing how important tourism is for the economy”–it’s the city’s No. 1 employer, generating $5 billion in annual visitor spending pre-flood–“we have to be optimistic that New Orleans will bounce back and travelers will want to go there.”
According to the guides, much of the city is open for business, especially in the hotel- and restaurant-heavy French Quarter, which was spared the worst of Katrina’s fury. “The great places are still the great places,” says Zagat founder Tim Zagat, referring to legendary eateries like Commander’s Palace. But entire neighborhoods are still abandoned, causing staff shortages, so tourists are advised to call ahead almost everywhere. The devastated areas are now must-see attractions, too: Fodor’s includes a “sobering” driving tour of the worst damage.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-21” author: “Maggie Archila”
Ghalibaf is already casting a shadow on Ahmadinejad’s future. The main difference between the two rivals is not so much substance as style. Both men are religious conservatives with almost identical political agendas and economic programs–and both of them voice a deep mistrust of America. But where Ahmadinejad is confrontational and showboaty, Ghalibaf is a pragmatist with a reputation for getting things done. The son of a truck driver, Ghalibaf became a Revolutionary Guards commander at 22. He earned a Ph.D. in geopolitics while training as a pilot after the Iran-Iraq war. He led the Revolutionary Guards Air Force and then the country’s security forces.
As top cop, he won yet more fans. In 2003, he quelled a student protest without bloodshed, by holding talks with student leaders and ordering his men not to use batons or guns in dispersing the crowds. He was the conservative front runner in 2005 until he reached out to moderates and lost his base. For now, Ghalibaf is making sure Tehran’s trash gets picked up–and doing a fine job, too–while he waits for the 2009 presidential elections. He’s not a man who makes the same mistake twice.
– Maziar Bahari
An adult polar bear needs four to five pounds of seal blubber a day to survive, and it earns every ounce of it: crouching for hours in the Arctic cold alongside an opening in the ice, waiting for a ringed seal to surface for a breath. Although bears may spend part of the year on land, sea ice is their essential habitat; without it, they are doomed. Biologists have been warned that within a matter of decades Ursus maritimus could be the first large mammal to fall victim to global warming, which is shrinking the polar ice cap. And so environmentalists are delighted with the announcement by the U.S. Interior Department that it is proposing the white bear for listing as “threatened,” a step below the more urgent category of “endangered.”
Although the coalition of environmental groups led by the Center for Biological Diversity that sued the department a year ago to put polar bears on the list will also be delighted, there’s a more fundamental reason. The proposal represented a long-sought admission by a recalcitrant Bush administration of the speed, extent and dangers of global warming. The result: the Arctic appears to be “moving toward a new ‘super interglacial’ state that falls outside of natural [cycles] that have characterized the past 800,000 years,” the Interior report noted deep within its 154 pages.
– Jerry Adler
The Good News: Nigeria may be turning into something of a bright spot for Africa. In 2006, it earned analysts’ praise for paying off $12.4 billion in debt, cleaning up its banking sector and fighting corruption. Its foreign-exchange reserves swelled by almost 90 percent and inflation plummeted 47 percent.
The Bad News: Socio-political chaos could delay a long-term comeback. Last week scavengers tapped into a gasoline pipeline and sparked a horrific explosion in the capital of Lagos. The government is still unable to maintain its oil infrastructure or ensure fuel deliveries, so thefts from pipelines have become commonplace. As a result, “short-term investors may do fine,” says Sebastian Spio-Garbrah of the New York-based Eurasia Group. “But Nigeria’s long-term problems are very real.”
– John Sparks
For more than 15 years, British and most other Western European visitors have been allowed to stay in the United States for up to three months without having to apply for visas. But Homeland Security officials now want to tighten entry controls on people from these and other friendly countries, including Australia and Japan, NEWSWEEK has learned. One proposal under consideration: requiring visitors who don’t now need advanced visas to submit electronic visa applications when they purchase their tickets. That would give U.S. agencies more information about U.S.-bound travelers.
– Mark Hosenball
Mention the name of the new “Harry Potter” director and the near-universal response is “Who?” After creating a $3.5 billion franchise with a string of high-profile filmmakers–Chris Columbus, Alfonso Cuarón and Mike Newell–Warner Bros. hired David Yates to take the reins for “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” which will be released this summer. Yates is unknown in the United States, but he’s been building an impressive résumé in his native Britain. His movie “Sex Traffic,” about women forced into international prostitution, was widely praised. In 2004 he won a British Directors’ Guild award for the TV series “State of Play,” a political thriller. And his last film, HBO’s “The Girl in the Café,” is a romance set at the G8 economic summit (yes, really), and earned an Emmy in 2006. “He’s one of the most exciting directors coming out of this country at the moment,” says longtime “Potter” producer David Heyman. Fair enough. But what’s a guy who makes gritty, hyperreal, socially conscious films doing in the “Harry Potter” universe? “Well,” Heyman says, “this movie is a bit of a revolution.”
“Phoenix,” the fifth book in author J. K. Rowlings’s series, is by far the most ideological, and seems allusive to post-9/11 politics. Harry knows that the evil Lord Voldemort has been reborn and is building an army, but the wizarding government, the Ministry of Magic, refuses to believe him. At Hogwarts a new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, the ministry’s Dolores Umbridge, won’t teach the students actual defense spells, under the pretense of protecting them. As the world grows more dangerous and Umbridge restricts more and more of the students’ personal freedoms, Harry and his pals form a secret club to teach themselves how to battle Voldemort and his minions. “It’s like the French Resistance movement of the 1940s,” Heyman says. Which is right up Yates’s alley. “There’s a really interesting principle at the heart of this story,” says Yates in an exclusive NEWSWEEK interview. “The ministry is this bureaucratic, authoritarian regime trying to impose a fundamental doctrine on this liberal, wacky school. The ministry isn’t very good at accepting the beauty of differences. Everything has to fit in a box, and if it doesn’t fit, it must be removed. The wonderful thing this story tells kids is that it’s OK to be different.”
In person, Yates, 43, seems like anything but a colorful individualist. He’s so unassuming that it’s hard to find him on set, even when he’s only a few feet away. It’s only in private conversation, when his knees start knifing up and down and his words start coming faster, that you sense the red blood pumping beneath that beige exterior. “I’m having the time of my life,” he says. “It’s like being at filmmaking gym. You’re working every single muscle as a storyteller. These films are full of comedy, adventure and a bit of thrills. It’s terrific.” Yates has pushed all the actors–in particular Daniel Radcliffe, who plays Harry–to deepen their performances this time around. “I’ve stretched Dan quite a bit. He’s a very intuitive person, very bright, quite sensitive,” he says. “I’m just helping him wake those things up. You can see his determination and ambition, and he can switch things on a sixpence, so I can’t wait for people to see what he’s achieving.” Yates does a lot of rehearsal before he shoots a scene, a rarity on major studio films. “It takes as long as it takes,” he says. “The most important thing on screen is the actors. If the performance isn’t real, that million-dollar special-effects shot behind the actor doesn’t count for anything.” And if he pulls off that piece of magic, his days of anonymity are numbered.
– Sean Smith
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-22” author: “Janice Suddoth”
In fact, administration officials (anonymous due to diplomatic sensitivities) concede that Bush’s Iran language may have been overly aggressive, raising unwarranted fears about military strikes on Tehran. Instead, they say, Bush was trying to warn Iran to keep its operatives out of Iraq, and to reassure gulf allies–including Saudi Arabia–that the United States would protect them against Iranian aggression.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is in the Middle East again, hoping to “exploit openings” for a Middle East peace. If so, there’s not much room to maneuver. Following the election victory last January of Hamas–the Palestinian party that refuses to recognize Israel, and Washington considers to be a terrorist group–Congress slapped a ban on funding for the Palestinian leadership, effectively cutting off some $85 million in annual U.S. aid. Among the casualties of the legislation is the very foundation of the Bush administration’s vision for a more stable Middle East: efforts to upgrade Gaza’s main border crossing at Karni.
It is Gaza’s lifeline, the prime artery for food, medicine and fuel. The congressional strike on Hamas prevents the White House from making good on its commitment to partner with Israel and the Palestinian authorities to redevelop the area as a business zone, allowing freer movement for people and cargo and creating desperately needed jobs. Perhaps Rice should be reminded that actions speak louder than words.
Khaled Ahmad, an exiled Sudanese politician living in London, has sewn his lips together. He says he will end his hunger strike only if he is given possession of the skull of Muhammad Ahmad, the self-proclaimed Mahdi of Sudan, who beheaded British Gen. Charles Gordon in Khartoum in 1885. Ahmad believes the Brits have it, and he wants it back.
Just another day for the fictional Cold Case Unit on the BBC’s popular television drama “Waking the Dead.” By using forensic evidence, criminal profiling and a crash course in geopolitics, the detectives are able to solve both cases. This season the program offers a groundbreaking interactive component that allows viewers to learn what it’s like to solve crimes via their television screens. They can use their remotes to click on various pieces of evidence. With stylish zooms and fades, fans can access historical information about Iraq’s 1992 Shiite uprising, learn more about the international laws on torture and find out what degradation does to the DNA in bones. “These kinds of interactive components seem to be the way forward for drama,” says Colin Wratten, the show’s producer.
Programs across the globe are borrowing from DVDs and doing everything from adding extra features to allowing audiences to choose plot twists or alternative endings. On the Portuguese soap opera “Sofia’s Diary,” viewers can vote by text, e-mail or telephone on two different ways that Sofia can resolve her cliffhanger conflicts.
Of course, there are critics. “If you offer different endings to a mass television audience, there will always be some viewers who don’t get the ending they wanted,” says Oskar Juhlin of the Interactive Institute in Sweden. “They’ll inevitably feel frustrated and eventually stop voting, just like people stop voting in elections.” So far, the ratings are proving him wrong.
A tiny silicon device half the size of a fingernail may change the world of DNA testing. Thermal Gradient, a small biotech company in New York, has developed a way to cut the time-consuming amplification stage from several hours to four minutes by using microscopic layers of silicon to amplify a sample. “It’s like we’re breaking the sound barrier,” says Bob Juncosa, the company’s chief technical officer. The technology could pave the way for “instant” DNA tests in the next five years. But for now, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has awarded the company an initial $500,000 contract to develop an instant biological airborne-detection system. It will monitor places like airports and government buildings, quickly identifying the DNA signature of deadly pathogens and alerting first responders to a possible terrorist attack.
THE PROBLEM: The lure of a U.S. job has sapped El Alberto, a town of 2,800 in the Mezquital Valley, of its men. Like many other Mexican communities, it could fast become a ghost town.
THE SOLUTION: Locals have found a way to deter emigration, while creating jobs and income. The caminata nocturna (nocturnal hike) at Parque EcoAlberto simulates an illegal border-crossing. For $14 visitors join in a two-hour “run for the border” with patrol guards in hot pursuit. They lie in a cornfield with gunshots blasting, trudge through ankle-deep mud and hide in brambles from search lights. The park also offers attractions like rappelling in a nearby canyon, but the caminata is the big draw for the largely middle-class urbanite patrons. Some argue the park could be a migrant training ground, but parents bring their kids as a deterrent. “El Alberto hopes to convince people to not migrate,” says Pury Álvarez, a park worker.
Choosing between black, white and green teas can be confusing–but now you’ll be seeing red. Tea, that is. The South African export is gaining global popularity thanks to new launches from Snapple and Honest Tea (which debuts its blend in America this spring). While green tea prided itself on its antioxidant qualities, red tea’s biggest selling point is its sweeter taste. The “green” party counters that red tea isn’t tea–it’s brewed from fermented rooibos, an herb unrelated to traditional tea plants. The Chinese sometimes refer to black tea as red, and when unfermented rooibos is brewed, it’s called green tea. But red tea is caffeine-free. So maybe your other tea should pack its bags.
THE PROBLEM: France’s archaic election campaign laws prohibit television ads and impose strict limits on street posters. With elections rapidly approaching, what’s a candidate to do?
THE SOLUTION: Ségolène Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy are turning to the Web. Sarko’s party claims to be backed by 900 blogs, while Royal’s “Desires for the Future” site urges voters to express themselves freely. Her New Year’s video greeting, shot in home-video format, got 750,000 views on dailymotion.com, the French YouTube rival. Even 78-year-old political dinosaur Jean-Marie Le Pen is getting caught up in the Internet. Last month, the youth wing of his National Front party opened a virtual campaign office in Second Life, the hip online universe.
Owen stars in “Children of Men,” a futuristic thriller about saving the only pregnant woman in a society thought to be entirely sterile. He chatted with Nicki Gostin.
Do you find it depressing? I think it’s full of humanity. [Director Alfonso] Cuarón has made a film set in the future that’s really an excuse to talk about things going on right now.
She walked into the read-through and I knew straightaway.
It was a little bit Woody Allen-like. She had little Lennon glasses on and all these secondhand books dropping all over the place.
Couple of meetings and going to get Ugg boots for my girls.
I’m sure you can, but I know they’re here.
I know. The exchange rate–my God.
[ Laughs ] It’s true. I’m not complaining.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-08” author: “Cecil Hughes”
Has paranoia got the better of Tehran? Iranian intel agents say that many of Iran’s leaders believe the United States is implementing a strategy of “crawling opposition,” in the hopes of toppling the regime. The sources, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the subject, say that Iranian officials believe Washington has soured on the idea of a military overthrow, and is instead trying to boost women’s movements and unions. Now the regime lives in fear of a “soft toppling,” like those that recently upended leaders in Ukraine and Georgia. “Any criticism of the official policies of the government equals espionage,” warned Minister of Intelligence Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei recently.
Tehran’s actions speak even louder than its words. Since the beginning of the year, dozens of activists, including unionists, teachers and feminists, have been jailed on charges of “threatening national security.” Union leaders have been beaten up by police, a fate that also befell dozens of teachers staging a peaceful demonstration in early March. Unsurprisingly, these repressive tactics have activists concerned—both for their safety and for their voice. After all, says activist Assieh Amini, Iran’s feminists simply want to change discriminatory laws. They have no desire to change the government, she says—the state’s fears of revolt are paranoid. The United States, for its part, insists that $20 million in new aid to Iran’s civil-society movements aims to promote human rights, not take out the Tehran leadership. Given the tense state of relations and the U.S. presence in nearby Iraq, however, no official statement from Washington will likely ease Tehran’s fear, or its crackdown. “Imagine if Iran had about 200,000 troops in Canada and the U.S.,” says one Iranian intel official. “If Iran was helping civil-rights activists in the United States, wouldn’t the Americans be paranoid?” —Maziar Bahari
Turkey may soon have its first Islamist president—albeit a moderate one. But if elected, Abdullah Gul will have to appease the secularist establishment. He’s pledged to “uphold secular values,” and has kept his wife, Hayrunisa, who wears a headscarf, away from official functions. The couple may not move into the presidential mansion, as a bow to Ataturk’s secularist legacy. But that may not be enough. Secularists are boycotting the voting, fearful that Gul will slip Islamists into the secular strongholds of the judiciary, the military and higher education. Even if he succeeds despite the boycott, Gul’s presidency will likely be fraught with conflict. —Owen Matthews and Sami Kohen
Indonesia’s president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono came to office in 2004 vowing to fight corruption. He created a crack investigative team to go after tycoons who had looted the state’s coffers during the Suharto era. But Yudhoyono’s efforts have flagged of late, in part, Jakarta says, because many Indonesian magnates had fled to nearby Singapore, famed for its strict banking secrecy. They included three of the five most wanted businessmen, claims Indonesia.
Now the hunt may be back in gear. Last week, after three decades of tense negotiations, the two sides hammered out extradition and defense treaties. Singapore denies this has anything to do with the fugitives—founding father Lee Kuan Yew called the idea “laughable,” continuing, “Do you believe that any Indonesian who was likely to be extradited would be here at all?” A spokesperson for the Singapore Monetary Authority says Jakarta could have gone after them through its own or Singapore’s courts. Still, Merrill Lynch estimates that Indonesians have socked away $87 billion in Singapore, and Jakarta claims some of it is ill gotten. If the treaties can help Yudhoyono recover some of the cash, it could boost his mired reform drive. —Joe Cochrane
Satirical news sources like The Onion newspaper are more popular than ever with Americans. It boasts 3 million weekly readers and has launched a 24-hour online news network. NEWSWEEK’s Jessica Bennett spoke to managing editor Peter Koechley.
Is the Bush administration a satirist’s dream? It’s not. Clinton was much more fun to cover. There’s just so much with Bush that’s heavy. [And] we went through all our best jokes on torture and on being caught in a terrible situation in Iraq years ago.
What’s the current state of the mainstream media? It’s got highs and lows. You can ask why people get so much news from fake news or entertainment sources, but the inverse question is why people are getting so much fluff and entertainment from real news sources.
How do your stories play internationally? [Once] a Chinese newspaper reprinted a story about how the U.S. Congress was going to leave D.C. if a new capitol wasn’t built with a retractable roof.
The answer is: like chicken—with a hint of frog and notes of newt. It’s not that many people have been asking what Tyrannosaurus rex tasted like. But in a feat that demolishes beliefs about how long biological molecules can survive, scientists have isolated tiny amounts of the protein collagen from the thigh bone of a T. rex that died 68 million years ago in what is now Montana. There was just enough for scientists at Beth Deaconess Medical Center to determine the protein’s sequence of amino acids. The sequence it matches most closely, reported in the journal Science, is that of modern-day chickens, followed by frog and newt. The match is the first molecular support to the hypothesis (based on bone similarities) that birds and dinosaurs are evolutionary cousins. But unrelated species can evolve similar anatomies. The molecular match is stronger evidence that crows hopping around some roadkill can claim velociraptors as great-uncles.
The discovery that proteins endure so long means molecular techniques may untangle the evolutionary relationships among extinct animals, says Mary Schweitzer of North Carolina State University, who found cells in the Montana rex. Until now, family trees have been constructed from the shapes of bones and teeth, a not-always-reliable technique. —Sharon Begley
Dirt—which is thought to contain as many as 1 million species of bacteria per gram—has long had germophobes reaching for the hand soap. After all, the CW holds that bacteria damages the immune system.
New research, however, suggests that certain bacteria found in dirt give the immune system a boost—and even make us happier in the process. Researchers at the University of Bristol, England, found that exposing mice to a soil-borne bacterium called Mycobacterium vaccae improved their immune systems. It also boosted the production of the mood-regulating brain chemical serotonin just as effectively as antidepressant drugs. Christopher Lowry, the lead author, says that the microbes appear cause immune cells to release cytokines, chemicals that activate nerves that then stimulate the brain. The bacterium has also been used as a tuberculosis vaccine, and in a recent trial in London, it was found to help the emotional health, vitality and mental abilities of cancer patients. That, says Lowry, has researchers “wondering if we shouldn’t all be spending more time playing in the dirt.” —Jessica Bennett
It may be time to stop making fun of chimps. After comparing DNA sequences for 13,888 genes shared by humans and chimpanzees, evolutionary scientists at the University of Michigan found that chimps may actually be the more highly evolved species. Their research shows that 233 chimpanzee genes have been altered by selection since the mammals split with their human ancestors about 6 million years ago, compared with a mere 154 human genes.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-16” author: “Ronnie Paul”
Western intelligence officials say the biggest problem is figuring out who is really behind the seizure. Were the culprits Revolutionary Guard zealots acting on their own, forcing the government to back them up? Or was the detention ordered by someone high up in the Iranian government, possibly Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who warned only a day before the seizure that if the United States and Europeans “take illegal actions, we too can take illegal actions and will do so”? According to a retired Iranian diplomat, what Washington and London fail to appreciate is how much “freelancing” really goes on inside Iran. Revolutionary Guard extremists are angry and looking for payback. In recent weeks a former Revolutionary Guard general disappeared in Turkey, possibly in a defection; around the same time, an Iranian diplomat in Baghdad was reportedly seized by an Iraqi Special Forces unit that collaborates closely with U.S. forces. U.S. troops in Iraq also arrested Qais al-Khazali, an alleged liaison between Iranian Guard operatives and “secret cells” of the Mahdi Army. “It usually happens like this: one small group does something, and then it’s the whole system that has to clean up after them,” the diplomat says. With Blair now declaring he won’t negotiate, and Iran resisting further U.N. pressure, the standoff may drag on for a long time.
Israel: Model Makeover In an attempt to improve its image abroad, Israel is trying to shift the world’s focus from historic Jerusalem to modern Tel Aviv. Six months ago, David Saranga, an Israeli consular official in New York, approached Maxim magazine and offered to fly a camera crew to the Jewish state. And last week photographer Jim Malucci hit the Tel Aviv beach. A Hasidic man in a black hat walked by as Malucci praised the arch in the back of his bikini-clad model. “Love the guy with the hat!” Malucci chortled. “That’s hot, right there.”
Not everyone agrees. Settler leader and former Tourism minister Benny Elon says Israel’s “unique selling proposition” is its religious heritage. But pushing religion could alienate liberals, says Alan Dershowitz, author of “The Case for Israel.” Ultimately, he says, “Israel is both countries. A country where models pose at great holy sites.”
The Test Is ethanol the fuel of the future? World heavy-weight producers Brazil and the United States think so. But new demand has raised corn prices, enraging Mexican tortilla producers. The price of corn-fed livestock has also jumped, and could jack up food prices in importing nations like South Korea and China. Switching feedstock could help; Brazilian biofuel distilled from sugarcane is a third cheaper than the stuff the farmers up north brew. But don’t tell that to folks in Iowa, where corn is king and fortunes rest on the stiff taxes the U.S. levies on imported ethanol. As demand for renewable energy soars, perhaps the two biofuel titans can strike a compromise. If not, everyone else may have to decide between filling their tanks or their larders.
Working out online is catching on. Cardiocoach.com now has customers in more than 70 countries. iTrain.com has 25,000 followers, up 400 percent since January 2006.
Now the health-club industry is fighting back, claiming there is no substitute for “face-to-face contact” with a personal trainer. Kathie Davis, head of IDEA Health and Fitness Association, the world’s largest fitness trade group, says e-mail can’t inspire or teach as a trainer can. And doctors do recommend trainers for novices and those with medical conditions. But the fact is: once you learn a routine, you can do it without a trainer, for a lot less than $100 an hour. The Web will win this contest.
Brooklyn Bad Boy Brooklyn-born graffiti painter Jean-Michel Basquiat is making an elegant comeback. The French Embassy and La Francophonie, an association of 53 countries that use the French language, are now claiming the late American wunderkind as one of their own by exhibiting 41 of his drawings in the grand building of the French Embassy’s Cultural Services in New York. A far cry from his humble, funky East Village hangouts, it was within these walls that Basquiat’s father, Gerard, worked as a young French-speaking Haitian student when he received news of his son’s birth in 1962. The exhibit is a testimony to just how far Basquiat has traveled. The drawings on display come from collections in France (including that of French art dealer Enrico Navarra, who organized and financed the show) and have not been seen in the United States before. Mostly small works on paper, they are charmingly childlike and near primitive in their use of stick figures. The cartoon-like characters, drawn in brilliant colors in crayon, ink, felt pen or ballpoint, evoke both the graphic zip and minimalism of Basquiat’s art and the nightmares of his troubled personal life. A single large black piece with its thick, bold squiggles hints at the graffiti art that he was to create during his drug-addled decline. A regular drug user who constantly tested his limits with cocaine, heroin and LSD, Basquiat died of an overdose at 27. During his time, he gained notoriety for his bohemian lifestyle and was befriended by the likes of Andy Warhol. Now, as this exhibit makes clear, he’s become eminently respectable.
ROBOTICS Meet ‘Big Dog’ All armies need supplies. Will U.S. Special Forces of the future use “Big Dog” to carry theirs? The creation of robotics pioneer Marc Raibert skirts obstacles it “sees,” climbs rock-strewn slopes and can jump a three-foot ditch while carrying double a soldier’s load—all without human aid. Big Dog is funded by DARPA, the Pentagon agency that explores “the far side” (as it puts it), bringing way-out ideas to reality. Its record includes the Internet and stealth aircraft, so when DARPA’s John Main says “biodynotics”—robots inspired by nature—are “potentially revolutionary,” he’s worth listening to.
There may be an upside to emotional damage, says a recent University of Southern California study. By asking how their subjects would react in various hypothetical scenarios, researchers found that damage to a key emotion-processing center, the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, makes people more likely to make tough “utilitarian” choices that maximize public welfare, like shooting an HIV-positive friend who intends to infect others.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-25” author: “Gregoria Naz”
Germans are also studying the history of their country’s Jews. But it’s not all about the Holocaust. “Students want to learn about the empty [cultural] space once occupied by Jews in German society,” says Michael Brenner, a professor of Jewish studies at Munich University. “Not about the destruction itself, but about what was destroyed.”
Feeling more at home than ever before, American Jews are now moving en masse to the hip German capital. (Estimates show that between 10 and 20 percent of the 12,000 Americans living in Berlin are Jewish.) Even U.S. novelist Jonathan Safran Foer is there, writing a new English version of the Haggadah, the ancient Jewish text on the Exodus. “I like the way the city feels,” he says. Evidently, he’s not the only one. —Michael Levitin
EXHIBITS ‘Fuel’ For Film Jhumpa lahiri’s book “The Namesake” followed the Ganguli family as they moved from Calcutta to New York. Now, as Mira Nair’s film version of the novel hits screens worldwide, a third incarnation emerges as a group photo show, “Namesake/Inspiration,” at the Sepia International gallery in Manhattan. Photographs of trains, trams, bridges, airports and railway stations by contemporary photographers such as Derry Moore, Raghu Rai, Raghubir Singh and Dayanita Singh depict the border crossings that today’s émigrés must experience as well as their yearning for the homeland left behind. Men sleeping on the pavement evoke Calcutta; snow-laden streets and empty, alienating spaces represent New York. It was these photos—and a black and white shot of a pensive princess on a Calcutta balcony that became the model for the movie’s heroine—that inspired Nair as she translated Lahiri’s book into film. “Every film I make is fueled by photographs. [They] help me crystallize the visual style of my film,” she says. “If it weren’t for photography, I wouldn’t be a filmmaker.” —Vibhuti Patel
Health advocates have long argued that antidepressants and weight-loss pills are for human consumption only. But it appears pharmaceutical drugs could also benefit pets.
Prozac, steroids—you name it, Americans are prescribing it to their dogs and cats. Pharmaceutical companies are taking note. In January, Pfizer received approval from the Food and Drug Administration for two new drugs for dogs: Slentrol to treat obesity, and Cerenia for vomiting and motion sickness. The company has earmarked $270 million a year to develop new medicines for “companion animals,” and according to the Animal Health Institute, 60 percent of the $5 billion annual animal-medication industry is now devoted to domestic pets, up 20 percent from a decade ago. The reason, according to an AHI spokesman, is that a more intense “human-animal bond” has developed in recent years. Closeness comes at a cost, of course, but many major companies now offer veterinary insurance to cover it. —Jesse Ellison
Reality Check Turns out the U.S. Freedom of Information Act has produced mainly talk, not action. Ten years after Congress sought to throw open unnecessarily locked doors to official information, a new study shows that many federal agencies have failed to hand over the keys. Only 36 percent have posted indexes to agency records on their Web sites; a mere 26 percent of government agencies have even developed a Web-based form allowing citizens to request information, as Congress mandated.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-12” author: “Phillip Silvey”
Religious tolerance alone won’t turn Nigeria around. Corruption is rampant and oil production has been hampered by an insurgency in the south. In recent months, foreign workers have been kidnapped and pipelines have been attacked by Christian rebels demanding development aid from the government. Some estimate that 800,000 barrels of oil a day—25 percent of Nigeria’s entire output—are lost as a result. Worse still, political violence and allegations of dirty tricks have spiked in the buildup to the elections.
Still, a fairly elected Muslim president would be a boon for the nation. Such a leader, analysts argue, would ironically have a better chance of satisfying the Christian insurgents than the outgoing president, Olusegun Obasanjo—himself a Christian—did, because he’ll be better positioned to win concessions from the predominantly Muslim Parliament on the south’s behalf. He’ll also recognize that placating the oil-rich south is the only way to keep federal money flowing to the impoverished (Muslim) north. With all three candidates emphasizing the need to eradicate corruption, Nigeria could finally get the kind of government it deserves.
Russia: A Bigger Belarus? Russian president Vladimir Putin is popular—his approval rating is a staggering 72 percent—but that hasn’t kept him from growing paranoid. Moscow’s authoritarian crackdown is beginning to invite comparisons with its least scrupulous neighbors. Last month, in the central Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod, an estimated 20,000 riot police gathered to stop a tiny anti-Putin protest of just 150 people, most of whom were arrested—overkill of a sort favored by Putin’s ally Aleksandr Lukashenko of Belarus. An upcoming opposition rally in Moscow is expected to get similar treatment. Contrast that with Ukraine, where peaceful protesters gathered freely earlier this month in Kiev after Parliament was dissolved and snap elections were called. Apparently wary of people power on its doorstep, Moscow condemned the proceedings. “The scenes in Ukraine are chaotic and ridiculous,” stormed the Russian Tvoi Den newspaper—which, like most of Russia’s press, now toes the Kremlin’s line. Chaotic, perhaps. But it’s called democracy, which Russia increasingly lacks.
By the Numbers Fears of a “Big Brother” society are sweeping Britain, thanks to plans to allow authorities to vocally reprimand miscreants through CCTV monitors. Are the Brits overreacting?
4.2: The estimated number, in millions, of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras in Britain 6.5: The estimated number, in millions, of closed-circuit television cameras in the rest of Western Europe* 3: The estimated number, in millions, of closed-circuit television cameras in all of Asia* 2: The estimated number, in millions, of CCTV cameras in Australia, Africa and the Middle East combined*
Destination Earth Watching an 11-hour nature documentary sounds like homework. But “Planet Earth,” the Discovery Channel’s new wildlife series that globe-trots from jungles to polar ice caps, is anything but. The Discovery Channel partnered with the BBC, spending more than $1 million per episode, a fortune for nature docs. Executive producer Alastair Fothergill’s team used innovations like the heligimble—a motion-stabilized camera mounted on the belly of a helicopter—to record wild dogs on a hunt, from start to suppertime. In another mesmerizing sequence, infrared cameras document a behavior never before captured on film: a pride of lions taking down an elephant in the dead of night. “It was like bearing witness to some awful event through a soundproof window,” says producer Jonny Keeling, who was on site. One more killer shot: a great white shark exploding out of the sea and chomping a seal in midair. The attack took one second in real time, but the HD cameras stretch it out to a full minute without compromising a pixel of resolution.
“Planet Earth” isn’t just 11 hours of animals eating each other. Other moments have a quiet majesty, such as rare footage of a Himalayan snow leopard. The animal, says Fothergill, “is the holy grail of wildlife filmmaking.” His documentary might just warrant that title too.
Fact or Fiction Gender equality may have its downsides. Researchers at the Swedish National Institute of Public Health compared data across their country—one of the most egalitarian in the world—and found that parity between the sexes may be detrimental to our health.
Love of a Lover Don Juan has returned. Seville is paying tribute to the legendary lothario this year with opera and theater performances, films and academic lectures. A three-month run of José Zorilla’s “Don Juan Tenorio” kicked off the proceedings in January. Opera aficionados can take in Salvador Távora’s “Don Juan in the Bullring” at the Real Maestranza de Cabellería, while the more modern Don Juan fan will likely opt for a screening of “Don Juan in the History of Cinema.”
The mythical lover and Seville will always share a special connection. It was in this Spanish city that he seduced the daughter of the local military commander, killed him in a duel and, in an extraordinary stroke of bad luck, was dragged down to hell. “Don Juan is more than a literary character, he’s part of our psyche,” says Douglas Carlton Abrams, the American author of the upcoming “The Lost Diary of Don Juan” and adopted son of Seville—in March he and members of the town’s tourism board led visitors on a geographical tour of his novel.
Reality Check A recent study by researchers at the University of Alberta showed that DCA, or dichloroacetic acid, can shrink several types of tumors in rats. This has prompted a growing number of cancer patients to purchase the drug online. Never mind that taking DCA—which is a widely used laboratory chemical—can result in severe internal burns, as well as nerve damage that can hamper one’s ability to walk and speak.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-23” author: “George Hill”
Yet Downing Street downplays Shrum’s role. Its fear is that exposing it will spotlight an unwelcome American influence over British politics and the return of spin to 10 Downing Street. Some prominent Labour figures are also grumbling over what has become known in the United States as the “Shrum curse”: none of Shrum’s clients ever made it to the White House. “The man is a klutz,” fumes one of Tony Blair’s closest former advisers, who like most others involved in this catfight insisted on cloaking his aspersions in anonymity. “He has a tin ear for British politics, and it shows.” The problem, they say, is that Shrum is trying to transplant his ideological liberalism in a country where pragmatic centrists of the Blair school have won the last three general elections. Equally worrisome to one former senior Blair aide is “the strategic stress on the idea of character, which is a Shrum trademark. The reason Shrum always loses is that [electoral success is] not about character; in the end, it’s about policy.”
Shrum’s role went virtually unnoticed until the Labour Party’s conference in late September. At the time, Brown held a commanding position in the polls. For three months he had governed astutely, and was riding so high one set of advisers—including a “cautious” Shrum, according to a Downing Street source—urged him to call a snap election. Then along came Brown’s conference speech, with language such as “sometimes people say I’m too serious” and “I will not let you down.” London Times commentary editor Daniel Finkelstein, himself a former political speechwriter, heard a voice other than Brown’s, Googled the suspect phrases and came up with Shrum as channeled by his client Al Gore at the 2000 Democratic National Convention: “Sometimes people say I’m too serious,” and “I will never let you down.” The speech was only part of Brown’s undoing, but over the next 10 days Labour’s poll lead vanished and the opposition Conservative Party got its highest ratings since 1992. The Shrum curse seems stronger than ever.
The Digit Nearly 62% of 1.2 million downloaders did not pay for Radiohead’s album “In Rainbows,” which the rock band released online last month in a “pay what you’d like” experiment.
About Face Last summer, Ichiro Ozawa stunned the world when his Democratic Party of Japan upset the dominant LDP in parliamentary elections. There was talk that Japan might finally become a two-party state with the tough-talking Ozawa its leader. Then, last week, he stunned again, by resigning as DPJ boss—and then, three days later, changing his mind. What happened? Turns out Ozawa was not so tough after all. Having sworn he’d beat the LDP, Ozawa recently entered coalition talks with them. When his lieutenants balked, Ozawa, judging he’d lost their confidence, quit. Ozawa blamed the about-face on miscommunication and mental fatigue. More likely, DPJ hacks couldn’t face another bruising leadership battle. The DPJ still has a chance in the next election, since LDP Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is no more commanding. But many Japanese voters are expected to stay home. Who can blame them?
—Christian Caryl
You Call That Art? Adoring press coverage and a soaring economy have propelled Russian President Vladimir Putin to something close to a political god. Russian artists are now turning him into a pop-art icon. The Blue Noses, a group of Moscow artists, have created a series of works satirizing the president that includes a triptych of Putin with Jesus and Alexander Pushkin. Moscow painter Sofia Azarkhi’s “Inauguration of the Kingdom,” portrays a naked Zeus-like Putin riding a green snake into the heavens as angels proffer a crown. “We’re seeing a new niche,” says Marat Gelman, one of the few Moscow gallery owners to show work critical of Putin. “Russian artists are rediscovering the art of irony.”
Not everyone appreciates it. Works by the Blue Noses were detained by Russian Customs agents last month while en route to a Paris exhibition. Russian Culture Minister Alexander Sokolov called it “a shame for Russia.” Meantime, Oscar-winning director Nikita Mikhalkov—producer of a biopic of Putin that featured lingering shots of his blue eyes—and sculptor Zurab Tsereteli recently sent Putin a letter, in the name of 65,000 Russian artists, begging him to remain president for a third term. And they did so without a trace of irony.
—Owen Matthews and Anna Nemtsova
Stock Answers Will a new Clinton presidency be bad for stocks? A study of the Dow Jones Industrial Average index shows that it generally jumps in election years, particularly when Republicans win, but underperforms when Democrats take the White House. But that doesn’t mean a Hillary Clinton victory will depress stocks, says study author Paul Ashworth. Futures indicators and current stock-market gains now show no strong link between a Democratic president and a bear market.
Weapons Of Indigestion No matter how nasty you are, you’ve still got to eat. That’s the premise of the new British book “The Axis of Evil Cookbook” by Gill Partington. Focusing on recipes from America’s favorite baddies—Iran, Iraq, North Korea, Libya, Syria and Cuba—each chapter gives an overview of the country’s history and a few intriguing (if sometimes well-documented) tidbits about its dictator: Saddam Hussein, hiding in his spider hole, could apparently throw down a family-size bag of Doritos in 10 minutes. North Korea’s Kim Jong Il supposedly demands that olives on his pizza be uniformly distributed. Fidel Castro makes his own foie gras p?t?. Some of the recipes are standard in ethnic restaurants worldwide. But Iranian tongue with mushroom (peel off the skin after stewing; slice thinly), Iraqi Tongue of Judges (just lamb or beef sausages with eggplant) and Syrian sheep-kidney toast are all off the beaten menu. Could whirled peas really be the answer to international peace?
—Ginanne Brownell
Changing the Face of Modern War A London exhibition shows how far reconstructive surgery has come—and what that means for soldiers.
They are gruesome images: black-and-white photographs of men missing jaws, noses, cheekbones and eyes. The photos in “Faces of Battle,” a new exhibition at London’s National Army Museum, show the disfigured men on the front lines not just of World War I’s greatest battles but also of the brand-new field called reconstructive surgery— without whose developments many soldiers injured in Afghanistan and Iraq could not return to daily life.
More than 2 million British and Commonwealth soldiers were injured during World War I because the trenches dug to protect them from powerful new weapons couldn’t always shield their heads from sniper fire and shrapnel. Harold Gillies, a New Zealand-born surgeon posted in France, realized that horribly injured men would need years of care and argued for a special ward that would treat radical facial injuries. “Faces of Battle” chronicles the techniques that he and his staff pioneered, including the use of bone and cartilage to reconstruct faces.
Cosmetic surgery for today’s soldiers can be a messy business, and it’s often impossible to restore the faces of the badly disfigured. But “Faces of Battle” shows just how far surgical reconstructions have come.
—G.B.
Reality Check The women presidents of South America have elicited praise for helping spread female leadership from Western Europe. But a World Economic Forum report on the “global gender gap” last week shows that countries that rank above parts of Europe in female “political empowerment” include South Asia, a longtime leader, Croatia, South Africa and El Salvador. And countries without high empowerment rankings have skyrocketing “educational attainment” rankings, suggesting more female presidents could be just around the corner.
— Adam B. Kushner
Renewable Optimism Mariane Pearl, the wife of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, resolved to hold onto her sense of hope in the aftermath of her husband’s murder by terrorists in 2002. She wrote a stirring memoir, “A Mighty Heart,” later made into a film starring Angelina Jolie. Now she’s back with “In Search of Hope,” which features 12 profiles (originally written for Glamour magazine) of profoundly optimistic women—from a Moroccan cleaning lady in Paris to the president of Liberia. She spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Tony Dokoupil:
Why did you start this project? I wanted to show people that there is hope out there. It comes from the actions of individuals like the women in this book. You have suicide bombers who are ready to lose their lives to destroy, but there are also people who are ready to lose their lives to build. Finding those people—that was my quest. It was personal and professional.
What made it personal? For my son’s sake, I really needed to answer the question: Can we spread hope the way others spread fear? What are our assets to do that? To me, it’s these people.
Why did you choose only women to profile? Because women get it.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-27” author: “Raul Johnson”
Rudy Giuliani has a dream. actually, the GOP presidential candidate says he’s had it about five times and it’s always the same: French President Nicolas Sarkozy is on a plane, and out over the Atlantic it almost crashes head-on into another one. As the planes pass one another, Sarkozy waves at the Democratic presidential front runners aboard the oncoming aircraft. As Giuliani tells it, Sarkozy is on his way to the United States to learn the virtues of a free economy, while the Democrats are headed to Paris “to see how they can take all the policies that failed in France.”
This week, Sarkozy heads to Washington for real on a whirlwind visit that includes an address to a joint session of Congress and a state dinner at the White House. His aides say he won’t be meeting—or waving to—any presidential candidates, but they note that as a government minister he encountered John McCain and Barack Obama. And he has met Giuliani at least three times since 2002. “They know each other well,” says one close associate of Sarkozy. Part of their rapport is based on shared beliefs in the benefits of lower taxes. Both men cultivate tough law-and-order images. Giuliani recently said he would “give the death penalty to the death tax,” adding with apparent pride that this was “the program of the president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy.” “I love France,” Giuliani said recently, and not only because some French pundits have called Sarkozy “the French Rudy.”
But now the similarities may be growing too close, at least for Sarkozy’s comfort, in matters of personality. As New York’s mayor, Giuliani underwent a high-profile divorce, and was known for a raging temper. Sarkozy, who just went through his own very public divorce, has a short fuse, too, and his critics say his manic energy is offset by dark moods and angry outbursts. The French president enjoys popular support, but his personal quirks are increasingly obvious. Indeed, some of his appearances are so weird, they’re now staples of YouTube and its French variants. At a G8 meeting in June, Sarkozy was giddy, if not downright tipsy, at a press conference. During his August vacation, a couple of American photographers followed him out onto a New Hampshire lake, and he jumped on their boat to dress them down. Most recently, while taping a CBS “60 Minutes” interview, the president called his spokesman an “imbecile” and worse before storming out. “I hope there are no psychiatrists in the audience,” Giuliani likes to joke when he starts to tell the story of his recurrent dream. Sarkozy might say the same thing to viewers at home and abroad.
The Debunker: My Sham Launderette By Patrick Falby
The complex “structured investment vehicles” at the heart of the credit crisis are opaque by nature. So it’s no surprise banks are targeting SIVs as a possible channel for money laundering. A July survey by KPMG said the boom in these investments is a major reason banks’ anti-money-laundering spending rose by an average of 58 percent over the last three years. But banks still haven’t caught anyone using SIVs to funnel ill-gotten gains, suggesting they may be just the latest money-laundering bogeyman. Newcastle Business School professor Jackie Harvey says most money launderers use vehicles a lot simpler than SIVs. But the bogeyman serves one purpose–advancing the interests of consultants and technology firms. Banks expect anti-money-laundering spending to increase by an average of 34 percent in each of the next three years.
What Goes Around: The New Hot Money By Barrett Sheridan
Government investment funds, particularly in oil states, are the new giants of global finance. The biggest, from the United Arab Emirates, controls three quarters of a trillion dollars, which is why Westerners are scared. G7 Finance ministers have called on the IMF, World Bank and OECD to investigate the funds’ transparency and accountability. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox warned the funds “call into question the adequacy” of current regulations and could torpedo investor confidence. Even the arch-capitalist Wall Street Journal is calling for tighter regulation. This brings to mind the crisis of 1997-98, which Asian leaders blamed on hot money originating from Western banks and hedge funds. Back then Western institutions generally defended the free movement of capital. What has changed, of course, is the direction of the potentially destabilizing flows.
The Digit
The protectionist impulse grips America with increasing fervor. Members of the U.S. Congress have floated 45 antitrade or anti-China proposals in the last two sessions alone.
Politics Of Disease: Where Did AIDS Begin? By Mary Carmichael
Last week Haiti’s Ambassador to Washington, Raymond Joseph, was flooded with irate phone calls about Michael Worobey, a biologist at the University of Arizona. Worobey just published a paper showing that HIV first hitchhiked to America around 1969 in the body of a single person, who caught the disease in Haiti.
Worobey says he “in no way” places blame on Haitians, but they already feel persecuted because so many early cases were Haitian, and now they fear more discrimination. “How do we know,” Joseph asks, “that a homosexual infected in America didn’t bring HIV to Haiti instead?”
Not possible, says Worobey, who has constructed a family tree for the virus, which shows “with greater than 99 percent certainty” that HIV migrated from Africa to Haiti before 1966; then one person brought the “group M, subtype B” strain from Haiti to the United States around 1969. Almost all the strains found in the West today descend from that lone, unwitting patient.
The study has implications beyond Haiti. It means “Patient Zero”–Gaetan Dugas, who slept with more than 2,500 people before dying in 1980–may not have been the real Patient Zero. It also suggests, says Worobey, that presumed cases of AIDS in America that predate 1969 didn’t actually have HIV. Or they had strains that died out, rather than spreading into a pandemic. If only the one from 1969 hadn’t, either.
Antiquities: Less than a Full Deck By Jesse Ellison
At the start of the Iraq War, U.S. troops were given decks of playing cards depicting Saddam Hussein and 54 other Baathist bad guys on the Pentagon’s “most wanted” list. Now, new sets of cards illustrated with photographs of Iraq’s wealth of ancient historical sites are being issued in hopes of teaching soldiers to respect the country’s cultural treasures. Besides pictures of archeological landmarks and antiquities, the cards also offer basic lessons in historic preservation. The five of hearts shows a gun-toting soldier looking at a flattened desert expanse, and reminds troops to “Drive around–not over–archaeological sites.” Other cards play to Bible-belt sensibilities. The two of clubs carries a picture of Mosul’s Nabi Yunis Mosque and this message: “Ancient Iraqi heritage is part of your heritage. Old stories say that Jonah of the Bible was buried in this hill.” The cards began arriving in Iraq and Afghanistan a few weeks ago, nearly two months later than the Army had intended, and perhaps four years later than they should have. Many of the sites shown on the cards have already been looted or blown up.
Quick Question: The Un-Diva By Nicki Gostin
French Soprano Natalie Dessay has wowed European opera fans for years. Now, as Lucia in the Met’s “Lucia di Lammermoor,” she’s won over New York’s harsh critics too.
The critics raved about your Lucia. Is this a turning point in your career?
Yes, something’s changed. And I’m very happy about that because for me it’s a sort of revenge, even though I don’t like this word. Four years ago I was thinking about quitting because I had problems with my voice; I had surgery on the cords and I thought I couldn’t sing anymore.
Opera singers are famous for being divas. Are you one?
No, because I have no ego. I’m not that kind of person, but I have artistic demands. For example, I want my colleagues to be able to act. It’s not always possible, but I ask that I want good directors, good conductors, good orchestras.
Did you really remove the “h” from your name because of Natalie Wood?
I was 12 or 13 and very fond of her. I thought it was simpler.
Film: A Punk Pilgrim’s Progress By John Sparks
In the 1980s when the Clash was the “only band that mattered,” lead singer Joe Strummer was the rocker fans most wanted to know but couldn’t. Strummer remained an enigma up to his 2002 death from a heart attack at 50. Now, with “The Future Is Unwritten”–newly released in theaters in the United States and on DVD in Europe–director Julien Temple sheds light on the contradictory figure known variously as Joe, John and Woody. Strummer reinvented himself constantly, through boarding school, squatting in West London, global stardom and a long search for purpose. Near the end, Strummer took to gathering friends around huge campfires, and Temple re-creates these scenes with former bandmates, friends and fans like Bono and Johnny Depp. While Temple does not solve the enigma, he does make you wish you’d been at one of Strummer’s campfires.
Reality Check By Jessica Bennett
With nearly 15 million users, LinkedIn may seem like a boon to ambitious professionals looking to build career-advancing contacts, but perils lurk. LinkedIn’s social networks have also become powerful tools for potential clients and employers to check up on you without your knowledge by contacting people whom you know but you might not have chosen as references. One way to keep control of your contacts: don’t accept invitations to join someone’s network before looking at who’s already linked in.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-30” author: “Renee Paxton”
Although sanctions have rarely proved an effective tool for regime change, Washington’s recent move to block Western bank deals with Tehran has put real pressure on Iran’s ruling elites. However, most of the funds now transferred to the West Bank and Gaza go through underground agents to avoid U.S. antiterrorism regulations, so they will be tough to track, much less stop. Western aid workers say they fear that money from countries like Saudi Arabia and Iran will go directly to their respective Palestinian proxies, Fatah and Hamas, in a battle for regional influence. And with no demands for reform attached. “The risk now is that all this external assistance will be politicized,” says a prominent donor in Jerusalem.
It gets worse. The United States favors Fatah over Hamas, but its sanctions effort may also backfire in Syria, another key Hamas ally. A freeze on overseas bank accounts held by suspected Syrian extremists is chasing a fortune in Syrian cash back to Damascus, fueling the fastest economic growth (better than 5 percent) in a decade. “Thank God for the American sanctions,” says one Damascus trader. “Business has never been better.” But sanctions have never done worse.
Internet censorship is on the rise, says a new Harvard study. Bloggers in repressive regimes like Egypt, where one blogger’s jail sentence was upheld last week, are all too aware of that.
1: Estimated number, in millions, of Russian blogs. Fivethousand blog-related lawsuits were filed in 2006.
100,000: The estimated number of Iranian blogs. 20 bloggers were jailed in 2004; none were last year. Is Tehran softening?
17: Estimated number, in millions, of Chinese blogs. In 2006, 52 Internet-related offenders were jailed.
Prep for Landing The world war between Boeing and Airbus will be decided, in large measure, in China. Over the next 20 years, a boom in air travel will generate demand for 3,000 new commercial jets in China, worth an estimated $289 billion. China will become the world’s second largest airplane market, trailing only America. Since Boeing and Airbus now split the market between them, with Boeing enjoying a strong lead (65 percent to 35) in China, they had reason to hope for continued dominance. Only Beijing has other plans, announcing last week that it aims to introduce its own large commercial jet by 2020.
Though still struggling to climb the technology ladder, China is coming on fast in aviation—advancing in part on skills honed as a supplier to Airbus and Boeing. It recently applied for a license to sell its ARJ-21 regional jet in the United States. And it’s no secret that China aims to build global brands in every big business, by protecting its home market when necessary. That could leave Airbus and Boeing scrapping harder for a smaller slice of China sales.
Going All The Way Nude travel has become a $400 million industry—double what it was 10 years ago. And the business has increasingly gone upscale, trading rustic nudist camps for lavish resorts and extravagant cruises. Now Source Events, a Miami Beach-based gay adventure-travel company, is offering the first gay nude luxury cruise. Scheduled for mid-May, the weeklong voyage, geared toward men, will begin in Rome and continue down Italy’s Amalfi coast and on to the Greek islands. Travelers can take cooking classes, mingle at cocktail parties or simply lounge on deck—all au naturel. Dress will be required, however, for land excursions, water sports and Olympic-themed soirees in which passengers are encouraged to dress up as gods or goddesses. Gay men “are looking for new ways to socialize,” says Source Events president Craig Smith.
“When people shed their clothes, it’s a great equalizer.”
Maid to Please Ah, the perfect man. He tends the bar, serves you and even washes the dishes, all without a whimper. The only catch is that he’s a robot—the latest attempt by Japanese researchers to care for their country’s rapidly aging population. Twenty percent of Japanese are older than 65, and robots are quickly taking the place of human companions, pets and caretakers. The new butler robot will be able to roll from the kitchen to the living room bearing a tray of tea. Robot nannies are already in use, as are hospital helpers—blue receptionists and green hosts that guide patients to the elevators and carry their bags. Researchers at the University of Tokyo and Kawada Industries, the brains behind the butlers, say these newfangled robots are clearly the future; studies estimate that by 2025, the Japanese robot industry will exceed ¥6 trillion in sales.
Beating someone may not be the most damaging way to get the truth out. A new study conducted by a team of British scientists analyzed the stress levels of 300 torture survivors of the former Yugoslavia. Those who experienced sham executions or threats of rape were just as susceptible to developing posttraumatic stress disorder as those subjected to physical torture. And both types of victims rated their stress levels equally high.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-23” author: “Lindsay Slosek”
The two sides have been running on different tracks for several months. As the Brits outlined their plans for withdrawal, in November and December of last year, the details of Bush’s surge were far from settled. But after several rounds of talks, the Americans were eventually satisfied that the reduction in force was geared to the security situation on the ground and not a politically inspired cut-and-run.
In fact, the British officials concede that P.M. Tony Blair has a strong political interest in starting the endgame for his engagement in Iraq before he hands over power to his political ally Gordon Brown. Democrats in Washington, meanwhile, treated the news as a flak jacket against GOP accusations that they support a policy of retreat. “No matter how the White House tries to spin it, the British government has decided to split with President Bush,” said Sen. Ted Kennedy.
Britain’s force has fallen from 40,000 troops in 2003 to 7,100. Blair said the number could “possibly” drop to below 5,000 by the end of the year. One Downing Street source says it’s “potentially the case” that all British troops could be out of Iraq by the end of 2008 if conditions allowed. But, he said, “we believe things are heading in that direction.” That puts the Brits on the same timeline as most of the Democratic candidates who want to succeed Bush in 2009.
The Solution The Problem: It’s been a tough 2007 for Pakistan’s president, Pervez Musharraf. With Islamic extremist attacks on the rise, the beleaguered prez is in desperate need of moderate allies to help him shore up his pro-Western government.
The Fix: Musharraf is reaching out to former P.M. Benazir Bhutto—who was removed from office in 1996 for alleged corruption—despite the fact that he blames his exiled foe for the country’s economic and political woes, according to Western diplomats in the region who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the subject. Ironically, they might make a perfect match. Personal issues aside, both politicians share a liberal, secular outlook. A Musharraf-Bhutto alliance could increase political stability and energize Pakistan’s moderates prior to elections later this year. Musharraf would likely hold onto the presidency, adding some democratic credentials, and Bhutto would be allowed to return home—and perhaps even play a hand in selecting the new P.M.
By the Numbers During Chun Yun, the 40-day period straddling the Lunar New Year, China hits the road. This year, rising prosperity has resulted in more Chinese travelers than ever.
2.17: Billions of trips taken by Chinese during Chun Yun, mostly to visit relatives.
156: Millions of rail trips taken by Chinese during the holiday; 3.9 million a day on a system designed for 2.4 million
140: Millions of trips taken by Americans during the peak season between Christmas and New Year’s Day.
2: Millions of Muslims who travel to the holy sites of Mecca during the Hajj.
India: White Heat Economic overheating was supposed to be a China problem. But India is heating up, too—and fast. Overall wholesale prices are growing at their fastest rate in two years. What’s more, policymakers seem unable to control the inflation—wholesale prices in India rose 7 percent in January despite rate hikes by the central bank.
The problem is India’s economic exceptionalism. While most emerging markets boom on manufacturing and commodities, India is driven by a service sector with 1 million white-collar workers, and their rapidly growing salaries are raising demand for nearly every kind of consumer good.
India’s protectionism, too, is a contributor to slower productivity growth. Bureaucratic red tape is rife, labor rules relatively strict and trade barriers high. Infrastructure problems are compounded by political logjams. “A big part of India’s inflation problem is that it’s a democracy,” says Julian Jessop, chief international economist for Capital Economics in London. All this makes it harder for rate hikes to work their magic on the economy quickly, as they do in other countries. What’s more, further rate hikes alone won’t solve India’s problems, and may well end up dampening the growth story and scaring away capital. Note to policymakers: investors may be more willing and able to ditch Indian equities than to scrap plans for a new factory in China.
The Solution The Problem: Sherlock Holmes had an encyclopedic knowledge of footprints, but that’s not how it works for real detectives. Identifying footprints left at crime scenes stalls many an investigation.
The Fix: Britain’s Forensic Science Service has launched a tool that may help catch criminals red-footed. It’s a database of thousands of shoes, designed to help police identify marks left at crime scenes—and fast. Believed to be the first system of its kind, the Footwear Intelligence Tool will be updated daily and stores details from thousands of patterns—from shoe type, color and branding to distinguishing scuffs. British authorities hope the program, which has already noted 1,000 unique marks on Nike training shoes, will link suspects to unsolved crimes; it may even connect crimes carried out by the same person. It may also help identify what type of shoes are preferred by different criminals, via “Cinderella analysis,” which examines footfall angles and weight distribution.
Therapy: The Price of Caring We know thousands of the troops returning from Iraq will need help to fend off the nightmares they’ve lived through there. But so, too, may many of the therapists who have experienced those traumas secondhand. A study of civilian social workers in the journal Social Work by Brian Bride, an assistant professor at the University of Georgia, shows 15 percent experience posttraumatic stress disorder in their lifetimes, compared with just 7.8 percent of the general population. Forty percent of participants reported thinking about their traumatized clients repeatedly and unintentionally; 28 percent reported difficulty concentrating and 26 percent felt emotionally numb. This “secondary traumatic stress” could reduce the quality of care social workers provide and may be responsible for driving people from the profession, says Bride.
A Vital Deadline America’s endangered Species Act, passed in 1973, outlawed activities likely to harm endangered animals. Banning development on private land—which is home to 90 percent of endangered beasts—was one new measure expected to boost the animals’ chances of survival.
It doesn’t appear to have worked. A recent study of private land by a group of economists led by John List at the University of Chicago reveals that when landowners hear that U.S. wildlife authorities plan to add an animal to the endangered list, they tend to cash in on their investment by building on their property while they still can, damaging a precious potential habitat. They have bureaucracy to thank: the lag time between the publication of new maps locating endangered species and the area’s official designation as a no-development zone can last more than a year, according to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, giving landowners time to rush development into the works. This is exactly what happened in Arizona, where landowners pushed forward construction projects after the government released a map of the proposed conservation zone for the endangered pygmy owl. “We’re pretty much in a backlog for everything we do, just because of the amount of work we have coming in,” says Valerie Fellows, a media liaison for the wildlife authority. “We’re not always able to make those deadlines.” The delays will continue unless Congress passes new legislation. Until then, such delays will remain one reason that of the more than 1,300 species officially listed since 1973, only 18 are no longer considered endangered.
Reality Check Hybrid cars may be more dangerous than previously assumed. The U.S. National Federation of the Blind is requesting that automakers redesign hybrids to make more noise—because they’re too quiet for blind pedestrians to hear. The NFB wants a device to be built into the axle that would make noise as the wheels rotate. Of course, noise-pollution activists might have something to say about that.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-30” author: “Christa Lagrand”
Whether they have the right stuff remains to be seen. The Taliban recruits mainly young, poorly educated, native Afghans, says Reuven Paz, an Israeli expert on radical Islam. But recent research shows that age and education help to make a better bomber. Efraim Benmelech of Harvard and Claude Berrebi of the RAND Corp. recently analyzed 151 Palestinian suicide attacks from 2000 to 2005. They found that a 25-year-old bomber averages five more victims than an 18-year-old, while a college-educated attacker will likely kill six more than a lesser-educated peer. The educated are also 50 percent less likely to get caught prior to detonation. And females are just as deadly as males.
This applies in Iraq, too, where the average age of suicide bombers is between 25 and 27. Most received a university education, and some have come from prestigious families.
Although research on suicide bombers is more thorough than ever before, experts warn that relying on profiles could be risky. “Whether someone is successful as a suicide bomber has less to do with their age and more to do with whether they’re hooked up to people that have a good plan, good intelligence,” says Evan Kohlmann, a U.S.-based terrorism expert. He says the Taliban has vastly improved on this front, in part by adopting the Iraqi tactic of filming and glamorizing bombing missions as a recruiting tool. “It’s amazing the impact this propaganda has,” he says. “It becomes easier and easier to recruit.” And that may give the Taliban its pick of martyrs for future attacks.
THAILAN Emerging Evidence Has Thailand fallen off the investment map? The recent coup by officers with a pastoral vision of a self-reliant nation is said to be scaring off investors. Last week the Finance minister resigned in protest. But look closer.
Not all investors are running. Those from Singapore and Malaysia are cutting back, but in January the Japanese invested $318 million, up 100 percent from last January. China’s stake rose sevenfold. Thailand is now a barometer of investor moods, with big players ignoring politics, staying in for the long haul. The rub: the junta may, too.
DEMOCRACY Big Man Walking On a continent infamous for Big Man rule, the United Nations is trying to push power to the villages. In a trial run in Tiby, Mali, the U.N. Millennium Village Project is granting the few hundred villagers $250,000 over five years and the help of Ph.D. -wielding experts to develop their own plan to attack poverty aid. Together, they are working out ways to encourage kids to study, fertilize barren fields, distribute mosquito nets and build a new school and health clinic. Tiby will be a test case for the government of Mali and other nations—Senegal, Nigeria and Ghana—where leaders are open to shifting power to the countryside. For states that have been top-heavy since colonial days, this is radical. But Tiby special envoy Changa Diarra is optimistic. “We’ll put in a system to leave poverty behind,” he says. “There’s no limit for us in Tiby.”
Myth vs. Fact Americans are notoriously anti-smoking, but Barack Obama—an occasional puffer—is proving that smoking can still be sexy.
MYTH: There’s nothing more off-putting than the hoarse baritone of a smoker.
FACT: Smoking does indeed dry out vocal cords. But “many famous voices in history have pathologies that are part of their vocal signatures,” says David Witsell, the head of Duke University’s Voice Care Center, noting that the smoking-induced nodules on Johnny Cash’s vocal cords helped create his unique sound.
MYTH: Health-obsessed Americans would never elect a smoker.
FACT: Although the White House has had a no-smoking policy since Bill Clinton’s cigar era, Obama would be in good company—Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s cigarette holder helped add to his mystique.
MOVIES To Boldly Go … On? Fans of the “Star Trek” franchise love forward-looking stories, but for a while now they’ve had to live in the past. Trekkers flocked to Christie’s auction house this past October, snapping up more than $7 million worth of props and costumes from the show. The Christie’s auction highlights the franchise’s obsessive fan base and rich mythology. But does “Star Trek” have a future? That question will get an answer in 2008, when the as-yet-untitled 11th “Trek” film is scheduled for release. J. J. Abrams, the man behind such hit television shows as “Lost” and “Alias,” is in talks to direct. The film’s screenwriters, Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci, are not new to reviving iconic franchises. The pair wrote this summer’s live-action “Transformers” movie as well as “Mission: Impossible III.” Speculation on the film’s plot is rampant, and the writers would neither give cast details nor confirm rumors that “Trek” XI will be a prequel, focusing on Capt. James Kirk’s and Mr. Spock’s early days. Box-office profitability of “Trek” films has declined, and “Trek” XI has reportedly split the fan base. “This is the most pressure we’ve ever faced,” Orci says. “Star Trek” will live long—whether it prospers remains to be seen.
SECURITY Navy Seals The latest U.S. plan to boost security involves—dolphins and sea lions? The U.S. Navy recently announced it may use the animals to detect and seize seaborne attackers at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor in the state of Washington. The animals will be deployed primarily at night, when humans—even with detection equipment—tend to be less effective. Fitted with an electronic beacon that alerts security teams upon contact with a swimmer, the dolphin could save the day. The fast-swimming sea lion will carry a cuff tethered to the security team that it can clamp to a swimmer’s leg, allowing the humans to reel him in.
Reality Check Doctors have long believed that children who went blind early in life had little hope of ever learning to see. But a new study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology shows just the opposite—that the brain remains malleable until about the age of 6, and at that point, sight can usually still be restored. Researchers hope that knowledge will help the more than 1 million blind children around the world.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-25” author: “Joy Bullock”
But this year, the bishops, led by Houston-area Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, have made a particular effort to express their dismay with politics as usual. “The next millennium requires a new kind of politics,” they say in the 20-page document obtained by NEWSWEEK, “focused more on moral principles than on the latest polls.” For the first time, the bishops provide 10 questions on social justice issues for Catholics to ask candidates. Already Catholics in major cities like Washington, D.C., and Cleveland are planning to invite candidates to public forums to say where they stand on each question. Says one church official, “The bishops are challenging Catholics to change a culture in which politics has become part of the problem rather than part of the solution.”
POLITICSTrumped Up
Donald Trump’s flirtation with the Reform Party has drawn so much buzz that his new book, “The America We Deserve,” will hit stores a month early, in December. “There’s a lot of dish in there,” says campaign manager Roger Stone. “Like, ‘Let me tell you why Bill Bradley is a jerk and what I would do about taxes’.” The book’s sales will help Trump decide if he’ll run, but Stone says he’s hiring field staff and opening a campaign office. Demand for Trump himself is so great that Stone sometimes fills in on political chat shows, causing producers to grumble. With dish like that, who can blame them?
MEXICOBaja Humbug
Nearly 300 Americans are facing eviction from their beach homes on a scenic promontory in Baja California Norte. The dispute stems from a 1973 Mexican land-reform program in which large plots were given to peasant groups for development. The groups in turn leased part of that land to individuals, including many Americans. But in a recent decision, Mexico’s Supreme Court overturned the land grants, ruling that the disputed property–180 acres in all–belonged to several private Mexican landowners who have titles dating back to the 1950s.
But few of the Americans are budging. “We’re not going anywhere, but we are stressing,” says Pat McIntire, a retiree who has lived there for three and a half years. Two weeks ago California Sen. Dianne Feinstein wrote to the Mexican Embassy, and Baja’s governor called for negotiations.
THE BUZZMeet the New Veep: That’s All Fols
Responding to Bill Bradley’s nomination surge, Al Gore rejiggered his campaign. Adviser left the Beltway for Nashville; suits made way for more casual garb. Now that he’s behind in some polls, can Al play underdog more convincingly? What the buzz on Gore 2.0?
Man of Action To convey energy, Gore trots around during speeches and ditches limos for walking tours at campaign stops.
Veep Style Along with lifting weights too buff up, Gore’s gone to an earth-tone wardrobe featuring lots of olive
Mountain Man Aides swear that since a stormy Mount Rainier hike this summer, Gore’s been on fire: ‘He went up a VP and came down a candidate.’
Biding Time You can only tinker with image so much before debates and actual voting. Gore will take his licks now; winning some primaries will ease his problems.
Trying Too Hard The press will never drop Gore’s ‘stiff’ label. His latest persona ain’t casual–it’s calculated. And he’s just uncool.
The Story of Me Al’s speeches are now more personal, citing his time in Vietnam. Plenty qualified, Gore sees the challenge is too connect emotionally.
ENCOUNTERSBlack Day for the President
Chris Tucker’s next movie, “Guess Who’s President?” might be subtitled “The Bill Clinton Story.” Researching his role as the nation’s first black chief exec, Tucker met with Jesse Jackson and soon found himself explaining the concept to Clinton in the Oval Office. “He laughed and said he thought he was the first black president,” says Tucker. The idea that Clinton, raised by a single parent and addicted to jazz and fast food, was the closest we had to a black president first surfaced in a New Yorker article last year. Before that, we thought he was Elvis.
ATTRACTIONSNo, Kids, You Can’t Eat It
Squidmania is coming. For the past two years, an unusual number of rare giant squids have turned up–dead but intact–in fishermen’s nets off New Zealand. Now museums around the world are snapping them up. “They are something of the new dinosaur for children,” says Smithsonian zoologist Clyde Roper (“Dr. Squid” to colleagues), who’s received one to study. Last week New York’s American Museum of Natural History unveiled its 25-foot Architeuthis (“Mr. Squid” to staff); T shirts are in the works. Breeding migrations may have caused the bumper crop, though one New Zealand biologist says: “We’re not likely to know why, ever.”
ARTLost Then Found
How do you lose a cow that can’t walk? Ask Chicago. “Uncle Sam” and “Millennium Cow,” both part of an outdoor art exhibit, recently flew to Washington for a party without incident. But when city staffers went to round them up at O’Hare airport days later, they’d gone missing. The misrouted bovines were shuffled to Buffalo. They were returned unharmed, but back home other cows weren’t so lucky. Vandals defaced and dehorned several of them this summer. A third of the fiberglass herd, in good repair, will soon be auctioned for charity.
RESTAURANTSThe Borscht Is Back in Town
Founded in 1927, the original Russian Tea Room was a legendary spot for New York celebs (and the tourists who gawk at them). In 1995, flamboyant restaurateur Warner LeRoy bought the RTR and closed it for a $20 million renovation, now almost complete. Peri lunched at the new RTR last week, and found: 1) atrocious service (we’ll chalk it up to opening-week jitters; 2) continued celeb patronage (actor Danny Aiello was there); and 3) decor too gaudy to be believed. Overheard from one diner: “I feel bad for Warner. He has such awful taste.”
RELIGIONSt. Katherine?
Katherine Drexel, the heiress who spent her fortune helping the poor, may soon become the second U.S.-born woman to be canonized. A Vatican board found no medical explanation for her two alleged cures, clearing the way for Pope John Paul II to deem them miracles–and her a saint.
HALLOWEENTrick or Tink
Gay or not, Tinky Winky is a gay-rights cause celebre. A gay weekly has accused JCPenney of leaving the Teletubby out of its Halloween-costume catalog because Jerry Falwell’s National Liberty Journal outed Tink last year. JCPenney calls the omission pure business: Tink doesn’t sell.
TRANSITIONA Good Heart
How does a leader wreck a country’s economy yet die an international hero? Julius Nyerere’s inefficient leadership dried up Tanzania’s funds, but Nyerere’s personality was irresistible. Absolute power never corrupted him: he earned $8,000 during his best year. His chosen honorific was Mwalimu–teacher. And under his direction Tanzania’s literacy level rose sharply. When Nyerere, 77, died of leukemia last week, the world lost a man of principle.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMSPECIAL LESS-SAFE-WORLD EDITION
THE CW CAN UNDERSTAND WHY SOME GOPS HAVE PROBLEMS WITH THE TEST-BAN TREATY. SO WHY DIDN’T THEY POSTPONE IT? KILLING IT SENDS TERRIBLE SIGNAL–AND GIVES DEMS AN ISSUE FOR 2000.
C.W.
Clinton - Humiliating loss augurs end of any cooperation with Congress. Sad it came to this.
Gore + Cuts quick ad blasting GOPs on nukes. Even manages to look a little presidential.
Bush = Not confident enough on treaty details to face press. Hit the books, Dubya.
Lott - Cuts off world’s nose to spite Clinton’s face. Now that’s statesmanship.
Helms - Refers to “Monica” in treaty debate. In case you forgot, this guy runs U.S. foreign policy.
Albright - Her top mission was to charm Helms, sell prez’s policy. She failed in both.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-02” author: “William Reeves”
Meanwhile, worried gunmakers have been squabbling over who should represent them on Capitol Hill. Industry leaders narrowly voted to hire Mercury Group, the same firm that lobbies, almost exclusively, for the National Rifle Association. Several major companies, including Glock and Smith & Wesson, opposed the move, saying the industry should separate interests from the hard-line NRA. “It’s difficult to have our own identity when we have their lobbyist,” says one exasperated gun exec. Amid the turmoil, there was one bit of good news for the gunmakers: last week an Ohio judge threw out Cincinnati’s lawsuit against them. Assuming the ruling stands, that’s one lawsuit down–and about 27 to go.
RESCUESWinter’s End
When the sun first peaked above the horizon at the U.S. South Pole research station recently, it signaled Antarctic spring. For Dr. Jerri Nielsen, the base’s only doctor, it also meant she would soon be going home. Nielsen, 47, discovered a lump in her breast last June, and started chemotherapy after an airdrop of supplies in July. “She’s responding to treatment,” says U.S. Air Force Col. Richard Saburro, and has kept working, too. But rising temps mean the Air National Guard can finally get in; Nielsen should be safely stateside by the end of the month.
NUKESA New Threat in South Asia
India and Pakistan have begun “weaponizing” the nuclear devices they first tested in 1998, senior Clinton administration officials now believe. Pakistan has already placed a nuclear warhead on some of its missiles, and India is responding in kind, they say. The officials voiced their worries shortly after the Senate scheduled a vote on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). India’s foreign minister recently hinted that New Delhi would sign the CTBT, which would likely bring Pakistan into the treaty as well and stop the nuclear-arms race in South Asia. But the administration fears the race will escalate if CTBT fails. One top administration official also says that last summer’s bloody border conflict over Kashmir came close to erupting into a full-scale Indo-Pakistan war–one he believes would “likely have gone nuclear.”
THE BUZZIt’s Time at Last: Show Me the Candy!
Although Christmas remains on top, Halloween is a strong no. 2 in holiday consumer spending. And it’s only getting bigger, growing steadily for the past few years. Candy, outfits and decorations don’t come cheap. So what’s the buzz on Boo Day?
Trick or Product: Growing trend: Kids trick or treating in stores. Cuts out the middleman, but also the profit?
Halloweekend: One group’s lobbying to observe Halloween on a Staurday every year. Less stress on parents, more fun for parties.
Terrifying Tykes: Boys want Darth Maul, Pokemon and wrestling costumes. Gals: The Powerpuff Girls and ‘Star Wars’ hero Queen Amidala.
The Great Pumpkin Shortage: Drought mean a run on pumpkins this fall, with plump one hard ti find. Buy early. Jesse the Costume: This year’s Monicas, the get-up you’ll see everywhere: (1) Jesse Ventura. (2) Austin Powers (the Dr. Evil/Mini-Me combo for Dad and Son should be huge).
EATERIESNo-Jean Scene
Reign, a new restaurant in Los Angeles, serves fried chicken, but getting a table is no picnic–especially if you’re dressed for one. The tony eatery, owned by New York Jets star Keyshawn Johnson, turns away soul-food-seeking celebs if they’re wearing jeans. Some employees say Keyshawn can’t keep his customers and his dress code, and have lobbied for a separate entrance for those who dress only for Oscar. But the NBA’s Shaquille O’Neal, denied when he showed up in denim, says he understands: “A rule is a rule.”
COMEDYLaugh and Dry
Looking for a captive audience? Try King Size laundry in New York, where comics Danny Cohen and Jodie Wasserman host their “Spin Cycle Comedy” show. Laughing or not, patrons are forced to fold and listen. In the wash: a national “Cheer Up America” tour coming to a Laundromat near you.
VITAL STATSNot Such a Small World After All
The earth’s population will hit 6 billion later this month. For the first time in 800 years, the new addition will likely be Indian.
3-BILLIONTH MAN (1960) When the world’s population reached a billion in 1804, the statistically typical new birth was an illiterate Asian male, born into poverty. In 1960, the 3-billionth human was male and Chinese, with five siblings and a life expectancy of 43.1 years.
6-BILLIONTH MAN (1999) By 2040, India will be the world’s most populous country. India’s birthrate has already exceeded China’s, making the 6-billionth citizen most likely the Indian son of a farm worker, with two siblings. He is expected to live 62.3 years.
AFTERLIFETaking Sprawl Lying Down
Suburban sprawl may threaten “livability,” but lately it’s also impinging on the dead. Developers in two Detroit suburbs have delayed projects this year after bulldozers turned up untended graveyards. In Virginia, a mall has accommodated a plot of Civil War graves still maintained by descendants. But population pressures may soon force the deceased, not developers, to yield: some cemeteries now offer rent-only sites, so that abandoned graves can be dug up when relatives let leases lapse.
TRENDSThanks a Lot, Gergory Peck
The man in the gray flannel suit defined a generation of style. Even now, fall’s latest fashion frenzy is cut from the same cloth. It seems gray flannel clogs, backpacks, headbands and bedding are everywhere - except on men.
TRANSITIONA Musical Poet
The death of trumpet master Art Farmer at 71 last week removes much of the sweetness from American jazz. A heartland guy from Iowa, Farmer was the bugler in school flag-raising ceremonies. He played with golden-age greats like Lionel Hampton and Charles Mingus and in 1959 formed the legendary Jazztet. A classicist who recorded Bach’s Brandenburg Concertos, Farmer invented the flumpet,a blend of trumpet and flugelhorn. He was unmatched for lyricism, as in the title song from his 1988 CD, “Blame It On My Youth,” where his muted horn creates a wordless poetry, singing of emotions too deep to be named.
Martin Davis, 72, who guided the successful development of entertainment giant Paramount Communications, died last week.
Conventional WisdomSPECIAL FORREST TRUMP EDITION
C.W. Forests + Clinton protects 40 million acres from developers. Hail to the tree hugger in chief. The Bomb + Senate disses test-ban treaty. Message to Third World: Go ahead, blow each other up. HMOs - House passes Patients’ Bill of Rights. Now even Harry and Louise may sue provider. McCain + Gaining on Bush in N.H. Dubya’s nightmare: The scrutiny of a two-horse race. Trump + Candidacy talk a publicity windfall. But Cybill Shepherd has much better hair. Mets + Old: Overpaid choke artists and New York joke. New: Subway series for Amazin’s?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-09” author: “Suzanne Barnett”
It was only a few weeks ago that U.S. officials exuded sympathy for the Russian victims of apartment bombings in Moscow, allegedly perpetrated by Islamic terrorists. The Clinton administration even suggested forming a joint U.S.-Russian front against terrorism. But Friday, the administration sent a different message. “Any resumption of general hostilities in Chechnya would damage Russia’s own interest and would further threaten stability in the entire northern Caucasus region,” warned State Department spokesman James Rubin.
RUSSIASpace Program for Sale
What’s an out-of-work cosmonaut to do? In August, Moscow mothballed Mir. Now the financially strapped Russian Space Agency is selling off its allotted crew time aboard the new International Space Station. NASA has purchased half of Russia’s 8,000 hours of research time on the ISS for $60 million. Last week Russian officials acknowledged they were in talks with the Japanese and Europeans about selling them time, too, to raise much-needed cash. Also picked up by NASA: seven cubic yards of Russia’s ISS storage space to hold scientific equipment. Russian officials say they’ll use the money from the sales to finish their sections of the ISS.
THE HOLOCAUSTBringing New Life to Auschwitz
Americans in Poland tend to visit the Nazi death camp Auschwitz but not the local city, Oswiecim. That’s about to change. Before WWII, Jews made up two thirds of the city’s population, filling 30 synagogues. On Nov. 8, the Auschwitz Jewish Center Foundation will mark the restoration of the city’s last remaining synagogue–one component of a Jewish cultural center, now under construction, that will celebrate the lives of local Jews who perished in the Holocaust. The center, designed by Arthur Rosenblatt (who also designed Washington, D.C.’s famed Holocaust Museum), will have seminar rooms, a library, a memorial wall, historic photos, genealogy records and a screening room for viewing testimonials of Holocaust survivors from Oswiecim (thanks to Steven Spielberg’s Shoah Foundation). The center’s executive director, Daniel Eisenstadt, is hoping the center will become a frequent destination for Polish schoolchildren on class trips.
THE BUZZShould Your Babies Sleep With You?
The Consumer Product Safety Commission warned last week against co-sleeping–infants sleeping next to parent. Its study found parents can roll over and suffocate babies. Critics call the data misleading. It’s all part of the war over for what’s best for Baby.
Sleep Easy Co-sleeping means more rest, less crying for the baby (and the parents). It also aids breast-feeding and mother-child bonding.
Baby on Board The CPSC says Baby’s safest on her back, in a crib, on a hard mattress, with no blankets, pillows or stuffed toys
Different Strokes Ethnic cultures where co-sleeping has always been the norm resent CPSC’s proclamation
Real Risks Co-sleeping deaths do happen (especially when parents are overweight or go to bed drunk). Is it better to be safe than cozy?
Mother, Nature We’re biologically wired to co-sleep. Baby cries when alone because he’s supposed to be with Mom. Parents have built-in alarms that keep then from crushing Junior.
SKYBOXESL.A. Eats It
As Los Angeles’s NBA teams take it to the hole in newly built Staples Center, those in the arena’s 176 skyboxes and 2,500 “premier” seats will be taking it to the piehole. The Levy Restaurant Group’s estimate of what it’ll serve in swank eats:
26,400 lb. of beef tenderloin 26,400 lb. of shrimp 17,600 lb. of Dungeness crab 22,000 lb. of fine cheeses 22,000 taffy apples 726,000 bottles of beer 1.2 million cups of Pepsi
MEDIASix Degrees From Hollywood
Testing the theory that all of us are connected by no more than six other people, the German weekly Die Zeit’s attempt to link Berlin falafel vendor Salah ben Ghaly to his hero, Marlon Brando, has Germany buzzing. The chain so far:
Ben Ghaly lived in Berlin with fellow Iraqu immigrant…
Asaad Al-Hashimi, who moved to L.A. He works with…
Ken Carlson, who is the boyfriend of…
Michelle Bevin, whose sorority sister in college was…
Christina Kutzer. Her film-producer father…
Patrick Palmer, who made ‘Don Juan DeMarco.’ Die Zeit awaits his call.
Brando starred in ‘Don Juan DeMarco’
FBI FINGERPRINTSOld-Time Wrong Verdict?
When mobster Adam Richetti met his end in Missouri’s sparkling new gas chamber in 1938, it closed one of the FBI’s most sensational cases: the fabled Union Station massacre in Kansas City. His execution also testified to the stunning powers of the fledgling FBI crime lab, which had matched a single fingerprint on a beer bottle to Richetti. Using the case as leverage, J. Edgar Hoover won the right for his agents to carry guns and make arrests. But now a lawyer for Richetti’s family plans to ask what may become a multimillion-dollar question: was Richetti guilty? “I don’t know,” says Robert Unger, the author of a 1997 study of the case, “and neither does the FBI.”
Unger argues that the crime lab simply faked the damning print on a bottle left behind by mobsters planning the assault. He points out that a top fingerprint expert had already cleared Richetti on the same evidence. No one claims Richetti, a convicted bank robber, was a nice man. But if attorney Gregory Leyh convinces a court that Unger is right, his client could sue the FBI for damages. An FBI spokesman says, “We stand by that investigation.”
NEWSPAPERS’Out of Town’ Is Out of Luck
Not everyone loves the Internet. This summer Hotalings, a century-old Times Square news seller, collapsed as customers for its 3,250 out-of-town publications found home news cheaper and easier online. In Cambridge, Mass., Harvard Square’s landmark Out of Town News also feels the Net’s byte. “People say, why spend $1 on a daily that’s five days late?” says Fred Cohen, whose family has sold papers there since WWI. Where to find Le Monde? The ‘burbs, where big new newsstands seem to fill a need for meeting places.
AGING BOOMERSDo We Tip the Optometrist?
Trust Los Angeles to make even aging hip. the toniest dining rooms in town are now supplying reading glasses–from L’Orangerie’s bookish tortoise rims to W Bar and Grill’s lettered lenses (above)–so fortysomethings can make out the bill in style. Next question: does Prada make a walker?
BASEBALLPrimo Pedro
Did Pedro Martinez just have the finest season ever by a pitcher? The Red Sox ace’s numbers–23-4, 2.08 earned run average, 312 strikeouts–don’t shine brighter than Sandy Koufax’s in 1965 (26-8, 2.04 ERA, 382 K’s) or Ron Guidry’s in ‘78 (25-3, 1.74 ERA, 248 K’s). But Martinez’s ERA was nearly three runs below the league average. Earlier greats never bested the rest by much more than two runs. A mere 37 walks all year makes him the most efficient power pitcher ever. A Bosox World Series? That would amaze.
Household Saint
Oseola McCarty, in 75 years of hand-washing others’ laundry, saved $250,000. In 1995 she became famous for giving $150,000 to endow scholarships for black students at her hometown University of Southern Mississippi. McCarty is dead at 91.
Judith Campbell Exner, who was romantically linked to President John F. Kennedy and reputed mob boss Sam Giancana, died of breast cancer last week at 65.
Conventional WisdomGOING TO THE MAT EDITION
THIS TIME NEXT YEAR WE’LL BE IN THE HEAT OF THE ELECTIONS. BUT SOME CANDIDATES ARE MELTING DOWN ALREADY. THANKS, WRESTLERS, REAL-ESTATE MOGULS AND ACTORS, FOR ENTERTAINING THE CW.
C.W.
Gore = Says he and Bradley are “like Coke and Pepsi.” Problem: Neither has much fizz.
G. W. Bush + Attacks House GOPs for dissing the working poor. Shrewd triangulation, dude.
Bauer - Christian Right candidate loudly denies affair with aide. Thanks for sharing, Gary.
Beatty + Hollywood Hamlet doesn’t declare but scores with populist attack on “money power.”
Ventura = Says wants to come back as a “38 DD bra.” But his cup runneth over.
Morris = Mixed reviews for his Reagan autobiography. Next: “My Life With Harry Potter.”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-25” author: “Robert Brown”
But this year, the bishops, led by Houston-area Bishop Joseph Fiorenza, have made a particular effort to express their dismay with politics as usual. “The next millennium requires a new kind of politics,” the bishops say in the 20-page document obtained by NEWSWEEK, “focused more on moral principles than on the latest polls.” For the first time, the bishops provide 10 questions on social-justice issues for Catholics to ask candidates. Already Catholics in major cities like Washington, D.C., and Cleveland are planning to invite candidates to public forums to say where they stand on each question. Says one church official, “The bishops are challenging Catholics to change a culture in which politics has become part of the problem rather than part of the solution.”
MEXICOBaja Humbug
Nearly 300 Americans are facing eviction from their beach homes on a scenic promontory in Northern Baja California. The dispute stems from a 1973 Mexican land reform program that gave large plots to peasant groups for development. The groups leased some of the land to individuals, including many Americans. But Mexico’s Supreme Court recently ruled that the disputed property–180 acres in all–belonged to several private Mexican landowners who have titles dating back to the ’50s. Few of the Americans are budging. “We’re not going anywhere,” says Pat McIntire, a retiree who has lived in Baja for three and a half years. Last week California Sen. Dianne Feinstein complained to the Mexican Embassy, and Baja’s governor called for negotiations.
EUROPELooking East
The European Union is slowly creeping eastward. Last week it recommended that negotiations for membership, which are already underway for six countries, be extended next year to another six: Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta and Slovakia. European Commission President Romano Prodi declared that the EU cannot risk looking like it failed to reach out, especially to countries that are in danger of backsliding on reforms.
The EU also issued report cards on the candidates. While generally praising countries like Hungary and Poland, it was sharply critical of the Czech Republic, noting that it “needs to make serious progress” in such areas as privatization and price liberalization.
POOP SCOOPStreet Cleaning
Giant billboards across Paris are taking aim at dog owners who don’t pick up after their pooches. One shows a blind man skewering dog excrement on his walking stick. The slogan reads: “You’re right not to pick it up, he does it very well for you.”
ATTRACTIONSNo, Kids, You Can’t Eat It
Squidmania is coming. For the past two years, an unusual number of giant squids–never observed alive– have turned up dead (but intact) in fishermen’s nets off New Zealand. Now museums from Florida to Taiwan are snapping them up. “They are something of the new dinosaur for children,” says Smithsonian zoologist Clyde Roper, who received a frozen one to study. Last week New York’s American Museum of Natural History unveiled its 25-foot Architeuthis.
BYLINESA Welcome to Anna Quindlen
This week marks Anna Quindlen’s debut as a NEWSWEEK columnist. In 1994 the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and best-selling novelist left The New York Times, where she wrote the “Public and Private” op-ed column, to devote herself to fiction. Did she miss the journalistic wars in her five years away? “Sometimes I’ve had a faint hankering to write,” Quindlen says, “but not at the times you’d expect. I wasn’t particularly interested in the sorry spectacle of the president and the intern. But occasionally I’d read a story about one of the subjects that perennially interest me–poverty, welfare reform, reproductive rights, the lives of women and people of color–and think that I could have made something of it.”
Her new family at NEWSWEEK is sure she would have–and now will, for all our readers around the world.
POLITICSTrumped Up
Donald Trump’s flirtation with the Reform Party has drawn so much buzz that his new book, “The America We Deserve,” will hit stores a month early, in December. “There’s a lot of dish in there,” says campaign manager Roger Stone. “Like ‘Let me tell you why Bill Bradley is a jerk and what I would do about taxes’.” The book’s sales will help Trump decide if he’ll run, but Stone says he’s hiring field staff and opening a campaign office. Demand for Trump himself is so great that Stone sometimes fills in on political chat shows, causing producers to grumble. With dish like that, who can blame them?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-11” author: “Tammy Seever”
Insiders say Hillary, who expects to spend $25 million before Election Day, is loath to begin depleting her campaign treasury until she announces officially, probably early next year. (She has watched Al Gore spend down his own war chest.) Relying on grass-roots volunteers and old friends like Harold Ickes, a veteran of her husband’s White House campaigns, Hillary has been able to avoid hiring a high-priced campaign manager, who would rack up more bills. An official hire could also ratchet up press scrutiny–magnifying even minor gaffes. But insiders say she is now debating whether it’s time to beef up her staff, if only to soothe anxious supporters. “When we do have a candidate and we do have a campaign,” Rangel told NEWSWEEK, “I will be ready to engage.”
OLYMPICSHard Questions
What could be more embarrassing for International Olympic Committee president Juan Antonio Samaranch than appearing at October’s congressional hearing on Olympic corruption? Perhaps not turning up. If he testifies, the questioning could be rough. But if he’s a no-show, he’ll be subpoenaed, Hill sources say. His name will go on a “watch list”; if he tries to enter the country, he could be held up while officials alert Congress he’s available to be served. An IOC spokesman said Samaranch has not yet received a request to attend the hearings.
EXCLUSIVEGehry’s New Guggenheim
The Guggenheim Museum is hoping to repeat the huge success of its branch in Bilbao, Spain, with a new museum on its home turf in New York City. Last year, when word leaked out that Frank Gehry, the California architect who designed the Bilbao project, was working on a scheme for a possible Hudson River site in Manhattan, neighborhood residents were outraged. The idea seemed dead. But NEWSWEEK has learned that last week Gehry was scheduled to present city officials with a plan for a different site, on the East River in lower Manhattan. The proposed new museum is said to be close in scale to the Bilbao museum–about 250,000 square feet; it reportedly would showcase video and new media, architecture and design, and performing arts. A New York City Economic Development Corporation spokesman refused to comment, saying, “It’s our policy not to discuss proposals under evaluation.”
THE BUZZReaction Re: ‘Action,’ and Other Fall TV Fare
Controversy greeted fall’s new shows. The NAACP vowed to boycott the nets over a lack of minority characters, while the usual grumps mourned our falling standards. This offered a pleasant distraction from the shows themselves.
Which Minorities? In fact, figures say blacks are proportionally represented. It’s Asian and Latinos who should be steamed.
Dawson Senior ‘Once and Again’ counters teen shows, handing oldsters a high school plot line.
Too Mean? Fox’s ‘Action’ boasts a stinging wit, but Jay Mohr’s character may just be too darn sleazy for viewers.
Truly White House ‘The West Wing’ is a solid success (with viewers and advertisers), but no color in a liberal administration? A real West Wing source called it “tacky.”
And Again? ‘Now and Again’ won raves: Almost too hip for CBS! Lingering question: Can it live up to the pilot, or will it run out of ideas?
CARSWar… What Is It Good For?
Why should Schwarzenegger have all the fun? Now the average Joe–and 22 close friends–can rent a 40-foot “Hummersine” for prom night (or WWIII). Here’s what to expect for $300 an hour.
Smoke machine: Don’t panic, it’s not a grenade. Press a button under the back seat and cloud the chassis in smoke.
Laser-light show: Disco-ball fiber-optic lighting sets the mood, with a dance floor below and a mirrored ceiling above.
Sony PlayStation: Boredom is not an option. Grab a semi-automatic joystick, pop in Command and Conquer and have the driver mix you a martini.
Jacuzzi: Two fit inside; six can sunbathe in seat belts on deck.
Surround sound: A 10-disc system with a subwoofer to blast soundtracks from your favorite flicks–“Platoon” or “The Thin Red Line,” perhaps.
SERVICEShopping With Someone Else’s Money? I’m There!
Wouldn’t it be sensible to leave life’s more important duties (for instance, consumption) to the experts? In this spirit, PERI chatted with some topnotch personal shoppers–Reilly and Mannix in New York, Bloom in Beverly Hills, Calif., and Hirsch in Hartford, Conn.
Mona Reilly Store: Paul Stuart
Clients: “These men are major executives. They don’t want us to know too much about their businesses.”
Strategy: “Sometimes wives come in and know exactly what they want for their husbands. Once I can team up with the wife, the husband breaks.”
Catherine Bloom Store: Neiman Marcus
Philosophy: “Everyone has their own taste. You have to see them through their eyes and not through your own eyes.”
House calls: “I’ll come to a house with a tailor and up to nine racks of clothes brought by a messenger. We’ll work from 9 to 9, sometimes.”
Linda Hirsch Store: Nordstrom
Strategy: “When a client insists on wearing something unflattering, I very nicely say, ‘I know you love that, but why don’t you try this on, too?’”
On working with men and women: “You get more give-and-take with a woman. The men are pretty much just putty in your hands.”
Laura Mannix Store: Barneys Celeb
Clients: Harrison Ford, Cindy Crawford, Mariah Carey, Danielle Steel
Biggest Sale: $120,000 in a single afternoon
Pet Peeve: “Sometimes an actor won’t wear underwear to a fitting. It’s not a big deal, but you would think if they knew they’d be trying clothes on…”
;WHAT TO WEARBack to Back-to-School Shopping
Only a month into school and some fall fashions are already on their way out. With online shopping and more catalogs than course books, it’s no wonder trends expire after a week. Before you go back to the mall, make sure you know what’s hot–and not.
FUBU orange fades set the pace for fall
Bohemian beaded unisex bracelets
Jeans embroidered at the hem
Animal skins, true or faux, stalking schools
Walking waitress look has stopped taking orders
Powerbeads’ healing hype on hiatus
A classic for kids, but designers say Tech vest has had its day.
TRANSITIONMisha’s Partner
While her husband fought the Soviet bureaucracy, Raisa Gorbachev taunted it. Flashing her credit card, hectoring peasants to modernize, the former professor of Marxism-Leninism partnered the reforms of Mikhail’s 1985-91 regime. He was at her side when she died at 67, of leukemia.
When George C. Scott won as best actor at the 1971 Academy Awards for “Patton,” he was at home, watching ice hockey. His raging, noble alpha-male presence was one of the defining images of the ’60s and ’70s. Scott died last week at 71 of a ruptured artery in his stomach.
SPACEFar Out!
In November, California-based Aerospace Corp. plans to launch two thumbnail-size satellites that may revolutionize space hardware. The nonprofit outfit says the low-cost “nanosats” could be made “by the millions” to do the tasks of larger orbiters–or zip around other spacecraft to examine exterior malfunctions.
HABITATSA Tale of Two Cities
This fall sees the release of two new books on Celebration, Fla., Disney’s fledgling planned community. The town’s been up and down. Maybe it can learn from a 30-year-old experimental city whose residents tell PERI they truly love their neighborhood.
Co-op City Founded: December 1968, in the Bronx, N.Y., just north of Manhattan
Historical parallel: Built on the rubble of a defunct theme park–Freedomland
Size: More than 15,000 apartments in 35 different buildings. Population: about 45,000.
Makeup and early troubles: Wildly diverse, mostly middle class. The 1970s saw a bitter rent strike over rising costs.
Architecture, price: Design has been called ‘a disgrace to humanity.’ 1BR cost: $5,850 plus $430 monthly.
Celebration Founded: First residents arrived in 1996. The town’s outside Orlando.
Historical parallel: Built next to the grounds of a theme park–Disney World
Size: Current population: 2,200. Expected: 12,000 to 15,000. The land covers 4,900 acres.
Makeup and early troubles: Much less diverse, upper-middle class. Many parents hate its progressive schools.
Architecture, price: World-renowned architects drafted its buildings and houses. Homes start at $180,000.
Conventional WisdomFUHRER FUROR EDITIONACHTUNG!
C.W. Buchanan - Locks and loads… a Luger and shoots himself in the foot with Hitler apologia. McCain + First GOP to show Pat the door. And his book is a best seller. All he needs is votes. Bush - Bad news: Pat on Reform ticket will suck up your votes. Worse: You’re sucking up to him. Bradley + Now even with VP in N.H. But watch flip-flops on ethanol and school vouchers. Gore - Moynihan says “he can’t be elected.” Will this month’s debate stop the bleeding? Trump + The Donald’s White House: Slots, super-models in Oval Off. Like Bill’s, only with class.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-27” author: “Jonathan Carlson”
That seemed to put the idea on the shelf. But rumors swirled that the Guggenheim was ex- ploring other possibilities, including Governor’s Island, a federal property in New York Harbor.
Now NEWSWEEK has learned that last week Gehry was scheduled to present city officials with a plan for a different site, on the East River in lower Manhattan. The Guggenheim already has a downtown branch of its famed Frank Lloyd Wright spiral on Fifth Avenue: an outpost in SoHo that has failed to attract the expected attendance and recently rented part of its ground floor to the chic Italian boutique Prada.
But the proposed new museum is said to be far more ambitious and close in scale to the Bilbao museum– about 250,000 square feet; it reportedly would showcase video and new media, architecture and design, and performing arts. A spokesman for the New York City Economic Development Corporation refused to comment, saying, “It’s our policy not to discuss proposals under evaluation.”
MALAYSIARising Up
The alleged poisoning three weeks ago of Malaysia’s jailed former deputy prime minister Anwar Ibrahim has galvanized his opposition coalition. Thousands are thronging rallies to hear his wife, Wan Azizah, and her cohorts speak. Last week the group named Anwar a candidate for prime minister in the coming elections. “We are all being poisoned slowly,” writes Internet author Sadri Zain. “Little doses of poison… are slowly killing the things we hold dear–freedom, justice, truth, democracy.”
MIDDLE EASTBackstage Talks
Though he remained mum in public, Bill Clinton was an active behind-the-scenes participant in the latest round of Middle East dealmaking. Aides say he even sacrificed much of his August vacation on Martha’s Vineyard for regular chats with Ehud Barak, Yasir Arafat and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. “That’s why he was late for golf,” said one aide. Now, though, he’s ready to claim a bit of credit. Said the aide: “He spent a lot of time on it, and it worked out.”
ANATOMY OF A TRENDThe Power of Buddha–And Beads
Ever wonder why teens in Paris and Potsdam wear the same style jeans? This week PERI launches an occasional look at how trends jump borders. In other words, how something that’s hot got that way. We kick off with Buddhism-inspired beaded bracelets, now making their rounds in New York and L.A. The story of how they conquered the United States and where they’re going next:
Sept. 1998: Inspired by Buddhist meditation bracelets and crystal healing, New York designer Zoe Metro has the idea for a line of beaded jewelry.
Jan. 1999: Metro launches her Stella Pace line, including what she calls Power Beads, bracelets that are color coded by the ‘power’ of their stones.
May 1999: Self magazine, having spotted several celebrities wearing the beads, runs a full-page story on the bracelets. Sales skyrocket. U.S. wholesalers take off for East Asia to have copies made.
July: By now Ricky Martin and Madonna have worn them.
August: Factories in Asia have successfully reproduced the designs, in every material from glass to plastic. Within weeks, New York street vendor stalls are overflowing with Power-Bead knockoffs.
September: Bracelets go on sale in Printemps and Harrods; a German fashion mag runs the story.
October: Metro plans to fly to London to open a showroom beginning a major marketing push into Europe.
TRANSITIONMisha’s Partner
While her husband fought the Soviet bureaucracy, Raisa Gorbachev taunted it. Flashing her credit card, coddling French couturiers, hectoring peasants to modernize, the former professor of Marxism-Leninism partnered the reforms of Mikhail’s 1985-91 presidency. Unlike her dowdy (or invisible) predecessors, she stood at her husband’s side publicly–in furs and flaming red hair–to the deep resentment of the gray nomenklatura. He was at her side when she died at 67, of leukemia.
Steven Strasser
Financial Times correspondent Sander Thoenes was just 30 when he was gunned down last week in East Timor, pen and notebook in hand. In an editorial the FT remembered him as an outstanding journalist “of great flair and initiative.”
TELEVISIONThe Dutch Are Talking…
About the country’s latest daily TV show. “Big Brother” takes MTV’s “The Real World” one step further: they plan to show people having sex. But not explicitly. “It will be movements under the blankets,” explains executive producer and creator Paul Romer. Five men and four women have been housed inside a TV studio, together with 24 cameras and 59 microphones. To give an added bite of reality, audiences vote on who should be dropped from the show. Someone will be cut every other week until Dec. 31, when only three stars will remain. One of them will win a $120,000 prize. For those who can’t tap into RTL4, the Netherlands, there’s the Web site, at www.big-brother.nl.
1804 1 billion 1927 2 billion 1960 3 billion 1999 6 billion 2050 8.9 billion
1998: Under 15 30% 15 to 34 35 35 to 59 25 60 and over 10 2050: Under 15 20% 15 to 34 27 35 to 59 31 60 and over 22
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-25” author: “Heidi John”
TERRORISMBin Laden: Eyeing His Next Target?
Is Osama Bin Laden, the suspected terrorist mastermind, about to strike again? Last week ABC News reported that Bin Laden, a chief suspect in last summer’s deadly embassy bombings in East Africa, was “in the advanced stages” of planning a new attack against the United States, either here or abroad. But the FBI is downplaying the reports. A senior bureau official tells NEWSWEEK that there is no “hard intelligence” that the exiled Saudi millionaire is poised to attack. Still, the Feds are leaving little to chance. U.S. installations in the Middle East and Africa have been placed on high alert. And last week FBI headquarters in Washington issued a “terrorist threat advisory” to U.S. companies warning of the possibility of a Bin Laden strike. “The FBI continues to receive threats from individuals and organizations with ties to Bin Laden and his al-Qaeda organization,” according to the advisory, obtained by NEWSWEEK. One intercepted message even hinted at a possible strike against FBI headquarters, though that threat as well as the others are not considered “credible” by law enforcement officials. Still, the Feds cite several reasons for the “heightened” potential for terrorist attacks: the recent addition of Bin Laden to the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list; the upcoming first anniversary in August of the Africa bombings; and the active American search for Bin Laden, who is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan.
ITALYA Good Time for Crime
It’s easier to be bad in Italy, thanks to a recent parliamentary vote that turned 100 crimes into mere petty offenses. The measure was aimed at updating the country’s clogged justice system. Among the decriminalized acts:
HEALTHA Wake-Up Call to the World
Ninety percent of deaths by infectious disease are due to tuberculosis, HIV, diarrheal diseases, respiratory infections, measles and malaria, according to a World Health Organization report released last week. The six diseases are easily preventable, yet last year still caused more than 11 million deaths. Half of WHO members follow TB recommendations, and fewer have adopted HIV-prevention sex-education strategies. “[It’s] a wake-up to the world,” said WHO Director-General Gro Harlem Brundtland.
CAMPAIGN 2000A Family Affair
Gun control is now being defined as a “family” issue–and will soon be aimed by the Democrats directly at Texas Gov. George W. Bush. That was one of the clues to Campaign 2000 that emerged last week as Vice President Al Gore formally kicked off his presidential bid.
Polling for the Democrats has found more than 80 percent siding with Clinton and Gore over Bush on issues like mandatory gun locks, background checks at gun shows and opposition to concealed weapons. It was no coincidence that Gore criticized efforts to shield the gun industry from lawsuits just as Bush was signing a bill doing just that. “Guns have definitely become an issue that is connected to your children, especially for suburban women,” says a pollster for Clinton and Gore. “The school shootings have turned this into a first-tier issue.”
TRANSITIONLoony’s Lord
Vote for insanity–you know it makes sense!” So went the slogan of Screaming Lord Sutch, founder of the Official Monster Raving Loony Party. Sutch, 58, who died last week from an apparent suicide by hanging, lampooned British politics for more than 30 years. He ran for election more than 40 times in his trademark top hat and gold lame jacket. Sutch’s proposals included banning January and February to shorten winter and breeding fish in a wine lake so they could be caught already pickled. Born David Edward Sutch, he worked as a plumber and as a minor rock-and-roll star. He formed the Loony party in 1963 and changed his name to “Lord” in the 1970s.
HYPESole Searching
What’s Daniel Day-Lewis’s next project? To become a shoe cobbler, according to the Italian press. Papers last week reported that Day-Lewis, 42, who starred in the aptly named movie “My Left Foot,” is working as an apprentice under high-end shoemaker Stefano Bemer in Florence. Why? To get in touch with his “inner self,” the papers said. The truth: Day-Lewis spent time in Bemer’s shop for a series of fittings for a custom-made pair of shoes. Bemer, meanwhile, has spent the last week fending off calls from the press, and the exposure hasn’t helped his business. “I can’t even make shoes anymore,” he said. “I spend the day on the phone denying this.”
G-8On the Agenda: Safe Sex
Organizers of last week’s G8 summit in Cologne must have expected some of the 5,000 journalists in attendance to work the night shift. A complimentary press pack included a T shirt, bug repellent, a CD-ROM of the Cologne cathedral–and a pack of Durex condoms. Tagged with a safe-sex note from the Federal Center for Health Education, the condoms were meant to send a message. “We thought this would be a reminder that the disease is still rampant in many parts of the world,” said Center director Dr. Elisabeth Pott. But to some, the condoms signified Germans’ liberal attitudes toward sex. “You probably couldn’t get away with [this] in the States,” said a press aide. Several journalists asked for seconds.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-29” author: “Glenn Hoffman”
The toll this time: seven dead–four of them teenagers–plus Ashbrook, who shot himself in the head as officers arrived. Seven people were injured, three of them critically.
So far, police have found little in the way of motive except to say Ashbrook was “paranoid, someone who exhibits signs of being schizophrenic.”
If gunowners don’t have to be licensed, how do you keep guns out of the hands of schizophrenics? Ashbrook’s purchase of his 9-mm pistol, and a .380 that he also carried into the church, “was a legal transaction,” said Ft. Worth Acting Chief of Police Ralph Mendoza. Ashbrook had one marijuana arrest in 1971, police said, but no felony convictions and no record of psychiatric treatment. If he’d needed a license for his guns, he might have qualified. Handgun Control spokeswoman Naomi Praiss suggests that “community input” could help screen out people who are unstable, or that an alert clerk might have noticed something odd about Ashbrook. But the hard lesson of Ashbrook’s spree was that there are some dangers against which society might just not have a clear defense. Not even a prayer.
CROATIAVinesweepers
It’s the least heralded victim of Croatia’s war with Serbia: the nation’s wine country, left despoiled by land mines. But vintners in California’s Napa Valley have begun rescue efforts, raising $30,000 to sweep 12 acres in Dragalic, Croatia. The folks at Robert Mondavi, Beringer and Grgich Hills have handed the money to the United Nations, which is removing the mines. The property is in an area that before the war was a prolific wine-growing region. Says one: “It feels incredible to help put such destruction out of business.”
KAZAKHSTANUndiplomatic
Kazakhstan’s attempt to silence a key opposition politician backfired last week, leaving the republic with a diplomatic black eye. The trouble started Sept. 11, when Russian authorities arrested Akezhan Kazhegeldin in Moscow at the request of Kazakhstan’s state security agency. Kazakhstan wanted to force Kazhegeldin, a former prime minister, to return home to answer corruption charges. But U.S. and European diplomats, and human-rights groups, denounced the accusations as political, coming just a month before Kazakhstan’s parliamentary elections. The incident particularly riled Washington, which already was angry with Kazakhstan over the sale of some 4o jet fighters to North Korea. Eventually, Kazakhstan was forced to withdraw the request–a move that could only be regarded with deep embarrassment in authoritarian Central Asia.
IRAQSaddam’s Private Disneyland
Even dictators like to have fun. last week u.s. in-telligence declassified an aerial photograph that it said shows a private resort built by Saddam Hussein. The complex includes an amusement park, a man-made lake and two stadiums. Said a report accompanying the photo: “There is no clearer example of [Baghdad’s] lack of concern for the needs of its people.”
THE BUZZThe Spy Who Baked Me Cookies
All England went agog last week at 87-year-old granny/spy Melita Norwood, who proudly revealed she’d handed atomic secrets to the KGB half a century ago. Meanwhile, Los Alamos news keeps dribbling out. The buzz on espionage:
Upheaval at the CIA: It’s now fighting mob and drug cartels (whose encryptions the FBI can’t read). And Director George Tenet (with no intel background) has yet to earn its respect.
Slow But Steady: China and Russia take long-term approaches, running countless operations, many of which fail. America (less effectively) seeks quick fixes for immediate needs.
All Out: Israel does it best: Its spies don’t face rules the CIA does (e.g., no assassinations)
Oops: Why did we bomb China’s Belgrade embassy? Top photo analysts have left for the private satellite-imaging biz.
Weaknesses: Our security stinks, as evidenced by a recent major break-in by the Russians. They got root-level access to government computers.
FOODThis Piggy Had None
First there were jumbo shrimp; now there’s a new oxymoron to chew on: skinny pigs. In a recent study, British veterinary scientist John Owen of the University of Wales in Bangor says the taste for leaner pork has resulted in anorexic sows that are hyperactive and don’t eat or reproduce. “For 70 years genetic selection has been used to produce lean pigs, which are now almost as lean as chickens,” explains University of Wisconsin veterinarian Lennard Backstrom. “This is a very interesting theory, which people in the pig world are talking about.” Doubters cite low numbers of thin U.S. pigs: roughly 1,000 out of 100 million. Says pork expert David Meeker, “Pigs still eat like pigs.”
CONTESTSA Marianne for the Millennium
France’s fraternite of mayors is depriving women of their egalite. Or so say feminists. In November the country’s 36,000 mayors will select a new face to represent Marianne, the symbol of the French republic. Previous Marianne models have included Brigitte Bardot and Catherine Deneuve, the reigning symbol. The winner’s image will be memorialized in busts all across the country. “Haven’t the mayors got better things to do with their time?” asks writer Isabelle Alonso, a member of the feminist group Les Chiennes de Garde. Apparently not. The judges say their choice will be based on “who best represents the social values of the twenty-first century.” If the popular fave, actress Laeticia Casta, is any indication, that person is young, slim and has an ample bust of her own.
PETSFishy Friend
A new virtual pet is a swimming success in Japan. Vivarium’s “Seaman” sold more than 150,000 copies since July. “At first I thought the human-faced fish was just hideous,” admits Hitoshi Miki, 32, “but he began looking kind of cute. Now he is a very important part of my life.”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-20” author: “Mark Felix”
Though the pope has long stood against American and British action in Iraq, he denies that this trip has any political motive. “I would be saddened if anyone were to attach other meanings to this plan of mine,” he wrote in a July letter. “The pilgrimage would be exclusively religious.” It is widely known that one of the pope’s wishes before his death is to follow the path of Abraham, leaving his birthplace in the Iraqi city of Ur and traveling through Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel and Egypt. Said Vatican spokesman Joaquin Navarro-Valls, “This trip to the Middle East is one the Holy Father intensely desires to make.”
Before making the trip, the Vatican will have to apply for a humanitarian exemption from the U.N. Security Council, which imposed an air embargo on Iraq in 1990. A U.S. administration official told NEWSWEEK, “We would support such a waiver.” The official expressed concern, however, about the pope’s plans to meet with Saddam. “We plan to continue to discuss with the Vatican how best to ensure that the papal visit fulfills His Holiness’s desire to visit the city of Ur without burnishing the image of Saddam Hussein, one of the world’s great mass murderers.”
Bogota Busts?
Laurie Anne Hiett, the wife of an Army colonel assigned to the U.S. Embassy in Bogota, made headlines earlier this month when she was accused of mailing cocaine to the United States, a charge she denies. NEWSWEEK has learned she may not be the first embassy wife to be suspected of drug smuggling. According to two former U.S. diplomats who served at the Bogota embassy, in the mid-1990s the Colombian wife of a U.S. law-enforcement agent was found with two pounds of heroin taped to her body. She was attempting to board a U.S.-bound flight from Bogota’s international airport. Her husband was promptly dismissed, though he was never implicated. “The weirdest things happen in that embassy,” said one of the ex-diplomats. “Most of the staff is made up of non-Foreign Service officers… and that lends itself to the crazy atmosphere down there.”
KENNEDYSWill Carolyn’s Mother Sue?
Is Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s mother gearing up to sue for wrongful death? In filing documents last week that would give her control of her deceased daughters’ estates, Anne Freeman indicated there could be grounds for a wrongful-death or personal-injury lawsuit. Carolyn and John F. Kennedy Jr. were killed when their plane went down en route from New Jersey to a Kennedy family wedding in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts, in July. Carolyn’s sister Lauren also died in the crash. Lawyers say Freeman could sue the company that manufactured John Kennedy’s plane, the Federal Aviation Administration or even JFK Jr.’s estate, though her strongest case would likely be against her son-in-law’s assets. Freeman’s lawyer, Constantine P. Ralli, says Freeman hasn’t considered the possibility of a lawsuit yet.
TRANSITIONKing of Pop
When Leo Castelli died last week at the age of 91, it seemed like the art world had lost its emperor. The Trieste-born dealer opened his first New York art gallery in 1957, but the big-time abstract expressionists were already taken. So he discovered Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and Roy Lichtenstein, and showed Andy Warhol. In effect, Castelli created the pop-art scene whose kitschy irony, instant fame and frantic big bucks are still with us.
The painter Willem de Kooning once remarked that Castelli was so smooth he could sell beer cans. Sure enough, Johns made a pair in bronze and Leo quickly sold them to a famous collector. The art world is going to miss a magnificent talent like that.
DIANAGoodbye, Lady Di
The second anniversary of Princess Diana’s death came and went on Aug. 31, and Britain barely noticed. The mourning machine has been sputtering for months. Plans for a statue near Kensington Palace appear to have been scrapped. The museum at Althorp, her ancestral home, is no longer a hot ticket. And the market for Diana books is down. “We don’t even stock all the books coming out,” says a biography buyer. Wrote The Guardian, “Drained of novelty, the Diana narrative has dried up.”
WORDSYou, Ambitious. Me, Sex Crazed.
Microsoft’s new Encarta English Dictionary has made headlines around the world for being multicultural. Meanwhile, its Spanish dictionary has made headlines in Spain for being sexist. The dictionary, which comes with the Spanish version of Microsoft Word ‘97, offers different definitions for masculine and feminine words that have the same meaning. “It’s incredible that they could produce something so arbitrary,” said a spokeswoman for Spain’s Education and Culture Ministry. Some examples:
SPANISH ENGLISH MEANING MICROSOFT DICTIONARY DEFINITION jefe(m) boss leader, superior jefa (f) lady, housewife, landlady vendedor(m) salesperson shopowner, businessman vendedora (f) florist, gardener ansioso(m) anxious/yearning capricious, ambitious anxiosa (f) nymphomaniac juez(m) judge magistrate, director jueza (f) no definition given
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-08” author: “Robert Watson”
The tapes record at least some of the prisoners saying that “as soon as they get out of there, they were going to return to violence,” one law-enforcement official said. As a result, the Bureau of Prisons–which rarely participates in pardon and clemency debates–strongly recommended against leniency. This position was endorsed by the FBI and former federal prosecutors who brought the cases against the Puerto Ricans.
Republicans in Congress have accused the White House of playing politics on the issue, saying the president’s action was taken with Hillary Clinton’s Senate race in mind, hoping to shore up the large Puerto Rican vote in New York. But White House officials flatly denied those charges, saying that the review of the Puerto Ricans’ cases has been underway for four years–long before the First Lady ever thought of running for the Senate. White House spokesman Jim Kennedy said that “the president made his decision based on a full range of advice. This was strictly a presidential decision. The First Lady was not consulted as part of this process.”
A White House aide noted that the move was prompted by requests by dozens of members of Congress and several religious leaders, and that all of the nationalists who received clemency have publicly renounced violence. “They pose no danger to society now,” the aide said.
ABORTIONA Listening Law
A Wisconsin abortion law upheld by a federal appeals court last month gives women the option of hearing their fetuses’ heartbeats before undergoing the procedure. Listening to the heartbeat is optional, but the fact that abortion clinics must tell women they have that choice is being labeled “a coercive tactic” by pro-choice advocates. “They hope that a woman will hear the heartbeat and decide not to have an abortion,” says Planned Parenthood’s Amalia Vagts. The provision, the only one like it in the country, comes as part of the state’s mandatory 24-hour waiting period requiring women to read a booklet showing the fetus at various stages of development.
KENNEDYSA Lawsuit for Carolyn?
Is Carolyn Bessette Kennedy’s mother gearing up to sue for wrongful death? In filing documents last week that would give her control of her deceased daughters’ estates, Anne Freeman indicated there could be grounds for a wrongful-death or personal-injury lawsuit. Lawyers say Freeman could sue the company that manufactured John Kennedy’s plane, the Federal Aviation Administration or even JFK Jr.’s estate, though her strongest case would likely be against her son-in-law’s assets. Freeman’s lawyer, Constantine P. Ralli, says she hasn’t considered the possibility of a lawsuit yet.
THE BUZZIt’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Autumn means sports nirvanan. College and pro football begin, as do basketball and hockey. Meanwhile, baseball’s just starting to get interesting. An don’t forget tennis, golf, auto racing, soccer … What’s the buzz about the sporting life?
Golf: The Ryder Cup’s now a grudge match, as Europe keeps whupping us. Americans want redemption, and a Tiger-Sergio rematch.
Tennis: New and old rivalries are brewing. The Williams sisters could meet in the Open final, and everyone wants to see Agassi-Sampras.
Baseball: Sosa-McGwire II’s a pale sequel. But tight races and a possible subway series will give the game another boost.
Football: Retired: John Elway, Barry Sanders. Soon gone: Dan Marino, Jerry Rice. Upshot: A new NFL era with exciting new stars.
Nascar: Shocker: Jeff Gordon’s not atop the standings. Nonshocker: He’s still right in the hunt.
Goodbye, Di
The second anniversary of Princess Diana’s death came and went on Aug. 31, and even Britain barely noticed. The mourning machine has been sputtering for months. Plans for a statue of the princess near Kensington Palace appear to have been scrapped. The museum at Althorp, her ancestral home, is no longer a hot ticket. And the market for Diana books has dried up. “We don’t even stock all the books coming out,” says a biography buyer. At last, it seems, Diana is gone.
MAKEOVERSUpdated Signs of the Times
In the spirit of the Volkswagen Beetle and the $20 bill, more and more of our icons are getting a premillennial facelift. But if you ask us, the more things change …
Old: POP ART Andy Warhol turned the original into his magnum opus New: COMMERCE The new design, unveiled last week, just sells the soup
Old: CLASSIC Since 1912, L.L. Bean’s leather-and-rubber hunting galosh New: BOOTED UP Better leather + tougher rubber = more comfort
Old: REGAL The Cadillac hood ornament was once a sign of class New: SLICK Now it’s a sign of geezer-hood, hence the sleeker update
Old: URKEL On ‘Family Matters,’ Jaleel White was the uber-nerd New: CLAVIN Now, on UPN’s ‘Grown Ups,’ he’s fleeing his wimpy past
AMUSEMENT PARKSSummer Fun Turns Deadly
People go to amusement parks in search of thrills–but not like last week’s. Four accidents–including two fatalities-sparked urgent calls for more statewide regulation. Twelve states have no laws requiring government oversight of park rides. An industry spokesman, who calls these mishaps “a tragic coincidence,” says legislation isn’t needed. But California state Assemblyman Tom Torlakson disagrees: “If we do it for elevators and ski lifts, why not for these high-speed roller coasters?”
Aug. 22 Joshua Smurphat, 12, dies on the Drop Zone at Great America in Santa Clara, Calif. Aug. 23 Timothy Fan, 20, is killed riding the Shockwave at Kings Dominion in Doswell, Va. Aug. 23 Five people are injured on the GhostRider at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, Calif. Aug. 25 At Marine World in Vallejo, Calif., 28 riders are stranded on the Boomerang
THE MOVIE MAFIAGangsta Rep: Actors You Can’t Fugedabout
In congratulating Emmy Award nominees last week, Mayor Giuliani introduced the star of “The Sopranos” as “James Gandolfini, who I think I prosecuted once.” It’s easy to mix up all these mob players, so peri offers this guide to some of their many overlapping roles.
Actor: Tony Darrow Best wiseguy names: Angelo, Nunzio, Sonny Bunz
Actor: Vinny Pastore Best wiseguy names: Pussy Bompsiero, Carmine Ferraro, Tony Scarboni
Actor: Tony Sirico Best wiseguy names: Paulie Walnuts, Joey (The Heart) Aorta, Snake
Actor: Michael Imperioli Best wiseguy names: Christopher Moltisanti, Fabrizio, Spider
Actor: Joe Viterelli Best wiseguy names: Jelly, Gino Marchese, Clamato
Try this legal mindbender: how does a Web site get shut down for violating city zoning laws? Last week the Tampa, Fla., city council ruled that the Voyeur Dorm, a site where six college-age (and often naked) women offer peeks of themselves in their home, is a sexually oriented business that’s illegally located in a residential area. The site’s co-owner calls the decision a smoke screen: “The council has a morality issue and they’re going to try to take care of it with zoning.” Officials won’t enforce the ruling until the case is tried, but the Voyeur Dorm plans to fight the matter to the Supreme Court if necessary. That won’t be nearly as much fun to watch.
BREATHER SAVERAnonymous Air Freshener
How do you tell your boss his breath stinks? Forget that gift basket of breath mints. Call the Center for the Treatment of Breath Disorders’ toll-free number and it’ll do your dirty work. The CTBD will send an anonymous missive via e-mail or U.S. mail delicately breaking the news and offering helpful hints. Hundreds of callers have used the service since its launch last week. Now we can all breathe easier.
NOSTALGIAForget Atari, Let’s Watch ‘Voltron’!
Get ready to feel old. each year, beloit college in wisconsin gathers a list of cultural artifacts to remind Mom and Dad just how much separates them from their college-bound child. From that list, peri has fashioned a quiz only true ’80s children can pass:
- Explain what a “Trapper Keeper” is and where would you find one. 2. Is it be good or bad to run into a “whammy?” Where would you come across one? 3. How did Tina Yothers become a minor celebrity? 4. Where would you find a “Doozer”? What were they? 5. What were Garbage Pail Kids? What would you do with them? 6. Can you hum the theme song to the cartoon show “Inspector Gadget”? 6. What were Garbage Pail Kids? What would you do with them? 7. What cartoon’s theme song promised characters who were “more than meets the eye”?
Answers: 1. In grade school–it’s a multifaceted binder, complete with notebook, folders and pockets. 2. It’s bad–on the game show “Press Your Luck,” landing on a whammy cost you all your money. 3. She played Jennifer Keaton on television’s “Family Ties.” 4. On HBO’s “Fraggle Rock,” they were the tireless little architects whom the Fraggles would torment. 5. You collected them–they were gross-out cards that lampooned the Cabbage Patch Kids. 6. Can’t help you on this one; if you got it, you know it.
Conventional WisdomApocalypse Now? Edition
With the millennium still four long months away, the Days of Judgment seem already to be upon us. If you don’t believe it, check out the Weather Channel. C.W. Hurricanes = Stacked up like jets over La Guardia. The coast is toast. Fire - 10,000 firefighters battle West Coast blazes. Where have you gone, Smokey the Bear? Flood - Drought-ridden New York region prays for rain. But not all during one rush hour. Heat = Old: Global warming is unproven. New: Go to the sidewalk and fry an egg. Quake - A disaster of Biblical proportions. California, here it comes. Waco = Six years later, still sorting out unnatural disaster. Can’t blame this on Mother Earth.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-29” author: “Miguel Hurley”
As the idea gains steam, proponents are struggling to determine how to put such a requirement in place while respecting student confidentiality. Another challenge: train teachers to differentiate between the typical troublemaker who frequents the principal’s office and the disturbed child who fantasizes about shooting up his school. To help, FBI experts are preparing a report on student profiling, based on interviews with those on the front lines in the shootings in Littleton, Colo.; Paducah, Ky., and 12 other recent incidents. The young killers’ profiles were very similar, says one conference participant. “We may not be able to identify with 100 percent accuracy the kids who might do this. But we should be able to identify more kids who need help.”
CAMPAIGN 2000A Great Debate
Al Gore’s top campaign advisers are seriously weighing an unlikely move: setting up a series of debates with Bill Bradley–starting as soon as possible. Why? Proponents of the early-debate strategy argue that while the veep may not be a great speaker, he’s “an assassin as a debater.” Recent polls and punditry portray Bradley as “more electable” than Gore. Bradley’s centrist appeal, Gore advisers believe, is based in part on his basketball fame and small-town roots. Meanwhile, he is moving steadily left, a direction they contend will ultimately make him less appealing to key swing voters. “We can’t let Bradley get away with going left and looking right,” says a Gore adviser. “If debating is the only way to expose him, then so be it.”
CORRUPTIONScandal in the LAPD–Again
After weathering charges of racism and incompetence in the Rodney King and O. J. Simpson cases, the Los Angeles Police Department is again being rocked by scandal. In a plea agreement in a cocaine-theft case, former anti-gang cop Rafael Perez has implicated himself and other officers of the city’s Rampart Division in an array of alleged crimes including drug dealing, planting evidence, unlawful shooting, excessive use of force and perjury. An unarmed gang member Perez and a partner shot and paralyzed was freed from prison after Perez admitted he planted a gun on the man. Two officers in addition to Perez have been fired; 12 others have been suspended pending an investigation.
In an unrelated case, another former Rampart cop (and Perez’s best friend) was recently convicted of masterminding a $700,000 bank robbery. “It’s not a good day,” said LAPD Chief Bernard Parks.
THE BUZZThe Spy Who Baked Me Cookies
All England went agog last week at 87-year-old granny/spy Melita Norwood, who proudly revealed she’d handed atomic secrets to the KGB half a century ago. Meanwhile, Los Alamos news keeps dribbling out. The buzz on espionage:
Upheaval at the CIA: It’s now fighting mob and drug cartels (whose encryptions the FBI can’t read). And Director George Tenet (with no intel background) has yet to earn its respect.
Slow But Steady: China and Russia take long-term approaches, running countless operations, many of which fail. America (less effectively) seeks quick fixes for immediate needs.
All Out: Israel does it best: Its spies don’t face rules the CIA does (e.g., no assassinations)
Oops: Why did we bomb China’s Belgrade embassy? Top photo analysts have left for the private satellite-imaging biz.
Weaknesses: Our security stinks, as evidenced by a recent major break-in by the Russians. They got root-level access to government computers.
FOODPiggy Had None
Jumbo shrimp we understand, but anorexic pigs? In a recent study, British veterinary scientist John Owen says the taste for leaner pork has resulted in hyperactive sows that don’t eat or reproduce. “For 70 years genetic selection has been used to produce lean pigs, which are now almost as lean as chickens,” explains University of Wisconsin veterinarian Lennart Backstrom. Doubters cite low numbers of thin U.S. pigs: roughly 1,000 out of 100 million. Says pork expert David Meeker, “Pigs still eat like pigs.”
FOOTBALLNose Tackle?
Football: a game of inches–and superstitions. As the season kicks into gear, PERI examines some strange pigskin rituals.
Tom Nalen, Denver Broncos: Nalen doesn’t wash his practice gear, believing he’s building up a “natural seasoning” that will protect him.
Steve Young, San Francisco 49ers: At games on AstroTurf, brings his own dirt and rubs it before each offensive series.
Shar Pourdanesh, Pittsburgh Steelers: Tapes a letter from his mother to his thigh pad.
Corey Sears, Arizona Cardinals: Since high school, eats an entire lemon before each game.
BAD HEIR DAYSYoung, Rich and Miserable
The battle for Caleigh–4-year-old daughter of Revlon mogul Ron Perelman and Patricia Duff–rages on. Mom says it costs $4,400 a day to raise the tot. How? Start with a $19,500 desk. Other poor little rich girls:
Christina Onassis (Born: 1950 Died: 1988) Daughter of Aristotle and socialite Tina, Christina inherited a fortune estimated near $1 billion. After four unhappy marriages and struggles with various addictions, including food, drugs and Coca-Cola, she died at age 37.
Athina Roussel (Born: 1985) Christina’s daughter is sole heiress to the Onassis millions. Subject of kidnapping plots and wrangling over her upbringing, the 14-year-old lives with her dad. She once told her stepmother, “If I burn the money, there will be no problem.”
Barbara Hutton (Born: 1912 Died: 1979) The Woolworth fortune Hutton inherited in the 1930s would make her a near-billionaire in 1999 dollars. She died alone after squandering the fortune and failing at seven marriages–including five to titled men and one to Cary Grant.
Gloria Vanderbilt (Born: 1924) Heir to part of great-great-grandfather Cornelius’s railroad fortune, Vanderbilt endured a bitter custody battle between her free-living mother and her aunt. “Little Gloria” later resurfaced as a 1980s designer-blue-jeans brand name.
TRANSITIONEye of the Storm
W. Arthur Garrity Jr., the federal judge who ordered busing in Boston, lived to see the end of race as a factor in organizing the city’s schools. But the debate over his 1974 decision, which sparked violent protests, survives him. He died at 79.
Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, 66, underwent surgery for colon cancer last week, after falling ill in June.
CATNIPDon’t Smoke It!
Catnip purveyors love nepetalactone, even if they can’t say it. Since Iowa State University scientists reported last month that the same chemical that attracts cats also repels roaches, pet-product makers say catnip sales are “on fire.” But the leaf form leaves bugs unimpressed. Until roach-specific concentrates hit the market, says Iowa State’s Joel Coats, try catnip oil or sprays.
AWARDSFreezing Frenzy Heats Up
It’s an honor earned on ice but hotly contested. Late last week, Jimmy (Iceman) McNeil, the lone Canadian contender for Zamboni Driver of the Year, was trailing his top American rival, Al Sobotka, in this year’s online voting (www.zamboni.com). But a blast of Canadian support gave McNeil, who’s operated the ungainly ice-smoothing machines at Ontario’s Brantford Civic Centre for more than a decade, a 10,000-vote lead. “I’m very excited, but I’m not going to go overboard yet,” says the Iceman. “Voting doesn’t end until December.” If his edge holds against the Detroit Red Wings’ Sobotka, the Zamboni repairman’s son has a shot at the ultimate in ice-scraping: working the NHL All-Star game in January.
Uncloseted Cops
At last week’s international Conference of Gay and Lesbian Criminal Justice Professionals in San Diego, 120 cops from 73 agencies rated their departments’ policies on gays in the ranks. The best places to be out of the closet and behind the badge:
Gay-Friendly Forces Boston Police Department Key West, Fla., P.D. Los Angeles P.D. Los Angeles Co. Sheriff’s Dept. New York P.D. Portland, Ore., P.D. San Francisco P.D. San Francisco Sheriff’s Dept. Santa Rosa, Calif., P.D. San Diego P.D. Travis Co. Sheriff’s Dept. (Austin)
TELEVISIONGoing for the Gold Remote
Cable’s Retro TV Land network hopes tough trivia will ferret out the “Ultimate TV Fan.” When its nationwide search ends Friday in Los Angeles, the winner will get to program an hour of each week–for a year. Sample questions (and may the best couch potato carry the day):
Name the only two actors who appeared on the TV series “Gunsmoke” throughout the show’s 20- year run.
When Uncle Joe Carson isn’t helping run the Shady Rest Hotel on “Petticoat Junction,” what is his occupation in Hooterville?
In what city were the exterior shots of the police precinct filmed in “Hill St. Blues”?
On “Leave It to Beaver,” Lumpy’s real name is Clarence, and Whitey’s real name is Hubert. But what is the Beaver’s real name?
What TV Land character was born on April 1, 64 B.C., and spent nearly 2,000 years in solitary confinement before being set free by a NASA astronaut?
This family moved next door to the Bunkers before they moved on up and got a show of their own. Who are they?
What Broadway play inspired the TV series “Hogan’s Heroes”?
Answers: 1. James Arness and Milburn Stone.
Fire chief.
Chicago.
Theodore.
Jeannie.
The Jeffersons.
“Stalag 17.”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-22” author: “Nellie Dejesus”
Back home in Indianapolis, Wallace has turned his headquarters, a rented ranch house, into a rescue mission for his men. Most folks, he says, are eager to help. But a skeptical local press has called him an “international mystery,” wondering why missionaries would pack that many weapons. Though the Harare prosecutor originally charged them as “mercenaries” and “assassins,” he has since said that he “largely accepts” that they are missionaries. Blanchard has conceded that their protective arsenal “may have gone too far,” and the three are hoping to be let off with time served. As for Wallace, he believes they are being tested in the Biblical “furnace of adversity,” with Zimbabwe serving as the furnace.
Mystery Missile
A video clip, aired in North Korea Sept. 5, depicts strongman Kim Jong Il in a snowstorm, a ballistic missile partly visible in the background. But which missile? Japanese arms experts say maybe a three-stage Taepodong I–or maybe the dreaded Taepodong II, able to hit Alaska or Hawaii. Though Pyongyang has threatened since midsummer to test the Taepodong II, no one is sure it really exists. “I can’t tell,” admits one Japanese specialist. “After all, we don’t know what that one looks like.”
Diving Dollar, Strong Yen and Euro
Bullish new stats pushed Japan’s yen to a three-year high against the dollar last week; Tokyo sold yen to soften the trend. With Euroland growing, the euro’s up too. U.S. Treasury officials back a strong buck–but intervention looks unlikely.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “Virgil Shao”
The Htoo’s guerrilla group, God’s Army, collapsed in disarray shortly after the raid, and the twins fled into the jungle with a dozen followers, pursued by Thai and Burmese soldiers. Tipped off by some of the twins’ conventional dodging tactics (they changed out of their military uniforms and Luther shaved his head) followers began to suspect they had lost their alleged powers to turn invisible and evade bullets. In October, Johnny and Luther joined the Karen Natinal Union, and are now based some 35 kilometers inside Burma, opposite Thailand’s Kanchanaburi province. Johnny and Luther, say visitors, still enjoy sliding down hills on cardboard boxes and splashing in forest streams between battles.
LETDOWNSOh, Well, There’s Always Next Year
The year 2000 was full of hype, and some of its movers and moments lived up to it. Others, however, fell flat on their faces. PERI looks back on the year of expectation and selects a few that fell short of the lofty perches of prediction.
Talk about a bumpy road. Carmaking giant DaimlerChrysler hit some market potholes this year as shares plunged by as much as 50 percent amid a mess of a merger.
Expo 2000 in Hanover was no match for its predecessors, attracting less than half its predicted visitors. The world’s fair’s most memorable aspect? Expected losses of more than $1.5 billion.
South Africa’s Springboks rugby squad caved to New Zealand this year – forgivable – but then they lost to England…twice
Many ‘witnesses’ didn’t catch London’s Millennium Eve ‘River of Fire’ display – they ‘blinked and missed it.’ Well, there’s always next time.
Richard Li was Asia’s dot-com prince; now he’s one of its dot-bomb downfalls. He hasn’t gone bankrupt, but once a high flier, he’s now relying on his own cash and a nuts-and-bolts telecom business.
London’s Millennium Dome is all done, having failed to draw crowds. It’s now being torn to pieces – to be sold separately.
A medal-free Sydney and corruption allegations for Brazilian soccer coach Wanderley Luxemburgo were just too many lossesw – the team gave him the boot in September.
Pilgrims to the Vatican’s Jubilee shunned luxury for cheap eats and beds. Rome mourned its lire losses, but for the church, it wasn’t about profit.
FIRST PERSONA Paradise Lost?
Along the corniche from the East Timorese capital of Dili to the town of Liquica, 40 km west, hills plunge to the rocky coast and emerald lagoons studded with mangroves. On a drive last August, the beauty momentarily erased from my mind the reason for the trip: to report the search for victims of last year’s massacres when Indonesia-backed militias killed as many as 2,000 unarmed independence supporters. Evidence lies on the beckoning beaches. A dozen crosses marked the shallow graves where victims were hacked to death.
Indonesia is full of these shocking juxtapositions of beauty and barbarity. As I approached the Moluccan island of Tidore last July, its majestic volcano was crowned by thin clouds. On one side of the island sat the camp of the Islamic Protection Front that turns out jihad warriors. On the other, the charred shell of three churches torched by them during a raid in November 1999 that killed 10 people and forced Christians to flee.
RON MOREAU
FIRST PERSONThe Essence of The Olympiad
Sportswriters can be a cynical lot. And the Olympics has become fertile ground for cynics, with so much sanctimony wrapped in its five colored rings. Just look at the opening ceremonies; once a charming, indigenous pageant, they have escalated into homogenized Disneyfied fare. Maybe that’s why I was cranky despite being ensconced in a privileged perch for the opening of the 2000 Games in Sydney’s Olympic Stadium.
Have I mentioned the ceaseless parade of nations? Between the bitter cold and the relentless march – Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland…I was fairly numb by the time the Koreans entered the stadium. Not North Korea. Not South Korea. Just one Korea, 180 jubilant marchers in identical blazers and khakis, marching behind a single flag. More than a half century after Korea’s bitter divide, the two countries were, for this brief moment, one. The emotion and thunderous ovation from the crowd swept me to my feet. I found myself weeping, and was reminded of why I once treasured this spectacle. Sport can, at times, be a truly transcendent arena. And there remains occasional magic in the Olympic vision.
MARK STARR
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-26” author: “Brock Baremore”
As he was about to make a withdrawal from his Merrill Lynch account, local police showed up and questioned why he and his record mates were in the area. The conversation grew heated; Juvenile entered the bank to find someone to vouch for him. When he couldn’t, police detained his group in the back of a squad car–for several hours. It wasn’t until police could check out their story–they called Juvenile’s hotel and MTV–that the group was released.
Juvenile suspects Merrill Lynch called the police after seeing three black men with tattoos, baggy pants and diamond jewelry outside its building. Merrill Lynch denies this, saying that Del Mar police patrolling the area stopped to check a situation they considered suspicious. A Merrill Lynch spokesman apologized for not bringing a quick end to the ordeal. Del Mar police did not return calls.
Juvenile will leave his multi-million-dollar fortune at Merrill Lynch. “I could move it, but that won’t change being a black man and what that brings with it. This is life.”
Allison Samuels BUSHSide Show How to embarrass a front-running presidential candidate? Try a legal gambit. Texas environmentalists last year sued George W. Bush for violating their rights when state police arrested them for “obstructing” the sidewalk outside the governor’s mansion during a protest. Now, backed by top Democratic donor and trial lawyer John O’Quinn, the plaintiffs have moved to depose Bush. State lawyers tried to block the deposition, arguing W. wasn’t personally involved in the arrest decision. A hearing is set for July 26, just days before the GOP convention.
THE KENNEDYS To Sell or Not to Sell In the year since JFK Jr. crashed his plane into the ocean off Martha’s Vineyard, Mass., Kennedy watchers have wondered whether his sister, Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, would keep the Vineyard house the siblings inherited from their mother. The secluded shingled home was more a favorite of John’s; Caroline usually summers in New York’s Hamptons.
Now there are signs Caroline may intend to keep her Vineyard ties. Knowledgeable sources say a top local contractor has been hired to renovate the 19-room house for $1 million. So its sale is unlikely. “No one puts any serious money in a Vineyard house before selling it,” says a local property owner. Typically, the land is far more valuable than the structure(s), which buyers often tear down–before starting over.
THE BUZZ Chicken Down! Roll Tape! So far CBS’s “Big Brother” has had all the drama of a lobby surveillance tape. Seems like the closer we are to real voyeurism, the more boring things get. Here’s what people are saying over the airwaves, in the papers, on the Web and around the water cooler:
Brotherly Love It’s ‘been consistently and provocatively exposing and exploring some of the most sensitive areas of human existence.’ (N.Y. Daily News)
Big Drooler Everyone’s so stiff! Housemates are trying to act, not live. They ‘may be taking their cues from “Survivor” about minding their manners so they don’t get booted.’ (Inside.com)
Reality Bites Since when is toothbrushing provocative? On ‘Real World’ and ‘Survivor,’ editors ‘create a story to engage you.’ ‘Big Brother’ is ‘visual Novocain.’ (The Boston Globe)
I Will Survive Of course rat eaters get better ratings. In Europe the show started off slow, too, but built an audience. And, really, would you prefer another episode of ‘Diagnosis Murder’?
LIVE VOTE What should be done to curb unruly parents at their kids’ games? 1. Require that parents sign a code of ethics, attend sportsmanship training and take civility pledges. 2. Institute “Silent Saturdays,” where they aren’t allowed to talk. 3. If problems persist, ban them from attending. VOTE BY 5 P.M., EDT, FRIDAY, JULY 21, ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE What should Jerusalem’s future be? (48,465 responses) 6% The city should be a self-governing, Vatican-style state. 6% It should be divided between Jews and Palestinians. 46% Israel should have control. 42% A new Palestinian state should incorporate it.
TOYS Looking for the Next Play-Doh If someone greenlighted Sky Dancers–flying dolls recently recalled after they whizzed though the air unpredictably, injuring 150 people–then your toy idea is probably better than you think. And if you’ve got one, scout out The Great American Toy Hunt. Starting mid-September, Haystack Toys will go on a nine-city tour hunting for the next great American plaything. (Applications, at haystacktoys.com, are due Aug. 15.) Although the company will sift though “a lot of hay,” cofounder Dan Lauer says that “everyone’s got an idea that could make them rich.” Of course, it helps if that concept doesn’t require kids and parents to duck.
FAST CHAT Hey, Stepsis, Let’s Get It On! It couldn’t be further from reality. Well, most realities. MTV’s “Undressed,” which just entered its third season, is about one thing: taking everything off. With anyone. Anywhere. PERI talks to executive producer Roland Joffe.
JOFFE: I guess because I’m a human being, and this is a show about human beings. It’s like the Rosetta Stone–all these different languages saying the same thing. Well, “The Killing Fields” is one language and “Undressed” is another. This is TV for the year 2000. You don’t sit down to watch it like a conventional story. There’s a conversation going on that you can drop into and drop out of whenever you want.
No, that’s absolutely delightful. That’s a marvelous description.
CURRENCY Bureau of Nipping and Tucking Lots of folks have been calling the treasury about changes in the new fives and tens. NYC plastic surgeon Dr. Darrick Antell says, indeed, “Lincoln and Hamilton appear to have benefited from plastic surgery.”
Abe’s Makeover 1 Botox injections (for wrinkles) $600 2 Blepharoplasty (eye tuck) $2,500 3 Hair transplant $5,000 4 Rhinoplasty $6,000 Total $14,100 (2,820 Lincolns) plus anesthesia and hospital fees
Al’s Makeover 1 Botox injections $600 2 Chin liposuction $3,000 3 Face-lift $14,000 4 Hair transplant $5,000 5 Lip enhancement $2,500 6 Lower-lid tuck $3,500 Total $28,600 (2,860 Hamiltons) plus anesthesia and hospital fees
TELEVISION Broad Stripes and Bright TV Stars In 1952 the adman who put M&M’s “melts in your mouth, not in your hands” in all of our heads did the same with “I like Ike,” making image everything in presidential campaigns. This month the Museum of Television & Radio screens “Madison Avenue Goes to Washington: The History of Presidential Campaign Advertising”–and of the country that watched. Some highlights:
1952 Eisenhower in the first presidential TV spot. The “I like Ike” ad had Disney animation and Irving Berlin music. Dewey had declined doing ads in ‘48, calling them “undignified.”
1960 Kennedy’s image took off with ads featuring his young, attractive family, including this one of Jackie speaking Spanish. Others aired that year were the first to be shot on location.
1964 Johnson’s ads against Goldwater used emotion, as in the famous “Daisy” ad, instead of the hard sell. Another spot, which never ran, tried to link Goldwater to the KKK.
1984 Reagan’s “Morning in America” ads, using Rockwellian scenes for a visceral rather than intellectual effect, drove home that we were far better off than we were “four short years ago.”
1988 Bush produced some of the harshest ads; Dukakis failed to respond. The first negative campaign ad had appeared in Adlai Stevenson’s campaign in 1956.
TRANSITION A Hero of War In 1942 Jan Karski, an officer in the Polish underground, was smuggled by Jewish leaders into the Warsaw Ghetto and to a transit camp, where Jews were loaded into cattle cars, in order to witness what the leaders called “Hitler’s war against the Polish Jews.” Before leaving for the West, where he would deliver these first eyewitness accounts, Karski had several teeth pulled so that he couldn’t talk if he were stopped by the Germans on the way. Few could believe what he reported, but after he met with Roosevelt, the president told him, “We shall win this war!” Karski, a retired history professor at Georgetown University, died last week at 86. He would never return to his Polish homeland.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Smoke Gets in Your Eyes Edition Veepstakes winnowing begins: Gephardt flirts, then withdraws. Whitman feels frisky (smiling in photo while she searches a perp in N.J.), ending her chances. Let the beat go on.
C.W. George W. = Lone Star State budget shortfall gives Gore (low-caliber) debate ammo. Estate tax - Senate kills inheritance tax - but it’s only good for the richest 2 percent. Cheerio! Tobacco - Fla. jury kicks industry butt for $145 billion. Now watch that number go up in smoke. Philly = Over-the-top cops spoil preconvention hype, but whole thing will be forgotten in 3 weeks. Bakaly - Starr’s flack prosecuted for leaking. If that’s a crime, Beltway would be a penal colony. All-Stars - In interleague-play era, why bother? Especially when stars say, “I’ve got a headache.”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-21” author: “Ivan Borkholder”
Last Thursday Cheney’s staff called the finalists to brief them on what they needed to do: stay close to a land line–not a mobile phone–on Sunday night to await a call from Bush, and be available to travel all day Monday. Meanwhile, Cheney was dealing with voter-registration technicalities necessary to being on the ticket. Plagued by heart problems a decade ago, he also reportedly underwent a thorough physical in Washington.
On Saturday, Bush flew to Atlanta for the funeral of Sen. Paul Coverdell, where he planned to see his father. Cheney and his wife, Lynne, served in the elder Bush’s administration. Dubya was planning to make what one aide called the “go/no-go decision” on Sunday (and the resulting phone calls) at his ranch near Waco.
Another finalist in the veepstakes, Sen. Chuck Hagel of Nebraska, said that last week’s mini-frenzy for Sen. John McCain had left both the Bush and the McCain camps upset. “It’s too bad because it wasn’t either side’s fault, really,” he said, but more a result of the media. As for Hagel, he had momentarily left the pressure behind last Saturday to baby-sit in Washington for his two young children. “No better way to take your mind off politics,” he said with a laugh.
LOS ALAMOS Closing In The FBI may be close to filing criminal charges against the culprits responsible for the disappearance–and sudden reappearance–earlier this summer of two classified computer hard drives at the Los Alamos nuclear-weapons lab. Charges could also be brought against one or more lab officials for participating in a cover-up, government sources say. Defense lawyers for a few members of the Nuclear Emergency Search Team (NEST) have been cleared to handle classified material pertinent to the investigation. Lab sources say those NESTers are away on indefinite “vacations.”
INVESTIGATIONS A Curious Coelho Coincidence As complaints about his management style and questions about his business dealings intensified, Tony Coelho resigned as Al Gore’s presidential campaign chairman last month. The stated reason: poor health. Coelho was hospitalized for an inflamed colon; he was later diagnosed with a brain cyst. But coincidentally, just two days before he quit, the Securities and Exchange Commission notified AutoLend, a company of which he had been a director, that the agency’s enforcement staff intended to sue the company and its CEO, Nunzio DeSantis, for alleged violations of federal securities laws. Another company in which Coelho and DeSantis were involved faces a separate SEC investigation. A Democratic official hinted that the Gore campaign knew of the SEC problem before Coelho stepped down. Coelho’s lawyer said the SEC’s most recent move vindicates Coelho, because he is not a target, indicating that he did nothing wrong. AutoLend officials were not available for comment.
THE BUZZ I Wanna See Some Dead People The summer is only half over, but it may be finished when it comes to movies worth getting excited about. Bow down before your VCR! Here’s what people are saying over the airwaves, on the Web, in the papers and around the water cooler:
Witch Hunt ‘Category by category … it’s a very weak summer.’ (N.Y. Times) No blockbuster (‘Phantom’), no romantic comedy (‘Notting Hill’), no surprise (‘Blair Witch’).
Comic Genius ‘X-Men’ saved humanity, rescued the box office. ‘With quality “Batman” and “Star Trek” films absent … the large comic book/sci-fi crowd finally had an event film to rally around.’ (Inside.com)
Says Who? That’s white Hollywood talking. It’s been a fantastic summer for black audiences: ‘Scary Movie’ will be Miramax’s most successful film ever, ‘The Klumps’ is opening–and ‘Big Momma’s House’ outsold ‘Irene.’
The Party’s Over, Don’t expect a repeat of last August when moviegoers went to see ‘Blair Witch’and ‘Sixth Sense’ in scary numbers
PLACE YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M. EDT, JULY 28 Last Week’s Live Vote
What should be done to curb unruly parents at their kids’ games? (1,089 responses)
24% Require parents to sign a code of ethics, attend sportsmanship training and pledge civility. 4% Institute “Silent Saturdays,” where no talking is allowed. 72% If problems persist, ban them from attending.
FASHION Glam Bands Part fashion accessory, part conversation piece, Wordstretch rubber bands define office-supply chic. Bracelets, rings and “big bands” that enclose gifts with messages like it’s not a fruitcake have famous fans. Giorgio Armani loves cutie pie and Kevin Garnett sports don’t harsh my mellow. “They’re a conduit for connection,” says creator Ave Green. Who knew?
COINS Fight for the Wrights North Carolina and Ohio are giving no quarter in their battle over who owns the Wright brothers. Both states want the fliers representing them, now that the U.S. Mint is issuing commemorative quarters for every state. The idea for the world’s first human flight was born in Dayton, Ohio, but it took off at Kitty Hawk, N.C.
North Carolina has finalized its design: the brothers’ biplane above the words FIRST FLIGHT. But Ohio, whose quarter will come a year after North Carolina’s, hasn’t conceded defeat. “Giving North Carolina full credit for the Wright brothers is like giving the moon full credit for NASA,” said Ohio Gov. Bob Taft’s office. The likely outcome to the good-natured snit will be an Ohio birthplace of aviation quarter with John Glenn and the Wrights.
PUBLIC TRANSIT Fry Performance Call them McBuses.In an effort to improve air quality, Cincinnati is fueling its buses with a blend of recycled cooking oil and methanol. There’s no loss in power, but “it does smell like a fish fry,” says the National Biodiesel Association. At least you don’t have to worry about the cholesterol.
HEALTH Taking It One Step at a Time It’s practically America’s national anthem: why walk when something can do it for you. But not at the Centers for Disease Control, where researchers are concluding a two-year project designed to bolster their own use of those ascending platforms, a.k.a. “the stairs.” It worked: traffic climbed 14 percent at the Rhodes Building in Atlanta. Here’s how:
Painted Walls, New Carpet First, scientists decreased the Dingy Factor by painting the stairwells (sea blue, green and purple) and installing carpet Cost: $7,000 Traffic Increase: 1.2 percent
Art Work Second, project manager Nicole Kerr framed prints from lesser-known modern artists. Cost:$7,200 Traffic Increase: 6.7 percent
Inspirational Signage Finally, Kerr added motivational posters that stressed the benefits of exercise. “It’s kind of ironic,” she says, “that we have a lot of overweight people that work here.” Cost: $700 Traffic Increase: 6.2 percent
Total Cost: $14,900 Total Traffic Increase: 14.1 percent
VITAL STATS Neat Freaks Who needs the Playboy Channel when there’s Home & Garden Television? A survey sponsored by the cable channel found adults get more satisfaction from keeping their homes “neat and attractive” than they do from sex. Those must be some fine-looking houses.
HOW-TO It’s Not Your Ma’s Spin Cycle ESPN’s Great Outdoor Games kick off Thursday. One of the highlights is sure to be the logrolling finals. PERI asked women’s champion Tina Salzman, 26, of Lake Geneva, Wis., for a few tips on how to rock when you roll:
- Get the right equipment. “We take soccer shoes and then we cut the bottoms off. You buy special loggers’ cleats and make your own shoe. It’s like a golf spike–but it’s sharper and there are more of them.” 2) Balance is key. “Keep your upper body really still.” Picture “an imaginary line drawn from the top of your head, through your body, over the center of the log.” 3) “Never look at your own feet.” It’s a surefire way to eat wood. 4) Be the log. “You have to focus… Before a match, I just don’t want to talk to anyone. You can have the physical ability, but, if you don’t have it together mentally, you’re only a step away from water.”
TRANSITION A Quiet Leader Sen. Paul Coverdell, the influential Republican from Georgia, died last week after a massive cerebral hemorrhage. He was 61. First elected to the Senate in 1992, Coverdell had a quiet demeanor that belied a staunch partisan drive. He eschewed sound bites, gaining a reputation instead as a hard worker who took on unglamorous but important tasks. A close ally of Majority Leader Trent Lott and friend of the Bush family, Coverdell served as President Bush’s Peace Corps director and was the chief liaison in the Senate to George W. Bush’s presidential campaign. The former president called Coverdell “one of the kindest and most decent men I met in my entire life.”
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMSpecial ‘Razor’ Thin Edition
C.W. Clinton = Avoids Camp David meltdown (for now), but Jerusalem future is one thorny artichoke. Gore + Old: Stick a fork in him. New: Polls show this thing is tighter than a tick. Bush = Gets defensive over Al’s foray into his Texas backyard. Get used to it. Cheney + It’s him! (And if, after deadline, it’s not, remember: Never trust the CW.) Lott - Off-cuff TV gibe implies Hillary is currently anti-Semitic. So apologize, Helmet-Head. Armstrong + Cancer survivor heads for Tour de France repeat. But could he do it on a Razor?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-25” author: “Alison Mcmurtry”
DIPLOMACY A Makeover in Pyongyang It’s not quite Nixon going to China. But for post-cold-war drama, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright’s trip to North Korea this week comes pretty close. Her visit marks a possible end to 50 years of hostility between the two nations, and with more than 60 journalists in tow, it will throw open North Korea as never before to public view. It will also complete North Korean leader Kim Jong Il’s remarkable makeover in Western eyes. Only a year ago, notes one senior U.S. official, he was still seen as a puffy-haired kook; now the Americans view him as “a logical, thinking leader.” Many issues still confront the two nations–missile and nuclear proliferation, and Pyongyang’s presence on the U.S. list of terrorist-sponsoring states–and officials expect no major accords to come out of Albright’s visit. But the rapprochement, if it continues, will reduce America’s list of rogue states by one. And it may well remove a major threat to peace in Asia.
NEWSWEEK.COM LIVE VOTE
PLACE YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., EDT, OCT. 27
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE
Should the United States be brokering peace in the Middle East? (2,344 responses) 17% Yes, we’re a superpower. 36% Yes, it’s vital to our national interest. 8% No, it’s not our problem. 39% No, you can’t impose peace if the parties themselves don’t cooperate.
The Buzz Watch Me as I Pull Out My Electoral Votes! Who knows what Bush and Gore have up their sleeves as the race winds down? We do know it’s awfully close, which has Washington talking about some wacky scenarios. Here’s what people are saying in the papers, over the airwaves and on the Web:
Gore-y Details Gore wins A la Rutherford B. Hayes: he loses the popular vote, wins the electoral vote. How? Bush wins states by big margins; Gore ekes out victories in electorally rich states like Pa. and Fla.
Graduation Day It’s an electoral dead heat, 269 to 269. Holy 12th Amendment, Batman! The new House picks an Electoral College valedictorian, the Senate picks the veep.
Dream On While a tie would excite D.C.’s press corps more than a seventh game in N.Y., fuggedaboutit! This type of posturing arises every close race (1976), or whenever there’s a viable third-party candidate (‘68, ‘80, ‘92).
Flunking Out If we did wind up with a 269-269 tie, it ‘would likely lead to the end of the Electoral College as we currently know it.’ (nationaljournal.com)
TRANSITION The Dancing Queen When Broadway was still the hottest entertainment around, dancer Gwen Verdon was the sexiest thing on two feet. She won four Tony Awards in the 1950s, including one for her irresistibly devilish Lola–of “Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets” fame– in “Damn Yankees.” Verdon was 75.
Gus Hall became the general secretary of the Communist Party, U.S.A., in 1959. His belief in its ideology spanned seven decades, eight years in prison– and four runs at the presidency. He was 90 years old.
Breathy, husky, smoky, sultry–there was no shortage of adjectives to describe Julie London’s voice. The singer and “Emergency” actress is dead at 74.
From 1955 to 1981, James C. Jones lent a unique perspective to Newsweek’s auto-industry coverage. A former Detroit bureau chief, he was 77.
An AIDS-exposed hemophiliac, Robert Ray, 22, won a court battle to attend school in 1987.
HAIR Stick ‘Em Up There’s something in the hair. After a decade’s hiatus, hair spray–gluing big, curling-ironed, “Dallas” hair in place–is showing up on runways and in Versace ads. “Ivana Trump’s big French twist actually looks good again,” says Bumble and bumble stylist Coby Boulter. And limp hair doesn’t cut it anymore, not even Jennifer Aniston’s.
HORSE RACE Eyes Wide Open The presidential race is so close, the winner may be decided by an eyeblink. Boston College neuropsychology professor Joe Tecce has analyzed the presidential debates based on blink rates–the more blinks, the greater the stress. By his calculation, the faster blinker has lost every election since 1980. The normal blink rate for someone speaking on TV is 30 to 50 blinks per minute (bpm). When all this year’s debate data was considered, Gore’s bpm rate was lower than Bush’s in two of the three debates. Gore also had a lower overall score–36 bpm to 48 bpm for Bush. One caveat: Gore’s frequent double blinks, half blinks, downward glances and head movements suggest the stress levels were about even. On the blink meter, “Gore by an eyelash,” says Tecce.
ACHIEVEMENT I’d Like to Thank the Surfboard People There’s stiff competition for awards today. That is, the numerous new award shows have to fight for the spotlight. With the Players Choice Awards airing next month, a look at the innovations in the awards themselves that continue to up the attention-getting ante: PREGNANCYOvular Phones Giving new meaning to the question “How would you like your eggs?” a new service by German company notifies a woman of her optimal moment of fertility with a mobile-phone call.
MOVIES (Mis)Adventures in Toyland Pixar animation studios’ computer cartoonists are supposed to be the best, but they forgot every PC-user’s mantra: always have a backup. When “Toy Story” creators went to make a DVD version of the 1995 film, 12 percent of the digital masters had vanished to infinity and beyond. For three months earlier this year, staffers scoured the system for the toys’ missing parts–salvaging all but 1 percent. The remaining scenes were reassembled. For subsequent Pixar movies, “Toy Story” director John Lasseter says, “we have a better backup system.” Sheriff Woody is investigating the disappearance. No word yet on whether Emperor Zurg is a suspect.
HOW-TO I Thought You’d Never Ask! It’s that time of year again: marriage-proposal season gets underway with the holidays. But before dropping to your knee, you should know that proposals are changing: these days most couples discuss marriage beforehand, says Carley Roney, editor of the wedding Web site TheKnot.com. Here’s the expert’s guide to the modern, “mutual proposal”: 1. DISCUSS WHETHER you’re suitable for each other (i.e., make sure she’s going to say yes). Also, fish for hints about ring preferences (these will be forthcoming). 2. NOW THAT it’s not a surprise anymore, try to make it one. Start by not talking about it for a few weeks. 3. PUT A call in to the parents (such classic elements of the proposal are making a comeback). 4. SINCE SHE’LL hear about the call, again try to startle with perhaps a “surprise” trip to Paris. 5. OR MAKE up for lack of surprise by proposing in a wildly creative fashion or on a meaningful day or place: where or when you had your first date. 6. TO PREVENT anticlimax, have a party ready. 7. NOW, GET down on your knee…
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMHomestretch Edition
C.W. Bush + Now a master at clearing low hurdles. But presidents don’t get marked on a curve. Gore = Afraid to run on the past, he downplays achievements. It’s the economy, stupid. Clinton + With every debate it’s clear these guys don’t measure up. Let him help you, Al… Flynt - Injects unsupported poison into campaign on CNN. Now it’s in the media food chain. Letterman + Shames press corps with grilling of Dubya. He should have been debate moderator. Sub. Series = Good: Historic baseball moment. Bad: Makes NYers even more obnoxious.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-28” author: “Steven Whittington”
‘They Didn’t Hear the Screams’
Even as they buried the victims of Texas A&M’s deadly bonfire collapse last November, the Aggie community supported its 90-year football tradition. Now, a year after the tragedy killed 11 students and one alum, opinion has shifted dramatically. “I can’t scientifically explain it, but [the change] certainly occurred,” an A&M spokesman told NEWSWEEK.
In May, after a $1.8 million university study faulted the design and lack of university oversight of the project, A&M declared a two-year bonfire moratorium. The student senate endorsed that decision. Instead of the bonfire, the school plans a memorial service on the accident anniversary.
Despite the change of heart on campus, a renegade band of about 500 students and alums, calling itself Keep the Fire Burning, vows to carry on the tradition with a bonfire at an undisclosed off-campus location on Nov. 22. In a twist on tradition, they’ve invited students from rival University of Texas to participate. The university disavows the off-campus project. And a growing number of Aggies are more outspoken. “I’ve told them I’d do everything I could to keep their fire from burning,” says senior Chip Thiel. “They didn’t hear the screams. They didn’t see the bodies.” While no lawsuits have yet been filed, the families of the victims are increasingly critical of the university’s culpability in the disaster. “The problem is not whether they do or don’t put up a bunch of logs,” says Nancy Braus, whose son was injured. “It is the leadership not being responsible when it had every opportunity to do so.”
MOLE HUNT
Home Leave
Where is Yvette Lozano? The Maverick Media production assistant at the center of the FBI investigation into the filched Bush debate-prep material is staying away from the office these days. The Bush campaign says she is still working for the company, which produces Bush’s campaign ads–but from home. According to a Bush campaign spokesman, both Lozano and her boss, media guru Mark McKinnon, have been advised by their lawyers not to confer about the case. To avoid the risk of a taboo conversation with McKinnon, the spokesman says, Lozano is telecommuting. McKinnon confirmed that Lozano is working at home and reaffirmed his belief that she had nothing to do with the briefing-book mystery. Lozano’s lawyer could not be reached for comment.
The Buzz
Excuse Us, Sir. Which Way to the Bronx?
It happened seven times between 1947 and 1956, but hasn’t happened since: an all-N.Y. World Series. The city is poised for it to happen again, if the Cards (and Mariners) fall into place. Here’s what people are saying in the papers, over the airwaves and on the Web:
N.Y., N.Y. City folk ‘yawn at a visit by the pope and consider the president a class B celebrity,’ but a Subway Series–now, that’s something holy! (USA Today)
Get Out of Town The only thing that would be better than a Mets-Yankees series? If neither team from that self-righteous metropolis made it.
Off Base If both teams are fated to meet, ratings could suffer with only one city involved. And, the Sydney Games have tired us out and network premieres have led to less than All-Star playoff viewership. But with the Mideast in turmoil, we could use the Fall Classic.
Diamond Vision ‘If a Subway Series doesn’t fall in place this year, what are the odds of it coming to pass any time soon? Some meetings in sports are meant to be.’ (Wash. Post)
CAMPAIGN 2000
Trouble in Tennessee?
If presidential history is any indicator, Al Gore could be looking at a bad omen in his home state. Although Tennessee voted twice for Clinton-Gore, recent polls show Gore locked in a virtual dead heat there with George W. Bush, or trailing by a few points. There’s no rule that says you have to win your home state in order to win the White House. But only two presidents in the last century were elected without carrying their turf.Wilson took New Jersey in 1912, but lost it when he was barely re-elected four years later. Nixon lost New York when he beat Hubert Humphrey in 1968, but he’d lived there only a few years. After taking office, Nixon changed his registration back to his native California. Of course, you could argue that Gore has spent most of his life in Washington, D.C.–which is safely in the Democratic column.
BOOKS
Ticket to Read
If you find something anti-rock-and-roll about the glossy $60 “Beatles Anthology,” listen to PERI’s expert, speaking words of wisdom: let it be. We suggest instead that you check out Ian Macdonald’s “Revolution in the Head,” “The Beatles” by Hunter Davies (both listed at $14.95) and “The Playboy Interviews With John Lennon and Yoko Ono.”
TRANSITION
The First Lady
Sirimavo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka was the first woman in the world to serve as a prime minister. After casting her vote in the Sri Lankan parliamentary election last week, she died at 84. The family–including her husband, who led before her, and her daughter, who has been president of the country since 1994–has ruled Sri Lanka for 21 years.
PREDICTORS
Beat the Pants Off Gore
While scientific polls have their own ways to predict the next president, Banana Republic has found a revealing bellwether: underwear. Republican elephant-print boxers are outselling Democrat donkeys by 6 percent.
Live Vote
Should the United States be brokering peace in the Middle East?
Yes, we’re a super-power, and it’s our role.
Yes, it’s vital to our national interest.
No, it’s not our problem.
No, you can’t impose peace if the parties themselves don’t cooperate.
Last Week’s Live Vote
Should the presidential tickets be flip-flopped? (6,553 responses)
43% Yes, both veep candidates seem better equipped for the job than their running mates.
27% Yes, but put Cheney and Lieberman on the same ticket!
30% No, Gore and Bush are best for the job.
FLIGHT PATTERNS
Please Stow Your Old Notions of Airports
Filling their terminals with gourmet food, designer stores and other comforts, airports nationwide are finally catching up with the times: today’s reality of more hours to kill. It’s a nice effort. And with thousands of trapped, bored people, a pretty smart one, too. (graphic omitted)
TELEVISION
Takin’ It to the Street
A dozen shos have mad a play on “Street” in their title, yet few have survived the cold (remember “Street Hawk”?). With “The Street” up next, PERI maps the more memorable locales:
‘Hill Street Blues’
Locale: Decaying U.S. city
Premise: Grown-up cop show
Breakout Stars: Dennis Franz (steet smart Lt. Norman Buntz)
Catch Phrase: ‘Let’s be careful out there’
Theme-song Refrain: ‘Do do do, Do do do-do do do do do do’
‘21 Jump Street’
Locale: Generic E. Coast city
Premise: Teenage cop show
Breakout Stars: Johnny Depp, Richard Grieco (Booker, who got his own show)
Catch Phrase: ‘Hey, what’s happenin’, man?’
Theme-song Refrain: ‘I said jump! Down on Jump Street, Said jump! Down on Jump Street
‘Homicide: Life on the Street’
Locale: Baltimore
Premise: Gritty cop show
Breakout Stars: Andre Braugher (hardened veteran Det. Fanck Pembleton)
Catch Phrase: ‘Put him in The Box’
Theme-song Refrain: Eerie ‘I’m being chased down an alley’ sound
‘Sesame Street’
Locale: New York City
Premise: Show and tell show
Breakout Stars: Elmo (5 million Tickle Me dolls sold)
Catch Phrase: ‘1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10-11,12!’
Theme-song Refrain: “Can you tell me how to get, How to get to Sesame Street?’
HIPPIES
Have Patchouli, Will Travel
The long, strange trip just got shorter. Since Phish is quitting for a while, what will become of the band’s gypsy fans, many of whom first followed the Grateful Dead? Doug Brinkley, professor of history at the University of New Orleans, predicts Pearl Jam, which is “emitting the karmically good feel of Phish,” will absorb the fans: it’s getting more free-form, releasing “bootleg” albums and leaning to the left. Other possibilities for Phish Heads are The String Cheese Incident and Phil Lesh, but says fan Matt Henderson, “You won’t find a band that captures the magic Phish does.”
Bret Begun, Katherine Stroup and Susannah Meadows
ROYALS
Spice Girl?
It’s not easy being queen. Italians are outraged that Queen Elizabeth has insisted that her food be garlic-free when she visits the country this week. Onions, “long pastas” and “messy” tomato sauces are also forbidden. So much for when in Rome…
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Special Volatility Edition
Between the tragedy of the USS Cole and the deaths on the West Bank, it was a sad, scary week. And it shows this deadlocked election really is about something beyond tie colors and makeup.
C.W. Clinton + Old C.W.: Riding off into the sunset. New C.W.: Riding right into the storm. Arafat - Old C.W.: 1994 Nobel Peace Prize winer. New C.W.: Shifty, gutless terrorist after all. Barak = Went extra mile for peace and punished for it. His new offer won’t be half as generous. Gore = His impatient wonkishness would play bet- ter at ME bargaining table than in debate. Bush + Decent in foreign-policy debate, but is that enough to give him keys to the car? Wall Street - Oil vey! Mideast troubles give investors the inflationary willies. Dot’s all folks.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-18” author: “Richard Smith”
Gore aides dutifully turned over the package to the FBI. The Feds have confirmed the authenticity of a Bush videotape and briefing books, and agents have interviewed top aides in both campaigns. Last week investigators were dispatched to Austin to figure out who had custody of the videotape before it was mailed. Among the potential crimes: interstate trafficking of stolen property and mail fraud. But the entire matter could become even more serious, sources said, if any campaign staffers are caught lying to the FBI.
The sparring escalated when Bush supporters began complaining about another case of possible campaign skulduggery. It seems that a low-level Gore staffer bragged to at least one pal about messages received from a “mole” somewhere within the Bush ranks. Top Gore aides say the young assistant, Michael Doyne, made up the mole tale to impress a former college frat brother. But the campaign has found an e-mail from Doyne to his friend warning: “hush hush on the mole.” Doyne told NEWSWEEK, “I don’t know that any of that is going on.”
The Gore campaign insists it’s all just a case of youthful bragging. Doyne is on paid leave. Bush supporters are urging a reluctant FBI to investigate further.
AUCTIONS Sellers’ Market It’s probably too late to grab Grandma’s valuable highboy and hustle it over to the early October furniture auctions at Sotheby’s and Christie’s in New York. But if you come up with a nice impressionist painting by November, you might catch a seller’s break at the fall fine-art sales. The two auction houses are under the gun of last week’s whopping $512 million civil settlement of their commission-fixing case. To ease the firms’ pain just a bit, the court is permitting $50 million to be paid in the form of transferable certificates, to be used in reducing the commissions that sellers pay–down to what they probably should have been all along.
TIRES Keeping Settlement Papers Secret The Ford explorer tire-safety hearings may be over for now, but behind-the-scenes congressional investigators are tussling with Ford and Bridgestone/Firestone over internal reports prepared by the companies’ experts for product-liability lawsuits dating back to the early 1990s. Subcommittee staffers say execs from both companies agreed to turn over documents related to tire-accident settlements: 17 involving Ford and 14 for Bridgestone/Firestone. Now, committee staffers complain, the companies are balking, arguing the material is protected by attorney-client privilege. A Ford spokesman says the company will hand over the documents after portions that might compromise privacy or trade secrets have been blacked out. Firestone, too, says it “will comply.”
The Buzz See Suzy Run. See Suzy’s Ad Pulled Off NBC. Olympic runner Suzy Hamilton outpaces a chain-saw-wielding madman in the woods. “Why sport?” Nike’s ad asks. “You’ll live longer.” Clever, eh? No, said viewers, who slashed it. What people are saying in the papers, over the airwaves and on the Web:
Bad Taste It makes a macabre joke out of a woman’s nightmare. ‘The Bud Light ad in which a man is shot from a cannon into an elephant’s anus seems a model of tasteful cleverness by comparison.’ (Tom Shales, Wash. Post)
Bad Timing ‘If this commercial runs during Conan O’Brien’s late-night talk show, it’s not a problem. But what kind of idiot doesn’t know that countless young kids will be in front of TVs for the Olympics?’ (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Just Get With It Nike ads aren’t meant for the masses. They’re intended to reinforce the company’s base of hard-core athletes. If you were offended, you didn’t get it.
Just Get Over It C’mon! It’s a hilarious parody of B-grade flicks such as ‘Friday the 13th’–with a twist. This time the girl ‘is the victor, not the victim.’ (Nike spokesman Scott Reames)
NEWSWEEK.COM LIVE VOTE
CAST YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., EDT, SEPT.29
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE
Did alcohol play a large role in your college experience? (1,310 responses) 20% Yes, but c’mon, that’s what college is about. 27% Yes, in retrospect, I probably drank too much. 26% No, I drank, but not often. 17% No, I never took a sip.
Dot-can So many stock options, so little employment. A record 5,000 dot-commies lost their jobs this month, making it 17,000 cubicles emptied this year, according to a study being released this week by consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas. Dot-com Job Cuts: July 2,194 August 4,196 September 4,805
FAST CHAT Chewed Out Jim Bouton is infamous for the first tell-all, “Ball Four,” but he’s less known for his other invention: Big League Chew, which is 20 years old. PERI caught up with the legendary hurler:
NEWSWEEK: Gum that looks like tobacco shreds? BOUTON: Summer ‘77 I was playing for the Mavericks, a Class-A team. I got it in my head to make a comeback. The guys were playing Drown the Bug in Tobacco Juice. [Teammate] Rob [Nelson] said, “There oughta be something that looks like tobacco but tastes like gum.” Rob thought “Maverick Chew.” I said, “Nah, Big League Chew.” I went to Amurol, a $9 million subsidiary of Wrigley. In 12 months they sold $18 million worth. The gum’s good. It gives you a nice feeling. Any feelings on the series? I’d like to see the Red Sox do it. Sentimental favorite.
TRANSITION Barrier Breaker Born dirtpoor in Tennessee, Carl Rowan, 75, covered desegregation in the South during the 1950s and went on to serve in high-level positions under Kennedy and Johnson. Later a columnist, he was a sympathetic realist and good-humored moralist. After reading that students in Washington were embarrassed to have their names called at an honor-roll ceremony, he started Project Excellence, which gave millions in scholarships.
Evan Thomas
ENVIRONMENT The Road to the Green House On “Oprah,” George W. Bush said his Texas ranch was his most-prized possession. That may be, even if he’s hoping to live somewhere else for the next four years. PERI eyes W’s ecofriendly confines, now under construction:
SPAIN Dog Patchers Ambulance drivers are used to hairy situations, but not like this. Madrid has unveiled a trio of vet-staffed animal ambulances. The service offers everything a hound-about-town needs to get back on its paws–stretchers, oxygen tanks and medicine. Now, that’s universal health care.
HOW-TO In Seattle, Tasters’ Choices For seven years, Mary Williams has tasted up to 300 cups of coffee a day for Starbucks. With a surprisingly calm manner, the senior taster instructed us on the process of finding the best beans. 1. To extract maximum flavor, grind 10 grams of coffee. It should look like coarse beach sand. Add 8 oz. of water, just off the boil. 2. Let it steep. Some grinds will settle on the top. 3. Use a soup spoon to “break the crust” that has formed on top. 4. Whiff steam to check aroma. 5. Skim off any residue on top and let coffee cool (a burned tongue hampers the taste buds for three days). 6. Slurp it like hot soup and let it flow throughout the mouth. Different buds discern different flavors. 7. Spit into spittoon. 8. Use words like “winey,” “nutty,” “dirty,” “heavy,” “has a blueberry character.”
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM We’ll Always Have Little Rock Let’s take a moment to bathe in nostalgia on what once shook the nation: the McDougals, Rose Law Firm records, Vince Foster’s autopsy. We could go on, but we’re getting misty-eyed.
C.W. Gore = Bad sign for front runner: When he sees oil pandering op, he’s there. Slow learner? Bush + First decent week since Philly: Survives Oprah and Susan Hawk. Repeatablable? Clinton = Good news: Whitewater is over. Bad: Its ripples still got him impeached. Hillary = Stalling on soft money, hurt by W.H. sleepovers, but Little Ricky fading with women. Wing Nuts - Six years, $50 mil, forests worth of WSJ editorials and W’water’s just a dumb land deal. Olympics The CW has already reached its conclusion, but we’re holding it until next week.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-06” author: “John Potter”
All week, Putin continued to drive a wedge between America and its Western allies over missile defense, proposing a ban on military uses of space. Then he balked at Clinton’s efforts to expand the United Nations’ role in humanitarian intervention beyond sovereign borders.
Putin also showed that while he hates pesky journalists at home, he’s willing to engage them abroad in the interest of good PR. He chose his spots carefully, agreeing to an interview with Larry King and attending a dinner hosted by NBC’s Tom Brokaw, where he seemed to impress the media big feet with his intellect and humor. His charm offensive was aided by the pricey Western PR firms the Kremlin turns to whenever the president’s image needs buffing up abroad. In recent months, hired media guns have helped Putin place carefully tailored editorials in major English-language newspapers. Let’s hope they aren’t getting paid in rubles.
NEW YORK Trash Talk? The New York Senate race is getting down to crunch time. Virtually tied in the polls, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rep. Rick Lazio debate for the first time this Wednesday in Buffalo. The strategies for both: keep expectations low. Clinton’s camp asserts the First Lady has never debated. (Actually, she faced down two foes running for student-body president at Wellesley.) Meanwhile, GOP grumblings that Lazio’s been a weak candidate might help him look strong in the debate. If only they were always this humble.
ADVERTISEMENTS Adding More Meaning to ‘Reform’ As if the Reform Party weren’t surreal enough, David Lynch has volunteered to produce campaign ads for would-be candidate John Hagelin. The director, whose creepy credits include “Blue Velvet” and the TV series “Twin Peaks,” recently met Hagelin at a fund-raiser and quickly fell for his largely libertarian platform. Plus, Lynch is into Transcendental Meditation–a movement in which Hagelin is quite active. The director says he plans to film the candidate simply discussing issues. What, no wandering dwarves? “It’s not about me,” Lynch says. The BuzzDr. Feelgood’s Prescription Pad Prescription drugs: a hot-button issue mired in cold, numbing detail. Al Gore wants to graft a benefit onto Medicare; George W. Bush wants private industry to take over. Here’s what people are saying in the papers, over the airwaves and on the Web:
Where’s the Beef? Bush’s plan ‘remains something of a pig in a poke.’ (Salon) The govt. will subsidize 25% of private plans’ monthly charges–but how much will charges be? Same for copayments, deductibles?
Not So Fast Nice try, Dubya, but is the insurance biz on board? Some insurers have dropped Medicare patients and say they won’t be able to sell policies at rates seniors can afford.
Band-Aids Neither plan addresses the larger issue of putting Medicare on sound financial ground. More people will need coverage in the coming decades, while fewer will be paying into the program.
Pricey Plan Gore’s will cost $253 billion by 2010, Bush’s $158 billion. Gore ‘says he Doesn’t want recipients to Be “at the mercy of the big drug companies.” But what if recipients no longer want to be at the mercy of government?’ (Kansas City Star)
NEWSWEEK.COM LIVE VOTE Would you ever buy Firestone tires again?1. No, I would never feel safe in my car. 2. No, even if its safety record dramatically improves, I would never support the company. 3. Maybe, but not for several years. 4. Yes, it’s bound to be very careful from now on.
PLACE YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., EDT, SEPT. 15
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE
Have race relations improved since the ’60s? (1,606 responses)
40% Yes, they’re much better. 30% Yes, but there have been as many setbacks as gains. 27% No, people are just quieter about their prejudices. 3% No, very little has changed.
FIREARMS Gay Voices in The Gun Lobby And George Bush thinks debates are tricky. The Pink Pistols, a new pro-gun, pro-gay political-action group, is asking candidates if they support the sale of hollow-point bullets and the right of marriages involving three or more people. With an informational Web site and no fund-raising, these Boston-based recreational shooters of “alternative sexuality” hope to influence the gun-rights issue. Founder Doug Krick, a “polyamorous bisexual” who favors a Glock .40, admits it’s “an unusual combination.”
FASHION You’re How Old? This fall’s kiddie fashions give new meaning to getting picked up at school. Clinging vinyl pants and leopard prints prowl adult runways, and stores like Gap Kids and Bloomingdale’s are peddling miniature versions of the mature styles. “What Britney Spears wears, that’s what [our customer] buys,” says a Limited Too spokesman. Virginia prinicipal Rochelle Friedman thinks “the world is making kids grow up too fast.” That may be what a girl wants, but some parents have other ideas.
Bret Begun, Susannah Meadows and Katherine Stroup OLYMPICSTime to Get Down Under While you might be planning to pop open a Foster’s and take notes on how to master the synchronized swim, is that really the millennial Olympic experience you deserve? Perhaps, but PERI suggests checking out these “events” on your tour of Sydney instead. That is, if you’re not already in the pool. Tony Clifton
Greatest disruption might be Aboriginals, seething at an unsympathetic govt. “There will be dead bodies…if they try to inflict any violence on us,“says one Aboriginal student.
They could be backed by people protesting the World Economic Forum. With 27 Chinese athletes dropped for failed drug tests, doping will a key buzzword.
Not every athlete can win, but each can score. Ansell is stocking the Olympic Village with condoms - 50,000. The moneyed folks will be anchored on yachts in Rozelle Bay. But Joe Local can get on board, too: Foster’s will supply 450 bars in the park complex with enough beer to fill five Olympic-size pools.
Toughest ticket: opening ceremony. Only 17,000 seats to watch swimming (16,999 to be filled by Thorpedo fans). Comment likely heard in Superdome: “What nation did Vince Carter just dunk on?”
Should sharks appear in Sydney Harbor, divers have devices to ward them off, no gizmos likely needed to keep away Osama bin Laden, erroneously said to be plotting a nuclear strike. The real concern? Archers, who have to keep their bows and arrows in a specially locked case in the competitors’ village. Talk about high-strung.
Rain could turn sand to mud for volleyballers at Bondi Beach; spectators’ fun could also be derailed by Sydney’s oft-troubled transit system-and an outbreak of flu. Experts say the A Sydney strain could envelop the city.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMSpecial Open-Mike Edition
C.W. Gore + Lookin’ good if he can avoid screw-ups. What are the odds of that? Bush - Major-league debate shirker squanders precious time. And stop shooting dove, Guv. Cheney - Has voted in only two local elections in five years. So much for “local control.” Lieberman = Continues to hedge bets by running for Senate re-election. Roll the dice, Joey. Castro - Stultifying Stalinist desperate for Clinton handshake. Give it up, you big-time … Venus W. + Elder Williams sister wins U.S. Open for second Slam this year. She’s got wheels!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-16” author: “Jessica Watson”
The Roanoke Phantom, it seems, set a global trend. No worldwide statistics on air-traffic radio hoaxes exist, but Britain appears to be facing the most serious problem–through July, British air-safety authorities had recorded 20 complaints about bogus air-traffic-control messages this year, says the Civil Aviation Authority. The government recently warned of an “increase in the malicious use” of radio frequencies by persons who “impersonate air-traffic-control officers.” Pilots and controllers use special jargon, but a determined impersonator can easily learn the lingo from real transmissions. According to London’s Sunday Times, a pilot preparing to land at an airport in the British Midlands was duped last month. When air-traffic controllers realized the danger, a controller shouted at the pilot: “Respond to my voice only!” Disaster was avoided. Officials told NEWSWEEK that investigations are still underway, and nobody knows if or when the Midlands Phantom might strike again.
GERMANY Paying Its Dues Last week Germany’s Roman Catholic Church confessed to forcing up to several thousand foreign laborers into servitude during World War II. German Catholic Bishops’ Conference chairman Karl Lehmann announced that they would set aside 5 million euros in church funds to compensate surviving workers–quelling an uproar from last month when the Catholic Church declined to pay into a special fund for laborers. Still, the payments might be a little late. Michael Witti, a lawyer representing the laborers, said: “It’s taken the [Catholic] Church ridiculously long.” Fifty-five years after the end of the war, it’s not likely that many of the laborers are still alive to claim payment.
PHILIPPINES Kidnapped? Muslim extremist group Abu Sayyaf released six more hostages last week but took another: 24-year-old American Jeffrey Craig Schilling. All but five of the 23 mostly foreign tourists seized in April have been released in recent weeks, largely due to a Libyan-brokered deal backed by leader Muammar Kaddafi. The Philippine government has ruled out asking Libya to negotiate for the American’s release, and are skeptical about the nature of Schilling’s abduction. Police are investigating a theory that Schilling may have gone to the rebel lair of his own accord–his fiancee, Ivi Osani, is the widow of an Abu Sayyaf fighter and the second cousin of rebel spokesman Abu Sabaya, and admitted in her deposition that they had been invited to visit the rebels’ lair. “We have feedback from our field units that it’s as if it is a ‘willing’ kidnapping,” said national-security adviser Alexander Aguirre. The Philippine government is embarrassed by what seems to be a never-ending kidnap crisis. “This thing has become a revolving door,” said Defense Secretary Orlando Mercado. “One of these days we should close that door.”
CELEBRATING FREEDOM Photo: Dancing to independence: Local girls performed a traditional dance in the streets of Dili, East Timor, celebrating the first anniversary of the United Nations referendum that gave the country its independence from Indonesia on Aug. 30, 1999
FASHION Dress to Arrest Malini Ramani, a 30-year-old Indian socialite who’s set a new course as a designer, caused an uproar when she displayed a demure dress based on the Indian flag for the inaugural India Fashion Week in August. Police raided her stand and seized the sequined number. They are charging her with breaking a law against displaying the national flag. NEWSWEEK talked to her in Delhi:
Did you expect such a reaction over your flag dress? No. It’s gotten totally out of control. I don’t understand. My intention was to mix fashion with India, with nostalgia, for the first-ever India Fashion Week. I didn’t mean any kind of harm to anyone. I’ve given public apologies.
What was your intention when you designed the garment? I wanted to be patriotic.
Does India think rather protectively of its national flag? In every country the flags are everywhere. I’m sure if you go to Sydney [with the Olympics] right now, flags are everywhere… flags of every country.
Did the cops overreact? This dress was not even for sale. It was just something I wore myself. Then I put it in a nice place so that people could admire it. I guess it was a big mistake.
FRAGRANCE Eau de Chien? Dogs are known to follow the scent. But Paris-based Dog Generation, founded by animal-loving former Givenchy executives Laurent Jugeau and Etienne de Swardt, is taking this to another level, creating Oh My Dog–a perfume for canines. Oh My Dog comes out in France this month, and will hit foreign shores later in the year. And the cost of making man’s best friend just that little bit more chic is only $30. The fragrance is sprayed on the owner’s hands, then stroked into the dog’s coat. This is meant to “strengthen the bond between dog and owner,” says a Dog Generation spokesperson. And it’s not only for dogs. “Everybody can use it,” says makeup creator Olivier Echaudemaison. “I do!” The catwalk crowd had better look out for the new fashion hounds around town.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-09” author: “Catherine Reid”
Privately, Hillary’s aides admitted they hadn’t expected Lazio to come on so strong. But his aggressiveness may have backfired, particularly with women and independents. In the campaign’s postdebate polling, her aides said viewers described Hillary as “confident” and “senatorial,” and found Lazio “defensive” and a “bully.” (That’s just “wishful thinking,” countered a Lazio aide, who said their polling showed no shift to Hillary. “If anything, we upticked.”) Clinton’s roughest moment may, ironically, have been a boon. Asked by Russert if she owed the country an apology for denying her husband’s sexual relationship with Monica Lewinsky, Mrs. Clinton looked shaken and spoke haltingly. Viewers, especially women, felt her pain. “Russert did her a huge favor,” said a Hillary confidante. Lazio’s closing stunt didn’t play well, either, said Hillary’s aides. Striding over to Mrs. Clinton’s lectern, he pressured her to sign a no-soft-money pledge. Women were offended that he “invaded her space,” her aides said. By the end of the week, polls showed Hillary marginally ahead. But this week’s headlines may not help: independent counsel Robert Ray is expected to issue his final Whitewater report.
Debra Rosenberg WASHINGTON, D.C.Monuments Sprawl on the Mall Given plans to memorialize Martin Luther King Jr., Ronald Reagan and all World War II veterans, the expansive National Mall could soon be little more than one-stop shopping for history-class field trips. Although opponents of the controversial WWII memorial are prepared to sue, plans to replace the Rainbow Pool with a bevy of stone pillars will likely receive final approval Sept. 21. “We’re paving over history for more history,” says a rep for one anti-monument group. Meanwhile, there are preliminary designs for an MLK monument on the Mall, and a congressional bill calling for a Reagan memorial would also gut existing regulations protecting the open space. Is it time to build a monument for the disappearing Mall?
THE BUZZ Hi, Is Someone Who Has an Opinion Home? In 1932 George Gallup used new survey methods to predict that voters would elect his mother-in-law Iowa’s state secretary. No one noticed–until she won. That was then. Here’s what people are saying about polling in the papers, over the airwaves and on the Web:
Poll Tricks ‘We are just awash in surveys.’ (Norman Ornstein, USA Today) But ‘consider a poll like tracking a diet on a scale–like scales, you can’t jump from poll to poll and be sure a trend is real.’ (New York Post)
Don’t Jump National polls miss the state-by-state races that really pick the winner. You need 270 electoral votes to win. Bush, Gore each have 242. (The Hotline)
God Knows ‘If it sounds wrong to you, boy, it may just be.’ (Morin, NPR) Interviewees manipulate pollsters’ questions and Gore could lose votes due to hidden anti-Semitism. Oy, survey!
Blame the Net! ‘To meet the frenzied demands for content, polls have been downsized … These tiny samples come with correspondingly larger margins of sampling error.’ (Richard Morin, Wash. Post) ‘Which polls, if any, should you trust?’ (National Public Radio)
CAST YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., EDT, SEPT. 22
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE Would you buy Firestone tires again? (3,586 responses)
31% No, I would never feel safe in my car.
34%No, even if its safety record dramatically improves, I wouldn’t support the company.
19% Maybe, but not for several years.
16% Yes, they’re bound to be very careful from now on.
E-PUBLISHING Growing Pains Contrary to rumor, Stephen King is not uprooting “The Plant,” his dollar-a-chapter, “honor system” experiment in Web-based publishing. Downloads of installment No. 2 are running at a decent clip and payment levels are high enough to keep King at the keyboard. Some snags: readers think paying once entitles them to multiple downloads and need reminding when a new installment is available. (The next one goes up Sept. 25.)
CRISIS MANAGEMENT This Time With Feeling, Please! Just because you’re top dog doesn’t mean you’re skilled in the subtle art of saying sorry. PERI asked experts to review the attempts made in recent consumer-confidence commercials:
CEO/ISSUE: Bill Gates; government’s antitrust suit against the company
DOES IT DO THE JOB? Public wrong target audience. What consumer asks for the Linux OS? Should have addressed MS employees, judges.
CEO/ISSUE: Tobacco settlement agreement with state attorneys general
DOES IT DO THE JOB? ‘Give me a break,’ says expert Steven Fink. If they said nicotine wasn’t addictive, why now believe ‘Things are changing’?
CEO/ISSUE: Jacques Nasser; recall on Firestone tires (used on Explorers)
DOES IT DO THE JOB? ‘Little late,’ says expert Larry Smith. ‘There are a couple of people that say his Down Under accent hurts him. I don’t think so.’
CEO/ISSUE: Jim Goodwin, chair.; canceled flights, delays this summer
DOES IT DO THE JOB? Ad was ‘sincere,’ says Fink; took right approach by not deflecting blame, pointing a finger at pilots who wouldn’t fly planes
CLEANING Smell of $$ Not that you do the cleaning yourself if you can afford $12 dishwashing liquid. No matter. Caldrea has introduced a new line of high-end cleaning products available in “energetic,” “sensuous” or “relaxing” scents. And the Energetic Citrus Mint Ylang Ylang window spray can take care of any smelly window problem.
EXHIBITIONS Refugee Camps Without Borders Most of us will never have to see the inside of a refugee camp. For the international aid network Medecins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), that’s not necessarily a good thing. They’ve constructed an “exhibit” of a refugee camp in New York City’s Central Park to build awareness of the brutal lives of the world’s 39 million displaced people. Visitors will have the chance to view the baked-wheat bar–with its instructions to “eat slowly and chew well”–that keeps starving children alive. “We don’t want to shock, but we cannot help people if we say nothing,” says Alain Fredaigue, of MSF. The exhibit will travel to Los Angeles next month.
HORSE RACE There’s No Masking the Truth While Al Gore leads in national polls, he’s trailing in another kind of historical survey: sales of Cesar Group’s masks have predicted the victor since Nixon.
CONTESTS Hands Down Jesus day isn’t the only new Texas holiday. This week in Longview, Texas, Sept. 19 will be declared Hands on a Hardbody Day as the eponymous contest gets underway at Joe Mallard Nissan. For eight years, folks have been vying for a new pickup by keeping one hand on the prize truck. Last one standing wins. A 1998 documentary of the same name captured the often 100-hour human drama of becoming delirious and swollen for a truck. New this year are Port-o-Potties, a bigger tent and bleachers. Who thought of such an idea? “An idiot, obviously,” says organizer Jan Maynard.
TRANSITION Blow the Blues Jazz so lionizes its rebel angels that a red-beans-and-rice earthling like Stanley Turrentine can get taken for granted. He played burly-tone tenor saxophone on soulful organ-guitar-combo records before his hit 1970 pop-jazz album, “Sugar,” featuring George Benson. He breathed the blues, he moved a million hearts–and 10 million toes.
David Gates
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMOn Tape From Sydney Edition
C.W. Gore + Top three reasons for good week: wins debate debate, boffo on Letterman and Oprah. Bush - Still off message as media smells a RAT. And “subliminable” fuels bogus dyslexia boomlet. Reno - Old: Negligent on Chinese espionage. New: Caved to Congress and NYT witch hunt. NBC - All-tape-all-the-time policy kills whatever drama is left in overproduced Olympics. Hillary = Looked senatorial, plus Russert ambush on Zippergate made her sympathetic. Lazio = Comes off as credible candidate, but over- caffeinated and gravitas-challenged. Down, boy!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-27” author: “Leila Phillips”
But now Clinton is striking back, enlisting one of the Democratic Party’s top fund-raisers to help even the score: her husband. The president has already held a handful of fund-raising events for his wife, but he’s planning to step up his involvement. He recently wrote a personal appeal to potential donors and, in September, he’ll average one fund-raiser a week on Hillary’s behalf.
This could also be good news for Al Gore, who’s been trying to keep his distance from the boss. Between drumming up bucks for Hillary, battling over the budget with the GOP Congress and continuing to push policies like the patients’ bill of rights and a prescription-drug plan, the president may be out of the way until October. “Whether you’ll ever see Al Gore and Bill Clinton on the stage together–no one’s figured that out yet,” says one top White House adviser. That could be music to the vice president’s ears.
MICROSOFT Play Freebird! To celebrate the software giant’s 25th birthday, 20,000 Microsofties will pack Seattle’s Safeco Field on Tuesday–soaking up the musings of chairman Bill Gates, responding to cheers from CEO Steve Ballmer and rocking to the sounds of… Cheap Trick. Given Microsoft’s legal situation, the band might want to scratch “Surrender” off its set list. Also appearing, for reasons more obscure than a Windows 98 error message, is comedian Sinbad.
MILITARY War Games Congressional Republicans will hold hearings this month on military readiness, a pet issue for the Bush campaign. Democrats, sensing a media circus designed solely to embarrass Al Gore, are crying foul. “They want the chiefs to answer the following question: if you could have everything you want, what would it be?” says a senior White House official. GOP leaders hope their testimony will portray the Clinton administration as neglectful of the military. Adding fuel to the fire: the current plan is to call only the chiefs of the four service branches–and not Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Henry Shelton, whose job it is to sift through and prioritize all of the items on their wish lists.
THE BUZZ Stand and Deliver. Or Sit. Just Pick One. Gore wants to stand at podiums. Bush wants to sit at tables. Gore says he’ll mix it up with Bush “any time, anywhere.” Bush says three times will be plenty, thanks. Here’s what people are saying about the debates in the papers, over the airwaves and on the Web:
Duck and Cover Three, five, 10-it’s all gravy. The only debate that matters is numero uno. All of America will be watching, expecting Bush to fold like a hand of five-card Texas Hold ‘Em. If he does, it’s Humpty Dumpty time.
Ambush ‘[Dubya’s] people are more confident than they pretend to be. They say, “Gore is a brilliant debater” … That’s evidence they think [their man’s] going to do better.’ (Tucker Carlson, CNN)
Nothing to Lose ‘Debates are all about expectations, which are rock bottom for Bush, and his aides are doing their best to keep them that way.’ (N.Y. Times) If he simply holds his own, he ‘could even come out ahead.’
Get in the Ring What hooey! ‘Wouldn’t it be advantageous for [Bush] if he said, “ring it on”?’ (Fortune) Nitpicking over tables and podiums is making Dubya look like the biggest political sissy-boy since … his dad?
NEWSWEEK.COM LIVE VOTE Have race relations improved since the 1960s?
PLACE YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., EDT, SEPT.8
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE
Do you factor long-term health into your diet?(12,192 responses)
21% Yes, it’s one of the most important considerations. 41% Yes, but not as carefully as I probably should. 15% No, I pay more attention to my weight. 23% No, I eat what I want.
CNN Network Crash Last week’s shake-up at CNN, which claimed the job of network president Rick Kaplan, was “a total surprise,” the ousted chief told NEWSWEEK. Industry sources say that only a few weeks ago Kaplan was still trying to hire away talent from other networks. Kaplan says he’s not bitter, though, and even called his replacements “real good guys.”
PLANTS Mother Earth’s Little Helpers Americans shell out $4 billion a year for herbs–and we’re not talking parsley and sage. So how legit are herbals? Last week German researchers reported on the largest double-blind study ever to compare St. John’s wort with a standard antidepressant drug, imipramine. The scientists wrote in the British Medical Journal that mildly depressed patients did equally well on either treatment. A slew of other plant products are going under the microscope. Ones to watch:
Plant estrogens WHAT IS IT? Phytoestrogens, found in plants like soy, may mimic some of estrogen’s effects DOES IT WORK? Scientists at UCSD and UNC are studying whether phyto- estrogens lower ‘bad’ cholesterol and prevent hot flashes C.W. SAYS: Not all women like hormone- replacement therapy; if phyto- estrogens work, soy powder may be an alternative to pills
Ginkgo WHAT IS IT? Ginkgo extract seems to act as an antioxidant and may also affect neurons DOES IT WORK? Ginkgo may slow the progress of dementia, but doctors don’t know yet whether the leaf prevents Alzheimer’s C.W. SAYS: Despite ginkgo’s popular reputation as a memory enhancer, the stuff hasn’t yet been proved to benefit healthy subjects
Vitamin E WHAT IS IT? Found in foods like sunflower seeds and wheat germ, vitamin E prevents cell damage DOES IT WORK? A national study of 40,000 women is now investigating whether vitamin E lowers risk of heart disease and cancer C.W. SAYS: Some who eat an E-rich diet have low rates of heart disease, but the vitamin itself might not be the source of the benefit
CULT CLASSICS This Is (Still) ‘Spinal Tap’ How addictive is “Spinal Tap”? when PERI caught up with “band members” Harry Shearer and Michael McKean to discuss the 1984 film’s Sept. 12 theatrical re-release, they spoke only as the big-haired, small-brained metalheads we know and pity. Cute gimmick, but can we forgive them for furthering Fran Drescher’s career?
DEREK SMALLS (SHEARER) PERI: In the film, you set off an airport metal detector because you stuck a foil-wrapped zucchini down your pants. Have you had any similar incidents? DS: No, I mean, if I did I’d be a right stupid git. You do that once, shame on you. Do it twice [pause] shame on you some more, as the saying goes. So, no, I’ve learned my lesson.
But why was it there in the first place? Well, for showmanship. For the same reason that they didn’t make Godzilla about a normal-size monkey.Look, when I go onstage, I wear eye makeup. Why do I wear eye makeup?
I don’t know. To accentuate your eyes? Well, to make my eyes look bigger, don’t I?
OK. It’s like eye makeup for the rest of me.
Are you at all surprised by the popularity of the film? Well, you know, it goes to prove the old saying that if they give you lemons, take them back and ask for oranges. Here was a film in which Marty [the director] started as a fan of ours. Then he turns in this hatchet job. And where’s Mr. Marty the Butcher today? Well, he’s doing training films for local telephone companies.
So you guys won, really, in the end. We really did win. It just proves that nothing beats playing loud. Just be louder than your enemies. Don’t be smarter than your enemies. Don’t be stronger than your enemies. Be louder.
DAVID ST. HUBBINS (MCKEAN) PERI: How many “Spinal Tap” drummers have died, in total? DSH: Well, we’ve lost count. It got spooky. We decided we were going to make an entire album with no live drumming at all–just a computer program. And you know what happened? The computer crashed. And we said, “Walk away. Walk away.”
One famous scene from the film depicts the band’s getting lost trying to find the stage. I don’t know why so much is made of that. Happens all the time. Listen, there’s a documentary where Tom Petty gets lost and he winds up coming out on a German tennis court.
Bret Begun RECORDSA Pitiful Debate Finally Switzerland is fighting a battle. After Thomas Steinhauer shattered a U.S. record by spitting a cherry pit nearly 83 feet, the Swiss issued a press release rubbing it in. But U.S. rule-book author Herb Teichman claims foreigners often permit running starts and, worse, canned cherries. “I’d like to see them come to our turf and spit on our rules,” he says. This spat’s getting juicy.
TENNIS Advantage: Golf With Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi wincing as much as they’re winning these days, men’s tennis is desperate to find its own Tiger Woods. The “New balls please” campaign anoints a telegenic gaggle of newcomers as the game’s saviors. Trouble is, the boys aren’t winning–and they’re not American. Case in point: Brazilian Gustavo Kuerten is largely unknown in the United States, and choking in the first round of the U.S. Open sure didn’t help. “These guys really are the future,” insists a tour spokesman. That line sounded more convincing when Whitney Houston sang it.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMLabor Day Panic Edition
C.W. Gore + Opens up a real lead and knocks Bush off stride. The Kiss still lingers. Bush - Promised to “change the tone.” Now he has with attack ad. So who’s untrustworthy? Lieberman = Overdoes God thing in speech, looks gefilte fishy to some other Jews. High Holy Daze? Cheney - Option-holding fat cat can’t duck that military cuts he decries were started by … him. Firestone - You know you’re in trouble when Venezuela sues you. Ford needs a better idea, too. Humans - Team creates robot-building robots. Will they exclude humans from the 2012 debates?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-15” author: “Daniel Nelson”
Sources close to the Gore campaign said that these efforts were likely to be wasted because Mitchell and Graham were already off the VP shortlist. Meanwhile, official papers of Sens. John Kerry and Evan Bayh–who were still on the shortlist–were left alone.
Even so, GOP operatives compiled rudimentary assesments of all widely mentioned potential Gore veep picks, including Sen. Joseph Lieberman (Connecticut’s state archives have no papers from the former state attorney). Sources told NEWSWEEK that the GOP exhumed a Senate report written by Lieberman that criticizes the 1996 Clinton-Gore presidential campaign for raising money from people or companies connected to China. Republicans rate Kerry too liberal.
For its part, the Gore campaign accused the Republicans of hypocrisy for promising to conduct a positive campaign while hunting down potential negative information on people who had not yet even been selected as Gore veep candidates.
COPYRIGHT Whose ‘Dream’? Did the George W. Bush video shown at the GOP convention violate the copyright restrictions of Martin Luther King Jr.’s estate? The video contained a snippet of King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech. Estate lawyers have been vigilant in policing unauthorized use of King’s words and image, including a recently settled suit against CBS. “We know of no use granted,” said a King Center spokesman, who was unaware of the use until contacted by NEWSWEEK. The video producer says the footage was obtained from a stock agency. The estate is considering whether to take any action.
A NEWSWEEK investigation of this spring’s massacre in Uganda–the biggest cult murder in modern history–has turned up new details. It appears that cult leader Credonia Mwerinde, who ordered the burning of a church filled with 600 followers, had developed a habit of killing early on. According to a letter from a close family friend, obtained by NEWSWEEK, Mwerinde had once seduced a man, killed him and taken his money. Later, all three of her brothers and a niece died off, one by one, until she was sole owner of the family property that became her headquarters. She also seems to have had a thing for fire, burning an ex’s belongings and the entire plantation of a relative who refused to join her cult. Why would she kill her followers? Co-leader Joseph Kibwetere had recently died, possibly sparking defections and threatening her rule. She is believed to be now hiding out in Congo.
Two big publishing houses–Random House and Time Warner–announced extensive e-publishing plans last week. But are readers (and writers) really ready to turn this page? Here’s what people are saying over the airwaves, on the Web and in the papers:
Overbooked How many novels can one human possibly read? Shouldn’t Big Publishing be ‘shielding [us] from the horror of an e-publishing free-for-all,’ not encouraging one? (Salon)
Remembrance of Things … Current How can you concentrate on Proust with that ‘You’ve got mail’ guy yammering in your ear? And c’mon, if it was really worth reading, it’d be in hardcover.
Need a Beta Solution Once I buy one of these e-book readers, what’s to say that it’s not ‘going to end up in Betamax-land’? (Inside.com) And, my cell phone and PalmPilot are enough. Who needs another gadget to lug around all day?
E-ternal New technologies are making it so that books are never out of print. That’s great for us, but what about authors who make money when the rights are resold?
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE Does a plane crash make you afraid to fly? (2,138 responses)
22% Yes, but I refuse to give in to that fear. 26% Yes, but flying is still safer than driving. 7% Yes, so I take the bus. 45% No, that’s like worrying about natural disasters. CAST YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., EDT, AUG 11
This week America’s top performance poets gather in Providence, R.I., to voice their best verse. But at the National Poetry Slam, it’s not just what you say, it’s how you say it. In need of some pointers, PERI checked in with a few experts:
1)Know your enemy. “People have options–like the Internet,” says Roger Bonair-Agard, 1999 Slam champion. “Even titles and first lines have to be attention grabbing.” 2)Be loud and proud. “Slam’s a reaction to academic poets who stand at a podium and mumble into their beards,” says Gary Mex Glazner, SlamAmerica organizer. 3) Try to tell a story–even if you know, deep down, that your grocery list is pure gold. “Give the reader a chance to go on a journey,” says Bonair-Agard. Just be wary of the path that begins “‘Oh, look at me! Here’s my political statement!’ " says slammer Daniel S. Solis. 4)Keep it real. “I won’t have my esthetic dictated to me,” says Solis. “Write the truest thing you can write. You can worry about the judges later.”
The flag gets lowered, the sanctions get lifted, right? Nope: S.C.’s tourism boycott is only getting bigger. The Confederate flag has been moved from S.C.’s capitol dome, but NAACP leaders claim the new site–at ground level and lit all night–is even more prominent. They’re pushing college athletics, the movie industry and Tiger Woods to join the boycott. But some insiders think the NAACP should move on. Said one official, “They’re beating a dead dog to death.”
It took 13 years and $250 million to sequence the human genome. Last week scientists announced they’d sequenced the cholera genome in less than three years for just $750,000. OK, so cholera’s only got 3,890 genes and you’ve got 80,000. Size ain’t everything. Here’s what you need to know:
Sounds good. Yep. Could help make a safer cholera vaccine, too. We’re in the middle of a global cholera pandemic; more than a million Latin Americans have been hit over the past nine years.
Do I have a cholera gene? It’s not a gene, it’s a genome, the collection of all the genes that make up an organism.
Let me guess. There’ll be more of these genomes, right? Big yes to that one. Claire Fraser, head of the Institute for Genomic Research, guesses scientists will attack the genomes of the top 20 human pathogens in the next year or so. Stay tuned for plant, mouse, and zebra fish genomes. Swell times, genomically speaking.
Erika Check TRANSITIONAn Editor’s Love
For more than 40 years at The New Yorker, William Maxwell, 91, edited such writers as John Cheever, John Updike and J. D. Salinger, while working on his own craftsmanlike fiction. Maxwell’s enduring influence will be his deft touch on other writers’ manuscripts. “I tried to work so slightly,” he said, “that 10 years later the writer would read his story and not be aware that anybody was involved but him… It is a simple matter of love.”
David Gates REUNIONNow, That’s Togetherness
Eng and Chang are the Bunker family’s single–actually, double–claim to fame. Nearly 200 descendants of the original “Siamese twins” gathered in Mt. Airy, N.C., recently to celebrate their conjoined patriarchs–the inspiration for a new novel and musical.
The relatives’ emotional bond is matched only by their two-stranded genetic link. “With twins married to sisters, there is such a ‘Bunker look’,” said Tanya Rees, Eng’s great-granddaughter. Although some relatives say they endured taunting as children, Rees’s family tree has never caused a problem in Mt. Airy–the real-life inspiration for Andy Griffith’s Mayberry. “It’s a small town. Everyone is related to the twins.” Even Opie?
At some sandwich shops, like Eisenberg’s in New York City, they still use old-school terms to speed things up. A glossary:
two boots adj. To go. (fr. “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’ “)syn.: Seaboard. Cup of veggie soup–two boots!
on the rail adj. To stay. That tuna’s on the rail.
G.A.C. n.(pronounced “jack”) Grilled American cheese
high class adj. With lettuce and tomato. Egg salad–high class!
echo v. To repeat an order. Hey, echo that last one.
whiskey n. Rye bread
for the money adj. Small size. Gimme a salad–for the money.
This month Dom Perignon will rerelease long-sold-out vintages of champagne. The elderly wine will give drinkers more complex flavors, frenetic bubbles and–at $300–a built-in reason to remember the occasion. Says DP’s chief winemaker, “It’s about the unforgettable passion of a moment.” Either that, or a speculators’ buying frenzy.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Cross-Dressing Elephant Edition In Philadelphia, blind mountain climbers and Motown singers took the stage while the Lotts and DeLays were locked up in skyboxes. But guess who really runs the party?
C.W. George W. + Passes key test with 52 smirkless minutes. But will Bubba-Bashing be enough? D. Cheney = After diversity charade, here comes the real GOP: “Homer Simpson’s boss. L. Cheney - Wigs out at questions about (openly) gay daughter. Get used to it, Lynne. Poppy + He’ll be “off the reservation” in month if Bill keeps jabbing Jr. CW will count the days. GOP + Party of “compassion” says it’ll “leave no child behind. CW will count the children. Gore = Success in L.A. could bounce him right back in it. Tip: get good speech Dr.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-16” author: “James Ramirez”
In June Gusinsky spent four days in jail, and early last week federal agents moved to seize his Moscow home. Then prosecutors suddenly dropped charges of embezzlement against him, declaring the case closed “for lack of evidence”–raising fears that Gusinsky might have agreed to tone down print and broadcast criticism of Putin in return. A Gusinsky aide says he “would never strike such a deal.” But his NTV station is struggling to repay $211 million in debts to Russia’s gas monopoly, Gazprom. The partly state-owned Gazprom has offered to swap the debt for shares in the station–a deal that a source close to the Kremlin says may now go ahead, giving Gazprom a “significant” stake in NTV and, perhaps, a say in its editorial policies.
Gusinsky’s reprieve came just a day before Putin met with 18 other tycoons. The so-called oligarchs want Putin to stop investigating privatization deals from the mid-1990s. In return, they promise “to play by the rules… pay taxes and respect the law,” said Boris Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister who initiated the meeting. Putin seems to hold all the cards. “You helped create [this situation]. Don’t scold the mirror for what you see,” he told his guests.
BIN LADEN A New Rival?
Is a turf war dividing Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network? Pakistani sources say that Abu Musa’b Suri, a Syrian national with deep roots in Afghanistan’s Islamic community, has emerged as a serious rival to the Saudi exile. Suri once worked with bin Laden, indoctrinating Arabs at his training camps in eastern Afghanistan. They became estranged, the sources say, because Suri is even more religiously radical than his former boss. The CIA is studying reports of the infighting. “There are splinter groups,” says one U.S. official, but so far none have truly squeezed bin Laden’s leadership role.
THE CLINTONS Chelsea’s Turn
It isn’t just the New York Senate race that’s luring Chelsea Clinton away from Stanford this fall–it’s a front-row seat to the final months of her father’s presidency. The Clintons have gone to great lengths to protect their daughter. But now, at 20, she’s begun making her own decisions. “She woke up one day and realized, ‘I’m missing all this’,” says a White House aide. She immersed herself in the recent Mideast peace talks at Camp David and made a rare appearance while the president briefed reporters afterwards. Aides say she’ll accompany Clinton on whatever foreign travel he plans for the rest of his presidency, including a trip inAugust to Africa. In September she’ll likely represent the family at the Olympic Games in Sydney.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Special Cheesesteak Edition
Since there’s no suspense in the Philly convention, CW is pondering Gore’s VP choice. Will it be Harkin? J. Kerry? Graham? Panetta? Or will Warren Christopher pull a Cheney?
C.W. George W + Comes into Philly tanned, rested and ready. Can I have my bounce, please? Cheney = Blast from past moves from judges’ stand to winners’ circle. Who vetted him? Poppy + Ex prez setting up White House reunion. “Read my lips: I’m not running things.” McCain = Dubya didn’t call his VP bluff. Now Straight Talk is free to make mischief. N.E. Govs - Pataki, Ridge and “Frisk’em” Whitman find pro-choice means no-choice for veep nod. Networks = Can’t blame them for minimal coverage of Republicans’ four-day infomercial.
What do you do when your opponent names his running mate? Go on vacation. To a private island off, say, North Carolina. That’s where Al Gore is, “mulling” his pick. Here’s what people are saying over the airwaves, on the Web and in the papers:
War Wounds Why not go with Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, a charismatic, decorated Vietnam hero? That sets up a race between two Dems who went and two GOPs who didn’t.
Lean Left With a corporate CEO on the Republican ticket, Gore’s pick will be a liberal Democrat: Dick Gephardt, Ill. Sen. Richard Durbin or Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin.
States of Mind Gore will go with an electoral strategy. He’ll choose Sen. Bob Graham of Fla. or Durbin.
Young Guns To contrast Cheney, Gore will look for a ‘flashy new face.’ (Atlanta Journal-Constitution) Prospects include Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh (a fellow St. Albans alum), North Carolina Sen. John Edwards.
Goin’ Gray Gore will counter with his own version of Cheney: George Mitchell. Or not. Bush’s pick shows that he ‘intends to build a bridge to the 20th century.’ (MSNBC)
LIVE VOTE
Does a major plane crash make you afraid to fly? 1. Yes, but I refuse to give in to that fear. 2. Yes, but flying is still safer than driving. 3. Yes, that’s why I take the bus. 4. No, that’s like worrying about natural disasters. Last Weeks’ Live Vote
Does the vice presidential choice really matter (594 responses)?
54% Yes, he or she could become president. 27% Yes, the veep choice says a lot about the presidential candidate’s values. 14% No, it’s just cynical ticket balancing. 5% No, it’s an empty-suit job.
SALOONS Coyote Mugging
It may look like some guy’s fantasy, but the movie “Coyote Ugly” is actually based on a true story Liz Gilbert wrote for GQ about bartending at the Coyote Ugly Saloon in New York. But while art mirrors life, Gilbert–whose just-published novel, “Stern Men,” is about lobster fishermen–says that “the bar is becoming more like the movie.” She’s noticed they’ve added some hot new help. And, as in the movie, “it’s now bartenders as performers.” Hundreds of women have called the Coyote Ugly Saloon in the last month about employment opportunities. Recently a patron asked where Tyra Banks was. “It’s a movie,” the manager told her.
DALAI LAMA What Would Richard Gere Do?
More than 1,000 spiritual leaders have been invited to the United Nations for the Millennium World Peace Summit in late August to discuss ways to foster religious tolerance and reduce ancient antipathies. But until last week, the Dalai Lama, winner of the 1989 Nobel Peace Prize, wasn’t among them. Due to Chinese pressure, His Holiness has never been allowed inside the United Nations. After a flood of protest letters, the Dalai Lama was asked to give the keynote address on the last day of the conference. But there’s a catch: he would still be barred from attending the summit. The speech would take place at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, not the General Assembly. A spokesman for the International Campaign for Tibet says it’s unlikely His Holiness will accept the partial invitation.
Bret Begun, Devin Gordon and Susannah Meadows
CONVENTIONS It’s Our Party and We’ll Fish If We Want To
Philadelphia is hosting one grand old party. The Republican National Convention’s 4,000 delegates and 10,000 volunteers–plus 15,000 journalists–are flooding the City of Brotherly Love (party leaders have been assured it’s just a nickname). Not all GOPers are created equal, however, so here’s a breakdown of Philly culture in categories politicos can understand: tax brackets.
HIGH ROLLERS So what exactly does the all-access GOP pass get you? A fly-fishing trip with House Speaker Dennis Hastert. His pre-dawn “tournament” along the Delaware River is one of the week’s most exclusive gatherings. Alas, Dubya won’t be there. He isn’t making an entrance at the Wyndham Franklin Plaza until midweek. Many other members of the GOP elite have snagged beds at the just-opened, 331-room Ritz-Carlton. (Top suite: $5,000; but for an extra $60 guests can enjoy a butler-drawn bath complete with a red, white or blue martini and a rubber elephant.) When the dinner bell rings, A-listers will put in appearances at the nouveau-African tangerine–don’t even think of capitalizing that T–to hobnob with Sen. John McCain, whose face will be silk-screened onto chairbacks in honor of the occasion. Anyone who’s anyone will also have a table booked at the four-star Le Bec-Fin for Georges Perrier’s $120 prix fixe food extravaganza. The three-tiered dessert cart puts the “Oh!” back in GOP.
RANK AND FILE The party’s work-aday Joes will do less spending–but the week’ll be a lot more taxing. A third of the delegates will be commuting from out-of-city hotels. (The Vermont contingent has to schlep 45 minutes from the Doubletree in Wilmington, Dela.) Others are putting convenience before comfort: some congressmen and their families will crash at the Philadelphia Naval Yard, which was closed due to cuts in defense spending (damn Democrats). Cost-conscious Republicans will find thrifty fun aplenty. The best traditional (i.e., steamed) seafood is served at the Old Original Bookbinder’s. Don’t be hoodwinked by the other Bookbinders around town–whole different ball game. After dinner, sweat off all that melted butter with the obligatory Rocky Balboa jog up the Art Museum steps. If you close your eyes, it feels just like you’re running to accept the party nomination. For a taste of life as the prez, visit the Oval Office replica city officials have constructed downtown at PoliticalFest. Be sure to check under the desk for interns.
YOUNG REPUBLICANS For volunteers who’ve yet to make that first million, no meal in the city tops a cheesesteak from Jim’s. For a postdinner treat, try a Wawa cappuccino or a slice of apple pie with vanilla sauce at the Melrose Diner. Warning: they may make you sing their theme song. Not surreal enough for you? The Motter Museum displays various medical oddities, including the thorax of presidential assassin John Wilkes Booth. For face time with live eccentrics, head to South Street. Buddha McKenzo of South Street Tattoo will ink a GOP elephant on your arm for $100. If you want a less permanent souvenir, don’t leave without Convention Barbie, available in four ethnicities. For Republicans, that’s diversity.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-29” author: “Pearlie Alexander”
Since ‘93, McCain has been checked frequently. That may be why doctors caught the new cancer early. Doctors diagnosed the melanoma during a routine exam on Aug. 3, the day George W. Bush accepted the presidential nomination in Philadelphia. That night McCain returned to Philadelphia with a conspicuous bandage on his temple.
Buoyed by the hopeful test results, McCain last week handed out sunscreen to reporters, and joked about his wife: “Late last night, I did get up and see her thumbing through the insurance policies.” GOP congressional candidates were also relieved by the good news. McCain had canceled several campaign appearances, but said his Straight Talk Express would hit the road again soon after Labor Day.
THE CONCORDE A Bleak Future After aviation regulators grounded the Concorde last week, the British and French governments insisted the supersonic jets would soon be back in the air. But sources familiar with the investigation into the July 25 crash of an Air France Concorde shortly after takeoff from Charles de Gaulle Airport are far more pessimistic. French officials believe a strip of metal debris on the runway ruptured a tire, sending out chunks of rubber that punctured one or more fuel tanks, causing leaks and fire that brought down the plane. Investigators say the evidence indicates the Concorde is vulnerable to a “single-point failure,” a flaw in which there’s no recourse if a primary system malfunctions. The catch: experts say solving the problem by protecting the fuel tanks with armor plating would add so much weight to the plane’s ultralight airframe that it would be too heavy to carry passengers.
SENATE End of an Era? Will this be Republican Sen. Jesse Helms’s last term? Helms, 79, who was treated for prostate cancer in 1991, had heart surgery in ‘92 and knee surgery in ‘97, has confided to friends that he no longer has any sensation below his knees. Speculation is growing back home in North Carolina that he may not stand for re-election in 2002. Democrats are likely to press Gov. Jim Hunt, who lost to Helms in ‘84, to run for the seat. With no obvious GOP successor to Helms, the popular Hunt is considered a good bet to win.
CAST YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., EDT, AUG.25
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE Is your vote influenced by religion? (4,569 responses)
13% Yes, a religious person has stronger moral values. 38% Yes, but religion alone doesn’t determine my vote. 2% Yes, I would vote only for someone of my own faith. 46% No, church and state should remain separate.
VITAL STATS Survey Says… What to do with all the survey results organizations publish? Why, survey them: 74% of teens wearing Calvin Klein consider themselves overweight versus 22% wearing other logos (iSwag.com) 23% of dot-com CEOs say they’d eat another human to survive, compared with 6% of other CEOs (Jericho Communications) 33% of Americans believe that the Bible should be required reading for the next president (Alibris) 40% would spend two hours shopping to save 50% on underwear (Progressive Insurance)
DESIGN Please Do Not Touch the Appliances Prominent by definition, an icon can hardly get any bigger. But KitchenAid’s stand mixer, the American classic first introduced in 1919, is now available in a new, hulking, six-quart, double-batch-of-cookie-dough size. Not to mention two new colors: hunter green (below) and navy. The growth spurt marks the first change in the mixer’s design since the Great Depression: its form is so legendary that, like Mickey Mouse’s ears, the Weber kettle grill and the Coca-Cola bottle, its silhouette is a registered trademark. And for anyone who still doubts that cooking is an art form, the mixer, after a stint at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, goes on display in October at Paris’s Pompidou Center.
ENVIRONMENT Trunk Show California’s new economy has hit a stumbling block: its inner tree-hugger. The moneyed town of Walnut Creek attracted ritzy Tiffany & Co., but when the developer decided to sacrifice a 200-year-old oak for the store’s parking garage, residents balked. Faced with protesters, the town’s design-review commission told the developer to come up with a friendlier plan. For now the tree’s fate–and California’s soul–remains up for grabs. Tiffany’s did not return calls.
LAW ENFORCEMENT Speed Trap Policing Belgian highways is hard work, but any dummy can do it. Literally. Inspired by high-tech cop decoys, Sgt. Patrick Jaumot has enlisted a pair of aluminum officers to “patrol” the nation’s roadways–where faux policemen have cut speeding by 80 percent. They look like Jaumot, but don’t mind working in the rain or hot weather. Never need a doughnut break, either.
FASHION Stripe T’s Puppet, sidekick and now muse: Ernie’s bold, striped style dominates fall fashions from Delia’s, J. Crew, Old Navy and Anthropologie. Says Jim Nelson of GQ magazine, “Ernie has always been an untapped fashion icon. He’s sensible, styling and awfully cuddly. It doesn’t surprise me that he’s inspiring a new generation.” No wonder Bert adores him.
THE BUZZ Revenge of the Nerds? Mastercard has sued Ralph Nader’s campaign for its “priceless” ad parody. Lawsuit for gag: $5 million. Nader can pester U.S. companies-but can he run America’s business? Here’s what people are saying over the airwaves, on the Web and in the papers: One-Note Ralph His ‘message comes down to this: Corporate America has bought and paid for Washington, and it owns us, too.’ (Boston Globe) Fine, but what does he say about abortion, gun control, etc.?
Doesn’t Matter The guy can’t win. ‘There’s probably a Bush campaign budget item labeled “Starbucks” that’s larger’ than Nader’s war chest. (The Christian Science Monitor)
Ask Al Gore Nader could act as spoiler, taking a significant chunk of the Democratic vote in states Gore would otherwise win –Mich., Minn., Ohio, Ore., Pa., Wis. (USA Today)
Oh, Don’t Be So Cynical! Nader’s ‘candidacy offers the healthy prospect that millions of voters who now feel disenfranchised will become active, interested and involved citizens.’ (N.Y. Times) That so bad?
POLITICS Arrrg! Who Goes There in Me Oval Office?! With the Hoopla of both conventions over, it’s time to let the people who speak to the real issues facing America be heard. A PERI roundup of “third party” candidates: CONVENTIONAL WISDOMOut of the Shadow Edition The conventions are over – just in time for the last episode of “Survivor.” C.W. predicts that in 2004, the Reform Party team will be Richard and Rudy in “a return to sanity” ticket.
C.W. Gore + Finally his own man. No “lift of a driving dream,” but a bigger bounce than Bush. Lieberman + Bakery-truck driver son’s rye sense of humor goes over big. Bonus: He looks like a VP. Clinton + Talks the talk like no other. But “Gladiator” walk was over the top – even for Hollywood. Hillary = Squanders prime-time gig with sing-song platitudes. But Kosher Joe will help in N.Y. Kennedys - Old: Rekindling Camelot will help Gore. New: Recycling Camelot a ratings bore. L.A. = Good: Tinsel without riots. Bad: It just didn’t jell. CW sez: New Orleans in ‘04.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-02-01” author: “Aurelia Katz”
POWER ‘Madeleine Inc.’ For Albright? No matter who wins the election, few members of Bill Clinton’s cabinet are likely to be spotted around the White House much after Jan. 20. That includes the administration’s most senior member, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. “She very much wants to stay,” says another cabinet member, “but [Al] Gore would not want her.” One reason is that an Albright rival, U.N. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, is a favorite to take the spot if Gore wins. But Albright won’t be idle: associates expect she’ll write a book, start a democracy foundation, give speeches and revert to her old role of running one of Georgetown’s best salons. “My guess is she’ll pursue some form of Madeleine Inc.,” says ex-aide James Rubin. But one who could survive a Gore purge is Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, who has expressed confidence he’d be asked to stay on (at least for a time; Gore crony Jim Johnson, the ex-Fannie Mae chief, also could head Treasury).
THE WEB Short on Funds, Big on Fun While dot-com success has never been measured in traditional ways, the latest badge of honor is particularly curious. For sites that tank, a stellar “e-obituary” is the hallmark of going out in style. Animators at yourownworld.com, a kids’ site, created a final cartoon where the site’s characters sail into the sunset. Freescholarships.com asks: “So is this goodbye forever? Who knows? Even David Hasselhoff’s career had a bit of a resurgence.” “It’s hard to have fun doing this,” says Philip Kaplan, who runs dot-tank monitor f—edcompany.com, “but I guess it’s nice to have the last word.”
THE BUZZ Dennis, Start Blow Drying Your Hair Dennis Miller hasn’t exactly been the touchdown ABC was hoping for: If “Monday Night Football” ratings get any lower, the show will be competing for air time in purgatory, babe. Time to punt? Here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online:
Bell Jarred Football fans don’t ‘want a smartalecky PhD in the booth, quoting Sylivia Plath as if he were hosting a Mensa potluck party.’ (Paul Farhi, Wash. Post)
Bad Taste ‘He loves every football coach and corporate sponsor he meets-he sucks up more than the McCaughey septuplets to a baby bottle.’ (Norman Chad, Wash. Post)
Diaper Dandy Of the four new teammates, the star rookie is actually comely sideline reporter Melissa Stark. Solid, smart, she’s been a ‘winner from the start’ (USA Today). And, uh, she’s silly hot.
Time Out During last week’s ‘MNF,’ ‘Miller didn’t come on until 9:08, his latest bow yet, and his opening segment was the shortest yet. The phrase “easing him out” leapt to…mind.’ (Slate)
NEWSWEEK.COM LIVE VOTE Will you still use Napster if you have to pay a fee? 1. Yes, even if you have to pay, it’s still cheaper than buying CDs. 2. Yes, I’d feel more comfortable using it if there was a charge. 3. No, I enjoy getting something for nothing. 4. No, Napster doesn’t play any role in my life.
TRANSITION Double Oscars Ring Lardner Jr., son of humorist Ring Lardner, won an Oscar for co-writing the first Hepburn-Tracy vehicle, “Woman of the Year.” A communist, he refused to answer questions from the House Un-American Committee, saying, “I’d hate myself in the morning.” He spent nine months in prison and years on the black-list, then won a 1970 Oscar for “MAS*H.” He died at 85.
MOVIES The Angels’ Style Guide “Charlie’s Angels” is hawking everything from baby Ts to designer shades–all to give laywomen that heavenly ’70s style. But why pawn your halo to dress like an angel? The film’s stars use accessories all women are born with. In the original series, one angel was smart, another athletic and the third pretty. Now there’s only anatomical individuality–the butt, the mouth and the hair angel. In scene after scene, Cameron Diaz bumps and grinds, Drew Barrymore licks and Lucy Liu’s hair shimmers in slow mo. Cleavage, of course, remains every angel’s best friend.
MOVIES Guess Who’s Coming to the Rescue Critics fried “The Green Mile” for its depiction of a black convict with all the traits of a stereotypical “good slave”: mystical healing powers and an overriding interest in saving the white man. But judging from the crop of fall movies, Hollywood isn’t giving up the formula just yet. “The Legend of Bagger Vance” has Will Smith caddying Mr. Damon. All-knowing black characters prompt their white counterparts’ self-discovery in “Unbreakable” and “The Family Man.” And “Bedazzled” takes the cliche to extremes with a black actor as God. “In one sense these are positive roles,” said DePaul University’s Michael Eric Dyson, a cultural scholar. “But they’re just means to an end–means to the white characters’ salvation–and not ends in themselves.”
TRENDS With Toys Like This, Who Needs Friends? There have been talking dolls since 1888, but now everything’s gone interactive. PERI takes a look at the evolution of interactive entertainment, but as George Darrow of NYC’s Antique Fun advises, “Don’t forget toys without batteries - they never go dead.” FAST CHATBon Appetit, American Style Let us give thanks for Julia Child. With a new book, “Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom,” the unstoppable, 88-year-old matron saint of cooking offers some pointers for that most glorious of meals around the corner.
PERI: What do you think of Thanksgiving? CHILD: I love Thanksgiving. I love tradition. I hate Christmas, with all the presents. But Thanksgiving is just a big feast.
What do the French think of it? They don’t think about it, they’re focused on themselves.
What is the most important part of Thanksgiving? The turkey the next day. I like an open-faced sandwich with a big turkey breast on white bread with a lot of mayo. And capers. Capers are very good.
Is it important to eat everything, even the rutabagas? You should eat what you like.
Are there any new trends in Thanksgiving feasts? I haven’t heard of any, have you?
No, not since the deep-fat-fried turkey a few years ago. That would take a lot of fat, wouldn’t it. It’s supposed to be delicious.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM On the eve of the election, the CW takes a break from politics (wait for our special issue). In the meantime, vote for the candidates of your choice - or at least just vote.
C.W. Space Sta. = Good news: The lights and toilet work Bad news: What do we do with this thing? S. Allen + “Tonight Show” pioneer was the smartest man ever on TV. As he kept reminding us. Kasparov - First he loses to a computer, now to a human protege. Next stop: Washington Square. Newcombe + Former tennis pro now trivia answer: What athlete was in Dubya’s car when he DUI’d? ‘C.’s Angels’ = Remake has all the substance of cotton candy and is just as tasty. Hellllo Oscar! Asteroid = There’s one that could hit us in 2030. So who cares about the Social Security trust fund?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-12” author: “Linda Graves”
On Mori’s government: His cabinet is not supported by the people. About 80 percent of them say they don’t like [his government]. He has hardly accomplished anything. The real problem isn’t Mori, but the state of the LDP. Most people within the party know it has to change. We are in a crisis.
On his plans: Japan has great potential and is not a country in twilight. We can change. We can still have dreams. I will show strong leadership. I want to have dialogues with people about things like our national pension plan and our Asia policy.
On Japan’s status: American and Japanese friends tell me Japan’s international position has deteriorated. I have an impression that leaders of other nations do not take Japan seriously.
On the future: During the cold war the main global issue was defense and nuclear deterrence. Now it is finance, money and direct investment. A decade from now, it will be science and technology. Japan is lagging behind. If we cannot keep pace, we will lose our competitive edge.
On the economy: Consumer spending is not growing. Our people are afraid politicians will spend their pension money to pay off the government’s huge debts. Therefore they save a lot to protect themselves. We need to analyze their anxieties and address the problem. Then consumers may buy one more item in the supermarket.
BOOKS Look It Up What to tell the kids? To explain the presidential election brawl, World Book Encyclopedia for the first time in its 83-year history will publish an extra volume, chock-full of news about chad, absentee ballots, Al, Dubya and the Electoral College. Printers are holding up 15 volumes of the 22-volume set containing sections on the presidency until Nov. 20, then they’ll run them off with–or without–a winner. Whenever the winner is named, World Book will publish the 160-page Election 2000 Special Edition. By early February presumably–it’ll be available free to anyone who buys the regular 2001 set. “We know by Jan. 20 someone’s hand will go on the Bible and he will become president,” says publisher Michael Ross.
THE BUZZ Take Me To Your Leader! But Not Right Now. While the nation waits, it laughs, too. “Saturday Night Live” is a “political necessity,” and ratings for late-night shows are so high, the Nielsen people might consider a recount of TV sets. Here are the jokes being told on-air, in print and online:
Befuddled in Boca ‘Remember the ones who said they thought they voted for Buchanan? They thought they were voting for James Buchanan.’ (Jay Leno)
Chad Fad ‘At least there’s this to be grateful for: Johnnie Cochran wasn’t shown up on the Gore legal team. (If the chads don’t fit, you must acquit.)’ (Maureen Dowd, New York Times)
Woodwork ‘George W. Bush has been very busy assembling a cabinet. Meanwhile, Al Gore has been busy resembling a cabinet.’ (Conan O’Brien)
The Shadow Knows ‘Life is full of irregularities. Who among us hasn’t mistakenly poured orange juice on our breakfast cereal … or been cited by the EPA for toxic eyeshadow levels?’ (modernhumorist.com, in a fake petition ‘written’ by Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris)
PLACE YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., EST, NOV. 24
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE
Will you still use Napster if you have to pay a fee? (1,873 responses)
19% Yes, it’s still cheaper than buying CDs. 5% Yes, I feel more comfortable using it with a charge. 44% No, I enjoy getting something for nothing. 32% No, I don’t use Napster.
TRANSITION Voice of History Pioneering broadcast journalist Robert Trout was known for gracefully ad-libbing his reports of historic breaking news across a 69-year career. Covering the Allied invasion of France on D-Day, he delivered news of victory. His last broadcast was three weeks ago on NPR. He was 91.
Reform-movement leader Rabbi Alexander Schindler, 75, welcomed non-Jewish spouses into the Jewish community.
FAST CHAT Down for the Count The party attack dogs have gotten us nowhere. It’s time to call in a ringer. PERI asked “Sesame Street’s” Count von Count for his take on the election mess:
Are you affiliated with a party? Or do professional counters have to remain independent? No! I am not affiliated with a party, however, I do get asked to many… ah, ah, ah! I couldn’t tell you about professional counters. I only do it for fun. Is there a number people repeatedly stumble on? It depends on their relationship with a number. If there has been trauma, yes, they vill stumble. What makes counting difficult? The thing that makes it difficult is when someone yells out “437!” to distract you. What if you have to count hundreds of thousands of ballots that have already been counted by a machine–twice? Still fun? What you are asking sounds suspiciously like partisan rhetoric. There seems to be a plethora of lawyers involved. I would like to count them and the money they are all making from this. MUSICI Wanna Rock! (Got a Spare Guitar?) While Wall Street worries about a slowing economy, perhaps there’s an upside. When there’s nothing for American youth to rail against (i.e., a bleak economic future), music becomes as complacent and fat as an aging hair-metal band (look no further than Britney Spears, ‘N Sync… the “Thong Song”).
“There’s this rise and fall of music quality with the Dow,” says rock historian Anthony DeCurtis. Faltering markets mean edgy, vital sounds: take punk bands like the Dead Kennedys in the late ’70s, socially aware rappers like Public Enemy and raw-powered grungers like Nirvana in the depressed early ’90s. Right now, “there’s nothing to react against,” says Greg Graffin, lead man for the punk band Bad Religion. “Do you like money? Yeah, I like money. Who doesn’t?”
Maybe the past few years have earned you enough money to buy a fancy stereo system, but what’s the use in turning it on if there’s nothing good to play? EDUCATIONCram Session Does spring break in Cancun count as a meaningful transcultural experience? Students aren’t making marks for downing margaritas just yet, but the Institute of International Education reports that Americans are studying abroad for shorter intervals. The number of students seeking erudition overseas has increased by 45 percent in the past four years, but about 90 percent stay for one semester or less–with many opting for cultural crash courses lasting only eight weeks. “Shorter sojourns can serve some students’ needs better,” said an IIE rep. What’s next? “France: the videogame”? THE WEBThanks, Boss While the dot-com landscape becomes increasingly chilly, employers at now-defunct sites are spreading some warmth. These Good Cybermaritans are posting their former employees’ resumes online. And since the industry keeps a close eye on who’s dot-bombing, resume pages make it easier to scout top talent. After Kibu.com, a Web site for teenage girls, went under, the CEO set up Kibupeople.com. Says one former HTML designer: “I got 40 calls–maybe more. I lost track.”
BOOKS Don’t Go Out of Bounds In the face of the coming tide of e-books, Knopf has issued a beautiful box full of backlash: the Booklover’s Repair Kit, now available in bookstores. Fetching $125, including an instruction manual, tapes, gloves, clamps and glues to mend ailing books, and dedicated to the Library of Congress, it represents a strong attachment to living, breathing books. Never mind that very few readers will ever get around to actually using it.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM It’s a Chad Chad Chad Chad World Edition It doesn’t get any better. Every day brings countless new players, judicial rulings, press conferences, shots of Palm Beach punchcard divinations (BINGO!) and Katherine Harris makeovers. Only drawback: postpones handicapping Election 2004.
C.W. Bush = Subcontracts the whole thing a he clears brush and plays with Spot. What a hands-on guy. Gore = Wired 24/7 for the latest pregnant-chad report from Duval County. President – of Cisco? Baker - Angry Spinner in Chief fails to mention Bush’s Texas law deems hand counts “most accurate.” Christopher = Upside: Calm, reasonable advocate. Downside: Maybe too calm…ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ. K. Harris - Sec. of State/Bush campaign co-chair sought to pick president single handedly. Nice try, Cruella. Boies + After superlawyer beat Gates and defended Napster, how hard can Bush be? J. Ellis - Bush’s first cousin brags about calling election for Dubya on Fox. So that’s who decides. Fla. Supremes + Credible jurists waste no time. Finally some straight talk. Bonus: No camera hogging (yet). Hand counts = Subjective, time-consuming and look bad on TV, but most experts agree they beat machines. Public + Guess what, there’s no panic in the streets, just dread that one of these guys will be prez. Media - It’s an event of true import, but Monica-style mediathon makes anything look trivial. Clintons + Historic trip overshadowed. But they’ll always be the First Family – of Vietnam.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-21” author: “Corey Ray”
MOLE WATCH Open Questions The FBI seemed no closer last week to resolving the mystery of the mole who lifted George Bush’s debate-prep material. Law-enforcement sources told NEWSWEEK that fingerprints and forensic tests conducted on fibers, DNA and hair taken from the briefing papers and practice tape mailed to the Gore camp have failed to pin down the mole’s identity. One twist: Yvette Lozano, the assistant at Bush’s outside media firm who is a focus of the probe, refused (through her lawyer) to take a lie-detector test. A Bush spokesman said that at the outset of the inquiry, Lozano indicated she was willing to take a polygraph. Lozano’s attorney did not respond to several calls.
TERRORISM Lockerbie: Another Delay Six months after testimony began, a new snag has temporarily halted the Lockerbie bombing trial in the Netherlands. Three Scottish judges hearing the case against two alleged Libyan agents agreed to the latest adjournment so defense attorneys could study a mysterious letter and dossier handed to them unexpectedly by the prosecution. The defense said it would have to dispatch investigators to six countries on three continents to check out the new material. While authorities declined to discuss it, the father of one crash victim told NEWSWEEK that U.S. officials say privately that the latest holdup is “no big deal.” A U.S. intelligence source says the file includes information from a disgruntled West European intelligence agent challenging the theory that the Libyans planted the bomb–a tip the FBI has discredited, the source claims. Authorities assure victims’ families they still expect the trial to be finished before Dec. 21, the 12th anniversary of the tragedy.
The Buzz So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Ba-Bye Next week the nation casts its ballots, and eyes, toward the future. given the two wanna-bes jockeying to fill his loafers, Clinton is bound to look good in comparison. If he wants a more meaningful legacy? Here’s what they’re saying in print and on air:
Al Must Win Sure, Gore declares he’s his ‘own man.’ But if voters reject Clinton’s protege–or Hillary–it’s probably because they think he’s stuck to Slick Willie.
Mediate the Middle East ‘It looked as if progress toward Mideast peace … might be the crown jewel of his legacy.’ (L.A. Times) Now that bullets and rocks are flying, that dream is up in smoke.
Everlasting Love Monicagate stained the Clinton presidency. He should be ranked with the ‘other presidents who broke faith with the American people.’ (USA Today letter)
Clintonomics 101 Sure, it’d help if the economy didn’t dot-tank, but Clinton’s accomplishments ‘will be the bedrock of the global trading system for decades to come.’ (Washington Post)
NEWSWEEK.COM LIVE VOTE Should Ralph Nader leave the presidential race? 1. Yes, his liberal friends will regret it if Nader hands this neck-and-neck election to Bush. 2. Yes, we have a two-party system by design. 3. No, a viable third party would keep the Dems and GOPs honest. 4. No, he’s the only candidate worth voting for.
PLACE YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., EST, NOV.3
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE
What game system do you want for the holidays? (18,896 votes)
29% Nothing can keep me from my PlayStation 2. Nothing. 9% Sega’s Dreamcast is cheaper–and available. 22% I’m waiting for Microsoft’s Xbox and Nintendo’s GameCube. 41% Ever hear of a book?
TRANSITION Mother Editor In 1965, following a divorce, Katherine W. Fanning piled her three children in a station wagon and drove to Alaska. She took a $2-an-hour job as the librarian for The Anchorage Daily News–a paper she would eventually own and guide to a Pulitzer Prize. A pioneering force for women in journalism, Fanning later edited The Christian Science Monitor and served as president of the American Society of Newspaper Editors. She died early last week at 73.
THE SKINNY Is It Just Us, or Is It Hot in Here? THE STORY The latest projection of how bad global warming is likely to be concludes that greenhouse gases will warm the world by as much as 10.8 degrees Fahrenheit. That compares to the worst-case 6.3 degrees Fahrenheit that university, government and industry scientists forecast in 1995. Sea levels will likely rise more than 18 inches in the 21st century, concludes the U.N.-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Thousands of miles of inhabited coastline will be obliterated. And if you like killer hurricanes, you’ll love the 21st century.
THE SKINNY Note the backpedaling of “contrarians.” These scientists and engineers, some of whom are involved with the IPCC, dismiss the threat of global warming. In the 1980s they denied that the world was warming. In the ’90s they admitted it is, but said the phenomenon was natural, not due to greenhouse pollution. Now they concede that, OK, the warming is our fault, but it will be good for us, as a toastier world boosts crop yields. We’ll see if that persuades the 10,000 delegates gathering this November in The Hague to hammer out the next stage in a treaty to slow climate change.
OFFICE BASEBALL Why Go Out to the Ball Game? The commercial for Radica USA’s Play TV Baseball shows two men limbering up for a game in their living room. PERI’s first thought: What losers. Second thought: Must. Play. NOW. In the sports off-season, what better time to dabble? We did, losing a 6-0 knuckle-biter in the semis. Although we disagree with some of the umpiring–you can smash a very long single–the interactive baseball videogame was an office hit.
CHINA Art Meets Porn In Han Dynasty This art is filthy, and being buried in a pigpen certainly didn’t help. Two brick panels dating back to the Eastern Han (A.D. 22-23) were rescued from a Chinese farmer’s sty in the 1980s, but post-Cultural Revolution officials felt the risque artifacts–showing a menage a trois in the great outdoors–were too dirty for domestic display. Until now. Last month a small museum in Sichuan province put the laptop-size panels on display. Shanghai University’s Liu Dalin says the art, originally part of a tomb, reflects the “very lively” sex lives during the Han period. Given the thousands of tourists flocking to the exhibit each day, it seems people long for the good old days.
INTERIOR DESIGN What Corporate Ladder? A Boulder, Colo., company hopes its employees aren’t climbing the walls. Literally. XOR, Inc., gave its lobby Rocky Mountain flavor with a faux-sandstone wall. When staffers began buzzing about climbing the facade, execs from the eBusiness service provider had the wall redesigned and called “unscalable” by an expert climber. Would-be Spidermen must also contend with a row of prickly-pear cacti. That can’t be good for the webs.
LOGOS My Brand Name Is Better Than Yours Forget Ottoman pottery. London’s Victoria and Albert Museum takes aim at label-lovers by showcasing less precious relics: Hello Kitty vacuum cleaners and Martha Stewart paint. The kitschy content is “repulsive,” writes one critic, “even with a thick layer of industrial-strength irony.”
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Pundits’ Last Stand Edition The CW has ODed on polls and hopes they turn out to be way wrong in the end. We want a Buchanan landslide or a Hagelin-Goldhaber groundswell!
C.W. Bush + Pretty smart campaign for a dumb guy. Time to close the sale. Gore = Good news: Hasn’t lost yet. Bad news: Still campaigning in Tennessee. Nader - Old: “I’m here to air the issues, not to be a spoiler.” New: “So what if I’m a spoiler?” Hillary + Old: Carpetbagging limousine liberal. New: More Buffalo than Tim Russert. Congress - While candidates fight over spending the surplus, these bozos quietly squander it. Yankees + The perfect Dubya baseball team: The rich get richer. Tax breaks all around!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-26” author: “Melissa Whitten”
According to some security sources, the attackers penetrated the perimeter at T/A18, and could, theoretically, have blown up a large quantity of the highly dangerous enriched uranium that is used in experiments. Energy Department officials confirm that the commandos did get through two layers of security at the facility but deny they got close enough to the “target” to blow it up and cause a nuclear disaster. But the officials concede that the exercise was stopped by “controllers” in mid-“firefight.” DOE officials say Energy Secretary Bill Richardson has ordered immediate improvements.
Meanwhile, FBI officials have found several computer tapes in a Los Alamos landfill. The bureau, which bungled the case against Lee, is trying to determine whether the tapes contain nuclear data he downloaded.
THE TROUBLES Goodbye Peace? Bill Clinton’s final swing through Northern Ireland this week was intended as a kind of victory lap. But when he decided to bring along his family, the trip took on a grand-finale feel–creating hopeful signs of a breakthrough on the issue of disarmament. The IRA hinted that it would move ahead on decommissioning if the British government offered concessions on two related issues: a reduction of British troops in the region and further reform of the Northern Ireland police force, the Royal Ulster Constabulary. There’s a sense the government will agree, at least partially. But groups that oppose the 1998 Good Friday Agreement have cast a pall over the peace dream. In Belfast incidents last week a Protestant taxi driver and a Catholic construction worker were killed and a Catholic taxi driver seriously injured.
LAWYERS Billable Hours The election fiasco may be a bonanza for lawyers, but so far the high-priced attorneys working for George Bush and Al Gore aren’t rushing to collect their fees. Gore’s chief lawyer, David Boies, says he’s working pro bono. Sources in both camps say others have been so busy that few, if any, have submitted bills or claims for expenses. “Everybody’s just working flat-out,” says a GOP lawyer. Said a source close to Gore’s legal team: “They’re not sleeping; they’re not eating. They’re just out for victory.”
((((((THE BUZZ)))))) Imagine All the People Wearing These Glasses It was 20 years ago last week that John Lennon was shot to death. And his legacy, like any rocker’s who dies tragically, has been debated constantly ever since. Two decades later, where does he stand? Here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online: He’s Jesus: ‘Lennon has become one of popular culture’s battlegrounds,’ attracting ’not only serious biographers, but hagiographers and revisionists as well.’ (N.Y. Times)
He’s Lucky: She ‘still sparks mixed emotions,’ but Yoko Ono has had the ‘biggest effect on Lennon’s image … by her fierce defense of their reputations and the way she has shepherded his music.’ (Daily News, N.Y.)
He’s Genius: ‘If it wasn’t for John Lennon, I think that Paul McCartney would have had the Beatles writing ‘Yesterday’ right up until the day they split up. [Lennon is] probably still 20 years ahead of his time.’ (Noel Gallagher, The Observer)
He’s a Jerk: ‘Lennon was an uncompromising artist who kept pushing forward.’ (L.A. Times) But he was also a nasty layabout who pushed people aside, like son Julian. Hey, Jude: you have your father’s voice, and ‘It’s Much Too Late for Goodbyes’ is all you did with it?
NEWSWEEK.COM LIVE VOTE
PLACE YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 9 A.M. EST, Dec. 16
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE
What’s your mood about the economy and a possible recession? (2,337 responses) 31% I’m not worried. 43% I’m wary, but my money is staying where it is. 3% I’m antsy and nagging my broker every day. 22% The party’s over.
BOMBS Bedeviled Adam Sandler plays Satan’s son in “Little Nicky,” but the bomb is hell for New Line Cinema. Produced at $85 million (Sandler got more than $20 mil), the comedy may be the studio’s biggest loser. New Line’s praying for salvation: Sandler owes them three more movies, and his asking price stays the same.
TELEVISION ‘Cop Rock’ Strikes Back It’s not just her microscopic miniskirts. Ally McBeal has another way of keeping an audience: have the stars “spontaneously” burst into song. They’re not alone. Several sitcoms now prominently feature musical numbers a la Busby Berkeley. From Jack’s cabaret act on “Will & Grace,” to Bette Midler’s self-satirizing performances and “Nikki’s” showgirl scenes, Broadway’s found a happy home in L.A. “We’re doing two to three times more music this year, so I’m working my a– off,” says Ally’s barfly chanteuse Vonda Shepard, who produces all the show’s songs. “It’s just a way of taking the scene to another level.” Isn’t that supposed to happen through acting?
TRANSITION Word Fusion She used to say it was as if her name was “Gwendolyn Pulitzer Brooks,” bemused that a prize she won in 1950 overshadowed half a century of work. Brooks, who died at 83, was among the most revered of African-American poets; she passionately observed the life around her and mixed elevated and colloquial diction: “We real cool. We/left school. We/… Jazz June. We/Die soon.” David Gates
TRENDS Does This Come With Fries? While the economy is slowing, many establishments are hoping you haven’t found out yet. Among them, the nearly 5,700 spas, which are all seeking to distinguish themselves. The latest way: indigenous-food treatments. PERI picks the best shtiks:
Texas Cornmeal Scrub/Honey Barbecue Wrap Where: Hotel Crescent Court, Dallas. What: A dry rub of cornmeal, crushed peppercorns and red wine is applied. After a rinse, you’re basted with a warm sauce made from tomato enzyme, cayenne pepper, paprika, brown sugar, etc. Why: ‘Increased circulation, moisturized skin.’ Each lasts 50 minutes; scrub costs $85, wrap is $95.
Grape-Seed Scrub Where: Meadowood Napa Valley, St. Helena, Calif. What: Crushed grape seeds are applied to body pressure points that correspond to internal organs, followed by a Chardonnay cream rub. Why: Provides ‘balance inside and out.’ Lasts 50 min.; costs $90.
Tropical Citrus Wrap Where: The Breakers, Palm Beach, Fla. What: The oils of local lemons, limes and oranges are massaged into the skin for a ‘just plucked’ feel. Why: ‘Encourages lymphatic drainage and stimulates pores.’ Lasts 50 minutes; costs $85.
Whipped Cocoa Bath Where: Hotel Hershey, Hershey, Pa. What: As of January, you can be placed in a frothy whirlpool bath of rehydrated milk, cocoa powder, warm water and chocolate-scented bubble bath. Why: Softens skin. Lasts 25 minutes; costs $45.
FAST CHAT I Aid the Walrus, Goo Goo G’joob Walruses in the Moscow Zoo have infected tusks. If untreated, the condition could be lethal. In April, Peter Kertesz will head to Russia to help. PERI checked in:
Why did the zoo approach you in London? I’m one of the few tusk dentists in the world–but I’ve worked with everything from aardvarks to elephants to gorillas to zebras. This will be my first time with walruses, though. I’ll just apply the basic principles of tusk surgery.
Why are they sick? Walruses fracture their tusks on the concrete floor of their cages. We’ll be removing both tusks from 10 walruses. It’s a complicated operation because they’re so big. But walruses are very nice animals.
HOW-TO Flotation Device If you’re going to try this at home, you need to have started last January. That’s when Fiesta Parade Floats, leading float builders, began prepping for this New Year’s Day Rose Parade. According to Tim Estes, CFE (Certified Festival Executive), here’s how it’s done: 1. Register thumbnail sketches of floats to avoid repetition. 2. Make blueprints and rough models.3. Order custom-grown flowers five months in advance. 4. Build chassis, mount engines. 5. Create shape with bendable steel rods. 6. Apply skinlike painted window screen: flowers are added like a “color by number.” 7. Decorate for more than 7,000 hours. 8. Start planning for next year.
ADVERTISING Flying Buttresses What do watches, shampoos and anti-diarrheals have in common? Apparently, women’s bottoms, spread-eagled arms and peaceful views. One female (right), at least, refuses to give in to this ad trend.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Extreme Supremes Edition The C.W. was ready to check out of Tallahassee and spend Christmas handicapping Bush cabinet picks. Whoops! Looks like a few more days in the capital of the Banana Republic of America.
C.W. Supremes = Final ruling may see us through, but why are you so afraid to have the votes counted? Florida = Show guts in upsetting Bush bandwagon. Supremes But did they just prolong the mess? N. Clark + Old: Judge dissed by Jeb will throw absentees out. New: Florida anomaly - rules by law. T. Lewis + Judge ordered to organize recount does bang-up job - until The Brethren pull the plug. Fla. Leg. - Determined to write insurance policy for Bush campaign, backlash be damned. Media + Finally, a story that actually needs 24/7 cable and Internet coverage. Vacations all around!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-19” author: “John Fryar”
THE SENATE Numbers Game Democrats admit the talk is “macabre,” but they’re convinced they’ll control the Senate within 18 months. Two Republicans, both in failing health, represent states with Democratic governors. That means if Strom Thurmond, 98, or Jesse Helms, 79, vacated his seat, he’d be replaced by a Democrat. The GOP is also running the numbers and may try to pick off Dems in states with GOP governors by offering the senators cabinet posts. One target: Louisiana’s John Breaux. But a key Dem says, “Never. Breaux is a good Democrat.”
HOT PROPERTY We’re Having a Bleach Party Here’s a trend that’s not sweeping England. But in America, teeth bleaching has become the No. 1 esthetic procedure, according to Dr. Larry Rosenthal, a cosmetic dentist in New York City. “It’s a mania,” he says. So much so that in addition to the whitening toothpastes, home bleaching kits and dentist- office bleachings, there are now teeth-whitening spas across the country. BriteSmile, the “professional teeth whitening spa,” first opened last year in California. Now there are 17 of them, located in high-retail-traffic areas; the $500 procedure is just one more thing to buy. Here’s how it works: patients are first examined by a dentist. Then they don bibs and relax in dentist’s chairs with gel on their teeth. For an hour, the BriteSmile 2000 light activates the hydrogen peroxide gel, bleaching the teeth. Rosenthal attributes Americans’ whitening fetish to Chiclet mouths on airbrushed magazine covers and a good economy. That, and the small issue of an entire nation’s wishing it could look young again.
PANTS Fashion Ace John McEnroe’s panachehas always exceeded the confines of the tennis court. With the emergence of tight little shorts, or hotpants, as this season’s latest fashion statement, the influence of his personal style seems to have reached new proportions.
MOVIES Like Mama Used to Say: Boo-Boo Is as Boo-Boo Does Hypochondriacs are always complaining, and Tom Hanks is whining all the way to the bank. In film after film, his characters grapple with physical infirmities. Can you blame him? As Hanks learned from “Philadelphia,” Oscar loves an illness.
CAST AWAY General Plot: Trapped on a deserted tropical island, Hanks struggles to survive Ailment: Nagging toothache, no dentists in sight Cure: Knocks out tooth by bashing an ice-skate blade with a coconut
THE GREEN MILE General Plot: Prison guards face the upcoming execution of an innocent man Ailment: Try though he might, Hanks just can’t pee Cure: Healed by the inmate, a magical, mystical seven-foot-tall giant
SAVING PRIVATE RYAN General Plot: Knee deep in World War II gore, Hanks tries to save a soldier Ailment: Shaking hands make shooting tough None. Cure: Well, technically they stop shaking when he dies.
TOY STORY 2 General Plot: It’s toys to the rescue when Hanks’s Sheriff Woody is kidnapped Ailment: Woody loses an arm during playtime Cure: An evil toy collector reattaches the wayward appendage RAGE Speed Bump Life in the fast lane may be getting faster. A consortium of businesses near London’s ultrabusy Oxford Street is calling for sidewalk speed lanes to weed out pedestrians who dare to stroll leisurely. Dawdlers are “just revolting,” says one Grinch. Happy holidays–now outta my way!
BREATH Odor Eaters Garlic lovers may finally get lucky. Researchers at the Botanic and Genetic Institute of the Catholic University in northern Italy have discovered a solution to the perennial problem of garlic breath: garlic can lose its allicin, the substance responsible for the offending odor, without losing its taste. Great, but will it repel vampires?
((((((the buzz)))))) Hey, Buddy, You Try to Do This Job! Twelve hours after a big win and eight months after a final four trip, Wisconsin Badgers hoops coach Dick Bennett quit, citing burnout. He’s the third coach to fizzle this fall. What’s going on? Here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online:
Under Pressure For pro-football coaches, ’the stress of the job appears to be at its highest level ever; it can become almost unmanageable, draining even the most resilient man.’ (N.Y. Times)
Ensnared Like Vince Lombardi used to have it easy? No, but today the ‘media drums’ (USA Today) beat louder and more often.
Full-Court Press Football coaches aren’t the only ones taking hits. Guys like Bennett are crazed with recruiting; in ‘99, NBA coach Danny Ainge quit to ‘save my family.’ (Chicago Tribune)
Gut Check All three coaches quit midseason. That ‘may appear to be impulsive, but it’s something that has been churning inside for a long, long time. They’re feasting off the intensity, but it’s also killing them inside.’ (Stanley Teitelbaum, clinical psych.)
LIVE VOTE What’s your mood about the economy and a possible recession? 1. Markets go up and down. I’m not really worried. 2. I’m wary, but my money is staying where it is. 3. I’m antsy and nagging my broker every day. 4. The party’s over. LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE How much holiday shopping will you do online? (1,141 responses) 29% A lot. It’s so convenient. 26% Some, but I enjoy browsing in stores. 12% Not much. I tried it last year and it wasn’t any easier. 33% None. It’s not my speed.
MEDIA Extra! Reread All About It. It doesn’t take Walter Cronkite to know that the 2000 election is a big story, but just how big is it? If you use The New York Times’s benchmark–a banner headline, or one that runs from “coast to coast”–the answer is: huge. The Times ran banner heads for 20 straight days, ending Nov. 27, a peacetime record. It’s been 81 years, says Lee Hanover, an expert on the paper’s front pages, since a nonwar event got close to this much consecutive play. Election 2000 supplanted the 1919 steelworkers’ strike, which received 12 banner heads in a row, says Hanover; the 1991 Soviet coup and the 1956 Suez crisis are tied with nine. (They’re considered peacetime events because the U.S. military wasn’t involved.) But these tallies are dwarfed by the all-time record: a string of 141 during World War II, ending on May 10, 1945. The first ear-to-ear headline? Think Leo, Kate–and “King of the world!”
EXCLUSIVE A Bet That the FTC Will Blink Time Warner and America Online have run out of concessions they’re willing to make to get their merger approved. They’ve also run out of patience, telling the Federal Trade Commission to bless the deal–or sue to block it. AOL and Time Warner, NEWSWEEK has learned, are calculating that the trustbusters will blink first. For months, the FTC’s main concern was “open access’’–allowing AOL’s Internet rivals to have equal access to Time Warner’s broadband cable systems. Early on, the merger partners pledged voluntary open access. And despite opposition from the likes of Walt Disney Co., the FTC seemed prepared to accept that. NEWSWEEK has learned that the FTC and AOL-Time Warner had negotiated an agreement: Time Warner would grant cable access to at least one rival before or at the same time as it adds AOL. FTC Chairman Robert Pitofsky, however, balked. Some of his fellow commissioners wanted it mandatory for an AOL rival to be on Time Warner cable. Time Warner caved, quickly signing up the No. 2 Internet-service company, Earthlink. But some FTC reps want still more, pressing for AOL rivals to have access to HBO, CNN and other content. Now Time Warner is balking. “The next step is theirs,” a Time Warner-AOL partisan says. If the agency tries to block the deal with a preliminary injunction, the merger agreement obligates them to fight rather than scuttle the deal.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Chad, Say Hello to O.J. Edition What began as an exhilarating political drama has degenerated into pseudo-O.J. Bronco-ride video (was that Al Cowlings driving the Ryder truck?).
Bush - Closing in on the prize, Incurious George looks tan, rested–but ready? Gore - Ever closer to winning the Fla. vote and losing the presidency. Micromanage that. Cheney = Building a new govt. when all doctors except his say he should be resting. Take it easy. Lieberman = Wants Al to stick it out til the end. But smart move not to quit his day job. Supremes + Welcome to the NBA. Brilliant full court press (except Thomas) shows why we trust ’em. Lawyers - Forget about counting votes–the CW can’t count all the lawsuits.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-31” author: “Keith Buck”
The elder Bush was quick to put his personal stamp on the Oval Office. He brought in the mahogany desk he’d used as vice president, and had New York designer Mark Hampton (who also worked on Bush’s Kennebunkport house) redecorate in his favorite color: blue, with gold and ivory accents.
Bill Clinton didn’t waste time making changes, either. On Inauguration Day he replaced Bush’s desk with the 1880 “Resolute” desk first used in the Oval Office by JFK. Other furnishings took longer to switch. But Clinton, assisted by Arkansas decorator Kaki Hockersmith, “completely changed the look,” says White House curator Betty Monkman.
Now George W. can redecorate, too. He may choose all new furniture–or he could simply pull Dad’s stuff out of storage in a climate-controlled warehouse in suburban Maryland.
FIRST PERSON Running Mates Three things dominate George W. Bush’s life: his wife, religion and exercise (OK, there’s baseball, too). I saw Bush’s jock side on a run Feb. 15, the day of the last GOP primary debate. “Newsweek Man,” Bush drawled when he saw me in Columbia, S.C., “you can’t run in your underwear.” I was in plaid Bermudas. No stretching? “Nah,” he said. “We’ll just start out slow.” Lickety-split we hit a pretty good clip–three 7-minute, 10-second miles, by Bush’s watch. We talked about running: it helps him sleep and absorbs all the junk food he eats. On the sunny riverside path, only the occasional jogger recognized the cap-wearing future president. “Watch this,” he winked. “I’ll take off my cap and practically everyone’ll recognize me.” He did, and they did. Bush was at home in “regular guy” mode. When the trail narrowed we both eased up to let the other go first. When he pressed the accelerator I pressed it a little harder, and vice versa. I kept up and apparently won a modicum of respect. “You made the varsity,” he said.
T. TRENT GEGAX FIRST PERSONThe Prayer That Killed the Peace
When I arrived in the Middle East 15 months ago, I was hopeful I’d be covering a historic final peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians. Ehud Barak had recently been elected prime minister. He spoke grandly of putting an end to 100 years of conflict. Palestinians, still awaiting their state, were less sanguine. But they too said that the peace process was irreversible. All of that went up in smoke on a sunny September afternoon in Jerusalem. Sitting in the NEWSWEEK office in Abu Tor, I heard the whine of sirens. Looking up from my computer screen, I could see a dozen ambulances careering up the side of Mount Zion. It was the first day of deadly rioting sparked by Ariel Sharon’s visit to the Temple Mount, sacred to both Jews and Muslims. Peering across a Biblical landscape, I saw thick clouds of black smoke billowing up from behind the golden Dome of the Rock mosque–the world’s most contested real estate. I grabbed a notebook and headed on foot to the Old City. In the Muslim quarter, a colleague and I climbed on top of a jumble of ancient Palestinian homes to get a better view of the Temple Mount, where Palestinian protesters were clashing with Israeli soldiers. Perched on the Western Wall, overlooking the sacred platform known to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, we could see an Israeli sniper aiming his rifle. We didn’t know yet how many people had died (there were four in that first bloody day). But I had a feeling that from then on I’d be covering war, not peace.
DANIEL KLAIDMAN NAPSTERExit Light, Enter Rights Who was afraid of Napster, the instantly popular Internet service that allowed millions to share free music files? The entire entertainment industry, big time. The moguls sued, of course, and a preliminary injunction to pull the plug is still awaiting an appeals-court ruling. Meanwhile Napster forged a deal with music giant BMG, promising to shift to a membership scheme that would (in an as-yet-unspecified process) force downloaders to pay for MP3s. Still, the image that sticks out in my mind isn’t of college students downloading unreleased Madonna tunes, or even Napsterkind Shawn Fanning hugging BMG’s Teutonic CEO. It came from the testimony of an F2R (folk-to-rock) entrepreneur, Roger McGuinn. Without rancor, he told the legislators that even when he was topping charts with the Byrds, his royalties weren’t munificent and now, despite moneys from reissues, he makes the bulk of his income from live appearances. The Lesson: this battle means a lot more to the record companies than to the musicians to whom they owe their existence. “I think,” McGuinn says now, “it’s going to eventually come out at pretty much the status quo.” Meanwhile, he adds, “I’m just having a lot of fun exploring the folk thing with the Internet.” You can check out his work at mcguinn.com. Or download it free from Napster, unless–or until–the courts shut it down.
STEVEN LEVY COMPETITIONGame Over It was either the ultimate year for sports or the bellwether of their end. With Tiger Woods’s dominance–nine PGA wins including three majors and a career Grand Slam–and the Yankees’ fourth world title in five years, it was a tough year for challengers. But the death of competition sure was cool to watch. TELEVISIONWhat’s the Story, Morning Glory? Depends on whom you ask. The most-covered stories on nightly network news were not the most interesting to the viewers, according to two studies. The presidential campaign captivated journalists, but left the public cold. The rising price of gasoline, on the other hand, sparked more interest than coverage. PERI charts the inconsistancies: HOW-TOHigh-Wire Act Wire work–the martial-arts FX technique that makes actors fly–has been a Hong Kong cinema staple for years. But in 2000 it exploded in the West: “M:I-2,” “Romeo Must Die,” “Charlie’s Angels” and, now, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” The film’s star, Asian idol Michelle Yeoh, explains how it works. 1. “First you’re corseted in,” says Yeoh. It has to be tight–you don’t look fat on screen. “Basically, you can’t breathe.” 2. A five-man pulley team attaches two wires–“they’re incredibly heavy; it feels like you’re holding up 80 pounds”–which run up to a pair of giant cranes. You are ready to fly. 3. Fly.4. Make no sudden movements. “When I’m running up a wall, if I don’t turn the moment I feel slack on the wire, I get yanked and crash into a wall.” Yeoh winces. “It’s happened a few times.” FIRST PERSONRazor Sharp, Razor Flat It wasn’t as bad as it looked. The bleeding stopped pretty quickly. Now, months later, I’ve regained nearly a full range of motion in both hands. Unfortunately for me, it turns out the year’s hottest mode of transport, the Razor, is aptly named. Even more unfortunate for me, I discovered this on one of New York’s most popular boulevards. Like many disasters, it started innocently enough. On a sunny spring day, I set out to pick up my son at school. He had left specific instructions: bring the scooter. I mounted up and, with a little practice, I was ready for my Broadway debut. I executed a soaring turn onto Broadway, which was jammed. It was still early enough in the Scooter Age to attract attention. I sped up and made a few deft zigzags between admiring onlookers. Errol Flynn on wheels. Then I hit The Crack. The scooter stopped cold. I didn’t. I flew up in the air, over the handlebars, and came down hard. It really hurt, but public humiliation can be therapeutic. I leapt to my feet and fled in disgrace. These days I ride only the subways, happily underground and out of sight.
EBEN SHAPIRO HISTORYSo Easy to Leave Me All Alone With the Memories Not all years are created equal. So PERI has determined–using our very scientific “star system”–which ones were good and which ones were bad. Our final analysis:
A year of betrayal: Michael Milken pleads guilty to stock fraud, Milli Vanilli busted for not singing the truth. After nine episodes, Homer realizes that he’s lip-synced, too.
Very seductive year: we’re wooed by ‘Scud Stud’ Arthur Kent, learn that Wilt Chamberlain scores off the court–and Pee-wee Herman takes in a movie, takes out his …
Tense times: riots in L.A. after the Rodney King verdict and widespread panic when people realize that their reality is nothing like the one on MTV’s ‘The Real World’
Tragedy strikes: terrorists hit the World Trade Center, the Waco standoff ends in a fatal fire–and the Sears catalog folds. John Bobbitt saves year with ultimate sacrifice.
Mixed emotions: Kurt Cobain commits suicide, but Americans feel better about eating Quarter Pounders when they learn that even the French like the Royale with cheese
Tragedy redux: Oklahoma City bombing. O.J. is acquitted of murder, vows to find the killer. In international news, Burma is now Myanmar–finally!
No lovin’: ‘The Rules’ gets big, guys’ calls not returned. Couples do the Macarena, never talk again. The Unabomber’s own brother turns him in.
Very sad year: Princess Di is killed in a car crash; O.J. still can’t find the murderer. Good weather year, though: El Nino, a serious issue, is so fun to say. El Nino! El Nino!
Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Monica, Viagra
Technology reigns supreme. ‘The Matrix’ is popular, as is giving cash to dot-coms. But we have to endure Pokemania, and Y2K trouble pops up only in Ohio calculator.
Great year for sport. Election 2000 goes into overtime, the Yankees win their third World Series in a row–and Britney and Christina battle it out for navel supremacy. FIRST PERSONBradley’s Last Motorcade Candidates get accustomed to motorcades, with their lines of limos and vans and motorcycle cops. Bill Bradley rode in his last on the afternoon of March 9. He’d bowed out of the presidential race in a drab suburban event hall, presenting each of us who’d been on his plane with silver key chains in the shape of a basketball sneaker. It was an unusually gracious gesture from an unusually reserved man. I’d been asking for one last interview, and finally I was invited back to the campaign headquarters down the street. It was nearly empty; a few of the red-eyed young staffers who remained were giving away Bradley sweatshirts as collector’s items. While I was talking to Bradley, his wife, Ernestine, poked her head in and said that someone was taking their car to get it washed. Bradley explained that the Secret Service agents posted outside had been ordered to end their detail. But they’d agreed to drive him home first, so he could change into jeans and get behind the wheel of his own car for the first time in months. As I left the building, I saw his last motorcade assembled in the deserted parking lot, his bodyguards taking up positions one final time. The image reminded me that every candidate we cover is a person, too, who at some point has to stop for red lights, just like the rest of us.
MATT BAI MILESTONESBlow Out the Candles, Sell the Cake Anniversaries don’t exist just for men to forget. birthdays become potent marketing tools for many a product. This year, for example, Spinal Tap marked its all-important 16th anniversary with a line of action figures. Some events were more momentous:
Jack Daniel’s
A toast: for a century and a half, JD’s spirits have been soothing ours. No lesser whisky could have put Lynchburg, Tenn., on the cultural radar screen.
Firestone Tires
Q: How do you celebrate a centennial in the midst of a nationwide tire recall?
A: Very quietly. As in: ‘Mention it, you’re fired.’
Howard Johnson has fallen on hard times, but the chain is alive and kicking. So are the Rockettes, also 75.
Silly Putty’s still bouncing and comic-copying. After ‘millennium’ putty, who was surprised at the anniversary edition? Club Med and Dunkin’ Donuts also turned 5-0.
‘Ball Four,’ Jim Bouton’s love/hate letter to baseball, still swings. ‘Doonesbury’ is 30, though Garry Trudeau is older.
‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ had a time-warping b-day with a B-way show. Microsoft, another cult fave, also turned 25.
Big League Chew still markets tobaccolike gum to minors. National Pet Week is 20 this year, too. UPDATEY2 Was OK When the ball dropped in Times Square last year, the unexpected happened. Nothing. The world didn’t end, planes didn’t crash, not even toasters malfunctioned. The non-apocalypse was bad news for Y2K survivalists who’d stockpiled food and installed generators. “I’m used to being the butt of jokes,” admits independent health researcher Ralph Zuranski of Garland, Texas. Robert Swanson, a Spokane massage therapist, regrets the cash he blew on food, solar panels and a pond: “I’m scared to add it all up.” He says he’s still eating stored food–a year’s worth for four people–and “it’s hard to eat a bucket of wheat.” Keep that in mind next time the world ends. STYLEBad Hair Year It is a human truth that the bad-hair day shall be resisted. But this year, we embraced that hallmark of unfortunate dos, the mullet, on film (“Nurse Betty”) and Internet sites (mulletsgalore.com). Says Bumble and bumble stylist Raymond McLaren, “It’s a good haircut for you and your mates to have a good laugh at.” FIRST PERSONShedding Some Light on ‘The Real Slim Shady’ You heard the shocking lyrics, you read the tabloid stories, you saw the snarky videos, but here are a few things you don’t know about this year’s bete blanche, Eminem. He thinks Christina Aguilera has talent, even though he hates her guts. He ran into Marilyn Manson in the lobby of the Soho Grand Hotel and had no idea who the shock rocker was (the two would later appear together in a video). He called rock-and-rap act Papa Roach “a bad version of Limp Bizkit,” adding, “People accuse me of stealing the culture? This is how you f—in’ steal hip-hop culture.” (The group would later open for Eminem and Limp Bizkit on the Anger Management Tour.) In the middle of an MTV shoot he ducked out to call his 4-year-old daughter. (“Hailie, guess what I’m wearing? The Tom Green ‘Bum Bum Song’ suit. I’m gonna run around and you’re gonna get to watch it. Blow me a kiss.” He blows her a kiss. “Catch it? OK, put Mommy on.”) And the happiest I ever saw him was at his record-release party in New York City–before the law-suits, arrests and divorce filings–surrounded by his wife and friends, singing along to Snoop and Dre’s “Gin and Juice” as though nothing else in the world even mattered.
N’GAI CROAL FAST CHATThrowing Heat What became of the broken bat that Yankee Roger Clemens tossed at Met Mike Piazza during the World Series? Fox TV sportscaster Keith Olbermann has part of it. PERI’s David A. Kaplan talked to him:
Ten minutes after the game, I asked a couple of the stadium clubhouse kids what had happened to it. They said some pieces had been given away and some had been thrown out, including the handle. “No, it’s still over here,” a clubhouse assistant pointed out, and fished it out of the trash. I asked if I could borrow it and one of the kids said, “Nah, keep it.” I did, and sent a check [for $25,000] to charity.
You. Seriously, nobody. And I am convinced that Clemens didn’t hurl it at anybody, either. In what he said to the umpire after the inning, and what he said to me after that game, he came as close as he’ll ever come to apologizing for anything he ever did on a baseball field. FIRST PERSONI’ll Have the Rat Plate, Please I met Gervase–you don’t really need his last name, do you?–for lunch on a rainy Saturday in New York about two weeks before “Survivor” debuted. At that point, I was still trying to understand the basics. How do you win immunity? What’s a Tagi? A CBS babysitter monitored us to make sure Gervase didn’t spill any secrets, but he did let slip a few tidbits that helped me handicap “Survivor” when it aired. I knew that despite almost getting voted off the island in the first week, Rudy would last awhile because Gervase told me he thought the cranky Navy SEAL would become the show’s most famous contestant. He also said something about being on the island when his son was born. That meant he’d survive at least until he got an on-air baby announcement, which turned out to be pretty far into the show. (Sean gave me a similar clue to his own longevity when he told me his “Survivor” highlight was his dad’s visit–which didn’t happen until week 11.) But the biggest news had nothing to do with Gervase’s info about the competition. Around the time lunch arrived, I asked what he ate on the island. Without a hint of disgust, he replied: “Rats.” Then he added, between bites of chicken Caesar, “They tasted like chicken.” When my story hit the next week, the rodents made headlines nationwide. Of course, what none of us realized then was that the four-legged rats were just an appetizer. It was the back-stabbing, alliance-forming, two-legged rats that made “Survivor” the biggest thing on television.
MARC PEYSER HARRY POTTERPick Me or the Muggles Get It With his new movie role, Daniel Radcliffe stands at the epicenter of Harrymania. But could others embody the bespectacled boy wizard? It’s all about the glasses and, as renowned casting director Mike Fenton says, “You could put Mickey Mouse in that role and it’d be a smash.” FAST CHATDogg Eat Dog No one knows, for sure, “Who Let the Dogs Out?” Doesn’t matter: the Baha Men’s song is a definite hit. But its canine theatrics seem old. PERI’s Allison Samuels asked the original Dogg, Snoop, to weigh in:
I don’t listen to that type of s–t. They don’t play that bulls–t on the stations I listen to. I may hear a little part of it at a Lakers game–but that’s two seconds. I ain’t tired of the song ‘cause I don’t hear it.
I’m the Dogg-father–nobody bites my style. They may try–but it’s all [out of] love for me. I ain’t mad at nobody trying to be me. They know my game is tight, so why wouldn’t they trrry to bite it? But they won’t last long ‘cause it ain’t but one Doggfather, understand?
“Gin and Juice,” ‘cause win or lose, a little gin and juice will make it all the better.
Not long. You need to be original to stay in this game a long time, so they ain’t got long. Which means all these questions about them have been a waste of my mother-f—ing time. MUSICKidding Around Radiohead’s album “Kid A” hit shelves in October, and not since the colonists asked for no taxation without representation have we longed so much for something from England. The follow-up to 1997’s critically slobbered-upon “OK Computer,” “Kid A” was met with more anticipation–and fanfare. FIRST PERSONAn Olympian’s Graciousness Her dream had almost become part of her name: “Marion Jones, who hopes to win five gold medals in Sydney.” She had won the first two easily. But on her final leap in the long jump, she fouled, settling for bronze. She grinned, gave a little girl’s shrug, paid tribute to those who had beaten her. Her graciousness was no surprise to me. A year earlier, at the world championships in Seville, Jones had been forced to withdraw with a back injury. With Marion out of the meet, I departed Spain a day early and found myself seated across the plane aisle from her. I leaned over and said, “Marion, I’m really sorry about your injury.” Then I added: “I know this won’t be much consolation, but because of it I’m going to make it home for my anniversary.” Jones smiled and said, “I’m happy to know this is working out for somebody.”
MARK STARR GAMESSega Plays On We come to praise Sega, not to bury it. Sure, the losses are mounting, the stock is plummeting and the cognoscenti are saying that by this time next year, Sega as we know it won’t even exist. But the fact remains that for the year 2000, Sega may have done more than any other company to push the limits of what interactive entertainment can be. The intricately detailed living world of Shenmue; the cartoon action of Jet Grind Radio; the insanely addictive Virtual Tennis; the quirky virtual-pet simulator Seaman: all will stand the test of time, no matter how many PlayStation 2s Sony is able to slip into our living rooms. FIRST PERSONStanding Up to Slobodan It was early October when I arrived in Belgrade, and the Parliament building was still smoldering. Two days earlier Slobodan Milosevic had been forced to admit defeat in the Sept. 24 election. “People power” was in the air, and disgusted citizens were rising up across Serbia in small acts of rebellion. In the grim industrial town of Leskovac, a local opposition leader introduced me to Nenad Arsov, 29. He was a handsome veteran of the wars in Bosnia and Croatia. We sipped beers in a deserted cafe on the graffiti-scarred main square as he told me his story. Now an English teacher at a primary school, Arsov had stayed home from work on the first day of strikes aimed at driving Slobo from power. That morning the school principal–a hard-liner who had forced English and French instructors to apologize for teaching “NATO languages”–encountered him in the street and fired him. Arsov returned to the school, tore down a portrait of Milosevic, then organized a staff meeting to confront the boss. “She called me a ‘drug addict’ and said I was filling the kids with bad political ideas,” he told me. “I called her a liar, and all hell broke loose. Teachers were trembling.” But soon many colleagues joined in, accusing their boss of nepotism and theft. The stunned principal retreated to her office. Arsov still didn’t know how the drama would play out–either in Serbia or in his school–but one fact was certain, he said: “Life in Leskovac will never be the same.”
JOSHUA HAMMER FAST CHATThe Grinch That Saved 2000
Director Ron Howard’s “Grinch” took in $55 million its opening weekend and zoomed from there. PERI’s John Horn spoke with the producer, Brian Grazer.
I’m half Jewish, so I always look at the smaller side, so about $35 million to $40 million.
Ron Howard and I do the same thing whenever one of our movies opens. He’s in one car with a driver checking out theaters in New York, and I’m in another car with a driver checking out theaters in Los Angeles. The only other difference is I’m intoxicated. I had two In-N-Out Double-Double hamburgers and a really great bottle of Bordeaux… The “Grinch” theaters were packed.
Oh, my God. That’s heavy.
Somebody sent me a bottle of Patron tequila. That’s definitely more practical than flowers. It’s actually useful.
Putting It All Into Words Did Americans learn any lessons this year? At the very least, we passed Vocab., and even made up new words where we saw fit.
Benneth / n. Spiritual union of Gwyneth Paltrow and Ben Affleck.
fuzzy math / n. 1. Numbers that don’t add up. 2. Maybe they do add up, but that’s a lot of numbers.
gun show loophole / n. Provision that allows for the purchase of a gun (at gun show) without a background check. See: Heston.
just gay enough / adj. Relating to being attracted to the opposite sex, while still possessing that certain je ne sais quoi.
on lockdown / adj. Characterized by not putting out: I’m on lockdown.
Napsterbate / v. To indulge in pleasure of downloading files by oneself all night long.
operating at a high bandwidth / adj. How a very smart person would describe another very smart person. See: Bill Gates on Paul Allen.
subliminable / adj. 1. Below the threshold of conscious perception. 2. Below Dubya’s threshold of conscious perception.
tread separation / n. The act or state of the tread splitting from the tire. See: Firestone.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-20” author: “Peter Wilson”
The investigators, the official says, have “a lot of names” belonging to “a network of networks.” These transnational organizations, he explains, are all associated in some way. “If you connect all the dots, they lead back to [bin Laden].” But investigators don’t yet have enough detail to say that the Saudi exile “specifically directed that on this day you will do A, B, C and D,” he says.
In doing what the official characterizes as “basic planning” on retaliation options, the administration is considering scenarios involving other culprits as well as bin Laden. “We are planning for various possibilities,” he says, including diplomatic and financial as well as military responses.
Diplomatic sources say that Washington has quietly been talking to Moscow about mounting a special-forces raid from Russia into Afghanistan to snatch bin Laden, who the Russians believe backs the Chechen rebels. But the Clinton administration official denies it: “We have not got to the point where we’d be discussing potential response options with anyone.”
THE SENATE Net Gain One race at least will have a sure winner this week. With a machine recount expected to be completed Friday, Washington’s Maria Cantwell is poised to become the Democrats’ magic 50th U.S. Senator. The former House member turned Internet executive financed her run with $10 million of her dot-com fortune. Aides say she plans to seek a seat on the Commerce Committee whose chairman, John McCain, has been impressed by Cantwell’s support of campaign-finance reform. After all, who needs soft money when you have stock options?
GORE Lawyers First Has Chris Lehane been grounded? The Gore campaign’s wise-cracking spokesman is keeping an uncharacteristically low profile these days. His disparaging remarks about Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, calling her a “commissar,” “hack” and “lackey,” didn’t sit well with some senior members of Team Gore. So the soft-spoken Doug Hattaway, a Tallahassee native, has replaced Lehane as the chief spokesman in Florida. “We have different approaches, for better or worse,” says Lehane. “I make better TV, but that’s not what we want right now.” Communications director Mark Fabiani has also gone underground, as the Gore campaign has decided to put its legal eagles like David Boies out front. “This is a legal process and we wanted to make that obvious,” says Lehane.
THE BUZZ It’s Lonely at the Top In “Unbreakable,” Samuel L. Jackson tells Bruce Willis: “These are mediocre times. People are starting to lose hope.” He’s right: this year’s best-picture crop isn’t exactly treading in “Schindler’s List” territory. Here’s what people are saying on air, in print and online:
Six-Pack ‘Instead of “10 best” lists, some critics may just come up with six.’ ‘Gladiator’ has a fighting chance to win best picture; and ‘Gee, I guess “Erin Brockovich” was one of the best movies of the year.’ (Variety)
Blipped Out ‘The Academy always has room for an underdog.’ (L.A. Times) Likely sleepers: Below-the radar ‘Wonder Boys,’ ‘Billy Elliot.’
Giddyup! Wherefore art thou, Miramax? This year they’ll ride with ‘All the Pretty Horses,’ one of many films, from different studios, about which there’s ‘a whole lot’ of questions. (exec, N.Y. Times) Others: ‘Cast Away,’ ‘Traffic,’ ‘Finding Forrester’ and ‘Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’ -pretty…but it’s in Mandarin!
Fluff Stuff This year’s ‘a surprise.’ (exec, USA Today) Studios usually save the best for last, but recent releases like ‘Charlie’s Angels’ are really summer pics.
NEWSWEEK.COM LIVE VOTE
PLACE YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., EST, DEC. 1
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE
What has this election made you think about your vote? (9,739 responses)
75% My vote is really important. Look how close this election is! 25% My vote doesn’t mean anything. Look at how many votes got lost or weren’t even counted in Florida!
SUPERHEROES Wonderwear Remember when underwear was fun to wear? NEWSWEEK has learned that next year Underoos, the children’s superhero underwear from the ’80s, will be available for adults in Batman, Superman and probably Spider-Man versions. (And possibly Wonder Woman and Supergirl. For women.) Underoos, which were introduced in 1978 by Fruit of the Loom, and went on to dominate the Superfriends years, virtually disappeared in the ’90s: they had added too many characters–even Smurfs–which probably confused people, says Tom Witthuhn of Fruit. This year, boys’ Underoos were relaunched and have sold well at stores like Kmart. The new, mature Underoos should hit stores by Father’s Day. So if there’s a superhero inside waiting to get out, he’ll be one step closer to breaking free.
LINGO Pregnant What? As the electoral saga rages on, the foreign press struggles to translate the intricacies of chad:
Pestanas perforables (Spanish): eyelashes that can be perforated Schwangeres Loch (German): pregnant hole Confetti a fossettes (French): confetti with dimples Bollino gravido (Italian): pregnant coupon Huai yan kung xiao (Mandarin): pregnant hole crumbs
POOH Hold the Bacon It’s not just that piglet hates to bathe. All pigs–even A. A. Milne’s creation–are unclean, according to Islam. Muslim parents asked Mothercare, a British baby chain, to sell only Pooh, not the porker. “Piglet is an innocent character, but he is a pig,” said one shopper. The store insists religious differences won’t break up the duo.
CONGRESS All Hill May Break Loose We’ve had the improbable. why not the unthinkable? Imagine a nasty congressional brawl over competing slates of Florida electors. If there’s no winner by Jan. 20, Speaker Dennis Hastert and 97-year-old Sen. Strom Thurmond are among those who could be acting president. But, say some scholars, the Constitution allows the House to elect anyone speaker in anticipation of a vacant White House–even a nonmember. Why not retiring TV star Mr. Rogers? After all, he’s a uniter, not a divider.
President Strom Thurmond swears he can It’s a Beautiful Day in President Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood The Disputed Vote Shell game (2 or more players) President Hastert Recalls the Doubly Dimpled Chad Hold
TRANSITION Quiet Counselor Law,” said wheelchair-bound Charles F. C. Ruff, “is a sedentary profession.” But few people in his profession played a more active role in Washington. A Watergate prosecutor, Ruff later defended President Clinton during his impeachment trial, the most notable case in which he helped a politician in trouble. Ruff died last week at 61.
Lars-Erik Nelson wrote with unfailing clarity about the messiest subject of all: politics. The New York Daily News columnist, and former NEWSWEEK State Department correspondent, is dead at 59.
When he joined The Washington Post in 1947, the paper was one of four in the city, third in circulation. When J. Russell Wiggins left–to serve as ambassador to the United Nations in 1968–it was a nationally respected newspaper. Wiggins was 96.
Emil Zatopek won the 5,000 meters, the 10,000 meters and the marathon at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952, a record that stands as one of the most enduring in track-and-field history. The ungainly Czech runner was 78.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMSanta, Give Us a President Edition
C.W. Gore = Miami-Dade Dem. canvasser’d rather eat turkey than make him prez, but he’s still alive. Bush = Says “legis. branch makes laws, exec. branch interprets them.” Where comes the judges? Cheney = Coronary was small time, but he’s had more heart attacks than Bush has trips overseas. Lieberman - Senate Dems to Joe: Thanks for nothing, bubeleh. If you win, we lose. Cantwell + Internet millionaire wins in WA, evening the Senate. Pending a recount, of course. GOPs - Sends in agitators to disrupt counting. Imagine how they’d scream if Sharpton did it.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-10” author: “Lucy Gronlund”
This time Saddam Hussein was winning the propaganda exchange. The breakdown of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks works to his political advantage in the region, as does the weakening of U.N. sanctions against his regime: Jordan and Syria need Iraqi oil, and European countries like France and Russia are eager to resume all-out trade with Baghdad. This week Secretary of State Colin Powell starts a Mideast tour hoping to “re-energize” U.S. policy on Iraq, as he puts it.
The Bush administration could decide to reduce its daily air patrols over Iraq, using airpower mainly to punish aggressive Iraqi behavior with raids like last week’s. The administration also is going through the motions of helping Iraqi opposition groups, though not with much hope of success. Washington probably will have to back down on some of the U.N. sanctions, but it hopes to retain a ban on anything Saddam could use to make weapons of mass destruction–and to retain some control over how Saddam spends his oil revenues. JAPANSinking Mori Does japan’s Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori have that sinking feeling? Upon hearing that a U.S. sub had just sunk a boatful of his countrymen, he finished his round of golf before heading to the office to deal with the crisis. “Politics is too important to be left to Mori,” trumpeted the Tokyo newspaper Asahi, echoing sentiments nationwide. It got worse: “The ship called Japan is in peril of foundering with Captain Mori at the helm,” the newspaper went on. To be sure, the accident wasn’t his fault. But couldn’t Mori at least have handled the spin a bit better than by asking reporters whether they expected him to carry a TV set to the golf course to stay in touch? His leadership may be about to take its final plunge. He’ll probably stay in power for a few weeks until the Diet approves this year’s budget. But after that, it’s likely to be back to the greens for the “absent” prime minister. NORTHERN IRELANDViolent Peace Progress Four-year-old Cliobhna Magee proudly showed her mother what she had found in their Belfast garden–a pipe bomb, just like those used in the 50-plus attacks that have brought new terror to Northern Ireland since the New Year. Is the peace process going the way of the Middle East’s? The man in the street may think so–but insiders see it differently. Quintin Oliver, who headed the “Yes” campaign to ratify the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, dismisses the attacks as the desperate acts of dissident factions intent on blowing up the peace. But rather than shutting out these factions, Oliver and others suggest bringing them in. “Give them a stake in the progress,” he told NEWSWEEK. But will they check their bombs at the door? INDIAMobs of Bengal In west Bengal, India, supporters of the ruling Communist Party clash with the opposition party Trinamool Congress at the slightest provocation. Recent horrors:
The last word: “Robbers rule the state,” says Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee.
AIR TRAVEL In-Flight Food As professor of productions and operations management at Britain’s University of Surrey, Peter Jones is hoping to make flying a culinary treat. Teaching classes on flight catering, he’ll seek to solve the stress of serving sauces (“they separate out–partly because they’re being served six miles up in the air”), lecture on his favorite airline food (“a good hot breakfast”) and, let’s hope, improve the pies we eat in the skies. But will he tackle air rage? “We’ll do limited research,” he told NEWSWEEK. Improved food should do just fine–after all, who would cause a ruckus at 30,000 feet after eating a gourmet meal?
ITALY When in Rome… Gender equality in Italy’s courts? Not if you consider these recent cases: a ruling faulted “Anna” for a divorce, saying she’d betrayed her husband with constant sexual thoughts (about a bus driver). “Enzo”–convicted of sexual harassment for patting a female employee’s behind–was exonerated. His transgression was not “an act of libido.” And “Maria” was held responsible in the breakup of her marriage for keeping an untidy house for “Vincenzo.” Now, just un momentino, Vinny. MUSICFinally Finding That Special Someone Elton John shocker: he’ll sing with the homophobic Eminem at the 2001 U.S. Grammy Awards. Some other unlikely duets that could now come out of the closet: Madonna and Radiohead: the Queen of Pop and the Guys Who Tried to Kill It. Barbra Streisand and Aretha Franklin: Fluffy show-tune diva goes for the soul. Jewel and Ozzy Osbourne: Bible babe gets a taste of a bat-biting hell-raiser. 2Pac and the Notorious B.I.G: Since they’ve buried their differences, a live duet shouldn’t be all that difficult.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-26” author: “James Hill”
Knox, 65, had been trying to interest Bill Clinton in his work for some time. But it wasn’t until last fall, when Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg told Hillary Clinton how much she liked her Knox portrait, that he was invited to the White House. Shortly before Christmas, Knox showed Clinton his portfolio, which includes such prominent African-Americans as Hank Aaron, Bill Cosby and Thurgood Marshall. “You’ve painted a lot of people here who are my friends,” Clinton noted. As Knox snapped some photos, Clinton described the props he wanted in the portrait: a bust of Lincoln, an American flag and some military medallions.
On Jan. 4, after working through the holidays, Knox returned with a still-wet study in oil showing Clinton in five different poses. Clinton’s choice: a three-quarter-length standing image. “He liked the tie, the way I captured the hands,” says Knox. “It’s a pleasant, confident look.” Getting a presidential commission is “my personal Super Bowl,” he says. Getting Clinton to sit for the portrait is another matter. “We’re waiting until all this stuff dies down,” says Knox. “This isn’t something you rush through.” GROUPSGun Control by Any Other Name The nation’s best-known gun-control group is about to scrap its name. Board members of Jim and Sarah Brady’s Handgun Control Inc. have privately voted to give the organization a new title and logo. The new name, likely to include some reference to the Bradys themselves, will be announced this spring. HCI president Michael Barnes says the change reflects the group’s new, broader mission, including lawsuits against gunmakers. Insiders say some board members argued that the term “handgun control” was too far to the political left and sounded as if HCI wanted to take guns from law-abiding citizens, rather than restrict them. But pro-gun forces say a new name won’t make HCI any more appealing to gun owners. “Until they change their positions, they’ll continue to be out of the mainstream,” says an NRA spokesman. JUSTICEStill No Takers? Since the bruising confirmation battle of Attorney General John Ashcroft, the Bush administration has moved swiftly to fill the lower Justice ranks with safe nominees, including former U.S. attorney Larry Thompson as deputy A.G. and appellate lawyer Theodore Olson as solicitor general. But word is that Bush is having a tough time filling the top civil-rights job. With Senate hearings likely to be contentious, administration sources say that several candidates have brushed aside the offer. Says one Bush official: “No one wants to go through the meat grinder.” (((((THE BUZZ))))))Finally, TV That’s Much Too Real Timothy McVeigh is scheduled to die on May 16 for killing 168 people in Oklahoma City. He proposed that his execution be on TV, prompting an emotional debate among the victims’ families. What people are saying in print, on air and online:
Real World Public executions were abolished; the enormity of this crime is no reason to bring them back. ‘This is reality TV to the max … we have to draw the line somewhere.’ (Fox News)
Veigheurism If the death penalty is an expression of public will, then make it public. Let potential killers see what happens when you murder. ‘Lights! Camera! Injection!’ (Eric Zorn, Chicago Tribune)
Time Out McVeigh’s the last person who deserves to dictate the terms of his death. He wants to die a martyr; if you broadcast his execution on television, ‘it’s like “Ha ha, look at me, I got what I want.’ (USA Today)
Death Watch Seeing McVeigh die will bring closure to victims’ families and survivors. Counterbuzz: It’s ghoulish, and ‘we’ll end up with a staged political event.’ (‘Good Morning America’) HISTORYDid George W Sleep Here? A proposed housing development in West Virginia has some historians up in arms. The battleground: Hunt Field, a parcel of land once owned, at least in part, by relatives of George Washington. A preliminary statement filed by the developer last spring insisted that structures on the land were “not architecturally significant.” But John A. Washington, a descendant of the president’s brother, told NEWSWEEK that “it’s just plain dishonest to say there is no history on this land.” The developer recently commissioned more experts to look into the site’s historical value. MAKEUPGet an Eyeful It doesn’t sound original: gee, a fashion show about beauty. But at Sephora’s show last week in New York, it was the first time makeup was the star on the catwalk. Sixty faces done by the world’s leading makeup artists showed off this fall’s look: heavy mascara, eye shadow and color to highlight the eyes while the rest of the face is played down. Even Monica Lewinsky came to see the show. “I’m like most girls,” she said. NEW PRODUCTSAre You Wearing Protection? Promising to take farmer tans to a whole new level, Rit Sun Guard washes into clothing to absorb harmful UV rays. Endorsed by the Skin Cancer Foundation, the product blocks 96 percent of UVA and UVB rays, as opposed to a typical cotton T shirt’s 80 percent. Like an invisible dye, the powder, which is added to the wash cycle and lasts 20 laundry cycles, doesn’t change the appearance of the clothes. The product should revive the 1917 clothing-dye brand, which hasn’t seen a boom since the tie-dye days. TOYSWe’ll Have Fun, Fun, Fun. Right? Seemed like a good plan: spend day playing with cool toys, come back to office more loved than Santa. Toy Fair Lesson No. 1: it isn’t show-and-tell–it’s serious biz.
9:45 A.M. Get media creds, bag of loot. Best freebie: Clifford’s Valentines reader. Should have gone to Westminster.
9:55 I’m staying! Today’s celeb appearances: Karen McDougal, 1998 Playboy Playmate–of the Year, Jane Seymour. (Tomorrow: Deborah Norville. Come back?)
10:00 Spin Master Toys. Beeline to Shrinky Dinks display. Dinks come with kid-safe, mini-oven thing. “It’s not an oven,” says very perky demonstrator. “It’s a maker.”
11:00 Sport-Fun. Sporty, yes. Fun…
11:40 Duncan. Meet Steve Brown, pro yo-yo demonstrator. Attempt to score one denied; decide best not to argue with man whose e-mail is @tattooedfreak.com.
11:50 Everyone buzzing about robots. Head to Hasbro. Press info notes “return of robots in disguise.” Start humming “Transformers” theme song. Front desk tells me showroom not open. Decepticons–attack!
1:00 P.M. Lunch. Exhausted, toyless… confused. Everyone around me speaking Spanish. (Learn later Spanish government leases 20,000 square feet in toy building.)
1:30 Toy Biz. Tour Hobbit hole with “Lord of the Rings” action figures. Take notes for post on Ain’t It Cool News?
2:00 Toymax. Wasn’t I just here? Guided through robot maze. Cheese at end: Jane Seymour, flacking toddler toys based on her kids’ book.
2:30 Reps seem to think talking to interactive product, in front of me, good marketing strategy. Toy Scare, not Toy Fair.
3:00 Destiny’s Child on in half hour. No desire to go “Jumpin, Jumpin.” Go back to office. ECONOMYDot-Comedy Modernhumorist.com’s March book “My First Presidentiary,” W’s imagined class notebook, might be funny enough to keep at least this dot-com flush. We asked editor Michael Colton about Web-site economics:
Do you have any other revenue? We’ve made a little bit of cash through our merchandising, and we’ll have some regular advertising this spring. Also, does counterfeiting count?
Do all these other dot-coms’ closing make you nervous? We’re an entertainment company with a prominent Web presence. Less than half our time is spent on our site. Forty-seven percent, to be precise.
How else will you make money? We are negotiating with a TV network to develop an original series based on [the site]. And I’ve taken a part-time weekend job as a busboy at Pastis. ITALYPristine Chapel Italians are passionate people–very passionate, if you consider these recent court cases: a ruling faulted “Anna” for a divorce, saying she’d betrayed her husband with constant sexual thoughts (about a bus driver). “Enzo”–convicted of sexual harassment for patting a female employee’s behind–was exonerated. His transgression was not “an act of libido.” And “Maria” was held responsible in the breakup of her marriage for keeping an untidy house for “Vincenzo.” Now, just un momentino, Vinny.
PARODY Taking the Costume Out of Drama “Quills” got an Oscar nod for best costume design, but Kate Winslet is nude in the film - as in most of her movies. (She says sex scenes are “exhausting.”) Here’s what PERI thinks her version of this standard Hollywood-contract “nudity clause” might say: CONVENTIONAL WISDOMHello Again Saddam Edition Once again it’s Bombs Over Baghdad and deja vu all over again for Dick Cheney and Colin Powell. Question: When did national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice find out?
C.W. Bush + Must be feeling comfortable. His first airstrike! But F-6s can’t help get tax cut. Clinton = Bubba goes to Harlem is a classic comeback move. But pardons could hurt speaking fees. Navy - Using nuke subs as theme-park rides proves deadly. And stonewalling doesn’t help. Rich Guys + Daddy Gates, Buffett, others, say killing estate tax will hurt country. And they’re right. Napster - Music-sharing service loses again in court. Better download Requiems today. Miramax + Once again, Weinsteins get best-pic nod, this time for sugary, mediocre film. “Chocolat” O.D.?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-08” author: “David Petrash”
Now, in a major power grab, White House sources say, Cheney hopes to persuade Bush to let him chair the “principals” committee, where cabinet-level secretaries hammer out options for the president. Those meetings are traditionally chaired by the national-security adviser, and Rice, who enjoys a close rapport with Bush, has run them so far. But sources say the struggle explains why Bush hasn’t yet formally signed off on his national-security structure.
Triple X: You can scout more talent at a Nerf toss. Play will improve but, for now, ’the X in XFL stands for Xtravagantly Xcruciating Xecution.’ (Los Angeles Times)
Go Long: ‘The XFL is a … ruin-in-progress [that will] … almost certainly fail.’ (N.Y. Times) But no matter how bad games are, NBC has cash to keep it crass for a while.
Gimme a ‘T,’ Gimme an ‘A:’ Dude, you were watching the game? There was more bumpin’ and grindin’ in the stands than on the field! Three words why the XFL will live forever: ‘free lap dances.’ (Slate)
Let Me Out: The XFL’s in-your-face presentation lets the viewer feel like an ‘animal in a cage.’ (Fox Sports) Captivity stinks: just because someone’s miked doesn’t mean he’ll entertain. FAST CHATMakeup Artists A brash new ad campaign for M.A.C’s Viva Glam lipstick promises to raise eyebrows and even more money (all proceeds go to AIDS relief). PERI learned a few things about glamour from spokeswomen Grammy-award-winner Mary J. Blige and rapper Lil’ Kim.
What is glamour? MJB: I think glamour is when people respect you. LK: I think makeup is a big part of [it] and shiny, nice, beautiful clothing and just having a beautiful attitude.
Is less sometimes more, as in, say, the one infamous pastie Kim wore to the MTV awards, instead of two? LK: Well, I think it was more classy that way.
Can you teach our readers to be glamorous? MJB: I would just tell them to be themselves. LK: It’s hard for me to answer those types of questions because I’m naturally sexy, naturally beautiful, naturally glamorous. Big ShotsSour Grapes Here’s a surprise no one’s uncorking in wine country: what mystery guest is closing down the posh Meadowood resort for four days in late July? “Only people who need to know know,” says a rep for the Napa Valley resort. PERI, apparently, isn’t one of those people. Those in the know suggest Oprah, Julia or Bill (G., not C.). ‘BOY’ BANDSThe One With the Jowls Is So Dreamy! Facial hair can hide only so much. With singers pushing 30 and fans pushing puberty, these guys have to admit they’ve gone from boys to men. There’s no young heir in sight (the “Liquid Dreams” of overeager O-Town just don’t cut it), leaving us with the great philosophical conundrum–how old is too old for coordinated outfits? DESIGNAll Work and Plenty of Play At “Workspheres,” a show at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, there are scores of novel ideas about the future of work, like the computer enmeshed in a bed or another fashioned into a scarf. Among the best by designers who think outside the cubicle:
MAXIMOG: This super-high-tech vehicle can go almost anywhere on the planet and beam information via a 50-foot pneumatic mast. Designed by Bran Ferren for himself, the ultimate boy toy can tow a trailer that opens up to a bed, bath and beyond. If the going gets really tough, a BMW off-road motorcycle is strapped to the back.
MIND’SPACE: The entire surface of this futuristic workstation is a screen, and the computer is engineered to sort and group documents on it–real and virtual–in ways that mimic how the brain makes associations. Our favorite touch: the retro look of a rubber-band ball the designers left on the desktop.
INSPIRO-TAINER: When you can’t stand the hubbub of your office, imagine crawling into this cushy cocoon–made from an air-cargo container–to phone or tap away on the computer. Or to grab a nap. TRANSITIONHigh Flier Anne Morrow Lindbergh, 94, lived through a passionate, difficult marriage to aviator Charles Lindbergh and survived an obsessive public that would not spare her after the kidnap-murder of her child (an early “crime of the century”). Lindbergh went on to become a lyrical voice for early feminism with “Gift From the Sea” and other writings.
Dale Evans, 88, moseyed alongside her husband, Roy Rogers, in old Westerns and later on TV in “The Roy Rogers Show.” Though famous for her sweet-faced roles opposite cowboys, she once complained, “I… hate namby-pamby heroines.” Evans wrote more than 25 songs, including “Happy Trails.” MEDIAWinner of Our Discontent It’s always tough to pick a winner. According to the March Esquire editor’s letter, so is not picking one. Of 1,500 entries to the fiction contest, not one was good enough to win. Literary editor Adrienne Miller says, “Maybe it’ll serve as a little kick in the rear to that great unpublished genius!” ZOOSMonkey Don’t Ask, Monkey Don’t Tell Amsterdam may be well known for its coffeehouses, but they’re hardly the most eye-opening thing the city has to offer anymore. Artis Zoo is running what it calls “gayded tours,” on which you may happen upon animals engaged in same-sex acts. But don’t buy a plane ticket just yet. The tour is not a peep show, but more something you’d see on the Discovery Channel. (Very late at night.) Zoo director Maarten Frankenhuis says his aim is to educate people about opportunistic homosexuality in the animal kingdom. The tour–which costs $12, the regular zoo admission fee–makes eight stops and lasts more than an hour. (It’s by appointment only.) At one attraction, the Children’s Farm, visitors can view “young bulls with a preference for their own sex even in the presence of willing females,” says Frankenhuis. “We get mostly gay people and mothers with their sons after they’ve just come out.” Dolphins, porpoises, whales, flamingos, elephants, chimps, gorillas–two by two, there’s a veritable ark full of animals who exhibit homosexual behavior, says Frankenhuis, adding that young male goats, when expelled from their family at sexual maturity, will start to mate with each other. “This is when there are no females available. Like in English boarding schools.”
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Slacker in Chief Edition 11:30 a.m. Lunatic fires shot near White House. Cheney at desk, Bush excercising in family quarters. He may be a slacker, but so far he’s getting the job done.
C.W. Bush + Theme of the week: Nothing too taxing. For him, or the country (especially the rich). Clinton - Exit makes Nixon’s look like a ticker-tape parade. CW can’t wait for The Rogue to testify. Gore - Tries to gag his Columbia Journalism School students. Still a tone-deaf bungler. D. Rich - Pam Harriman wanna-be takes the Fifth in pardon hearing. Bye-bye, A list. Dems - After Ashcroft wimp-out, now they’re caving on the tax cut. Paging Dr. Spine. XFL - Old CW: NFL with sex and violence. New CW: NFL without talent.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-08” author: “Julian Summerfield”
Despite the danger, Delhi remains ill-prepared for a major quake. Most builders ignore earthquake-resistant specifications like more steel reinforcement and certain specific load-bearing pillars. Two years ago public lawyer B. L. Wadhera filed a suit against the government, which is still pending, claiming “the government has neither conducted a study nor taken preventative measures against the possibility of a major earthquake hitting Delhi.”
According to a source in the federal team investigating the Gujarat quake, a number of multistoried buildings, which collapsed like cardboard boxes, had no earthquake-resistant features. A nongovernmental organization in Delhi found that even many of the 20,000 houses built as rehabilitation after the 1993 quake in Maharashtra didn’t conform to specifications.
WHITE HOUSE Security Fears The secret service is alarmed by speculation that George Bush may reopen Pennsylvania Avenue. At the urging of the agency, Bill Clinton closed the street along the north side of the White House after the ‘95 Oklahoma City bombing. Worried by Bush’s campaign talk of restoring the traffic flow, agents slipped him a chilling tape demonstrating how easy it would be to blow up the White House. The messenger: Barbara Bush. Dubya dropped the subject. But at a White House lunch last week, the D.C. mayor pressed the proposal again. Bush was noncommittal.
CALIFORNIA The Big Chill From the Neighbors In the old west, a fellow could count on help from his neighbors. In the New West, he’d better watch out. At an energy summit called by 18 Western governors in Portland, Ore., this week, California Gov. Gray Davis will hear some tough words. The governors worry that power-starved California will drain their supplies, and if the state’s utilities go bankrupt, their utility companies will have trouble raising capital. The governors will pressure Davis to lift consumer price caps, which have kept the cost of power artificially low and contributed to the crisis. In addition, NEWSWEEK has learned, Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt will propose a plan to speed construction of new power plants in the region, despite strict environmental regulations.
“We need a three-week plan, a three-month plan and a three-year plan,” says Leavitt. “That’s the only way to get through this.”
TRENDS The Ice Books Cometh… The long shadow of winter may be shrinking, but a trio of new books proves that ice is hotter than ever. In each book, the frozen landscape seems to summon courage from the people who battle it. Want more? Due out next year from Knopf is a cool chronicle by Mariana Gosnell about… ice itself, from glaciers down to iced tea.
Ice Bound: A Doctor’s Incredible Battle for Survival at the South Pole by Jerri Nielsen with Maryanne Vollers– The lone doctor stationed at an Antarctic research base detects her own breast cancer, performs a biopsy on herself with the help of welders and other workmen, undergoes chemotherapy and lives to tell her tale.
The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk by Jennifer Niven–Arctic ice freezes and crushes ship in its path. Nine months later, whaling boat rescues 12 survivors. Chilling.
Trial by Ice: The True Story of Murder and Survival on the 1871 Polaris Expedition by Richard Parry–Explorer Charles Francis Hall may have been murdered on this federally sanctioned voyage through the seas off Greenland.
((((((the buzz)))))) Got Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy? Britain’s mad-cow disease has been chunneling its way to the continent in the past few months, causing some beefy concerns about the meat supply. Should Americans be mooing, too? Here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online:
Chow Town: Don’t cough up your cud: there hasn’t been a single human or cattle death linked to the disease here. Our biggest health threat isn’t that we’re eating cows, it’s that we’re eating like cows.
Strange Range: ‘Still, there is … cause for concern.’ (Slate) The U.S. has banned some U.K. blood donations and a mad-cow-like illness has infected Western elk, deer.
Most Maddening: Many American feed companies disregard rules that prohibit feeding animal byproducts to cattle–the very way in which the disease is thought to have spread in Europe. ‘The costs … could be catastrophic.’ (N.Y. Times)
Holy Cow: Says a doctors’ group: officials haven’t ID’d mad cow in the U.S. because ’they are not seriously looking.’ The government should examine more cows when they’re more mature.
SNACKS Major: Meals College students love to do two things: burn the midnight oil–and eat anything fried in it. Some schools with very smart students are now embracing this very obvious fact. Increasingly, elite institutions are providing a late-night dining option based on studies of undergrad traffic patterns. “Students work late, are in classes or [are] writing papers, so they’re up looking for the fourth meal,” says Cornell University’s director of dining services. (Or, for many, the third meal.) While this move is decades overdue–think of all that greasy pizza clogged in our collective collegiate artery–the fare served at these schools is fitting for the time. At Stanford, night owls can feast on salad, smoothies and Starbucks–seven days a week. All of which will make the freshman 15 feel like five.
Dot-Dictionary While the web world fares poorly, its vocabulary gets richer. Some new dot-bomb phrases: Command-Z: (From the key command that undoes whatever you’ve just done.) To quickly nix a venture. “They command-Z’d that site yesterday.” Dot-compost: The assets of a dead dot-com that find new life. e-hole: Cocky 20-something who thinks he can run his own I-biz. “Kid’s a complete e-hole.” Fume rate: Beyond “burn rate”; spending cash that you so do not have. Uninstalled: Fired. “Peter? Ahh… he’s been uninstalled.”
ON THE TOWN Those Beltway Blues Are Melting Away! With Bill Clinton moving his office to Carnegie Hall on W. 57th St., we’ve taken the liberty of highlighting some local haunts we think the new New Yorker will enjoy. Welcome to the neighborhood, Bill. Now, about those traffic jams. . . (graphic omitted)
RECREATION Proper Attire: Optional One consequence of increased nudity in mainstream media that we didn’t see coming: burgeoning nudist colonies. A recent American Association for Nude Recreation (AANR) survey found that nearly one in five Americans has skinny-dipped in mixed company and 18 percent would consider visiting a clothing-optional resort or nude beach. The most likely person to have tried skinny-dipping? A man on the West Coast with a postgraduate degree, making more than $40,000 a year. Thanks to the buff boom, 30 new AANR clubs, resorts and campgrounds have opened in the United States in the last two years, for a total of 241. One question the survey didn’t ask: is this a good thing?
VENDING Books on Train Last week on the London Underground platforms, it got easier to resist the Cadbury chocolate vending machines. Travelman publishers launched machines that dispense short stories for a pound. Each week will bring fresh stories, from the likes of D. H. Lawrence to anyone: send submissions www.travelman.co.uk.
FAST CHAT The Grand Duchess of York. She Had 10,000… Fans. Women across the country are flocking to bookstores, yelling things like “Thanks for being a real person” at Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, who’s promoting her latest book (written with Weight Watchers), “Reinventing Yourself With the Duchess of York.” Peri talked with Ferguson.
Has your attitude toward the monarchy changed since you were accused of bringing it down? I don’t know. I thought I was a wild horse that wasn’t going to be caught. If only I understood at the time that putting a head collar on to be tamed was not the same thing as giving in. Now I think, “How can I support the queen?”
Do you still get criticized by people in Britain? People say to me, “Why on earth are you living in the same house as your husband, when you’re divorced?” I say to them, “Why not?”
What do you think about Madonna’s being the darling of the British tabloids now? It certainly gives them something to write about. I suppose it takes the heat off other people, doesn’t it?
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Isn’t That Rich Edition With his shameless pardon of Marc Rich, the ex-president makes his successor look good by contrast. but Bush’s abortion pander may come back to bite him.
C.W. Bush + The nicknamer in chief comes out like gang- busters with edu, tax-cut rollouts. Ashcroft - Old: “man of integrity” will win easily. New: “character assassin” will barely slide through. B. Clinton - In tacky exit, springs fugitive financier Marc Rich. Pardon us, but this reeks. H. Clinton - In tacky entrance, gets supporters to furnish her new homes. What’s wrong with IKEA? W.H. aides - What better way to welcome W than by trash- ing (sort of) West Wing like frat boys? Greenspan = Helps Bush by vaguely backing marginal tax cut. His rep will rest on whether it works.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-22” author: “Robert Killian”
This week two congressional committees open hearings into why Clinton decided to circumvent Justice Department guidelines and help Rich. Likely to be star witnesses: former deputy attorney general Eric Holder Jr. and former White House counsel Jack Quinn, the man hired by Rich to lobby Clinton for a pardon. Quinn maintains that he kept Holder and Justice well informed throughout the process. Holder has so far declined comment, but colleagues say he is furious that Quinn is now trying to portray him as complicit in the pardon. “They [Rich’s lawyers] circumvented the process and now they’re trying to pin this on Eric,” a source close to Holder told NEWSWEEK. The source says Holder disputes a Quinn e-mail to Rich on Jan. 22, two days after the pardon. In the message, which was released last week, Quinn says Holder had complimented him for doing a “good job” in obtaining the pardon. Holder’s defense: the comment was sarcastic, not congratulatory. Nonetheless, Holder now acknowledges that in the post-pardon conversation, he asked Quinn to hire two of his departing Justice Department aides.
For his part, Quinn has turned to some strange bedfellows to help him prepare for the upcoming hearings, NEWSWEEK has learned. Among them: husband-and-wife Republican former prosecutors Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing, and David Bossie, the ex-Capitol Hill investigator who has made a career out of pursuing the Clintons. One likely interrogator: Indiana Rep. Dan Burton, Bossie’s former boss. AUTOMOBILESChrysler Hits theWrite-Off Road Chrysler’s nascent turnaround efforts are already hitting some potholes. Suppliers are resisting the 5 percent price cut Chrysler imposed Jan. 1–a few have even recalled part-loaded trucks bound for the automaker’s factories. Chrysler’s workers are fretting over the 26,000 job cuts announced last week and Wall Street, skeptical that Chrysler has sliced deep enough, is predicting 2001 losses will exceed $2 billion.
The road ahead will get even steeper when Chrysler details its financial situation Feb. 26. Company sources told NEWSWEEK that the automaker will write off between $2 billion and $3 billion to cover restructuring costs for plant closings, early retirements and severance packages. That will push Chrysler’s bottom line even deeper into the red. Chrysler’s new CEO Dieter Zetsche wouldn’t confirm the big write-off, but admits that the company’s problems are more severe than even he initially realized. “There were quite some surprises for all of us when we finally got the total clearpicture,” says Zetsche. ((((((THE BUZZ))))))We Love Them. Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. So there are these four guys from England and they’re, like, fabulous or something. Their latest album, ‘1,’ is awesome. A bazillion people bought it. Ohmigod ‘maybe they’ll be on ‘TRL’! Whatev, here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online:
From Me to You Em mouths off. Britney takes it off. ‘No doubt, baby boomers [are] pleased to hear their children … tell them about this great group they’ve discovered.’ (Washington Post)
Long and Winding Road The band’s best-known hits package came out 28 years ago. So, for kids, ‘1’ is it (more or less). For adults, ’the Beatles always seem special’ when they put out an album. (VH1 executive, AP)
Day in the Life Teens want to know what ‘mom and dad were listening to.’ (retailer, L.A. Times) Aha! So this is the soundtrack to that decade you can’t remember.
Please Please Me There’s ‘something simple, fresh and optimistic about the Beatles’ (NPR) ’three notes that kids today want bands to hit, unlike the alt-rock generation. MOVIESLove Means Never Having to See Another ‘Love Story Dying is glamorous business, at least in Hollywood. “Sweet November’s “Charlize Theron falls in love, only to die from Ali MacGraw disease (main symptom: pale skin). Some classics of the genre: ADVERTISINGChipping In Two companies will share more than a name this fall: Scottish knit-wear maker Pringle will launch a B&W ad campaign (top)–not to be confused with spots for Pringles, chip maker. FREEDOMPlease Declare All Books Banning books is an odd way of showing neutrality. Last week British booksellers on the way to a conference opposing the World Economic Forum in Switzerland were stopped at the Swiss border when copies of “No Logo” by Naomi Klein and “Captive State” by George Monbiot were found on them. The anti-corporate books were deemed too subversive to be allowed in while world economic leaders were in the country. A public outcry set the books and sellers free.
EXTREME SPORTS Let’s Go Surfin’ Now? It’s the newest frontier in surfing: Cortes Bank, an area 100 miles off the coast of southern California, has some of earth’s largest wavs. Last month professionals conquered the huge winter breaks for the first time. Says an editor at Swell.com: “It’s on the map now. It’s like Mount Everest: The journey:
It’s weird: in the last several months, I’ve had more people talk to me about this than anything I’ve done. More than “Beavis and Butthead.”
I’m glad. I was worried that I was the only person who thought it was funny. It was rough getting the thing made. Studio executives–they may have had lousy jobs, but they always knew they were going to go on to something better. When you have a lousy job and you know that’s going to be it forever–I’d been through that.
I don’t think it did enough business at the box office to justify one, although it’s definitely doing well on video. Another movie idea I had was about a corporate cult. One that just goes completely Jim Jones. I don’t know where to go with it.
LINGO Breaking Up Valentine’s Day makes us desperate for a significant someone (anyone!). But for those without love, heartbreak never sounded so hip:
crowbarring: When a loved one hacks open your chest to remove your heart. (Figurative)
Heisman: Getting stiff-armed. “Dude, she’s giving me the Heisman.”
spatula’d: When your faith in man has been so flattened, you need to be scraped off the sidewalk.
Vietnam: A destructive relationship that’s hard to leave. “I can’t forget that jerk. He’s my Vietnam.“MONSTERSGone Fishing Undeterred by PETA protests last year, the Global Underwater Search Team will launch Operation Clean Sweep next month in search of the Loch Ness monster. With a net and two sonar systems, the four-member Swedish team plans to nab Nessie, take a DNA sample and release it. Says Jan Sundberg, who prefers the term “expedition leader” to “monster hunter,” “Between 1,000 and 5,000 people have seen it. They can’t all be wrong, can they?”
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Endless Charm Offensive Edition All the forced harmony in Washington is driving the C.W. nuts. If this honeymoon goes on much longer, we’ll volunteer to return punts in the XFL.
C.W. Bush + Making all the right moves–and still getting plenty of sleep. Who said this job was so hard? Clintons - They cry uncle and pay for some presents and office rent. But what’s with her hair? Dems - Cojones-challenged senators manage 42 votes against Ashcroft. Next time try action. Kaddafi - Henchman convicted for Lockerbie, but everyone knows who’s really guilty. ‘Survivor’ + Buff Outback edition gets bodacious ratings. Hope the cow brain wasn’t from England. ‘51 Giants - Turns out purloined signs helped Bobby Thompson. The Giants stole the pennant!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-17” author: “William Sweeney”
Outside the Mideast, U.S. intelligence sources remain concerned about a cell of Algerian extremists with close ties to training camps in Afghanistan, despite arrests of some key operatives. Ahmed Ressam, the would-be bomber who was caught in late ‘99 trying to smuggle explosives from Canada into the United States, recently turned government witness and confessed he had plotted to bomb the Los Angeles airport. During training in Afghanistan, he said, instructors gassed dogs with cyanide as practice for attacks on people. Following his testimony, an Algerian militant (identified by Ressam as a cell leader) was held in London and may be extradited to America. Several members of another alleged Algerian cell with bin Laden connections were recently arrested in Germany and Spain; authorities say they may have been planning to attack targets in Strasbourg, France. But people close to the Ressam investigation say that others described by Ressam as supporting players in his LAX scheme are still believed to be on the loose, some of them in Canada.
Mark Hosenball CHANDRA LEVY Accounting for Condit’s Time Is D.C. police attention on Rep. Gary Condit about to slacken? For all the continuing media frenzy over the California congressman, investigators say there are no apparent holes in his account of his whereabouts during the first two days of May, when Chandra Levy apparently vanished. As first reported last week by NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.com, Condit met with Vice President Dick Cheney to talk energy policy on May 1, then returned to his office, where he conferred with staff and voted on the House floor. The next day Condit was again in his office, then met with ABC reporter Rebecca Cooper to discuss collaborating on a book about Congress. Now the cops are paying more attention to other potential witnesses, especially residents of Levy’s apartment building, some of whom have not been available for questioning. At the request of police, the building manager last week sent out a memo to all residents urging them to call the police and be questioned “ASAP.” Meanwhile, Condit’s brother was arrested in Florida for violating his DWI probation.THE BUZZBaseball’s Wild Pitch: Play by the Rules! A strike is a strike and a ball is a ball. Unless, of course, the pitch is high. Or low. Or inside. MLB officials want pitch counts kept low and the real strike zone enforced, but umps have balked at the interference. Here’s what they’re saying in print and at ballparks:
‘Solidarity Forever!’ Why did players support their nemeses? They’ll take on management too when their contract expires. Now that’ll be a strike zone! (Newsweek.com)
‘The Sky Is Falling!’ Management just wants the rules enforced (go figure!) and the umpire union squealed like ‘somebody had set fire to their chest protectors.’ (Wash. Post)
‘Integrity of the Game!’ Making umps watch pitch counts is ’like telling a hitter to change his swing’ (N.Y. Times). You want them carrying a calculator along with that little broom?
‘Just Play Ball!’ We’re sick of games so long we need a 4th- inning stretch. We need to speed up these games and ‘if Big Brother is watching, so be it.’ (L.A. Times) ENTERTAINMENTBabysitters for Mom and Dad You’re 14, you’ve got concert tix, and you’re going with your parents? As if. Some summer shows let teens leave the ‘rents at receptions and catch the act alone:
Punk Princess The eclectic ensemble: Bondage gear, tartan kilt, studded collar The standout songs: “Beautiful Stranger,” “Ray of Light” The memorable moment: Playing guitar–decently–during “Candy Perfume Girl”
Geisha Gal The eclectic ensemble: Kimono, black wig, harness The standout songs: “Frozen,” “Nobody’s Perfect” The memorable moment: Aerial acrobatics la “Crouching Tiger”
Down-Home Diva The eclectic ensemble: Cowboy hat, dirty jeans, raccoon tail The standout songs: “Don’t Tell Me,” “I Deserve It” The memorable moment: Shimmying on a mechanical bull
Senora Ciccone The eclectic ensemble: Pulled-back hair, backless dress and trousers The standout songs: “La Isla Bonita,” “What It Feels Like for a Girl” The memorable moment: Finally, “Holiday”–why you’re a fan in the first place
SURVIVAL Penny Press Angela Nissel was so broke that she had to make a living off it. She begged food stamps from neighbors, attended strangers’ funerals for a meal. The online diary of her travails turned into a book, “The Broke Diaries”; now she’s developing a TV series. Nissel still collects survival tips. Some of the latest: Hoard mayonnaise from fast-food restaurants as hair conditioner or mix with ketchup to make French dressing. Use imploding dot-coms in your area as a source of cheap furniture. Complain to companies and get freebies in return. In desert states, search out roadside gas stations. Follow the wind to the underbrush, and you’ll find dollar bills. SPORTSFear Factor Hanging up his 24-karat shoes in September, track star Michael Johnson told PERI how to psych out the pack. (1) His own cold shoulder: “I’m not even running against you.” (2) Jon Drummond’s nonchalance: “I’m just playing, and this doesn’t matter.” (3) Maurice Greene’s swagger: “He’s stickin’ his tongue out and doin’ his own thing.” (4) Dennis Mitchell’s scream: “I’m an animal, and I’ll kill you.”
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Special Mrs. G Memorial Edition At the six-month mark, George W. Bush’s presidency seems to be in a state of arrested development. CW doesn’t have a clue where it’s going from here. Time for the “vision thing.”
C.W. Bush = Frat boy 43 trying to create Sigma Delta Alliance, but other leaders ain’t pledgin’. Genoa - Makes “Seattle” look like a picnic – and gives anti-globalization its first martyr. Condit = Gardener recants daughter’s affair; Cheney gives him partial alibi, but the heat stays on. I. Einhorn - Fugitive killer finally extradited from France. The party’s over, M. Sack de Merde. Tax rebates = The check’s in the mail, but $300 won’t buy recovery – or many votes. K. Graham + Our revered proprietor has now entered the American pantheon. We’ll miss you, Mrs. G.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-05” author: “Florence Harp”
Bush broached the topic at a Medicare meeting with members of Congress. Then, at a Wednesday sit-down with medical specialists to discuss the patient’s bill of rights, he offered the clearest window yet into his thinking. Seated around an oval table with Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and two dozen specialists, Bush suddenly turned the discussion to stem-cell research. “I’m wrestling with this decision,” he told them. “I honestly don’t know what I’m going to do… This is very, very difficult for me.”
The issues were further muddied when two separate laboratories announced major steps toward using embryonic stem-cell lines for medical treatment. On Wednesday, in the journal Fertility and Sterility, researchers at the Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine reported that they had created human embryos for the express purpose of destroying them and harvesting their stem cells.
The ethics of the experiment immediately rang alarm bells. Until now most researchers have proposed using frozen embryos left over from in vitro fertility treatments as a source of stem cells. Creating embryos so they can be destroyed was something else, even though the researchers obtained informed consent from the egg and sperm donors. “People have been moving toward a compromise involving already-existing embryos, [but] specially created embryos raise moral red flags,” says University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur Caplan.
On Thursday a Massachusetts-based biotech outfit disclosed that it had been preparing in secret for nearly a year to create stem cells through cloning technology. Advanced Cell Technology has already obtained eggs from women donors, into which they plan to transfer nuclei from the cells of other adults. Theoretically the “activated egg”–ACT’s term for it–should grow and provide stem cells just like an embryo. It is hoped these cells would be genetically and immunologically identical to the nucleus donor, thus better for medical applications for that patient.
Again, it’s the ethics of this so-called “therapeutic cloning” that concern some observers. “What people worry about here is will this be an opening to the cloning of human beings?” says Dartmouth ethicist Ronald Green, the head of ACT’s ethics board. He argues the cloned entities ACT is making aren’t really embryos, since they aren’t fertilized with a sperm cell.
Last week’s revelations are sure to be fodder at this week’s stem-cell hearings in Congress. For President Bush, the decision keeps getting harder.
–With Adam Rogers
((((((THE BUZZ)))))) Boy Bands Go Bust, Civilization Is Saved! When A.J. wants it “That Way,” he means whisky, straight up. With a member in rehab, they should be called Backstreet Men-With-Young-Fans. And ‘N Sync has a new album, but Justin’s hair generates more buzz. Is teen pop in trouble?
Self-Loathing Even ‘N Sync’s Joey has a boy bands suck T shirt. Why can’t his lyrics be that self-aware?
Stick a Fork in ‘Em How can you tell that a fad is dead? When they’re trashing it in Cleveland. We just ‘hope “Bye Bye Bye” will become prophetic.’ (Cleveland Scene)
He Sings. He Dances. He Diapers? It’s kinda sick to market grown men to little girls. But it’s even stranger now that two of these boys have babies. ‘It sucks the cool right out of it.’ (Entertainment Weekly)
Gentlemen, Place Your Bets A.J. may need more time to clean up his act. ‘Thirty days of rehab is like using two aspirin to treat cancer,’ says Dr. Dan Crane of NYC’s ACI Clinic. Pace yourself. The tour can wait– really. HistoryPassing the Hat For his son George W’s birthday, the 41st president bought a cap stitched with the number 43. If such dynastic gift-giving seems odd to outsiders, to insiders, it’s old hat. Before he died of pneumonia, William Henry Harrison (9) gave a thin, wooden walking stick with a tassel to his 7-year-old grandson, Benjamin (23). Democratic opponents resented the younger Harrison’s lineage when he ran for president in 1888, writing campaign songs that claimed Tippecanoe’s hat wouldn’t fit “even a little bit on Benjamin Harrison’s brain.” John Adams (2) did not shower John Quincy (6) with presents, says Adams National Historical Park curator Kelly Cobble. Unless you count an ambassadorship to Prussia. ScienceChokehold Serving at match point in the Wimbledon final last week, Goran Ivanisevic felt the weight of imaginary sandbags on his arms. Why should nerves paralyze an athlete about to win? Being tantalizingly close to an unexpected victory can cause what sports psychologists call overarousal. The body produces excess adrenaline while restricting blood flow, tightening the muscles and depleting fine-motor skills. Oddly enough, Ivanisevic didn’t have trouble lifting the Wimbledon trophy. The Ultimate Law Review Reese Witherspoon’s Elle Woods joins the ranks of Harvard Law School in “Legally Blonde,” in theaters since Friday. Here’s how she measures up against her fellow cinematic alums:
‘Love Story’ 1970 Credentials Hockey stud, Harvard-grad millionaire’s son, penchant for ‘Cliffies Interaction With Faculty Harvard profs so distant we never see any Showing Their Smarts Oliver graduates third in his class and writes winning essay
‘Paper Chase’ 1973 Credentials Shaggy hair, smug lips, unfortunate bow ties (oh, and top LSAT scores) Interaction With Faculty Professor Kingsfield makes Hart sweat, vomit and slave over extra work Showing Their Smarts Hart aces exams after three-day cramfest; wins prof’s approval after telling him off
‘Soul Man’ 1986 Credentials Overdoses on bronzing pills to snag minority scholarship Interaction With Faculty Mark tries jivin’ with his ‘brother,’ Prof. James Earl Jones Showing Their Smarts ‘Mom! Dad! There’s something I have to tell you. I’m black.’
‘Legally Blonde’ 2001 Credentials 4.0 GPA in fashion merchandising; danced in Ricky Martin video Interaction With Faculty Professor’s inspiring words of welcome: ‘Let the bloodbath begin’ Showing Their Smarts Elle foils saleswoman peddling overpriced rayon; uses ‘rules of hair care’ to win caseSTYLE ICONSHigh Priestesses of High Fashion They’re the women who taught us the virtue of pillbox hats, tailored jackets and double-stick tape. Women’s Wear Daily is marking its 90th year with a list of the top-10 style icons of all time, said Bridget Foley, the fashion bible’s executive editor. “They’re each a generation’s fashion star.” PERI’s sure we were omitted by mistake.
1.Jackie 2.Madonna 3.Babe Paley 4.Coco Chanel 5.Katharine Hepburn 6.Audrey Hepburn 7.Ali MacGraw 8.‘The Supermodels’ including Iman 9.The Dutchess of Windsor 10.‘Icons in training’ Gwyneth & J. Lo TOYSBig Bike, Baby Bike Top speed of the new Harley-Davidson V-Rod: 140mph. Top speed of the new Runt minibike: 3mph. But bikers are bonkers for both. The first new Harley design in a decade, the $17,000 V-Rod will be unveiled Monday, and on roads by October. “This bike looks fast sitting still,” says Harley’s Bill Davidson. Not the wobbly two-foot Runt–it looks silly sitting still and sillier in use. But the $100 bike is a hit at skateboard ramps. Competitors are racing to catch up–Huffy’s $60 Monkey Bike is out in September. TRAVELFit for a King? That’s Too Small. Mattress hogs, rejoice! And reserve a huge bed at a hotel abroad. Heather Graham likes London’s Covent Garden’s 8ft.-by-8ft. canopy bed. Paris’s Royal Monceau wants $2,800 for a night on a 60-square-footer that’s slept Robert De Niro. Too steep? At Thailand’s Little Mermaid, 12ft.-wide beds are $45 a night. No stars here, says the owner, but “they’d come if we tripled the price.” Not soon. All four beds are taken till 2003.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Step Up to the Plate Edition Media ramps up missing-intern story to DEFCON 3. It’s got a sleazy pol, mystery and did we mention sex? Let’s just hope all the attention helps solve the case.
C.W. China + Delirious over ‘08 Games, but move in right direction or the C.W. will boycott. Condit - Poster boy for selfish womanizers. But odds are he’s not guilty. Hastert - Gutless House speaker kills camp. fin. reform without vote. What a surprise. Bush = Unveils cards for seniors’ Rx discount. Hey, W, they’ve already got ’em. N. Reagan + Supports stem-cell research. That could stem the debate with the right. MLB - Baseball brass tell umps to “hunt for strikes” to shorten games. Call them out.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-15” author: “Diane Gordon”
Even more surprising was the conversation between Hughes and Weaver. As recounted to NEWSWEEK by sources who talked to both participants, Hughes asked how the White House could work more closely with McCain on such issues as the patient’s bill of rights and military reform. She also sought his perspective on the president’s falling poll numbers. Then, the sources say, the conversation veered to a more sensitive topic. “The president wants to know if Karl has been spreading the rumors about the senator,” Hughes said, according to sources close to Weaver. The Hughes camp vehemently denies this account. It was Weaver, not Hughes, who raised the issue of Rove’s spreading rumors, a White House source said. Hughes herself pointed out that Rove was sitting right next to them: “The idea that I was spying on Karl is ridiculous.”
For his part, Weaver described the lunch as “pleasant” but declined to discuss details. He said that he and Hughes, Bush’s designated go-between with McCain, agreed to stay in touch. After lunch, Weaver and Rove shook hands–cautiously. Have the Bush and McCain camps buried the hatchet? “Let’s just say there’s a new chapter in our relationship,” said a McCain aide.
Michael Isikoff and Martha Brant FBI Ashcroft’s Man Doesn’t Get a ‘Yes’ Tensions are mounting inside the Bush administration over the selection of a new FBI director. Attorney General John Ashcroft had strongly recommended his former acting deputy, Robert Mueller, and until recently Mueller seemed the likely choice. But after interviewing Mueller, President Bush was “impressed, but not convinced,” said a White House source. Bush asked aides to come up with other names. Ashcroft, sources say, was not pleased. White House lawyers are now scrambling to develop a list of more-prestigious candidates. Among those being talked about: Tom Scott, a former federal prosecutor in Miami who’s close to Jeb Bush; Deputy A.G. Larry D. Thompson; Michael Chertoff, chief of Justice’s criminal division, and Robert Ray, the last Whitewater independent counsel. A White House aide insists that Mueller is still “under consideration.” But other sources say the search appears wide-open–and increasingly frustrating.
((((((THE BUZZ)))))) Boys of Summer? Sure. Boys of Fall? Well … Seattle lost A-Rod, and yet here they are. The Twins payroll is $11.78, and yet here they are. The Cubs and Sox have combined for 139 years of futility, and yet here they are. Will any of these surprise teams keep it up till October? Here’s what they’re saying nationwide:
Red Socked The ‘injury epidemic [is] approaching biblical proportions.’ (Boston Globe) Pedro’s hurt, plus eight more. Can they hold off the Yanks? Um, have they ever?
Made in Japan ‘I’m not sold on Ichiro Suzuki. I want to see how he plays through 162 games … There’s a chance he’ll fade.’ (Scout, Sports Ill.) He could fade next week and Seattle will still win its division in a walk.
Minne-slowing The only Twins we can name are Jenna and Barbara. So far, baseball’s thrift-store franchise is the year’s feel-good story. Here’s how it ends: splat!!
Luvable Cubs We can hear Harry Caray in heaven: ‘It might be, it could be, it IS the Cubbies’ year!!’ Sosa aside, the lineup is ‘beleaguered … but [Chicago’s] makeshift pitching rotation has most teams envious.’ (Baseball Weekly) CENSORSHIPWho’s Shady? Colorado’s KKMG-FM bleeped out the bad words in Eminem’s “The Real Slim Shady.” Curses! The FCC fined the station for indecency anyway. Many broadcasters worry that the FCC–which says it isn’t getting stricter–is over-enforcing its rules. In protest, unregulated Web station eYada will host a “speakout” on Tuesday, 9 to noon, EDT. Invited are rap’s Russell Simmons, FCC chair Michael Powell and Eminem himself. For its part, KKMG appealed the fine on Friday. RELIGIONLord, You’ve Got Mail Both Jews and Christians slip prayers for good health and peace into the cracks of the 2,000-year-old Western Wall, the remnants of the holy Second Temple of Jerusalem. But with recent violence deterring travel to the Middle East, more people are deciding to reach out to God electronically. Virtual Jerusalem.com receives an average of 1,500 e-mails per month from foreigners of various faiths. “The amount seems to rise every time there is a major attack here,” says Daniella Slon, the site’s editor. To conserve paper, staffers break open the floppy disks that contain the messages and wedge the magnetic tape into the wall. That’s an instant messenger. INEQUALITYMrs. Clean When women finally break through the perennial glass ceiling, they’ll have to wipe the fingerprints off it themselves. According to a poll conducted by Clinique Laboratories, women are confident that they will achieve equal pay in the workplace by 2020. Of those same women, only half predicted the men in their lives would share in the household duties. The other half said they would still be “primarily responsible” for the chores. We’re guessing that this entire half would be happy to be proved wrong. SPORTTees & Teepees Casinos get all the press, but American Indian tribes are gambling that another bourgeois pastime will drive future profits: golf. Blessed with stunning landscapes and more than 50 million acres of land, tribes are latching onto the sport of spiked shoes as a wholesome way to create jobs, pay for development–and maybe spur their kids to follow in Tiger’s footsteps. About 25 courses are tribally owned, including five in New Mexico and a new $12 million, 18-hole spread outside San Diego. Are more courses in the works? You bet. CULTURE CLUBThe Royal Treatment Oprah’s one. Halle’s one, too. Venus and Serena round out the list. What are they? Black American Princesses, according to “The BAP Handbook,” published by Broadway Books and written by a group of female black professionals who think it’s time America acknowledged its growing ranks of upwardly mobile black women. Like JAPs and preppies who came before them, BAPs are sophisticated shopaholics who put Sarah Jessica Parker and her Manolo Blahniks to shame. But it takes a lot more than a Fendi baguette full of M.A.C. cosmetics and a Neiman Marcus charge card to qualify as a BAP. She should attend the correct school: exclusive Spelman College in Atlanta. And a respectable BAP must give back to her community, supporting such causes as the United Negro College Fund and sickle-cell-anemia research. Some may be offended by the handbook’s suggestion that women with names beginning with “La” and “Sh” and ending with “isha” and “ika” can’t be BAPs (getting legal name changes is the recommended remedy). Or that dating men with gold teeth and hair like Al Sharpton’s is a no-no. Regardless, this is one monarchy that’s not endangered. FAST CHATToon Museum Broke? #$%&! Mort Walker isn’t laughing. The 78-year-old creator of “Beetle Bailey” founded the International Museum of Cartoon Art 27 years ago. Last Friday he loaned the Boca Raton, Fla., site $200,000 to avoid foreclosure. Without more cash, the museum may have to rent space to a health club–or relocate to New York.
That’s what my accountant said: “You’re not going to do this again, are you?”
It was a desperate move. My wife still cries over it because those are our holy grail. He didn’t have shoes yet.
They take over everything.
They sit and hold hands, but y’know, Beetle’s not ready yet.
BOOKS Summer Reading Heats Up: Girls Behaving Badly Forget “Anne of Green Gables” and her tipsy mishap with the raspberry cordial. Inspired in part by Bridget Jones, the latest in young-adult fiction gets down and dirty. PERI goes between the sheets:
Why Mom will approve: Little Red needs no woodsman-passerby to rescue her; she saves herself
Why Mom will say nay: Sleeping Beauty pricks herself with a heroin needle
Why Mom will approve: Kady recognizes the shallowness of her snobby boyfriend…
Why Mom will say nay: … but not before ditching a mentally ill child for marijuana-laced brownies
Why Mom will approve: Georgia learns stud isn’t as ‘fabbity fab’ as mere mortal who makes her laugh…
Why Mom will say nay: … until the lass discovers she’s a boy magnet, even in her ‘Teletubby jimjams’
Why Mom will approve: Though itching to snog, Colette tells off hot-to-trot boyfriend…
Why Mom will say nay: … until Vol. 2, when the teens shag twice in one afternoon FAREWELLA Dixie Virtuoso As a guitarist and producer, Chet Atkins, who died at 77, was one of the prime architects of the Nashville Sound–that sleek crossover music with soaring strings and clockwork rhythm sections that brought country into the pop mainstream–and a peerless talent scout. (He signed Willie Nelson and Dolly Parton.) Atkins, a fingerpicking virtuoso, could also be a rockabilly cat with Elvis Presley. David Gates
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Special Missing Lemmon Edition First it was top White House aide Karl Rove talking to Intel reps while holding Intel stock. Now WH admits he did the same with energy companies. But no one seems to care.
C.W. Bush - May be boxed into vetoing popular patient’s bill of rights that cleared Senate. That hurts. Cheney = Veep gets a pacemaker – and country gets an education on high-tech heart treatment. Milosevic - At least there’s a coffee maker in your cell at The Hague. Let the war-crimes trial begin. Jackson - Microsoft trial judge whacked by higher court for blabbing to press. Paging Judge Ito. Elliott Abrams + Iran-contra figure pardoned by Bush Sr. is now on W’s NSC staff. Paging Ollie North. Jack Lemmon + The best “Fortune Cookie” in Hollywood’s “Apartment.” Thank God for VCRs.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-28” author: “James Pearson”
Why are U.S. investigators so sure it was pilot suicide? NEWSWEEK has learned that U.S. intelligence agencies secretly monitored communications between Cairo and an Egyptian investigating team in Washington. Intelligence sources say the intercepts reveal that despite their public stance, the Egyptian investigators privately agreed with their U.S. counterparts that suicide was the likely cause of the crash, which killed 217 people.
Another reason: U.S. investigators have access to secret interviews with a witness who offered a motive for Batouti’s despair. The witness is a former EgyptAir pilot named Hamdi Hanafi Taha, who sought political asylum in Britain in February 2000. U.S. sources say that Taha told FBI agents he heard secondhand reports about a meeting between Batouti and senior EgyptAir pilots in New York a day or two before the crash. At the meeting, according to Taha’s story, the senior pilots told Batouti that EgyptAir was fed up with his shenanigans, including complaints by guests and chambermaids at the airline’s New York hotel that he sexually harassed them. The pilots informed Batouti that because of his antics, Flight 990 would be the last flight of his career.
NTSB sources say that while Taha, an alleged Islamic militant, has “credibility problems,” American investigators believe that his story is a key piece of the EgyptAir-crash puzzle. At the FBI’s request, however, the NTSB is keeping secret the bureau’s interviews with Taha. Nonetheless, the Egyptians were so concerned about Taha’s story that they insisted U.S. officials interview in February a senior EgyptAir pilot who could refute Taha’s allegations. An official transcript of that interview, posted on the NTSB Web site, quotes EgyptAir Capt. Mohamed Badrawi as saying that Batouti was a womanizer who had urged him to try Viagra. Badrawi said that some time before the crash EgyptAir chief pilot Hatem Roushdy asked him to press Batouti to curb his sexual escapades. But Badrawi flatly denied any confrontation between himself, Batouti and Roushdy in the days before the fatal crash. Roushdy, a last-minute passenger on Flight 990, died in the crash.
U.S. officials say Egyptian authorities obstructed efforts by U.S. investigators to look into Batouti’s lifestyle and to corroborate Taha’s story. For their part, the Egyptians (and American experts they hired to discredit the NTSB’s suicide theory) insist the crash was caused by a still undetermined mechanical problem. “How is it that a womanizer would commit suicide?” asked Mahmoud Gaafar, an Egyptian Embassy spokesman. “We don’t know what happened. Period.”
((((((THE BUZZ)))))) School’s Out for Summer. Now Hit the Books! For all his magical abilities, Harry Potter couldn’t gin up a new adventure in time for summer. But–abracadabra!–there are other books for kids to read. (In English, honest!) Here’s what people are saying about poolside page turners in print, on air and online:
Fowl Ball In ‘Artemis Fowl ‘we’re treated to graphic descriptions of dwarf flatulence.’ (N.Y. Times) Flatulence–ew! Dwarf flatulence: kids, that’s some good readin’.
Say What? ‘Stinky Cheese Man’ collaborators add meat to their literary sandwich in ‘Baloney (Henry P.)’ In it, a spaceboy explains why he’s late to school ‘in many varieties of Earth-speak. (Seattle P.-I.)
Lordy! The first ‘Lord of the Rings’ flick debuts in December. Want to finish the trilogy by then? ‘Summer is pretty much the only time you’re ever gonna get the chance.’ (NPR)
Lemon Zinger The Baudelaire siblings, lead characters in ‘A Series of Unfortunate Events,’ are ’the first serious challengers’ to Harry P. (BP Report) Lemony Snicket’s next book, ‘The Hostile Hospital,’ hits in August. To the library–stat! LINGOWhat the FERC One advantage to a rolling blackout: not having light to decipher all of California’s power-infrastructure acronyms.
PUC: Public Utilities Commission; makes sure consumers have reliable service
ISO: Independent System Operator; agency that controls traffic over high-voltage lines
FERC: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; in charge of keeping energy markets “fair and reasonable.” Usage: “PUC wants price caps. ISO agrees. FERC says no.”
QF: Qualifying facility; harnesses environmentally friendlyelectricity
Path 15: Overloaded trans-mission line feeds much of Silicon Valley
ART The Hot-Dog Days of Summer Even simple food can be elevated to an art form. So restaurateur Danny Meyer has discovered since he started operating a hot-dog stand in New York City’s Madison Square Park as part of a new art installation there. A lifelong fan of Chicago hot dogs, Meyer has imported that city’s Vienna Beef frankfurters, providing Chicago fixings and heaping portions of hospitality. “It doesn’t have to be a three-star restaurant to supply nurture along with the food,” he says. Though he took on the stand to help restore the park through art, he’s planning to buy it when the art gig’s up in September because its access to a cross section of New Yorkers makes it a great training ground for his restaurants’ managers. And it’s a lot of fun. “I find myself almost hiding in the bushes watching people enjoy these hot dogs.“SCIENCECell Damage If the Bush administration does not allow federal funding for the controversial yet promising stem-cell research, U.S. efforts–which would remain confined to the private sector–may be held back, and U.S. researchers may go abroad. At a National Academy of Science stem-cells conference last week, one bioethicist called the reported Bush policy among the strictest. Most of the world scientific community is becoming more liberal in regulating the use of human embryonic stem cells.JUSTICELost Innocence The first grader vanished after heading to his school-bus stop 22 years ago. Last week a Manhattan judge declared Etan Patz legally dead, allowing his parents to proceed with a wrongful-death suit against a convicted pedophile suspected in his murder. Etan, whose case awoke the world to the plight of missing children, would have been 28.FANSMountain Man PERI asked 37-year-old Paul Giorgio to explain why he left a Boston Red Sox cap atop Mount Everest:
I talked to the lama about how to break the Curse of the Bambino, and this is what he suggested. He blessed all our gear before we climbed the mountain. I had the Red Sox cap blessed.
I asked the lama, “If I burn this as an offering to the gods, will it complete the cycle?” He told me, in Nepali, “Yes.”
Yeah. We doused it in kerosene and it would not light. It finally lit after five minutes.
That’s the whole point: to put the team on top of the world and let the lama do his thing.RECREATIONThere’s Something in the Water Some scuba divers are tired of swimming with just the fishes. They’re shunning expensive tropical locales for the exotic waters back home. “There are more divers in local quarries and rivers than in oceans,” says Jeff Nadler of the Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI). Divers have even penetrated a flooded mine shaft in Bonne Terre, Mo., where they can play with sunken pickaxes and poke around an ore cart and a locomotive. “It’s like diving through mining history,” says mine owner Doug Goergens. In Midway, Utah, divers shed their wet suits (but not the swimsuits, please) in the 96-degree waters of Homestead Crater Hot Springs.
Other divers find it enough just to sink stuff and look at it underwater. Billed as an “amusement park for divers,” Dutch Springs in Bethlehem, Pa., offers a fire truck, an airplane and a helicopter. Sunken-vehicle junkies also head out to Sea Girt, N.J., where dozens of sunken boats, subway cars and even tanks form an artificial reef. “It’s tremendous diving,” says local scuba man Bob Wilson. After all, New Jersey’s nothing if not exotic.MOVIESArcheologists Do It in the Sand Bookish scientists are unlikely heroes, but it seems like nobody told Hollywood. Three summer action flicks have archeologist protagonists, but how close are these films to reality?
Which one of these things is not like the other?: ‘Tomb Raider’s’ Lara Croft Nemeses: Spooky industrialists Maxim: ‘It’s all just business’ Searching for…: The Triangle of Light … To Prevent: Loss of space-time continuum Plot Resolution: Finds triangle, saves world
Which one of these things is not like the other?: Rick from ‘The Mummy Returns’ Nemeses: Umm, the Mummy Maxim: ‘Those who do not embrace the past have no future’ Searching for…: Tomb of the Scorpion King … To Prevent: Eternal reign of terror Plot Resolution: Slays scorpion, saves world
Which one of these things is not like the other?: Milo Thatch of ‘Atlantis’ Nemeses: Militant capitalists Maxim: ‘We’re remembered by the gifts we leave our kids’ Searching for…: Umm, the city of Atlantis … To Prevent: Death to race of Atlantians Plot Resolution: Finds city, saves world
Which one of these things is not like the other?: Bill Fash, Harvard’s Indy Jones Nemeses: ‘Just intellectual rivals’ Maxim: ‘I don’t wake up and say anything like that at all’ Searching for…: ‘There’s no treasure hunting!’ … To Prevent: Loss of grant funding Plot Resolution: ‘The world hasn’t ended yet’ SCHOOLKIDSSmall Beer Got beer? Belgian first graders do. A group called Limburg Beer Friends has talked at least two elementary schools into serving low-alcohol lagers and bitters at lunch, and more may follow this fall. Students are lapping up the program. Adults should, too, says LBF chair Rony Langenaeken, who’s convinced beer is better for kids than sugary soft drinks. If only he could replace mystery meat.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Special Cal Ripken Edition With D.C. obsessed by the latest intern story, Dubya got off easy when he said the U.S. “should never execute” the mentally retarded. Hello? He did it in Texas and still supports it.
C.W. Bush - Polls show he’s out of step with U.S. on energy, env.; he shows no sign of wondering why. Condit - Creepiest detail: Pics behind his desk not grip-’n’-grins, but beauty shots of him alone. Privacy - Tell your bank to “opt out” of info sharing now – or watch your identity get stolen later. L. Berenson - N.Y. lefty (and terrorist groupie?) gets 20 years in second Peruvian trial. “Lori libre”? C. Ripken + Aging ironman announces retirement at season’s end. Class act is Hall cinch. B. Bonds + Aging slugger on track to smash McGwire’s 70-homer record. What’s he eatin’?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-22” author: “Thomas Pryor”
Bush, DeLay and the ‘Dynamite Factory’
One administration official likened the GOP declaration to a “hand grenade tossed into a dynamite factory.” White House officials were furious last week after House GOP leaders issued a statement warning President George W. Bush not to lift a ban on federal funding for research using stem cells derived from human embryos. The incendiary letter, released by Texas Reps. Dick Armey and Tom DeLay and Oklahoma Rep. J. C. Watts, accused researchers of relying on an “industry of death” and said “the federal government cannot morally look the other way.” It came as a deeply divided White House was debating the explosive issue, which pits some–but not all–pro-lifers against the scientific community and a majority of Americans. Bush is expected to make a decision soon. To calm the tensions, Vice President Dick Cheney made a round of calls to Capitol Hill, with little effect.
Meanwhile, other House Republicans, even some who oppose federal funding for stem-cell research, castigated DeLay, Armey and Watts for the letter. “I think you want to be very careful with the tone unless you want to say that Connie Mack and Orrin Hatch are shills for the industry of death,” says Rep. Peter King of New York, referring to two staunchly pro-life Republicans who have urged Bush to back stem-cell research funding. The stem-cell fight is the latest in a series of issues in which House conservatives are trying to keep Bush firmly on the right, even as his approval ratings fall and pressure builds for him to move to the center. Bush has had rocky relations with the House’s GOP firebrands, particularly DeLay. During the campaign he angered DeLay by suggesting some Republicans were trying to balance the budget on the backs of the poor. Lately, DeLay and Armey have been pressuring Bush not to compromise on campaign-finance reform and the patient’s bill of rights. Last month, NEWSWEEK has learned, Bush reached out to DeLay, inviting him and his wife, Christine, to a cozy dinner at the White House residence. “It was an attempt to have a more intimate relationship,” says one source. But last week’s Dear George letter put a chill between the two men once again.
PRIVACY
Will the Committee Opt In?
When the senate Commerce Committee takes up the issue of Internet privacy this week, the game will have the same players, but the roles will have changed. Last session GOP Chairman John McCain sponsored a so-called opt-out privacy bill, meaning Web-site owners could share a customer’s personal information unless the user tells them not to. Now the new Democratic chairman, Ernest Hollings, is expected to use this week’s hearings to push his “opt-in” version, placing all information off-limits without a user’s permission. But Hollings could have a tough time getting his bill out of committee. Sen. John Kerry was a cosponsor of McCain’s bill, and Sens. Ron Wyden and Conrad Burns had a separate measure of their own. The industry, which favors no legislation at all, may wind up the winner. Says one Hill staffer: the committee is “all over the map on this.”
((((((The Buzz))))))
He Wants Our Love; We Want Our Money Back
The boy is creepy. His mother’s mean. And Jude Law doesn’t even look hot. No wonder a talking teddy bear steals Steven Spielberg’s “A.I.” Despite a slew of glowing reviews, some audiences are finding it more artificial than intelligent. Here’s why:
I See Dead Robots
‘It’s a sadistic spectacle.’ (Baltimore Sun) Despite talking dolls, this fairy tale’s scenes of loss and abandonment are too dark for kids– you almost hope Haley Joel Osment closed his eyes during filming.
‘E.T.’ Grows Up
Sure it’s problematic and messy; that’s why the usually slick director deserves our praise. Spielberg’s made ‘a movie to be respected, not adored.’ (St. Petersburg Times)
Crowd Displeaser
Sometimes regular blokes reject what experts say we’ll love (remember New Coke?). Let critics call it genius; ‘I’ll use other words … like “do not see A.I.” ’ (Chicago Trib.)
Too Many Cooks …
So much has been made of the Kubrick collaboration, but to what end? The movie’s too light for Stanley, too dark for Steven. ‘It’s a coupling from hell.’ (San Francisco Chronicle)
TRANSITION
The Outsider
Mordecai Richler, 70, used to say he was a minority within a minority. Richler, author of “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz,” meant he was a Jewish Anglophone from French-speaking Montreal. But the great gadfly of Canadian literature was an all-purpose outsider who outraged Jews, Quebecois, feminists–just about everybody but the children who loved his books about Jacob Two-Two, the kid who said everything twice.
The master saxophonist and composer Joe Henderson, 64, came of age just as jazz’s avant-garde was burning out. In the 1960s he played both hard bop and free jazz with notable taste and intelligence; in the ’90s he won three Grammys, including one for “Lush Life,” his tribute to Billy Strayhorn. David Gates
HEALTH DRINKS
From Scientist To Sommelier
We all know wine can enhance romantic chemistry. Apparently, chemistry (and biology) can do the same for wine. Ben-Ami Bravdo’s Hebrew University lab has genetically engineered a yeast that strengthens wine’s aroma. Bravdo has also cultivated a unique vine that grows in salt water and yields tasty Cabernets and Chardonnays. And other Israeli scientists have concocted a sweet white wine they claim is as healthful as red, which may stave off heart disease and cancer with antioxidants called polyphenols. The dessert wine should hit U.S. shelves by 2002. Meanwhile, a drier healthful white is in the works. For the nondrinking crowd, Arkopharma offers alcohol-free polyphenol pills made from French red-wine extract. They might not work–one Harvard doc calls them “quackery”–because alcohol, not polyphenols, is probably the active ingredient for a healthy heart. But at least they don’t cause hangovers.
ARCHEOLOGY
What About Hagar the Horrible?
With a name like Thor, you too might think you could prove gods were human. Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian explorer best known for sailing across 4,300 miles of the Pacific Ocean in a raft called the Kon-Tiki, is testing a 13th-century text that claims the Viking god Odin was a king who lived in Russia in the first century B.C. Digging at a site in Azov, Russia, Heyerdahl’s crew hasn’t found any clues of Odin yet, though it has unearthed pottery from the first century B.C. Critics think the anthropologist is cracked. Undaunted, the 86-year-old is already planning his next project: to disprove the existence of Atlantis. Perhaps he’ll have more luck than the movie.
SWEAT ‘N SNIFF
The Scent of Summer
Summer’s here, but for many workaday Janes, these weeks are about perspiration, not vacation. Still, these cosmetics confectioners harness the season’s signature odors–from fresh fruit to sandy surf–allowing us all to enjoy some olfactory escapism: (graphic omitted)
CANDIED ANSWERS
An estimated 23% of the survey results sent to PERI were not interesting. Here are some that were:
17% wouldn’t part with their favorite Life Saver flavor. (Life Savers)
Popcorn eaters were three times more likely to cry in movies than non-eaters. (Screenvision Cinema Promotions)
Fewer than 1% noticed a car alarm and called police. (Progressive.com)
EDUCATION
Bringing Colleges Up to Code
A 122-student plagiarism investigation at the University of Virginia has drawn attention to cheat-catching, essay-comparison technology. But some colleges believe trust means never having to say “just checking.” Instead, they’re stressing basic academic honesty. This fall U. of Maryland students will be asked to write and sign an honor pledge on each of their assignments and exams. The UC, Davis, newspaper runs a weekly column detailing acts of cheating. Erin Brockovich will headline U. of Penn’s “Integrity Week” in October. Sustaining student interest is an uphill battle, however. This spring, Duke’s honor council sponsored an ethics essay contest with a $500 prize. Officials received one entry.
FUND-RAISING
Eternally Hot
How much would you pay to lie next to Marilyn Monroe? UCLA hopes $150,000. The last crypt in Norma Jean’s Westwood mausoleum was donated to the school for scholarships. But advertising the property has been tricky. “We don’t want to be crass,” reps say.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Special Foul Play Edition
“Law & Order writers have doubtless already penned the Levy-condit story–except for the end. but could he be the Beltway’s Richard Jewell? This one’s better than reality TV.
Bush = “43” vistis “41” on 55th. Tips from Poppy on regaining popularity? Wouldn’t be prudent. Condit - About time you admitted affair–now aren’t you sorry you didn’t get this over with sooner? Milosevic - Hitler wanna-be comes out swinging in The Hague. Fortunately, he doesn’t have a bat. Stem cells = Bush must decide: Religious right or people with incurable dieseases. Can he fudge it? R. Iler - “Sopranos’” Anthony Jr. charged with N.Y. mugging. Back to the military academy? John Adams + Best-selling book as 2d prez soaring in polls. Paul Newman, call your agent.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-08” author: “Michael Cunningham”
FBI officials say the main problem is that much of the information being developed in the investigation is either grand-jury material or so highly classified that it can’t be shared with most cops because they don’t have the necessary security clearances. “Legal barriers always make this a difficult problem,” says FBI spokesman John Collingwood. At the same time, the bureau has enlisted the aid of local cops by giving state and local agencies “watch lists” with the names of hundreds of witnesses and potential suspects the bureau wants to question. The Feds hope state and local cops may come across some of the suspects in the course of minor arrests or routine traffic stops–and then report back to the bureau. But police chiefs say the watch lists are too sketchy to be helpful. “They’re absolutely nothing but a list of Arabic names,” says one official with a police group. Baltimore Police Commissioner Edward T. Norris says he can’t even get the FBI to give him pictures of the potential suspects. Another police commissioner, Dan Oates of Ann Arbor, Mich., says the core problem is a longstanding FBI “culture” that causes agents to look down their noses at local cops.
The bureau seems to be trying to calm the complaints. Collingwood says the Feds want more “joint terrorism task forces”–in which FBI agents and local police agencies work investigations together–and “better communications networks.” Adds the FBI spokesman: “We want to get this fixed as well.”
Michael Isikoff TECHNOLOGY Getting Carded for Safety Will the quest for homeland security require Americans to carry high-tech identification badges? The Bush administration has said that it isn’t in the cards. But from Congress to Silicon Valley, there’s talk of using supposedly airtight digital and biometric identifiers to enhance driver’s licenses, Social Security numbers and immigration visas–which could be a stealth approach to a universal ID card.
Recently the CEO of the database giant Oracle, Larry Ellison, offered to donate the software to run such a scheme. He says a national ID card is unnecessary, but we need an ID card standard used by both private and governmental institutions. And that such a system could be voluntary–no one would stop you to “check your papers.” In a practical sense, though, it would be very difficult if not impossible to go through life without having one of those cards, which could control access to flying, driving and maybe even getting into the building where you work. “So what?” Ellison said to NEWSWEEK. “If you don’t have a passport, you don’t go to England.”
How would such a system work? If you wanted to qualify for any of the above and you applied for certain credentials included in the program, you’d be issued something very much like your credit card. If it were a smart card, it would have a tiny chip that held some basic information and, more importantly, provided a link to a database that might certify you as a qualified driver, health-insurance holder, pilot–or flag you as a potential terrorist. In theory, a single smart card could perform all those tasks, but a cheaper alternative would be to place such information on a magnetic strip like the one on credit cards. “The database holds the truth,” says Ellison.
At an airport counter you’d show your card and give your Social Security number. A call would go out to retrieve a digitized version of the fingerprint imprint you gave when the card was issued. You’d put your finger into a reader, and the imprint would be compared with the original. At the same time you verified your frequent-flier status, you’d be checked against a national-security watch list.
Privacy advocates worry about the information held in the databases linked to the cards. Using cryptography, it’s technically easy to wall off the private stuff–those checking the card would know only whether the cardholder passed muster. But civil-liberties groups fear that the trail left in a centralized national-security database would have Big Brother potential. “It could record each time a card is used for verification,” says Privacy International’s David Banisar. “And then you’d have a transaction record [of where citizens go and what they do].” Ellison notes that the private sector already gathers vast stores of information about customers. “Privacy is an illusion,” he says. The same might be said for safety. The trick is improving one without risking the other. How It Might Work 1. Issuer: Cards adopt standard for universal verification. 2. Photo: For quick, low-tech identity check. 3. Chip: Holds basic info and links to databases, allowing biometric data (fingerprint, retina scan) to be used for high-tech ID check.
Steven Levy HATE CRIME He Wasn’t Afraid We’re going to kill all of you [expletive] Arabs,” said the note on Abdo Ali Ahmed’s windshield. Instead of calling the police, Ahmed, a naturalized American who moved to Fresno from Yemen 35 years ago, tore the message up and threw it away. “Why should I be scared?” he told his wife. “I’ve never done anything wrong.” Two days later, on Sept. 29, the father of eight was shot to death at his convenience store, in plain view of the American flag he had hung in the window. His attackers escaped, and authorities are treating his murder as a hate crime.
Nationwide, according to the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington, D.C., there have been 270 violent incidents against Arab-Americans, including five murders, since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Those numbers may not tell the full story. Many Arab immigrants–as well as Indians and South Asians who have been mistaken for Arabs–are wary of attracting attention by complaining. “People want to keep things confidential,” says Mansoor Ismael, a Yemeni diplomat in San Francisco. “They are not used to going to the police for help.”
At a Fresno mosque last week, community leaders implored mourners at Ahmed’s funeral to report all threats, no matter how dubious, to the authorities. A local sheriff attended the service to show solidarity. In San Francisco and other cities with multi-lingual forces, police now try to dispatch Arabic- or Farsi-speaking officers to respond to hate-crime victims. In other areas, Muslim community leaders have established Arab-language hot lines for those who still feel uncomfortable calling the police. Abdo Ali Ahmed may never have known help was a phone call away. Now, others will.
KAREN BRESLAU ACCOUNTING Out of the Ordinary It would seem safe to say that the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 were an extraordinary event. Just don’t tell the accountants. To the nation’s bookkeepers, Sept. 11 ranks as unusual, but falls short of “extraordinary”–at least that’s the finding of a special task force of the Financial Accounting Standards Board, which sets bookkeeping rules for Corporate America. “What would it take for them to find something extraordinary?” marvels John Shibley, who monitors misuse of the English language for Lake Superior State University. “The Second Coming?” (Actually, an earthquake in a nonearthquake zone like Kansas would qualify, the accountants say.)
The green eyeshades had a legitimate concern behind their extraordinary determination. As the economic fallout from Sept. 11 spreads, American business is struggling to calculate the cost. Yet many companies were faltering long before Sept. 11. So it is left to the accountants to tote up which losses can be blamed on the terrorists and which should be attributed to the bosses. Accountants were worried that companies would use the “extraordinary” designation as convenient cover for financial problems that were festering prior to Sept. 11. Indeed, Boeing has been accused of being disingenuous–even unpatriotic–for blaming the attacks for its need to lay off up to 30,000 workers. But with orders for new airplanes drying up, Boeing CEO Phil Condit says: “It would be un-patriotic to go out of business.”
Still, the ruling has made bookkeepers a little defensive. “People must think we’re crazy,” says Jim Harrington, a partner at the Pricewaterhouse-Coopers accounting firm. “This is obviously one of the most extraordinary events in the history of mankind.” After all the negative reaction, accounting task-force chair Tim Lucas says the board is now considering “challenging the wording of extraordinary items.” But until they rewrite the rules, this appears to be the best recipe to keep American business from cooking its books.
FAST CHAT: THE ONION After taking a week off, the online news parodists at The Onion have seen weekly traffic nearly double in the wake of the attacks. Why? “You’re the first people that have made any sense of this,” e-mails one fan. NEWSWEEK’s Bret Begun talked with editor Robert Siegel.
BEGUN: Last week you wrote “A Shattered Nation Longs To Care About Stupid Bulls— Again.” It’s not too soon? SIEGEL: Part of the healing process is to embrace the petty and insignificant. We miss being able to care about stupid things. We miss being able to be mean to each other because that means we’re all alive and well. I’d rather those people be alive and all of us just walk around not making eye contact, saying bitchy things about each other behind our backs.
How has what The Onion’s able to say changed? Stories we normally would say are fine in terms of offensiveness we did not run because we did not want to come off as callous. We had one, “America Stronger Than Ever, Say Quadragon Officials.” The Pentagon was reduced to four sides. That was going to be the one-liner. But you say to yourself, “Does this laugh do more harm than good?” We went with “Massive Attack On Pentagon Page 14 News.” Normally, we’d go much, much further.
Did you think about avoiding the attacks altogether? First we said, “We can’t do anything about this whatsoever.” Then we thought, “It’s going to look ridiculous if we come back with stories about Gary Condit, shark attacks and Jennifer Lopez.” I don’t think the act of laughter negates the act of crying. The two are not mutually exclusive things where one cancels the other. But my first reaction was, “We got to lay low and wait for people to be sarcastic again.”
Will we be? Or, as has been written, is irony dead? It just morphed a little. Sarcasm and irony are tools used by people who really do care. I don’t think they’re tools of the stony-hearted, the coldhearted. People employ irony and sarcasm–we do–because we’re bothered by false sentiment. It was an incredibly nonironic moment. It helps you understand why, during World War II, people thought Bob Hope was so funny. It’s jokes at no one’s expense. It’s amazing–you’re not even seeing nasty Internet jokes. Nobody was making those jokes–and nobody is. No one’s taking advantage of it. There’s a guilt about capitalizing on this in any way. It’s just a big, collective “Holy f—ing s—.” REVIEWOverall, XP Is a Winner The best thing about Windows XP is its least interesting aspect: Microsoft’s epic new operating system doesn’t crash nearly as much as its predecessors did. While this won’t wow people right out of the box–“Look, Ma, five minutes and no blue screen of death!”–the difference is a very big deal, because it directly addresses the No. 1 gripe of PC users: unreliability. For many, that alone will justify the cost of the Win XP package ($99 for the Home Edition, $199 for the Pro version; both on sale Oct. 25). Assuming, of course, you have a relatively new and powerful computer that meets the program’s prodigious requirements on power, memory and disk storage (300MHz Pentium II, 128MB, 2 gigabytes free space).
Win XP, though, has some fascinating facets. Its implicit philosophy is that people should rethink the traditional view of computing, which relies on opening applications and finding files. Instead, they should immerse themselves in an experience (hence the name XP). This approach is reflected in the program’s spit-shined interface, which plays down icons and encourages a more organic process of going about your business or pleasure, with diversions that can actually be installed without an MIT degree or a middle-school assistant. To enhance your “digital lifestyle,” XP integrates activities involving pictures, music and videos.
Other remarkable parts of Windows XP cannot be considered virtues. These include the myriad ways that the Softies use XP to draw customers ever deeper into the Microsoft universe. Thus in its zeal to convert users to its proprietary Media Player, Microsoft fails to provide acceptable support for the popular MP3 music-compression standard. Instead, Microsoft tells MP3 fans to go out and find a program that does the job. Similarly, the company has withheld the software to automatically run the Java applets that one encounters on the Web. Chalk that up to its spats with Sun.
Many of these obstacles are easily overcome. For instance, just because MSN Instant Messenger is built in doesn’t mean you can’t install AOL’s popular AIM software. Some problems you simply wait out, like the unbidden on-screen eruptions imploring you to join the Microsoft Network. Others are just plain annoying, like a Kafkaesque “activation process” that forces you to check in with the Redmond Politburo–or your screen goes blank in 60 days.
Overall, though, Bill Gates is right when he says, “This is the best operating system that Microsoft has ever done.” Unfortunately for Gates, the politics of monopoly have shadowed the product’s development, and a national tragedy has made an over-the-top launch party unseemly. Still, the upgrade is expected to pump up a deflated tech economy as customers buy new XP-equipped PCs.
And make no doubt about it, Windows XP is a big step forward. For many years, when-ever Microsoft has remade the OS, it has been upfront about the compelling reason to upgrade: it fixes what you hated about the last one. Windows XP is no exception. But the company might have to try a different tack with its next operating system. Because XP not only has a lot to like here, but not much to hate. That may not sound earth-shattering, but when you’re trying to please 100 million people who are using dozens of different computers, it’s a major accomplishment. Will You Want to Get XPerienced? Probably. Anyone using a current version of windows will find something he likes about XP. But it requires a powerful computer–or a new one. In our tests, we found it solved prior conflicts with many hardware devices like CD read-write drives but had problems working with digital cameras.
Stability It’s possible to run for days without a crash, easy to close misbehaving applications without having to reboot.
Interface Clean, more intuitive, dynamically adjusts to user preferences. Lots of nice animations and sounds, too.
Multimedia Easy-to-use, powerful programs for music, digital images and movies. But funnels you to Microsoft software.
New features From remote access to automatic updates to built-in wireless support, plenty of goodies to discover.
Activation To thwart piracy, treats legit customers almost like criminals with onerous registration scheme.
Self-promotion An operating system shouldn’t be a sales tool for a company’s other products. Wasn’t there a court case about this?
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Special Month of Tuesdays Editoin Everone either idealizes or deplores the world Before Tuesday (BT), but even a month later, nobody really knows what happens After Tuesday (AT). And not knowing is torture.
C.W. Bush + Nice precedent: Food drops for Afghan people. Next come the bombs. Blair + Silver-tongued British P.M. pins down Osama, stands tall for U.S. Hear, hear! Sharon - Wrong time for West Bank crackdown. Can’t you give U.S. a break? ‘Hitchhikers’ - Farmers, airlines, fat cats hitch ride on tragedy for own ends. Have you no decency? A. Sorkin - “West Wing” producer inflicts millions with pretentious preaching. Impeach Bartlet! B. Bonds + In era of HR inflation, tops McGwire. Bigger news: Rickey H. tops Ty Cobb in lifetime runs.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-21” author: “Richard Ungerecht”
The report prompted tense debate within the Bush administration over possible Iraqi involvement in the attack. Al-Ani is believed to be a hardened Iraqi intelligence agent. In late April the Czech Foreign Ministry called in Iraq’s mission chief in Prague and demanded that al-Ani leave the country within 48 hours. Why? U.S. and Czech officials told NEWSWEEK that al-Ani had been spotted “casing” and photographing the Radio Free Europe building in Prague. Czech officials feared al-Ani was plotting an attack on Radio Free Europe, which incurred Saddam’s wrath when it began broadcasting into Iraq in 1998. “I told the Iraqi chief of mission that [al-Ani] was involved in activities which endanger the security of the Czech Republic,” Hynek Kmonicek, the Czech Foreign Ministry official who ordered al-Ani’s expulsion, told NEWSWEEK.
Kmonicek, now Czech ambassador to the United Nations, compiled a considerable file on al-Ani. One red flag was that al-Ani “was never present at any diplomatic event.” Iraqi opposition leaders in Prague say that al-Ani paid a number of visits to Iraqi dissidents in that city and sought to persuade them to return to Iraq, once threatening a young defector if he refused to do so. What link these activities might have with his meetings with the Egyptian-born Atta is unclear. “It’s suspicious,” says Kmonicek. “Why would a diplomat with no diplomatic duties meet with a student of architecture? How is it possible they even know each other?”
Those questions have been made even more difficult by confusion about the timing of Atta’s visits to Prague. U.S. officials have confirmed at least one brief, previous trip–in early June 2000– when Atta, having driven a rental car from Germany, hopped a plane in Prague and flew to Newark, N.J. There is no hard evidence Atta met with al-Ani during that trip. But Czech police are now investigating whether Atta made even more trips to Prague using a false name and passport.
Debate over “the Iraqi connection” is sharpening. Some Bush hard-liners, who want to oust Saddam with military action, say the State Department and CIA are downplaying clues of possible Iraqi complicity. One example: when anti-Saddam Iraqis told U.S. officials two weeks ago of a defector with information about “terrorist training” operations at an Iraqi facility called Salman Pak, the CIA officer on the case was openly dismissive. But others say it’s currently impossible to draw any firm conclusions about Saddam’s involvement. Two years ago a top Iraqi intelligence official flew to Afghanistan, reportedly to offer bin Laden “refuge” in Iraq. According to an ex-CIA official, bin Laden said no, fearing Saddam would “use” him. Did bin Laden later change his mind, giving Iraq a role in the attack? U.S. officials can’t say for sure. Until they can,Saddam may stay out of the military’s cross hairs.
If we take Osama bin Laden alive–or catch some of his recruits in the United States or abroad–what would we do with them? Well-connected officials say one option is to try accused terrorists as war criminals before military tribunals. Conventional criminal trials may still be more likely, especially for accused terrorists caught in the United States. But if the president so ordered–with or without congressional approval–a military trial could be conducted at home or abroad, rapidly, in complete or partial secrecy, with liberal use of all relevant evidence, no need for proof beyond a reasonable doubt and limited appeals. Defendants sentenced to death could be executed within weeks.
The president’s constitutional authority to order such trials is clearly established. In June 1942, eight English-speaking German saboteurs secretly landed on beaches in New York’s Long Island and Florida with explosives and instructions to disguise themselves as civilians, blow up factories, bridges, railroads and department stores, and spread terror. But one turned himself in and led the FBI to the other seven. They were secretly tried by a military commission specially created by President Franklin Roosevelt and convicted. Six were executed, less than two months after hitting the beaches. A unanimous Supreme Court upheld this procedure, ruling that an enemy “who without uniform comes secretly through the lines for the purpose of waging war by destruction of life or property” was an “unlawful combatant” subject to military trial and not “entitled to the status of prisoners of war.”
Recent terrorism cases have gone to ordinary criminal courts. But the rules may change. Proving guilt in an ordinary trial requires disclosure of critical intelligence secrets; protecting the courthouse and participants would be costly and far from foolproof. And the media spotlight might provoke further terrorism. But a military trial also has disadvantages. International opinion would range from skeptical to hostile. And any decision to drop the “reasonable doubt” rule could lead to convictions of innocent people. Either way, it may be hard to avoid further casualties of war.
Snow, rain, heat, gloom of night–no problem. But anthrax? The letterborne attacks have added to the U.S. Postal Service’s sack of problems. Ballooning expenses (leading to an annual loss of about $1.65 billion) prompted two rate increases this year and a request for a third. Now the Postal Service faces the cost of increased security plus $25 million in damage to a facility near Ground Zero. The huge agency could see a drop in revenue, too, if direct-mailers think people are tossing catalogs and credit-card come-ons out of fear. Many Americans may also start paying bills on the Web. “The Post Office was bleeding and now it’s hemorrhaging,’’ says Robert Wientzen, president of the Direct Marketing Association. Rate hikes are a short-term answer, but at some point marketers will have to look for cheaper avenues to reach consumers. This latest crisis may increase pressure for structural changes to let the agency operate more efficiently. John Potter, postmaster general, still sounded optimistic last week, telling NEWSWEEK that marketers may find consumers more responsive to direct mail because their “heightened awareness’’ will make them read it more closely. No wonder gloom of night doesn’t deter these guys.
KIDS
‘WE’RE ALL THE SAME’
Many U.S. kids are worried about their safety. Khris Nedam’s third-grade class in Northville, Mich., fears for the children they’ve befriended in Afghanistan. “I’d like to tell them we wouldn’t bomb them because they’re innocent,” says Laura Cronin, 8, fighting back tears. “We’re all the same because we don’t like Osama bin Laden.” The kids at Amerman Elementary School (along with two nearby middle schools) raised $20,000 to build an elementary school in the mountains of central Afghanistan. The school opened in March, skirting Taliban laws barring female education. Boys attend classes by day; girls, in the late afternoon. The Americans have come to know their counterparts through videotapes smuggled out of Afghanistan. Afghan students and teachers even visited this leafy suburb last year. “The Afghan kids are just like us,” explains third-grader Eric Ostrowski, “except they are very poor.” Nedam, who taught in Kabul in the early ’90s, forged the sister-school relationship by inviting an Afghan friend to meet her students in 1997. She hopes the school is remote enough to avoid warfare. Last week the school’s administrator called to say the students and teachers are safe. He had one request: “You won’t forget us, will you?”
Just when Broadway needs a kick in the pants, a shot in the arm and a song in its heart, along comes “Mamma Mia!”–which delivers none of the above but cliches. OK, there are plenty of tunes–22 to be exact, all from that bible of'70s kitsch, the ABBA songbook. But for a musical that badly wants to be a Technicolor nostalgia trip, “Mamma Mia!” feels forced and flat. There is some fun in watching “Dancing Queen,” “The Winner Takes It All” and the rest sewn together to create a story about a young woman in search of her father, not to mention the perverse pleasure of hearing someone sing “Knowing Me, Knowing You” as if it means something. But the novelty fades fast, leaving behind corny jokes, second-rate choreography and more camping than at a Boy Scout jamboree. ABBA has long been about camp, of course, and in that sense “Mamma Mia!” is the lite musical it deserves. But an ABBA song lasts four minutes; “Mamma Mia!” runs two hours. It’s not surprising that the show is most effective in the encore, where the cardboard story makes way for the cast to simply belt out those catchy tunes. Not that any of this matters. “Mamma Mia!” is already a hit, with $27 million in tickets sold for Broadway and runs in London, Los Angeles and beyond. That may thrill producers ailing since Sept. 11. But laugh-starved New Yorkers need something more potent than Swede and low.
Record-industry giants thought they were gaining ground on Internet music-sharing services when the industry itself discovered it’s in legal hot water. The question is whether the music-downloading joint ventures set up by recording companies are an attempt to corner the market by controlling online distribution. Last week the Department of Justice stepped up an antitrust investigation begun last summer. And recently the judge in the Napster case, Marilyn Patel, remarked that the industry’s joint-venture strategy “looks bad, sounds bad, smells bad.” This may not save Napster, but it’s an ominous chord for the record labels.
In “Austerlitz,” W. G. Sebald performs a small but significant miracle: he wrests the Holocaust out of the clutches of stereotypes. He does this without ever showing us a death camp or a gas chamber. Instead, this superb novel concentrates on the wreckage of one man’s life. Orphaned as a young boy during the Nazi occupation of Prague, Jacques Austerlitz spends years not knowing who he is and then more years trying to uncover his identity. In Sebald’s hands, this search takes on the weird specificity of a nightmare from which there is no awakening. Austerlitz discovers where he came from, but he never shakes the feeling that he is living a borrowed life.
In four genre-bending novels published in the last decade, the 57-year-old Sebald has established himself as Europe’s most idio-syncratic author. His fiction comes loaded with essayistic digressions and is generously salted with photographs, newspaper clippings, maps and railroad timetables. There is something of Poe in these books, and Borges and Kafka, which is to say, here’s a storyteller who knows his stuff. The only solace at the close of this haunting fiction is that the fallout from the Holocaust that continues to engulf people like Austerlitz can also inspire such a singularly beautiful work of art.
Hollywood is betting that audiences aren’t so war weary after all. A spate of new WWII movies are hitting screens, starting with “Charlotte Gray” on Dec. 28. Cate Blanchett is an English spy in German-occupied France, where she meets a Resistance fighter (Billy Crudup). “Enigma” (Kate Winslet, Jeremy Northam), about the Brit attempt in Bletchley Park to crack Nazi code, opens in January. In the spring: “Hart’s War” (Bruce Willis) and, in June, “Windtalkers” (a John Woo pic with Nic Cage). Next month NBC airs “Uprising,” a mini-series about the Warsaw ghetto resistance.
To really enjoy the Hughes Brothers’ “From Hell,” you’ve got to subscribe to some patently screwed-up notions, among them the idea that it’s OK if Jack the Ripper slashes some starving prostitutes to pieces as long as he doesn’t hurt the really pretty one. Mary Kelly (Heather Graham, in a bland performance) and her associates are working London’s dankest alleyways when they start getting disemboweled. Psychic, opium-addicted Inspector Abberline (the never-dull Johnny Depp) falls for Mary and unravels a conspiracy. “From Hell” is handsomely shot, historically accurate when it feels like it–the conspiracy theory is a familiar one–and compelling for maybe 35 minutes. But ultimately it’s a formula cop movie with unsurprising surprises and nowhere near enough to say about elitism or the history of medicine to justify the ghastly knife-flashing. Early on, a coroner recoils from a victim whose uterus has been cut out, exclaiming, “Why do I have to be exposed to this degradation over and over again?” Another unsolved mystery.
MTV: Where Britney Meets Bin Laden
Between endless bump-and-grind videos, MTV viewers now learn how the Taliban oppresses women–thanks to the network’s new “What’s Going On” campaign. The minutelong spots pose questions such as “Who is Donald Rumsfeld?” and answer in five easy bullet points. The Northern Alliance? “They’re tiny but tough” and “They’re no angels.” Ridiculously simple, yet effective.
Been There, Seen That
The last castle” is meant to be a battle of wits and wills between a noble prisoner and his vicious warden. The prisoner is three-star General Irwin (Robert Redford), locked up for disobeying orders. The warden of the high-security military prison is the iron-fisted martinet Colonel Winter (James Gandolfini), whose awe of the legendary general quickly turns to envy and enmity. Right at the start the movie gives the game away (at least to anyone who’s seen “Amadeus”): the classical-music-loving colonel listens to Salieri! This does not bode well for him, or us.
Redford’s general is a paragon of courage, wisdom, fortitude and cool. As the reverent music swells, he teaches his downtrodden fellow prisoners self-respect, molding them into a fighting unit to wrest control of the prison from its sadistic master. The cliches pile up as high as the rocks the bare-chested general must tote back and forth as punishment. Cool Hand who? Director Rod Lurie generates some excitement once the battle commences, but since the fix is in from the get-go, there’s no room for surprises.
OK, France, we’re even now. We had your back in World War II. Now we’re the ones with worries up to here, and you give us not just Amelie, a wild, enchanting, boy-did-we-need-this romantic comedy, but also Amelie herself: 24-year-old Audrey Tautou, a blast of fresh air who makes this whirligig of a movie spin at light speed. Tautou (it rhymes with ingenue) plays a shy Parisian waitress who finds a rusty tin of toys stashed in her apartment wall. She schemes to reunite the tin with its aging owner, touching off a crusade to improve the lives of her neighbors and, just maybe, her own.
Director Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s movie is an ode to life’s tiny pleasures-not goop like long walks on the beach, but the really great stuff like cracking creme brulee with a spoon. He searched all of Paris for his Amelie and found her on a movie poster for another film. I saw those big eyes, big ears-she glowed. She was perfect, Jeunet says. When I met her I thought, ‘Where did you come from? Are you an E.T.?’
Not quite. Tautou was raised in Auvergne, and a trace of the young girl still pops up in her speech, like the way she parses her phrases with French equivalents of like and you know. During the interview, she gasps when she spies a plate of croissants and asks permission before taking one. The film’s tremendous success in France, though, has knocked her for a bit of a loop. When I see my face everywhere, she says, I don’t feel like it’s me. My God, when I see my nostrils on the poster… Sorry, Audrey, every last (lovely, beguiling) feature is unmistakably yours.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Desperately Seeking Cipro Edition
Anthrax fear is not the only fever raging in media circles. There’s anthrax envy, too, as in “what are we, chopped liver?” But the CW is happy to take a pass, thank you.
C.W. Bush + With pal Putin, Mr. Diplomacy puts cold war in cold storage. Now fix the Mideast House - Bolt town when other chamber gets anthrax. Now that’s leadership. Ridge = Already tangled in red tape. Grab some real power or you’re just another empty suit. Thompson - Cheesehead health chief looks out of his depth. Try some generic candor. Bayer - German Cipro patent holder gives U.S. headache. New ad: “Bayer works blunders.” Yankees + More woe for Yankee haters: They keep win- ing and you feel guilty rooting against them.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-15” author: “Ola Byrne”
In the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks, investigators are increasingly looking at Germany as the terrorists’ favorite lair. “The connection back to Germany is really hot,” says a senior government official. U.S. intelligence has also picked up further hints of a connection between the hijackers and Iraq, said an intelligence source who would not be more specific. And the terrorists’ money trail, NEWSWEEK has learned, leads through Dubai and several American banks, including Citibank and Bank of America. (Spokesmen for the banks could not be reached for comment.)
The massive dragnet in the United States has yielded only one solid lead to the hijackers–Zacarias Moussaoui, the Moroccan-French man arrested on immigration charges in late August after his flight trainers in Minnesota began to wonder why he wanted to practice turns, not landings. “He is definitely one of them,” says a top investigator. The FBI suspects that Moussaoui was the missing man on United Flight 93, which had just four hijackers, while the other three hijacked planes had five.
The bureau is having difficulty linking the two Middle Eastern men picked up with box cutters on Sept. 11 after their flight from Newark, N.J., to San Antonio, Texas, was diverted. And the FBI’s arrest of Al-Badr Al-Hazmi, a San Antonio doctor, appears to be a case of getting the wrong man. The mild-mannered radiologist claims he was isolated from his lawyer and family for 13 days and kicked and yelled at by FBI agents. An FBI spokesman said he had “no information of any such allegation,” and insisted that Al-Hazmi “has complimented the FBI as to our professionalism.”
It is becoming more and more obvious that bin Laden’s associates have been breezing in and out of the United States for years. Bin Laden’s No. 2, Dr. Ayman Al-Zawahari, came to America in the mid-’90s to raise money, ostensibly for Islamic charities, according to Egyptian court records. One of his sidekicks, Khalid Essayed Aly, described himself on immigration papers as a sales rep for chemicals. Investigators are wondering just which chemicals he had in mind, and note that he had a pilot’s license.
Desperate for leads, investigators are interviewing women who dated the suspected hijackers in Florida. Investigators are also wondering why several of the hijackers went to Las Vegas for one or two nights for no apparent reason. “It doesn’t fit,” says a source. “Maybe they needed to embolden themselves by seeing the ultimate decadence of America.”
Osama bin Laden’s family of 50 siblings and first cousins controls one of the richest companies in Saudi Arabia. The rest of the clan cut themselves off from Osama in the mid-1990s after he rejected their pleas to stop fomenting terrorism. But now evidence has surfaced that some family members still may be in touch with the world’s most wanted man. A source tells NEWSWEEK that upon review of video pictures of the recent wedding of one of bin Laden’s sons, family members determined that some of Osama’s “relatives” did attend the celebration. The family was relieved, however, that none of those relatives carried the name bin Laden. All the relatives identified as having attended were from Osama’s mother’s side of the family. His mother remarried after Osama’s father died in 1968. The disclosure that Osama’s mother’s relatives attended the wedding may bolster some investigators’ suspicions that Osama could still be getting financial support from sympathetic members of his own family. But U.S. intelligence believes he has plenty of other sources of cash, including “shakedown” money from wealthy Arabs who contribute in the hope that his operatives will not target them.
Before the attacks, bin Laden family members felt comfortable enough to live and work in the United States. After Black Tuesday, however, the Saudis concluded that the American public’s tolerance for bin Ladens in their midst might be waning. So, 10 days after the attack, the Saudi Embassy in Washington rounded up about 20 bin Laden family members, including 15 students attending U.S. colleges, and flew them back to Saudi Arabia for their own protection.
OLSON STILL SPEAKING OUT
It has long been a tradition for U.S. solicitors general to stay above the political fray–and avoid lobbying Congress on legislation they might one day have to defend before the Supreme Court. But U.S. Solicitor General Ted Olson says he feels compelled to take a different course on the Justice Department’s current push for broader powers to crack down on terrorists. “I have a direct personal stake that people understand,” says Olson, whose wife, political commentator Barbara Olson, died on the hijacked flight that hit the Pentagon. Last week the solicitor general–after reviewing the antiterrorism bill with top Justice officials–accompanied Attorney General John Ashcroft to Capitol Hill when the A.G. testified for the measure. Among the provisions: expanding FBI wiretaps and allowing the indefinite detention of suspected terrorists during deportation proceedings. “I don’t understand the objections,” Olson says. Indefinite detention makes sense, he says, if the United States has evidence that a deportable alien might be involved in a terrorist plot–but lacks the proof needed to bring charges in court. In the midst of mourning, Olson has also approved the publication of his late wife’s upcoming book, “The Final Days: The Last, Desperate Abuses of Power by the Clinton White House.” Although the book is sure to stir controversy, Olson says there is no question that his wife would have wanted it to come out. “For me to tell Barbara that her voice would be silenced because she was murdered by terrorists–I couldn’t have lived with myself,” he says.
Back in 1995, when he began to prepare his trial defense for Oklahoma City bomber Timothy McVeigh, lead counsel Stephen Jones tried to come up with alternative suspects. One whom he considered was Osama bin Laden. It didn’t pan out, of course. But it did prompt Jones to joke to a colleague, “Just imagine how difficult it would be for us if the government went after him.”
It could happen now, if U.S. forces manage to locate bin Laden and bring him back alive for criminal prosecution. They tell you in law school that everybody’s entitled to a defense, but what lawyer would represent bin Laden–the pariah of pariahs? Perhaps some of the lawyers who have other high-profile Muslim clients; last week Manhattan’s Stanley Cohen reveled in his role defending two men who had been questioned by investigators, and offered that he was prepared to represent bin Laden as well.
But what about higher-profile attorneys? “It might be a career-breaker,” says Jack Litman, a prominent Manhattan criminal-defense attorney, who defended Robert Chambers in the “preppy murder” trial in 1988. “A bin Laden case could take five to 10 years of full-time work. It would be hard to find clients afterward. Apart from a likely conflict of interest in knowing friends who were victims of the WTC horror, lawyers have instincts of emotional self-preservation.” Says Stephen Gillers, a law professor at New York University, “A lawyer who took that case–even the mob would shun him.”
Alan Dershowitz, the Harvard law professor who’s made a career of taking on unpopular clients like O. J. Simpson, says he might defend bin Laden if a court appointed him. “It would be emotionally wrenching–I hate everything he stands for,” Dershowitz says. “We’re all fearful–this is the only time I’ve gotten death threats even though I’ve never suggested that I might consider representing him. If bin Laden were acquitted, I could be his next target.” Nonetheless, Dershowitz says, the criminal-justice process demands that every defendant get a fair trial, and “how could I say no in principle?” Dershowitz likens a defense of bin Laden to an E.R. doctor treating one of the hijackers. “Whoever represents him would be performing an act of high patriotism,” he says, “but I hope I’m not the one who gets the call.”
Jones has no such reservations, arguing that unless a lawyer had a conflict of interest or his physical safety put in jeopardy, he ought to jump in. That’s what he did in 1995. After several other lawyers turned down a federal judge’s request to defend McVeigh, Jones agreed to take the case on (and wound up being paid several million dollars out of taxpayer funds). “It’s important that mainstream lawyers take these kinds of cases,” Jones says. The same is true for judges, though many in the New York area probably would recuse themselves. But what about a jury? Are there even 12 New Yorkers who can say they have no opinion about Osama bin Laden?
As New York’s bravest bury their dead, top fire investigators are looking for their own answers in the ashes. The FDNY has completed its “operational review,” a grim Monday-morning quarterbacking session to determine how so many lives–343 firefighters and more than 5,600 others–were lost. The consensus? From the moment the 10-60 alarm sounded, signaling a major emergency, the situation defied normal rules of firefighting.
Given the height of the building and the thick black smoke that enveloped it, the first firefighters on the scene couldn’t see the size of the hole in Tower 1. Most assumed it had been hit by a small private plane and not by a commercial airliner filled with thousands of gallons of flammable fuel. In effect, the building had been bombed. But they thought the greatest threat was fire, not collapse, so supervisors set up command centers in both lobbies and sent scores of men, many of them high-rise fire specialists, to “blitz”–defend the stairways against fire while performing an orderly evacuation. Thousands did get out safely, but the toll on the department was devastating when the buildings imploded.
“Our strategy was right,” says retired chief Vincent Dunn, a respected tactician who writes firefighting textbooks and trains FDNY firemen. “There’s a science to putting out high-rise fires. The FDNY knows it better than any department in the world.” Dunn says high-rise fires are usually predictable: in 15 years he’s seen partial collapses of the floors engulfed in flames. But “we never considered that a building would pancake the way it did.”
How should firefighters respond if the unthinkable happens again? FDNY Deputy Commissioner Frank Gribbon said departmental tactics are already under review. Privately, the brass doubt they could ever again send that many firefighters into a building under attack. Instead, they will focus on evacuating the area around the building and assess the safety of the structure before trying to rescue people inside. “Firefighters are not soldiers,” said one sadly. “There is no strategy and no training in the world that can save people from acts of war.” Acknowledges Gribbon, “The commander at the scene would calculate the risks to firefighters against the number of lives that could be saved.” The heartbreaking lessons of the Twin Towers, he says, will always be in the back of every firefighter’s mind.
Is America ready to have fun again? While Hollywood ponders what sort of fare the public is going to want, and editorial writers proclaim the Death of Irony, Ben Stiller’s “Zoolander” arrives to test the troubled waters. A wicked satire of the preening world of supermodels, its smart, wacked-out silliness may be just what the doctor ordered. Stiller, who co-wrote the script and directs, stars as Derek Zoolander, two-time model of the year and full-time moron. Earnest, narcissistic and idiotic, Derek is a perfect candidate to be brainwashed by an evil cartel of fashionistas led by tempestuous designer Mugatu (Will Ferrell). They want him to assassinate the prime minister of Malaysia, who is trying to put an end to the use of child labor. The laughs come fast and furious, but one at least sticks in your craw: a fiery, lethal explosion in a New York City gas station. It would have been funny a month ago; not today. The rest of the time (a fleet 89 minutes) “Zoolander” is a giddy, welcome gift.
What’s going to be built on the site of the World Trade Center? Some people have suggested it be left empty in memory of the 6,000 victims. But no one believes for a New York minute that 16 acres of prime Manhattan real estate will be left undeveloped, though there’ll surely be a memorial built on it. Some–including former mayor Ed Koch–say the Twin Towers should be rebuilt exactly as they were. That’s unlikely: who’d want to rent an office on the 101st floor after what’s happened? Developer Larry Silverstein, who bought a 99-year lease on the World Trade Center just seven weeks before the attack, offers the idea of “four 50- or 60-story towers,” but says, “This is strictly a back-of-the-envelope response.”
In truth, no one knows what might be built. The cleanup’s just begun and could take a year. And complicating the site’s future are the number of parties who will have some say in the matter. The land is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey: that means the governors will be involved, especially George Pataki. The city will put in its two cents, but New York is scheduled to have a new mayor next year, and he’ll appoint his own people to key planning posts. Any speculation about what might be done is “premature,” says Kathy Wild, president of the New York City Partnership, an organization of corporate leaders that’s helping downtown businesses recover. “The reality of the marketplace and the economy are going to dictate what happens there.” Many New York architects and critics would like a more open process to arrive at a design. At a meeting of the Architectural League last week, one speaker suggested not an office tower but an institute against terrorism. Another proposed a world arts center, with a design chosen in an international competition. “Or maybe give it to Frank Gehry,” she said. Gehry, from his California office, said, “There are 6,000 families to be considered. I think it’s in bad taste for a bunch of developers and architects to be saying things now. We have to give it time.”
Most designers haven’t made specific proposals. “There’s a great opportunity to rethink what the possibilities are,” says architect Charles Gwathmey. “The really interesting thing is about memory–those two towers were indelible. The replacement has to be incredibly spiritual and dynamic architecture. Whatever is built there is going to be visited forever.”
In 1969 Beverly Sills had just moved into her apartment in New York City when the doorbell rang. It was Isaac Stern, with a violin case in one hand and a bottle of wine in the other, dropping by to welcome his friend the opera singer to the building where they would both live for more than three decades. “We sat down on two cartons, and he actually played for me,” Sills told NEWSWEEK. It was this warmth that imbued his violin and made Stern, who died Sept. 22 at 81, one of the great fiddlers of our time. “His generosity of spirit was the key to his playing,” said longtime friend Michael Tilson Thomas, music director of the San Francisco Symphony. And it led to a lifetime of mentoring young musicians–including Itzhak Perlman and Yo-Yo Ma–and promoting the arts around the world. Carnegie Hall, which Stern helped to save from demolition in 1960, stands today as something of a trophy to his enthusiasm for music. How fitting that Carnegie’s Isaac Stern Auditorium, named for the man who presided over the concert hall’s return to glory, would host a memorial concert this week for victims of New York’s terrorist tragedy. For her part, Sills listens to tapes of her friend’s music, but not in memoriam. “I think he’ll continue to live. I’ll just miss him in the elevator.” Susannah Meadows
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-05” author: “Sarah Williams”
Even as George W. Bush released an executive order detailing the job of Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, the White House plan hit a snag: Congress. The House and Senate were already at work on competing organizational approaches that would radically expand the office. What’s at issue?
Several recent commissions have labored over the problem of homeland defense. All described a system in disarray: more than 40 federal departments and agencies with competing or overlapping responsibilities, including heavyweights like the CIA, the FBI and the Defense Department. One group headed by Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore recommended a cabinet-level presidential adviser to corral the chaos, the “czar model.” Another, led by former senators Gary Hart and Warren Rudman, proposed a new cabinet department with its own bureaucracy. Their concern: without budget authority, the director’s power depends on his relationship with the president.
Bush, a former governor, opted for Gilmore’s approach. Congress is leaning toward the Hart-Rudman plan. Two bills, one from Texas Rep. Mac Thornberry and another from Connecticut Sen. Joseph Lieberman and Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, would turn Ridge’s advisory post into a Senate-confirmed cabinet position, backed by a department that would encompass FEMA, the Coast Guard, Customs, the Border Patrol and other agencies. “Governor Ridge ought to have at least as much power as he had when he was governor of Pennsylvania,” Lieberman told NEWSWEEK. Thornberry and Lieberman admit it will be tough to pass legislation expanding the power of the Homeland Security office. “If the White House feels very strongly that they want it the way they proposed it, it’s going to be hard to pass legislation to do more than that,” says Lieberman. And the White House has dug in. “We don’t believe other plans are necessary,” says a Bush aide. “The office is already created.”
But as Homeland Security staffers moved into the Old Executive Office Building, even one Bush adviser had doubts. The information might be just as “stovepiped” as it was before Sept. 11, he complains. “They seem to be setting up the sort of bureaucracy that got us in trouble in the first place.”
So where does Ridge go from here? On the legislative side, a proposal by Sen. Bob Graham could work as a compromise, sticking to the czar model (with Senate approval) but giving Ridge additional budget authority. Ridge himself is getting down to work. He reached out to congressional leaders last week, speaking by phone with Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle and Republican Conference Chair J. C. Watts. The White House has also e-mailed governors, asking for feedback on the deployment of the National Guard to airports and for suggestions on clearing commercial-traffic delays at border crossings. “How many of you have access to secure phone lines?” the e-mail asked the governors. “Did you at some point receive a classified or top-secret clearance from the FBI? When and for what purpose?” Ridge plans to meet with congressional leaders face to face this week. When Congress is trying to rewrite your job description before you’ve warmed the chair, every friend helps.
BOOKS
Matteo Pericoli, 33, began his skyline project as a valentine to New York City. Working from photos he took from a tour boat circling Manhattan Island, the transplanted Italian architect lovingly drew each building he saw from the water in pen and ink on a long roll of sketch paper. Drawing the buildings “was like getting to know a person better, but without talking, just listening,” says Pericoli. The West Side took him a year to complete, working each evening after dinner. Then he quit his day job and spent six months making his equally exquisite drawings of the East Side. The result is a book, “Manhattan Unfurled,” that accordions out to 22 feet; it’s just now hitting bookstores. But like many chronicles of a love affair, Pericoli’s has a sad postscript. The Twin Towers, of course, figure prominently in his cityscape. “Beyond the human loss, which is unbearable, it was also a personal loss of a friend that is a building,” he says. “I felt a sense of affection for them and find myself missing their presence. It is still for me very intense to look at the drawing.” That special poignancy could make Pericoli’s Manhattan something of a collector’s item–and a monument to the towers.
FAST CHAT
How long does it take to tell 6,000 stories? Every day since Sept. 12, The New York Times has run a full page of short profiles of World Trade Center attack victims–and it plans to continue until every story is told. Times metro editor Wendell Jamieson spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Devin Gordon about the effort.
GORDON: This will take several months, won’t it?
JAMIESON: Eight months, nine months. The key thing is, we’re going to try to do everyone. We want to do everyone.
Will readers still be interested come next March?
I think these pages are going to grow in impact. We’ll start getting back to our lives, and these faces will still be appearing in the paper every day.
Is this a coveted assignment or a dreaded one?
It really is both. It’s a lot of work for a small story and no byline. But I think the reporters are surprised to find it as hugely fulfilling as it is. I have seen reporters crying on the phone with people. I’ve also seen them laughing. There’s so much death in the paper now, but you’re writing about people’s lives.
THE TRAIL
Slipping Through the Net
Bush officials are publicly praising Europeans for their help in investigating the Sept. 11 attacks, but in fact, continental law- enforcement agencies have stumbled in pursuit of the bin Laden network.
Mark Hosenball and Stefan Theil
NOBEL PRIZE
Literary oddsmakers were caught short this week with the announcement that Sir V. S. Naipaul had won the Nobel Prize in Literature. The 67-year-old native Trinidadian has long been thought at least unofficially ineligible, thanks to the politically incorrect opinions–on just about everything–that float through both his fiction (“A Bend in the River”) and his travel writing (“Among the Believers”). Islam, he recently informed the world, is beneath contempt–but then, so is every other religion. Always dour, pessimistic, a child of the Third World but not truly at home anywhere, Naipaul has gotten increasingly grouchy as he’s gotten older. But when you reread him now, he looks like a seer. The cultural bankruptcy that he chronicles has always been–for Americans, at least–an ocean away. But in light of recent events, if we give ourselves up to what the Swedish Academy called his “incorruptible scrutiny,” we hear a wise and illusionless voice whispering, “Welcome to the world.”
Exhibitions
The ancient Greeks thought pearls were created when lightning struck the sea, but it was another classical civilization whose theory most poignantly captured the romance of these gems. Pearls, concluded the Romans, are the frozen tears of the gods.
In the most comprehensive exhibit of pearls ever mounted, the American Museum of Natural History in New York explores the history, science and lore of the only gems that come from living creatures. Dedicated “to deepened cultural understanding and peaceful co-existence” in the wake of the terrorist attacks, the show suffered some blowback from Sept. 11. The Louvre decided not to send Empress Josephine’s pearl earrings, and scrambled flight schedules delayed the arrival of some pieces (Liz Taylor’s 10-gram, pear-shaped “La Peregrina” arrived just in the nick of time). But with 800-odd objects, including the honeymoon necklace Joe DiMaggio gave Marilyn in 1954, and 500,000 individual pearls, the absences hardly show.
Pearls have financed wars and sealed wedding engagements, topped the “bring back” list that Isabella gave Columbus (a priority higher than her lust for gold, silver and spices) and became unrivaled as symbols of wealth and power during the Renaissance. Because faceting technology for precious stones was not developed until the mid-17th century, the royal and fashionable dripped not with rubies and diamonds but with pearls. Highlights of the show, which travels to Chicago’s Field Museum next June, include the dazzling pearl-and-gem brooch that Prince Albert presented Queen Victoria on their third anniversary, the 177-pearl necklace given to the duchess of Saxony in 1802, an engagement necklace bestowed on Mary, Queen of Scots, and a replica of the largest-known pearl, a 14-pound specimen that looks like a human brain glowing in the museum’s twilit exhibition rooms.
Not bad for mineralized deposits in soft tissue. Pearls are, in essence, the kidney stones of the mollusk world. They form when shell-making tissue, or mantle, coats a foreign object (usually a parasite, sometimes a tiny fish or snail, almost never the proverbial grain of sand) with thousands of concentric spheres of calcium carbonate crystals called aragonite. Pearls also contain proteins from the mantle, as well as trace elements from the water, that can turn them black, blue, silver, cream, pink or dove gray. Mollusks have been doing this for a while: fossil pearls are abundant in 60 million-year-old rocks. The gems seem to glow from within because light penetrates the surface and reflects off the inner layers. But then, you would expect luster to be a trait of the gods’ tears.
Transition
He’d shuffle out of his office about 4 p.m., rough sketches for the next day’s cartoon in hand. “Which one do you like best?” he’d ask a Washington Post colleague and, more important, “Which one gets the facts right?” “Never once,” wrote David Broder, “did he let on that this was the most flattering advice you could possibly be asked for.” He–Herblock–couldn’t possibly have needed it. The cartoonist, who died last week at 91, won four Pulitzers in a career spanning nine decades and 13 presidents. Herbert L. Block’s body of work was built on his “unique ability to crystallize what is right–or, more likely, wrong–about an issue or a person,” wrote Katharine Graham in 1995. Joseph McCarthy–Block coined the phrase “McCarthyism”–and Richard Nixon were the targets of the artist’s most famous drawings. He drew the men emerging from sewers and gave them thuggish beards. Yet when Nixon won the presidency in 1968, the cartoonist dropped the 5 o’clock shadow: Nixon should have a chance to lead, he said. Says Post Chairman Donald Graham, “He was the greatest editorial cartoonist of all time and a wonderful, gentle man.”
It was tough to get wrapped up in the artificial troubles of the “Survivor 3” contestants. Back here in the U.S., we’re coping with grief, anthrax, bomb threats and “heightened alert.”
C.W. Bush + Is this the same guy? Even the N.Y. Times editorial page is calling him presidential. Rumsfeld + Is this the same guy? Out-of-touch Ford retread is candid, hands-on war manager. Cheney = Whether for security, or to maintain W’s stature, he’s sighted less often than Elvis. Snail Mail - No envelopes, please, as U.S. goes nonpostal. Better a computer virus than anthrax. FBI - Busy, yes, but can’t find time to check out Brokaw anthrax threat? Paging Eliot Ness. Hitler - New book says he was gay. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-13” author: “Russel Beardsley”
Most insiders believe Mueller has the edge, largely because Attorney General John Ashcroft–whose recommendation likely carries considerable weight–seems to like him. Mueller served as acting deputy during his first few months in office and has the A.G.’s confidence. Another plus: Mueller was named chief federal prosecutor in San Francisco by Bill Clinton with the backing of the state’s two Democratic senators, making confirmation problems less likely in the new Democrat-controlled Senate. “They’re definitely looking for somebody who can sail through,” said one official familiar with the search.
Terwilliger has his supporters, too, especially among White House political aides who remember his yeoman service for the Bush cause last fall. The day after the election Terwilliger flew to Tallahassee, Fla., and helped oversee the Bush team’s battle with Gore’s lawyers. But some sources warn the search may not be over. The president could leave the bureau in the hands of an interim director, possibly Mueller or Deputy Director Tom Picard, while the White House looks further.
The need for a strong manager will be underscored this month when Sen. Patrick Leahy, the new Judiciary Committee chairman, launches oversight hearings. Leahy will start with the bureau’s failure to turn over thousands of pages of documents in the McVeigh case and then move on to other bureau screw-ups, including the Richard Jewell case, FBI crime-lab missteps and the years-long failure to uncover accused spy Robert Hanssen. The hearings could get uncomfortable for bureau officials used to soft treatment from Capitol Hill in recent years. “There haven’t been extensive oversight hearings like there for some time,” says a Hill staffer.
Michael Isikoff INVESTIGATION FBI Joins Hunt For D.C. Intern After weeks of intensive investigation, police are still trying to figure out what happened to Chandra Levy, the Washington intern who disappeared last month. The story made headlines in part because of Levy’s friendship with California Rep. Gary Condit. Now, NEWSWEEK has learned, the FBI has stepped in to help, conducting interviews in Levy’s hometown of Modesto, Calif. Last week The Washington Post reported that Condit had told police Levy stayed overnight at his apartment. Condit’s chief of staff told NEWSWEEK that to his knowledge Levy had never stayed overnight at Condit’s apartment. Condit has denied a romantic relationship and has hired a lawyer. Meanwhile, Levy’s mother says D.C. police tell her they are working “16 hours a day”–though the cops say there are no suspects yet.
((((((THE BUZZ)))))) Do You Wanna Rock? Start Savin’! Hot town, summer in the city. back of my neck should not be feeling as dirty and gritty as it is considering what I paid for these seats. There’s a lot to see this summer-all at top dollar if you want to get close. What people are saying in print, on air and online:
Rock Steady Unlike the ‘Pop Mart’ bonanza, ’this time around U2 won’t be upstaged by its own stagecraft.’ (Wash. Post) Prefer arts and crafts? Dave Matthews’s set will have ’less endless jamming.’ (Chicago Tribune)
True Blue ‘No one is going to feel cheated,’ says Madonna’s rep about the Material Girl’s first tour in eight years. (No one, that is, who got tix!) The show will have ’everything.’ Like $250 seats.
Bye, Bye, Bye Overexposed boy bands like ‘N Sync ‘may start feeling the effect of playing markets four to six times in the past couple of years.’ (Ray Waddell, Billboard)
Kasting Call MTV’s TRL tour ‘spans the narrow breadth of chart-topping pop.’ For ’the most diverse and exciting package tour since the demise of Lollapalooza’ (EW.com), go to Area: One. OutKast plays with Moby–not Janet, who wanted the duo for her tour. Sorry, Ms. Jackson. AIDSCall for Help Black leaders have developed a plan to increase funding and staffing for community organizations in AIDS-ravaged areas, an $870 million proposal they’ll take to the Bush administration. Meeting in Atlanta last week, more than 100 leaders organized by the National Black Leadership Commission on AIDS pledged to strengthen efforts to fight the epidemic in black areas. Their plan would divide the money between the Black Caucus’s HIV/AIDS initiative ($540 million) and HIV-related housing and housing services ($330 million). Longtime activists are encouraged. One says it “just tells you how significantly impacted we are and how much work we have to do.” But, says NBLCA’s president, “We have no idea what the response will be.” BUSHDown Home The house at 1412 West Ohio Street in Midland, Texas, isn’t much to look at. But tourists still pose out front, next to the George W. Bush childhood home sign. When President Bush heard that some of his buddies had bought the old homestead (for $50,000) to possibly turn into a museum, he asked, “Why would you want to do that?” THE CLASSICSJane Revisited (Reader, She Still Marries Him) It’s a little late to hand in the homework, but it seems Americans are finally getting around to their high-school English assignments. Sales of classic literature are booming, and publishers have the presses running nonstop to meet the demand. Oxford World’s Classics has reissued books for 100 years, but sales have spiked recently, up 52 percent since 1996. PERI finally tackles “Jane Eyre” to see what the competing versions have to offer:
I am a threat to everybody. When people see me their face colors from pink to white. When I go to a contest I shake everybody’s hand. [I say] “Are you ready to lose?” I make them nervous. I mentally disable other people.
I tell my coaches exactly what gets me going and then they yell and scream and sometimes they punch me. One time my coach punched me. Dropped me to the ground because he said I wasn’t moving fast enough in practice. A month before the contest, I start doing really light weights. A lot of leg workout, a lot of back workout. I’ve seen the results. You’d be amazed at how much power I have on the dough table. FILMA Critical Mass of Movies Were you under the impression that studying film history means watching “Pulp Fiction” again? The 13-week series “Classic World Cinema,” which just kicked off on the Sundance Channel, can help you make up for skipping Film History 101 with its Tati, Bergman and Fellini gems. “Please, can we get some depth back into the discussion?” says Sundance’s Liz Manne of the young film critics who don’t know the classics. After all, these films inspired Quentin Tarantino.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM ‘We Laughed, We Cried’ Edition In his first tour of Europe, W may have to dodge some non-genetically engineered tomatoes, and with polls headed south, he may wish David Manning was in the press corps.
C.W. G. Bush = “…Paris is the capital of France… Russia has nukes… England is our friend… Capisce?” T. Blair + Britain’s Clinton without the scandals romps easily to re-election. Jolly good, old chap. Tax cut = Bush signs it, but most of it will never see the light of day. Hold the champagne. T. Lott - Calls for “war” with Dems, then backs off. Former Ole Miss cheerleader not so cheery. Climate + Bush-ordered report shows planet is warming after all. Political temp in Europe up too. ‘D. Manning’ + Phony critic more honest about films than some real ones. Dave, we hardly knew ye.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-14” author: “Cathy Leonard”
The Ridgefield Press (which was unaware of the deception) is a small Connecticut weekly, but that’s where any verisimilitude ends. An unidentified Sony employee apparently concocted the Manning persona last July, using the name of a friend, and attributed fictional reviews to him. Supervisors using the quotes in movie ads didn’t question Manning’s legitimacy. “It was an incredibly foolish decision, and we’re horrified,” Sony spokeswoman Susan Tick said of the hoax. “We are looking into it and will take appropriate action.”
In Hollywood, where desperate marketing tactics are the norm, news of the deception astonished even longtime executives. “I have run two studios over two decades, and I have to say this is a first for me,” said Joe Roth, whose Revolution Studios produced “The Animal” for Columbia. “It’s hard to believe. It’s terrible. Sony has to apologize and pull the ads.” Dick Cook, chairman of the Walt Disney Motion Pictures Group, said: “That certainly does cross the line. We would never, never, never, ever do that.” Sony is removing Manning’s quotes from “Knight’s Tale” and “Animal” ads, but some arts sections this past weekend were already printed before the fakery was revealed.
The real question is why Sony had to conceive the counterfeit critic to begin with, given the world of movie junkets, where normal reporting standards don’t apply. Reading the glowing newspaper-ad recommendations for even the lamest movie, you might wonder if those quoted critics are real. Unlike Manning, they are. Many are habitues of the junket circuit, a gravy train where the studios give journalists free rooms and meals at posh hotels and the reporters return the favor with puffy celebrity profiles and enthusiastic blurbs. Sometimes studio executives will suggest what kind of quotes they need, and even shape the reviews to suit the studio’s goals. If a studio wants its movie pegged as “this year’s ‘Alien’,” the reviewer delivers precisely that. No one complains, and bad movies end up with great quotes. The junket troops are a mostly anonymous crowd working for obscure outlets like Wireless Magazine and Inside Reel, which helps explain why nobody–even people within Sony and Revolution–noticed that Manning was a sham. “If he doesn’t exist, he should at least have given us a better quote,” Roth joked. The Manning fabrication broke even Hollywood’s lax rules. But the real scandal is what’s considered acceptable. John HornGIRLS ON FILMGive ‘Em Some Lip “Pearl Harbor” gives moviegoers plenty to pout about. (We’re talking about lipstick, not just its laughable love story.) Makeup department head Julie Hewett painstakingly painted the stars’ lips in a palette of fabulous ’40s reds. “God forbid they ate or drank anything.” Wartime never looked so good.HOW-TOBook Smart Talk about a literary sensation. Nancy Olson, owner of the independent Quail Ridge Books in Raleigh, N.C., has not only stayed in business amid eight big chains, she’s creamed them, having just been named Publishers Weekly’s bookseller of the year. Here’s how to beat the Goliaths:
THE PALM Positioning System Here’s a new excuse for having sweaty Palms: PalmaSutra, an updated version of last year’s Kama Sutra software, a love manual with diagrams and beamable personal anecdotes. The 2.0 edition–with color graphics and 25 new positions d’amour to add to classics like the “accordion”– will be available free later this month at palmfun.multimania.com. FOOTBALLAnd It’s a Way to Meet Gwyneth! These yogis aren’t bears–they’re giants. The team added yoga to its off-season regimen and, reports the teacher, “these guys were so tight they couldn’t hold their arms over their heads.” Fullback Greg Comella, who’s been doing yoga for years, recommended it to his coaches. “When I started, I figured I’d go hang out with a bunch of women. I realized 90 percent of these women were stronger than I was.” Yeah, but can they block?
((((((THE BUZZ)))))) Inside Camelot’s Closet Such colors! Such style! Such unbelievably long lines! The Met’s exhibit of Kennedy’s gowns and signature suits is attracting paralyzing crowds-even without a certain pink Chanel number. Worth the 90-minute wait? Here’s what they’re saying nationwide:
Oh Jackie! With crowds always seven-deep, ‘it’s the big show of the season in New York, and the rest of the country, for that matter.’ (Chicago Tribune)
Not Just a Pretty Face She contributed so much more than wraparound sunglasses. Reducing her to a mannequin is, ’to use one of Jacqueline Kennedy’s words: ghastly.’ (N.Y. Observer)
The Fabric of Our Lives The museum is thrilled. Says a spokesman: it’s not blockbuster season, ‘but the B word is being used.’ And not just to the lady who cuts in line.
Fashion Weak They’re just clothes–and not particularly pretty clothes at that. ‘Frankly, [it] looks more like a display window than a serious art-historical enterprise.’ (Sun-Sentinel) SENATERetirement Watch: Who Might Go in 2002? Being in the minority is no fun, but for some Senate Republicans, it could be liberating. A look at who may head for the exits in 2002, if the GOP appears unlikely to regain control: Former actor Fred Thompson (Tenn.), 58, may be in line to succeed Jack Valenti as Hollywood’s lobbyist in D.C. when Valenti retires. Rick Santorum (Pa.), 43, is touted as a candidate for governor. He says he’s not interested, but after a few months under Tom Daschle’s thumb, he might reconsider. Stripped of his Budget Committee chair, Pete Domenici (N.M.), 69, could decide 30 years in the Senate is enough. Polls show that Jesse Helms (N.C.), 79, is vulnerable; GOP strategists may press him to step aside. Strom Thurmond (S.C.), 98, won’t run again in 2002. Key question: will his health allow him to finish out this term? Don’t count him out: a dozen senators have died in office since the redoubtable Thurmond turned 70. BUSHTrying to Warm Up to the Allies George W. Bush has problems in Europe. His early decisions, including support for missile defenses and denunciation of the Kyoto treaty on greenhouse gases, have riled key allies. Next week, on his first presidential trip to Europe, Bush aims to soothe some of their concerns. White House sources say Bush will unveil a new U.S. proposal for tackling global warming. A cabinet-level team is still working on the details but, at a minimum, Bush will pledge U.S. leadership in a new scientific effort to identify workable targets for curbing man-made emissions. Unlike the Kyoto treaty, which exempts the developing world, the Bush plan will call for every nation to cut back. TRANSITIONA Kid’s Life Hank Ketcham’s wife once complained that their son, Dennis, was a menace, and a comic strip was born. Though a top newspaper editor at the time doubted it would last–“there’s only so much you can say about a 5-year-old”–the freckle-faced troublemaker celebrated his 50th anniversary this past spring. A onetime Hollywood animator and one of the most prolific cartoonists of his time, Ketcham was 81.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Special Legacy Edition What a weird tax law. If your rich dad dies in 2010, you get it all. If he lasts another year, you get fully taxed. Call it the “throw daddy from the Learjet” bill.
C.W. Tax bill - A dog’s breakfast of ill-conceived, confused policy. How many years will it take to fix? Dubya = Has to decide whether to stay right or steer to center. And what to do about The Twins. The Twins - Those fake IDs could fool anyone (on Mars). Brilliant! Party hearty! Mama Bush + Cool Bar jokes in speech that prez is “getting back some of his own.” Girls will be girls. McCain + Giving GOP heebie-jeebies by playing footsie with Dems. But he ain’t switching – yet. Texas + New admin is improving fairness of death-penalty system. Better DNA-read than dead.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-23” author: “Eric Moreau”
The grousing continued the next night at a black-tie presidential gala. President George W. Bush showed up as promised, but only for a brief pep talk, denying many rich donors some hoped-for schmooze time. “Bush and Cheney literally blew in and out in 16 minutes,” complained a GOP fund-raiser. Compounding the problem: the shellacking the Republican Party took for using the veep’s house for fund-raising-related purposes, which critics charged was reminiscent of Bill Clinton’s White House coffees. Most donors left town in a funk, said a GOP consultant. Add in the Jeffords defection and “the whole week was a fiasco.” THE POPECome Unto Me? At the consistory of cardinals in Rome last week, Pope John Paul II got a dramatic answer when he asked what the church should do to enhance Christian unity. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor of England proposed that the pope summon a seven-day council with leaders of the Orthodox, Anglican, Evangelical, Pentecostal and mainline Protestant churches–and let all the churches set a common agenda. The pope could preside, the cardinal suggested, but only “in love, not in supremacy.” No word on how the pope responded, but it is the sort of theatrical gesture that appeals to the one-time thespian, who has emphasized ecumenical reconciliation throughout his 22-year papacy. ( ( ((( (THE BUZZ) ))) ) )A Rising Son Hits It Big in Seattle You know you’re good when you go by one name: Madonna, Tiger-Ichiro. The Japanese import is tearing up the American League-maybe even making a run at the single-season hit record. Who is this guy? What people are saying in print, on air and online:
He’s Brad Pitt Well, actually, he’s bigger. “In Japan, he’s both Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson.” (Chicago Sun-Times)
He’s Just Gettin’ Started “With each at-bat he adds more to his mental filing cabinet.” (Wash. Post) Which means pitchers will be hitting the medicine cabinet-Pepto, anyone?-once he’s on his second pass through the league.
He’s Rod Carew Ichiro “serves the ball anywhere he wants,” like Carew and wade Boggs did. (L.A. Times) It’s like Ichi swings with a tennis racquet, not a bat.
He’s the Man The Mariners were “supposed to end up in baseball’s hall of shame” after losing A-Rod, Griffey, Johnson. (USA Today) Not in First place! FLORIDAStill Counting After months of procedural snags, a review of Florida’s presidential ballots by a consortium of news organizations (including NEWSWEEK) may soon be done. The group hired a research firm to inspect the ballots tossed out because they had no vote for president (undervotes) or more than one (overvotes). The cause of the delay: discrepancies between totals certified after the election and the number of spoiled ballots given to the consortium. A recent court decision helped to resolve the disputes, and the results are expected by July. THE FBILook Again The FBI’s failure to hand over evidence in the Timothy McVeigh case could have far-reaching effects on discovery procedures in federal trials. Attorneys for the Salt Lake City Olympics bribery defendants last week asked the Justice Department to make special efforts to ensure that all case-related documents were forthcoming. “Since then,” says defense lawyer Max Wheeler, “[the Feds] have produced a whole bunch of materials.” And the defense team in the Nairobi embassy-bombing case requested a special manual check of all case-related U.S. documents. An FBI spokesman says the McVeigh debacle hasn’t prompted a run on the bureau’s record department. But legal experts expect it will give defense attorneys new leverage in retrieving documents. The National Association of Criminal Defense Attorneys plans to use the McVeigh case to press Congress to revise the discovery laws. HIGH SCHOOLHey There, Very Lonely Girl Prom: it’s the quintessential American experience. So why should our nation’s youngest keep this ritual to themselves? Judging by last week’s TV- season finales, we’re all invited. “Ally” and “Ed” both hit the dance floor–Ms. McBeal with a client who’d sued his date for stiffing him, Mr. Ed with high-school crush Carol. While the plotlines seem like the work of writers seeking to heal emotional scars, they’re not the only ones reliving the less-than-glory days. Prom parties are increasingly popular with the twenty- and thirtysomething set: this time around, the night’s actually fun. Says a party planner, “Proms, like youth, are wasted on the young.” ELECTIONDebriefing Here in PERI, we predict elections with underpants. (See PERISCOPE 10/23/00 on sales of Republican-elephant boxers.) With two weeks to go until Britain’s election, I LOVE WILLIAM HAGUE panties are outselling Tony Blairs 10 to 1 at London store Politico’s. But Blair is up 25 poll points. Looks like Hague’ll get pantsed after all. DOCUMENTARIESGehry’s Ghost Everyone at the opening of the NYC Guggenheim Museum’s Frank Gehry retrospective was ogling the architectural models–everyone except Sydney Pollack. The Oscar-winning director had a small video camera trained on Gehry. “I don’t know anything about architecture,” he says. Still, he’s making a documentary on Gehry, using the little camera for “making sketches,” he says. “I’m working a little like Frank does.” POETIC LICENSEOde Less Traveled The success of Paul McCartney’s recent out-pouring of product has topped even records set by the Beatles. But now that he’s published a poetry collection, “Blackbird Singing: Poems and Lyrics,” he’s really in the big leagues. The last rock-bard collection, “A Night Without Armor,” by Jewel, was an all-time poetry best seller. Can his iambic pentameter compete with her dactylic hexameter? Measure for measure, they square off below. See if you can guess the poet. (Graphic omitted) GIFTSJesus As A Jock What would Jesus play? The Son of God has a seriously sporty side in a new line of statues from Catholic Supply of St. Louis. Jesus does it all from basketball to hockey and tackle football–who knew the Messiah was such a player? Introduced without fanfare for first- communion season this spring, all the figurines are currently on back order and the company is struggling to meet demand. A spokeswoman explains the unexpected popularity: “They’re good for boys because they’re religious and cool.” Kind of like J.C. himself. The robe and sandals might slow Christ down, but he’s got PERI’s vote for MVP. You Know I Only Dine on TWA! Somewhere, someone is surveying something. And someone else is bringing it to PERI’s attention:
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMSpecial Switcheroo Edition
C.W. Jeffords + Capra-esque Vermonter rewrites Election 2000. Could conscience be infectious? Bush - Blindsided by defection, overplayed his non- existant mandate. Ouch! Daschle + Suddenly, he’s Majority Leader. Smart, popular, but is he mean enough? Lott - Suddenly, he’s Minority Leader. Pompous, power hungry, but was he too mean? Rove - So-called WH “genius” wasn’t smart enough to know that moderates are people, too. Cheney - Buck-raking at VP mansion. What was your problem with those Clinton “coffees” again?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-08” author: “Thomas Walton”
Life Support ‘Done’ parodies not just a book, but a way of life. To its supporters, the ’nostalgic, romantic view of the Old South’ must live on. (Wash. Post)
Safety Dance Since when did copyright protection trump the 1st Amendment? Publication should be halted only if there’s a threat to national security, which seems unlikely. Any other reason’s ‘an unacceptable exercise in prior restraint.’ (S.F. Chronicle)
Hot Air If anyone’s got a gripe, it’s Homer. Who hasn’t taken from ‘Odyssey’ or ‘Iliad’? But his estate’s not whining; neither should Mitchell’s. ‘At some point, every story–and certainly one like this–should be free for others to use and criticize.’ (N.Y. Times)
World War ‘The fact that two works may present polar viewpoints of the same fictional world fails to mitigate the fact that it is the same fictional world.’ (Atlanta judge) That’s piracy–not parody. OCEANSWhale of a Tale As Kermit might say, it’s not easy being baleen–and not just because orcas like Willy and Shamu hog the spotlight. The Navy has asked the National Marine Fisheries Service for permission to skirt whale-protection laws when it globally deploys a low-frequency active sonar system that will harass the mammals. Environmentalists claim LFA, which uses loud signals to detect submarines, may damage the animals’ brains. With the NMFS decision expected this summer, opponents have the organization’s fax machine “running nonstop,” says one staff biologist. FAST CHATWho Wants to See the Sights, Anyway? After reading “The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook: Travel,” a highly sedentary lifestyle seems just fine. PERI talked to co-author David Borgenicht:
We’re not particularly paranoid. We do leave the house.
We started thinking about ideas for the second book–we didn’t want to do “Worst Case II: Electric Boogaloo”–and travel seemed to be a natural. That’s when people put themselves in the riskiest, most unfamiliar situations. Makes people neurotic.
Got a delightful bout of salmonella traveling in Pakistan.
We’ve never been able to find out if you cut the red wire or the green wire or the yellow wire in the bomb. That’s the holy grail of scenarios.
We test what we can. We don’t decide to get in an elevator and make it plummet.
It’s about how to tell if your suitor is a serial killer, how to escape from a bad date.
We consulted an ex-CIA agent who instructed us in the finer points of altering your appearance and slipping out unnoticed. There’s little things you can do in the bathroom. ENGAGEMENTZap the Gifts, Honey, Not Me It’s wedding season, and if your boyfriend’s not taking the hint, entice him with a chance to play 007. Increasingly, stores are offering scanner guns to engaged couples to make bridal registry more convenient–and fun, especially for guys not eager to price linens. “I was dragging my feet,” says a groom-to-be. “But the zapper sweetened the deal. I was like, ‘All right! A gun!’ " The scanners–they zip bar-code info to a computer–are a good aid, says a Bloomie’s veep, but they haven’t upped the number of items couples list. Some outlets, like The Home Depot, don’t use them. But when you’re buying wood, do you need more entertainment? APHRODISIACSYou’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling Viagra’s made men awfully frisky, but not all women have raved about their expanded conjugal duties. Doctors and herbalists have crafted a bevy of new bliss enhancers to make the act more enjoyable. Any worthy of a standing O? PERI puts them to the test:
WOMAN POWER Spritz on mouth’s mucosal tissue. No results, unless a numb tongue counts as sexual arrousal these days. On the Richter scale: 1/2 a Heart
POWER OF NATURE & LOVE POWDER Power’s maker says the pills are a hit with the Amish. If this buggy’s a-rockin’, don’t come a-knockin’. On the Richter scale: 1 Heart
DREAM CREAM An N.Y.C. original goes global! Apply the tingly topical and “repeat if desired.” On the Richter scale: 2 1/2 Hearts
NIAGARA WATER Blue beverage promises to make you “warm and ready”-a useful trait in Sweden, where the elixir was born. On the Richter scale: 3 1/2 Hearts
FASHION Times Change, Not Our Pants The ’80s are back. the 1880s, that is. Now that vintage denim is all the rage, it’s hard to tell hipsters from miners. This week the History Channel is auctioning off a 19th-century pair of Levi’s discovered in a small Nevada mining town–and it expects the dusty dungarees to bring in some serious cash on eBay. The 30x32 jeans are stained, slashed and vaguely X-rated, “but I own jeans that look worse,” says Butterfields Auctioneers’ Catherine Williamson. She thinks this piece of “America’s cultural heritage” will bring the History Channel $35,000. Looks as if the miner wasn’t the only one hunting for gold. This Ain’t the Bradys’ Battle of the Bands Four bands battle for rock supremacy (and a record contract) in VH1’s riveting reality show “Bands on the Run.” Ranked by ticket and merchandise sales, the tour’s weakest link is about to be cut. Here’s what you’ve missed so far:
They’ve got the look, but do they have the beat? Josh Dodes Band Running mates: Randy Newman sound-alike leads chipper sextet Running from: The law. Band’s full of bad drivers and trash talkers. Running time: Listen at your own risk, but JDB is one to watch
They’ve got the look, but do they have the beat? SoulCracker Running mates: Their hooks are as playful as the band panties they sell Running from: Their ego. If only fans loved the band as much as they do. Running time: Such talent! Such motivation! Such losers!
They’ve got the look, but do they have the beat? Flickerstick Running mates: Hard-drinking hard rockers with oddly sweet vocals Running from: The tab. Will these guys remember any of this tour? Running time: They emerge from the haze just long enough to win
They’ve got the look, but do they have the beat? Harlow Running mates: Former Fluffy frontwoman gives us predictable punk Running from: The boys. Wicca chicks with guitars. Need we say more? Running time: Gals’ dreams may be deader than their vampire groupies VEGETABLESTotal Rampage Tell a friend you have ramps and he’ll tell you to stay away. Tell New York’s top chefs and they’ll embrace you. The leek–it grows wild in Appalachia–is as popular as a veggie can be, popping up on menus at finer restaurants. “We buy as many as we can,” says Gramercy Tavern’s Tom Colicchio. Chefs enjoy its garlic and onion flavor–which may give your pal a legit gripe.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Special China U-Turn Edition If the pope and the Greek archbishop can meet after 1,200 years, why can’t Bush and Jiang? What happened to the “adults” who are supposed to be running things?
C.W. Bush = Bold “new framework” for missile defense. But Dems, allies can shoot it down. Tito + Old: Crass millionaire buys space ride. New: Blissful Walter Mitty living our dream. Writers + Hollywood scribes settle, sparing us even weaker links of reality shows. Cell phones - Gabby driver almost kills supermodel. Mobiles and mobility don’t mix. Rumsfeld - Sec. Def. cuts U.S.-China military ties. Reverses self, then blames aide. How classy. ‘Survivor’ = Finale pulls in viewers and puts them to sleep. Bring back meanies, wackos for “Survivor III.”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-19” author: “John Arnold”
Questioned by foreign officials, the Bush team was unable to offer a complete concept, a price tag, a timetable for deployment or even details on when Washington will require scrapping–or modifying–the 1972 ABM treaty. In Britain, where Bush might have expected stalwart backing, talk over tea was polite but surreal, said a participant. Would bases be required? What sort of burden sharing was expected? The Americans couldn’t really say. With so few details, Prime Minister Tony Blair declined to endorse the idea. What’s next? Team Bush has to answer some “very, very serious questions,” acknowledged Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. FLORIDAJanet vs. Jeb? The Health Factor Her mother once wrestled alligators. Now former U.S. attorney general Janet Reno is considering wrestling Jeb Bush for the Florida statehouse if he runs again next year. A Miami native, Reno, 62, was elected Miami-Dade County prosecutor from 1978 to 1993, and would probably be a front runner. “She’s the only [Democrat] with a chance of beating Jeb, [in part because] she’s the anti-Jeb,” said one party leader. One concern: Reno has battled Parkinson’s disease since 1995. She says it wouldn’t interfere with her job performance. A recent poll commissioned by Democratic activists found it wouldn’t be a big factor to voters. Almost 80 percent of respondents said it would “not have much effect” on their decision. EXCLUSIVEPrincely Offer The McVeigh evidence debacle hasn’t hurt retiring FBI director Louis Freeh’s job prospects. Offers are pouring in from law firms, corporations and banks. The most unusual feeler comes from a foreign government. NEWSWEEK has learned that Prince Bandar bin Sultan, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, has talked to Freeh about representing the Saudi royal family in D.C. Freeh grew close to Prince Bandar while investigating the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing. Freeh was “intrigued,” says a source, but has accepted no offers. An FBI spokeswoman had no comment.
((((((THE BUZZ)))))) Mi Casa Es Judi Casa N.Y.C.’s Mayor Rudy Giuliani says his relationship with Judi Nathan is a “mature one.” Mature, that is, if you discount his marriage to Donna Hanover. She says: Bar Judi from Gracie Mansion. He says: Ah … no. See? Mature. Here’s what other people are saying:
Kid Stuff: Hearing that Mom’s ‘howling like a stuck pig’ (Rudy atty.) is not good for a kid. And hearing it from a classmate is the ‘worst of all cruelties.’ (Daily News, N.Y.)
Romantic Comedy: Going public with prostate cancer–Rudy, we felt for you. Going public with a ’temporarily out-of-commission sexual apparatus’ (‘Rivera Live’)–Rudy, that’s lame. Does the greater metropolitan area need to know this?
Oh Donna: Giuliani’s city never sleeps–but c’mon! ‘At 5 a.m., [Hanover would] jolt him awake’ (N.Y. Post) by exercising above the tiny, bathroomless den he sleeps in–even when his treatments kept him up nights, vomiting.
Disgracie Mansion: Love is hard to find in N.Y. Not as hard as ’that most cherished … City commodity: real estate.’ (People) Rudy, Donna: be glad that you’ve got 24,000 sq. ft. to keep you apart. BORDERSGo West. Take Utah With You. It’s not exactly Manifest Destiny. Utah will shrink if Wendover, a tiny town in the state’s western desert, succeeds in getting annexed by the neighboring Nevada town of West Wendover. The 5,000 acres on Utah’s side are economically depressed; their counterparts prosper, the result of gambling revenues. Pols in Utah support the move; Nevada officials are enthusiastic, but worry about assuming Wendover’s debt. The transfer could take years because both state governments and Congress must approve. Which they should, says a Utah state senator: “It’s very inefficient. We have two of everything.” TRENDSSeeing Red Fashionistas and fashion victims alike are painting the town red this season in crimson pants. “People just want something fun,” says style.com editor Lauren duPont. “There’s a classic American trend with red, white, black–and nautical stripes.” Bright pants and horizontal stripes? Great! Looking hip means looking hippy. WATCHESTime Warp If you’re looking for computing power, go shell out $299 for PlayStation 2. But if you want a system that can tell the time, check out the ‘88 Casios at alife boutique in N.Y.C. The watches–they’ve got built-in games like Aero Batics and Scramble Fighter–are hot sellers. “People are tired of all the technology,” says a store rep. “Everything is so teched out.” These timepieces are not, but nostalgia carries a modern price tag, nonetheless. A $29 original now goes for $350. COMICSBam! Kapow! Blasting the Code Superheroes are supposed to have a code, like “with great power comes great responsibility.” But last week Marvel Comics, publisher of classics like “Spider-Man,” said it would no longer abide by the Comics Code that has regulated kids’ comics for 50 years. Marvel will instead label its own books. Publisher Bill Jemas says writers and artists will have more freedom, and that the code, last updated in 1989, is obsolete. Only the newsstand market cares about code approval, and 90 percent of Marvel’s sales come from niche comic-book stores. So Marvel stands up to the Man and starts a new line of “mature” titles with very little to lose. They may publish “X-Men,” but the plan sounds worthy of Magneto. CASTING CALLThe Show Must Go On and On All good things do not come to an end, particularly in the case of hit Broadway plays. We’re crazy about “The Producers” not, but what about after the original stars, whose contracts are up next March, have moved on? By the time you get tickets, here’s what the show might look like: (Graphic omitted) INVENTIONIs It Hip to Be a Phony Square? There hasn’t been an impostor this good since the clip-on tie. Introducing: Pock-ette, a faux pocket square–permanently poufed like a mini chef’s hat on a stick–the patented invention of No Un Kwak from Silver Spring, Md. Kwak, who owns two luggage stores, wanted to fight shifting, deflating pocket squares. Alfredo Vega, of Vega’s Tailor Shop and Tuxedo in San Marcos, Calif., which will rent 300 tuxes this prom season, is baffled. “[Pocket squares] are not really that complicated.” TRANSITIONEmotional Notes Susannah McCorkle’s warm, broad voice filled the room at cabaret nightspots like the Oak Room in Manhattan’s Algonquin Hotel. Also an accomplished fiction writer, McCorkle, considered one of America’s finest jazz singers, died of an apparent suicide at 55. TOYSThe Bendos Vogue: Strike a Pose Banish those Beanie Babies. Bendos are the latest collectible to captivate kiddies (not to mention their mothers). At $5 a pop, they’re the perfect allowance splurge. Sales have tripled since the toys were introduced, and they’re expected to triple again this year thanks to a newly launched sports line. The “wholesome action figures” can be posed and played with–not that you’d ever take these “investments” out of the box.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Goodnight, Gracie Mansion Edition New figures released last week show the fuel economy of American cars at the worst levels since 1980. Heaven forbid we break off our love affair with the SUV.
C.W. Bush - Energy plan ridiculed by almost all except fuel barons. P.S. The ‘crisis’ is hyped. Rudy - N.Y. mayor brings his mistress to Gracie Mansion, discusses his impotence. Classy guy. Donna + Rudy’s lawyer calls her “stuck pig” on Mom’s Day. She keeps mouth shut, rules Spin City. Clinton haters - Official govt. report says 11th-hour vandalism to WH by Clintonites was a hoax. Apologies? Leahy + Dem. Sen. musters votes to delay Olson nomination. Finally, some donkey spine. Reno = May run for gov. of Fla. in ‘02. Will SNL’s fans outnumber Elian’s?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-16” author: “Thanh Guy”
The aim is to “disabuse Americans of the false-choice notion” that the United States must choose between producing energy and protecting the environment. The report will be top-heavy with proposals for increasing energy supplies. And it will have an urgent tone, foreshadowed in briefing papers privately distributed at the White House last week (“The Coming Energy Crisis: A Legacy of Neglect”) and in the veep’s own growing number of public comments. “We’re going to need to build at least 1,300 new power plants over the next 20 years,” he says.
The list of other proposals is said by sources to include loosening EPA regulations to make it easier to expand old coal-fired power plants and build new ones; establishing a repository in Nevada for the long-term disposal of nuclear waste, and permitting the construction of roads in Rocky Mountain national forests. Last week, the Interior Department recommended that the report support drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico, and in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Both ideas are generating heated controversy–and there are no high-tech drilling techniques to make it go away. JUSTICEThe Son of a Preacher Man Attorney general John Ashcroft never made a secret of his religious beliefs. But since taking office he’s quietly sought to institutionalize his faith–holding daily prayer sessions in his office and suggesting staffers make correspondence more pious. Although the morning prayers are Christian, the small RAMP gatherings (“Reading, Argument, Memorize and Prayer”) are “relaxed” and “extremely educational,” said Shamon Stein, a regular attendee and Orthodox Jew. A memo, obtained by NEWSWEEK, offers seven “stylistic preferences” for letters bearing the A.G.’s name. “Do not use the phrasing, ’no higher calling than public service’,” the memo states, and avoid using “proud”–God being a higher calling and pride being a sin. All this was deemed “highly objectionable” by Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. The A.G.’s rep dismissed the criticism: “What part of this is imposing his religious views?” PHYSICSAfter the Bang Universe: pretty weird. That’s the take-home from an American Physical Society meeting in D.C. Cosmologists presented new research backing up “inflation,” the idea that an instant after the Big Bang, 12 billion to 15 billion years ago, the universe expanded ultrafast. Inflation predicts temperature fluctuation patterns in the “cosmic microwave background,” the Big Bang’s radiation echo–patterns now seen with a South Pole telescope and a detector balloon over Antarctica. The weird part? Inflation also says the universe is mostly enigmatic dark matter, and that galaxies grew from subatomic static. ((((((THE BUZZ))))))Now That’s Entertainment! If “The Producers” is this great onstage, imagine how good the movie’s gonna be! … Oh, really? Well, in that case, Mel Brooks, whose show has revived the musical comedy, is free to make a run for mayor. Here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online:
Stage Right ‘After years of self-important musicals, of spectacles exploring the dark side of life, of edgy revues and inflated classics,’ B’way’s got a show that’s–gasp!–fun. (Hartford Courant)
Reich Stuff What kind of Nazi charges $100 to see a show? Counterbuzz: Oh, stop with the kvetching! If you really want to get ripped off in N.Y.C., go to the movies.
Fresh Breath The show’s ‘definitely not for the stereotype- sensitive.’ (Variety) But, ‘for a production that makes a point of being tasteless, “The Producers” exudes a refreshing air of innocence’ in this stuffy, P.C. era. (N.Y. Times)
‘Springtime’ Fever Speaking of producers, who do I have to know to get a ticket? Fighting Hitler was nothing compared with battling for a seat at the St. James Theater. THE ECONOMYThrift Shop After it made Alan Greenspan cool, anything was possible. Now the economy–this time the softening thereof–has made bargain-hunting hip. Even high-end brands are trying to sound cheap. The May Conde Nast Traveler features an unprecedented list of “Cheap Chic” hotels. Zagat just published its first “America’s Best Meal Deals.” And after burning out in the rich early ’90s, the BlueLight Special is back at Kmart with a different image. It’s as thrifty as ever, but now, says a Kmart spokesman, “I see teens checking it out.” And they’re not looking at Martha Stewart. BULLYINGFright Club In the old days,” says Colorado state Rep. Don Lee, “if one kid was bullying another, they would just duke it out in the schoolyard.” But “the culture’s changed,” which is why Lee co-sponsored a new state law making schools outlaw bullying. California, Georgia and New Jersey have drafted similar bills to address what the National Association of School Psychologists and a new NIH study say now ranks as one of the hottest topics in schools. FASHIONWhose Dress Is It Anyway? Oleg Cassini, 88, Jackie Kennedy’s official White House designer, has been making a fuss over the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s current show of Jackie’s clothes. In the Met’s catalog, several outfits Cassini claimed as his own in his 1995 book, “A Thousand Days of Magic,” have been attributed to other couturiers. “I stand by everything in my book,” says Cassini. “Everything.” That would include a deep pink wool boucle dress and jacket that Jackie wore to lunch with Queen Elizabeth in 1962. Cassini has a signed sketch of it in his book. But the Met documents it as a Givenchy from 1959–a year before Cassini began to work with Jackie. “If a dress or suit bears a Givenchy label and Parisian zipper,” said Met curator Hamish Bowles, “and I was further able to document it in the Givenchy archives, then the attribution is unquestionable.” Said Givenchy: “When I saw the Cassini book and saw clothes of mine [in it], well, it was quite surprising.” HOT PROPERTYYou Decorated My Life When Kenny Rogers Roasters, the country singer’s chicken chain, was bought out of bankruptcy in 1999 by Nathan’s Famous, there was one item not on the corporation’s list of assets: a portrait of Rogers by Ralph Cowan from the Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., headquarters. Post-bankruptcy, is it now worth a lot more? Cowan, who charges $24,000 for a painting of that size, says it had other added value. “I put in a big crotch,” says the artist, to meet Rogers’s request to look thin and sexy. But the portrait, hanging at eye level, caused too much of a stir at headquarters. Shortly thereafter, says Cowan, “I’m heading down to Ft. Lauderdale to de-crotch a painting.” Where is it now? Last week, Kenny’s brother Randy Rogers called back to say he’d just found it in his closet. He says he’d like to donate it to charity. “Or I may hold on to it until, God forbid, Kenny has to go and it’s worth even more.” Kenny Rogers could not be reached for comment. ITALYYou Wanna Piece of This? Culinary piracy of the pizza pie has cost Italians a lot of, uh, dough. Invented in Naples or Sicily (depending on whom you ask), pizza’s an Italian invention, says Agriculture Minister Alfonso Scanio. To prove it, he’s registering the cheesy treat as an “immaterial treasure” with UNESCO’s World Heritage Commission. Scanio wants Italy to own the intellectual copyright, though he’s not expecting royalties. Says a Conn. pizza purveyor: “Pizza’s American. Italians don’t have a clue.” SPORTSWicked Game As if Britain didn’t have enough to worry about: mad cows, foot-and-mouth disease–now suicidal cricketers? According to a new book by David Frith, pros in Britain have a suicide rate 70 percent higher than the average for British males. The picture is even worse elsewhere, like New Zealand, Australia and South Africa. Why? Crowds are small, weather is bad, games can drag on for days–and tours can last for several months. “Cricket wraps itself around people,” says Frith. “They vanish from ordinary lives for the whole of their careers.” TREKLive Even Longer and Prosper Spock lives on, and not just by way of the original pointed-ear molds auctioned off last year. Before “Star Trek: Voyager” airs its final episode in May, a new series, as yet untitled, goes into production. With network negotiations still underway, Paramount would not confirm details, but a casting announcement obtained by NEWSWEEK reveals some clues about the new series, including that it will take place aboard the starship Enterprise. Last week the show was still scouting for the female lead, Sub-Commander T’Pau. (According to a source, the Vulcan is the only role yet to be filled in this incarnation of the irony-challenged phenomenon.) Fan site TrekToday.com says the series will take place “at a time when starship travel was a relatively new endeavor,” suggesting the series will be a prequel to the original. As if it’s possible to get any lower-tech than those Styrofoam rocks. SHOPPINGTouch Type Fewer people are reading Braille these days (thanks to books on tape and computers), but the raised text is popping on products worldwide–from Christopher Roule’s jewelry in N.Y.C. to India, where Wendell Rodricks has a line of fashions for the seeing-impaired (beads give the garment’s color, etc.). Even French beauty purveyor L’Occitane has Braille labels. Please touch!
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Special First 100 Days Edition At the arbitrary milestone, Dubya is dong better than (most) expected – except on the environment. But for CW aficionados, he’s as much fun as a pile of sandbags.
C.W. Bush = Bottom line: he’ll do for now, but CW is worried about his Taiwan/China strategery. Kerrey - Belated admission he killed civilians in ‘Nam taints him. But intentionality still unproven. Economy + GNP beats expectations thanks to consumers. But the bear’s still in the woods. Drug war - Missionaries shot down, new czar against treatment. Didn’t these guys see “Traffic”? Downey - Busted again. He’s off “Ally McBeal.” Didn’t that guy see “Traffic”? Midwest + Plucky Davenporters fight back the Big Muddy. Twins, Cubs in 1st place. Holy cow!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-02” author: “Kristen Carr”
Another guess: John Paul called the meeting to announce his resignation. According to that scenario, the cardinals would remain in Rome for a quick conclave to name the next pope. But most Vatican authorities say the pope would never resign: he believes, they say, that taking leave of the job is God’s decision, not his. Meanwhile, John Paul has just completed a grueling six-day pilgrimage to Greece, Syria and Malta, and plans a trip to Ukraine in June. Says his spokesman, Dr. Joaquin Navarro-Valls: “I wish that someone, perhaps with greater success than I’ve had, would explain the concept of a ‘weekend’ to the pope. I’m not saying he should do nothing, maybe just read and rest a little.” PROTESTSMove It Up The ’living wage’ movement is spreading. Frustrated by stalled efforts to raise the $5.15-an-hour federal minimum wage, Ventura County, Calif., boosted wages for city workers to a minimum of $8 an hour–joining more than 60 local governments that have passed living-wage ordinances in the last five years. Most living-wage laws apply only to city employees and contractors, but 11 states also mandate their own minimum wage for all workers. Ted Kennedy is backing a bill to hike the federal minimum $1.50 over three years. Supporters expect a vote around Memorial Day. WHITE HOUSECleaning Up the Press Mess For many Americans, the White House press room, where President George W. Bush gave his third televised press conference last week, is as close as they get to an inside look at the West Wing. So the neat-freak Bushies are increasingly dismayed by the sloppy habits of the Fourth Estate. At the end of the day the place is littered with half-full cartons of Thai takeout, coffee spills and crumpled newspapers. The Bushies aren’t the only ones who’ve noticed. A 12-year-old girl who passed through the briefing room on a tour recently wrote Press Secretary Ari Fleischer: “The press doesn’t clean up after itself. The White House should consider not cleaning up after them.” An “intriguing” idea, says Fleischer. Or maybe Bush will just move his press conferences back to the East Room. ((((((THE BUZZ))))))Ah-choo! Uh … Sorry About That. Rapid-fire sneezing. coughing. itchy, watery eyes–Ah, spring! Pollen counts are at record highs, and experts are saying that this is the worst allergy season in ages. Mother Nature-have we offended thee? Here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online:
Tissue Time: ‘The Mummy Returns’? Big deal: ‘The season of sneezing has arrived with a vengeance.’ (The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.)
Head Shot: The XFL wasn’t the worst of winter: Persistent cold lengthened the dormant period of trees that float pollen. ‘When the weather finally warmed-pow,’ instant irritation. (Daily News, N.Y.)
Counterculture: One of the largest insurers wants Claritin and two competitors sold without a prescription–nothing to sneeze at, says a doc: That’s ‘asking patients to guess their diagnosis.’
Bubble Boys: ‘Mold season will strike midsummer. Weed season will start soon thereafter.’ (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) So start in on those meds, and stay indoors–forever. The USDA projects pollen counts may triple in the next 50 years. TRENDSHaving a Panty Attack Erin Brockovich’s bra was all about maximizing her assets. Bridget Jones’s knickers are about minimizing hers. Inspired by the success of Jones’s immense sausage-casing-fitting underpants, British women are flocking to buy their own. According to a recent survey by credit-card Barclaycard, out of 1,000 women from the ages of 25 to 34, more than 25 percent have acquired granny pants since seeing “Bridget Jones’s Diary.” Back in the United States, sales of Donna Karan’s line of updated girdles are off the charts. “We can barely keep up with the demand,” says spokesperson Liz Smith. These women can only hope the undies will make the same true of themselves. BLUNDERSCast Astray Call it product misplacement. If one ever should’ve used FedEx, it should’ve been to mail the special-edition DVD for “Cast Away,” a movie that’s practically an infomercial for the company. “It was a mishap at the mailing house,” says a rep for Fox Home Entertainment, explaining why some media got the mailing in a package from Airborne Express. ALIFloat Like a Butterfly, Sting Like a… Book? With Muhammad Ali’s and Joe Frazier’s boxer daughters ready to come to blows themselves next month, “Ghosts of Manila,” Mark Kram’s new book about the legendary 1975 heavyweight-title fight between their fathers, challenges our memory of Ali as a hero. NEWSWEEK’s Peter Plagens talked with the author.
Ali simply wanted the fight more, especially against Frazier. After Manila, Ali was essentially through. His condition today obviously has a lot to do with all the punches he took–from George Foreman, but especially from Frazier. Which leads me to ask, why is Ali constantly being put out there today? Now you’ve got a guy with brain damage who goes to the christening of a tin can.
There’s only an “Ali myth” because nobody was writing [the truth] about it at the time. Can you imagine Ali today saying some of the things he said back then, to Frazier, to whites? His views on being an American citizen? He’d make John Rocker and Charlie Ward look like nothing. SEQUELSNo, Really: Eight Is Enough! Halloween 8” is filming, and this sequel-heavy summer brings a third “Jurassic Park.” (When’ll those scientists learn!) What’s the record for repeat performances? We found the longest drama, sci-fi, horror, comedy and porn series. Yes, yes, yes, we did.
ROCKY HOW MANY? 5 PLOT: Rocky Balboa is forced to retire after being permanently injured. Nothing compared with the beating Stallone’s career would take. Goes on to coach an up-and-comer. LIKELIHOOD OF ANOTHER SEQUEL: Slim. Even if Stallone isn’t “Driven” to extinction, the damage is done.
STAR TREK HOW MANY? 9 PLOT: Captain Picard and the crew defend a planet’s people from an alien race. Meanwhile, off-screen, Shatner blimps out. LIKELIHOOD OF ANOTHER SEQUEL: Sure, but Trekkers know there’ll never be another “Wrath of Khan.”
HOW MANY? 9 PLOT: Jason is evil. He must be stopped before he becomes immortal. Oh, no, then the series would never end! LIKELIHOOD OF ANOTHER SEQUEL: Coming next year: “Jason X,” in which “Evil gets an upgrade.” Jason kills a lot of people in space.
HOW MANY? 7 PLOT: Veterans of the Academy fight Russian mafia. LIKELIHOOD OF ANOTHER SEQUEL: A comeback vehicle for Steve Guttenberg? If only Kim Cattrall (from #1) or Sharon Stone (of #4) would sign back on!
HOW MANY? 560 “Normal people having sex” PLOT: Videos of… normal people having sex. The runner-up porn series is the similarly plotted “Raunch-o-Rama,” now at #220: less than half the staying power of “Homegrown.” LIKELIHOOD OF ANOTHER SEQUEL: Industry expert Mike Ramone: “I’d say there’s 100% probability. Why stop now?”
PASTIMES Hole in One Some golfers wear plaid pants while others wear no pants at all. The Potty Putter–complete with an artificial-turf toilet skirt–gives avid golfers a chance to practice their short game while locked in the bathroom (and a handy do not disturb sign even explains long tenure in the john). The makeshift green is so popular its manufacturer can’t keep it in stock. “But it’s still not as hot as our remote-controlled fart machine,” a company rep concedes. So go ahead, drop your shorts and drop your score. Just steer clear of those water hazards.
LINGO Sir, Just Put Down the Ten Pin Can’t you just get mad anymore? Every time someone loses it today, someone else races to rage-ify the incident. Take “yard rage,” of which an Illinois man was recently accused. That’s just bad neighborin’! A PERI survey:
The nonfatal shooting was “an example of PATIENT RAGE, which health care professionals… face too often.” (St. Louis Post- Dispatch)
" ‘BOWLING RAGE,’… there’s even ‘bowling rage’.’’ (Chicago Sun-Times)
“A surfer inflicted SURF RAGE on himself. After missing a big wave… he punched himself in the head for 30 seconds.” (The Vancouver Sun)
“In a case of apparent SIDEWALK RAGE, Hall, 35, and McDonough, 30, were arrested… for allegedly attacking a neighbor because he greeted McDonough while walking a dog.” (Record, Bergen, N.J.)
“How much money has been spent… replacing perfectly functioning hardware which has suffered at the hands of someone with PC RAGE?” (Birmingham Post, U.K.)
TRANSITION Guiding Force Douglas Adams’s sci-fi novel “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” sold more than 14 million copies. The British author died at 49.
Ginny Carroll, a former NEWSWEEK bureau chief , was a dogged reporter with a raconteur’s sense of story. She was relentlessly fair, and attributed her success to her roots: “I speak Southern.” Carroll covered the televangelism scandals, the Waco standoff and the Oklahoma City bombing. An associate professor at Northwestern, she died at 53.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Special Irony Edition Ted Olson, who led the charge against Bill Clinton over perjury, now finds his solicitor general nom. in trouble for Clintonian responses under oath. Somewhere, Bubba is laughing.
C.W. Bush + Gets most of his tax cut – and puts spending in straitjacket for next 11 years. Cheney’s plan - Conserve energy? That’s un-American! Is an SUV in every garage really the answer? FBI - Whoops! Here’s 3,000 missing McVeigh docs. Federal Bureau of Incompetence? Olson - Top Justice Dept. nominee claims under oath “not involved” in Clinton smear. Slick Teddy. Rumsfeld - Says doesn’t matter of Star Wars can’t work, build it anyway. Faith-based missile system? Drug cos. - Won’t sell allergy meds over the counter – in the U.S. S’not fair!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-06” author: “Lucretia Ruiz”
Yates, who has admitted the killings to police and pleaded insanity, will face a jury this week to decide if she is competent to stand trial for capital murder. Medical records released a week ago may support her plea by raising questions about her condition upon release from the Devereux Texas Treatment Network, an accredited facility that is part of a nationwide health-care foundation–and about the help she received there. Most puzzling, in addition to other treatments, Yates was placed in group therapy for alcoholism and drug addiction–even though she had no substance-abuse problems. The records also make no mention of follow-up care, a vital step in recovery, after her last hospital stay in late May. It’s possible that Andrea’s doctor and the Yateses were in phone contact, but experts say that’s rarely enough. “You can’t monitor a patient over the phone,” says Baylor’s Dr. Stuart Yudofsky. (Devereux officials and Yates’s doctor, Mohammad A. Saeed, declined to comment.) Meanwhile, Saeed and Devereux are being sued by the parents of a 14-year-old patient who hanged herself in her hospital room. In court papers in that case, they both denied any wrongdoing.
Rusty Yates, now under a gag order, had told relatives he blames his children’s deaths partly on his wife’s inadequate treatment. But while records often describe him as supportive, they also show that he failed to bring his wife to the hospital for scheduled therapy after her April stay. And when Andrea was hospitalized in 1999 after two suicide attempts, therapists called Rusty Yates “controlling” and expressed alarm that the couple, already the parents of four small children, planned to have more. Wrote one: “This will surely guarantee future psychosis and depression.”
Condit’s Staying Seated, for Now Gary Condit says he hasn’t decided if he’ll run for re-election; a California Democratic operative says it’s “99 percent unlikely” that he’ll go for another term. Either way, as long as he remains in Congress, Condit expects to hold on to one controversial perk: his seat on the House Intelligence Committee. GOP politicians charge that Condit’s messy personal life leaves him open to blackmail by foreign spies–some have even demanded that Dems throw him off the panel. But for the moment, the party is making no moves to force him out. Indeed, says a House leadership source, the Democratic caucus is pushing to keep Condit on the committee, fearing the precedent that might be set for other politicians caught up in inconclusive investigations or tabloid feeding frenzies. And given how many skeletons have been dragged out of Condit’s closet already, some wonder if there are any left for potential blackmailers to use.
‘Well, I Lost. Now I Can Go Play Nintendo.’ A shocking development in men’s tennis last week: people actually watched! Viewers tuned in as the past (Pete Sampras vs. Andre Agassi) and the future (Andy Roddick vs. Lleyton Hewitt) battled for control of the present. What did we learn from the U.S. Open?
Blond Bomber Roddick brings serious heat. (We mean his serve, although female fans may have a different take.) ‘Even when he loses his temper … he comes off more mischievous than bratty.’ (Chicago Trib.)
New Balls? Please! We’re so desperate for new blood, any hotheaded hottie is suddenly ’the next superstar.’ But until they can play with consistency and class, they’re just kids in backward hats.
Women Do It Better With the ladies, it’s three quick sets and they go back to their melodrama. The longer–and usually duller–matches make men’s tennis ’to sport what Strom Thurmond is to democracy.’ (S.I.)
Back to the Future Sampras and Agassi played the most riveting U.S. Open match in a decade. ‘The Grim Reaper is lurking,’ but he’s not tapping these legends on their shoulders just yet. (USA Today)
It’s a Real Hit Videogames might help hand-eye coordination, but they’ve rarely done a body good-until now. New at arcades nationwide, MoCap Boxing (short for “motion capturing”) uses wired gloves to count the calories you burn as you pound an on-screen opponent. The game, made by Konami, is wildly popular with everyone but boxers, who complain that it doesn’t pick up their more complex moves. But trainers say the game is as good a workout as real boxing–and it hurts a lot less when your sparring partner hits back.
Matinee Idol Troy Donahue played Hollywood hunk to America’s sweetheart Sandra Dee in “A Summer Place.” He soared to stardom as a ’60s heartthrob, but ended up in a string of straight-to-video flops. The actor, who never stopped working, died last week of complications from a heart attack at 65.
The drunk and angry life of Hank the Angry, Drunken Dwarf was cut short last week at the age of 39. Howard Stern’s snide sidekick, born Henry Nasiff, was a belligerent insult machine turned pop-culture icon. No cause of death was announced.
Street Smarts First Oakland, now the Ivies. This year Harvard offers the course “Ebonics: Myths and Facts,” covering hip-hop, racism and the evolution of U.S. dialects–but not conjugation. “I can’t speak Ebonics myself,” says Congo-born prof Salikoko Mufwene. And grammar? Nah. “For almost everybody, standard English is a second language anyway,” he says. His example: George W. Bush.
The Hazards of Health Foods It’s what we’ve all suspected since the age of 5: sprouts aren’t healthful after all. An August report–one in a spate of studies debunking supposed health foods–traces food-poisoning outbreaks to sprouts harboring E. coli and salmonella. Other recent studies show that fiber supplements can cause colon polyps and beta carotene pills may lead to lung tumors. Still other findings attack soy and ginkgo–but the science isn’t necessarily sound. Although soy does contain a chemical that exacerbates kidney stones, as reported, it contains only “minute quantities” of it. And another study that warns expectant mothers to avoid ginkgo based on finding toxic colchicine in ginkgo takers’ blood may be severely flawed–colchicine doesn’t occur naturally in ginkgo. As for sprouts, the only way around the problem is to cook them. That can’t do much for the taste.
Hot, Hot Story! Finally, news anchors are letting their helmet hair down. Taking a cue from Katie Couric, small-screen sirens from the networks to the Weather Channel are sporting tousled tresses and glossy, heavily lined pouts. (The only place the look isn’t catching on: conservative D.C.) Makeup master Kevyn Aucoin loves the new style, as long as it’s not taken too far. “If you’re doing the news, you have to look believable,” he says. “You can’t look like you’re posing for Playboy.” At least the anchors are dressed–and stylishly. CNN’s Rudi Bakhtiar reports: “They’re staying away from scarves.” Next up–Dan Rather in leather pants?
Thumbs Down Most spec scripts on the Net are so bad, no one would ever turn them into movies. Except maybe Hollywood. Can you guess which is a real film–and which are the work of Web amateurs?
HORROR: “Polterclown” “The ghost of a birthday clown must make the boy who killed him show remorse.”
ANIMATED: “Lil’ Pimp” “A comedy about a 9-year-old pimp who hustles hookers ‘round the ‘hood.”
ADVENTURE: “Snotrockets” “The misadventures of five juvenile delinquents and a frisky sea otter all caught up in one last chance to go straight.”
Real: “Lil’ Pimp,” with William Shatner and Carmen Electra (2002)
Good Counsel If anything’s less popular than a lawyer, it’s a lawyer driving and dialing. Which is why firms across the United States are sure to follow Wilkes Artis: the D.C.-based firm banned employees from talking on phones while driving after a family filed a $30 million suit against one firm whose staffer struck and killed a 15-year-old girl last year.
Baconalia Now you can bring home the Bacon Brothers: Kevin and his brother Michael just released their third rock album. Peri caught up with the duo on the road.
PERI: Kevin, do you get tired of everyone asking Michael all the questions?
KEVIN: Yes.
Do you fight?
MICHAEL: We’re nine years apart, so if I beat up on him it would really be considered more child abuse than brotherly roughhousing.
What do you like better, Kevin, being an actor or a rock star?
KEVIN: Well, I haven’t been a rock star yet.
REMEMBER THE ALAMO EDITION The Bushes held their first state dinner. POTUS served buffalo meat, wore cowboy boots and welcomed Clint Eastwood. Meanwhile, the rest of America priced horse meat.
C. W. Bush - Gives China green light for more nukes. Another reason for a missile defense shield! Jobs - Another 100,000 gone, causing even Dubya to notice. Does that include Rumsfeld? V. Fox + Mexican prez pushes agenda in White House as an equal (no insult intended). C. Fiorina - Wall St. slams HP stock after CEO Carly goes Compaq shopping. Keep the receipt. Jacko + King of Pop celebrates 30 years as solo artist. And he hasn’t changed a bit! Hoffa + DNA test reveals his hair was in stepson’s auto. At least it stayed in the family.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-02-01” author: “Sean Logan”
The United States was first alerted to Regan last August when the 38-year-old, who’d just retired from the military after 20 years with $53,000 in consumer debt, allegedly advertised secrets for sale in a letter. Regan, a trained cryptanalyst, had been working for the previous four years at the National Reconnaissance Office, the supersecret agency that runs spy satellites. “He had access to everything,” said one source. The FBI alleges Regan mailed a letter to “Country A”–identified by NEWSWEEK sources as Libya–offering his services, and a few pages of classified material as a come-on.
Regan’s letter was intercepted, with the help of a foreign source, along with two other encrypted messages. It took U.S. code breakers three months to break the ciphers, revealing instructions to the Libyans to e-mail a certain Web address. The FBI learned that the address belonged to a Steven Jacobs of Alexandria, Va., and by April had identified Regan as Jacobs. When FBI experts then combed through the hard drive of his old computer at the NRO, they say they found proof that he had downloaded the materials sent to Libya.
In the guise of Libyan intelligence, sources tell NEWSWEEK, the FBI e-mailed “Jacobs,” inducing him to fly to Munich, Germany, last June to meet a U.S. agent posing as a Libyan spy. On his return, the FBI arranged for Regan, who was working for TRW, a big defense contractor, to get posted back to NRO and have his access to secrets restored. Regan was recorded surfing Intelnet, a top-secret intelligence Web, downloading secrets.
When Regan was arrested he thought he was on his way to meet with Libyan intelligence. But he allegedly had other potential clients in mind, too: sources tell NEWSWEEK that the addresses he was carrying included contacts for Iraqi intelligence, and for “some former [Soviet] bloc countries.”
ECSTASY; Please Pass the Glow Sticks
Score one for the ravers in their latest standoff with Uncle Sam. Earlier this year the United States indicted three men who put on raves at the State Palace Theater in New Orleans. It was the first time federal crack-house laws were used to try to shut down raves and the ecstasy usage they breed. In the end, both sides struck a plea agreement that, in part, required the State Palace to ban glow sticks, pacifiers and other items common at raves–“drug paraphernalia” in the government’s view. But last week the American Civil Liberties Union sued U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft over that provision, arguing that partyers have a constitutional right to express themselves with legal items. A federal judge in New Orleans agreed and–for now–blocked the government from enforcing the provision. While the Feds weigh an appeal, revelers are digging out their glow sticks for the next rave.
((((((THE BUZZ))))))
Case of the Mysteriously Vanishing Surplus Paging Hercule Poirot! Our surplus disappeared while congress and the prez were vacationing. (A slowing economy and new tax cuts are chief suspects.) Now that those extra Social Security bucks are suddenly so tempting, what’s the combination to that lockbox?
The Blame Game Dem sharks smell blood, and they’re circling the still-popular Bush. They forget gov’t deficits ‘are entirely appropriate when the economy is tanking.’ (L.A. Times)
Say What? Bush’s baffling spin: It’s ‘incredibly positive news’ that the money’s gone! It’ll make Congress more thrifty! Uhh, what’s in the water at Crawford?
Bogus Bush Budget With the ill-timed tax cut, he’s guilty of ‘fiscal mismanagement, big time.’ (Chicago Tribune) Save that $300, you’re gonna need it.
Relax! We’ll have the second largest surplus ever this year. ‘Gaze upward, you will note the obvious: The sky is not falling.’ Yet. (Atl. Journal-Constitution)
‘Exhaustion’ “Most people, when they’re exhausted, they go home and sleep,” notes Dr. Norman Sussman of NYU’s Med School. When Mariah Carey gets “exhausted” she breaks dishes, strips on TRL and passes out Popsicles. “Those aren’t the usual symptoms,” Sussman says.
‘Lightheaded’ During the heat wave, Bobby Brown became lightheaded and suffered a seizure. He bolted from the ER when docs ordered blood and urine tests–sparking rumors that drugs contributed to his state. “He wasn’t too sick then, was he?” asks Dr. Robert Stockfish of NYC’s ACI clinic.
‘Overindulgence’ The season’s most recent casualty: the Foo Fighters canceled their European tour when drummer Taylor Hawkins was hospitalized for “overindulgence.” What did he “indulge” in? Not clear. But he’s been hospitalized for days. We can assume it wasn’t too much clean living.
‘Depression’ When A. J. McLean entered rehab, his Backstreet bros admitted it was for alcoholism. But, they added, it was caused by depression over his grandma’s death. “Ha!” says Dr. Dan Crane, a treatment expert. “He probably didn’t even know she died until they told him in detox.”
Nonfiction’s Mario Puzo, Peter Maas exposed the world of Mafia bad guys in best sellers like “Serpico” and “The Valachi Papers.” But he was one of the good guys–and a great, gruff storyteller. Always tenacious, he got his first scoop in college by sneaking past armed guards into a labor leader’s hospital room. He was 72.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM; Special Macguffin Edition
The dialogue didn’t exactly evoke “The Thin Man.” A flustered Connie Chung got no information from Gary Condit, who looked as drawn as Dracula (but not nearly as charming).
C.W. Condit - RV fiasco answers no questions, raises new one: Why would any gal fall for this creep? Chung = Tough questions, but can’t chip stonewall. Good effort, but give us Ted Koppel. Abbe Lowell - Gary’s lawyer adds worst resume line ever: “I was Condit’s spinmeister.” Watch box + Mysterious item should join Monica’s dress in Smithsonian. Paging Colonel Mustard! Bush - Adios, surplus. When retired boomers dine on dog food, will they say thanks for that $600? Helms + After 30 obstructionist years, “Sen. No” finally earns an Up – by leaving.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-04” author: “James Pierce”
Whereas the pilot, Luis Morales III, was unauthorized to fly the Cessna, a report issued by U.S. investigators said that the plane was 700 pounds overloaded. NEWSWEEK has learned that several members of Aaliyah’s makeup and styling crew stayed behind to wait for a larger plane. After passengers boarded the plane, arguments among the ground crew about the weight limitations got heated, according to Sarah Jacobs, a production assistant at the scene. In addition to the luggage, production equipment weighed down the aircraft. A good deal of what had been flown to the island on two cargo planes several days earlier was packed into the Cessna, according to a production-crew source. The equipment was supposed to have been divided between two planes on the way back, according to the same source. The report said the passengers’ weight, including Aaliyah’s 300-pound bodyguard, overloaded the plane.
In the wake of the tragedy, allegations are building against the pilot; Skystream Inc., which owned the plane; and the operator, Blackhawk International Airways. An attorney for Blackhawk issued a statement that said it was cooperating with authorities. But the search for who is to blame is not likely to end there. “Everyone and anyone is liable here. Somebody dropped the ball in this particular situation and somebody will have to pay for it. It’s as simple as that,” says Darrel Jones, a legal consultant for several large record companies. Among those who could get entangled in the tragedy’s legal aftermath are Aaliyah’s label, Virgin Records, and Instinct, which is owned by famed hip-hop video director Hype Williams. Williams picked the Bahamas for the video, though Aaliyah would have preferred Miami, according to several on the shoot. If this shoot followed practice, according to industry sources, then Instinct would have been responsible for arranging travel and lodging. Williams and company returned to the mainland on a chartered yacht. “This is a loss for the world,” said Williams, expressing regret for everyone lost on the plane. Representatives of Virgin Records and Hype Williams or Instinct could not be reached for comment. ((((((THE BUZZ))))))
Barry, Barry, Quite Contrary
Giant Headache Unlike Roger Maris, unjustly maligned in 1961, ‘Bonds isn’t beloved by his teammates. He’s not even beliked … He’s an MTV diva, only with bigger earrings.’ (Rick Reilly, Sports Illus.)
BB Gunnin’ Sure, the guy’s no kissy-poo–but he can’t get a break with the media. Soon ‘we’ll start to hear about his nasty habit of splitting infinitives.’ (ESPN.com)
Big (S)lumber Bonds isn’t the problem. Time is. Like wine, records gain value only with age: until ‘98, the mark had stood for 37 years. Any baseball sommelier knows a three-year-old can’t compete.
Slam ‘im, Sammy! On Barry’s tail: Sosa, baseball’s most lovable guy, and Luis Gonzalez, baseball’s nicest guy. Sammy’s on a tear–‘and not a moment too soon.’ (Wash. Post)
Fans Cry Foul
The Pittsburgh Steelers had a decent preseason, but some of their boosters really lost out. With the new stadium, many season-ticket-holders got squeezed out of good seats. John Gatto, center-field fixture since the ’50s, is now at the two-yard line. Four other displaced fans just sued, but the organization says it can’t make changes until next year. If there are any fans left.
Yates Awakes
Two months after allegedly drowning her children, Andrea Yates is emerging from an emotional fog. Her brother Andrew Kennedy says the Houston mother of five–who is taking Haldol, an antipsychotic drug–is now far more responsive than she was when she entered the Harris County Jail. She is exercising, and has even befriended other inmates. That’s a far cry from the often catatonic woman depicted in more than 1,000 pages of hospital records filed in court last week. Kennedy says that each time he has visited, she has wept over pictures of her children. She is not optimistic about her chances of freedom. A Sept. 12 competency hearing will determine if she is well enough to face two counts of capital murder. Although the prosecution plans to seek the death penalty, it has stiff opposition. The Texas chapter of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill plans to support Yates, joining the state chapter of the National Organization for Women and about a dozen local groups.
Gary Faces Up
Congressman Condit, take heart: at least one poll favors you. After the prickly politician’s stint on ABC, BuyCostumes.com was deluged with requests for a Gary Condit Halloween mask. To test demand, the site took a poll, and almost three fourths of the respondents said they’d buy one–or at least laugh at someone else’s. While BuyCostumes.com will make only about 1,000 masks–it’s too late to produce more before mid-October–CEO Jalem Getz thinks the scandal will yield the year’s hottest costume. For men, that is. Getz nixed a Chandra Levy mask. “That’s going too far,” he says. “Even for a costume retailer.”
Urban Camp
Pay a travel agent not to book your hotel? Kamstra, a Dutch travel firm, will arrange for you to spend four nights sleeping on the streets of a European capital city. “It’s a back-to-basics holiday–city survival with team building,” says financial director Mechiel Nederhoed. Mock homelessness–begging for money and crashing on the concrete–satisfies wealthy thrill-seekers’ thirst for adventure. What’s more, it’s only $430 to enjoy abject poverty.
Lawful Viewers
When “Law & Order: Criminal Intent” premieres this month, it will be TV’s third “L&O” series. That means two more hours a week of PERI’s fave franchise, already broadcast at least 25 hours weekly–about seven times more than “Friends”–on four networks. A miniseries is in the works, too. Is this legal?
Put Your Hands Up!
“Kids,” says a Glendale, Calif. high schooler, “take themselves too seriously. Hand jives are a way of making fun of yourself and lightening up.” And while they won’t earn you credits, jives will get you cool points. Here’s a guide to help you interpret the signs: (Graphic omitted)
A Tad of Plaid
Say ba-bye to the Burberry bonanza. That trademark plaid showed up everywhere from bikinis to Barbies last year, and now there’s a bit of a backlash against the unmistakable tan, black and red pattern. “This year it’s what we call ‘check undercover’,’’ says a rep–like tweeds that subtly incorporate the Burberry colors or swatches that peek out from underneath coat collars. “The plaid will always be there. But we want people to keep coming back and keep buying.” Clearly this is a British company comfortable with the American Way.
Skates That Let the Good Times Roll-Again
With trends, what goes around comes around, and around and around. So it’s no surprise that retro PUMA skates are the “newest” fad to hit the hell-on-wheels market. Also hot: Heelys with removable wheels. Which will be the next big thing? The race is on: Heelys Cost: $89.95- $109.95 Demographic: First preteens wanted them for fun; now older students cross campus in them. Even 6-year-olds sport tiny pairs. Caveats: With a 32mph top speed, wheeling in Heelys is banned in some schools-and dangerous. Fad Factor: “It could develop into a lifestyle,” says inventor Roger Adams. Or it could be so yesterday by tomorrow.
Puma Roller Kitty
Cost: $125 Demographic: Sold in women’s sizes only–and mainly in “female-oriented” pastels. Sorry, guys, baby blue’s not your hue after all. Caveats: Unlike Heelys, these can’t be transformed into plain shoes, since the wheels don’t pop off. Fad Factor: Retro Kitties suggest ’70s “Boogie Nights” chic, but most fans were born in the ’80s. Strictly a style statement.
Bummer of a Summer Edition
Not long ago, we still had money in the bank, money in the Treasury and blockbuster movies to look forward to. Now we’re broke. Will Hollywood give us a refund on “Pearl Harbor”?
C.W. Wall St. - Skids below the magical 10,000 - and it’s not even October. Install ledge nets now. Soc. Security - Old: My lockbox is stronger than yours. New: Sometimes you gotta unlock it. Stem cells - Bush said there were 64 lines. Unfortunately, most are in a lockbox. Black Caucus - Old: Camp. finance reform is a core principle. New: What! Give up our soft money? IRS - Admits 40,000 returns are missing. Should have put them in a lockbox. Baby Bombers - Danny “perfect game” Almonte is over-age truant. There goes the Disney movie.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-10” author: “Jody Coffman”
The impact of the catastrophe on the world of art and entertainment was instantaneous and seismic. On Broadway attendance plummeted, and shows closed their doors. Television postponed the Emmys and reassessed the fall lineups. On Oct. 3 a special episode of “The West Wing” will address the issues raised in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. In a remarkable show of unity, the four networks pulled off a star-studded telethon that raised millions for the victims. Hollywood yanked the comedy “Big Trouble” and Arnold Schwarzenegger’s action movie “Collateral Damage,” and future projects that involved terrorism–Jackie Chan’s comedy-thriller “Nosebleed” and Tom Clancy’s “The Sum of All Fears” –were put on hold. Four theater chains refused to show the apocalyptic religious thriller “Megiddo: The Omega Code 2.” Clear Channel, owner of 1,200 radio stations, issued an ill-considered list of pop songs deemed unseemly for airplay. (Neil Young movingly sang one of them, John Lennon’s “Imagine,” on Friday night’s telethon.) Novelists suddenly had to reassess their labors: “I was 30 pages from the end of my second novel when the tragedy happened,” said one New York writer. “Even though the book is set in 1900, I need to go back and change what I’ve written.”
Context changes everything: violence in movies, “reality TV,” the shock-the-bourgeoisie tactics of “transgressive” artists, our notions of celebrity and heroism. American popular culture, caught in a loop of recycled ideas, has turned its back on the world for decades, leaving us unprepared when reality bit back. We watched the planes slam into the towers and had only one, inadequate point of reference: “it looked like a movie.” Now history has rendered our decadence provincial, naive. Can our artists and entertainers find voices that heal and challenge, and visions that connect us–to ourselves, to each other, to the real world?
So far, nobody knows the exact extent of the public-health threat. “It’s impossible to identify all of the repercussions, because none of us has ever been through anything like this,” says Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, who dispatched more than 700 experts to ground zero, including specialists in biohazards, epidemiology, public health and the environment. “But it’s going to be tremendously costly and require a great deal of human resources” to remedy.
The list of suspected contaminants continues to grow. Asbestos and other microscopic carcinogenic fibers are in the pulverized concrete dust that blanketed the financial district. Among New Yorkers only fleetingly exposed to it, health experts expect minor medical fallout, like emphysema and asthma cases among the very young and old. At greater risk: the frontline rescue workers, many of whom labored long hours without heavy protective masks. Freon from the complex’s central air-conditioning system has almost certainly seeped out of the seven massive compressors located under the plaza linking the buildings. Besides posing a slight risk to the ozone layer, burned freon may have converted to another toxin, phosgene, used by the Nazis as a chemical weapon. The fires that tore through the buildings may also have created toxic residue out of ordinary office materials: a full acre of carpeting, thousands of desks, radiation-filled medical equipment and cleaning fluids for polishing 7,000 toilets and 609,840 square feet of windows. Even desktop computers may become toxic if burned. Perhaps the most potent threat is dioxin, a powerful carcinogen formed by burning PVC, found in cables and wall-covering, wastebaskets and conduits.
Experts believe these toxins have not yet reached ground soil or the Hudson River, just a block west. During construction of the buildings, a watertight concrete retaining wall was erected, reaching down 70 feet to the bedrock beneath Manhattan. Believed to be still intact, this “bathtub” seems to be containing the disaster. The Coast Guard is monitoring the river and marine habitat for signs of toxicity. Last week the Federal Emergency Management Agency committed $83 million to monitor the cleanup and determine where to dispose of it all.
Did the Terrorists Try to Cash In on the Mayhem They Caused?
So far, the Securities and Exchange Commission and European regulators have uncovered no definitive evidence linking terrorists to the trading. The hunt will be made more difficult by the fact that global markets were already volatile in the days before the attack. And European investigators will have to sift through a huge number of trades using only random leads, since brokers there are not required to report the number of short sales they make. But beyond short selling, investigations continue. The Swiss “Terror USA” task force has blocked one account that may be connected to the financing of the attacks on the United States, and in London, several more accounts have been frozen.
Special We Shall Not Be Intimidated Edition The CW doesn’t want to trivilize the astonishing heroism of the firefighters, cops and rescue teams with arrows. Nor can a down arrow encompass the unspeakable evil of the mass murderers of innocents. But, like life, the CW must go on.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-31” author: “Elaine Rutherford”
Last month Emerson’s lawyers asked the court to consider as evidence a widely reported letter sent by Ashcroft to the National Rifle Association in May. “Let me state unequivocally my view that the text and the original intent of the Second Amendment clearly protect the right of individuals to keep and bear firearms,” the A.G. wrote. That position represented a break with past administrations–and prompted an ethics complaint from the Brady Center and Common Cause, charging that Ashcroft had undermined his own client, the U.S. government.
Prosecutors were now in a bind. If they challenged the defense motion, they were effectively saying that Ashcroft’s views didn’t matter. If they let it stand, the A.G.’s own words could be used to help a man whom the government considered dangerous.
Last week the Feds opted not to respond at all. The department’s position, says spokeswoman Mindy Tucker, is that Ashcroft’s letter and the government’s stand in the case are not inconsistent: the A.G. believes that individuals have the right to own guns, but that right is still subject to reasonable restrictions. “Our position has been made clear,” Tucker said. “We will defend the statute.” Good thing Ashcroft isn’t arguing the case.
Matt Bai DEFENSE A Military-Base Bidding War
When the Pentagon announced plans for a new round of base closings last week, officials stressed that “military value will be the primary criterion” in deciding which ones to keep. But, NEWSWEEK has learned, the Pentagon intends to weigh another factor, too: the local community’s willingness to take over a base and pay its running costs. Officials point to San Antonio’s Brooks Air Force Base as their model. Desperate not to lose Brooks, which employs 4,100 and pumps $560 million a year into the local economy, the city is shouldering the site’s operating expenses. The Air Force is leasing back only parts of the base it needs, saving nearly $10 million annually. San Antonio can rent out or develop the rest. To save their bases, other cities may soon take out their checkbooks, too.((((((THE BUZZ))))))I’m Baaaack! Now Where’s My MACH3?
After seven months Al Gore will return to the political arena. considering the fascination with hairy near-humans at the box office, he should get a warm welcome upon his return from a European vacation. Here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online:
Face-Off Another new image? You reinvented yourself so many times in 2000 it’s no wonder some voters mistook you for Pat Buchanan. And why a beard? The last guy to sport that look and win the WH: Benjamin Harrison.
Gore’s Got Game Campaigning for N.J. gubernatorial candidate James McGreevey is ‘a sign that [Gore] wants to be a player’ in ‘04. (John Kohut, Trenton Times) Player? No problem with that super stubble.
Buzzer Beater C’mon! The face fuzz, ‘unlikely to be seen in the United States,’ has ’nothing to do with politics.’ (N.Y. Times) It has everything to do with Vacation Rule No. 1: Thou Shalt Not Shave.
Al-right Gore + beard = HOT (in a Wolverine kind of way). If you had been a bit lazier during the campaign, there’s no way that W wins. Note to Al: let it grow, let it grow, let it grow!RELIGIONQuaker Votes
Liberal Quakers are a quiet bunch, and until recently, so was the Beliefnet Web page devoted to them. It got so few hits that tracking software didn’t pick it up. Now it’s one of Beliefnet’s top 50 links, thanks to Belief-O-Matic, a tongue-in-cheek quiz matching personal ideologies with established faiths. Editor Steven Waldman says the quiz pegs “a disproportionate number” of respondents as liberal Quakers. Suddenly, test takers have flooded Quaker groups with curious e-mail. “We used to send out two sample copies of our magazine a week,” says Trish Edwards-Konic, Quaker Life editor. “Now we send out 10.” Online forums are also buzzing with posts ranging from the newly converted to, well, the quizzical.BUSHCrawford, Texas: Open for Business
Forget the $300 check in the mail–George W. Bush himself is economic stimulus. During the president’s 30-day stay at his ranch in sweltering Crawford, Texas, the 710-person town–and nearby Waco–will host an entourage of hundreds, including members of the media, the White House staff and the Secret Service. To accommodate the boom the one local restaurant, the Coffee Station, will serve additional meals at the elementary-school gym, which has already been wired for reporters and White House staff to receive news from the president. Manager Ian Anderson will vary his menu, but he plans to go heavy on the Texas favorite chicken-fried steak and white gravy with mashed potatoes to satisfy the 75 to 200 mouths he expects to feed a day. For those who don’t eat meat–a preference best whispered here–Anderson suggests his famous fried jalapenos. In this dry town, anyone hoping to wash it all down with a beer will have to go nine miles to the nearest convenience store.
Twenty-five miles east, Waco offers the nearest beds as well as specials just for the White House staff and press corps: $2 margaritas at Gratziano’s, a one-time $10 fee for use of Baylor University’s gym–including pool and 52-foot climbing wall–and a $4 tour of the Dr Pepper museum. Summer in Texas doesn’t sound so bad after all.CRAFTSSmall Wonder
There’s just something about watching stuff shrivel that never gets old. That’s good news for Spin Master Toys, which will relaunch Shrinky Dinks–those plastic patterns you trace, color, cut and bake–this week. Now the classic ’70s-’80s craft comes with a maker, so kids no longer need kitchen ovens and as much attention from Mom or Dad to turn out what the company calls “durable, elegant keepsakes.” Durable? Perhaps. Elegant? Only by the loosest of definitions.ON THE ROADA Smarter Color for SUVs: Green
Sport utility vehicles guzzle gas. But they don’t have to. Detroit says it’ll improve efficiency (before Congress forces the issue). A National Academy of Sciences report last week suggested fixes that won’t raise prices much. Many are already in use in cars.
Aerodynamics: Reduce the drag coefficient with more curves, a sleeker profile. That way the engine wouldn’t have to work as hard. Improvement: 1% to 2%
Integrated starter/generator: This device would shut down the engine during idle time–but leave the electrical systems running. Improvement: 4% to 7%
Lubrication: Different oils, slicker materials could let engine parts work more efficiently. Improvement: 2% to 6%
Valves: More of them–four, not two–and more precise control of how they open would improve gas flow. Improvement: 3% to 7%
Transmission: Upgrading from a four-speed to a five-speed automatic transmission would let the engine function better under a broader range of conditions. Improvement: 2% to 3%
Tires: Better materials would allow wheels to roll with greater ease with no loss of braking or maneuvering ability. Improvement: 1% to 1.5%
FAST CHAT Funny Farmer
Josh Harris put his life on the Web for 100 days at weliveinpublic.com. The performance cost him his girlfriend–and $10 million–and he retreated with an “emotional hangover” to an upstate New York apple farm in March. But don’t log off yet. Coming next spring: “We Farm in Public.”
Do you have any farm experience? Not at all. I’ve ruined $20,000 worth of equipment. All the other farmers laugh at me.
So you won’t be making money. If I can break even, I’m happy.
You’re trying to find a farmer’s daughter to marry? It’s a practical matter. I need someone to help with the labor.
How do you picture her? Has to cook. Has to handle the finances. Fertile. Gotta have kids. Granted, it’s a little awkward, but that’s my art form. THEATERComing to Broadway, Direct From the Multiplex
It’s been hit (“The Producers”) and miss (“Saturday Night Fever”) for Hollywood shipments to the stage. The key to success may be reimagining, not regurgitating, the films. Disney is returning to the Italian source material for Julie Taymor’s “Pinocchio,” and producers are mining the Gershwin archives for Wendy Wasserstein’s “An American in Paris.” PERI peeked at three in development:
Dirty Dancing SYNOPSIS: Baby by day, dancer by night breaks class lines in the name of love and mambo.
HOW IT WILL DIFFER FROM THE FILM: Eleanor Bergstein isn’t cutting a word from her screenplay, but she’s expanding the “meet, fall in love, dance in front of your parents” story line. Among the additions to the renamed “Baby and Johnny Project”: purse-snatching Mr. Schumacher sings “Besame Mucho” at a hotel talent show.
Fashdance SYNOPSIS: Welder by day, dancer by night breaks boss-employee lines in the name of love and ballet.
HOW IT WILL DIFFER FROM THE FILM: Updated to the present. “Maniac” and “What a Feeling” will make the cut, but ’80s leg warmers may not. The score uses rap and hip-hop, says composer Giorgio Moroder. “There could be some break-dancing, though that may be out.”
Hairspray SYNOPSIS: Student by day, dancer by night breaks racial lines in the name of love and “the Roach.”
HOW IT WILL DIFFER FROM THE FILM: “South Park’s” Marc Shaiman has written all new songs, including a soft-shoe for Tracy’s mom (played by Harvey Fierstein, not Divine). The message remains intact, says producer Margo Lion: “It’s still about a fat girl who wins.”
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMSpecial Condit-Free Editionlast
C.W. Bush + Eleventh-hour health deal keeps Crown Prince of Crawford cool in the shade. Norwood + Georgia GOP dentist makes House call. Now Dems need Novocain. Surplus - Missing intern? How ‘bout those missing billions? Hey, Sherlock: Check the tax cut. Clinton + It’s showtime at the Apollo as Bubba gets a crib in Harlem. Let’s boogie. Tiger - Losing streak bad enough, junk-sport ABC match bombs in ratings. Just do it. Wm. Kennedy S. - Decade after rape acquittal, Smith decides against Ill. House bid. He woulda fit right in.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-02” author: “Amber Borowski”
Bellows lambastes Energy Department investigators for wrongly focusing on Lee and his wife, Sylvia, as the sole suspects in potential security lapses at Los Alamos. But he reserves his most withering criticism for the FBI, calling officials at the Washington headquarters and the Albuquerque, N.M., field office, which had primary responsibility for the investigation, virtually incompetent. Despite allegations of espionage “as significant as any the United States government is likely to face,” the Lee probe was “never a high priority” within the bureau. The agents placed in charge were underqualified and poorly supervised, he contends; when two additional agents were dispatched from Washington to help out, they were promptly “diverted” by the field office to other assignments. FBI headquarters inexplicably failed to examine Lee’s computer files–a “potentially catastrophic” lapse that allowed the country’s “critical nuclear weapons secrets to remain unprotected” for years on an open computer system (onto which Lee had transferred them).
Bellows is almost as caustic about his colleagues in the Justice Department–especially a secretive, little-known unit, the Office of Intelligence Policy and Review, that oversees applications for national-security warrants. He faults OIPR for rejecting a warrant requested by the FBI for electronic surveillance of Lee in 1997, concluding that the Justice unit demanded a higher standard of probable cause than was needed. But he also blames the FBI for failing to include “exceptionally important information” in the request about a 1994 incident in which, according to sources, Lee was given a friendly embrace by a top Chinese nuclear scientist he had denied knowing. The failure to obtain the warrant, Bellows writes, was symptomatic of a breakdown in communications between Justice and the FBI in which the two agencies repeatedly failed to share critical information on counterintelligence probes.
FBI and Justice officials said last week they have taken steps to correct the problems identified in the Bellows report. But sources familiar with the complete 800-page document say, as exhaustive as it is, it fails to answer the fundamental question: was Lee an innocent man falsely accused or a dangerous security risk who escaped punishment because of government incompetence? “A lot of us still feel he did something,” says one frustrated former Justice official who worked on the Lee case.
Meanwhile, Lee, who did plead guilty to one count of mishandling classified in-formation, has completed a lengthy memoir about his ordeal and is awaiting clearance from government security officials to publish it. The tentative title: “My Country Versus Me.”
((((((THE BUZZ))))))And You Think I’m Smilin’ Now?
Woo Crew The 44-year-old has sat through a bunch of pitches from top execs. DreamWorks honchos reportedly spent ’north of’ $100K on a video of people WAVING WE LOVE YOU, KATIE, signs. (E! Online) Guys, you can wave ’em free outside the ‘Today’ studios.
Home Advantage Couric won’t ruffle the peacock net’s feathers. She’ll get her own talk show, the on-deck slot for Tom Brokaw’s job–and a ‘bucketful of loot.’ (N.Y. Post)
Brand Name Now is when Couric needs to Oprahfy–but it ain’t easy. ‘People are tuning in Katie as a pleasant, scenic bridge to some information. Oprah isn’t a bridge; she’s a destination.’ (Stephen Schiff, Brill’s Content)
Dream On Couric will do what’s best for her, personally. Lifestyle issues–the 5 a.m. alarm, time with her daughters, a relationship with Tom Werner–are ‘more important to her than money.’ (L.A. Times) CHARITIESAnother Blow to Bush’s ‘Faith-Based’ Funding Despite a farewell that could have been scripted by Miss Manners, Washington insiders are wondering whether the resignation of John J. DiIulio Jr. last week spells trouble for George W. Bush’s hopes of passing a landmark bill to give federal funds to religious charities. Pleading health and other personal reasons, Democrat DiIulio quit his White House post after only seven months on the job, insisting that he “loves” the president and “respects” political consigliere Karl Rove. White House spokesman Ari Fleischer reciprocated, saying Bush regards DiIulio as “a sage and a saint” who will be missed.
But friends say DiIulio was frustrated by the rightward tilt in White House strategy during House debate on the faith-based charities bill, which passed on a party-line vote in July. The House bill includes an amendment approved by Rove that would allow charities to ignore state and local civil-rights laws requiring equal treatment for gays–a provision Senate Democrats insist they won’t accept. The House bill is widely regarded as dead on arrival in the Senate, which is working on its own version. Although GOP optimists say the two bills can be reconciled, others aren’t so sure. Even if the controversial amendment is dropped, they say, many Senate Democrats still have problems with extending federal aid to church-based social programs. MEDIAThe Wrong Kind of Variety In Hollywood If you cover showbiz, you have no biz peddling screenplays. Hollywood trade paper Variety suspended its top editor last week after a magazine reported that he had–among other things, including making racist and anti-gay remarks–shopped a script. The editor, Peter Bart, denies the Los Angeles Magazine charges; he’s threatened to sue the publication. (He declined to talk to NEWSWEEK.) This flap comes just after the resignation of The Hollywood Reporter editor Anita Busch, who left to protest the paper’s kid-glove treatment of reporter George Christy, accused of getting union benefits for non-existent acting roles. (Christy has denied it.) SERVICESWait and See Some Chinese have had it with toeing the line. In the crowded Chinese city of Guangzhou, lines outside hospitals, banks and train stations have gotten so long that folks are hiring new “standing-in-line professionals,” mainly migrant workers, to do their waiting for them at 60 cents a pop. Says one man whose wife waits, too, “We make more than the county chief does.” PLAYING GAMESBoxers, Briefs, and Other Music Trivia Someone better reread her Tiger Beat. In a totally unscientific poll, teens knew only a third of the new 98 Degrees Play for Keeps and’N Sync Backstage Pass board-game trivia. But adults nailed three out of four Beatles- and Elvis-game questions. One excuse: today’s pop is so bad that the games focus on the groups’ personal lives–not the music. Test yourself:
The Original Boy Band: 1. Beatles: Where does “Nowhere Man” live? 2. What other “dog” song did Elvis sing three time in “Loving You”? 3. Beatles: What album does “Norwegian Wood” appear on? 4. What animal is mentioned in the Elvis song “All Shook Up”?
Omigod! It’s ‘N Sync! 1. ‘N Sync: What was J.C.’s favorite subject in school? 2. Who brings the best orginizational skills to 98 Degrees? 3. ‘N Sync: What is Joey most afraid of? 4. Who is the only member of 98 Degrees with nothing pierced?
Answers: 1. Lunch, 2. Drew, 3. Commitment, 4. JeffHOW-TOGoing to Bat Wildfires, shark attacks–this summer’s a dangerous one. So with a new DVD out this week, PERI asked Batman (a.k.a. Adam West) to help us be more heroic. Superheroic, that is. His tips: (1) Get good gear. “You need utter confidence in your utility belt and a dependable vehicle without recall problems.” (2) Find a sidekick. “Bounce stuff off them and say things like ‘Mmm. Mmm-hmm’.” (3) Prepare to die in ways that “most men don’t even contemplate. Like being trapped in a giant ice-cream cone, being barbecued under a giant magnifying glass. Or being made into postage stamps.” (4) Always keep the lines of communication open. “I have a home office and I’ve got phones all over the house and none of ’em work worth a damn.” DESIGNDressing Up for Dinner OK, so maybe you’ll never look like J. Lo. Now at least your dinner table can. Versace and Rosenthal china have created a new dish pattern based on Jennifer’s infamous down-to-there Grammy dress. “The public interest in the dress certainly helped,” said a Rosenthal’s rep. “But really it came down to the color scheme.” (That’s why Puffy said he liked it, too.) Now that the singer/actress/dish muse is engaged, the china–which hit stores in late July–makes a perfect wedding gift. The plates don’t drape as well as the fabric version, but at least they stay where you put them without double-stick tape. FOODSounds Fishy When is caviar not caviar? When it’s Cavi*art, a new product from vegan specialty supplier Finlay’s Foods. Healthy, kosher and made from seaweed, the salty stuff will definitely fool your cocktail party guests–unless they taste it. Finlay also makes gelatin-free gummy bears. Coming soon: “shrimp” and “foie gras”. TRANSITIONStriking Figure With his smooth left-hand delivery, Earl Anthony was the winningest player in the history of the Professional Bowlers Association. Dominating bowling in the ’70s, Anthony became an icon of the game. The first to earn $1 million in his career, he collected 41 PBA tour titles. After retiring he became a color commentator on tour stops. Anthony died at 63.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMHave a Heartland Edition Not since the infamous Nixon 18 1/2-minute tape gap has a mystery so gripped the nation: Where are those 60 viable stem-cell lines? Who owns them? Who can use them? Will they work?
C.W. Bush = Even second graders know “Heartland Prez” is an inside-the-Beltway operator. Beards + Forget the Smith Brothers; the two Als (Gore and Sharpton) try the ZZ Top thing. Ind. Standard - “Newsweekly of New Economy” is as hip as ever: out of business. From IPO to IOU. Condit - While hometown paper says resign, values- challenged rep. raises campaign funds. Sharks - It’s a summer-long feeding frenzy. Not by the man-eaters but by the media. Barry Bonds + Giants outfielder and Willie’s godson guns for McGwire. Smile, big guy. Susannah Meadows, Bret Begun, Katherine Stroup
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-17” author: “Ryan Thompson”
The force behind the program–formally titled “The Recapitalization Initiative”–is retired Air Force Gen. John Gordon, former No. 2 at the CIA who now runs the National Nuclear Security Administration. Last spring he warned Congress that so much of the nuclear complex was decrepit that “we’re faced with… a crisis in the facilities.” At a briefing for the president and top officials, Bush expressed dismay at the state of the plants–but aides held that a formal proposal to upgrade the facilities would generate fresh controversy about Bush’s defense priorities. Gordon threatened to resign, sources say.
The upshot: Gordon–who declined to comment–won the OK to deal directly with two powerful congressional allies: Sens. Harry Reid of Nevada (home of the U.S. nuclear-test site) and Pete Domenici of New Mexico (home to two nuclear-weapons labs). Together, the pair have inserted $800 million into next year’s budget, a down payment on the upgrade that’s expected to survive in budget conference with the House.
Gordon, sources say, argued that $800 million is needed to meet maintenance backlog. (To modernize the complex, he has said, would cost about $5 billion more over the next 10 years.) Though it’s shrunk by close to half in the aftermath of the cold war, the nuclear infrastructure remains vast: three design labs, four manufacturing plants–63,000 separate buildings. Two thirds of them are more than 25 years old; a quarter date from the 1940s. At the most run-down plant, Y-12 in Oak Ridge, Tenn., structures from WWII’s Manhattan Project are still in use.
Critics say the upgrade’s not needed. “We don’t need a huge nuclear establishment anymore,” says Christopher Paine, nuclear expert at the Natural Resources Defense Council. A senior administration official asserts: “We are still in the business of nuclear deterrence.”
John Barry FUND-RAISING Playing a High-Stakes Game For D.C. lobbyists the hottest ticket this summer is to Tunica 2001, a three-day fund-raiser for the Congressional Black Caucus at two Mississippi casinos starting Aug. 23. For up to $50,000 a pop, lobbyists can play golf with caucus members, shoot clay pigeons, play craps and “Shout” with the Isley Brothers. The expected take: $750,000 in soft money from gambling interests, tobacco companies and other special interests–which has campaign-finance reformers doing some hollering of their own. In recent months nearly a dozen caucus members–including Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, who arranged the event–have defected from the cause, hurting the Shays-Meehan reform bill’s chances in the House. Caucus members “don’t see a big problem with soft money,” says a Thompson aide, because the pot that’s raised will be used for get-out-the-vote efforts aimed at “poor people.“Theatergoers, Beware: Bio Hazards in Central Park This summer’s production of Chekhov’s “The Seagull” is N.Y.’s hottest ticket. But it’s also a glimpse into the egos of the distinguished cast, able to choose which credits they list (and listeth not) in the program:
ACTOR: John Goodman SUSPICIOUS OMISSIONS: Leaves out star turns in ‘King Ralph’ and ‘Normal, Ohio’… SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: … but reminds us that he played Dan on ‘Roseanne.’ John, how could we forget?
ACTOR: Marcia Gay Harden SUSPICIOUS OMISSIONS: Somehow, the not-so-epic ‘Spy Hard’ doesn’t get a mention… SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: … yet ‘Flubber’ does. Also cited: her winning a Sundance Audience Award five years ago.
ACTOR: Philip Seymour Hoffman SUSPICIOUS OMISSIONS: Wisely skips ‘My Boyfriend’s Back’ and ‘Leap of Faith’… SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION:… but keeps ‘Patch Adams’ and ‘When a Man Loves a Woman’
ACTOR: Kevin Kline SUSPICIOUS OMISSIONS: Passes on mentioning his starring role in ‘Wild Wild West’… SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: … and includes his stunning rendition of a Parisian accent in ‘French Kiss’
ACTOR: Natalie Portman SUSPICIOUS OMISSIONS: Says she’s in college, but not where (hint: rhymes with Shmarvard) SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: She’s the youngest in the cast but, with a nine-line bio, also the classiest
ACTOR: Meryl Streep SUSPICIOUS OMISSIONS: Doesn’t list two Oscars and 10 nominations SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: Even the trashy ‘She-Devil’ makes the cut. Now, that’s self-confidence.
ACTOR: Christopher Walken SUSPICIOUS OMISSIONS: Where are ‘Sleepy Hollow’ and ‘Wayne’s World 2’? SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION: Paying homage to Raul Julia and Irene Worth in his bio, Walken gets PERI’s nod((((((THE BUZZ))))))Backstroke, Breaststroke, Heatstroke All hell broke loose last week, or maybe it just felt that way. a brutal heat wave baked most of the country, driving up energy, water and deodorant use. It may have been too hot to move, but luckily people kept right on talking. Here’s what they had to say:
Writers Wax Poetic In the haze Central Park was a Monet at Giverny.’ (N.Y. Times) Warning: Rambling thoughts and impressionism obsession are early signs of heatstroke.
Temperature Tragedies Heat killed at least six in the Midwest and hospitalized folks across the U.S. with temps of 108 degrees ‘as high as most thermometers read.’ (Balt. Sun)
State of Emergency We all worried about the energy supply, but what about the milk? The heat’s ‘bad for both you and the cow,’ says a farmer. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Naysayers Hot, shmot. This heat wave’s ‘pretty minimal,’ insists a National Weather Service rep. Does this guy have any friends left? CARSTaking Pride in Their Wheels Would you buy a car from this man? Would it help if his sales force were gay? Beverly Hills Ford hopes so. It just hired five people for its Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender sales division. The dealership hopes to lure customers from L.A.’s large GLBT population, who often have trouble buying cars because of discrimination, HIV disability payments–or just plain awkwardness. Manager Claes Lilja, who is gay, says the move is a sign of tolerance–and not just a sales ploy. And, he says, “You don’t have to be gay to buy a car from us.“FOODGruff Stuff Getting your goat will be easier than ever this fall. Goat meat–in jerky form–may soon hit mainstream markets, thanks to U. of Florida and Florida A&M researchers’ efforts to promote the state’s farming economy. Long popular with southern Europeans, “goat” is still a tough sell to consumers. So look for cabrito, the Spanish term for the delicacy.GEARSummer Styles to Sweep You Off Your Feet If the shoe fits, wear it–but be sure to have some foot rub handy. every shoe style popular this summer has us fretting about our feet. PERI took a break from soaking our barking dogs and consulted some real experts on footwear fashion: podiatrists.
Clogs With no heel grip, they may cause calluses. Otherwise, cushy clogs are a sneaker-averse fashionista’s best friend.
Dress As surgeon/shoe designer Taryn Rose notes, foot pain is “not an x-linked problem.” Most men’s dress shoes have little arch support; stiff tops chafe skin. Diagnosis: bursitis, calluses, sore toes.
Platforms Tokyo banned these retro shoes because they’re bad for driving. They’re not great for health either–heavy, stiff soles and towering heels can make for awful ankle sprains.
Pumps Inflamed hip joints, ingrown toenails, lower-back pain, shrinking Achilles’ tendons–the list of problems goes on and on. But hey, your legs will look great. Even if you can’t walk.
Thongs Doctors report a 15 percent rise in injuries due to trendy flip-flops. Want to accessorize that cute pair at Bloomie’s? Try blisters, tendonitis, ankle sprains and cracked skin.BRIEFSDon’t Get Blinded by the White It jolted us like an atomic wedgie: what in the name of Calvin Klein was “Sex and the City” leading man John Corbett (Carrie’s beau) doing wearing tighty-whities in the July 29 episode? HBO’s comedy has become a trendsetter. Is it trying to bring back the BVD? “We really had no intentions behind it,” insists costume designer Patricia Field. “It’s not my favorite look, personally.” Nor ours. So when briefs popped up again–this time during a scene in “American Pie 2”–it was time to act. PERI prides itself on spotting trends; help us stop this one before it starts. TRANSITIONEscape Artist Larry Adler, who died last week at 87, said he took up the harmonica “to get the hell out of Baltimore”; he ended up collaborating with Sting and Meat Loaf, having a friendship with James Thurber and an affair with Ingrid Bergman, and playing doubles with Greta Garbo, Charlie Chaplin and Salvador Dali.
David Gates FEUDS Slim’s Pickins After Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight, the scariest figure in hip-hop is… Eminem? His chart-topping associates, D-12, reportedly beat down rapper Esham for dissing Em during a recent concert. Here’s a partial list of Slim Shady’s other beefs:
Beef with: Vanilla Ice What’s the beef? Ice said Em raps “like a girl” Shady strikes back: “Vanilla Ice don’t like me / Said some s–t in Vibe to spite me / Then went and dyed his hair just like me” Get physical? No. Why bother?
Beef with: Everlast What’s the beef? Went after Em in a song Shady strikes back: “This is what we ask of our fans / If you ever see Everlast, whoop his ass” Get physical? Em’s fans bumrushed Everlast at a February show
Beef with: Insane Clown Posse What’s the beef? Em ridiculed their makeup. They responded. Not wise. Shady strikes back: A skit on his second album in which ICP is, uh, queer as folk Get physical? Em pulled a gun on the band’s tour manager
Beef with: Fred Durst What’s the beef? On “TRL,” Durst’s band’s DJ said Everlast could take Em in a fight Shady strikes back: “Onstage screaming how people hate you /… They just think you’re corny since Christina [Aguilera] played you” Get physical? Nope. They’re on the same label.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMSpecial Health-Science Edition
C.W. Bush = Thoughtful speech placates most, satifies none. Bottom line: Slower cures. Rather + Honest Dan tells audience that stem-cell story is too complicated for TV. Read about it. Clones - Quackos want humans cloned now. Those Raeliens are off the rail. Diabetes + New study says diet and exercise can prevent type 2 (duh!). Hold the cheesecake. Cholesterol - Drugs that bring it down can cause muscle weakness. Hold the cheesesteak. Heatstroke - Record temps fell football players, elderly, power grids. Be careful out there.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-13” author: “Wendy Metge”
Now Justice officials, possibly fearing a long leaderless hiatus, are pressing Reno to decide quickly on a number of sensitive matters stacked up on her desk. Among them: whether to bring criminal charges against former CIA director John Deutch for allegedly mishandling classified information and Indonesian banker James Riady for allegedly funneling illegal campaign contributions to Bill Clinton. Another tough decision: whether to bring a civil-rights case against the New York City Police Department for racial profiling and using excessive force.
JOURNALISM
President Bites Media Dogs
COPS
Naked Truth
((((((THE BUZZ))))))
I, HRC, Do Solemnly Swear to Smile-Always
Humble Hill If she’s a workhorse, not a show horse, she will ‘fit in very, very well. If she … tries to be a super celebrity, the resentment will build very, very quickly.’ (Tim Russert, ‘Today’)
Lightning Rod-ham C’mon, fighting her own fame is totally impossible. ‘That’s like asking Willie Mays to strike out.’ (Sen. Harry Reid, USA Today)
Billy Boy At 54, Clinton’s too young and popular to enter into his Habitat for Humanity phase. He seems ’too vivacious, too much a winner to settle into do-goodery.’ (The Times, London)
Will to Survive It’s ‘hard to imagine [Bill] observing a discreet ex-presidential silence about the policies of his successor.’ (The Wash. Times) Note to W: It’s the economy, stupid!
NEWSWEEK.COM LIVE VOTE
Which type of information do you most want protected online?
- E-mail. I don’t want to share my thoughts with everyone. 2. Financial and medical records. This is extremely personal material. 3. If it’s online, it’s not private. Accept it.
CAST YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., EST, JAN. 12
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE
How long will your New Year’s resolutions last? (683 responses) 7% A day. Commitment’s not my best quality. 16% A month. Setting the goal is what matters, right? 22% All year. When I say I’ll do something, I do it! 55% Reso-who?
INAUGURAL OUTFITS
The Bush House of Style
HOT PROPERTY
What’s the Thing With Thongs?
TRANSITION
Man From Mars
In the ’40s and ’50s, ballerina Tanaquil Le Clercq, 71, enthralled both audiences and George Balanchine. She became his fourth wife and inspired him to create numerous ballets for her. Paralyzed by polio at the height of her career, she went on to teach and write books.
Lawyer William P. Rogers, 87, was attorney general under Dwight Eisenhower and secretary of State for Richard Nixon. He later headed an investigation of the Challenger explosion.
Big-band leader Les Brown, 88, made “Sentimental Journey” a No. 1 hit. Bob Hope, with whom Brown toured abroad, said, “The world has lost a great musician. I have lost my music man, my sideman, my straight man, my special friend.”
Marty Glickman, 86, who coined the basketball term “swish,” was a pioneering voice of New York sportscasting. The former track star always claimed he was bounced from the 4-by-100 relay at the 1936 Berlin Olympics because he was Jewish, but he was replaced by a faster runner.
MOVIES
Thirteen Daze
buuut…
FAST CHAT
A Gem in the Opal Mines
How has your life changed since the book was published this fall? Now I have a lot to talk about.
How did you come upon Pobby and Dingan? My girlfriend’s Australian. When we visited, her brother teased her about having imaginary friends when she was little.
So Pobby and Dingan are real? Those were their names. She doesn’t remember anything about them. What I’ve made up has become a kind of reality.
Did you research imaginary friends? I didn’t have them myself. Did you have imaginary friends?
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Special Cold Comfort Edition
C.W. Bush + Went a whole week without looking like Cheney’s sock puppet. Clinton + The Energizer (lame) duck sticks it to GOP on enviro et al. When will he pack? Greenspan = A month late and a half-point short. Has the maestro lost a beat? Ashcroft - Will even one Senate Dem. call out ‘man of integrity’ for character hit on Ronnie White? CBC = Cong. Black Caucus walks out of W’s certification. A taste of things to come? Grammys - If Hitler’s ‘Greatest Hits’ had topped charts, would it be album-of-the-year contender?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-17” author: “Marianne Whatley”
THE SUPER BOWL
Gee, Mom, Why’s the Chicken Blue?
- Lendener, who won with her nacho-chip breaded chicken wheels, says that good football food ‘has to be fun.’ 2. Not just fun: ‘It should be a party in your mouth.’ 3. To get the party started, try using colorful, hot items like diced cherry peppers. ‘Let’s be honest: burgers and franks–it gets boring after awhile. As far as I’m concerned, the hotter the better.’ 4. But, of course, not everyone likes such a pregame punch. So don’t invite those people over. 5. No dairy–it can spoil. 6. If your team’s losing, ‘punish yourself’ with some hot salsa. 7. Lendener tries to choose foods that ‘do the colors of the teams that are playing.’ She’s rooting for the Giants. They wear blue.
TRANSITION
Strummer With A Smooth Style
Beat poet Gregory Corso’s chronic misfitness played itself out in both his catch-as-catch-can personal life and the minutest details of his work: sedulously irrational juxtapositions of words. He died at 70.
Leonard Woodcock, who led the UAW through a bitter strike–and, in 1979, negotiated the re-establishment of U.S. relations with China–is dead at 89.
A jury acquitted Rae Carruth of first-degree murder, but found the former NFL star guilty of conspiring to kill his pregnant girlfriend Cherica Adams.
FESTIVALS
Holy (Cyber) Site
PATERNITY WATCH
This One Goes Out to All the Babies’ Mamas’ Mamas
JESSE JACKSON ‘Family Man’: Married to Jackie for 38 years Other Woman: Karin Stanford, Rainbow Coalition co-worker How We Heard: National Enquirer expose Price Tag: $3,000/month plus $35,000 ‘moving costs’ Tarnished Rep?: Temporarily steps out of public life
MICK JAGGER ‘Family Man’: With Jerry Hall 23 bumpy years Other Woman: Underwear model Luciana Morad How We Heard: DNA test proves paternity Price Tag: $6.7M to Hall in divorce Tarnished Rep?: You kidding? He was cooler than ever.
BILL COSBY ‘Family Man’: Four decades with Camille Other Woman: ‘One time’ with Shawn Upshaw How We Heard: Cosby’s ‘kid’ tries to blackmail him Price Tag: $100,000 to Shawn over 20 years Tarnished Rep?: Image took a hit, but paternity never proved
BORIS BECKER ‘Family Man’: Married to Barbara almost seven years Other Woman: Angela Ermakova (‘only oral sex,’ he says) How We Heard: London model publicizes paternity suit Price Tag: Case pending in court Tarnished Rep?: Shocked Germany, lost wife
FRANCOIS MITTERRAND ‘Family Man’: Met wife, Danielle, in the 1940s Other Woman: Mistress Anne Pingeot How We Heard: Two women together at funeral Price Tag: Mistress and child lived at state expense Tarnished Rep?: Mais non! Infidelity’s as French as smelly cheese.
((((((THE BUZZ))))))
Live From New York, It’s … Thursday Night?
Fort Peacock For 16 years NBC’s Thursday-night lineup has been ‘a mighty fortress on a bluff, impervious to attack.’ (N.Y. Times) Now CBS has declared war. Paging Dr. Benton!
Friendly Advice If NBC wanted to compete, it’d expand ‘Friends’ to an hour. ‘I just don’t get this 40-minute deal.’ (Mediaweek) Viewers will tune out at 8:40 to catch the end of ‘Survivor,’ anyway. Even Joey knows that.
Must-See Money The ‘Friends’ will get paid more for the added footage? Yes, but ’the compensation will be … “nominal”–which is to say your annual salary.’ (Washington Post)
Saturday Night Dive Give Zucker kudos for cleverness, but his ‘SNL’ gambit seems ‘iffy, despite the show’s impressive creative potency.’ (N.Y. Daily News) Only a third of the 90-minute show gets yucks–and that’s after midnight, when anything is funny!
NEWSWEEK.COM LIVE VOTE
Are you excited for ‘Survivor 2’?
- Can’t wait. This is going to be better than ‘Cats’! 2. I’ll watch it, but I’m in reality overload right now. 3. ‘Temptation Island’ is the isle for me. Why watch people eat rats when you can watch them hurt their loved ones? 4. Who cares? Ten more minutes of ‘Friends’? Now that’s good couch time.
PLACE YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M. EST, JAN.26.
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE
14% The pandas. Aren’t they the cutest? 26% The White House. 58% The Smithsonian. 2%A Wizards game. Maybe Michael Jordan will be there!
ENTERTAINMENT
Voices Only a Mother (or a Fan) Could Love
Jeff Goldblum Piano and vocals for Born Free’ky Lines like ‘born freaky/like, um, uniquey.’ Shoulda been born mute-y. (2 Stars)
Russell Crowe The Photograph Kills with his band Crowe can sing, but Aussie pop gives us Sydney Olympics nightmares (3 Stars) Brad Pitt Sings MidTown as ‘Johnny Suede’ Pitt’s voice is weak and thin. Why didn’t Jennifer put a stop to all this? (1 Star)
Mare Winningham Sings folk ballad It’s So Hard Hardly a Hollywood heavy-hitter, but she’s way too vocally talented for this CD (4 Stars)
Billy Bob Thornton Vocals and drums on Island Avenue Proves there are limits to what the writer/actor/director can do (2 Stars)
GIFTS
No, Dear, It’s a W, Not an M
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Boots and Box-Step Edition
C.W. Bush + Eloquent address more compassionate than conservative. Will he govern that way? Laura Bush + America will warm to classy, literate, down- to-earth First lady. She’s pro-choice, too! Clinton + The long goodbye. But how can we miss him if he won’t go away. Rehnquist + Big winner. Elects prez, swears him in, gets to retire–and sports those wacky gold stripes. Ray + Universally acclaimed deal finally removes the stain on America. At last, a bright Starr. Dems - Let Ashcroft slither through pretending to be a moderate. Can’t they spell filibuster?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-15” author: “Rosita Riddle”
If the government does indeed use wiretap evidence to incriminate El-Hage, it may be pressed to explain why the information was not used to shut down the bin Laden cell to which the government says El-Hage belonged. Government officials argue that information gathered by tapping telephones is always difficult to analyze because suspected terrorists usually speak cryptically and sometimes in code. Officials say the CIA believes it did not miss any leads that could have been used to abort the embassy bombings.
Strangely enough, El-Hage’s lawyers may try to use some of the same wiretap evidence to bolster their case: that El-Hage was an innocent bin Laden business associate who was unaware of terrorists plotting around him. If that interpretation turns out to be plausible, U.S. intelligence would be off the hook–but the prosecution’s case might be dealt a serious blow.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE McCain Calls a Full-Court Press They smiled awkwardly and linked arms during the fall campaign, but it looks like George W. Bush and John McCain are butting heads again. The Arizona senator plans to reintroduce his campaign-finance-reform bill after new senators are sworn in this week. GOP Majority Leader Trent Lott recently warned McCain’s office that Bush may be willing to talk about the bill later in the term, but if McCain insists on doing it now, he can forget it. McCain is undeterred. If the bill picks up support (it narrowly failed last time), Bush–who ran as a “reformer with results”–will be faced with an unwelcome battle just after moving into the Oval Office. If Bush has to veto the bill, says a McCain aide, “he could still be a reformer–but without results.”
ECONOMY Closing Time? Will the same market forces that shut the doors last week on the 128-year-old Montgomery Ward & Co. doom those other department-store grande dames, Sears and JCPenney? Squeezed by specialty and discount stores that offer variety at less cost, JCPenney reported a third-quarter sales drop of 3.7 percent at stores open a year or more, with catalog sales down 5.4 percent. Sears is doing better but says that its holiday sales were below expectations. Says Journal of Retailing editor Louis P. Bucklin: “If you look at their returns over the last 10, 20 years, they’ve really struggled, too.”
((((((THE BUZZ))))) (Stuck) On the Road Again An ice storm ravages the southern plains, an Alberta Clipper batters the Dakotas and Great Lakes states, a major snowstorm blankets the Northeast. Are the gods punishing us for our messy election? What people are saying in print, on air and online:
Return to Normalcy This is what you call a real winter–the kind we got before the Nino/Nina twins arrived. Without their protection, a ’normal winter is going to seem pretty brutal.’ (meteorologist, Kansas City Star)
Frozen Assets These Klondike temperatures will make you cringe twice. According to government projections, many winter heating bills will more than double. The 1999-2000 average: $540; 2000-2001: $834.
Apocalypse Now ‘The world endured a record number of natural disasters in 2000 and global warming and a rising population [are] likely to make future years even worse.’ (Washington Post) Happy New Year!
Ray-Ban The sun won’t come out tomorrow, either. ‘There’s a good chance of seeing a couple more major cold outbreaks.’ (National Weather Service director, MSNBC.com) Upside: ‘frozen tundra’ fun to say.
NEWSWEEK.COM LIVE VOTE How long will your New Year’s Resolution Last?1. A day. Commitment’s not my best quality. 2. A month. Setting the goal is what matters, right? 3. All year. When I say I’ll do something, I do it! No prisoners! 4. Reso-who?
PLACE YOR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., E.S.T., JAN 5
LAST WEEK’S LIVE VOTE
Manual Recounts of all the ballots? 54% No way. Bush won; Gore should have caved. 6% No. I voted for Gore, but it needed to end. 8% Yes. A full count would help Bush’s legitimacy. 31% Yes. I won’t accept Gore’s “defeat” without a full count.
Fast Chat Bug Impresario If you’ve tried to shoo it away, chances are Steven Kutcher has gotten it to perform. He’s an insect wrangler who’s worked with lots of critters, including ants for an upcoming ‘Got Milk?’ ad. PERI checked in:
How do you get ants to do what you want? I have to concentrate on temperature, light conditions, wind conditions. It is rather difficult. When I saw the storyboard, I got some ants, sat at home and played with them. Do you keep bugs at home? I have bugs most everywhere–especially the fridge. They live a lot longer. What about plane travel? When I did ‘Arachnophobia,’ I had to bring spiders to New York. Going was fine, but coming back, the security lady freaked out … Did the spiders sense that? I communicate with the insects. You have to think like a bug to consider what they’re like. I have a tiny brain like them. BeautyChapped Lips Go ‘Bye Bye Bye’ You know how they sound, but how do they taste? ‘N Sync lip glosses try to pair each band hottie with a lip-locking flavor. PERI had the experts weigh in.
PR firm says: Justin Timberlake tastes like ‘smooth vanilla’ Our Girl on the Street says: Cynthia, 14, thinks Britney’s beau is more of a strawberry. ‘It smells really good, and he’s reeallly hot!’
PR firm says: Joey Fatone ‘is an aromatic green apple’ Our Girl on the Street says: Andrea, 18, says no. ‘He’s always wearing his hair crazy colors. And watermelon’s a crazy fruit.’
PR firm says: Chris Kirkpatrick is a ’lip-smacking strawberry’ Our Girl on the Street says: Rachel, 15, would immortalize Chris as green-apple gloss. ‘It just fits. If you think about it.’
PR firm says: ‘Spunky’ Lance Bass gets the funky blue raspberry Our Girl on the Street says: ‘Lance is more mellow than all the rest. So he’s vanilla,’ insists 14 year-old Angelica.
PR firm says: Baby-faced frontman JC Chasez is a ‘sweet watermelon’ Our Girl on the Street says: Amy and Grace, both 15, disagree. ‘He’s definitely blue raspberry. He wears a lot of blue. He has blue eyes.’ CENSUS 2000281,421,906 People – And Counting There are 13 percent more Americans today than a decade ago, according to census figures released last week. The big winners: sun-belt states, whose spiking populations will earn them more seats in Congress. The losers: the Midwest and Northeast, where pols will battle to save their jobs. TRANSITION’You’re Out There On Your Own’ It’s a cliche to talk about actors who “inhabit their roles,” but with Jason Robards it’s hard to resist. One night after he played the dissolute, whoring Jamie Tyrone in Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” Helen Keller visited backstage. “She reached out and touched my face, and [then] she slapped the hell out of me,” Robards recalled. “She said, in that strange voice, ‘Baaad boy!’ It wasn’t me. It was Jamie.”
Of course, it was Robards, too. With his lantern jaw and gravelly baritone, Robards, who died last week of cancer at 78, became an overnight sensation in 1956 as Hickey, the tragic realist in O’Neill’s “The Iceman Cometh.” His messianic performance so inspired O’Neill’s widow that she gave him the rights to “Long Day’s Journey,” which had never been performed in the United States. Before Robards came along, O’Neill had come perilously close to dramatic oblivion. The actor helped save him.
Robards also appeared in more than 50 movies, winning supporting-role Oscars in 1976’s “All the President’s Men” and 1977’s “Julia.” But he hated Hollywood–“the land of the living dead,” he called it. He didn’t care much about those Oscars, either (“If they want to give me something, they can mail it to me”). His true love–and that includes Lauren Bacall and his three other wives–was always the theater. “Nobody can say, ‘Cut it’,” he said. “You’re out there on your own. I’d even like to be in a musical. Believe it or not, I can sing.” We believe. –Marc Peyser
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Life After Y2K Edition True pedants know that this year is actually the beginning of the new millennium. Try telling that to our new president-elect, who’s building a bridge to the 1970s.
C.W. Bush = New theme song for antique cabinet: “Don’t Stop Thinking About Yesterday.” Cheney + Old: Gore was most-active No. 2 guy ever. New: W will be most-active No. 2 guy ever. Ashcroft + After losing to dead man, right-winger rises from dead to become AG-designate. Rumsfeld + Bush retread won’t do? Try a used Ford. New use for surplus: unworkable missile defense. Clinton + Only a few more shopping days to complete legacy, so he tosses Hail Mary in Holy Land. HAL + ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’ star is talk of galaxy. Sing ‘Daisy’ for us, you big old lunk.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-23” author: “Jerry Pratt”
Nigerian Archbishop John Onaiyekan, 58, politically astute and theologically moderate. A red hat for him would give the African bloc a vigorous new voice.
Bishop Julian Herranz, 71, a Spaniard in the Roman Curia, and Archbishop Juan Louis Cipriani, 58, of Peru. Both are members of Opus Dei, and their appointment to the college would give the deeply conservative organization its first two papal electors.
Jesuit theologian Avery Dulles, 82, of Fordham University. The son of former secretary of State John Foster Dulles, he would be the first U.S. theologian to be named a cardinal.
MEDIA
Ted’s New Fight
The move would give NTV an injection of much-needed cash and would strengthen the all-but-extinguished free-press movement in Russia. The deal pits Turner against Putin, who has been trying to dismantle Media-Most, NTV’s parent company. Media-Most is run by Putin’s longtime adversary and critic, Russian media tycoon Vladimir Gusinsky. (Media-Most publishes the magazine Itogi in cooperation with NEWSWEEK.)
When word of the talks hit Moscow last week, NTV’s partner and largest creditor, the government-run gas company, tried to kill the deal by filing a round of lawsuits. Despite the controversy, an insider says negotiations are continuing. A Turner spokeswoman said, “It’s a personal initiative and not connected to AOL or Time Warner.”
GOLF
Why You Lose
((((((THE BUZZ))))))
Flight Attendants: Prepare to Merge
Air Rage Less competition = higher fares, lousier service. Great! What’s next? No free peanuts? ‘I’d have to go long and hard to find any positives to this.’ (Richard Copland, American Society of Travel Agents) Same Game Consolidation means more service to more cities, less congestion. It’s great for frequent fliers, but it’s ‘status quo’ for other travelers: fares are sky high even with ostensible competition. (Travel agent, St. Louis Post-Dispatch) Stay Seated Air mergers always meet with protest, but fears are ‘almost never’ realized. ‘During the last wave of airline consolidations … nine airlines merged within two years. Since then, airfares, adjusted for inflation, have dropped 20 percent.’ (L.A. Times) Taking Flight ‘The larger each carrier becomes, the greater the effect that a work slowdown can have, potentially grounding thousands of passengers.’ (N.Y. Times) Economic upside: airport bar tabs soar.
TOURISM
We’ll Get There Fast, and Then We’ll Take It Slow. Or Not.
‘Veelcome–to Faantasy Island!’
NEWSWEEK.COM LIVE VOTE
What would you most like to see if you took a trip to Washington, D.C.?
- The pandas. Aren’t they the cutest? 2. The White House. 3. The Smithsonian. 4. A Wizards game. Maybe Michael Jordan will be there!
CAST YOUR VOTE ON NEWSWEEK.MSNBC.COM BY 5 P.M., EST, JAN.19
LAST WEEK’s LIVE VOTE
Which type of information do you most want protected online? (935 responses)
12% E-mail. My thoughts aren’t for everyone to see. 72% Financial and medical records. They’re personal. 17% If it’s online, it’s not private. Accept it.
COOKING
Oil Change
CARS
Now Playing: ‘Dude, Where’s My Microbus?’
WAR AND PEACE: To give the van an aggressive look, the shifter pod is designed to look like a bomb. But fear not, peaceniks: gauges float like bubbles behind the steering wheel. PLAYMOBILE: The Microbus comes equipped with PlayStation for four. The video screen folds into a glass-top table to stack bootlegs, etc. TURN, TURN, TURN: For a more communal atmosphere, the second-row seats swivel 180 degrees HAPPY CAMPING: For long hauls VW is working on a pop-up camper; a Micro-pickup may also hit the road
TRANSITION
Genius for Life
Former president Ronald Reagan, 89, underwent surgery to repair his broken right hip. Reagan, who suffers from Alzheimer’s, was injured in a fall at his Bel Air, Calif., home.
Silicon Valley pioneer William Hewlett, who, with $538 and partner David Packard, founded a tiny electronics company that became one of the first tech giants, is dead at 87.
The 1978 Triple Crown winner, Affirmed, 26, whose duels with Alydar are legendary, was euthanized because of leg problems.
THE CLINTONS
They Left Their Hearts in D.C.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Special Inaugural Edition
C.W. Bush + Enjoy that Texas black-tie-’n-boots Inaugural ball. The honeymoon ends at midnight. Clinton + Exit laughing – and jabbing at W. Makes for a fun shared limo ride up Penn. Ave. Jan. 20. Ashcroft = Big Q for hearings: If abortion is “murder,” how can you enforce abortion rights? Chavez - Misleads Bush, but blames press, pats self on back for “good deeds.” We’ll miss ya. Chao + Sen. McConnell’s wife is foolproof choice for Labor. Even gets along with Boss Sweeney. Calif. - Power dereg. could brownout Golden State, kill economy’s golden goose. Buy batteries.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-08” author: “Angelina Tremblay”
Navy officials made no announcement of the Stoddert’s Feb. 3 demise and declined to discuss details. But seamen involved in the incident told NEWSWEEK that in mid-January a tugboat left Pearl Harbor towing two mothballed Navy ships, the Stoddert and the USS Cochrane. When they ran into 20-foot waves and 40-knot winds, the Stoddert started taking on water. Worried that the 3,300-ton destroyer might capsize and become a hazard to any seafaring vessels, two tug crewmen jumped aboard to see if it could be saved. Finding themselves knee-deep in water, the crew opened the hatches and made it back to the tug in time to see the abandoned ship go down “like the Titanic,” says one crewman.
Now the scrap yard has filed suit, accusing the tugboat crew of “scuttling” the ship. The tug firm denies the charges. And former sailors who served on the Stoddert say they’re frustrated the Navy hasn’t been more forthcoming, noting the destroyer had a storied past: it was the last U.S. warship to leave Vietnam. “To me, this is like a friend dying,” says former sailor Patrick Surrena. INVESTIGATIONTorricelli’s New Line of Defense New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli hopes to use a 1999 U.S. Supreme Court decision to fend off an intensifying federal investigation, sources close to the senator say. In that case, the court held that to obtain a conviction for exchanging illegal gratuities, prosecutors had to prove that gifts were tied to a “specific” official act. Last week, facing allegations that he took gifts and cash from former campaign contributor David Chang, Torricelli vehemently denied he’d engaged in “illegal conduct,” but did not explicitly deny receiving gifts. Prosecutors may already be prepared to undermine his latest defense. More than a year ago, the Feds placed in a court file a letter claiming they have evidence that Chang “received and/or solicited assistance” from Torricelli. Friends of Torricelli say that Chang sought and may have received favors from up to 10 other politicians. Chang’s lawyer declined to discuss the case. A spokesman for Torricelli had no comment. MIDEASTPower Play When Israeli tanks rolled into the Gaza Strip last week, the incursions went beyond retaliation for Palestinian attacks. They were evidence of an aggressive new Israeli strategy of attrition, say aides to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The plan is to wear down Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, striking somewhere new every day, until forces loyal to him are too tired to fight. The ultimate goal may be even more ambitious: to take Arafat out of the picture. “No one has immunity,” says a Sharon adviser. Officials–including members of the Palestinian leadership–now see him as the obstacle to peace. But the strategy could backfire. With no apparent successor, Arafat’s removal would only push the West Bank and Gaza closer to chaos. ((((((THE BUZZ))))))‘I Am the Hostess With the Mostest!’ Say It! Brit import “Weakest Link” is as disturbing (and fascinating) as watching a car crash, except host Anne Robinson’s a tad more unpleasant. The show–“Survivor” meets “Millionaire”–is still a hit. Here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online:
Dissing Link ‘Robinson is the love child of Mary Poppins and Pol Pot.’ She’s ‘Wicked Witch of the West nasty.’ (Wa. Post) If you want to see snippy Brits, watch the P.M.’s Questions on C-Span.
Bush League Regis, Bob Barker–now, those guys are game-show hosts. Robinson’s hectoring is humorless. ‘She is to insults what the XFL is to football.’ (USA Today)
Dogfight What’s more annoying: the contestants who ‘bark at each other’ (N.Y. Post), or the fact that NBC has burned the show’s catchphrase into our heads? Made a decision? That your final answer, buddy?!
Quiz Queen Mrs. Robinson, you’re trying to seduce us. Aren’t you? If so, it’s working–for now. NBC hasn’t had a hit in that time slot since Will Smith was on TV. AIR QUALITYScent of a Hog People in Utah don’t want to wake up and smell the hogs. So the prospect of an industrial-hog-farm expansion has prompted rural Iron County to form an odor committee to sniff out complaints. “Hogs can be pretty rank,” says commissioner Gene Roundy. The panel will visit offended residents’ property and judge just how rank, a kind of nonbinding arbitration meant to head off lawsuits. Residents of nearby counties are already suffering. Shauna Mayer says, “There’ll be times at night when it’ll bring you right out of a dead sleep.” Only to find it wasn’t just a nightmare. THE KLANGetting Trashed So much for the white-trash cleanup. After winning a seven-year legal battle that allowed it to participate in Missouri’s Adopt-a-Highway program, the Ku Klux Klan has been booted out for not tending to its one-mile stretch of Rosa Parks Highway. Members underwent litter training and got the orange vests, just never used them. Perhaps they didn’t go well with white sheets. HOW-TOCome On, Baby, Light My Fire If you aspire to be one of the 11,500 torch-relay runners for the Salt Lake City Winter Games, on your mark: applications are due May 15. Salt Lake Organizing Committee CEO Mitt Romney sheds some light on how to get selected: 1) The theme is “Light the Fire Within,” so find someone whose fire you’ve lit to nominate you. Do not say you lit your own fire. 2) Tell a compelling story. “My aunt Martha overcame this disease and showed great stoicism,” or something like that. 3) Triple your chances; apply to all three selection programs: Chevy’s, Coke’s and the SLOCs. 4) Writing ability is irrelevant; it’s passion judges want. 5) “This is not an athletic event.” Bearers only have to go .2 miles–less than a lap around a school track. Which means you don’t even have to get in shape. TRANSITIONGood and Loud We’ve influenced two or three generations of younger bands,” said punk icon Joey Ramone (a.k.a. Jeffrey Hyman) of his group the Ramones. “We completed what we set out to do.” They pioneered the early U.S. punk scene, rising out of Queens, N.Y., in 1974 with a scrappy sound and look–torn jeans, bowl haircuts and leather jackets. They banged out three-chord songs such as “Beat on the Brat” until splitting in 1996. Ramone, 49, died of lymphoma.
Lorraine Ali ADVERTISING So This Is Why I Took French in High School If you think you’ve had trouble with your TV recently, it’s not the remote. It’s the ads, several of which are entirely in a foreign language–no subtitles. They work: oddly enough, a complete lack of comprehension is sort of gripping. PERI translates:
LEXUS Language: French Product: SC 430 convertible Say what? Ad asks, “Do you speak desire?” (Yes, if it gets me a Lexus.) “If we waxed on in English we’d sound dopey,” says a rep.
CINGULAR WIRELESS Language: Spanish Product: Calling plans Say what? Hispanics are an “important audience to us,” says Cingular. ¿No habla espanol? Well, “people get it even if they don’t speak Spanish.”
DE’LONGHI Language: Italian Product: Kitchen appliances Say what? Hard to stir passions about convection toasters, but, says the ad, “cooking is like love. The best thing about each of them is the constant heat.” HOME SPAAir Supply When life sucks, you should, too. Just strap on your non-pressurized, humidified oxygen mask and, as the flight attendants say, tighten the band around your head and breathe normally. The pungent plastic smell (and $200 price tag) just nauseated us, but manufacturers insist that Rejuv O2, a nine-pound, portable “oxygen spa,” will cure sluggishness, headaches and hangovers. But PERI posits: what’s more pathetic, lying in bed with a hangover or lying in bed gulping on an overgrown thermos of air?
TRIBUTES A New Kind Of Soul Food In Indianapolis, a new cookbook is meant to dish out solace to families of murder victims. Prosecutor Scott Newman is collecting the victims’ favorite recipes for “A Survivor’s Cookbook: Food for Our Soul.” He’s received dozens, including Margarita Shrimp and Vegetable Kabobs, beloved by Samuel Bufford, killed in 1999. “It’s not very appetizing to think of murder and think of making a meal,” says Newman, “but there may be people sitting down in the spirit of their lost loved one.” Proceeds will go to family-support services. MOVIESThe (Same) Tale of Two Movies Sure, all romantic comedies are the same–that whole “boy gets girl” shtik hasn’t shocked anyone since Adam won Eve. But these two flicks, both based on best-selling chick reads, are practically celluloid clones. Still, with plots so similar, how is it Bridget gets so many more laughs?
The movie: ‘BRIDGET JONES’S DIARY’ Narrative device: Tell-all diary Questionable casting: Pudgy Brit played by waifish Texan Renee Zellweger Boyfriend turned jerk: Hugh Grant Jerk turned boyfriend: Colin Firth ‘Unexpected’ final plot twist: Wait a minute: Bridget’s swell ‘just as she is’! Happily everafter: They kiss on a London corner as a Van Morrison tune crescendos
The movie: ‘SOMEONE LIKE YOU’ Narrative device: Tell-all column Questionable casting: Average Every-Yenta played by waifish Baptist Ashley Judd Boyfriend turned jerk: Greg Kinnear Jerk turned boyfriend: Hugh Jackman ‘Unexpected’ final plot twist: Wait a minute: not all men are bulls! Happily everafter: They kiss on a New York corner as a Van Morrison tune crescendos
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Special Spring-Fever Edition Scientists say that increased levels of CO2 make plants grow faster – and make the CW’s allergies intolerable this year. Hey Dubya, Congress: Global warming’s nothing to sneeze at.
C.W. Greenspan = Dow-whipped Fed head pulls surprise rate cut, buys his reputation some time. Dot-commers = Taxes on options make paper millionaires paper paupers. Want a used Porsche? Confederacy = Ole Miss keeps ole rebel flag. Could be bad for bidness. Day Care = Study says child-care kids misbehave more. Pass the Ritalin. Torricelli = Not clear N.J. sen. will be indicted, but taking those suits, Rolex sure looks Torrisilly. Brooks = Springtime for Mel as “Producers” storms Broadway. Not bad for a 2,000-year-old man.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-30” author: “Denise Goodrich”
Why has Blair been cruising? He’s been buoyed by his youthful appeal and his party’s makeover from its doctrinaire socialist tone. He has benefited even more from the disarray of the opposition.
But the country’s rapidly spreading foot-and-mouth epidemic may threaten more than the $21 billion farming industry or even the $96 billion tourism industry: it may finally bring Blair’s ratings down. When the outbreak began, Conservatives held their fire. But last week the government’s chief scientist said that “the situation is not under control at the moment,” partly because of the delay in taking action against it. Tories, sensing that Blair may be vulnerable on the issue, went on the offensive. He has a week or so to decide whether to hold the next election on May 3. He had been expected to go ahead. Now he may want to wait before testing his Teflon again. POLITICSPressure Points Who says the campaign’s over? A coterie of former Bush campaign aides, backed by corporate donors, is laying the groundwork for an aggressive PR effort to promote the president’s policy agenda. Mark McKinnon, who masterminded Bush’s media campaign, has been tapped to do spots for the Bush tax plan. Footing the bill: the Tax Relief Coalition, a newly formed group that includes Washington trade organizations and companies such as Phillip Morris and Union Pacific. Two other Bush admen, Stuart Stevens and Russ Schriefer, are working with Americans for Better Education, a group formed recently to push Bush’s education plan. Among the companies agreeing to chip in: Microsoft and AT&T. Some companies are “uncomfortable” about the pressures to ante up, says a D.C. lobbyist. But a coalition spokesman says, “This is just about education reform.” MEDIAWhy Did Smiley Get BET’s Boot? Robert Johnson, BET’s chairman, has terminated high-profile talk-show host Tavis Smiley, effective immediately, citing unspecified “recent actions.” But sources close to Smiley said the problem was his interview with ex-SLA fugitive Sara Jane Olson, which aired on ABC in early March. CBS, which like BET is owned by Viacom, had been chasing its own Olson interview. Smiley’s contract permits him to appear on the nets, but the sources said Viacom execs were furious. Smiley’s angry fans have deluged Viacom with e-mails and phone calls, and a protest is planned this week in L.A. Johnson will address viewers live on Smiley’s old show, “BET Tonight.” Toxic Shock: What We’ve Got in Our Bodies You may never have heard of phthalates or organo-phosphates, but according to a CDC report last week, you probably carry both types of chemicals in your body. The agency measured 27 chemicals in Americans. The findings: LEAD: Levels of this heavy metal continue to drop in kids–encouraging, since it causes learning and behavioral problems. But children in some cities are still at high risk.
DIMETHYLPHOSPHATE: One of six pesticide byproductsmeasured, it was detected in most Americans. Some of DMP’s parent pesticides cause cancer in animals, but researchers aren’t sure how DMP itself affects humans.
MONO-BENZYL PHTHALATE: MBzP causes birth defects in animals. A byproduct of a chemical used in cosmetics, MBzP was found in most people–but it’s not proven to harm humans.
COTININE: Cotinine levels–which indicate exposure to tobacco smoke–have dipped since the late ’80s, offering proof that no-smoking regulations have public-health benefits. TRANSITIONToon Titan Along with Joseph Barbera, William Hanna pioneered a revolution in TV animation. He brought warmth and a wonderful sense of timing to cartoons like “The Flintstones,” “Tom and Jerry,” “The Jetsons” and “Yogi Bear.” Hanna was 90.
A true insider, columnist and CNN commentator Rowland Evans, 79, tracked the Washington power game–with zest and cheerful persistence–for almost four decades with partner Robert Novak.
Politicians named young writer Richard Harwood “Black Death” Harwood–or “Death,” for short–out of fear and respect for the way he covered them. He would engender the same feelings throughout his distinguished career as reporter, editor and ombudsman at The Washington Post. Harwood is dead at 75.
Evan Thomas ((((((THE BUZZ)))))) The End of Ecstasy’s Joy Ride? Pressured by congress, a government commission last week stiffened guideline penalties for selling ecstasy. Jail terms may now be on a par with sentences for dealing heroin, cocaine. A wise move? What people are saying in print, on air and online:
It’s About Time Ecstasy isn’t just a ‘hug drug’; it’s a huge drug. Says DEA: In 2000, Customs seized 9.3 mil. pills, up from 400,000 in ‘97. The drug’s a big concern, and we have to ‘staunch this now.’ (Sen. Joseph Biden)
It’s Too Much Equal jail time for ecstasy, coke dealers–are they, uh, high? Says Eric Sterling, president, Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, ‘This is an overreaction.’
It’s Not Just Ecstasy Forget the illegal stuff. The abuse of legal drugs, like OxyContin, is a major problem. ‘We are learning that junkies prefer it to cocaine and heroin.’ (Va. attorney, Wash. Post)
It’s Misguided These measures won’t curb use; instead, they’ll flood the market with cheaper-to-make substitutes–the kind that have led to teen deaths. CELEBSFair Play How many stars does it take to change a light bulb? No idea. But we do know that it takes only one strike to transform this summer’s Public Theater production in New York’s Central Park. A-listers like Meryl Streep and Philip Seymour Hoffman have signed on, anticipating a Hollywood strike. A festival source says folks are calling from Alaska for tickets. Donors usually get guaranteed seats; there will likely be so many new ones, the theater vows to reserve some tix for the rest of us. HOME COOKINGFaking It No mad cows here. The disease hasn’t hit the United States, but some flesh eaters are thinking twice about beef. “People see animals burned in Europe, and they lose their appetite,” says a rep for the Great American Meat-Out. Luckily for these unwilling vegetarians, breakthroughs in retextured and reflavored soy can now sate the most carnal of carnivores–or so health-food makers claim. “There’s no difference,” says the Soy Foods Center’s Bill Shurtleff. “Well, if you add a slice of tomato.” PERI’s guide to the world of soybeans:
Smart Bacon Recommended by Akasha, veggie chef to the stars. Tastes good, but what’s bacon without the crinkle?
Wonderdogs Smoked yumminess of hot dog without the sausage skin–or ‘The Jungle’ connotations
Salami This mealy meat will suffice if you need a salami sandwich. We’re sticking to grilled cheese.
Boca Burger Ick! The tomato didn’t help. Neither did mustard. Or cheese. Left us asking: where’s the beef?
Chicken Breast Tastes like chicken! But attempts to shape soy into a bird breast are simply foul.
Nate’s Nate’s ‘meat’ balls are shockingly tasty. Finally, something veggie to serve on a toothpick! MANNERSSpit Happens It’s the latest cultural revolution: China is cracking down on the modern custom of spitting, which is practiced regularly by two thirds of the population, according to a recent survey. In its ongoing effort to woo the Olympics there, Beijing is fining those caught in the act $6 per gob, plus mopping. It may not be necessary: a new etiquette book is a best seller. EASTERDucks in a Row It’s getting harder and harder to keep believing in the Easter Bunny. Thanks to several recent licensing deals, the image of Peeps, the marshmallow chicks that have been hatching in stores in spring for a half century, has become something of a pop-culture symbol for the holiday. The image is showing up on greeting cards, T shirts, the Internet and, next year, a CD cover. It’s iconography that just might last longer than even the stalest Peep. NOVELTIESShot Through The Heart What’s with the funny business? One of its main gag purveyors, Franco-American Novelty, has discontinued the classic arrow-through-the-head trick, citing poor sales. Says a VP: “[The arrow] only sold a few hundred pieces [a year]. Hand buzzer–30,000 pieces; fake doggie do–one version does 75,000.” The arrow item “is a very old joke, and not a real high-quality product,” says a manager for Forum Novelties. His orders are average, he says, on par with rubber-chicken sales. “We do very well with dog do.” Great, but who gives a you-know-what.
Sure, Honey, I’ll Be Right There So many people, so much raw data waiting to be collected. PERI surveys some recent surveys:
Percentage of men who report getting a good night’s sleep on the couch: 72. Percentage of men who say that they get a good night’s sleep while in bed with their spouse: 27. (IKEA)
Percentage of college students who would rather pick up trash on campus than write a paper: 22. Percentage of students who would rather donate blood: 47. (Questia.com)
Percentage of drivers who have swerved into another lane while making a phone call: 46. Percentage of drivers who have sped up to avoid other drivers talking on their phones: 43. (Progressive Insurance)
Percentage of men more likely to remember a political ad at a urinal than at a stall: 13. (DiMassimo Brand Advertising)
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Special Spring Rolling Edition So far Bush has junked CO2 limits, quashed ergonomic and arsenic regs, backed HMOs over patients, slowed funding for needy children. Not bad for a president with no mandate.
C.W. Tax Cut = Bush, Dems agree we need one now. Which, thanks to Beltway dithering, means 2017. Cam. finance + Old: Reform is DOA. New: Holy s–t! We may be cornered into passing this! Cold war + It’s back! U.S., Russia deporting each other’s “spies.” Next: Putin bangs shoe on table. Mir + Old: Orbiting trash can. New: Soviet-era marvel. And it came down on target. Arsenic + Bush says: Forget new safety research, and keep outdated ‘42 water-safety levels. Cheers! Seattle - Earthquake, tech bubble bursts, Boeing moves HQ out. California dreamin’?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-05” author: “Elizabeth Cain”
Since Seattle, protesters have regularly targeted global-trade gatherings, becoming one of the most sophisticated, united and professional mass movements in decades. Last year the campus group United Students Against Sweatshops received more than $100,000 from unions such as United Steelworkers and the AFL-CIO. Free love has been replaced by e-mail debriefings and cells of six to 20 linked people. The Berkeley, Calif.-based Ruckus Society offers civil-disobedience training, including an “alternative spring break boot camp.” The forces will converge in Quebec to seek press attention–or, the Canadians hope, to fizzle. WILDLIFEGoing Ape You’ve heard that they may cause brain tumors, but who knew that mobile phones could also kill gorillas in the Congo? The last Grauer’s gorillas–as well as endangered elephants and antelopes–are being illegally hunted to feed miners searching for tantalum, a.k.a. coltan, a key ingredient in the capacitors that store energy in mobile phones. Environmentalists want buyers to ban tantalum from protected Congo parks, but companies like Motorola and Nokia insist that they don’t know where their suppliers get the mineral. INVESTIGATIONTorricelli Hires Some Guns Under pressure from federal prosecutors, New Jersey Sen. Robert Torricelli has hired two new ace criminal lawyers to deal with the investigation into his campaign-finance practices. He’s retained noted New York trial lawyer Ted Wells and his partner, Mark Pomerantz, formerly of U.S. Attorney Mary Jo White’s office, which is now in control of the Torricelli investigation. Wells successfully defended Democratic Party figures who got dragged into Clinton-administration scandals, including former Agriculture secretary Mike Espy. Torricelli’s decision to hire Wells suggests to some that the senator is preparing for the possibility of a trial; the new counsel has established a “dialog” with the U.S. attorney’s office, sources close to Torricelli say. One source says Torricelli’s residence was recently searched. A Torricelli spokesman declined to comment on the investigation.
((((((THE BUZZ)))))) Jordan Divests … He Scores! Can’t an aging exec lose some pounds in peace? That’s what MJ says he’s doing. But what does he know? That 1/10th of 1 percent chance he’ll return–he’d have to sell his stake in the Wizards–is plenty big to speculate about. Here’s what people are saying:
Airheads ‘He’s coming back. I know that for a fact.’ (NBA scout, SI) Fueling rumors: MJ’s working out more, with greater intensity.
Hangtime Mike, just buy an Ab Roller! It fits conveniently under your bed, where there’s less media. MJ hasn’t wavered ‘one bit’: 99.9% no means 99.9% no!
Polished Image One NCAA crown, 10 scoring titles, six NBA rings, five league MVPs, six NBA Finals MVPs-’the man has already been, almost literally, bronzed.’ (Wash. Post) He won’t risk tarnishing his reputation.
Keeping Score ‘Jordan isn’t … playing hoops all over God’s parquet earth to lose his gut.’ (USA Today) His wings have been clipped by Mario, Tiger. His Airness needs to fly again. Be Bullish Unlike that other bull market, professional bull riding is going strong–right now it’s hotter than ever. Some lingo from the circuit:
Kissing the bull: when the bull rears up and knocks the rider’s head with its own. Less romantic when horns get in the way.
Rag-doll effect: the act of flopping alongside the bull as the rider, who’s been bucked off, holds on to the rope. Also known as: a good time to let go.
Going into the well: The tendency of an off-balance rider to slide farther down the bull’s side as the animal spins quickly in one direction. As with all wells, this one’s difficult to get out of.
Bucked or thrown: A rider never, ever “falls off.” RELIGIONNext Year–In Maui? Why will next Passover be different from all other Passovers? (a) Bitter herbs optional; (b) ride to Jersey tolerable; (c) new Haggadot–the first in 27 years published by Central Conference of American Rabbis–available. Answer: c. PERI’s learned that, this November, “The Open Door” hits stores. The new edition accounts for Seder guests from non-Jewish backgrounds, and Jews’ changing relationship with Israel. Now, if it’ll just lighten up those matzo balls.MUSICLivin’ La Vida Narco There’s more to Latin music than Ricky Martin’s bon-bon. Critics on both sides of the border are attacking Mexican pop songs that glorify drugs. Los Tucanes de Tijuana and Los Tigres del Norte, in particular, are targets for their narcocorridos–often about pushers triumphing over corrupt drug officials. Although they lack any regulatory authority, Tijuana’s city council and a national business coalition are urging stations to stop playing the songs. The bands insist they’re not driving the trafficking. As Los Tucanes sing: “Each one of us is what we want to be, and we do what we want to do.”
GOVERNORS On the Road Again There are six states that don’t give the top dog a mansion. Gov. Swift has the worst of it - a 3-hour trek to work. How the others fare:
Gov. Gray Davis,Calif. Commutes 10 mi. through streets of Sacramento. MORTGAGE MONEY: gov’s house supplied by nonprofit group; he earns $165,000. CRASH SITE: none; he’s got a condo in N. Hollywood for wknds.
Gov. Howard Dean, Vt. Commutes 40 mi. from Burlington to Montpelier. LIVES WITH: wife, two kids, three-legged cat. CRASH SITE: office has mini-apartment used once during Jan. ‘98 storm.
Gov. Jane Dee Hull, Ariz. Commutes approx. 15 mi. along Squaw Peak Freeway in Phoenix. FREE RIDE: gold Cadillac. CRASH SITE: none. “We’re real casual in Arizona,” says a rep. “She likes going to her own house.”
Gov. Lincoln Almond, R.I. Commutes 5 mi. from Lincoln to Providence. FREE RIDE: Lincoln Navigator, named Rhode Island One.
Gov. Jane Swift, Mass. Commutes 133 mi. from Williamstown family farm to Boston. FREE RIDE: Ford Expedition (did take whirl in state chopper, though.) CRASH SITE: Charlestown, with her brother.
Gov. Dirk Kempthorne, Idaho Commutes 4 mi. on drive parallel to Boise River. MORTGAGE MONEY: gov. gets $4,120 per month. FREE RIDE: ‘95 Black Chevy Suburban - which he drives himself.TRANSITIONFamily Man He didn’t just hit pitchers,” said Dodgers hurler Don Sutton, “he took away their dignity.” Willie Stargell took it often; he went deep 475 times in 21 seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates. Stargell led the team to a World Series win in 1979, playing two roles: team power hitter and, at the age of 39, patriarch. “Pops,” as he was known, died at 61.
Harvey Ball’s yellow smiley face, a universal symbol of good cheer, netted him $45. Ball, 79, never got it trademarked. TRENDSMob Marketing They’re making an offer we can refuse. Tony Soprano has hit Madison Avenue, spawning menacing mobster spots for Terra Lycos, AOL Moviefone and CallATT. But how could a show so good inspire ads so bad? The muscle-bound mafiosi steal televisions, barge their way into movie theaters and threaten poor science teachers–and the American Italian Defense Association thinks it’s the HBO series that gives Italians a bad name! At least the CallATT ads have revived Vincent Pastore, who met a brutal end last year as “The Sopranos’ " Big Pussy. And, hey, anything’s better than David Arquette.
TRENDS Invest My Money and Run If you checked the mail last week, you might have gotten a fat envelope–but not from the college of your choice. Many investment houses stuffed their quarterly statements with a mea culpa meant to commiserate with investors about, as Janus put it, “a full year of gut-wrenching volatility.” “I’ve seen a lot of letters,” says the president of one advisory group. The notes may provide solace to investors in hard-hit growth and technology funds. But the clients most needing to be calmed are probably former clients now. “Investing is an emotional decision,” says an analyst. “The [firms] have to create a very warm, secure feeling or you won’t keep your money there.” If indeed you still have any.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMSpecial ‘Very Sorry’ Edition
C.W. Bush + On China: Shaky start, hawky close, but proof is in the pudding - they’re home. China = Got their “apology” now, but it’ll cost ’em later: More U.S. weapons for Taiwan. Osborn + Spy-plane pilot saved his crew in brave landing. Future guest host on “Survivor”? Wang Wei = Dead fighter pilot is “Top Gun” hero to them, crazy cowboy to us. Thump! Cheney + Talk about rich and powerful. $36 mil in income last year and he runs the world. USDA - Saw E. coli in meat plant. Didn’t close it. Toddler died. Paging Upton Sinclair.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-06” author: “Robert Mcgough”
For two years through three countries, Kopp used aliases, false passports, fake licenses and disguises. Investigators believe he fled first to Mexico, where the trail went cold. By tracking suspected associates, the Feds found a New York couple, Dennis Malvasi and Loretta Marra, who they believed were aiding Kopp. Bugs in their apartment picked up references to a common Yahoo e-mail account allegedly used by Marra and Kopp. To avoid detection, the two communicated by leaving messages in a “draft” folder–without actually sending them.
When the Feds subpoenaed the account, they found e-mails revealing a plan to sneak Kopp from France back into the United States. French police, acting on an FBI tip, nabbed Kopp while, authorities say, he was picking up a package from Marra and Malvasi (whom the Feds arrested later).
For Ashcroft the bust was “a positive story,” showing he’ll enforce the law despite his opposition to abortion, says a Justice official. The next test: persuading the French to extradite Kopp to the United States, where he could face the death penalty. NEW YORKBloomberg at the Starting Line It’s clear: billionaire media mogul Michael Bloomberg intends to run for mayor of New York next year. He’s stepped up high-profile charity work and hired political advisers. Last week he made the requisite pilgrimage to Israel. During a trip organized by AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobby, Bloomberg, who recently joined the GOP, met with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. “Am I running? Probably,” he told his new friends. “Will I win? Not a chance.” Back home, aides said a polygraph test cleared him of a 1997 sexual-harassment allegation. Did Bloomberg want to discuss it? Not a chance. CONGRESSJust Winging It How to get attention for your languishing tax-cut plan? Try slipping it into a “West Wing” episode. That’s what the Congressional Progressive Caucus did when its American People’s Dividend proposal, a $300 rebate for all working Americans, failed to gain traction in the House and Senate–or in the media. At a strategy dinner about a month ago, California Rep. Barbara Lee suggested that the hit show’s executive producer, Lawrence O’Donnell, a former staff director of the Senate Finance Committee, might find the plan interesting. Lee called O’Donnell, and what do you know: in an upcoming scene the progressives get a nod, says a “West Wing” spokeswoman. But it’s a bittersweet victory for the caucus, which has seen its rebate co-opted by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, without credit. That’s fodder for another episode. ((((((THE BUZZ))))))Testing, Testing. T1, T2 … T1, T2. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s next role? Could be Governor of California, if the Republican decides he likes the part. He’s been thinking about it, but could he be a legit Running Man in 2002? Here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online:
The Terminator Arnie’s celebrity status could wipe out the Dems’ dominance over state GOPers, who’ve ‘self-destructed with infighting.’ (N.Y. Times)
End of Days Power crisis could jolt voters into saying hasta la vista to Gov. Davis. But does Arnie have skills to light up the Golden State sky?
Predator The guy’s a Fast Action Hero, sez Premiere. Among the allegations: He groped T2 costar Linda Hamilton (he’s not commenting; she denies it)–a mild charge ‘compared to what he’s going to see later on … TV ads.’ (L.A. Times)
Junior Would take ‘a lot of heavy lifting’ for voters to think Arnie could follow in Reagan’s footsteps. (Wash. Post) Ah-nuld, the Great Communicator? That’s about as unlikely as one of his flicks. BASEBALLWild Boys The long winter’s over, but two players are in for a chilly reception if they don’t get on track:
RICK ANKIEL PITCHER, ST. LOUIS CARDINALS Worst day at office: Oct. 3; throws five wild pitches in third inning, breaks 110-year record. Spring flings: Still juusta bit outside: 13 walks in 6 1/3 innings. Self-help mantra: “It’s something you have to battle.” Paging Dr…. Harvey Dorfman. Prognosis: Could test limits of the high strike.
CHUCK KNOBLAUCH LEFT FIELD, N.Y. YANKEES Worst day at office: June 15; makes three throwing errors at second, removes himself from game. Spring flings: After seven bad throws in three days, shipped to left. Self-help mantra: “You’ve got to accept what’s going on.” Paging Dr…. Melfi? Has reportedly worked with counselor; details are vague. Prognosis: Good; yet to hit any sportscasters’ mothers in the face. TRANSITIONArtist of Buttoned-Down Cool More than anyone except Duke Ellington–who had a half-ironic attitude toward highbrowdom–pianist and composer John Lewis, who died last week at 80, helped make jazz a capital-A Art. He wrote for and played on Miles Davis’s buttoned-down “Birth of the Cool” sessions in 1949. His Modern Jazz Quartet wore tuxedos and played concert halls; its music reflected both bop and Bach. Some folks–even Milt Jackson, the MJQ’s soulful vibraphonist–had a problem with this. But in the junkie-jazz era of the 1950s, musicians wanted some respect, and needed a sense of pride. And nobody ever said John Lewis couldn’t play his tails off.–David GatesGray Lady ISO Sexy New Readers First, color pics. Now, The New York Times will run personals on Sundays. Could the newspaper get any crazier? Some ads we’d like to see: RUSSIADrinking Alone Hearing voices? It’s just the vodka talking. In Russia, there’s a chatty vodka cap that toasts and giggles when it’s turned–the more times you hit the bottle, the more the “little vodka spirit” slurs its speeches. The 14-phrase repertoire–from “Let’s pour!” to famous Russki drinking songs–cheerfully demands inebriation. For only $5, comrades also buy a handy excuse: the vodka made me do it.
EASTER EGG HUNT I’d Like My Eggs Very Large This Easter, the eggs are particularly incredible and edible. Chocolatiers are offering fabulous, ostrich-size eggs. Maribel Lieberman, of Lunettes et Chocolat in New York, says the big eggs have a way of announcing fertility and spring. “Small eggs are fine for children, but the big egg is the flag of Easter.” A half dozen: OSCARSHanks Thanks It may be a tad early for PERI to make its ‘02 picks–but, hey, we batted 1,000 this year and we’re feeling cocky. Our very early line:
Best actor: Tom Hanks, a gangster in “Road to Perdition” Supporting actor: Jude Law for “Perdition” or Ben Kingsley, a thug in “Sexy Beast” Best actress: Nicole Kidman for musical “Moulin Rouge” or Meryl Streep for “The Hours” or “Adaptation” Supporting actress: Jennifer Connelly for “A Beautiful Mind” or Julianne Moore for “The Hours” Best pic: “Beautiful Mind.” Contenders: “Rouge,” “The Hours,” “Possession,” “Perdition” and “The Shipping News.“SOUVENIRSGone Shoppin’ Don’t know about the tax cut, but W’s sure bolstering the economy in Crawford, Texas. In the 681-population town near his ranch, the coffee is shipping Bush T shirts and the gas station is opening a new gift shop. CONVENTIONAL WISDOMSpecial T-Ball Edition In the best move of his presidency, Dubya has Hall of Famers to White House, where he plans T-ball field on South Lawn for tykes. But only after drilling for oil.
C.W. A-Rod + $252 million man is greatest SS ever. Rangers lament: Too bad he can’t pitch, too. Bosox - Spring injuries, strife mean Yanks get free pass to playoffs. Too bad Pedro can’t bat, too. Crybabies - F. Thomas, Sheffield whine that eight figures is not enough. That’s Big Hurt. Gooden + Drugs cost Dr. K the Hall but unlike sad Strawberry, he goes out with class. High Strike = CW sez: Forget high strike zone and work on high ticket prices, corporate plug pollution. Toe Nash + Obscure, weird-named Devil Ray prospect might be “The Natural.” If he stays outta jail.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-21” author: “Vincent Fisher”
A series of train wrecks in recent years have exposed serious infrastructure flaws in the rail system, privatized seven years ago; about 100 new trains sit idle, many just waiting to clear safety checks. State-run hospitals may not all be “old and Victorian”–as London resident Madonna complained–but the National Health Service is beset by a nurse shortage and long waiting lists. State schools are battling an exodus of teachers, compounded by a fizzled recruiting drive by the government. And then there are financial embarrassments like the £758 million Millennium Dome (which the government is now struggling to unload at cut-rate prices) and the £18 million Millennium Bridge (a footbridge across the Thames, closed for safety reasons the day it opened).
So, does Tony Blair walk on water? Yes–buoyed by his so-called opposition, the Conservative Party. Blair’s youthful appeal and his party’s makeover from the doctrinaire socialist party of the 1970s are enormous assets. But he benefits even more from the fact that Britons remain abidingly tired of the Tories. Eighteen years of Margaret Thatcher and John Major? That memory alone seems to exempt Blair from any responsibility for his country’s afflictions. Indeed, Blair’s entire first term has been one long honeymoon. As for his second? He has another week or so to decide whether the election is to be held, as once expected, on May 3. He’s desperate to go ahead: after all, if you’re Teflon Tony, why delay when you look OK? But events could force him to delay if his good fortune, for once, fails him. MAOIST MANNERSSpit Happens It’s the latest Cultural Revolution: China has begun cracking down on the custom of spitting. The unhygienic–not to mention disgusting–habit is practiced regularly by two thirds of adults recently surveyed by a market research company. The streets just aren’t safe: cabbies and bicyclists are especially notorious for their drive-by spittings. But in its ongoing effort to win the 2008 Olympics, Beijing is trying to stop the spitters in their tracks. The government is imposing fines on anyone caught in the act–$6 per gob, and they have to wipe up their mess. Thankfully, there’s also some positive reinforcement for the campaign against uncouthness. A recently published book, “Etiquette for the Modern Chinese,” exhorts citizens to be “stylish, tasteful and cultivated.” And, of course, not to spit. GERMANYOrdnung… Pretty Please? Germans have long struggled with their post-Holocaust identity. Is it at last OK to be German? “[We] must show pride in our country,” says Gen. Sec. Thomas Goppel, Christian Socialist Union. Here are the rules:
Politically incorrect: “I am proud to be a German.” –Gen. Sec. Laurenz Meyer, Christian Democratic Party
Far-right members echo his words, wearing them on patches stitched onto their jackets.
Politically correct: “One should be ’thankful’ and ‘glad’ to be German.” –President Johannes Rau
Third way: “I am proud of the achievements of the people and the democratic culture.” –Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder
PC police: “[Saying] I am proud to be a German suggests at the same time that it isn’t good if one isn’t German.” –Social Democrat Peter Struck
PC or die: “Not even over my dead body could I say that I am proud to be a German.” –Free Democrat Cornelia Schmalz-Jacobsen
If even the top minds can’t decide, what’s a poor German to do?
LUXURY Concierge, Send Up the Ornithologist! Heaven forbid they lower rates, luxury hotels are competing for customers instead with outrageous amenities. “They’ve done everything short of offering the general manager’s daughter. That’s probably next,” says Allan Ripp of Zagat’s hotel survey.
VACANCY: Guests of the exclusive Aruba Sonesta Beach Resort can rent neighboring 40-acre Sonesta Island for $2,000-$7,000 per night. Dinner and dancing included.
HAWKING ROOMS: The Ritz-Carlton New York, opening next year, plans to offer an ornithologist to assist in bird watching from telescope-equipped rooms. Also: a water sommelier.
SUITE WITH CHILDREN: Adjoining nanny rooms in Gorham Hotel suites and multilingual babysitters at the Mercer, moth in New York City: working to keep the children happy, too.
‘PETALING’ LUXURY: La Casa Que Canta in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, leaves flower-petal mosaics on the bed at turndown. And you thought one chocolate was neato. ARTGenius… or Ridiculous? Modern art has always had its pretentions, but the Proto-Mu art group has taken things a step further. Its latest exhibit in Birmingham, England, is entitled “Exhibition to Be Constructed in Your Head.” The display boasts 2,500 square feet of whitewashed wall space and 60 images of, well, nothing. Twenty-eight artists have written labels encouraging viewers to participate: “Take things for what they are, not what you think they are,” reads one. Another suggests a “Solid gold ball floating in otherwise empty space.” Solid-gold ball, you say? The artists claim a lot of thought went into the project. Maybe they just couldn’t come up with anything to fill the gallery. AMERICANATrash Talk Americans just love- the open road, especially the denizens of those clunky homes-on-wheels that trundle along behind pickups and rest in trailer parks. Culture snobs dub such folk “trailer trash,” but not everyone sees them that way. Neil Nesslage, a 28-year-old factory worker from Missouri, set up a Web site, missouritrailertrash .com, to explain that trailer dwellers aren’t just po’ folk who don’t know nuttin’. His life and views, as told to PERI:
I was tired of renting an apartment. The only houses we could afford were old and run-down, so we thought… A trailer. Everything was new.
Tornadoes. I hate that feeling I get when the sky turns green and the clouds get thick. A basement would be nice!
Entertainment’s the main reason, but I have a point to make. Just because you live in a trailer doesn’t make you trailer trash. I’m not making fun of poor people. I’m making fun of trash. It’s the stereotype that all trailer dwellers must live with, whether we like it or not. So I may as well have fun with it.
People get creative, like using a dump-truck hood for an awning. One put a single-wide trailer on such a steep hill that the front was actually resting on the ground and the rear was about 30 feet in the air. And I’m talking about just using your regular concrete blocks. How safe is that? That guy has to worry about tornadoes and earthquakes!
Yes, because no two are alike. Kinda like when you see abstract art made entirely of junk in a museum. You don’t know what to make of it, and it means something different to everyone.
I think they’re in a class of their own.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-30” author: “Scott Wessells”
While Bush would slash spending on energy-efficiency programs, he does increase outlays for research on wind, solar and other renewables. But that comes with a trade-off. Funding would flow only from fees earned on increased oil and gas leasing on federal lands. Bush officials put the total R & D budget at $95 billion, the highest ever, but the money is mainly targeted to two areas: the National Institutes of Health and the Defense Department. Among the losers are NASA and Commerce’s semiconductor and communications technology programs.
The budget does contain good news for U.S. military contractors involved in the Latin American drug war. NEWSWEEK has learned that Bush proposes an increase of $800 million to expand anti-narcotics assistance in the Andean region. Not appearing in the public budget: millions of dollars in “black” U.S. intelligence assistance, including funding for covert programs to neutralize right-wing paramilitary forces with links to drug traffickers. Also planned: money for a highly sensitive “mycoherbicide” test program in Colombia that involves unleashing a plant-killing fungus on the nation’s coca crop.
RUSSIA Putin’s Coup Against a Free Press Russians seeking independent voices in the media had better tune in quick. NTV, the major privately held network that’s been critical of President Vladimir Putin, is being taken over by Gazprom, its state-owned creditor. Meanwhile, smaller news outlets face tougher government scrutiny, and journalists at Itogi (published by NTV founder Vladimir Gusinsky in cooperation with NEWSWEEK) fear they will soon be locked out and replaced by less critical reporters.
The Gusinsky cause is attracting some star power. Ted Turner would like to purchase a 30 percent stake in NTV, and German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder talked to Gusinsky’s radio station, a clear sign of support. Mikhail Gorbachev, an NTV trustee, spoke out against Putin’s moves. “We won’t engage in any contacts with these usurpers,” the ex-president said. If Gusinsky loses, the result may be All Putin, All the Time. EGYPTAIRA New Theory As the National Transportation Safety Board readies its report on the crash of EgyptAir Flight 990, the Egyptians continue to press U.S. investigators to consider an explanation for the disaster other than a suicidal pilot. The latest issue raised by American experts hired by the Egyptians: could Flight 990 have been brought down by a mechanical problem like the one experienced recently by an American Airlines Boeing 767 attempting to land in Paris? Officials at Boeing and the NTSB say the Paris incident is under investigation, but they think the problem is irrelevant to the EgyptAir crash.
((((((THE BUZZ)))))) You Light Up My Strife Let the Games begin! Just not in China, says the U.S. Beijing’s bid for the 2008 Games is as warmly embraced here as our EP-3E spy plane is there. Has this debacle hurt the city’s chances of getting the nod? Here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online:
Punch Line China’s given itself a ‘huge black eye’ (Scripps Howard), but it’ll heal. ‘Only another massacre in Tiananmen Square will deny’ China its dream. (Edmonton Sun)
European Vacation Says IOC member, ‘Beijing’s time has come.’ Hastening its arrival is Europe’s Olympics monopoly: Athens in 2004, Turin, Italy, in 2006.
Pardon Moi ‘Hopes are high’ (Independent, London) in Paris, a top ‘08 contender. More than 60% of the infrastructure needed to host the Games is already in place. No beach volleyball at Normandy, Mesdames et Messieurs
The Bronze Goes to … Istanbul (‘a longshot,’ Toronto Sun), Toronto (problem: commuter chaos)– and Osaka, Japan, the host getting cheers from that guy who tuned in to the ‘98 Nagano Games MUSIC VIDEOSWalken Around His characters are shifty, but who knew Christopher Walken had such moves? In Fatboy Slim’s “Weapon of Choice” video, Walken dances around a hotel– it’s the Marriott in downtown L.A., says director Spike Jonze–armed with a nice repertoire of steps. (See “Pennies From Heaven” for more.) Says MTV’s prez, “It’s the ultimate dance video.” CALIFORNIAElectric Shock California’s energy crisis is leading to Gov. Gray Davis’s own struggle for power. Last week the state’s largest utility, Pacific Gas and Electric, declared bankruptcy–the morning after Davis pledged to help the utilities recoup some of the billions they’ve lost. The news has Davis’s fellow Democrats grumbling about his handling of the situation. Things may only get worse: the state’s other giant utility, Southern California Edison, could fold if it can’t negotiate a bailout. The governor, who is up for re-election next year, is slipping in the polls. “It’s make or break time for Gray,” says a leading Dem.But Where’s the White Spandex Unitard? On Oct 5, the ABBA musical “Mamma Mia!” hits Broadway’s Winter Garden (former home of “Cats,” that other insanely successful pop-culture catastrophe). Can’t wait? No need to “S.O.S.” There’re plenty of knockoffs with nonsensical lyrics and the patented 2 blonde-2 brunette combo. (Graphic omitted) SNACKSOpen Up and Say ‘Blaaaahhh’ Please, play with your food–that’s the message munchie makers are now sending. The goal: to entice young snackers with products that magically change color. “Parents think it’s just awful,” says an analyst. “There has to be appeal in that.” Food with some ’tude:
Dannon Sprinkl’ins Yogurt Mix ‘sprinkl’ins’ (baby sprinkles) with vanilla yogurt for a rainbow of eating options
Kool-Aid Magic Twists Comes in Grape Illusion, Changin’ Cherry. The twist: mix is one color, drink is another.
Cheetos Mystery Colorz These puffs tint your tongue a bright blue or green–as if the existing orange color isn’t mystery enough
Quaker Treasure Hunt Oatmeal You’ll find brown chests and yellow keys that turn into emeralds, rubies and coins. Just add hot water, matey. BEAUTYDon’t Melt the Patients’ Plastic As if plastic surgery wasn’t hard enough, post-op patients also had to worry about salon treatments’ damaging the merchandise. Now, Dr. Steven Wallach is easing their minds along with their signs of aging, lecturing upscale salons like Frederic Fekkai and Avon in New York City on dealing with recently nipped, tucked and/or suctioned patients. His pointers: Don’t dye the hair for three weeks to keep chemicals out of a face-lift’s scalp sutures. Stylists must be cautious, too, so “no sharp combs.” A facial after a nose job? “Don’t touch my work!” for at least three weeks. But go for a massage a few days after lipo. “It may get rid of some of that kind of lumpy-bumpy feeling.”
WILDLIFE Horse: The Other Red Meat Mad cow is creating some real “horse power.” Equine consumption is on the rise in Europe, driving up demand for horseflesh and, some American animal-rights activists fear, encouraging the slaughter of majestic wild mustangs in the United States. Always considered a delicacy by some, horse meat has soared in popularity because it seems unable to carry mad-cow disease. U.S. and Canadian slaughterhouses are happy to help feed the increased demand, paying horse owners 50 percent more for the animals than last year. Though the Bureau of Land Management has tried to stem the slaughter of mustangs–people who adopt one from federal rangelands promise that they do not intend to sell it for meat–566, about 10 percent of those adopted annually, were sold for supper this past year. STYLEVacation Kitsch Meets Urban Hip Daydreaming about a walk on the beach? a new fashion trend can help. Destination T shirts–new and vintage–are popping up in stores from New York boutiques to Urban Outfitters and Old Navy, which is stocking Costa Rica and Hawaii tees. Says Chris Teneyck of Filth Mart, a vintage T shirt store: “It’s great to have something that brings back a memory. Like, ‘My mother went to Gillette, Wy., and all she got me was this stupid shirt’.” On second thought, maybe a trip like that isn’t worth remembering.CONVENTIONAL WISDOMSpecial Chinese Box Edition The spy-plane crisis illuminated complexities in U.S.-China relations. CW is in no mood to apologize, but wonders just how mad we’d be if the roles were reversed.
C.W. Bush = Muddles through China mess, but shoulda used hot line even though it was Bill C.’s idea. Powell + On China, the general’s in command - as long as things go well. Jiang = Caught between the hard-liners and a hard place. The Olympics will always have Paris. Jeffords + Vt. sen. stands firm in tax “torture chamber.” One gutsy GOPer saves billions for education. CEOs - Eisner and others rake in megabucks while stocks tank. Talk about Mickey Mouse. MIT + Puts almost all coursework online for free. now anybody can be a nerd!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-29” author: “Linda Heinen”
That won’t be easy. Women have been barred from the imperial seat since 1889, when politicians and legal scholars “modernized” Japan by writing them out of power, even though 10 monarchs had in fact been female. “Women’s ability to conduct official matters is inferior to that of men,” concluded a 1947 parliamentary committee. You can only wonder what Princess Masako might say to that: she speaks five languages and graduated from Harvard.
A younger, more liberated Japan thinks it’s time for a change. Last week six opposition lawmakers (all women) took an unprecedented first step toward doing so. They summoned four experts from the Upper House Legislative Bureau to report on how best to revise the 1947 Imperial Household Act. Feminist groups and progressive politicians are joining the cause. And so are conservatives hoping to preserve their dynasty.
Japan is not known for precipitious change. So it is reassuring to hear so many voices calling for reform. Even monarchies can become modern. OOPS…You’ve Sunk My Battleship! Another U.S. Navy mishap, another sunken ship. The USS Benjamin Stoddert, a once glorious destroyer, sank in the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 3 while being towed from Honolulu to scrapyard retirement in Texas. The tugboat crew say they tried to save the vessel as it went down “like the Titanic,” but the shipwrecking firm, International Shipbreaking Ltd., doesn’t believe it. The firm has accused the tugboat company of negligence and failure to use “all reasonable efforts to save her,” costing the company $1.3 million in profits from sales of the Stoddert’s parts. Latham Smith, president of the tugboat company, claims the Stoddert was a “rotten old ship,” adding that it was never seaworthy in the first place. Many disagree: “This is something like a friend of yours dying,” says one former Vietnam War sailor. The Navy has still yet to make a public announcement of the Stoddert’s demise, citing a pending investigation. Clearly it prefers to deal with the deaths of its beloved vessels privately. WAR AND PEACEMiddle East Power Play When Israeli tanks rolled into the Gaza Strip last week, taking out police posts and hitting positions of Palestinian guerrillas, the incursions went far beyond retaliation for Palestinian mortar attacks. They were in fact evidence of an aggressive new Israeli strategy of attrition, say aides to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The new plan is to wear down Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat, striking somewhere new every day, until forces loyal to him are too tired to fight. The ultimate goal may be even more ambitious: to weaken Arafat himself or even take him out of the picture, a senior Israeli defense official tells NEWSWEEK.
This source sees Arafat as the key obstacle to progress in the Middle East–a view shared not only in Israel and increasingly in Washington, but apparently also by Arafat’s own allies. Arafat spurned former prime minister Ehud Barak’s final offer of a settlement against the impassioned advice of many senior Palestinian advisers, and according to NEWSWEEK’s source, Sharon sees this as an opportunity to exploit a considerable “cleavage” within the Palestinian leadership. But taking down the men around Arafat–and even the man himself–could well backfire. With no apparent successor, Arafat’s removal might only push the West Bank and Gaza closer to chaos. GIMMICKSCashing In on Dancing Dubya Even in souvenir land, there’s the Old Economy and there’s the New. Old: the convenience store in George W. Bush’s hometown of Crawford, Texas, hawking Bush memorabilia–key chains, baseball caps, even a beer-bottle holder–to tourists from all over the world. New: the cybertoy that has caught the eye of Palm owners everywhere. Palmies have been downloading a Dancing Dubya, a.k.a. the PortaBush, from eruptor.com. And is it ever virtual! It swills beer, passes gas–everything that a good-time Bushie could do. No wonder during the recent standoff between Washington and Beijing, 80 percent of the company’s downloads came from China. Only problem with this Bush? He’s not programmed to say he’s very sorry. VOWSAll the World’s a Stage… for Me Brett Banfe, 19, must be one of the most dedicated kids in America. Or the craziest. Last September he embarked on a self-imposed year of silence to prove a point about our fast-paced lives in a world that doesn’t often stop to listen. Though silent, Brett is carrying on with life as “usual”–attending university in his native New Jersey and hanging out with friends. Naturally, he’s set up a Web site, too, notspeaking.com. PERI tried to break his silence by interviewing him, but he wouldn’t crack. E-mail only:
BANFE: Imagine being 20 years old and having accomplished something that great! It would be a priceless lesson in interaction. I could either pretend I didn’t have this epiphany, and continue on with my life, or I could commit to it.
Relations are improving. I’m listening to them. Listening is our most important social interaction, yet we spend the least time cultivating it.
No. If I wanted to, I would just stop doing it.
I hope to inspire people to do whatever they want to do. If it’s silence, then that’s great, because I truly understand the power of silence, and observation, and listening to people. If it’s losing weight, that’s great, too. If it’s quitting smoking, like my mom did on the same day I gave up speaking, even better.
I feel incredible. I feel like I can do anything, like I’m the main character in the movie of my life, and it’s all gonna work out in the end.
WORLD WARS Food Fight! Italian agriculture Minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio has launched the first strike in what promises to mushroom into the Global Pizza Wars, by trying to register pizza with the World Heritage Commission as an international “immaterial treasure.” He claims, like many others, that pizza originated in Naples or Sicily–and Italy should get the credit it deserves. For too long, fraudulent chefs have been cooking up the tasty dish as though it were their own.
Scanio may have pie on his face. Both Greece and the United States have long boasted of inventing the pizza. Rick Consiglio, owner of famed Sally’s Pizza in New Haven, Connecticut, considers the dish to be “definitely American.” As Consiglio sees it, his Old World cousins don’t even know how to make a good ‘za. “The Italians haven’t got a clue,” he tells NEWSWEEK. Yes, welcome to the pizza wars. Or at least a family food fight.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-21” author: “June Anderson”
Bracing for a ‘Pearl Harbor’ Inquiry
Is Congress moving closer to a “Pearl Harbor-like” inquiry into the 9-11 attack? In the days after the assault, Capitol Hill leaders privately discussed a probe patterned after the landmark inquiries of the 1940s into U.S. intelligence lapses preceding the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. But they agreed to back off from any hearings so as not to interfere with Justice’s probe into the terrorist assault. Now the mood is changing. Senate Judiciary Committee chair Patrick Leahy recently demanded that Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Bob Mueller ensure that all documents relating to the events of September 11 are preserved. “We know what can happen–just look at Ruby Ridge,” explains one Judiciary staffer, referring to findings that FBI officials destroyed incriminating documents on the 1992 Idaho siege. NEWSWEEK has learned Mueller has ordered that sensitive files pointing to prior FBI knowledge of the hijackers and related terrorism investigations be shipped to Washington. “We fully expect we’re going to have to hand over every scrap of paper before this is over,” says one FBI official.
There is no shortage of matters to investigate. Sources tell NEWSWEEK that, in the year prior to September 11, the FBI allowed some counterintelligence wiretaps of suspected terrorists in the New York area to lapse. In addition, some tapes of terrorist suspects were never transcribed for a lack of Arabic translators. (An FBI official insists that nothing on the tapes would have alerted officials to an upcoming attack.) Another big issue is intelligence sharing. In August the CIA alerted the bureau that two suspected terrorists–Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi–might have entered the country. The FBI says it was vigorously looking for them up until September 11, when the two men helped hijack the first plane that flew into the World Trade Center. Yet Justice officials recently discovered that key public databases–including California motor-vehicle records–may never have been checked.
Meanwhile, criticism mounts over questions of civil liberties. Last week Justice declared that prosecutors could, without seeking judicial approval, eavesdrop on phone calls between detainees and their lawyers. Critics point out that if prosecutors had evidence that a suspected terrorist was sending messages to confederates through his defense lawyer, they could always get a secret court warrant to eavesdrop. By issuing a public regulation–and then informing the lawyer that the phone call was being monitored, as the rule requires–Justice has guaranteed that the suspects will clam up. “They badly need a break in this case, but instead they’ve just blown it,” says one Senate staffer. A top Justice official disagrees. “This is about disruption and prevention, as opposed to making a case against somebody,” the official says. “It’s about saving lives.”
INTERVIEW
In the Shadow Of Osama
Tell me a bit about your family. My father was an extremely successful businessman. He started as a simple porter and ended as a billionaire. We are 54 brothers and sisters from more than 20 different mothers. Each of my father’s wives had her own house, separate from the others in the family. I grew up with my mother and my two brothers and a sister. Osama was the only child of my father and his mother and therefore had very little contact with me or my side of the family.
What was your religious upbringing? We were all raised as Muslims, but many of us do not actively practice the religion. My father always encouraged us to be tolerant and open-minded. In Lebanon, where I went to boarding school, we did not study religion. Those who were educated in Saudi Arabia were raised in a cosmopolitan way, and some, like Osama, received more religious training. I know that Osama is more religious and has a different mentality than the rest of the family.
Tell me about your relationship with the Saudi royal family. When my father died, we had a big construction company and a lot of property, but we were all very young. I was only 16, and my oldest brothers were in their early 20s. King Faysal said, “You are my children now.” And he took care of us. He appointed a committee of five or six people to run the business and also take a parental role until my brothers were old enough. When questions came up [about finances or personal matters], the king always had the final word. He kept the family together. I feel like [the royal family] is my family.
What was your reaction to the terrorist attacks of Septtember 11? It was horrible. I couldn’t believe that people could do that.
What can you tell me about Osama, the man believed to be behind those attacks? Although we share the same last name, we do not share the same interests or values. We grew up differently. I have only seen the man five or six times in my life, at family occasions like the funeral of my father. I left Saudi Arabia in 1985 to live in Europe, and I have not closely followed the political activities of my family.
Even before September 11, you were under intense pressure from U.S. intelligence agents. Can you talk about that? I take it as part of my life to be under constant surveillance. I believe my phones, faxes and e-mails are under permanent watch. But they are welcome to listen. I have done nothing wrong or illegal. In the end, good people will distinguish between right and wrong and not cultivate wrong pictures or prejudices.
Are you willing to help U.S. investigators trace Osama’s assets? I live in Switzerland and am happy to cooperate with the Swiss authorities. It is a crime in Switzerland for any person to cooperate with a foreign government.
Have you funneled money to Al Qaeda, as U.S. intelligence agents suspect? This is ridiculous. The answer is no.
Do other family members financially support Osama? I don’t believe that is the case. To my knowledge no one finances him. If some close or far member of the family does, then that person is responsible for his own actions. The family will not support or assist or protect him.
EGYPTAIR 990 A CONNECTION? The September 11 hijackings have raised new questions about the 1999 crash of EgyptAir Flight 990. U.S. investigators believe the plane went down because relief copilot Gamil al-Batouti deliberately put it into a fatal nose dive while repeating the Muslim prayer “I rely on God.” Privately, they think Batouti became suicidal after airline superiors told him he was being grounded as a result of sexual-harassment complaints lodged against him by female guests and workers at a New York hotel. But sources close to the inquiry now wonder whether there may have been a terrorist connection. They point out that more than 30 Egyptian military officers–reportedly including seven generals–were on the Boeing 767, making it a potentially compelling target for terrorists linked to Osama bin Laden. The investigation is still open, but U.S. officials show little interest in revisiting the terrorism issue. A source close to EgyptAir says there is no evidence to suggest a terrorist connection.
CLINTON
Formerly Busy
RACE
A Hateful Halloween
The fraternities have apologized, and investigations are underway at all three schools. But to hate-crime experts the incidents reflect a disturbing attitude among some students that such behavior isn’t out of bounds–even in 2001. Vern E. Smith
TRANSITION
The Psychedelic Prankster
AIRPORTS
Packing It In
CULTURE
Art Markets: Hot and Cold
Gallery sales in Manhattan’s hip art neighborhoods of Chelsea and SoHo are down precipitously, and more than one dealer has admitted–off the record–to not selling a single work of art since the terrorist attacks. (It could be, though, that collectors of the newest and edgiest art are simply waiting to see what artists create in response to September 11.) But last Monday night, upstart No. 3 auction house Phillips, de Pury & Luxembourg sold 72 works by Leger, Modigliani and others for a total of $78.2 million, just about matching its conservative estimate. (Caveat: Phillips guaranteed the heirs to the auctioned Smooke Collection a considerable amount–which it won’t reveal–just to get the goods under its gavel.) The next night Christie’s put the Rene Gaffe collection of early modern art on the block and pulled in $73.3 million for its 25 works. (Mitigating circumstance: 100 percent of the proceeds went to UNICEF, so bidding was buoyed by charity.) The rest of the sale brought in an additional $35.6 million, including world records for a Leger painting ($16.7 million) and a Picasso sculpture (a tick under $5 million).
All this happened in spite of the fact that the trial of former Sotheby’s head Alfred Taubman on charges of commission price-fixing opens in Manhattan this week. A civil settlement on the matter is already costing Sotheby’s and fellow fixer Christie’s a whopping $512 million. In these uncertain times, it may be smart to move part of your portfolio from stocks and bonds to oil and canvas. And it’s much more fun than staring at stock certificates while they appreciate.
KIDS
A Taliban Tale
ANIMATED MOVIES
Green With Envy
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Special Perserverance Edition
C.W. Bush = Talking the talk like he did in September. What’s left? Walking the walk. CIA - Pakistani reporter meets bin Laden for invu, but billion-dollar spooks still in the dark. Ashcroft - Nation’s priorities: terror, terror, terror. AG’s: Mercy docs in OR and medicinal pot in CA. Mineta - Trans. sec. promises to hold airport screeners accountable. Guess what: you’re accountable. Bloomberg + $$$, Rudy make Mike mayor. After four years, he’ll want to spend twice as much to get out. Dems + Retake statehouses in VA, NJ. GOPs better get in tune for ‘02. Tax cuts don’t cut it.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-25” author: “Terry Brown”
There’s reason for concern. Law-enforcement officials are convinced that bin Laden is preparing for a second wave of terror attacks in the near future. Last week, NEWSWEEK has learned, the CIA received numerous reports from “walk-ins” and electronic intercepts that bin Laden has given a “green light” to Al Qaeda cells operating in Western Europe and the United States to launch terrorist operations. “They were told: ‘You don’t have to wait for coded messages from Kabul’,” one intelligence official told NEWSWEEK.
But one top FBI official insists the bureau is quietly making “huge progress.” The global dragnet laid by U.S. law-enforcement and intelligence services is yielding important breaks. And most important, says the official, a few Al Qaeda operatives swept up since Sept. 11 are beginning to cooperate. In recent days, for example, the Jordanian General Intelligence Directorate detained a suspected bin Laden soldier, identified only as “Shakir.” The suspect, according to a U.S. intelligence official, is believed to have ties to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, last year’s attack on the USS Cole and a key terrorist summit in Malaysia in January 2000. The Malaysia meeting was attended by two of the Sept. 11 hijackers, Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi. Jordan won’t give the FBI access to Shakir, but it’s agreed to share whatever it learns with U.S. investigators. And U.S. officials are cautiously optimistic about cooperation they’re receiving from foreign governments–even those identified by the State Department as harborers of terrorists. A case in point: Sudan, which for years sheltered bin Laden, recently offered the FBI the chance to interview three suspected bin Laden associates.
The FBI is also making progress tracing back the money trail from the Sept. 11 attacks. One recent break: investigators learned that numerous flight-training videos were purchased with a Visa card belonging to Marwan Al-Shehhi, a hijacker on United Flight 175. One video was entitled “Citybird: A Cockpit View of a Flight From Belgium to Los Angeles.” The videos were sent to an address in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates used by a man named Isam Mansour. In July and August of this year, $19,500 was wired from Mansour’s account in Dubai to Al-Shehhi’s Sun Trust account in Florida, according to a senior FBI source. U.S. investigators believe the United Arab Emirates may have been the financial hub of the Sept. 11 plot. The suspected paymaster of the operation, a Saudi bin Laden operative named Mustafa Ahmed, was based in Dubai and, according to an FBI source, received $18,260 in Western Union and wire transfers from three of the hijackers in the waking hours preceding the Sept. 11 attacks.
HEALTH Now, ‘WTC Syndrome’ New York-area physicians have begun seeing a series of illnesses among emergency workers and others who were trapped in the dense plumes of dust and debris on Sept. 11 after the Twin Towers collapsed. Dubbed World Trade Center Syndrome, the ailments range from unrelenting coughs and sinus infections to posttraumatic stress and acute lung traumas, including severe asthma requiring mechanical respiration.
The syndrome appears to be endemic among firefighters. Of the 11,000 members of the New York City Fire Department who worked round the clock following the terrorist assault, 40 percent are still coughing so badly they are under medical care, says Dr. David Prezant, the chief pulmonary physician for the force. Nearly 4,000 firefighters are being treated with steroid inhalants. And at least one is suffering from allergic alveolitis, a rare inflammation of the lung surface. Even people who spent only a few hours in the dust storm have suffered. In one especially troubling case, a Wall Street Journal editor whose office is located across the street from the WTC was fighting for his life last week after developing vasculitis, an autoimmune disease which may have been caused by ingesting the dust.
No one is yet speculating on the long-term prognosis. But in a random sample of 100 sick firefighters, 25 percent were found to have airway hyperreactivity, a strong indication they may develop asthma as a result of their exposure. “This is a major problem that no one is talking about,” says Prezant. “We don’t know if [these conditions] will be permanent.”
SUSPECTS Cracking Down American officials have complained for years that England was a haven for Al Qaeda. But since Sept. 11, the British have appeared to be cracking down. Last week Scotland Yard picked up Yasser El-Sirri, an Egyptian alleged by U.S. intelligence to be a Qaeda recruiter. El-Sirri is suspected of aiding the suicide bombers who killed a key Northern Alliance leader using a booby-trapped TV camera three days before the WTC attacks. El-Sirri faces two death sentences for terrorist offenses in Egypt, but the Brits were reluctant to act against him because his convictions were handed down by Egyptian military courts.
Also under British scrutiny is Abu Qatada, a Palestinian preacher whom U.S. officials describe as a “senior agent for bin Laden in Europe.” German sources say that Abu Qatada videotapes were found in the Hamburg apartment of an associate of the Sept. 11 hijackers. The preacher is wanted in Jordan in connection with two terrorist plots. But Jordanian officials secretly told Britain they fear that Abu Qatada’s return to Amman could spark terror attacks there. Tony Blair’s government now plans to introduce a new law that would allow Abu Qatada and other foreign terror suspects to be detained indefinitely without trial.
HEARTLAND Growing Tab With the country on high alert, mayors across the nation are coming down with anthrax-related pain of their own. Local police and fire departments–already providing beefed-up security–have been flooded with reports of suspicious powders and packages. All this vigilance, coupled with an economic downturn, is breaking municipal budgets. Each time the hazmat unit leaves the firehouse in Beaumont, Texas (population: 115,000), it costs the city about $400; it has responded to nearly 50 calls so far. After their 911 operators were deluged, officials in Madison, Wis., launched a PR campaign to tell people what to look for and when to call. Still, they’ve spent $200,000 already on false alarms. St. Paul Mayor Norm Coleman appointed a city-security czar and accelerated the police-academy class to get more cops on the street–which will cost millions. Atlanta has spent $15 million. Philadelphia predicts a bill of $60 million. Last week, in Washington, D.C., mayors pressed Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge for help. But Ridge, promising a comprehensive domestic-defense plan, was silent about who would pick up the tab.
Peg Tyre PHOTOS Communal Event It could be called “inundation therapy”: if something bothers you, plunge deeper into it. That’s what overflow crowds have been doing since Sept. 28 at an energetically overcrowded photography show called “Here Is New York.” In a SoHo storefront, hundreds of galvanizing pictures of the events of Sept. 11 and their aftermath–taken by prize-winning photojournalists and local amateurs alike–are on sale for $25 each, with the net proceeds going to the Children’s Aid Society’s WTC Relief Fund. Hey, we feel better already.
TELEVISION Fiction, Too Close to Fact? What do you do when the coolest scene in a hot new TV drama centers on a terrorist’s blowing up an airplane? The folks behind Fox’s “24” didn’t know either. Right after Sept. 11, they said they’d keep the scene. Then they said they’d cut it. Now that “24” is debuting next week, it turns out the producers compromised. We don’t see the explosion, but flying pieces of burning fuselage make clear what happened. “24” is about a government agent (Kiefer Sutherland) trying to stop the assassination of a politician, so there wasn’t much choice. Without the plane scene, the rest of the show wouldn’t make sense. Still, it’s hard to say if the producers’ solution will work. “I think the explicitness of an image is what might make people uncomfortable, not the idea that bad things are happening in the world,” explains co-executive producer Robert Cochran. In short, “24” is gambling that viewers will separate terrorism fact from fiction. “There’s a lot of sick people in the world,” says co-executive producer Joel Surnow, “and people still watch ‘ER’.’’
NEW YORK Two Tallies Six weeks after the attacks, the official New York death toll is down to 4,764, but a New York Times survey counts only 2,950. If the Times is right, it’s a historical first–city disaster tolls are usually too small. (The 1906 San Francisco quake wracked Chinatown; lists show 12 Asian names.)
The real number is probably in the middle. Media tolls don’t rely on as many sources as the police list. That means fewer names, but also fewer errors. The city list is fraught with duplications–one woman was listed 12 times–and “missing” people who turned up later. Police say they won’t release their list before they’ve culled all the mistakes from it. Until then, the media won’t be able to check it, and no one will know how many people died in the deadliest attack on American soil.
Mary Carmichael BASEBALL On Deck: A Work Stoppage? It may be a glorious World Series time right now, but next week may begin baseball’s darkest winter. The labor contract between players and owners expires Nov. 7–the owners meet the day before in Chicago to plan strategy–and both sides are digging in. They’ve never figured out how to resolve their differences. In the past 30 seasons, there have been eight work stoppages. The upcoming round may be even tougher because of the terrorist attack. “In the current environment, the most noxious thing we could do is have another strike or lockout,” says a baseball insider. In the midst of the current national crisis, the public may have little sympathy for the millionaires and the billionaires. Or the public may not care in the long run: after the 232-day strike of 1994-95, the fans eventually forgave baseball and returned to the stands.
Management is militant about putting the brakes on salary escalation. The average annual player pay–nearly $2.3 million–has more than doubled since the last labor deal, in 1995. Both sides agree that many clubs lose money, so much so that two teams could be dumped from the major leagues this winter. (The Montreal Expos are everyone’s first choice to go.) But the players’ union has long pointed out there are noneconomic benefits to team ownership: civic pride, ego, corporate synergy. After all, nobody forces owners to pay a shortstop $25 million a year. The owners have lost every negotiation to the union, but they have a big advantage this time. The president of the United States is unlikely to get involved in a dispute, as Bill Clinton did last time, to the detriment of management. George W. Bush was a baseball owner back then, of the Texas Rangers, and he saw firsthand the effect of presidential meddling. Besides, he’s got more pressing things on his mind these days.
MOVIES When Good Actors Go Bad A funny thing seems to happen to certain actors after they win Oscars. Once they’re able to pick and choose their roles, they pick poorly. Call it the Robin Williams syndrome. Suddenly the funnyman thinks it’s his duty to save the world, and turns into Barney Bathos. Jon Voight, another good actor, had this problem after he won for “Coming Home.” He kept popping up in schlock tearjerkers like “The Champ” and “Table for Five,” seemingly more interested in martyrdom than moviemaking.
Is Kevin Spacey, coming off his award for “American Beauty,” the latest casualty? The first sign that he had succumbed to the savior syndrome was his appearance as a badly scarred pedagogue in the egregiously sappy “Pay It Forward,” advising his students (and us) how to do good deeds. Now he arrives as an inspirational alien from outer space (who just may be an inspirational, delusional nut case) in “K-Pax,” in full possession of the wisdom of the ages. Spacey’s a first-rate actor, but something smug has crept into his performances–he floats ethereally above his fellow actors, the only expression on his face an enigmatic, self-satisfied smile. In the slick, formulaic “K-Pax” (it’s the planet he claims to be from) he’s able to condescend to the entire human race–such a silly species, really–while simultaneously healing an entire ward of psychopaths. Word has it the part was originally intended for Will Smith, who wisely chose to do “Ali” instead. If Smith wins an Oscar for it, will we have to worry about him opting for sainthood, too?
TRANSITION Sermon Rock and roll doesn’t often ask for help from the church. But in 1984 REM tracked down the Rev. Howard Finster, a Baptist preacher turned folk artist from rural Georgia, to design the cover of “Reckoning.” By the time the Talking Heads commissioned a work for their album “Little Creatures,” Finster was a phenomenon on the New York City art scene. But the reverend, who called his crude, splashy displays “sermons in paint,” never strayed from the backwoods that fed his art. He died last week at 84.
He tries to make his resume relevant. Often it’s easy: “As a mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release, I have been reading Robert Ludlum’s thrillers for (gasp!) decades.” But sometimes it’s not easy: “As a California-based mystery writer with my debut novel in its initial release, I have a great interest in other California-based artists in many diverse fields. Ansel Adams is one of the finest photographers to ever receive wide recognition.”
Braithwaite’s hope, clearly, is that customers will buy his own book. “Wonderland” gets five-star raves and one-star attacks. One customer writes, “As a mystery reader without a novel in its initial release, I genuinely was bored silly by this stupid book.” Customers who hated “The Wonderland Murders” suspect that customers who loved it either know the author personally–or are the author personally. One homage is titled “A FINE BOOK BY A FINE MAN.”
If you click on the see more about me next to Braithwaite’s reviews, you can read all 326 of his raves and peruse his 18 best-of lists. There’s “Some Fine American Books, by Kent Braithwaite, An American Author,” where his novel pops up at No. 4. And “Good Books From the Last Century, by Kent Braithwaite, Contemporary Author,” which begins with “The Great Gatsby.” Nobody’s going to put his own novel at No. 4 on a list like that. It’s No. 5.
Reading his reviews, one learns that Braithwaite lives in Palm Desert, Calif., golf capital of the world (“How I Play Golf,” by Tiger Woods), and teaches in a high school with a mostly Hispanic student body (“The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement”). He’s not only promoted “Wonderland” but created a post-modern work of art: an auto-biography in 326 reviews. Why only raves? “There are enough anonymous critics who get their kicks panning books while they keep themselves securely hidden namelessly in cyberspace.” Braithwaite certainly doesn’t want to remain nameless. After all, he’s a mystery author with his debut novel in its initial release.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM What’s Going On Edition CW gets the sense that the people in command aren’t reading from the same script. We’ve got a war. Let’s have a “War Room” for rapid response. Get with it, guys.
C.W. Bush = He’s still The Man, but not on top of the game. Take a page from Rudy. Anthrax - Yikes. It’s showing up everywhere, and government still clueless. Happy Halloween. Air war - The limits of air power: What if they gave a war and no targets showed up? Ground war - Forget talk of a Ramadan ceasefire. They fast and fight all the time. Go in now. House GOPs - Emerge from bunker with new recovery plan: more tax breaks for fat cats. How patriotic. J. Franzen - Hoity-toity novelist says he’s too good for Oprah. Go back to your garret.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-08” author: “Michele Eichenberger”
One focus for U.S. and European investigators is the role of an Al Taqwa bank founder and director, Ahmed Idris Nasreddin, in supporting an Islamic center in Milan which U.S. officials say may be Al Qaeda’s most important base in Europe. According to his lawyer, Nasreddin, a Muslim businessman who once served as Kuwait’s honorary consul in Milan, has made “charity” donations which support the center’s worshipers. The lawyer, P. F. Barchi, told NEWSWEEK he has known Nasreddin for 25 years and cannot believe he would knowingly have ties to terrorists. But Al Taqwa’s longtime chairman, Youssef Nada, said Nasreddin was questioned by Egyptian authorities about his support for the Islamic center, for which he paid the rent and the electricity, heating and cleaning bills. Nada said the center’s late imam, Anwar Shaban, was a follower of Omar Abdul Rahman, the Egyptian “Blind Sheik” now in a U.S. prison on terrorism charges. Nada said he believes the imam was “in contact with Afghanistan” and also was “sending people to Bosnia” before his death there six years ago. Nada says he warned Nasreddin to “be more cautious.” He says Nasreddin told him “everyone knows that terrorist activities… [are] completely contrary to my convictions.”
U.S. and European officials say that investigations of Al Taqwa are now being pursued aggressively on both sides of the Atlantic. Administration sources say the names of some Al Taqwa principals are likely to turn up on a forthcoming U.S. sanctions list. Earlier this year, Bahamian authorities canceled Al Taqwa’s bank license and a Swiss-based Al Taqwa company changed its name under pressure from bank regulators. But Nada, a member of the Muslim Brotherhood, denies any connection to terrorism: “We are completely against violence.”
Ironically, investigations of Al Taqwa may have been touched off by a bin Laden relative who lost money on an Al Taqwa deal. Court documents show that in 1999, one of Osama bin Laden’s brothers, Ghalib Mohammad Binladin, sued Bank Al Taqwa for refusing to pay out nearly $2.5 million he claimed he was owed. The lawsuit was dismissed. A Binladin ffamily spokesman said the brother’s investment in Al Taqwa cannot “rationally be imputed to connote any hint of support for Osama.”
VICTIMS To Sue or Not to Sue If every family that lost a loved one on September 11 filed a lawsuit, the resulting mountain of litigation could be the biggest in legal history. That’s partly why Congress set up a special fund to pay victims’ families without the delays or costs of a lawsuit. But the Department of Justice is still struggling with the details, which must be finalized by Dec. 21. Will families have the right to oral hearings? Should the DOJ publicize award estimates, so families can decide whether they’ll get a better shake in court? Will families who’ve taken charity have that counted as a “collateral source” (like life insurance) that reduces their award? Above all, how can the DOJ streamline the process to meet mandatory deadlines, which require that claims be decided within 120 days of filing?
Attorney General John Ashcroft will likely appoint a special master to oversee the fund soon. Trial lawyers are giving families a huge incentive to choose the fund: free legal representation. “If a fireman can run into a building and die trying to save people he doesn’t even know, the least we can do is represent his children for free,” says Leo V. Boyle, president of the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, which organized the pro bono effort. His group says the Congressional fund is better for victims’ families than a traditional lawsuit because it’s quicker, there’s no chance of losing the case, there’s no attorneys’ fees and the airlines don’t carry enough insurance to pay big awards to thousands of victims. But Aaron Broder, a New York lawyer who’s become the fund’s most vocal critic, says it “defeats the rights of the injured people and the families of the dead to achieve their day in court.” So far Broder, who’s been advertising for clients, is advising them to wait for details before deciding what to do.
Right now no one’s filed suit against anyone except Osama bin Laden. Only a few hundred people have even contacted attorneys about filing claims. “Families don’t rush into dealing with these issues,” says Robert Clifford, a Chicago lawyer.
Some families are already convinced the federal fund is the best option. “My priority is time,” says David Gordenstein, 42, whose wife, Lisa, died on American Airlines Flight 11. “I have two girls who are 3 and 7. I don’t want to spend my life tied up in a court case–life is too short. My wife’s untimely death is just another example of that.”
Daniel McGinn with Jennifer Barrett
POLITICS Party Games So much for the spirit of bipartisanship. Last week House Republicans, led by Majority Leader Dick Armey and Whip Tom DeLay, defeated an airline-security bill–passed by the Senate 100 to 0–that would have made baggage screeners federal employees. (The House plan requires only federal supervision of screeners; negotiators will try to work out a final bill.) Now Senate GOPers are ready to stall the Democratic version of the economic-stimulus plan. Republicans want tax cuts; Dems say they won’t accept a package that doesn’t include extended unemployment and health benefits for those who’ve lost jobs. The Dems want an up or down vote on the package, but the GOP has compiled a list of more than 70 amendments to the plan. Some deal with Democratic pet projects like tax credits for child care and energy-efficient appliances. Others are on the GOP wish list: making the Bush tax cut permanent and reducing capital-gains rates. “They’ve designed this to make votes as painful as possible for Democrats,” says one Democratic aide. Bush’s calls for a stimulus package haven’t slowed the GOP maneuvering. Congress may not manage to pass a plan in time for the holidays. Says the aide: “We need the president to get a hell of a lot more engaged than he’s been.”
Kids Now, Eager to Serve AmeriCorps, the Clinton national-service program, is attracting young people eager to help in a post September 11 world. Inquiries to the program have increased 30 percent. New recruit Hector Ostolaza, 19, dragged 13 friends and relatives to a Boston AmeriCorps program last month. Kelly Qualman, 22, a recent grad of Emerson University, applied after a trip to Ground Zero. “I wanted to do more than give blood,” she says. “This is something lasting that I can put my energy into.” This week Congress introduces legislation for a National Service Plan to expand AmeriCorps and link half its volunteer programs to homeland defense or public security. Kids could build houses for the homeless or help out in a VA hospital or police station. To boost military recruitment, the bill includes an “18-18-18” plan–$18,000 toward education costs for 18 months’ active duty and 18 months in the Reserves. The cost: more than $20 billion over five years. But look at the payoff: “This whole thing has given us a sense of direction for our lives,” says Ostolaza. “It’s something to be proud of.”
MEDIA SOLDIERING ON Nothing is worse for a mercenary magazine than peace, prosperity and a Democrat in the White House. Sales of Soldier of Fortune–Robert K. Brown’s flag-waving, promilitary, progun magazine–dropped sharply during the Clinton years. But since September 11, Brown and his magazine have become as hot as the barrel of a blazing gun. Retail chains that previously snubbed their noses at its violent content are suddenly calling. Advance orders for the January issue jumped to 150,000, from 107,000 before the attacks. Most of those issues will go to supermarket and convenience-store racks, although SOF has also added 500 new mail subscribers, the largest boost since the magazine’s heyday in the Reagan era. From the monthly’s office in Boulder, Colo., Brown is dispatching correspondents to Afghanistan and rewriting upcoming editions to reflect the surge in interest about self-defense, weapons and covert action. He promises “the best in coverage of World War III.”
STYLE Star-Spangled Buying Tiffany’s $60,000 flag brooch is one way to give the economy a patriotic push. But with recession looming, the rest of us need jewels that honor the land of the free and are priced a little closer to such. In comes Jiggle Jewelry, which provides make-your-own kits for the flag pins popular with school and Scout-troop fund-raisers. They’re a hit with celebs, who are also sporting Swarovski’s new patriotic crystal tattoos. At $18, the glittery jewels are perfect for, say, a firehouse benefit. And like the real flag, these colors don’t run–they stay stuck for a week.
JUSTICE Once an Activist… Can a former Berkeley radical accused of domestic terrorism find a sympathetic jury post-September 11? Sara Jane Olson didn’t want to find out. Olson is the former Kathleen Soliah, the Symbionese Liberation Army associate who in 1975 allegedly tried to kill L.A. Police Department officers with pipe bombs to avenge the death of six SLA members in a police shoot-out. Olson pleaded guilty last week to two counts of attempting to explode a destructive device with intent to commit murder, a surprise climax to a saga that included 23 years on the lam and her 1999 arrest after being fingered on “America’s Most Wanted.” Heiress Patricia Hearst, kidnapped by the SLA in 1974, was supposed to be the prosecution’s star witness. But Olson and her attorneys decided not to play the odds. “A sweeping antiterrorism bill with only one dissent in the Senate was passed,” she told her supporters outside the courthouse after entering her plea. “In that kind of an atmosphere, I don’t think anybody will quibble with the possibility that I face a much greater chance of having things not come out in my favor.”
Olson had seemed determined to fight. The prosecution had attempted to label the SLA for purposes of the trial as a “terrorist organization.” The judge denied the motion, but he refused the defense’s request to postpone jury selection until January, to put more distance between Olson’s case and September 11. “Of course, the prosecutors are going to present it as a time when everybody lived in terror from all kinds of demonstrators, as well as domestic terrorists,” Olson told NEWSWEEK last Monday. Still, she hoped jurors would see the 1970s as a time of “upheaval” when “ordinary citizens were beginning to become aware of the policies of our government and understand them. We came to understand that the policies were done in our name, whether we liked it or not.”
During her two decades as a fugitive, Olson had moved to St. Paul, married a doctor and reared three daughters in an upper-middle-class suburb. After her arrest she was widely portrayed as a “radical turned soccer mom”–a description she rejected. “I’ve always been, for my entire adult life, a political activist,” she said. Olson faces sentencing on Dec. 7. Defense attorneys hope she will receive a sentence of just over five years. Prosecutors are asking for 20 years to life. They won’t object to her serving her sentence near her home in Minnesota.
HOLLYWOOD Ready for War Hollywood is suddenly convinced that audiences are ready for combat–and has launched a ground campaign to land the first war movie in the multiplex. A month after a nervous MGM pushed its World War II drama “Windtalkers” from this Friday to next summer, three other studios all decided last week to ride the country’s patriotic wave and move up their fighting flicks. First Sony switched its Somalia story “Black Hawk Down,” starring Josh Hartnett and Ewan McGregor, from March 1 to Dec. 28. Then Paramount moved its Mel Gibson drama “We Were Soldiers,” about the first U.S. battle in Vietnam, from next summer to March 1. Finally, 20th Century Fox jumped over everybody, taking its Gene Hackman downed-pilot-hero tale “Behind Enemy Lines” from Jan. 18 to Nov. 30. The studios believe moviegoers want a lot more artillery than they’re seeing on CNN–thus ending the internal peace that briefly governed showbiz after the attacks.
BOY SCOUTS Is It Time to Break Camp? Thirty years ago Henry W. Jackson, a late Arizona rancher, bequeathed 420 acres of his mesquite-covered ranch to the Boy Scouts, and called upon them to “protect the view and the value of the mountains,” as he told a local newspaper in 1974. Last week his daughter Anne Miller returned to the foothills of Rincon Peak outside Tucson to plead with a judge to give the land back to the family’s trust because the Scout leaders plan to sell it off to developers. “If my father had wanted the [Scouts] council to have money, he would have given them money,” she says. “He gave them land for the boys to camp on, not for high-density development.”
Similar battles are breaking out across the country, where a number of the 423 camps and 258 high-adventure Scout reservations are sprouting for sale signs. As Michigan Scouting historian Dave Eby puts it, “Nothing on the planet raises ire of scouters more than the sale of their particular camp.” But maintenance bills on aging buildings, shifting membership demographics and funding shortfalls leave some local leaders little choice. A New Jersey council agreed three months ago to sell 750 acres for an undisclosed sum after the United Way, in protest over the Scouts’ policy barring gays, yanked $130,000 in annual grants. The tract went to another nonprofit which will not develop it. But in other districts, new owners can seem the antithesis of scouting. In July the Firestone Scout Reservation sold a pristine 2,500-acre canyon in southern California to buyers who planned a hydroelectric plant there (the Sierra Club has sued). In April a lumber company bought the 132-acre Camp Bill Stark in Beaumont, Texas; last week the land was clear-cut and the new owners set up deer-hunting blinds, says the executive director of the Stark Foundation, which had donated the land. “Let me see if I can control my language here: I’m devastated,” he says. “I thought they were teaching our kids to leave the wilderness in better shape than you found it.”
In Tucson, Miller sued to stop the sale, as have many neighbors of the property. They say they would withdraw opposition if the local Catalina Council would agree to build only one home on the land. But a council lawyer calls this proposal unacceptable. “That would not bring us enough money,” he says. They plan to build up to 11 houses there. A trial is scheduled for next March–unless the Scouts can get a merit badge in conflict-resolution by then.
BOOKS All Boxed Up This elaborate telling of the life and loves of a Japanese emperor’s son is arguably the world’s oldest novel. “The Tale of the Genji” set an insanely high standard for anything that came after it. Written by a lady of the Heain court in Japan in the 11th century, “Genji” can be daunting. This latest edition (translated by Royall Tyler. Viking. 2 vols., slipcased, $60) is reader-friendly at every turn, with generous footnotes, character lists and lots of illustrations to show what robes looked like, or swords, or houses. You have to reach for comparisons to Tolstoy or Proust to convey just what a captivating experience this story can be.
There aren’t many books that you’ll want to keep in the box they came in. But when you rub the ultrasuede cover of “Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot” by Dan Auiler (Taschen. $150), a homage to Wilder’s cross-dressing classic, your first thought is likely to be, Did I wash my hands? The publisher has created a giddy, authoritative tribute to Wilder on his 95th birthday. Besides photos from the film and set, this big-as-a-coffeetable book contains a rarely seen first-draft script and a facsimile copy of Marilyn Monroe’s shooting script, complete with coffee stains and her notes. If the price seems a mite steep, well, nobody’s perfect.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOMTroubled Waters Edition
C.W. Bush = Still Teflon on the war, but soon enough he’ll be Velcro on the economy. FBI - Still doesn’t cooperate enough with state, local cops. Hoover’s gone. Get over yourselves. B-52s + Fifty-year-old war horse still scares the pants off everyone under the carpet. Ba-ba boom! Unemployment - Worst monthly rate hike in 20 years. Repeat after me: “Want fries with that?” Microsoft + Old: Botched case puts software giant on the brink. New: One happy monopoly Yankees + Win or lose, send Jeter & Co. to the Afghan caves. They’ll find bin Laden.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-28” author: “Melanie Amaya”
Agriculture spokesman Kevin Herglotz said he was not aware of any complaints from other agencies that the USDA is mishandling the emergency. He said the inspection program was being run by career staffers pending the arrival of a new Bush team. “We take these issues very seriously every day of the year,” he said. FLYINGTwin Engines = Double Trouble? Another worry for fearful fliers: twin-engine jet failure over the ocean. That was the scenario aboard United Flight 42, carrying 238 passengers from Maui to Los Angeles on March 4. Twenty-nine thousand feet over the Pacific, the Boeing 767’s right engine suddenly lost thrust. About 20 seconds later the left engine quit to “below idle.” The pilots were able to restore engine power, and the plane returned safely to Hawaii. National Transportation Safety Board investigators suggest the problem occurred while the pilots were trying to balance the plane’s fuel load. But the officials say the incident may reopen debate about the safety of transoceanic flight by jumbo jets with only two engines. United and Boeing didn’t respond to calls for comment. CHELSEANot Dad’s Day When Chelsea Clinton graduated from high school, her dad gave the commencement speech. Four years later, neither of the Clintons was asked to address her Stanford University class of 2001. Both Bill and Hill were on the seniors’ short list and Chelsea had no objections. But Stanford president John Hennessy opted instead to invite Hewlett-Packard CEO (and Stanford alum) Carly Fiorina. He wanted to maintain the school’s four-year commitment to “preserve [the Clintons’] privacy as a family,’’ explained Hennessy’s assistant. Some students were disappointed. But another said: “There are students–both Democrat and Republican–who are tired of hearing about him.” ((((((the buzz))))))Hee-Yah! I Kick Your Movie Straight to VHS! Two things are certain to happen at Sunday’s Academy Awards: the show will run long, and then it will keep … on … going. But almost everything else is up in the air this year. Who’s going to win? Here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online:
‘Gladiator’ slays best-pic brethren, but beware the ‘Crouching Tiger.’ It’s pacing ‘close to upset territory.’ (Inside.com)
Spotlight could shine on ‘Before Night Falls’ star Javier Bardem. Actors-the largest voting bloc–may give best actor to the best actor. Best bet: Russell Crowe, not Tom Hanks, who can’t always win it.
Julia loses best actress only if she takes up with Crowe. Stephen Gaghan wrote the best screenplay for ‘Traffic.’ Bob Dylan wrote the best song for ‘Wonder Boys.’ Guess the times aren’t that a-changin’.
How do you say ‘best supporting actor’ in Spanish? Benicio Del Toro. But–Ay caramba!–it’s tight. The Academy has ‘beloved- old-codger’ types like Albert Finney. (The Times, London) HOW-TOIt Takes Soup And a Dream Susan Runkle isn’t just M’m! M’m! Good! She’s the M’m! M’m! Best! Her Polynesian pork chops have been named a new Campbell’s classic, an honor worth $20,000. Peri asked Runkle to dish on how to win a cooking contest: 1.Polynesian pork doesn’t just happen. Work backward by building on a taste you enjoy. (Runkle started with the tangy pork- pineapple combo.) 2. Pick a catchy name. “Use alliteration: red raspberry… something.” 3. Keep it simple. Skip recipes “six pages long with chipotle chiles.” 4. More recipes = more ways to win. “I sent in a pasta dish, a beef casserole–I call it pepper-pot beef–a Tuscan chicken, a Mexican pizza and a chicken potpie. Husband’s not too keen on fish.” LINGOBuy the Book Wouldn’t you know that booksellers, literate folks that they are, would have their own language. A glossary of Barnes & Noble employee jargon:
spine v. To display only the spine, usually when the book’s not selling well. As in " ‘The Good Earth’ has been spined.” shelf talkersn. Mini shelf billboards in plexiglass strips. octagonn. Front table for new releases. waterfalln. Stepped shelf. As in “Put the puzzle series on the waterfall.“MUSICTownies Get GuitarsNaming a band can be harder than learning a new chord. And in the music biz, a catchy title means the difference between hitting it big and exciting careers in the food-service industry. What to do when “The Beatles” is taken and inspiration’s not striking? Apparently, abbreviate your hometown and you’re halfway to a record deal.
Band: Atlanta’s A-Town Players Sound: Beat makers meet rump shakers Folks Back Home: Prodigal sons put Atlanta on the booty map. That’s gotta be good for tourism.
Band: E-Town Concrete, Eliz., N.J. Sound: As much street cred as possible in Garden State Folks Back Home: Mayor Chris Bollwage cares more that Elizabeth sired one of the Four Seasons
Band: H-Town from Houston Sound: Wrote the classic ‘Knockin’ Da Boots’ Folks Back Home: Promoted by Luther Campbell, creator of bad-ass 2 Live Crew; Houston loves ’em
Band: O-Town: Orlando Sound: The new New Kids offer pre-fab falsetto pop Folks Back Home: ‘At least it gets our name out there for something besides Disney,’ says a city rep
Band: P-Town Boyz from, well… Sound: Music with an anatomical (or feline?) focus Folks Back Home: No spokesman could be found, but most P-Town ‘residents’ are also booty fans HOSPITALITYWhat Would Robin Leach Do? Heaven forbid they lower rates. Luxury hotels are competing for customers instead with outrageous amenities. “They’ve done everything short of offering the general manager’s daughter. That’s probably next,” says Allan Ripp of Zagat’s hotel survey.
VACANCY: Guests of the exclusive Aruba Sonesta Beach Resort can rent neighboring 40-acre Sonesta Island for $2,000-$7,000 per night. Dinner and dancing included.
HAWKING ROOMS: The Ritz-Carlton New York, opening next year, plans to offer an ornithologist to assist in bird watching from telescope-equipped rooms. Also: a water sommelier.
SUITE WITH CHILDREN: Adjoining nanny rooms in Gorham Hotel suites and multilingual babysitters at the Mercer, both in New York City: working to keep the children happy, too.
‘PETALING’ LUXURY: La Casa Que Canta in Zihuatanejo, Mexico, leaves flower-petal mosaics on the bed at turndown. And you thought one chocolate was neato. STYLEGet in Line The hottest tweezers in Beverly Hills belong to Damone Anthony Roberts, eyebrow guru at Sager French Salon. Clients include Madonna and Lara Flynn Boyle. Don’t try to get an appointment Oscar week: Vanity Fair has hired him to pluck nominees who are guests at its afterparty. FAST CHATParadise Lost Brooke Shields is no Wilson, but “Cast Away” sure reminds us of “The Blue Lagoon.” Christopher Atkins, star of the ‘80 hit, agrees.
Well, I got a lot of flashbacks.
That was a tough part. I’ve been there.
Oh, c’mon, there’s no contest. Me, of course! Even to this day!
I was scared to see it. I want to be doing that, to get back into that world of A pictures.
Nah, you kidding? I was at least naked! BACTERIAClean House While they don’t exactly conjure up images of white picket fences, could antimicrobial homes invade suburbia? A California couple is building one, using a special silver-coated steel to defend their doorknobs, faucets, etc. against germs. Says the owner, “We wanted to use the latest technology.” Now, if you could just dip the kids in it. TRANSITIONMaster of the Twist and TurnRobert Ludlum, who died at 73, wrote 21 spy thrillers (“The Holcroft Covenant”) with 210 million copies in print. They weren’t great literature, but they were compulsively readable. As one critic noted, “It’s a lousy book. So I stayed up until 3 a.m. to finish it.” –Malcolm Jones
Hurling insults like “Zip it, fathead!” Morton Downey Jr. helped turn the civil world of TV talk shows into the bombastic arenas they are today. In the late ’80s his loudmouthed, bullying, smoke-in-your-face antics earned him a wildly popular career as talk-show host–though a short one. Downey is dead of lung cancer at 67.
S. Dillon Ripley led the Smithsonian through an era of great expansion, overseeing the construction of eight new museums between 1964 and 1984. A biologist, ecologist and expert on birds of India, Ripley was 87.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Look Out Below Edition Three weeks ago, who would have thought the 401 in 401(k) represents the number of dollars left in your account. Oh, well. Retirement is overrated anyway.
C.W. Bush - There’s a bear in the Bushes. Be careful what you wish for, W, especially if it’s a recession. Wall St. - Geronimo! Good thing modern skyscrapers have windows that can’t open. Analysts - Meeker, Blodget, et al. told us BUY! BUY! BUY! but forgot to tell us SELL! SELL! SELL! Puffy + He’s free, and with millions in free publicity. Yo, J.Lo, you can come back now. Enviro - Shattering speed record for breaking promises, W does 180m on CO2 limits. Cough, cough. Cities + Census shows population gains for first time in decades. Urban Bright!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-22” author: “Fernando Hawk”
About an hour before the crash, a sailor monitoring various sensors reported contact with a surface ship. But, he told investigators, he didn’t update a paper chart in the control room because visiting civilians were in the way. Further, a backup sonar display, which relays information to the captain, was out of order. Compounding the problem: the presence of a Navy VIP chaperoning the civilians, who, NTSB investigators speculate, may have made the crew extra nervous. Investigators are also skeptical of Navy assertions that the sub was on a legitimate training mission. The sub trip has the hallmark of a “joy ride,” said one official.
Meanwhile, senior Pentagon officials worry that Japanese outrage over the disaster may cost the United States its base in Okinawa. After a spate of crimes by Marines stationed there, local leaders called for a sharply reduced U.S. presence. Now, for the first time, the governor has joined in.
SPACE Our Favorite Martian Returns Good news for mars fans: scientists are resurrecting the claim that a Martian meteorite harbors signs of life. Five years ago, when a NASA-Stanford team announced that a 3.6 billion-year-old meteorite from Mars that landed in Antarctica contained four kinds of molecules that resembled those made by living things, critics argued that the “signs of life” could have nonbiological origins. But this week two teams will report that rustlike crystals in the meteorite are “chemically and physically identical” to those produced by bacteria on earth. No known nonlife process can produce them, they say. Many scientists remain skeptical: just because researchers don’t know of any chemical processes that produce such crystals doesn’t mean they don’t exist. If the crystals were produced by microbes, they would be the oldest fossils ever found–on any planet.
MURDOCH Professor Gore Has a Guest The title of this Wednesday’s lecture: “The Role of Corporate Ownership and Market Structure in Shaping the Content and Distribution of News.” The guest speaker: global media mogul Rupert Murdoch. The audience: Al Gore’s class at Columbia University’s School of Journalism. Maybe it’s not such a strange mix. After all, many analysts contend Murdoch uses the pages of his media properties, including the New York Post, to advance his business and political interests. On the other hand, Murdoch’s cable network, Fox News Channel, was first to prematurely declare Bush the winner in Florida. Maybe the toughest questions for the guest will come not from the students but from Professor Gore himself.
((((((THE BUZZ)))))) No, Allen, I’m Over Heeeeeere! The last time the 76ers won a title, afros were popular–for the first time. The team got Dikembe Mutombo last week to give its homegrown, cornrowed star support. Is it enough to score a trophy? What people are saying in print, on air and online: Swish! The best just got better. To win a title, the West’s centers will now have to scale 7'2” Mt. Mutombo.
Buzzer Beater ‘You have a chance at the ring, you pull the trigger.’ (ESPN.com) Management gave prez Pat Croce five years to tweak the team to perfection; in his fifth year, he made the winning trade. Time Out Why give star Allen Iverson more to rap about? This trade may have ‘disrupted what has been a marvelous team chemistry.’ (Phila. Daily News) Shot in the Dark ‘The Sixers have mortgaged their future.’ (Phila. Inquirer) They traded rising star Theo Ratliff, 27, for a 34-year-old free agent. Foul!
TRANSITION Defiant One Long before Sundance, producer-director Stanley Kramer, 87, was making independent movies like “The Defiant Ones.” Raising social issues the country had been happy ignoring, his 35 films collected 15 Oscars and 85 Academy Award nominations.
Balthus, 92, called himself “a painter about whom nothing is known.” Actually, the self-proclaimed Polish count who lived reclusively in Switzerland was very well known: for his slyly pedophilic pictures of pubescent girls and for being perhaps the best realist painter on the planet. Peter Plagens
POWER The Buzzards Are Buzzing Hitchcock would love Austin, Texas. Hundreds of vultures crowd the power lines, and their dung may short the city’s circuits. Unless Bird Be Gone or noise booms scare them off soon, the federally protected raptors will face the shotgun. PETA’s protest is probably in the mail.
AD TRENDS Experts Agree: It’s a Bear Market Sex sells, but so, apparently, do hairy backs and grubby paws. A spate of ads pit Man against Bear in a Faulknerian struggle for supremacy–and the beer-guzzling SUV drivers triumph every time. “Bears are everywhere, it’s a really weird phenomenon,” says Peter Beckman, founder of adcritic.com. And with spring on the way, the National Park Service hopes campers don’t get overconfident. “We’re worried about the cartoonish aspect of these ads,” said Scott Gediman, a park ranger in Yosemite, where inappropriately stored food is a surefire bear magnet. “They need to know that if a person gets into a fight with a bear, the bear is going to win.”
Bear Meets ‘Matrix’ Southpaw tries to protect his catch from sneaky John West Salmon employee.
Bears Eating Salad? Yup. While ’tough’ men drive Toyota Tacomas. Don’t try this one at home.
The New Face of Wendy’s What about the redhead?She didn’t share her nuggets.
Wish You Were Here Da, da, da–with fangs. VW reps confirm yet another bear sighting.
Cruising for A Boozing Ursine muncher and rugged outdoorsmen battle over Smirnoff Ice. In the end, one human is sacrificed so the other can drink in peace (with two hot women).
DEMOGRAPHICS Their Eunuch Experience Eunuchs in India are showing that they’ve got, er, guts. A group of eunuchs in southern India is threatening not to participate in the national census, which concludes in March, if they are forced to check “male.” Instead of having to choose a sex, these castrated folks are demanding to be classified as “physically disabled.” Census commissioner Jayant Banthia is not intimidated: “Can they bear a child? No. So they’re treated as men.”
ACADEMIA Pie in the Sky Something can be so bad that it’s fascinating. Perhaps that’s why Britain’s Surrey University School of Management has appointed the world’s first professor of airline food, who will teach and conduct research.
ART Right Now, It’s ‘Supper’ Time We haven’t seen the last of “Last Suppers.” There’s a flap at the Brooklyn Museum of Art over Renee Cox’s photo graphing herself nude as Christ. Dick Detzner has Mrs. Butterworth standing in for Jesus at the Chicago Athenaeum. Attendance is way up in both venues. And in Milan you need a reservation to see Leonardo da Vinci’s original mural.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Who’s in the White House Edition
While perusing the agate type, the CW noticed that Bush gave his first press conference. Pardon-scandal rehashes left little room for coverage of Dubya’s China-radar gaffe.
C.W. Bush + Handles press conference adequately, bonds with Blair. Promises his family will behave. Clinton - Still playing the victim. What’s next? Did Bud- dy seek pardon for Socks’s catnip smuggling? 1st Brothers - Pardon payoffs, DUI, hazelnuts. They’re up there with Donald Nixon and Billy Carter. Hanssen - Kim Philby wanna-be yanked in from cold. Forget reality TV; he’s the real mole. NASCAR = Breakout American sport loses its Michael Jordan. Checkered flags at half-mast. Nat. Enquirer + Tom and Nicole, Jesse’s baby, Hugh’s $400K. Paging the Pulitzers!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-21” author: “Yuonne Young”
Still a Lot of Pork on the Menu
George W. Bush, like every president, promises to be a porkbuster. His cherished tax cut won’t work without slicing fat from congressional spending. What to cut? Bush vows to trim 40 percent this year from the record 6,454 pork-barrel projects totaling $16.8 billion that legislators slipped into last year’s budget to benefit the voters back home. Bush’s budget director won’t publish details for fear of offending the gluttons. Newsweek offers a preview, thanks to Citizens Against Government Waste. This week the private research group releases its annual Pig Book, a catalog of government excess. Some examples:
Home Base: Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott tucked $460 million into the Defense budget, without committee hearings or votes, to build an amphibious assault ship at Ingalls Shipyard in hometown Pascagoula, Miss. Never mind that the Pentagon didn’t want the ship for another four years. Now the Navy has to pay its crew and operating costs long before it needed to.
Cold Comfort: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens, the Appropriations Committee chair, noodled $400,000 for a parking lot in tiny Talkeetna (population: 300), and an additional $176,000 for the Alaska Reindeer Herders Association.
Byrd Watch: Sen. Robert Byrd, a ranking appropriations member, channeled $5.3 million to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service for (yet another) dorm at its posh Shepardstown, W.Va., training center.
Culture Vultures: Washington Sens. Slade Gorton and Patty Murray secured $500,000 for the Seattle Art Museum, already flush with a $60 million surplus from the dot-com crowd. Pennsylvania Sen. Arlen Specter, another museum fan, slipped $925,000 through Labor’s budget and $500,000 through the Veterans Administration for Philly’s Please Touch Museum.
Don’t Forget Detroit: A Michigan lawmaker siphoned $12.5 million to the National Automotive Center in Warren for research on “smart trucks.”
Mystery Meat: Someone tagged $393,000 in the Agriculture budget for “sustainable agricultural research.” Trouble is nobody from Congress has explained what it’s for–and no research group has claimed it.
DIPLOMACY
On Again: Talks with North Korea
Despite a flurry of mixed signals, the Bush administration will back Seoul’s drive for detente with the Stalinist North–and is “highly likely” to resume the Clinton team’s talks with Pyongyang on curbing the North’s missile program. Says one senior aide: “We’re reviewing how to move forward, not whether.” The review focuses on how to verify the secretive North’s compliance with any new deal.
NEWSWEEK has learned that the intelligence community is sifting reports that North Koreans have been seen in Pakistan “at places associated with the production of fissile material,” according to a well-placed source. North Korea has long sold missiles to Pakistan. But “the question for the intelligence community,” said the source, “is, what are they getting in return?”
HOW-TO
Playing Pool
It is important to like the people you work with. It is even more important to kick their sorry behinds in the NCAA-championships office pool. To start the madness, some advice from the experts:
((((((the buzz))))))
Hey, Folks, I’m Just Getting’ Warmed Up!
For Strom Thurmond, 2001 has been a spacey odyssey. The senator, 98, gets confused easily; reports even said he wanted his wife to take over. What does his deteriorating health mean for the country? Here’s what people are saying in print, on air and online:
Tipping Point ‘Every sniffle and stumble have become a matter of interest, since S.C. Gov. Hodges will likely name a fellow Dem to Strom’s seat if he dies. (USA Today) That’ll give the Dems a 51-49 edge in the Senate.
Grim Reapers If Strom dies Dems can boot Trent Lott from his majority-leader perch, name new committee chairs. Says GOP: ‘Hold on,’ Strom! (‘O’Reilly’)
Stromhold Please, the man ran for president in 1948 (as a Dixiecrat), filibustered for 24 hours in 1957, sired a kid when he was 73 and beat a 43-year-old opponent in 1996. He’ll outlive Cheney.
Not So Fast The S.C. GOP is pushing for a bill that mandates Strom’s seat stay in the party–an idea state Dems have toyed with to punish national Dems for ignoring Hodges’s ‘98 gov run. Says the state chair: We’re ‘more than a dark spot between Charlotte and Atlanta.’
HAROLD STASSEN, 1907-2001
One Last Run for the ‘Young Phenom’
He first ran for president in 1948. That was Harold Stassen’s closest shot. He had Thomas Dewey on the run for a while. Then they had a primary in Oregon and Dewey beat him. That was the end of it. He ran for president nine times. Ran for other things, too: governor of Pennsylvania, mayor of Philadelphia. He was always ridiculed for being a perennial. But he said, “All my friends have spent their lives playing golf, and nobody criticizes them. Why should I be criticized?”
He was elected governor in Minnesota in 1938 when he was only 31; he was the young phenomenon. Four months into his third term, in 1942, he joined the Navy. His decision to leave the governorship and serve in World War II is something everybody admired.
People liked him, but he was more of an issues person. Instead of playing the party game, he took on established Republican organizations, and they resented it. But he had an impressive record: he was on the deck of the Missouri when the Japanese surrendered. He was a significant player in the Eisenhower administration. He was the last American signer of the U.N. Charter. He had done a lot of things.
GROOVE THINGS
Dirty Dancing
The bass ain’t the only thing pumping. Students are simulating sex acts on the school dance floor–and principals are, well, freaking. They’ve drafted rules on hand and thrust placement (like “no bending past a 45-degree angle” at Wash. state’s Puyallup H.S.). “Not all freaking is banned” at Santa Cruz (Calif.) High, just “sexually explicit dancing.” That clears it all up.
JUNK FOOD
The United Snacks of America
Americans have always had favorite snacks, but now they’re formalizing the relationships. Take Oceanside, Calif., which in January chose Coca-Cola as its favorite drink by awarding the local bottling company exclusive rights to sell in the city. Check out these other municipal acts of devotion:
Snohomish, Wash.
At the urging of Snohomish H.S. students, state Rep. Dave Quall sponsored a House bill to make Almond Roca the state’s official candy. Too bad for dentists the bill didn’t pass committee.
Bell Buckle, Tenn.
Every year this town of 463 hosts the RC & MoonPie festival, which celebrates the classic Southern cookie and soda combo. Visitors can admire the world’s largest MoonPie. It measures four feet in diameter.
Sterling, Colo.
The town recently celebrated Chex Mix with a Main St. parade and the naming of a Mr. and Ms. Chex Mix. General Mills shipped 700 bags to the town, a gift containing 637,000 calories. Hastings, Neb.
A proclamation from the governor made this city the official birthplace of Kool-Aid, but it couldn’t possibly be where all 563 million gallons of the stuff are consumed each year.
Salt Lake City, Utah
After temporarily losing the title to Des Moines, Iowa, in 1999, Salt Lake City once again leads the country in per capita Jell-O consumption. Accordingly, the state Senate just made the wiggly dessert the official snack.
MEMORABILIA
Packin’ Treat
Attention all moms: if you threw out your kids’ baseball cards, now’s your chance to make amends. Well, sort of. For its 50th birthday, Topps is re-creating the look of the 1952 collection; some packs in the new Heritage set have certificates redeemable for original ‘52 cards. (There’s only one Mickey Mantle up for grabs.) But the company’s big hit may be its decision to put gum in the packs after a decade-long absence. Topps removed it in 1991 when collectors complained that sugar powder was staining their investment. Now the gum’s wrapped in cellophane–and, best of all, it doesn’t taste like it’s a decade old.
HUH?
VHS Meets SPF
When sun hits videos, it’s a disaster. But when sunless tanning hits video stores, it’s pure profit. Across the country, clerks are tossing old movies to add tanning beds. SUN Ergoline, the largest tanning-equipment maker, now has beds in 3,500 video stores. Says a rep: “They thought convenience stores in gas stations wouldn’t last, either.”
THEME PARKS
Purge Party!
You’ve just won independence. What are you going to do next? I’m going to Stalinworld! The first gulag reality theme park opens in Lithuania this April. Attractions include a museum, a sculpture garden featuring statues of Stalin and Lenin and a train wagon resembling those on which Lithuanians were taken to Siberia. Also helping to keep alive memories of the former Soviet regime: a souvenir shop. Capitalism always wins.
ADVERTISING
Mad About the Girl
Straight men no longer have the girl-on-girl market cornered. Ads with lesbian imagery are flooding women’s magazines. “It’s another way to stand out,” says Out publisher Joe Landry. And to get media attention.
Special Snow-Job Edition
The concept of the CW got a big up arrow in a New Republic cover story this week. Mag says John K. Galbraith invented the phrase conventional wisdom. And we added the arrows!
C.W. Bush = His idea of bipartisanship: Nicknames on both sides of the aisle. Dems aren’t laughing. Cheney - How many trips to the hospital before he releases relevant health records? House of Reps - Pass massive tax cut before they have a budget. Don’t try this at home. NRA + No one points a finger at them after Santee. Maybe they do have an office in the W. House. Dot-coms - Old: The boom goes forever! Yahooooooo! New: The bubble pops. Ya-who? Weathermen - Here’s what’s happening in your neck of the woods! They’re creating false panic!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-29” author: “James Waldrip”
Writers and producers are still dug in. On one crucial issue, the writers want one cent more from each movie sold on DVD and video, but the studios, claiming financial hardship, won’t budge even that much. So far, companies have actually cut compensation in some areas, say the writers. Says WGA president John Wells, whose “ER” would be among a strike’s first casualties, “Quite simply, we want to be paid more money than they want to pay.”
The screenwriters fear the studios are well positioned to weather a walkout and may actually use a strike to cut their overhead by terminating long-term contracts. No new talks are scheduled.
ABORTION Making Scare Tactics Legal Though the first anti-abortion administration in eight years is just over a month old, emboldened abortion foes have already launched a novel legal push. Abortion-rights advocates say 15 states are considering bills requiring abortion doctors to tell patients that abortion increases breast-cancer risk. The American Medical Association and American Cancer Society oppose the bills, which force doctors to “tell our patients something that is not true,” says AMA board member Dr. John C. Nelson. Early ’90s surveys suggested a link, which was disputed by more recent studies.
The new strategy has medical ethicists worried. “It is despicable,” says Art Caplan of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Bioethics. “There is nothing else going on here other than abortion politics.” Illinois state Rep. Dan Reitz, who introduced one of the bills, agrees. “I’m not really sure about the science,” he says. “My intent was strictly about limiting abortion.”
DRUG WARS New Priorities? In his search for a new drug czar, George W. Bush may be signaling a shift in the GOP’s traditional focus on interdiction as the drug-war priority. The White House is looking for a high-profile proponent of treatment and demand-side reduction, sources say. “A Republican Joe Califano,” according to a top Bush official, referring to Jimmy Carter’s health secretary, now head of the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse. Among the contenders: retired NATO commander Gen. George Joulwan, Arizona prosecutor Richard Romley and Mayors Conference president Brent Coles.
FASHION You Can Leave Your Hat On Britney may have shed her fedora during her striptease at last fall’s MTV Video Music Awards, but since then, it seems everyone from pop stars to leading ladies, pretty male models to pretty trashy male rockers, is donning an updated, unique version of the old Madison Avenue classic. Coming soon: sexy briefcases.
PUFFY Mad Rapper His lawyers weren’t busy enough? Still on trial for weapons charges, hip-hop impresario Sean (Puffy) Combs filed suit against Mikal Gilmore, the Rolling Stone journalist hired to ghostwrite the rapper’s $1 million memoir. There’s no book, and Daddy wants his $325K back. Like Puff’s other legal drama, it’s all just he said/he said. The writer’s agent claims Puffy wouldn’t be interviewed, so Gilmore couldn’t write the book “unless he channeled it.” Combs’s lawyer called that explanation “completely false.” The mogul may have a spare 15 years. He could write his own autobiography.
((((((the buzz)))))) Tony, I Can’t Feel My Legs Nancy Marchand made a posthumous return to ‘The Sopranos’ Sunday, aided by creative FX work. She was on-screen only four minutes, but it was long enough to confirm why we save resurrections for Easter. What people are saying in print, on air and online:
Watch Your Step The ‘series is as good as it has ever been,’ but this was a ‘serious misstep.’ (N.Y. Times) Then again, because it’s so good, any miscue feels as sloppy as a botched hit.
Marchand Washington It was ’excruciating to watch. The camerawork [was] convoluted, the rhythm jerky, and the intonations all wrong.’ (Slate) Folks, who hired Al Gore as an editing consultant?
Use Your Noodle For new fans this was a good intro to the mom-son conflict. It was also ‘a thematic plus: Livia was inhuman … She was little more than a mechanical insult machine.’ (The Boston Globe)
Rest in Piece If she were alive, Marchand would try to off the show’s creator. As well meaning as this salute is, it’s ’no compliment.’ (USA Today)
TRANSITION Cyber Pioneer An unassuming mathematician who used to ride a unicycle through the corridors of Bell Labs was the father of the digital age. Claude Shannon, who died at 84, taught us what information was. He explained in 1948 how the “content” of a message could be concrete and measurable and first used the term “bit” of information–concepts that shaped our current googleplex of documents, Web sites, phone calls and Napster tunes.–Steven Levy
BASEBALL The League’s Latest Pitch America’s national pastime is a great game–not a perfect one. So it’s tweaked periodically, usually to strike a balance between offense and defense. This season, umps will call the “high strike,” which could give pitchers an edge (and help nudge games along). Some of history’s other adjustments:
Season: 1921 Issue: Clean ball. Baseball banishes trick pitches (‘20), rules that balls in play must be kept clean. Cause: In 1920 shortstop Ray Chapman is killed when he’s hit in the temple with a pitch. Theory: ball was so scuffed, he wasn’t able to pick it up. Effect: Offense increases dramatically; Babe Ruth hits 59 homers.
Season: 1969 Issue: The pitcher’s mound. Lowered to aid hitters. More hitting = more paying fans. Cause: Bob Gibson. In ‘68, pitching dominates. Gibson, a St. Louis Cardinal, leads way with 1.12 ERA. Effect: Averages climb 16 points in American League; offense, expansion help attendance, as does DH in ‘73.
Season: 1988 Issue: The balk. Umps crack down on pitchers who don’t come to a ‘discernible stop’ in their delivery. Cause: Whitey Herzog. Cards manager complains that pitcher Bert Blyleven violated rule in ‘87 World Series. Effect: Take me out to the balk game! Umps call 160% more balks than in ‘87, costing teams wins.
Season: 1994 Issue: The beanball, flurry of early-season brawls at the mound. Cause: Pitchers, like the then Expo Pedro Martinez, begin pitching inside more often. Hitters get brushed back, are quick to register objection. Effect: Discussions held, but events of 2000 (Mike Piazza, above) show issue is unresolved.
COMICS Brat, 50, Still Likes Overalls Dennis the menace hits the midcentury mark March 12. Peri talked to creator Hank Ketcham, 80, who’s still as spunky as the kid:
How was Dennis born? When my son reached 4, he started raising Cain. His mother said, “Your son’s a menace!” I thought, Dennis the menace? That’s too good. If I had named my child Charlie, I’d still be working for Disney.
Today there’s a solution to Dennis’s problem. It’s called Ritalin. No, no. The beauty of keeping him that way is you don’t have to go through the horrendous changes that happen.
How old would Mr. Wilson be now? Well, let’s see. We started out, he was 65. So he’s well over 100.
It’s amazing he still keeps up. Stop referring to these people as dinosaurs. They’re just the way I put ’em down, and that’s the way they’re gonna stay.–Susannah Meadows, Bret Begun and Katherine Stroup
LINGO Cocktales Always poised to fashion its own version of Christianity, England has a new translation of the Bible in Cockney slang, an East End teacher’s effort to interest his students in “Dad up there in good ole heaven.” A glossary:
Weasel: coat. As in “Jacob gave a beautiful, decorated weasel to Joseph as a present.” Nanny goat: boat. As in “God said to Noah… I want you to build a big nanny, made from really good wood.” Uncle Fred: bread. As in “Guv, please give us some Uncle Fred…” Currant bun: son. As in “My currant, your sins are forgiven.”
UNIVERSITIES Cap’n Crimson As those of us with average SAT scores wonder who will survive “Survivor 2,” academia awaits a ruling from Harvard’s tribal council. The university’s eight-month search for a new president is nearing a close. Top candidates are University of Michigan president Lee Bollinger, Harvard provost Harvey Fineberg and former Clinton Treasury secretary Lawrence Summers. (Amy Gutmann, a Princeton prof, is a dark horse.) The victor inherits a school with swelling coffers but shrinking confidence in the quality of undergrad education. Students hope the new chief, armed with a $19 billion endowment, studies the issue.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM Never-Ending Story Edition Week seven of a nation held hostage by pardon obsession. Oppressed by Dan Burton, Arlen Specter and cable pundits. When will we get to the budget?
C.W. Bush + Strong speech; small audience. Still basking in the “soft bigotry of low expectations.” Clinton - Dazed and confused in Chappaqua’s Fortress of Solitude. And no one to pardon him. Richettes - Denise and Beth are wackiest White House drop-ins since teens in “Dick.” Only loaded. Microsoft + Appeals-court slapdown of trial judge makes breakup as likely as sunshine in Seattle. Washington St. + Prudent earthquake plan saves lives. Down- side: Bizarre music museum still standing. Family Values + Hardbody canoodling doesn’t split up “Temptation Island” couples. Sorry, Fox!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-29” author: “Linda Simmons”
Bad News: The 2004 Race Is Starting
Democratic strategists aren’t worried about George W. Bush’s record-setting, three-month run of job-approval ratings above 80 percent. They know such numbers can be evanescent. But they have concluded that, unlike his dad, he is likely to gain lasting political strength from his role as war leader. Bush One’s leadership in the gulf war didn’t help him at the polls in 1992. But Bush Two’s war on terror responds to an attack on home soil, and therefore is far closer to voters’ real concerns, says polltaker Mark Penn, longtime adviser to the Clintons. What’s more, Bush’s surprisingly competent performance, Penn says, undercuts a favorite Democratic attack: that he’s simply not up to the job.
Still, Democrats don’t seem intimidated at the prospect of facing off against Bush and his Republican Party. Chairman Terry McAuliffe claimed victories in recent races, among them the defeat of a candidate heavily backed by the Bush family in the Houston mayor’s race. He also has set ambitious goals for fund-raising and organizing. A key adviser: Bill Clinton, who works the phones, headlines fund-raisers and meets privately with the prospective 2004 contenders. Clinton, McAuliffe and the others believe President Bush will remain weak on at least two key issues: “homeland security” and the economy, where voters want a bigger role for the government than Bush accepts. “He’s vulnerable on kitchen-table concerns,” says Penn.
Presidential campaigning has long since become a nonstop affair. But McAuliffe recently decided to advance the 2004 primary timetable. That, in turn, has made the early efforts more intense. One “jackrabbit” is Sen. John Edwards. He’s done more party fund-raisers than any contender, and will soon sign on a respected organizer to run his growing team. At a recent private meeting, McAuliffe lauded Edwards for his fund-raising diligence, which annoyed other senators in the room. “How come no one slams Edwards for his blatant ambition?” said a fellow contender.
The other “early speed” in the race is Sen. John Kerry, a more senior figure–elected to the Senate in 1984–who retains a boyish and hungry look. He’s aggressively raising money, scouting for professional advice and hosting dinners with his wife, Teresa Heinz, at their Georgetown home. A decorated Vietnam vet, Kerry is talking more expansively about his war days–not because of the war on terror, but to explain his sense of commitment as a candidate.
Another visible early contender is Sen. Joe Lieberman who has issued mixed signals about whether his candidacy is contingent upon Al Gore’s not running. Most party insiders assume that Lieberman will run regardless.
Sources close to Al Gore say that the former veep was angered and disappointed by the laborious studies of the Florida results, believing that the news media slanted their interpretations to favor Bush as a wartime president. They say Gore is still undecided about whether to run again in 2004, and another Gore campaign makes most party insiders cringe. Many of those same people would love to see Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton run, but none expects her to do so this time around. “She has too many commitments to fulfill to the people of New York state,” McAuliffe says flatly. “She is not going to do it.” But no one knows if she has discussed the idea with the person who could give her the most expert advice: her husband.
AL QAEDA
Warning From A Web Site
Last month the Web site suddenly reappeared with a “farewell message” exhorting Muslims to drop everything and support the Taliban. The message warns Muslims not to collaborate with spy or police agencies hunting terrorists. Readers are urged to click on a link to an Azzam speech titled “Martyrs: The Building Blocks of Nations.” Also posted: an open letter to President George W. Bush by a Saudi cleric who helped found a Dublin-registered charity that was implicated in the 1998 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Kenya. British and U.S. intelligence sources suspect some of the site’s lurid jihad photos and graphics contain secret messages embedded through a technology called steganography, for which free software can be downloaded from the Internet. Some of the coding is so sophisticated, sources say, that intelligence agencies have found such messages difficult to decrypt. U.S. officials confirm the Web site is being monitored, and suggest that its recent reappearance lends support to the Bush administration’s decision to go public with its latest warning about possible terrorist attacks on the American homeland.
TERRORISM
A Fed Target
UPDATE
Andrea Yates
Yates’s husband, Rusty, could soon have legal problems of his own. Frustrated by a gag order that has prevented everyone involved in the case from talking to reporters, Yates asked a state judge to lift the order, but was denied. He has spoken to “60 Minutes” and Time magazine, but he believes he has not violated the order. However, he told NEWSWEEK, “I’m probably going to get in trouble.” Meanwhile, Andrea Yates’s health continues to improve on medication. But according to her brother, inmates have stolen photos of her children, and some privileges were taken away when she helped other inmates get magazines and food. Though she showed no emotion during last week’s hearing, she appeared flushed by testimony from police officers who described finding Yates’s children after she had called the police to her home.
REMEDIES
Clearing the Mental Fog
The new findings come from New York Presbyterian Hospital-Weill Medical College, where scientists enlisted 25 healthy, middle-aged volunteers to pull all-nighters in a sleep lab. After staying up for 24 hours, each volunteer received either a placebo or 20mg of NADH in sublingual (under-the-tongue) tablets. The pills had no effect on how tired people felt, but those taking the actual supplement gained an edge on cognitive tests. When asked to distinguish among patterns on a screen or to solve simple math problems, the subjects who got NADH performed more efficiently–generating more correct responses per minute–than those who got the placebo. On some exercises, several of the participants taking NADH performed better than they had in a normal, rested state.
Results from a 25-person trial are no cause for a run on this stuff, but the new findings suggest there is hope for us all. Nearly a third of U.S. adults manage less than seven hours’ sleep each night, according to the National Sleep Foundation, and some 69 percent complain of frequent sleep problems. Delis and vitamin stores peddle countless remedies for fatigue, but few have undergone rigorous testing. If NADH works as well as the early results suggest, it could someday rival coffee as the foundation of a good breakfast.
BIOTERROR
Don’t Panic
TATTLERS
Banking On A Hoop Nightmare
Jon Schwantes
ART
Did They or Didn’t They?
Physicist Charles Falco, a Hockney supporter, says the forensic evidence is overwhelming. “If all art historians had been forced to take a one-semester course in optics,” says Falco, “this stuff would have been discovered generations ago.” Detractor and Metropolitan Museum curator Walter Liedtke says, “Nobody in Vermeer’s Holland had a marble floor in his house”–so Vermeer must have made up the one in his paintings–and “nowhere in the inventory of Vermeer’s estate is there mention of a camera obscura.” At the end of the conference, the only thing both sides agreed on is that if some old masters indeed used “optics,” it still doesn’t decrease their artistic worth one whit. Try telling that to museumgoers who are now going to walk into the galleries with the nagging suspicion that their favorite old master was actually working from an early paint-by-numbers kit.
MOVIES
Doing Your Homework
Jeff Giles
THE OSCARS
Contending
But as elusive as the Oscar has been for black males (Sidney Poitier is the only black man to have won the best-actor award–in 1963), it’s been even more so for black females. “It’s difficult for any actress, but black actresses are almost invisible in Hollywood,” says film historian Donald Bogle. However, Halle Berry, who’s setting critics abuzz with her role in the coming “Monster’s Ball,” might break the curse this year. No matter the outcome, Eddie Murphy’s words to the Academy as a presenter in 1990 are never far from the minds of most Afrian-American actors. “So if a black person wins this year–do we have to wait another century to get another one?”
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
We’ll Always Have Kandahar
C.W. Bush = Overseas champ, domestic chump, sacrifices homeland sec. increases for fat-cat tax cut. Ashcroft - Prefers coddling NRA to helping FBI fight Al Qaeda. Is saying that treason? Mineta - Trans. sec. prefers questioning old ladies at airport to protecting fliers with legit profiling. Parsons + AOLTW CEO Levin handpicks old-media “people person” for successor. Smooth. Selig - Commish whiffs at Cong. hearing on baseball’s miserable finances. Pinch hitter? Ginger - Superhyped mystery invention is cool but pricey, impractical scooter. Try a bike.
CORRECTION
In our Dec. 17 PERISCOPE item about techniques used by the old masters (“Did They or Didn’t They?”), a photo of Jan van Eyck’s “Arnolfini Wedding Painting” was inadvertently reversed.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-28” author: “Christy Swank”
The disclosures have intensified the debate inside the administration over what to do with Walker. Attorney General John Ashcroft has asked Justice lawyers to review crimes that Walker could be charged with, specifying that he wants to know which ones carry the death penalty. The most likely possibilities: treason and conspiracy to murder U.S. government employees. (Walker was present at the Mazar-e Sharif prison camp when CIA agent Mike Spann was killed; his precise role is unclear.) Another possibility is to court-martial Walker as an “enemy belligerent” in a U.S. military court–an option that could also carry the death penalty. Officials are divided. Some believe Walker may hold more value as a cooperating witness who could be used to prosecute top Qaeda leaders before military tribunals. Justice officials are also concerned about using information gleaned from Walker’s admissions in a civilian court because they were made without a lawyer present and without advising him of his Miranda rights. But Ashcroft aides believe there are ways around the problem: the Walker interviews were conducted in the battlefield for tactical military purposes and, therefore, they argue, didn’t require reading him his rights. Still, two FBI agents were dispatched to Afghanistan last week to advise Walker of his rights. Walker’s lawyer, James Brosnahan, called his client’s alleged admissions “rumor.” The FBI actions were “awfully late,” Brosnahan told NEWSWEEK. “They’ve been interrogating him for nine days, which is a long time to go without allowing him to have counsel,” he said. “Our position… is that all U.S. citizens have right to counsel.”
Walker has been transferred to a Marine amphibious ship, the USS Peleliu in the Arabian Sea, and a decision on his fate could come shortly–most likely by Bush. His parents, Marilyn Walker and Frank Lindh, issued a statement, saying “We love John” and were “pleased” he had been moved from Afghanistan. “We’re asking that people withhold judgment until we know what the facts are,” they said, adding they “want very much for John to have an opportunity to speak to his attorney.”
POLITICS
Two Scions, One Bill
The partnership got off to a rocky start. When President-elect Bush summoned a bipartisan group of congressional leaders to Austin, Texas, for an education summit last December, he neglected to invite Kennedy, the Senate’s education guru. Recognizing his gaffe, Bush began an intense yearlong courtship of his would-be ally. In late December Bush phoned Kennedy, who was vacationing in the Caribbean, schmoozed about the two political dynasties, then eased into education reform. After Bush was sworn in, he invited Kennedy to the White House for meetings, offered him a lift in the presidential limo and hosted a White House screening of the JFK movie “Thirteen Days.” Last week he even let Kennedy’s Portuguese water dog, Splash, stroll on the White House lawn while his master was inside. And it didn’t hurt Bush’s cause that, in November, he renamed the Justice Department headquarters after Ted’s brother RFK.
But Kennedy wasn’t won over with flattery alone. Early on, Bush gave ground and dropped school vouchers from his plan. Kennedy compromised, too, walking away with less funding than he initially wanted. The new law, which Bush vows will “leave no child behind,” requires annual testing of students in grades three through eight and boosts the education budget, especially for needy urban schools. “We have a president who says, ‘I’m prepared to get the resources for the neediest children’,” Kennedy said after meeting with the president to seal the deal at the White House. “It’s a dramatic sea change.” Still, Kennedy was anxious to downplay suggestions that the two men were now best buddies. “I don’t want to overstate the nature,” he said. “It’s been very professional.”
Maybe so, but the odd couple is already looking for other opportunities to collaborate. At one recent education meeting, Bush leaned over and told Kennedy, “Now I want to work with you on the patient’s bill of rights.” Kennedy is open to the idea. “I’m interested in seeing what can be accomplished,” he told NEWSWEEK. At a White House dinner last week to honor his sister Eunice Shriver for her work on the Special Olympics, Kennedy began chatting up First Lady Laura Bush on early-childhood education. Kennedy hasn’t forgotten being slighted in Austin last year. But now the senator is willing to joke about it. As he noted: “Hopefully I’ve earned my spurs.”
INDIA
Bloody Problem
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Go to the Videotape Edition
C.W. Bush = Releases OBL tape an hour after killing ABM treaty. Did he think we’d miss it? Bin Laden - Worst new show: “Al Qaeda’s Sickest Home Videos.” We have to get this beast. Arafat - Israel now gives him most cutting insult of all: He’s irrelevant. But who’s next? DeLay + The Hammer mobilizes House troops after Armey’s retreat. A demon for the Dems. A. Andersen - Biggest collapse ever, and Enron’s green- eye-shaders miss it. Audit them. Notre Dame - Losin’ Irish hire coach who fumbles resume and has to quit. Channel the Knute.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-22” author: “Penny Vilain”
On the morning of Sept. 12 the air was still thick with smoke, and as he cried, James McGinnis seemed to be choking on the sooty air. He was clutching a white bucket so I knew that he was part of the “bucket brigade,” a group of volunteers who were clearing debris with empty white paint buckets, piece by tiny piece. But McGinnis wasn’t just another volunteer. He was there looking for his brother, Thomas, 41, who had been on the 92d floor of the North Tower when the first plane hit.
“One guy just walked out with a hand in a box,” McGinnis told me that morning. “There are bodies cut in half. We have to do all the digging by hand.”
McGinnis cried even harder as he spoke these words. He knew for certain, once he saw the dimensions of the wreckage, that his brother was dead.
Two hours after 7 World Trade Center collapsed, I saw a dozen firemen trudging north up West Broadway from the flames. At 7:30 p.m., they were taking their first break since they got to the site at 9 a.m. “This is supposed to be my day off,” said Al Filosa, from Ladder 146 in Brooklyn. He wasn’t complaining: he was joking in the same tough way most firefighters I met did.
The next night, at the same firehouse, another complained that his underwear felt like a thong. A third reported that as he ran up the WTC stairs, he could see bodies falling past the window next to him. Elbowing a colleague, he said, “And you think you had a bad day.” As they walked into the firehouse garage, Filosa and the others started taking off their 80 pounds of equipment. I handed my cell phone around so they could make calls. Lots of them sucked on cigarettes or cigars while they relaxed. Then they went upstairs to eat, saying they planned to take an hour or two off. But in 30 minutes they came down and suited up again. They gave more phone numbers to me and another bystander and asked us to keep trying. Call Julia and say Al’s all right. Call Janine and say Steve’s all right. Then they headed downtown again.
It was the first Friday–Sept. 14–and President Bush, with Mayor Giuliani and other dignitaries, had come to inspect the ruined area not yet known as Ground Zero. I noticed a crushed firetruck sitting on the edge of the inferno. Within moments, the president nimbly scrambled aboard. Standing a few feet away, I heard a retired firefighter, whose name is Bob Beckwith, quietly ask Bush if he should step down from the truck. The president, with a bullhorn in hand, draped his arm jauntily over Beckwith’s shoulder and whispered to him to stay put.
“We can’t hear you,” someone in the crowd yelled as Bush started speaking.
“I can hear you,” the president shouted through the bullhorn. “The rest of the world hears you! And the people who knocked these buildings down will hear all of us soon!”
It was a simple enough ad lib, but you could almost watch the molecules of presidential leadership being rearranged. Before that morning’s service in the National Cathedral, Bush had trouble finding his voice. Even here, it showed. When we arrived at the corner of West Street and Vesey (or what little remained of the corner), the crowd had chanted “U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!” and “Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!” but not the president’s name. Overshadowed by the mayor, dwarfed by the enormity of the event, the president looked small.
Now, in an instant, everything was different for him. The bone-tired rescue workers went wild. And as the presidential motorcade made its way north out of the war zone, the flags bloomed and a chant went up: “Bush! Bush! Bush!”
In late October, my friend Jamie and I drove to suburban Westchester to have dinner with Mary Danahy, the new widow of one of Jamie’s closest friends. Patrick Danahy, a 35-year-old investment manager, had been working on the 90th floor of Tower 2 when the plane struck. One month later Mary gave birth to their third daughter while she, her sister and the delivery-room doctors and nurses wept together.
When Mary greeted us at the front door, two towheaded girls, Alison, 3, and Katie, 2, peeked out from behind her legs. Grace, the newborn, slept in a portable crib in the family-room corner. Behind Mary, the large dining-room table was obscured by a mountain of documents–overdue bills, insurance forms, applications for emergency aid.
After dinner, Mary went upstairs to tuck in the two older girls while I soothed the fretful baby downstairs. Suddenly Mary’s disembodied voice filled the room, courtesy of the baby monitor on the TV stand. “Our Father, who art in heaven,” she prayed with her children, then the soft sound of a mother’s kiss. We heard little Alison, nearly 4, start to cry. “I miss Daddy.” “I know you do,” Mary murmured gently. “I miss Daddy,” Alison insisted, heartbroken. “I know you do,” Mary replied. Alison continued in despair. I rocked the baby in my arms and tried to keep my own tears from falling on her blanket.
While driving through Kabul one day I saw two women leaning against a stone wall, chatting with each other. The fact that they were both enveloped head to toe in light blue burqas didn’t seem to get in the way of their conversation, as they touched each other on the shoulder, and one leaned back–it seemed–to laugh.
I was expecting not to be able to notice the humanity hidden under so much cloth, but was surprised over and over by how much character these women could convey despite what seemed to me like a disguise. Her voice may be muffled, but if you stand close to an Afghan woman as she talks, you can see her eyes through the netting and whether she is smiling, crying or angry. Once, as I left an interview in Kabul, two teen-age girls (I’ve gotten better at judging age) hovered near my car and giggled nervously as I turned to look at them. I waved. Keeping her hand underneath her blue burqa, one of the girls waved back.
Each mortar shell landed with a loud bang somewhere in front of us, at regular intervals of about 10 seconds. The Afghan commander, a turbaned Uzbek with a long dark beard and the obligatory Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder, shrugged. “You call this fighting?” he told us. “This isn’t fighting.”
It was the attitude I expected to find, from all that I’d ever read about Afghanistan. Genghis Khan couldn’t conquer the Afghans. Nor could the British, or the Soviets. And look at all the tribal squabbles, the endless feuding. They fight so well–surely they must like it. But as we said our goodbyes, the commander surprised me. “Every day,” he told us, “we pray to God for the removal of all the weapons from Afghanistan.”
That gave me a new question to ask everyone I met: what do you pray for? The boy soldiers could scarcely imagine peace. They dreamed of things as mundane as a pair of decent boots. Some told me they longed to go to school, to “learn something useful.” “I would like to study the Quran,” one machine-gun-wielding teenager said wistfully. It turned out that there wasn’t much opportunity to do that in a civil war where both sides claimed to be fighting in the name of Islam. Perhaps most revealing were the questions they asked me: How did you meet your wife? What’s it like to go to college?
At night, in their foxholes, the grunts did virtually anything to keep themselves awake and entertained. Shivering in the 30-degree cold–most Marine gear was barely adequate for desert nights–they sang lewd songs, talked about how ready they were to spill enemy blood and pondered the nightclubs they would frequent when they returned home as heroes. Virtually every Marine lamented that their base was so well fortified that no self- respecting Taliban or Qaeda member would ever dare to come near them.
Just as the laughter was getting hearty, gun bursts rattled into the night. “Shoot. Kill it. Kill that motherf—–,” said a Marine’s voice in the distance . Marines scanned the moonless horizon with night-vision goggles and held their M-4 rifles at the ready. A tense silence set in until word came in about the nature of the intruders. “It was a f—ing camel,” one of the grunts told me. “They were ambushed by a f—ing camel.”
The next morning came another scare. Again the radio crackled with activity. Finally, the target was identified–another, perhaps even the same, camel. A bald sergeant named Catoe came up with his own solution: “Let’s just shoot it, stick it in a body bag and call it a kill,” he said.
Life went on like this until the dead began to arrive. They came from the sky in Sea Scallion helicopters from the north–members of the Northern Alliance, laid out in stretchers with gaping wounds in their chests. One corporal, a stretcher bearer, told me there was also an American, swaddled like a child in blankets and bandages. He bled from a shrapnel wound in his head, an oxygen mask hung over his mouth. Seeing him, the corporal could barely hold back his nausea. All of a sudden, this was no longer a camping trip.
I drove out to Qala Jangi in the hope of finding some soldiers who had survived the first minutes of the uprising and battle for the fortress. I hoped that they could tell me how the CIA officer Johnny (Mike) Spann had been killed. As soon as my interpreter, Najib, and I pulled up to the gates, an excited soldier ran over and told us that the Taliban hiding in the cellars of the fortress had finally come out and surrendered. Two days earlier I had wandered the compound after more than 190 Taliban bodies had just been removed from the surface. Scattered over the area I could see pools of blood, shreds of shoes and clothing, and bits of flesh. More than a dozen horses lay rotting in the sun. Even the fortress’s local stray dog had been killed. It was hard to believe anyone could have survived the airstrikes called in by U.S. Special Forces on the compound.
But that morning 86 Taliban came out alive. They were already packed into trucks, awaiting transport to another prison when I arrived, so I started interviewing a pair of Red Cross officials. As we were talking, Najib ran up and told me “there’s an American soldier in the truck!” He said Afghan soldiers had told him that there was an American in the nearest truck. He assumed–so did I–that they meant an American soldier. I was also working on a story on U.S. Special Forces, and was eager to watch them in action. I climbed up the back of a large blue, open-topped cargo truck, and peered over the tailgate. There were no Special Forces in back of the truck, only a dozen or so badly wounded foreign Taliban fighters. Most appeared to be Arabs or Pakistanis, swathed in bandages and light blue blankets. Some were moaning in pain, one was crying hysterically, at least two were comatose. I looked around, puzzled, wondering if I had the right truck, when an Afghan soldier below me on the ground tapped me on the leg and pointed to the very back, right-hand corner of the truck. The Taliban sitting there with his head bowed didn’t stand out much from the others. He was dressed the same, in a black cotton tunic and trousers, and a blue sweater. He was young and thin, with filthy dark brown hair and a short beard. It was difficult to tell the color of his skin as he was covered with dirt and soot, and the right side of his face was blackened either by smoke or a burn. He didn’t look Arab, but I had taken him at first for a Pathan, or some other Aryan tribe. The soldier pointed in the direction of the man and smiled and nodded at me. “American!” he said.
I looked at the young Taliban, and he raised his head and looked up at me from the corner of the truck bed.
“Are you American?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he answered.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-17” author: “Nicol Law”
The largest number of outgoing calls–238 out of 1,100–were to hard-wired and mobile phones in England. The recipient of most of those calls, bin Laden associate Khalid al-Fawwaz, has been in British custody for years awaiting extradition to the United States. The second largest group of outgoing calls (221) was to numbers in Yemen, according to documents obtained by NEWSWEEK. Some calls went to a Yemeni phone number that investigators now believe was used as a “switchboard” by conspirators involved in the three deadliest Qaeda attacks since ‘98: the embassy bombings in Africa, the bombing of the USS Cole and September 11. U.S. intelligence sources say the switchboard number was registered to Ahmad Mohammad Ali al-Hada, the patriarch of what appears to be a Yemeni terrorist clan. Intelligence sources say al-Hada fought as an Islamic guerrilla against Soviet occupation forces in Afghanistan where, in 1999, he sat next to bin Laden at a banquet. One of al-Hada’s sons-in-law, Khalid Almidhar, was a member of the team that crashed an American Airlines plane into the Pentagon on 9-11. Another son-in-law is among 13 men named by the Justice Department last week as members of a terror team feared to be plotting an imminent attack against American targets. Intelligence sources say two of al-Hada’s sons have been killed in terrorism-related incidents: one in an explosion in Afghanistan; the other blew himself up in Yemen last week when authorities tried to arrest him.
Other countries called from bin Laden’s satellite phone include Azerbaijan, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Egypt. Nearly 10 percent of the outgoing calls went to numbers in Iran. U.S. officials had little explanation for the calls to Iran. A Bush administration official said that U.S. intelligence has believed for years that hard-line anti-American factions inside Iran helped the bin Laden organization operate an “underground railroad” smuggling terrorists to Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. U.S. intelligence is skeptical of Iranian claims of having recently cracked down on Taliban and Qaeda fighters trying to flee from American forces. Billing records show no calls from bin Laden’s satellite phone to Saddam Hussein’s Iraq.
North Korea: A Hard Line
If North Korean leader Kim Jong Il won’t comply, Bush may try to curb missile sales by interdiction on the high seas and by working with Russia, China and other possible transit countries to stop the trade. If Kim continues to rebuff international atomic-weapons inspections, Bush will reconsider the U.S. pledge to supply the nuclear core for two light-water reactors. “One thing we won’t do is try to starve them,” the aide said. The White House aim is to reduce North-South tensions, integrating the North into the world economy and encouraging reforms similar to China’s. “If they don’t take that option, the regime won’t survive,” he said. “But we’re not going to stand by and let them pump out counterfeit money and missiles.”
BOOKS
Bombs Away
ENVIRONMENT
Ain’t No Mountain Clean Enough
don’t
THE OSCARS
The Word of (Bad)Mouth Campaigns
CLONING
Cat-alyze
The surprise to many observers was that the kitten did not look like a younger version of her “genetic donor,” Rainbow. The older cat is a white, orange and black calico, while CC is a black and white tabby with almost no orange. Scientists can’t fully explain why the genetic twins appear so different. But reproductive physiologist Mark Westhusin, who led the research team, notes that coat-color patterns aren’t controlled solely by DNA. Neither is an animal’s personality, meaning that an affectionate cat could give rise to an aloof feline. “Cloning is reproduction, not resurrection,” says Westhusin.
It will be several years before kitty cloning is commercially viable. Still, word of the breakthrough drew criticism from the Humane Society of the United States, which noted that there are already too many cats “desperate for homes.” Regardless, phones were swamped last week at the Texas gene bank that provided financial backing for the research–Genetic Savings & Clone.
Design: The Coolest Cell Phone Wins
Transition: Waylon Jennings
Jennings, a diabetic who died in his sleep last week at 64, was a country singer with a rock-and-roll heart. He played bass in Buddy Holly’s road band, and would have died with him in the legendary 1959 plane crash if he hadn’t given up his seat to J. P. (The Big Bopper) Richardson. His hit singles–“The Only Daddy That’ll Walk the Line,” “Good-Hearted Woman,” “Are You Sure Hank Done It This Way?”, “Luckenbach, Texas,” “I’ve Always Been Crazy”–relied on thumping bass, his throaty-sounding Fender Telecaster, three chords, simple structures, and bluntly witty lyrics positing Waylon (“Waylon”?) as unrepentant hell-raiser and forthrightly footloose lady-killer. It could have been a tiresome formula. But the music always sounded irresistibly tasty, and he usually managed to have fun with his own image–“Too Dumb for New York City, Too Ugly for L.A.,” as he put it in a 1992 song. Jennings was one daddy who knew how to walk the line between posturing and self-parody; somehow that outlaw bit never got out of hand. David Gates
DESIGN
The Fabric Of Our Lives
The crowd was particularly breathless over Nicolas Ghesquiere, the 30-year-old designer of Balenciaga. (It was the revitalized French label’s first time showing in New York, a gesture of solidarity with the city that earned many an air kiss.) Ghesquiere, who first gained recognition with a weird little patchwork purse, didn’t settle on prettiness this time either. He brought with him loopy patched tops with sagging armholes and vests that looked like the offspring of a lap dog and a throw rug. Guests like Sarah Jessica Parker, whose “Sex and the City” character has sure worn worse, were thrilled.
At the opposite end of the city and the fashion spectrum, Ralph Lauren served up beautiful, careful clothes calibrated to his brand image. Inside his Madison Avenue headquarters–it looked like a Hard Rock Cafe version of the company complete with glass cases displaying vintage Lauren outfits–he paraded designs derivative of the English country gentleman. You can’t blame him for doing the same old pretty thing. Americans will always buy WASPiness, how-ever phony.
Stephen Burrows is hoping for that kind of staying power this time around. One of the first black designers to earn mainstream recognition, the ’70s luminary dropped off the radar decades ago when his disco designs and lifestyle fell out of favor. “I never stopped designing,” he says. “I just stopped working.” Now he’s back with a boutique at New York City’s Henri Bendel, and stars turned out en masse to welcome him home. “When I met him, I was 19,” said Iman, 46, draped in his flesh-baring neon green creation. “My body’s not what it used to be. But you just have to stand straight and hope everything will stay up.”
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Special Skategate Edition
C.W. Skating judges - They share the gold with Enron execs for world-class sleaze. Axel of Evil? Salt Lake City + Old: Mormon proselytizers in every chair lift. New: Hip, beautiful venue. It’s all good. Rogge + New Belgian IOC chief is the anti-Samaranch. And he medals in damage control. Campaign reform + Finally, a bill nears passage. Even with flaws, it’s better than legalized bribery status quo. C. Powell + Talks condoms on MTV. Next: Cheney talks noserings with Carson Daly? Cloning + Private firm clones a cat. CW sez: Pet duplication is this technology’s killer app.
Katherine Stroup and Susannah Meadows
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-21” author: “William Bryant”
U.S. officials also are optimistic that top Qaeda leaders were killed by a CIA Hellfire missile last week. According to intelligence sources, the missile was fired after a camera aboard a CIA Predator spotted a suspected Qaeda gathering high up in the mountains near Afghanistan’s eastern border with Pakistan. The video pictures from the drone showed a small group of men in robes apparently behaving deferentially to one of their number, who was noticeably taller than the others. Afghan leaders suggested that the men killed by the remote-controlled missile were only minor Qaeda fighters. But U.S. officials say they “can’t rule out” the possibility that the six-foot-plus bin Laden himself was the tall man spotted on the video. (Bin Laden’s chief deputy, Egyptian doctor Ayman Al-Zawahiri, is also believed to be fairly tall.) U.S. officials say they can’t confirm unofficial reports that bin Laden’s wealthy Saudi relatives have been asked to supply specimens of family DNA. The Pentagon has dispatched a military team to the site of the missile attack to investigate.
U.S. officials have been disappointed by reports from other fronts. In Indonesia, sources say, authorities have lost track of one of the most important local terror leaders, Parlindungan Siregar. In November, Siregar was identified at an antiterrorism trial in Spain as a key Qaeda suspect. And although Indonesian security forces say they have located a Qaeda camp where foreign and local terrorist volunteers allegedly were trained, Camp “Mujahiddin,” as it is known to Indonesian intelligence officials, had been deserted by the time authorities managed to inspect it in December 2001.
U.S. officials acknowledge that other Qaeda lieutenants are waiting in the wings to replace its top men. Intelligence analysts are studying reports that Muhammad Atef, an Egyptian Qaeda leader who the Bush administration says was killed during fighting last year, has now been replaced as Al Qaeda’s top military commander by another Egyptian, Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi, also known as Saif al-Adil. But U.S. officials say it’s also possible that Al Qaeda’s military wing is now being commanded directly by Zawahiri–assuming he is still alive.
IRAQ
Getting Saddam
The United States also is currently haggling out details with the U.N. Security Council about dropping the broad range of sanctions that have hurt mostly Iraqi civilians. Instead, it hopes to introduce new “smart” sanctions intended to target imports that would help Iraq’s military. In the unlikely event that Saddam buckles and fully complies with the U.S. and U.N. demands, Washington would have “to take a look” at its “policy of regime change,” says a State Department official. At the same time, of course, the administration is pressing ahead with new military options for ousting Saddam.
SONS AND HEIRS
Junior’s Japanese Jaunt
The new juice comes from this month’s issue of respected Japanese monthly Shincho 45: a tell-all interview in Seoul with a former Tokyo-based escort who claims she spent the night with Junior back in 1998. Apparently, Junior often visited Tokyo, living it up at the city’s many Korean nightclubs and bars. Until his highly publicized passport slip-up, the anonymous South Korean escort didn’t realize his true identity. Now, she’s spilling the beans.
Her night with Junior was pretty wild. He sang Japanese pop songs until he was covered in sweat, ate three plates of flounder sashimi and knocked it all back with glass after glass of Hennessy Extra cognac. But he was very “polite” and respectful, his companion reveals. “He spoke slowly and softly, like a big yakuza boss in the movies.” She was also impressed by Junior’s fluency in Japanese and knowledge of the local culture.
OK, but was he good in bed? Shincho’s reporter learned that Junior passed the missile test. “He was so gentle [and] attentive, kind and sensitive to my needs and feelings. A gentleman in bed… Not like you journalists who dare ask such [an] impolite question!”
FIRST PERSON GLOBAL
By Zoran Cirjakovic
Mention Ethiopia and images of bloody wars, perpetual famine and ruthless dictators come to mind. But on a recent two-week journey I found something surprising: fervent faith and a sense of the life of early Christians in the Holy Land.
In the country’s Christian highlands, I ascended to the sacred city of Lalibela–a tiny town 2,600 meters above sea level–with hundreds of pilgrims and a handful of tourists on the eve of Timkat, or Epiphany, the colorful festival celebrating the baptism of Christ. Melsie Adamu, my 20-year-old guide, explained that in the 12th century, King Lalibela decided to build a “New Jerusalem” in order to spare his Christian subjects from the dangerous pilgrimage to the old one.
This New Jerusalem is stunning. It boasts 11 beautiful monolithic rock-hewn churches linked with secret tunnels and surrounded by little caves where monks used to pray in isolation. As we walked around the churches, Melsie pointed out–with a straight face–Golgotha, the Jordan River and the Tomb of Christ (among the real Jerusalem’s most famous sites).
Over the next few days, as I watched pilgrims wrapped only in sullied white cotton cloths smelling of sheep skin gather in the churches and monasteries; as I stood with them on cold mornings during long services in churches hidden in remote mountain caves; as I witnessed their religious zeal as they faced barefoot, equally deprived priests banging church drums, I slowly started to feel as if I, too, were in the real Jerusalem during the first decades of Christianity.
I’ve always wondered how it must have felt to live in the Holy Land during that extraordinary time. I’ve visited Jerusalem and read history books, but the images of antiquity never came to life. I had started to lose hope that they ever would. Suddenly, in Lalibela, in the middle of nowhere, in the troubled Horn of Africa, I had stumbled upon something that I thought I would never find.
FIGHTS: LAWSON VS. LEWIS
Chess? I thought it was safer than boxing.
Interesting that a guy who makes his living with his fists could also be so cerebral. Often, the mark of great champions is their intelligence. Muhammad Ali sometimes managed to win against much more physically imposing people with his ingenuity.
Did you get any prebout tips? [Former grand master] Nigel Short said that, should Lennox offer a draw in a menacing tone of voice, I should accept.
Did Lennox try to psych you out at all? He suddenly put on gangsta rap–I think it was Snoop Doggy Dog–extremely loud. At one point, a telephone [rang], which was part of the record. He said to me, “I think that’s your phone.” Psychological warfare, but by chess standards it wasn’t too bad.
Who won? I won both games.
What advice would you give him? Get a chess coach, [because] he clearly has ability. Nigel Short said he would have offered to coach Lennox himself, but he’s holding out for that other great chess-loving sporting celebrity, Anna Kournikova.
What does it feel like to beat a world champ? Part of me wanted him to win, because I like the idea of a world boxing champion being very good at chess. On the other hand, I hate to lose.
OLYMPICS 2002
Hokey Hockey
BANKERS
A Meeting of Opposites
It’s an odd pairing, but apt. Old Wim and young Rusnak are perfect polar opposites. Consider: in his four years as ECB president, Duisenberg had remarkably little effect on European money markets. He’s seldom cut interest rates in order to bolster the euro-zone economy, refusing to follow the example of the U.S. Federal Reserve. He ushered in the euro but he’s done almost nothing to help it. (The currency is down 26 percent against the dollar since it was introduced in January 1999.) So averse to risk is Wim that it’s no wonder frustrated dealers call him the “Eurogaffeur.”
Rusnak, on the other hand, did nothing but take huge risks–and allegedly rack up huge foreign-exchange losses at Allied Irish Banks’ U.S. subsidiary, Allfirst. Ireland’s largest bank now fears for its survival. Its accumulated losses could reduce its 2001 profits by 596 million. Rusnak’s full role is not yet clear, but at least he knows how to make an impact. Unlike good old Wim. Too bad they couldn’t have been joined at birth.
ECONOMY
Gold Fever
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-15” author: “Preston Groves”
As President Bush was preparing to give his State of the Union speech last week, White House counselor Karen Hughes told reporters that it would contain some shocking news. “We have learned that up to 100,000 people have been trained [as] killers in the camps of Afghanistan and are now spread throughout the world,” Hughes said. The 100,000 figure came from the final drafts of Bush’s speech, warning about “dangerous killers” who have spread throughout the world “like ticking time bombs.” But NEWSWEEK has learned there was considerable consternation within the U.S. intelligence community over the president’s numbers. As initial reports of the speech moved on the wires, CIA officials hastily informed the White House that their own estimates of Al Qaeda terrorists trained in Afghanistan were no more than 15,000 to 20,000–less than one fifth the number in Bush’s estimate. Just hours before speech time, the State of the Union was revised to “tens of thousands of trained terrorists” who are “still at large.”
A senior White House official insisted that the higher number used by Hughes was “accurate.” That, he explained, is the estimated total number of fighters trained in Afghanistan dating back to 1979. (That’s when the CIA was supporting mujahedin guerrillas trying to free the country from Soviet occupation.) Bush, at the last minute, agreed to insert the agency’s more “conservative” estimate because it better portrays the current threat, another aide said. But some foreign intelligence analysts say even the lower 15,000-to-20,000 range may be too high. “I’ve always had a less grandiose estimate of Al Qaeda than my counterparts in the United States,” Prince Turki bin Faisal, the former chief of Saudi intelligence, told NEWSWEEK. Turki, who stepped down shortly before September 11, said Saudi estimates of the number of Al Qaeda fighters were no more than 2,000 to 3,000–and the figure is even lower now in the wake of the U.S. operation in Afghanistan. While insisting that he didn’t want to minimize the threat, Turki said he believed Bush officials were overstating the magnitude of the terrorist group. “I think President Bush has to justify his request for homeland security,” he said.
Top U.S. intelligence analysts remain divided on the nature of the threat. In his speech Bush said U.S. forces in Afghanistan had discovered “diagrams of American nuclear-power plants and public water facilities” as well as “detailed instructions for making chemical weapons.” But U.S. intelligence officials said most of the material he referred to had been downloaded from the Internet–and it was unclear whether it related to any still-active terrorist plots. One example of the confusion: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently issued a detailed warning to nuclear-power operators that terrorists might try to crash a hijacked airliner into a nuclear plant. The warning was based on a tip from a foreign intelligence service. It turned out the FBI got the same tip two months ago–from an operative of Al Qaeda captured in Afghanistan–and dismissed it. Then the operative told the same story to the foreign intelligence agency. “This was recycled information,” said a bureau official.
Michael Isikoff and Roy Gutman
SEX EDUCATION: ‘VALUES TRUMPS DATA’
DRUGS
A ‘Very Serious Problem’
The episode was a minor embarrassment for the Bush family, and in particular for the governor, who has taken a stern anti-drug stance in office. But it also called attention to the abuse of sedatives like Xanax, which are so familiar that patients may lose sight of how addictive and potentially dangerous they can be. Xanax, often sold under its generic name, alprazolam, belongs to a category of depressants known as benzodiazepines, which have been around since the 1960s and include Valium. As a cause of emergency-room admissions for drug abuse, benzodiazepines rank fourth, behind cocaine, marijuana and heroin. “It’s fair to say they’ve long been the most prescribed and available and abused of the controlled substances,” says Terrance Woodworth, deputy director of the Office of Diversion Control for the Drug Enforcement Administration. “It’s an amazing amount of abuse, and it’s all ages.” Just a few weeks before Noelle Bush was arrested, 12 middle-school students in Philadelphia were rushed to the hospital with symptoms of Xanax overdose; according to school officials, an eighth grader had helped herself to a relative’s legitimate supply and passed out the pills to classmates. Benzodiazepines often get into the wrong hands by diversion from legitimate prescriptions. Doctors wrote more than 30 million prescriptions for alprazolam products in 2001, up from 24 million in 1997, according to IMS Health. “Even law-abiding people have the attitude that once I buy it, it’s mine, and I can do what I want with it,” says Dr. Glen Hanson of the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Alprazolam is typically prescribed to relieve anxiety or panic attacks. Recreationally, says the DEA’s Woodworth, people use it alone as an intoxicant, or in combination with alcohol or painkillers, or as a way to come down from a cocaine high. But even compared with the other benzodiazepines, it’s particularly addictive. “It’s fast acting, highly potent and doesn’t stay in the system very long, so people take repeated doses,” says Dr. Frances R. Levin, a Columbia University psychiatrist. “The anxiety returns, and they take it again.” Once hooked, abusers can buy alprazolam on the street (where the pills are known as “Xanies” or “footballs”) for $3 a dose.
The Bush family issued a statement from the governor’s office, acknowledging that Noelle had “a very serious problem.” That much was an open secret among Florida Republicans; Noelle has been involved in five traffic accidents since 1993, and it was reported last week that a woman with the same age and name was arrested and paid a fine for shoplifting in Arizona in 1995. But she had recently rented an apartment and was scheduled to start work at a software company. That plan was on hold as officials decided whether to prosecute her on charges that could bring a five-year sentence. If convicted–she hadn’t yet entered a plea last week–she is unlikely to get jail time. In fact, a proposed referendum in Florida would mandate treatment, rather than jail, to first- and second-time drug offenders. The measure is opposed by Gov. Jeb Bush.
Julie Scelfo and Joseph Contreras
PROTOCOL
Glory Days
When is the right time? Consensus is that it’s still OK to fly your flag, if for no other reason than we bought quadruple the usual number in 2001. Might as well show them off. There’s plenty of opportunity starting Presidents Day, which begins a patriotic stretch that includes Memorial Day, Flag Day, the Fourth of July and September 11, designated as Patriot Day (though flags should fly at half mast then). If the Stars and Stripes are illuminated properly, keep them waving. “Why pull it up and down?” says Barbara Goldman, marketing director of the National Flag Foundation.
Tattered flags should be taken to a veterans service group such as the American Legion to be burned. (The ashes are spread on veterans’ graves on Memorial Day.) “You’re not going to run around with a raggy pair of clothes on,” says Patrick Brady, chairman of the Citizens Flag Alliance. “Don’t hang raggy flags either.” Not a problem for Gregg Weeks, 55. One of his dozen flags is almost always up–and will stay up. “Remember how we felt a month or so ago?” he says. “It would be wonderful if we kept that closeness.”
Annin & Co., the nation’s oldest and largest flagmaker, says sales are hovering at 25 to 35 percent above normal. The company expects people who were forced to buy low-end merchandise after the attacks to buy superior products now. That may not be so easy. Annin’s most popular model–the 3-by-5-foot Nyl-Glo ColorFast with embroidered stars–is back-ordered through August.
SERVICE
Getting Help For Giving It
That increase would be in line with student interest. Nelson Williams, a senior at the University of South Alabama, tutored elementary students in reading. “You know you’re helping,” he says. (So does D.C. It foots most–or all–of the bill, but gets double for its money: a job for a college kid and a boost for the next generation.) “It was important to give back to the community that nurtured me,” says Alvaro Soria, a Stanford graduate and an El Paso, Texas, native who worked for two service programs there.
Bush estimates Soria could be one of 250,000 to 300,000 more students involved in these efforts–a force that could reduce illiteracy. And help out elsewhere. Sharjah Jacobs, a freshman at the University of Illinois at Chicago, got kids out of abusive families. “People called saying ‘Thank you’,” she says. More thanks may soon be on the way.
AIDS
A NEW SHIELD OFFERS NEW HOPE
SPECIALS
‘Peanuts’ Gallery
Schulz’s longtime producers, Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson, plucked the show’s scenes from 20 years’ worth of Valentine’s Day comic strips. With 18,000 strips in all, material for future specials is almost endless. “He’s alive when we’re laughing at his jokes,” Schulz’s widow, Jean, told NEWSWEEK. She has a particular fondness for Linus’s nickname, the Sweet Baboo, since she used to call her husband that.
The characters were always with the couple. “You’d be in Timbuktu watching the natives dance,” says Schulz, “wishing your kids could see this. [Charles] would say, ‘I can just imagine Snoopy here’.” Later, in a strip, he often would. With the Valentine’s Day special, as with others, the producers attempted to match the children’s voices to the original, 1965’s “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” The accuracy of the voices is critical to fans. It can be tricky since a child’s voice can change in a year: new casts are usually necessary. The adults’ famous “wa-wa” voices are still made with a trombone.
FAST CHAT
Kiss and Tell
What’s the first cover story? The fab world of Hugh Hefner, the eternal Playboy. He’ll be surrounded by 20 beautiful women, all with their tongues out, of course. To be on the cover, you must have your tongue out.
Is there a Tongue criterion for inside features? We have a letters column called “Tongue Lashings,” “Tongue ’n’ Cheek” is gonna be the who’s-doing-who section, and everything overseas is “Foreign Tongue.”
What’s your overall vision? A combination between Interview, Rolling Stone and Playboy. The girls keep their clothes on–no nudity, but we’ll try and get some headlights in there. That’s very important for men.
Is Tongue– I prefer you call it Gene Simmons’s Tongue, like “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”
OK. Describe your potential readers. It’s for cool people. It won’t delude you into thinking that marriage is an institution that works. It’s gonna tell the truth: the only thing wrong with marriage is that one of the two is a man. [To himself] Gene, are you inferring that men are incapable of being monogamous? Well, we try, but we can’t hold our breath forever.
You lost me here. Is this the subject of a Tongue story? No, it’s just my philosophical take on things. We lead delusional lives. Like women don’t want to hear the truth. They want to hear “I promise I’ll stay with you until death.” The truth is, I do love you with all my heart and all my soul, but I love your sister and your mommy, too.
Let’s get back to the magazine. You personally interview some of the celebs for Tongue, right? Yes. I talked with Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit–how he grew up white trash and Kiss changed his life. We’ll also interview celebs for “My First Time.” They’ll talk about how they lost their virginity. You know, the eternal urge to merge. Ah, Gene [to self again], that’s so poetic.
GUITARS
PICKIN’ DAISIES
wife
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Special Real ‘Fear Factor’ Edition
C.W. Bush + S.O.U. was eloquent, inspiring and scary as hell. Missing in action: Osama and Enron. Cheney - Wants to keep Enron meetings secret. The real principle: It’s my government, not yours. Powell = Undiplomatic “axis of evil” speech puts top dip. in deep sheep dip. Have fun in Korea! Rumsfeld + Our Fright Knight says future terror will dwarf 9-11. No wonder Stephen King’s retiring. Davos - World Ec. Forum meets in N.Y. Now everyone knows how self-important it is. Linda Lay - Weepy wife of Kenny Boy makes for least credible victim since Condit. See you in Aspen.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-17” author: “Charles Stone”
But last week Raissi, the first suspect to be arrested in connection with September 11, walked free on bail. The judge decreed that there was no immediate likelihood of any terrorism charges being filed against him. There simply wasn’t enough evidence.
The judge’s decision was one the United States had feared and Europe had predicted. U.S. authorities saw Raissi’s case as proof of just how many potential terrorists were on the loose in Europe, thanks to legislation that puts suspects’ rights dangerously ahead of state security. Prosecutors initially declared Raissi a “lead instructor” for four of the hijackers, based on photos of him with a man they believed to be Hani Hanjour, the terrorist thought to have piloted Flight 77 into the Pentagon. But the “suspect” in the picture turned out to be Raissi’s cousin. The prosecutors needed a scapegoat, says Raissi, “and the beauty of this scapegoat is that he has to be a pilot, a Muslim, Arabic. Bingo.”
But it wasn’t bingo for U.S. authorities, just an ominous sign of the problems they are having in cooperating with their European partners. In Britain, some 100 people have been arrested on suspicion of Qaeda connections–about a dozen remain in prison. About half a dozen suspects have recently been arrested in Germany, and all except one have been promptly released. And at least three of the dozen men held in Spain since November are now free as well.
Europe refuses to follow the United States by detaining suspects on inconclusive evidence. There is a delicate balance between protecting public safety and ensuring civil liberties, insists British terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp. So, although authorities on both sides of the Atlantic will continue to round up the usual suspects, those in Europe will walk free unless plausible evidence is presented. Holding the U.S.-European antiterror alliance together has not been an easy task since day one. And as more cases like Raissi’s fall apart, the more difficult it is likely to become.
U.S.-CHINA
Will Hu Bond With Bush?
Hello?
The Bush camp switched the venue to Beijing’s Tsinghua University. But the Chinese government’s original choice had nothing to do with boosting Marxism; they simply wanted Bush to bond with the school’s director, Vice President Hu Jintao, who is slated to succeed Jiang Zemin as party head this fall and as president in March 2003. Jiang is anxious that the relatively obscure Hu and Bush get off on the right foot.
Luckily for Sino-U.S. relations, Hu won’t be deterred: he’s attending Bush’s speech anyway, and may even accompany Bush on his limo ride to Tsinghua. That should help break the ice a little. And the two should have more bonding opportunities when Hu makes an official U.S. visit this spring.
INDICATORS
Partners in Poverty?
Come again? One third of Botswana’s population is infected with HIV. Its GDP in 2000 was $5.3 billion, a fraction of the former Asian juggernaut’s $4.7 trillion. After 18 years of Japanese recession, Moody’s primary concern is Japan’s 0.7 percent rate of deflation, which has deepened the exposure of Japan’s banks and government to loans from the go-go years. Moody’s blames Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s inability to tackle reforms. “The longer it takes for the government to fashion an effective response to deflation,” it announced, “the more complicated solving other economic problems becomes.”
On his visit to Asia, President George W. Bush was expected to give Koizumi another push. Who knows if he succeeded? If he didn’t, lenders soon might start to consider places like Afghanistan as attractive alternatives to Japan.
Graphic: (Chart) The Tale of the Tape: A glance at the two economies: (Graphic omitted)
EXPLOSIVES
Black-Market Boom
As a precaution, the Czech government recently took control of Explosia. But recently, several batches of Semtex have gone missing, two Army majors were caught stealing 42.5 kilograms’ worth, a soldier allegedly sold some to a Belgian customer for $500 per kilo and an Army captain stationed in Yugoslavia was caught smuggling 35 kilograms. Clearly, the government doesn’t have complete control of Semtex after all. Says Kushner: “Once the spigot is open, it is hard to stop the flow.”
TERRORISTS
Buddies With Bin Laden
What do you think of President Musharraf and the United States? Musharraf was clearly told, “We will send you to the Stone Age.” He is not a man with real faith and conviction. From his heart I am sure he hates America. Because Musharraf was happy with the Taliban. Our government is a slave government. We are the puppets of the United States.
Can Musharraf endure? Before, the president used to go in one car. Now, there are two cars and several convoys. When you need all this security, you are not secure.
Will the tension ease if America helps rebuild Afghanistan? They think that by this they will win people over. Like when they used to throw those packets of food. That is insulting. In Islam, if you kill one innocent person it is as if you have killed the whole humanity.
Do you still defend bin Laden? If you have a brother whom you’ve known for years, who is a wonderful person, but 50 people come and tell you he is horrible, would you believe that? No.
Would the Osama that you know have planned the September 11 attacks? Osama was mediocre–you could not call him a very intelligent person. He was also shy by nature. From that kind of a man, this kind of planning is just not possible.
It’s been reported that you quarreled with him recently. That is not true. He is a wonderful person to me. [But] I did have quite a few differences of opinion with him. For example, he would revolve the total religion around jihad. Jihad is one of the most important factors, but you cannot totally revolve around it. My way of living was a little different, but still I could find him mostly better than me in many respects.
Do you think he is still alive? I am sure.
When did you last see him? Ha, this is an interesting question. Let’s skip that.
Cloning Copy Cats
The surprise to many observers was that the kitten did not look like a younger version of her “genetic donor,” Rainbow. The older cat is a white, orange and black calico, while CC is a black-and-white tabby with almost no orange. Scientists can’t fully explain why the genetic twins appear so different. But reproductive physiologist Mark Westhusin, who led the research team, notes that coat-color patterns aren’t controlled solely by DNA. And neither is an animal’s personality, meaning that an affectionate cat could give rise to an aloof feline. “Cloning is reproduction, not resurrection,” says Westhusin.
It will be several years before kitty cloning is commercially viable. Still, word of the breakthrough drew criticism from the Humane Society of the United States, which noted that there are already too many cats “desperate for homes” all over the country. Regardless, phones were swamped last week at the Texas gene bank that provided financial backing for the research–Genetic Savings &Clone.
ICONS
Kiss and Tell
What’s your overall vision? A combination between Interview, Rolling Stone and Playboy. The girls keep their clothes on–no nudity, but we’ll try and get some headlights in there. That’s very important for men.
Is there a Tongue criterion for features? We have a letters column called “Tongue Lashings,” [and] “Tongue ’n’ Cheek” is gonna be the who’s-doing-who section.
Is Tongue… I prefer you call it Gene Simmons’s Tongue, like “Alfred Hitchcock Presents.”
OK. Describe your potential readers. It’s for cool people. It won’t delude you into thinking that marriage is an institution that works. It’s gonna tell the truth: the only thing wrong with marriage is that one of the two is a man. [To himself] Gene, are you inferring that men are incapable of being monogamous? Well, we try, but we can’t hold our breath forever.
You lost me here. Is this the subject of a Tongue story? No, it’s just my philosophical take on things. We lead delusional lives. Like women don’t want to hear the truth. They want to hear “I promise I’ll stay with you until death.” The truth is, I do love you with all my heart and all my soul, but I love your sister and your mommy, too.
Let’s get back to the magazine. You personally interview some of the celebs for Tongue, right? Yes. I talked with Fred Durst of Limp Bizkit–how he grew up white trash and Kiss changed his life. We’ll also interview celebs for “My First Time.” They’ll talk about how they lost their virginity. You know, the eternal urge to merge. Ah, Gene [to self again], that’s so poetic.
First Person Global
By John Ness
How to create a utopia without distinctions or discord? In an effort to find out, I recently hung out with members of a leading anti-globalization coalition, Another World Is Possible, when they gathered in New York City. The group’s name offered some hint of its vision: optimistic, contrarian, revolutionary–and vague. When I asked organizers to be more specific about the society they envisioned, they suggested I attend the pagan ritual kicking off one of their major protests.
They met at Washington Square, a downtown park that makes an ideal base of operations for summer skateboarders and street performers. But that January night, the park’s architecture conspired to divide the egalitarian group: beatific pagans massed on top of a raised concrete island, rabble-rousing revolutionaries stood on the ground. At ground level, a half-man, half-puppet calling himself “The Little Green Man From San Francisco” rapped and exhorted the crowd to be strong. Random groups would spontaneously sing three choruses of “Ain’t no power like the power of the people ‘cause the power of the people don’t stop. Say what?” Then another joined the chorus. Suddenly, a young black member of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade yelled, “Quit trying to figure out how to help black people! You want to know what black people want? Ask me, motherf—-r!” His comrades nodded in agreement, but nobody asked him.
I tried to climb the steps to the pagans’ mount: they at least looked semiorganized. But I had to wait in a queue: not because there was a rush to join them, but because at the top of the steps an oblivious Wiccan blocked the way. She was swishing her arms around in an attempt to spread the life energy she sensed in the air. Nobody waiting on the steps asked her to move. They simply lined up, and one at a time tried to maneuver past her.
Atop the island, Tela Star Hawk Lake–Star Hawk to her fans and the night’s pagan celebrity emcee–exhorted hundreds of young people to “bring in some of the energy of the moon.” Excited women–young and old–let out whooping war cries. After the crowd had brought in the energy, they began the spiral dance, which was something like an enormous multilayered conga line.
A sensible journalist, I could have dismissed this circus as a carnival of the terminally weird. Only I was surprised at how much of it affected me. Whatever your political beliefs, hundreds of people singing on a cold night is a lovely thing to see and hear. When a black-hooded witch bade me “Welcome to the shrine of grief,” I felt the same current of solidarity that I experienced when Christian volunteers offered to pray with me when I visited Ground Zero.
But what I couldn’t find was any common ethos other than anarchy. When Star Hawk asked some of the participants to kneel so TV cameras could see the ceremony, a man yelled, “You don’t use corporate media! Corporate media uses you!” After Star Hawk ignored the comment and called upon participants to help her harness the four elements, a young woman next to me hissed, “They’re f—ing media junkies.” The protesters really believed another world was possible. But on that night, between pagan openness and revolutionary paranoia, consensus never stood a chance.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-14” author: “Susie Culnane”
U.S. officials are also optimistic that one or more top Qaeda leaders were killed by a Hellfire missile launched from a CIA-operated robot plane earlier last week. According to intelligence sources, the missile was fired after a camera aboard the CIA Predator spotted a suspected Qaeda gathering high up in the mountains of Afghanistan’s Paktia province, near the country’s eastern border with Pakistan. The video pictures from the drone showed a small group of men in robes apparently behaving deferentially to one of their number, who was noticeably taller than the others. The video also showed a group of vehicles consistent with the makeup of convoys known to have been used by Al Qaeda to protect traveling leaders. Afghan leaders suggested that the men killed by the remote-controlled missile were only minor Qaeda fighters. But U.S. officials say they “can’t rule out” the possibility that the six-foot-plus bin Laden himself was the tall man spotted on the video. (Bin Laden’s chief deputy, Egyptian doctor Ayman Zawahiri, is also believed to be fairly tall.) U.S. officials say they can’t confirm unofficial reports that bin Laden’s wealthy Saudi relatives have been asked to supply specimens of family DNA. The Pentagon has dispatched a military team to the site of the missile attack to investigate.
While the latest news from Afghanistan seemed encouraging, U.S. officials have been disappointed by reports from other fronts. In Indonesia, sources say, authorities have lost track of one of the most important local terror leaders, Parlindungan Siregar. In November, Siregar was identified at an antiterrorism trial in Spain as a key Qaeda suspect. Indonesian security forces say they have located a camp where foreign and local terrorist volunteers allegedly were trained. But Siregar himself has apparently vanished. Also on the lam: Abu Qatadah, a London-based Muslim cleric who has been linked to several European Qaeda groups, including the German cell that carried out the September 11 attacks. Qatadah vanished from his residence shortly before a new law came into effect that empowered British authorities to detain him without trial. British officials declined to comment, but U.S. authorities expressed dismay that one of bin Laden’s most important operatives in Europe apparently disappeared right under the nose of Britain’s legendary counterintelligence service, MI-5.
Even if bin Laden or top aides were killed by the CIA’s missile, U.S. officials acknowledge that other Qaeda lieutenants are waiting in the wings to replace them. Intelligence analysts are studying reports that Muhammed Atef, an Egyptian Qaeda leader whom the Bush administration says was killed during fighting last year, has now been replaced as Al Qaeda’s top military commander by another Egyptian, Muhammad Ibrahim Makkawi, also known as Saif Al-Adel. But U.S. officials say it’s also possible that Al Qaeda’s military wing is now being commanded directly by Zawahiri–assuming he’s still alive.
FALLOUT
Driving With Dangerous WTC Dust?
More than 900 vehicles have already been recovered and transported to the Fresh Kills landfill in Staten Island. Last week recovery workers reached the deepest levels of WTC parking garages where, remarkably, hundreds more vehicles remain mostly intact and are now being removed. But like those already at Fresh Kills, they are coated with the fine powder of pulverized building material. The health department has provided cleaning instructions that the owners will receive when they are notified to pick up their cars. But Joel Shufro, executive director of the New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health, argues that returning the cars puts people at potentially grave risk. “Who’s to say what’s going to happen to one of these contaminated cars? There’s nothing to stop someone from just driving one around or getting rid of it on eBay.”
POLITICS
Preview of the Court Fight
ANTHRAX: VACCINE NEWS
Nobody likes getting a shot, but the people eligible for vaccination against anthrax last December were particularly doubtful. Conflicting recommendations from public-health representatives heightened worries about possible side effects from the vaccine developed by the Defense Department. This week the first data on the outcome of the vaccinations will be released. The results: nothing much worse than a sore shoulder. Swollen arms, little knots at the injection site that went away within days, but no “vaccine reportable events”–that is, no serious side effects. “It was what I expected. I’ve given plenty of people this DOD vaccine. I’ve taken it myself,” says Dr. Greg Martin of the National Naval Medical Center. “It’s not that big a deal.” Now the serious science begins. Researchers want to know how the immune responses of the vaccinated will differ from those people who took 90 days of antibiotics. Longer-term studies will get underway. And docs also hope to work out the kinks in a system where nearly all the Capitol Hill staffers offered the vaccine took it, but out of more than 5,000 postal workers only 103 felt safe enough to roll up their sleeves.
SCIENCE
New Cells in the Thinking Cap? Think Again.
The birth of new nerve cells, or “neurogenesis,” is now confirmed in the original two parts of the human brain, the hippocampus and olfactory bulb. But for the neocortex, the no-new-neurons theory lives–and it’s just gotten a major boost.
Until December, Gould’s study stood alone and unverified. Now two neuroscientists have repeated her work in Science, but not her earthshaking results. Where Gould saw new nerve cells in the neocortex, Pasko Rakic and David Kornack see only glial cells, the “glue” that supports neurons. But they do spot new nerve cells in the other two areas. In a January review in Nature Neuroscience, Rakic charges Gould’s work with technical problems. Focusing on what appeared to be 100 new neurons, Rakic and Kornack found that every one was merely a new glial cell hiding behind an old neuron. Gould has a cross-sectioned image from her own study that she says shows one cell marked as new–and it’s clearly a neuron. But Rakic has an answer for that, too. The method that identified the cells as “new” finds DNA synthesis, which can happen in cells that aren’t actually dividing. Rakic says that means Gould’s tests were too sensitive, tagging “new” neurons that weren’t, and the method’s inventor, Richard Nowakowski, agrees. Gould’s response? Rakic’s methods just weren’t sensitive enough. But even she can’t explain why that might be.
Rakic’s study squares nicely with the prevailing idea that memory comes not from new nerve cells but from chemicals in the spaces between old ones. But Gould’s team is still going. They’re circulating a response to Rakic and Kornack and re-creating the two studies side by side to see if small differences in methods are to blame. Others are also redoing the tests; a Japanese team’s unpublished results seem to echo Rakic’s, while another team’s, also unpublished, support Gould’s with evidence of cortical neurogenesis in rats. Meanwhile, work on less controversial new neurons marches forward (and may yet offer hope to those Alzheimer’s patients). Neuroscientist Fred Gage, who’s just wrapped up a study of the function of new hippocampal nerve cells, says that’s as it should be. Still, until more studies confirm Rakic and Kornack, he’ll keep a close eye on the neocortex debate. “Rakic’s paper was thorough and quantitative,” he says. “Now it’s not so much a controversy as science progressing.” That’s a pursuit that’s anything but trivial.
(Diagram) A Brainy Battle: Scientists Square Off: Your neurons are older than you are–they formed before you were born. But the image on the left, of a cell from Gould’s study, may say otherwise. (Graphic omitted)
HEALTH
TESTING: OVARIAN CANCER
The new test is the first diagnostic tool to emerge from the fledgling field of proteomics, the study of proteins and what they can tell us about a person’s disease state. The goal is to identify the protein patterns in the blood that are unique to a disease. Once the researchers had linked ovarian cancer to a characteristic pattern, they tested the method’s predictive power by screening blood samples from 116 women–50 with cancer and 66 with benign conditions. The new test enabled doctors to pick out all 50 malignancies, including each of the 18 early-stage cases.
More trials on larger groups of women are still needed in order to obtain FDA approval. If the test passes muster, it could be available in five years or less. Since it takes only 30 minutes to perform, it should be easily affordable. But the real savings could be in lives: 14,000 that are lost every year to this deadly disease.
DESIGN
A New Kind of Archery at the Winter Games
Trained as both a sculptor and an engineer, Hoberman is fascinated with nature’s moving parts, like the iris of the eye. “Natural form is something most designers find compelling,” he explains, “but I don’t start by, say, looking at a flower unfolding. I go through a kind of ground-up approach.” Hoberman sees how small elements work to develop a bigger whole. He’s applied his ideas to art installations–at New York’s Museum of Modern Art and science museums–as well as to a line of toys. This week another new design, Funfolds, debuts at the New York toy show.
LETTERS THAT DELIVER
MOVIES
The Most Attention Wins
In 1968, Cliff Robertson took best actor for playing a developmentally challenged man in “Charly” who, after an operation, becomes a genius. The movie is every bit as preposterous as it sounds, but boy, does it allow for a lot of acting. Two years later John Mills didn’t have to say a word to cop a supporting-actor statuette: in “Ryan’s Daughter” he played an Irish “village idiot” and mute. He also had a lot of dirt on his face, which never hurts.
Tom Hanks was laid-back as the aphorism-prone Forrest Gump (best actor, 1994). “Gump” didn’t pretend to be realistic, so it (just barely) got away with its suggestion that slowness and saintliness were kissing cousins. The silliest example of this dubious notion, however, had to be “Regarding Henry” (1991), in which nasty attorney Harrison Ford is transformed into a sweetie pie after getting shot in the head. No Oscar for that one! Our pick for best performance as a mentally challenged character would be Leonardo DiCaprio’s dazzling turn in the 1993 “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.” Naturally, he got an Oscar nomination.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Olympic Denial Team Edition
C.W. Bush + Lockbox? What lockbox? Will he ever pay political price for raiding Social Security? Accountants - As “Enronitis” infects market, bean counters’ reputation goes deep into red. Stat! Skilling - Pre-bust: Former CEO is hands-on leader. Post-bust: Spent days stringing paper clips. Sgt. Schultz + “Hogan’s Heroes’” “I know nothing” prison guard is poster Nazi for Enron execs. Argentina - CW cries for you–a country with empty wallets and Enronitis. Borrow from Madonna. Opening ceremony = Beautiful, incident-free kickoff. But was anyone surprised at “miracle team” torchers?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-27” author: “George Rose”
Karmi’s death was another victory for Israel’s assassination policy–but is the strategy really working? Senior officials insist the killings of 70 Palestinian militants in the past 16 months have saved hundreds of Israeli lives by removing “ticking bombs.” But many critics, including some in Israel’s intelligence community, say such killings may be only fueling the conflict.
A NEWSWEEK investigation uncovered chilling details of the Karmi hit. He was a key target: a veteran of the intifada who had risen to the top of the Fatah movement’s military wing. In revenge for the assassination of a prominent local Fatah leader, Karmi and three other militants abducted and murdered two young Tel Aviv restaurateurs who had driven to Tulkarm to go shopping on Jan. 23, 2001.
Under Israeli pressure, the Palestinian Authority jailed Karmi in November. But after Arafat called on militants to lay down their arms, Karmi struck a conciliatory tone. As a result, Tulkarm’s governor permitted him to start making overnight visits to his wife and child. At first Karmi moved in secret, hidden in the back of a car, accompanied by bodyguards. But as the weeks passed, “he became more and more relaxed,” says a fellow guerrilla, often traveling on foot and making little effort to vary his routine.
It was a fatal mistake. Sources say Israeli secret agents planted inside Palestinian territory continued to track Karmi’s movements. Palestinian officials believe he was betrayed by local collaborators recruited by Shin Bet, the domestic intelligence agency, through blackmail or bribery. In Karmi’s case, the agents apparently located his safe house, studied his daily patterns and reported back by telephone to a joint intelligence committee based at military headquarters in Tel Aviv. The plan to kill him by remote-controlled bomb was likely conceived by a small group of high officials from military intelligence and Shin Bet. “It offered the Israelis a degree of deniability,” says one analyst. The Tel Aviv group probably gave the final green light days or even hours beforehand, sources say, after getting the nod from Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The remote-controlled bomb was almost certainly buried by Palestinian agents the night before the killing, and could have been set off by a mobile telephone or a signal from a high-flying drone.
Officials insist they resort to killing militants only when an attack against Israelis seems imminent, when seizing the suspect alive is too dangerous and when there’s little chance of innocents dying in the crossfire. “These kind of operations are cost-effective,” says a senior military officer. A visit to Tulkarm suggests otherwise. In recent days Karmi’s group, the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, have taken responsibility for two suicide missions against Israelis, and militants say that Israel’s efforts to assassinate their leaders have only strengthened their commitment. “Every person who chooses this path knows that one leg is in the grave,” says a fighter who was with Karmi the night before his death. Israel’s hit squads won’t find it easy to rub out such ruthless determination.
CRACKDOWNS
More Tumult In Turkey
AIDS
Mutiny Against Mr. Mbeki?
If South African President Thabo Mbeki doesn’t change his policies on AIDS, his countrymen might do it for him, as they showed last week. Authorities in KwaZulu-Natal announced that they would make the drug nevirapine available to HIV-positive pregnant women in state hospitals, even though the government officially bans antiretrovirals outside of specified trial sites due to cost and safety concerns. Mbeki’s government fears other provinces could follow suit, causing what South African Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang called a “mutiny.” Would that really be such a bad thing?
INTERNET
A New Suit
The background: When AOL paid $10 billion to buy Netscape in 1999, the onetime Internet darling had already lost the “browser war” for two big reasons: Microsoft worked overtime to make its Explorer competitive with Netscape’s Navigator and Microsoft leveraged its Windows monopoly to get people to use its browser. The latter practice was a key issue in the now settled federal antitrust case (which several states are continuing to litigate in hopes of a stronger remedy). Since the court ruled that Microsoft’s practices were indeed harmful to Netscape, AOL’s case looks like a slam-dunk. But Microsoft will undoubtedly insist that Explorer’s current 90 percent market share is strictly due to merit. (The Softies will note that even AOL chooses Explorer–its mortal foe!–as the built-in browser for its 30 million customers.)
What does AOL want? Billions of dollars in damages, to be sure. But its more ambitious goal is “injunctive relief” that limits Microsoft’s actions in the future: allowing a bigger opportunity for AOL itself to dominate in areas like instant-messaging and Web services.
FASHION
The Thrilla In Chinchilla
That feint apparently didn’t bother Saint Laurent, who managed to floor everyone in sight with his show. Lagerfeld didn’t attend, but anyone else who is anyone did. Retired couturier Hubert de Givenchy, actresses Jeanne Moreau and Anouk Aimee, philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, business titan Francois Pinault and First Lady Bernadette Chirac were all there to see highlights of Saint Laurent’s 40-year career: the peacoat (1962), the Mondrian dress (1965), the tuxedo (1968) and the Ballet Russes (1976-77), and new interpretations of these now iconic creations. By the time Saint Laurent’s longtime muse, Catherine Deneuve, and his new crush, Laetitia Casta, serenaded him on his farewell walk down the runway, most were in tears. “The name of Yves Saint Laurent is Paris. It’s pure beauty. I’ll miss him,” said Japanese designer Kenzo. Too bad Lagerfeld won’t. And although he and Saint Laurent shared a prestigious fashion award back in 1954, there’ll be no sharing the title this time.PERI’s decision: YSL, by a TKO in the first round.
SAUDI ARABIA
Neil and Bill… Of Arabia
Meanwhile, also speaking at the forum was former president Bill Clinton, who was paid $300,000 for his appearance. But he was keenly aware of potential fallout for his wife’s political career. Upon learning that bin Laden family members (who have disowned their terrorist brother) were coming to a private dinner in his honor, Clinton had them “disinvited,” says a Clinton spokeswoman.
ARCHITECTURE
New York’s New Look?
Two of the proposals really stand out. The late Mississippi architect Samuel Mockbee drew his from his hospital bed–two towers, even taller than the originals, and a pit dug into the earth, 911 feet deep, reached by a spiraling ramp. At the bottom? A reflecting pool, a memorial and a cultural center.
Daniel Libeskind, who designed the Jewish Museum in Berlin, envisions a slender, jagged high-rise that includes a memorial. “Be it a skyscraper, a low-rise complex or a park developed on the site, the real question is about memory and the future of that memory,” Libeskind wrote with his submission.
Although the Lower Manhattan Development Corp., which will oversee rebuilding plans, has yet to consider designs, it announced that public hearings might be held as early as February. The Twin Towers may not be long gone, but a replacement could soon be on its way.
FIRST PERSON GLOBAL
By Alan Zarembo
Driving in Mexico City is always an adventure, even before the police get involved. My recent accident was simple enough–my humble Volkswagen, a hulking SUV, a single lane and two drivers insisting that the other was responsible. But what ensued was a lesson in Mexican justice. Soon after we pulled over to assess the damage, a two-man patrol car arrived. One cop took my license and returned to his car. The other launched into a somber commentary on the rigors of being a cop in Mexico City: Colleagues killed. Lack of public respect. Overbearing bosses. Low salaries. “How much does a policeman make in the United States?” he asked.
I knew where this was headed. “We are going to have to fine you 1,000 pesos,” said the officer, “for blocking a public transit way.” Huh? Even if the accident wasn’t my fault? I asked. “Yes. It’s the law,” he replied. When I requested a copy of that law, he changed course. “How about something for a refresco?” That means a soft drink–in other words, a bribe. Bribery is a way of life in Mexico, and those who pay are just as guilty as those who exhort. So, on the few occasions I have been pulled over, I’ve demanded the cops write me a ticket. Not eager for extra paperwork, they always let me go instead.
Finally insurance agents arrived. They argued with each other–but not too hard. Insurance companies have an interest in deadlocks. When one driver is guilty, he pays only his deductible and his insurance company covers the rest of the damage to both cars. In a standoff, each person pays his own deductible. It would have been in our collective interest for one of us to admit fault. But by the time I realized that, it was too late. We had already given our statements. The policeman told me it would be useless to go to court; I’d wait under fluorescent lights for 12 hours for a judge’s inevitable conclusion that the contest was a draw. Again the cop offered me a way out. “Your deductible is $600,” he said softly. “For half of that I can be a witness and say it was the other driver’s fault.” I decided to pay my deductible.
A few weeks after I picked up my car, I noticed that three of the five bolts holding on each front wheel were missing. The mechanics had forgotten to replace them. I returned to the shop, but it was closed. Frustrated, I looked around the parking lot until my eyes came to rest on a car, the same model as mine, that had been mangled in an accident. A panhandler stood guard while I removed six bolts and put them on my car. I guess there’s no avoiding it: I had adapted to the unwritten rules of Mexico.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-20” author: “Janet Mulligan”
A senior White House official insisted that the higher number used by Hughes was “accurate.” That, he explained, is the estimated total number of fighters trained in Afghanistan dating back to 1979. (That’s when the CIA was supporting mujahedin guerrillas trying to free the country from Soviet occupation.) Bush, at the last minute, agreed to insert the agency’s more “conservative” estimate because it better portrays the current threat, another aide said. But some foreign-intelligence analysts say even the lower 15,000 to 20,000 number may be too high. “I’ve always had a less grandiose estimate of Al Qaeda than my counterparts in the United States,” Prince Turki bin Faisal, the former chief of Saudi intelligence, told NEWSWEEK. Turki, who stepped down shortly before September 11, said Saudi estimates of the number of Qaeda fighters were no more than 2,000 to 3,000–and the figure is even lower now in the wake of the U.S. operation in Afghanistan. While insisting that he didn’t want to minimize the threat, Turki said he believed Bush officials were overstating the magnitude of the terrorist group. “I think President Bush has to justify his request for homeland security,” he said.
Top U.S. intelligence analysts remain divided on the nature of the threat. In his speech Bush said U.S. forces in Afghanistan had discovered “diagrams of American nuclear power plants and public water facilities” as well as “detailed instructions for making chemical weapons.” But U.S. intelligence officials said most of the material he referred to had been downloaded from the Internet–and it was unclear whether it related to any still-active terrorist plots. One example of the confusion: the Nuclear Regulatory Commission recently issued a detailed warning to nuclear power operators that terrorists might try to crash a hijacked airliner into a nuclear plant. The warning was based on a tip from a foreign intelligence service. It turned out the FBI had gotten the same tip two months ago–from a Qaeda operative captured in Afghanistan–and dismissed it. Then the operative told the same story to the foreign intelligence agency. “This was recycled information,” said a bureau official.
JAPAN
Koizumi’s Calamity?
But did he also lop off his own head? Although hated by conservative politicians, Tanaka was the people’s favorite. Now, reformers worry that Koizumi’s popularity–from which, everyone agrees, he gets his power to intimidate the old guard–will be next to go. In a snap poll the day after the firing, his approval rating plummeted to 42 percent. A wounded Koizumi may now have trouble pushing through his plans to deregulate and privatize many of Japan’s industries, and minimize government bailouts. But don’t count out old “Lionheart” just yet. Tanaka’s replacement, Yoriko Kawaguchi, is tough and smart. If she can quietly tame the bureaucrats in the Foreign Ministry, Koizumi’s popularity could rebound. His pride–and his power–could soon be restored.
ARGENTINA
In God’s Hands
Until now, PERI has found itself sympathetic to Duhalde’s plight. Caught between the conflicting demands of his constituents and the international community, poor Duhalde simply can’t win. Duhalde had to devalue the peso, but he still took the flak from his people, who support a dollar-pegged currency. Duhalde has also done all he can to unfreeze bank withdrawals, but they have only $15 billion in reserves–to cover $73 billion in deposits. On Friday the Supreme Court lashed out, calling the freezes unconstitutional. With nowhere else to turn, Duhalde has tried to pass off much of the cost of devaluation onto international banks and private utility companies, who want nothing to do with the mess.
Duhalde’s new economic plan is bound to upset many, and he is sure to suffer more bruises. But at least he’s not looking to Maradona as a savior. Since the fallen idol’s infamous “hand of God” goal in the 1986 World Cup, Maradona has flat run out of miracles.
SINS: A ‘VENUS’ GOES HOME
Baartman’s exploitation continued long after her death in 1815. Her genitals and brain were displayed at the Museum of Mankind in Paris until the 1970s for all to gawk at. But now those years of firm indignities may be about to end. Nelson Mandela and other politicians have long demanded that Baartman’s remains be returned for a proper burial in her native land. And last week the French Senate passed a law providing for just that. Perhaps this will at last bring to a close one of the sordid chapters in African colonialism.
FREEDOMS
The Media War Against Mugabe
BROWNELL: What are Zimbabwe’s state-run broadcasts like? JACKSON: Very dated, nationalist rhetoric and neocolonialist-type stuff. It’s just endless. When the violence started in 2000 and they started killing white farmers, you got no information. There was no one telling the story and no one giving Zimbabweans a voice. That’s the huge frustration.
Who are your listeners? People across the board are listening. Every racial group, every age. We got a call from a listener who had seen a bunch of people up in the trees, putting bits of wire and antenna together to get a better signal.
What does the government think? [Minister of Information] Jonathan Moyo, of course, is going to criticize and accuse us of being a random hate radio. What we broadcast is nothing that shouldn’t be on a radio station in Zimbabwe today.
Moyo accused you of “fanning tribal divisions.” Moyo always turns it around in his “Alice in Wonderland” world.
Mugabe has introduced draconian laws against journalists and political opponents. Will foreign observers make the upcoming elections any more fair? That ain’t gonna help. They need monitors. Observers and monitors are two different beasts. Observers stay in very nice hotels and are only allowed in certain areas. What are you going to observe? There are few adjectives to describe how profound the violence is and how widespread the intimidation is at every single level. I heard this week about a 6-month-old baby who had been beaten within an inch of its life and a 4-year-old whose face had been split open. It is incredible brutality. Dairy cattle having their eyes gouged out and being disemboweled by squatters on white farms. Horses on farms chased over cattle grids to purposely break their legs.
How is the international press coverage of Zimbabwe? Zimbabweans are biting the walls in frustration saying, “Help us.” A white farmer gets killed and the [foreign press] cover the story en masse. Some black peasant gets killed down the road, they don’t even [print] his name.
Your funding comes from the U.S. government. Is this another bone of contention between you and Mugabe’s government? No source of funding would have satisfied the government. We have complete editorial control and absolute autonomy. The Zimbabwean government finds that difficult to comprehend. They cannot believe that any media outlet is free.
HOSTAGES
War Hazards
Now, Daniel Pearl, a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, has been kidnapped in Karachi. The foreign press corps had been rapidly thinning out in the city, and Pearl found himself without the usual bubble of protection. His fate was unclear late in the week, and his kidnappers warned other American journalists to leave or be killed. In reality, of course, the reporters were already swarming back in.
SCIENCE
Failing to Share
FIRST PERSON GLOBAL
By Ron Moreau
Speaking in quiet tones, Pham Kim Hy conveys a powerful mixture of feelings: love, strength, determination and sadness–but not resignation. Tears well in her eyes as she displays carefully preserved keepsakes of her missing son, Ho Viet Dung, who disappeared during the Vietnam War nearly three decades ago. She displays baby clothes, booties and a red Ho Chi Minh Youth neckerchief. She pulls out photo after photo, and finally unfolds a letter dated March 1972. “We are ready to go into battle,” Dung wrote from South Vietnam’s central highlands. “But please don’t worry for me. Spring is here.”
I had come to Hanoi to report a story on seven American military experts who had just been killed when their helicopter crashed during a search for U.S. MIAs. I thought it only fair to include the case of a Vietnamese MIA, too, and Hy, 72, gave me a story of loyalty and determination that sets a standard to live by. In 1975 local officials informed her that Dung was one of the 300,000 communist soldiers listed as missing. Vietnam has no formal, well-financed system of finding its MIAs, but that didn’t deter Hy. She launched her own search-and-recovery effort with her meager savings and retirement income. She wrote letters to officials, appeared on television and tracked down members of Dung’s regiment who said he had been killed in the successful attack on an airfield and buried near a stream on the edge of a forest and in sight of a mountain.
She set out, along with her war-crippled husband, on the first of five trips she would make to that remote, mountainous region over the next 23 years to search for her son’s remains. She rode on trains, buses and old jeeps, and straddled the rear seats of motorbikes. She camped in the forest, eating instant noodles and drinking water from streams. Sometimes she and her husband, guided by local officials, cut their way through thick forests with machetes. Sharp leaves and thorns cut her face and body. Bees, ants and leeches attacked her. She forded streams that came up to her chest and climbed hills and mountains. “Many times I barely had the strength to go on,” she told me. “Every time I came back from a trip I was ill. Once I came back almost paralyzed.”
Hy dug up all the unmarked graves she could find. Most contained only canteens, spoons, broken bowls and shreds of hammocks. “I jumped into the holes and clawed through the dirt looking for remains, but we found none,” she said. When people asked her how she would recognize Dung’s remains if she found any, she replied: “By his teeth. He had very beautiful, straight teeth.” Finally, she began scooping up pebbles from streams she had crossed and handfuls of dirt from graves she had opened, depositing it all in a bag she carried with her. Back in Hanoi, she placed the contents in an urn and buried it in the family’s cemetery. She and her family visit the grave often. “It’s a form of consolation and a place where the family can gather and remember him,” she said. But still, Hy hasn’t given up the search. “I can’t bear to think of him lying unknown, alone on some distant battlefield,” she said. “Perhaps I’ll go again if my leg gets better.”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-12” author: “Cheryl Patterson”
But Bush’s main purpose wasn’t public-relations advice. NEWSWEEK has learned the presidential sibling also had another agenda: recruiting Middle East investors for an educational-software firm that, industry sources say, may benefit enormously from the new $26.5 billion education bill signed by President George W. Bush. Neil Bush’s Austin-based firm, called Ignite, has raised about $18 million since last year, mostly from foreign investors in Japan, Taiwan and the Middle East, said Ignite exec Kenneth Leonard. The company is exploring joint ventures with computer software firms in Dubai and is seeking contracts with the United Arab Emirates’ Ministry of Education and other foreign governments, said Leonard, who has accompanied Bush on three trips to the Mideast since George W became president.
Neil Bush’s business career has created problems for his family in the past. In 1990, while his father was president, he was reprimanded by federal regulators for his role as a director of the failed Silverado Savings & Loan. Bush told NEWSWEEK he has avoided contacting U.S. officials during his recent travels and said there was nothing improper about his seeking business from foreign governments. “What am I supposed to do? Nothing in life? Every country has a concern about the education of its children–and I’m happy to cooperate with them. I don’t see a conflict.” Bush also said he doesn’t talk to the White House about Ignite. “I don’t get permission from my brother to do business.” But some rivals say Bush’s role in Ignite could help the firm cash in on a booming new market in “digital learning”–in part due to a fresh infusion of funds for school districts from his brother’s education bill. Ignite recently began marketing its first product–an American-history software program–to local school officials. “There’s only about four or five [educational-software] firms in a position to take advantage of all this new money, and Neil Bush’s company is one of them,” said a rival. But competitors acknowledge Bush appears excited about Ignite’s potential to boost student performance. “He seems very passionate about it,” said Baxter Brings of Advanced Academics.
Bush wasn’t the only high-profile figure on the Saudi circuit. Also speaking at the Jidda forum: Bill Clinton, who was paid $300,000. (Clinton earned an additional $475,000 for speeches in Dubai and Cairo.) While accepting the Saudis’ money, Clinton was keenly aware of potential fallout for his wife’s political career. When he learned bin Laden family members (who have disowned their terrorist brother) were coming to a dinner in his honor, Clinton had them “disinvited,” said a Clinton spokeswoman. He also avoided Prince Alwaleed “like the plague,” said a source.
CITIES
Lessons of the WTC Recovery
Julie Scelfo
THE SKINNY: AOL’S SUIT
What does AOL want? Billions of dollars in damages, to be sure. But its more ambitious goal is “injunctive relief” that limits Microsoft’s actions in the future: allowing a bigger opportunity for AOL itself to dominate in areas like instant-messaging and Web services.
TERRORISM
Catch Me If You Can
After the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa, the CIA asked the Germans for information on Mamoun Darkazanli, a Hamburg businessman who U.S. officials believed had contacts with two bin Laden operatives. The Germans found that the Syrian-born trader was already in their files for his ties to Islamic militants. Security officials stepped up their monitoring of Islamists, even picking up hints of possible extremist activity at 54 Marienstrasse, the apartment building where Atta and his cell apparently hatched their plot. But investigators couldn’t get enough evidence to wiretap the place. After 9-11, police raided Darkazanli’s flat, seizing records and questioning him about his contacts with suspected hijackers; U.S. and European officials ordered his assets frozen. Legal and financial hassles aside, Darkazanli remains free. His lawyer says his client has never knowingly been in contact with Al Qaeda but acknowledges that Darkazanli attended the wedding of Said Bahaji, the Hamburg terrorist cell’s computer geek.
German officials say they are now beefing up their corps of intelligence experts and revising laws to make it easier to collect information on terrorist suspects. But some investigators say it will be at least a year before they really know what’s going on in Hamburg’s Muslim community.
SCIENCE: FAILING TO SHARE
PLAGIARISM
Have You Read This Story Somewhere?
Even their critics couldn’t agree on the severity of their infractions. Problem is, as concepts go, plagiarism isn’t that old. The Oxford English Dictionary cites the Elizabethan playwright Ben Jonson as the first person to use the word plagiary to designate literary theft–and he was making a joke. That was at the beginning of the 17th century, when everyone, including Shakespeare, still borrowed other people’s work and remade it. Originality had very little cred before the Romantics inflated it. The increasing prevalence of mass-produced books furthered the problem of plagiarism, too, because then there was something to steal from. The ensuing centuries have left us with no lack of cases, but clear-cut definitions are still hard to come by. “Common sense–always in short supply on this subject–has to settle the issue,” says Thomas Mallon, author of the excellent history of plagiarism, “Stolen Words” (from which nearly the entire paragraph above is lifted). “How much material is involved? How many instances?” In Ambrose’s case, literary detectives have ferreted out numerous examples of borrowing/lifting/stealing in at least five books published over three decades. Does that make him a plagiarist? Mallon again: “If there are 10 stab wounds, you’re dealing with something other than a kitchen accident.”
DOWN UNDER
Six Degrees of Guy Pearce
LAW
Lobbying for The Land
MOVIES
What’s the Damage?
“Collateral Damage,"¿Hasta la vista?
TRANSITION:TORCH SONG
Robert Nozick, articulate philosopher of libertarianism, died of complications from stomach cancer; he was 63. In his influential book “Anarchy, State, and Utopia” (1974), he espoused a minimal government, defended the property rights of individuals and challenged the view that justice was served by forced redistribution of assets.
Kenneth Auchincloss
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Special No Enron in Sight Edition
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-11” author: “Ashley Willis”
The 15-nation European Union (Norway is not a member) requires that all Israeli goods be marked as such, even though Israel enjoys preferential trade status with the EU. Imports from anywhere outside the EU are supposed to display their country of origin. The EU’s toothless legislature, the European Parliament, voted a few weeks ago to call for a suspension of Israel’s preferential status, but the real governing body, the Council of the European Commission, just shrugged at the resolution.
Boycotts can backfire. Take the Norwegian supermarkets’ threat to pull Israeli products off their shelves. “It’s ironic, because if you try to harm Israeli fruit and vegetable exports, you are actually harming Palestinians,” says Ohad Cohen, Israel’s commercial attache to Norway, Sweden and Finland. “Most people who work in that sector are Palestinians or foreigners”–that is, migrant farmhands from places like Thailand.
There’s also the troublesome case of two Israeli professors fired recently in the name of an academic boycott against Israel. Both were on the staffs of scholarly journals published at the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology, in England. A win for Palestinian rights? Hardly. One of the two, translation-studies specialist Miriam Shlesinger, was chairperson of Amnesty International’s Israel branch and is active in the Israeli antiwar group Peace Now. In short, the only rule that applies to Mideast politics is the law of unforeseen consequences.
REPORTS Arabic Advances The United Nations’ verdict is in: the Arab world has made “substantial progress” in human development over the past three decades, but much still needs to be done to provide future generations with an adequate political voice, better social choices and more economic opportunity. So says the U.N. Development Program’s Arab Human Development Report 2002, released last week. The study examines the Arab League’s 22 member nations, covering issues ranging from Internet access to women’s rights. The bad news first:
Now, the good news:
“Things are changing for the better,” says Amira A. Hussein of Cairo’s Alliance for Arab Women. They have to. Otherwise, according to the report, by 2010 Arab unemployment will double to 25 million, and nearly 14 million children between 6 and 15 will not be attending school and the region’s combined GDP will still be less than that of European countries like Spain.
EMISSIONS A Pipe Dream Becomes Possible President George W. Bush wiped his hands of the Kyoto Protocol in March 2001. But he did promise an American alternative. And now we have it–California. Last week a bill to limit greenhouse-gas emissions from motor vehicles in California was approved by the State Assembly and landed before Gov. Gray Davis, who has said he’ll likely sign it. If he does, the California Air Resources Board will adopt standards for cars and light trucks (read SUVs) sold in the state to achieve “maximum feasible reduction” in emissions. Only California could get away with this: because its Air Resources Board was established before the federal-level Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), California is allowed to establish tougher standards than the EPA, which so far doesn’t regulate greenhouse-gas emissions from vehicles. And most important, other states can then follow its lead. Massachusetts and New Hampshire both recently passed laws regulating emissions from power plants, including carbon dioxide, and may soon be in the market for vehicle standards, too.
The best-case scenario for enviros everywhere is that legal moves might not even be necessary for other states to follow suit. California, with an economy larger than all but four of the world’s countries, accounts for 12 percent of the U.S. car market. So if the big automakers are forced to manufacture cars for California that have lower greenhouse-gas emissions, they might as well do it for the rest of the country. And that could add up to significant environmental progress in a car-obsessed nation.
Galapagos Oil Overboard They say it’s not worth crying over certain spilled liquids. Oil, however, isn’t one of them. When nearly 240,000 gallons of fuel were dumped near the Galapagos archipelago in January 2001, international ecologists condemned Ecuador’s management of the protected islands, calling for international support in keeping the famous Galapagos habitat out of harm’s way.
Apparently, their protests had little impact. Last Thursday a barge spilled close to 2,000 gallons of diesel near the islands. Strong currents were blamed for knocking the barge’s haul–a fuel tank–overboard. But once again, ecologists pointed the finger at the government, denouncing its failure to implement adequate safety measures on fuel transport to electric plants on the Galapagos.
On the upside, initial wildlife damage reports from local scientists weren’t too grim; most of the archipelago’s exotic wildlife would not be affected in the short term. But experts also believed it was too soon to tell about the long-term effects. A recent study showed that 62 percent of iguanas on the island of Santa Fe died within a year of the last Galapagos spill. Let’s hope–for the sake of both the Galapagos wildlife and the Ecuadoran government–that this spill doesn’t do the same type of damage.
ARGENTINA Menem… Again?> When Argentina’s caretaker President Eduardo Duhalde declared last week that next year’s election would be held in March, seven months earlier than originally planned, a surprising name popped up as a possible replacement: Carlos Menem, the country’s 72-year-old former president. Despite the fact that most Argentines hold Menem responsible for the government corruption and overspending that triggered the country’s current economic woes, many loyal Peronists hark back to the mid-1990s, when Argentina was still prospering under his leadership. It doesn’t seem to bother anyone that Menem spent five months last year under house arrest on illegal arms-sales charges, either. (The allegations were dropped in November.) Even the country’s laws have so far done little to quell the rising Menem tide. The Constitution prohibits former presidents from seeking another term in office until they’ve been away from the job for four years, and Menem’s four-year gap won’t be officially complete until December 2003. But these are Argentine politics, which of late have avoided many rules. Within hours of Duhalde’s announcement, Menem announced plans to seek the Peronist party’s presidential nomination in primary elections scheduled for later this year. Recent polls show that he’s got a good chance of winning that vote. Menem’s biggest hurdle is likely to be hopping the constitutional law–but even that doesn’t look insurmountable. His lawyers have already declared that they will ask the country’s Supreme Court for a ruling that gives their man a green light. And getting a favorable decision from the justices shouldn’t be all that difficult–most of the court’s members were appointed by none other than the former prez himself. At this rate (and taking into consideration the brief residencies of Argentine presidents these days) the toughest challenge Menem’s likely to encounter is actually holding on to the presidency if he manages to win it.
BioWarfare Same Old Diseases, New Fears Recent revelations about an alleged 1971 Soviet field test of weaponized smallpox that accidentally killed three civilians and nearly caused a massive outbreak is raising alarms: does the world need new vaccines to protect citizens from terrorists using potent smallpox strains? NEWSWEEK’s Eve Conant spoke with Russian microbiologist Gennady Lepyoshkin, who survives on meager U.S. grants designed to keep now unemployed former bioweaponeers out of the employ of so-called rogue states:
How close would you have to be to a weaponized source to get infected? The highest possibility for infection would be between two to five kilometers. After that, the concentration level goes down, the effectiveness diminishes. The usual form of transmission is from coughing, sneezing or touching the lesions on someone else’s skin; for example, if you rubbed up against them on a tram in a big city.
The United States is debating whether to make smallpox vaccines available to the public. Could vaccines fight weaponized smallpox? Is it worth producing these vaccines if such powerful strains of smallpox are out there? At the moment, we have no defense. The vaccines should be made by all means; they will still work. If some terrorist act should happen right now, there would be very large biological losses. The old generation that was vaccinated has lost their immunity. This is a very scary thing and we are not ready for it now. A number of specialists who are working in this field are vaccinated, but the bulk of the population does not have immunity. There is no need for everyone to get immunized, but vaccines should be stored so they are available at warehouses. I believe smallpox is the worst disease on earth.
What is life now like for former bioweapons specialists in Russia? We live very poorly, below the level that specialists like ourselves should be living at. But we are adjusting and are looking for additional income–everyone looks to find a way they can make some money. I’m not yet planning to go to countries like Iran, Iraq or Libya that are developing biological weapons.
What do you mean you’re not “yet” planning to go to those countries? We are looking for other options, more acceptable options. I personally will never go to Iran or Iraq; I will work here. But right now I am not working. I get money only through grants. Until recently I made about $100 per month.
Do you think that smallpox as a weapon could be in the hands of terrorist groups? I think yes, of course. People like bin Laden or his accomplices would gladly get the strains–and they more than likely have them–to scare the entire world with a biological war using natural smallpox. These recent experiences with anthrax are like kindergarten compared to what smallpox can do. People died from smallpox in the millions. They died from plague in the millions. The world is ready to combat plague, but it is not ready for smallpox.
Sin used to be simple to define: a matter of humans hurting other human beings. But Bartholomew I, the current Greek Orthodox patriarch, wants to extend sin to harming the earth, earning himself the nickname “The Green Patriarch.” Earlier this month, I traveled with Patriarch Bartholomew and 249 others–holy men, activists, U.N. officials and journalists–on a luxurious Adriatic cruise. Our purpose wasn’t pleasure, though; we were there to examine environmental hot spots in the Balkans and ponder where God and conservation converge.
Once at sea, we set upon our rigorous task. We attended plenary sessions, which veered wildly between the sublime and the mundane. A cardinal from Germany and the grand mufti of Syria deliberated on the symbol of water in the Bible and Qur’an. Conservationists showed us scary maps of Adriatic contamination, pointing out the effects of the lethal cocktail of ship pollution, pesticides and untreated sewage that have been spilled indiscriminately into these waters. In Albania, politicians parked their limousines outside the ship and came aboard to declare their commitment to regional peace and stability. Then they berated the journalists among us for asking them tough questions about environmental disaster sites. An impassioned speech blasting the concept of sustainable development by the environmentalist Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan was followed by a woman from Split talking about the disposal of solid waste in the Croatian city.
The Fellini-esque surrealism peaked the evening we sailed into Kotor, on the Montenegrin coast. We filed off the boat to a portside reception at dusk, complete with a brass band, gold braid glinting in the fading sun. Old men danced slowly with handkerchiefs as girls in hoop skirts led the patriarch and his distinguished guests ashore. The brandy and canapes we were served at the dock contrasted with our less festive reception that morning in Durres, Albania. At Porto Romano, outside Durres, northern Albanian squatters live on the grounds of a former chemical plant that until 1990 produced the pesticide lindane, which, along with chromium salt, has since seeped into the groundwater and soil. Near the houses built from the old factory’s bricks lie 20,000 tons of toxic waste. The people know it’s dangerous here; the milk from the grazing cows tastes funny, they say. Still, they believe they have no place to go. They tend their tin pots of geraniums and string up fading lace curtains in their doorways. Few of them wanted to talk to their uninvited visitors. “So many people come and look,” said one angry mother. “And nothing happens.” We listened and scribbled in our pads. Then the tour buses took us back to our cruise ship, and we sailed away.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-27” author: “Ruby Saucedo”
Yasir Arafat’s future is on the table–and, the White House hopes, out of his hands. George W. Bush’s wish to be rid of the Palestinian leader will be among the topics in key talks this week in New York and Washington between Secretary of State Colin Powell and European and Arab officials. NEWSWEEK has learned that Powell is encouraging the drafting of a plan that would give the Palestinians a state while moving Arafat into a figurehead presidency with limited powers. U.S. officials say it would work like this: under a new draft constitution, written by Palestinian-American lawyers with Saudi funding, a Palestinian Parliament would be elected and it would appoint a prime minister, whose name could then be forwarded to the president, Arafat, for formal approval.
Washington badly wants to avoid the embarrassment of having Arafat run for election himself, which most observers think he would win handily. State Department officials hope to get the Europeans and Russians to back this approach, along with major Arab allies–Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan–and U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The aging Palestinian leader would then face a tough quid pro quo from the international community: step aside in return for gaining early statehood.
The real questions are whether prominent Palestinians can be found to pink-slip Arafat, and whether Palestinian and Arab officials will demand that Israel withdraw its troops from the Palestinian territories first. The Israelis have said they won’t pull out until elections are held; Palestinians say they cannot do so until Israel removes its troops. But U.S. officials say the Saudis, Egyptians and Jordanians, worried by the out-of-control violence, are eager to move along negotiations for a provisional state.
Also expected this week is the inauguration by America, the European Union, Russia and the United Nations of an international task force for reform in the Palestinian territories. The task force, which is expected to include the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, will oversee efforts to rout out corruption in the Palestinian Authority. CIA Director George Tenet will tackle security reform. The foreign ministers will also present a unified front in demanding that Israel ease its clampdown against the Palestinian economy in order to help foster meaningful reforms.
Powell aides have modest expectations for this round. After the battering they took abroad for going along with Ariel Sharon’s demand for new Palestinian leadership, U.S. officials are treading warily and not claiming the lead in drafting the new plan. Still, there is a chance for progress. Says one U.S. official privy to Powell’s discussions: “There is hopefully going to be a fait accompli delivered to Arafat.”
AIDS An Endless Battle?
No one expected last week’s 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona to be a festive affair. But the dismal revelations of the conference were still shocking. Every day 15,000 people are infected by the HIV virus. Women make up 58 percent of the 28.5 million sub-Saharan Africans who are HIV-positive. (This will cut birth rates dramatically in the coming years.) And fewer than 4 percent of the 6 million people in the world who have AIDS receive adequate anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). The list of sobering data is almost endless.
Even seemingly positive news was in fact negative: the announcement of a U.S. donation of $500 million over the next year and a half to prevent mother-to-child transmission and improve health-care-delivery systems in 12 African nations and the Caribbean was drowned out by calls for much more–and by boos and jeers. Hopes of a vaccine are few and far between. Although VaxGen hopes to have results of clinical trials for its vaccine by early next year, most believe it will fail like all those before it. Even if it does work, it would fight only the B-strain HIV virus, which is common in Europe and North America, not the A-strain dominant in Africa.
But there was some actual good news. Brazil, by producing its own generic ARVs and distributing them free since 1996, has managed to halve its rate of AIDS-related deaths. The country’s representatives announced last week that Brazil would try to help other Third World nations to improve their capability to develop their own generic drugs. Oxfam also announced that countries that have successfully developed their own generic drugs have in turn created more competitive markets, forcing large pharmaceutical companies to lower the prices of their own patented AIDS drugs. And Medecins Sans Frontieres presented the results of a study proving the feasibility of treatment in “diverse health-care settings” like poor townships and rural clinics.
None of these moves–nor “Sesame Street’s” announcement that it will introduce an HIV-positive Muppet on its South African version in order to educate children–will be the cure. But they are all small steps. And at this stage of the AIDS war, the world needs to take any kind of step it can.
EUROPEAN UNION: Going Bananas
In October 2000, armed Italian authorities stormed a suspicious merchant ship in Mediterranean waters, intent on busting a major drug ring. But amid the tons of bananas in the hold, they found no contraband drugs. “They must have peeled almost every single banana before they realized there was no cocaine,” an official of the European Anti-Fraud office told NEWSWEEK. But their mission hadn’t failed. It turns out the contraband was the bananas.
A two-year probe by Italian authorities has revealed that illicit fruit smuggling has become big business in Europe. The smugglers are exploiting a trade loophole that has tied trans-Atlantic trade relations in knots for years; in order to protect its relationship with former colonies in Africa and the Caribbean, Europe has placed lower tariffs on their bananas than those from South America, the world’s largest exporter of the fruit. But despite their privileged status, African and Caribbean bananas still cost more in European stores because they are more expensive to supply and produce.
So, smugglers simply falsified import documents and presto, cheap Ecuadorian bananas became Caribbean imports. Smugglers and consumers profited; in fact, everyone but the government came out on top. But like all good crooks, the smugglers got sloppy: the abundance of cheap bananas in Europe’s markets caught the attention of the authorities. Now that Italian investigators have discovered losses of more than $80 million in customs fees and more than $2 million in unpaid sales taxes in the last two years, the days of smuggled bananas may be over.
RELIGION: Promoted To Be Pope?
Is the Pope trying to pick his successor? Last week he chose Dionigi Tettamanzi, 68, the cardinal-archbishop of Genoa, as archbishop of Milan. John Paul II may have made the move to put Tettamanzi (a conservative) in position to win election when the time comes–and to lessen the chances of Carlo Maria Martini, 75, the outgoing archbishop of Milan and one of the few liberal cardinals. Taking over in Milan–one of the world’s largest archdioceses, it has produced several popes, including Paul VI–may not be enough for Tettamanzi. He will still be the same basically dull man who cannot speak English (but is taking lessons), has published a large manual on moral theology and impressed some observers in Genoa last summer during the G8 summit by embracing much of the anti-globalization agenda of protesters, while sternly rejecting the street violence that engulfed his city. For charisma, Tettamanzi cannot measure up to Martini, a polylingual Jesuit, Biblical scholar, preacher and world traveler. Martini has said he wants to end his days in Jerusalem to resume the Biblical scholarship he left behind to become a bishop, and to help search for peace in the Middle East.
But Martini will still be a candidate at the next conclave. His age is actually an asset: the common wisdom in Rome is that the Roman Catholic Church needs a breather after the exhausting pontificate of John Paul II. The pope, who was gasping for air at the Wednesday audience in his summer palace last week, has already reigned for more than 23 years.
BOLIVIA: A Failed Model
In 1985, Bolivia was in dire need of economic salvation. So Harvard economist Jeffrey Sachs and the IMF advised the elimination of price controls and encouraged severe cuts in state spending, sweeping tax reforms, lower tariffs and the privatization of some state companies. The country’s economic vital signs stabilized, it controlled its hyperinflation and the “Bolivian model”–or neoliberalism–caught on around the world.
But 17 years later, the original supermodel has fallen on hard times. The only significant investment in recent years has been in the natural-gas sector, which provides few jobs and spinoff benefits for the economy. Unemployment is soaring, and barely a dent has been made in reducing poverty. It’s no wonder that in Bolivia’s recent election, former coca farmer Evo Morales–who espouses the end of neoliberalism–finished a close second to former president Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada. Even the pro-market Sanchez de Lozada admits the old new way needs adjusting with some added government intervention. “This stuff about the invisible hand–it just doesn’t work that way,” he said recently.
Why not? Instead of creating large labor pools, the global market created few labor-intensive industries in Bolivia, says Hubert Escaith, director of the economic-development division of the United Nations Economic Commission on Latin America. And, he adds, “the traditional industries were no longer protected by high tariffs and were either closed down by the state or moved out by transnational companies.” Privatization has largely failed and, to the chagrin of the likes of Morales, the coca industry has suffered, too; in the late 1980s, Bolivia was the world’s leading exporter of coca for cocaine. Over the past two decades joint U.S.-Bolivian efforts have all but wiped out illegal coca. Morales and others have vehemently criticized their “alternative development” program–replacing coca with crops like bananas–which has drawn few dollars and even fewer markets. Says Nicholas Robins, a Bolivia expert at Duke University: “The Morales electoral success is also a sign that U.S. coca-eradication policies in Bolivia are flawed.” Morales has no certainty of winning when he and Sanchez de Lozada meet in an Aug. 3 runoff. But one thing’s certain right now in Bolivia: the old model’s due for a makeover.
BOOKS: Proust… With Pictures!
Near the beginning of Marcel Proust’s “Remembrance of Things Past,” there is the famous scene in which the narrator inhales the aroma of a madeleine, a shell-shaped pastry, dipped in tea. It is a smell not encountered since childhood, and it unlocks the treasure house of his memory. Everything that follows, all 3,000 pages of the saga, stems from this scene (or so we’ve been told; we’ve made it through only the first 150 pages of Proust’s masterpiece, although we’ve gotten that far at least three times). If only we had waited for Stephane Heuet. The French advertising illustrator has completed two volumes in a projected 16-volume illustrated version of Proust. “Illustrated”–as in comic books. Though it was widely condemned by French critics (“Marcel is being murdered!” declared Le Figaro), Heuet’s first volume quickly sold more than 50,000 copies. Maybe U.S. audiences, schooled on comic art like Art Spiegelman’s “Maus,” will be more accepting, now that the books are being published in the United States. This Proust looks like the Classics Illustrated comics of our midcentury youth. Those initial encounters with Dumas, Dickens, Melville came flooding back the moment we looked at Heuet’s pictures. Comic books as our tea and madeleine–there’s the American version for you.
First Person Global
The first time it happened, I was taken by surprise. On a tour of the townships outside Cape Town, a crowd of little boys surrounded me and all started jabbering in unison. “How sweet,” I thought. “They’re talking to me in Xhosa.” Then, from the Nguni babble I made out the distinctly English words: “Jackie Chan! Jackie Chan!”
Xhosa kids know Jackie Chan. So do children whose first language is Sotho, Pedi, Zulu or Tswan. The appeal of kung fu films in South Africa’s townships, a world away from urban Hong Kong, is actually easy to understand. Young blacks, caught in the unremitting violence of apartheid’s last days, felt powerless and angry about what looked like an endless struggle against white rule. Travel was strictly monitored and cities were segregated, effectively imprisoning black people in the townships. But kung fu films were always accessible to all. “The kung fu films were more than fun,” explains 22-year-old Samora April from Guguletu township. “They were our only outlet.”
American blockbusters, simplistic and politically pallid, were never relevant to the South African struggle. “We were sick of watching movies where only the Western guys win,” says Ntobeko Peni, 27. So instead, bootlegged versions of Hong Kong action films played on flickering reels at local community halls, offering an alternative scenario: a lone hero beating all the bad guys singlehandedly, with wit and skill instead of the latest high-tech rocket launcher. Africans could relate to these heroes. And, as Peni points out, “Africa is in between the U.S. and China, so we were more aware of both cultures.”
This awareness has had a profound impact on my South African experience. Every time that I, an Asian-American who’s lived here for two years, go to a predominantly black neighborhood, a gang of boys will surround me, chanting “Jackie Chan!” or “China!” and mimicking drop kicks and karate chops. Sometimes I’ll strike back with a fierce tai chi pose, and they’ll pull away in alarm–for a second or two.
Being Asian in Africa is an interesting experience. Many Africans treat me with the same sort of resigned bemusement a Martian might direct at a crocodile. (“Funny, I wonder how that got here.”) But if the crocodile should then smile, open its mouth and say, “Molo, Mama, kunjani?” (“Hello, Mother, how are you?”), the Martians might also fall over, mouths agape. The storied warmth of Africans comes in those moments of utter disbelief when I, with my Chinese face and Western clothes, speak a little of their language in my American accent. After the gasp follows, invariably, a laugh. An astonished, joyous, curious laugh, followed by an embracing hug and often an immediate invitation home.
My entire experience in South Africa has been one of welcoming. Like most foreigners, I ask a lot of questions, some of them insultingly naive. But everyone I have come across has answered those questions with patience and honesty. South Africans aren’t used to being this direct with each other, or with anyone else, for that matter. But a huge advantage of being Chinese-American here is that each of those identities is so rare (even more so when coupled) that I am unique. Fitting no one’s image of the arrogant American or the quiet Chinese, I can be who and what I like. Myself: curious, interested, open, investigating. And welcomed.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-16” author: “Rosa Kennedy”
C.W. Bush = Regime change or disarmament—which one to focus on? Either, as long as it’s not the economy. Torricelli - Good news: He quit N.J. Senate race. Pathetic news: Still in denial about what he did wrong. Supremes = Now that Scalia selected a president, why shouldn’t he tip the Senate to GOP, too? Martha - Suddenly all those jokes about decorating jail cells aren’t so funny. Oh, maybe they are: Try stripes this year. Fastow - Enron ex-CFO gets fitted with new cuffs—and not the French kind. Now tell which biggies were in on scams. Madonna - Her “Swept Away” performance makes Pia Zadora look like Joanne Woodward. What a gift to director hubby.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-29” author: “Oliver Burris”
It’s no secret in Moscow that Russian President Vladimir Putin has long had a beef with Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty. It’s no surprise either: one could hardly have expected the ex-KGB officer to embrace a radio station created during the cold war to broadcast American-style news deep behind enemy lines. But until recently, Putin only hinted at his dislike. That changed last Thursday, when he removed the legal basis for the station to be located in Russia.
During the cold war, Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty–known in Russian as Radio Svoboda–was a rare source of unvarnished news for Russians. In 1991, the then President Boris Yelstin acknowledged the station’s importance to the newly democratic country, issuing a decree that allowed Svoboda to open an office in Moscow. This is the law that Putin revoked last week, leaving the station’s fate in limbo. At the least, say staffers, they will likely lose access to Russian politicians, who will be leery of crossing the Kremlin.
Ever since he took office in 2000, Putin has moved to rein in the rambunctious press of the Yeltsin years, pressuring newspapers and shutting down independent operations. But Radio Svoboda maintained its critical reporting, particularly on the war in Chechnya. Svoboda staff are accustomed to broadsides from the Kremlin accusing them of biased reporting on the conflict, including periodic threats to revoke the station’s license. Putin fulfilled that vow just as the Chechnya war is heating up again–with sources telling NEWSWEEK that the Russian military has finalized plans to cross into neighboring Georgia to pursue Chechen rebels–and while potential critics like the United States are more focused on winning Moscow’s support for its campaign against Iraq than condemning Russian actions in the Caucasus.
The Kremlin claims that Putin’s move will merely ensure that the station henceforth operates “according to the same conditions” as other Russian news organizations. This is a rather ominous remark, considering the fortunes of many of Russia’s once-independent media outlets. For their part, Radio Svoboda employees remain defiant–at least publicly. Thomas A. Dine, the president of RFE-RL, declared that the station will not allow Putin’s move “to affect our reporting of events in the Russian Federation in any way.” Brave words, but Radio Svoboda may have precious few of those left.
OOOPS…
Mistaken For the Mullah
Mulvi Hafizullah is hiding out in the remote Afghan countryside in fear of his life. But the 40-year-old former Taliban protocol officer isn’t worried about his ties to Afghanistan’s previous regime. It’s his resemblance to the Taliban’s reclusive leader-on-the-lam, Mullah Mohammed Omar, that scares him senseless. Mullah Omar was rarely photographed during his time in power, and in a case of mistaken identity, Hafizullah says it is his picture–not Omar’s–that has appeared on the hundreds of thousands of leaflets that have been dropped all over Afghanistan promising a $25 million reward for the capture of the Taliban leader and Osama bin Laden.
Hafizullah fears that thousands of Afghan soldiers and villagers–not to mention U.S. troops–are looking for him in order to collect the huge reward. “I’m afraid to leave my house,” he told NEWSWEEK. “If I do, soldiers or villagers will tear me to pieces so they can claim the money.” His troubles began early this year when he fled home to his village in Maidan province after the Taliban’s collapse. Not long after his arrival, an elderly neighbor approached him, showed him the leaflet and asked him if he was in fact Mullah Omar. “I looked at the photo and it was me,” says Hafizullah. The old man asked Hafizullah why he hadn’t admitted to the villagers that he was really Mullah Omar. “Now we are even more proud to know you,” the old man told him. Brushing aside Hafizullah’s denials, the neighbor complained that since he was the mullah he should be doing more to help the poor village and to repair local roads. Within days, Hafizullah went back into hiding.
But Hafizullah can also see the funny side to the mix-up. “The Americans and the CIA are so blind and stupid to think that I’m Mullah Omar,” he laughs. He adds that this is not the first such blunder the United States has made in the war in Afghanistan. At least five senior Taliban leaders whom the United States says it’s captured–including Defense Minister Mulvai Ubiduula and Chief Justice Noor Mohammad Saqeeb, among others–are still free in Afghanistan, Hafizullah claims. “The Americans only captured men who had the same names as our leaders.” (U.S. Central Command could not be reached for comment on Hafizullah’s allegations.)
Despite his sense of humor, though, Hafizullah is fed up with his predicament. He whiles his days away tending a few apple trees and some grapevines in the courtyard of his hideout. He laments that his family is unhappy living so far from home. And he complains loudest that despite his protests, his 5-year-old son now thinks he’s the mysterious Mullah Omar.
Entrepreneurs Yang Bin Busted?
When Chinese real estate and flower tycoon Yang Bin was picked last month to govern North Korea’s proposed capitalist zone near its Chinese border, his world looked to be in full bloom. But Yang’s prospects may be withering: On Oct. 3 Chinese police paid a 5 a.m. visit to the mogul, reportedly China’s second-richest man, at his home in the northern city of Shenyang and reportedly detained him.
The reason may well have nothing to do with North Korea. Yang made his name in Shenyang in the 1990s, where his flamboyant Holland Village development, replete with windmills and castles, brought him to prominence as a get-rich-quick icon. That high profile might also have drawn some unwanted attention.
NEWSWEEK has learned that Yang’s name has arisen in connection with a major corruption case in Shenyang. Last year former mayor Mu Suixin received a suspended death sentence for taking $800,000 in bribes and having a large amount of unexplained assets. And former deputy mayor Ma Xiangdong was executed in December for–among other things–gambling away $4 million in public funds. So where does Yang allegedly fit in? Holland Village got off the ground just as Shenyang’s corrupt mayor and his deputy were flying high. At the time, local media noted that Yang’s project faltered as soon as Mu and Ma were arrested in 2000 and that Holland Village allegedly lacked proper approvals. (His company has denied the allegation.) Informed sources tell newsweek that they believe Chinese authorities arrested Yang last week in order to learn more about the Mu case, and to probe whether Yang had paid bribes to get the Holland Village project off the ground–and that they needed to move before the North Korea initiatives made Yang politically untouchable. Yang’s spokesman was unavailable for comment on the matter.
Genocide
Burying the Past
This summer, activists from a Russian human-rights organization called Memorial thought they had found some answers at an old Soviet firing range just outside St. Petersburg. After years of searching, they discovered a mass grave filled with an estimated 30,000 bodies, thought to be among the nearly 40,000 Russians from the area who had been executed between 1937 and 1938 by order of Soviet ruler Joseph Stalin. Unearthing more than 50 burial sites, the activists examined some 20 skeletons–all of which had a hole blasted in the nape of the neck from a .45-caliber bullet, the kind used in the Colt pistols issued to Soviet secret police at the height of Stalin’s reign of terror. By exhuming the bodies, there is hope that questions about the missing will finally be answered.
But Russia’s new secret police seem to be looking to stall the investigation. The St. Petersburg branch of the FSB, the successor to the KGB, has refused to comment on the site and has blocked access to KGB archives of individual executions. By refusing to admit that a mass grave even exists, the FSB has slowed Memorial down tremendously over the past five years. “They are covering up this crime, even now,” says Irena Flige, a member of Memorial’s St. Petersburg chapter.
But just because the FSB is eager to distance itself from its ancestors doesn’t mean the people of St. Petersburg are. Relatives of the murdered are calling for apologies and investigations. “The security services are proud of their image now and want everyone to forget their bloody past,” says 81-year-old Ida Slavina, who lost her father to KGB executioners in 1938 and her mother to a labor camp. “The government has never apologized to its people for what it did.” Next year marks the 50th anniversary of Stalin’s death. Perhaps by then the secret service will be willing to consider admitting its role in the horrors.
TERROR
Busted in Portland
With much fanfare, U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft touted the latest U.S. intelligence victory last week: the arrest of four Americans suspected of conspiring to provide “material support” to Al Qaeda and “take up arms against the United States.” “We’ve neutralized a suspected terrorist cell within our borders,” Ashcroft said Friday. The arrests, along with the court appearances of John Walker Lindh and shoe-bomber Richard Reid, made Friday a “defining day” in the war on terror, he crowed.
Yet the boldness of his statements seemed at odds with the dry facts in the indictment. On paper, the case–against Jeffrey Leon Battle, October Martinique Lewis, Patrice Lumumba Ford, Muhammad Bilal and two others still at large–seems to point more to a group of failed terrorist wanna-bes than trained Qaeda killers. Though they had guns and allegedly planned to wage jihad, none of them even made it to Afghanistan.
According to the Feds, in mid-October members of the group purchased one-way plane tickets to Hong Kong–the first leg of their journey to the Qaeda camps. But then, officials say, Battle sent Lewis an e-mail saying they were having trouble getting into Afghanistan. Battle made it to Bangladesh. Ahmed Bilal, Muhammad’s brother and one of the two suspects still at large, reached Indonesia. Eventually, they ran out of money and went home.
Ever since, the Feds kept close watch–but apparently turned up little more. Yet officials insist the case isn’t “anywhere near finished” and more evidence may be forthcoming–in Portland, and beyond.
JAPAN
Serenity Rocks
Nobody knows who designed the Ryoanji Temple garden in Kyoto in the late 15th century. Among more than a thousand ancient temple gardens in Kyoto, it’s considered to be the masterpiece. It might just be the work of a single genius, but its mathematical simplicity suggests many hands refined and distilled the arrangement over the years. The garden consists of 15 stones placed seemingly at random on a 10- by 30-meter rectangle of meticulously raked white gravel. For centuries visitors have sought to explain why this particular configuration is so appealing–why the Zen priests who tend the temple say the garden can be appreciated to the fullest only by those who attain enlightenment.
Esthetic theories have tended to attach symbolic significance to the arrangement: it has been said to represent a tigress crossing the sea with her cubs, islands in the ocean, rocks in the rapids and strokes of the Chinese character meaning heart or mind. But perhaps the appeal has less to do with garden’s symbolism than the structure of the human mind. The brain always tries to make sense of the visual world, and to do so it often pieces together sparse clues to form a coherent image. What if the Ryoanji rocks give the visual portion of the brain just enough information to suggest something pleasing, but not enough so that it’s staring the viewer straight in the face?
To test this hypothesis, visual scientists Michael Lyons of ATR Media Information Science Laboratories and Gert van Tonder of Kyoto University decided to run a mathematical analysis of the Ryoanji rocks that has been shown in previous studies to mimic what the brain does during the act of visual perception. The analysis, called a “medial axis transformation,” draws symmetry lines in the empty spaces between the rocks. “We used the technique analyzing the structure of ma, empty space, which plays a big part in Japanese culture,” says Lyons. When the two scientists saw the lines, they immediately realized that they resembled a tree. Its “trunk” also happens to end precisely at the optimum viewing point of the garden. Perhaps, they reasoned, the mind–properly conditioned by meditation–“sees” the tree unconsciously–that is, with the mind’s eye. The unenlightened among us will have to settle for a peaceful scene.
Entrepreneurs
Sales in Motion
If you hail a cab in Cape Town, make sure to tell the driver where you’re headed–and the name of your favorite song. A local independent record label, Mother Mix (derived from Cape Town’s nickname, “The Mother City”) is trying to bring music to the masses via mass transportation. The company’s innovative retail strategy is to sell CDs through local taxi and minibus drivers. While the meter ticks away, so do the beats; passengers are treated to the tunes of the newest hip-hop band. (Mother Mix plans to expand the repertoire to genres like European techno and drum-and-bass as well.) All the CDs or cassette tapes played are for sale.
And that’s music to the cabbies’ ears: on any given CD sale, which costs an average of $5, the driver receives a 30 percent cut to go along with tip and fare. Drivers sign up as distributors–much like Avon ladies on wheels–and they receive a starter kit, with fliers, posters and informational brochures about the Mother Mix concept, and a trial CD and cassette.
Mother Mix is just one of many independent labels (like Fresh Music and Ghetto Ruff) trying to make a dent in South Africa’s fledgling music market, dominated now by a hodgepodge of global imports. The indies insist that they’re in better touch with the sounds on South African streets than music execs based in London or New York. But when it comes to distributing their work, independents still have to fall back on large chains like Musica and CD Warehouse, where CDs and cassettes sell for an average of $15 to $20 apiece. The indie labels see only about $1 or $2 worth of those transactions for themselves. (Since the majority of South Africans make about $240 a month, store-bought albums are an absolute luxury.) By forgoing marketing and distribution expenses, Mother Mix can hawk their taxi CDs at a third of the cost. Which means they’re building a local music scene that’s actually accessible to locals, a feat that the company hopes other labels follow. “The question shouldn’t be, ‘Why can we do it?’ " says label owner Alexander Gregori, “but really, ‘Why can’t everyone else do it as well?’ " Think about all the yellow cabs in New York City. That’s a lot of noise waiting to be made.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-22” author: “Lottie Kovach”
C.W. Bush - Old CW: signs tough SEC enforcement law. New CW: with pressure off corp. scandals, guts tough SEC law. Typical. N. Korea - Loony regime tells world: “We have nukes!” How much will it take to buy them off? Abu Bashir - Al Qaeda’s man in Indonesia “falls ill” just before questioning by police in Bali disco bombing. Don’t fall for it. Angela + Feisty Baltimore mom killed in fire with five of her Dawson children—for fighting neighborhood drug dealers. She’s a martyr. Ira - Twenty-five years after killing girlfriend, Philly’s Einhron twisted guru finally gets nailed. Au revoir, dirtbag. California + Perfect state for wild-card World Series. If Bonds gets pitches, the place to be: McCovey Cove.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-04” author: “Hazel Clouston”
C.W.
Bush = Politicizing national security on the campaign trail but still on track for Iraq consensus.
Cheney = Courts constitutional confrontation over keeping energy documents secret. What’s he trying to hide?
Daschle = Calls Bush claim that Dems don’t care about national security “outrageous.” But watch the histrionics.
T. Kennedy = Hoists banner for Iraq doves with call for caution. Still “sailing against the wind,” Teddy?
Blair = Once again lays out evidence for pre-emptive strike. Finding his groove as Bush’s warm-up act.
K. Clarkson + “American Idol” teen novice rockets to No. 1. Does this mean we’ll have to listen to the winners sing every year?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-30” author: “Jeanne Brown”
The Iraqi Connection
In the weeks after the September 11 attacks, security officials around the world were on highest alert. So when a 37-year-old Iraqi national named Ahmad Hikmat Shakir stepped off a plane in Amman’s Queen Alia airport on Oct. 21, Jordanian officials soon became suspicious. A quick review of his passport showed Shakir had recently traveled to Pakistan, Yemen and Malaysia–key stops on the terror trail. FBI agents were alerted. Within days they concluded that Shakir was no incidental traveler: he was, according to confidential U.S. intelligence reports, a suspected terrorist who had been in direct contact with some of the major operatives in the September 11 plot.
But hopes that the FBI had nabbed a potential Qaeda source were soon dashed. Three months after he was detained, Shakir was inexplicably released by Jordanian authorities–and promptly vanished. NEWSWEEK has learned that some U.S. intelligence officials believe Shakir is now back home in Iraq.
But the relationship between Baghdad and Al Qaeda is still far from clear, and even top administration officials acknowledge there are large gaps in what they actually know. “It’s like a jigsaw puzzle,” said one senior U.S. official familiar with the intelligence reports on Iraq.
Was Shakir a Qaeda terrorist who just happened to be Iraqi–or did Iraqi officials know about, or even approve, his Qaeda activities? “Shakir connects with both Iraq and 9-11,” said one U.S. official. It’s a startling claim–though far from proven. Last year Shakir was living in Doha, Qatar. Six days after September 11, Qatari authorities picked him up for questioning–but let him go. Yet a search of Shakir’s apartment in Doha yielded telephone records linking him to suspects in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing and a 1994 Manila plot to blow up civilian airlines over the Pacific Ocean. U.S. officials found an even more startling link, according to intelligence documents obtained by NEWSWEEK: Shakir had been present at a January 2000 Qaeda “summit” in Malaysia that was attended by two of the 9-11 hijackers. Authorities believe that the summit may have been a planning session for both the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole and 9-11.
Shakir quickly left Qatar. In October 2001, he hopped on a commercial flight to Amman, intending to switch planes to Baghdad. When Jordanian authorities questioned him, Shakir claimed he was going home to visit relatives. The Jordanians didn’t buy it, and neither did U.S. officials. But much about the handling of the case has raised concerns. FBI agents were not permitted to directly question Shakir. Now law-enforcement officials are left to wonder how a suspected Qaeda operative went from a jail cell in Jordan to what may be safe haven in Iraq.
AFRICA
Death and Chocolate
For the West, the crisis in Cote d’Ivoire came off the boil when French troops helped more than 1,000 expatriates flee Bouake last week. But as the country heads toward a prolonged political crisis, the effects of the instability will be felt far beyond the West African country, which supplies 40 percent of the world’s cocoa.
When the troubles started on Sept. 19, the harvesting of the crop had just begun. Cocoa prices quickly jumped to a 16-year high. At the New York Board of Trade, prices for cocoa rose 4 percent. Fears that the crisis will drag on are causing the spikes. Although the uprising in Abidjan was quelled by troops loyal to President Laurent Gbagbo, rebels still maintained control of two cities in the dissident north. Real supply shortages now seem almost inevitable. “There’s definitely going to be a huge drop in Cote d’Ivoire production,” says Mamadi Diane, president of the Washington-based consulting firm Amex International and an Africa expert. “The crisis will go for several months.” (More evidence of that came Saturday as rebels took two more northern towns.)
The problem is, there’s no way to get the cocoa in or out. The heavy trucks used for transporting the crop from the interior to the ports have been hamstrung by fuel shortages caused by the rebel disturbances. That means pain even for those locals not directly affected by the violence. As Abidjan cocoa trader Bernard Diabate explains: “We’re only praying that the situation will improve as soon as possible. If not, this year’s cocoa season will be a disaster.”
MIDDLE EAST
Man in the Middle
Ariel Sharon insists his siege against Yasir Arafat’s Ramallah headquarters is aimed not at Arafat but at the men he is sheltering. He singles out Tawfik Tirawi, the head of Palestinian General Intelligence, who, according to Israelis, moonlights as a terrorist chieftain. It’s understandable why they would want Tirawi. Palestinian militants arrested during successive sweeps of the West Bank this year told their Shabak interrogators that Tirawi had sent them to shoot at Israeli cars in the West Bank. One suspect, Amar Mustafa Mardi, 21, said he received his Kalashnikov from Tirawi personally, according to Israeli officials. Palestinian human-rights activists say Tirawi’s agency has tortured suspected collaborators and killed Palestinians involved in land deals with Israel.
But in February Tirawi’s men also arrested the killers of Israeli cabinet minister Rehavam Zeevi. Recently he provided intelligence that helped Israel thwart two suicide attacks, according to a Western diplomatic source. Twice in the past year he held coordination talks with top Israeli security officials, including a meeting with Shabak chief Avi Dichter in February. “How is it possible that in the span of seven months I became someone who is wanted by Israel?” Tirawi asked in a phone interview with NEWSWEEK from Arafat’s compound.
The answer could have more to do with his boss than with Tirawi. Western diplomats in Jerusalem say that Sharon is flustered by Arafat’s talent for hanging on. Sharon apparently hoped the siege would speed up Arafat’s removal. Instead, it has silenced Arafat’s Palestinian critics and suspended reform schemes.
Politics: Wide Pockets
Former Nicaraguan president Arnoldo Aleman, otherwise known as “The Fat Man,” is in a heap of trouble. That’s hard to tell from looking at him. It’s true, accusations from current President Enrique Bolanos that his predecessor had swiped nearly $100 million from government tills during his tenure lost Aleman his seat in Parliament in early September. It’s also true the move opened the door for criminal charges, and if a panel of deputies decides this month to strip him of immunity, “El Gordo” could face up to 30 years in jail. But none of that stopped Aleman from appearing at a rally last week in downtown Managua, where he blasted his enemies, sounding–and looking–more like a professional wrestler than an ex-president facing time in the can. “They are not going to jail me,” the Fat Man railed. Maybe. Opinion polls show that more than 80 percent of the public wants Aleman brought to trial, a number taken after the particulars of his alleged offenses–referred to as la guaca, or the hidden treasure–came to light. Some of the funds Aleman is thought to have stolen are believed to have been laundered in offshore accounts from Panama to Luxembourg and Miami. Others, allegedly used to bankroll lavish trips the ex-president offered to his friends and family, were simply charged to government American Express cards. All in all, Aleman’s personal expenses may total more than $1 million. The rest, say prosecutors, was shipped to offshore front companies in which he was a partner. “Aleman sold half the country,” Bolanos told NEWSWEEK. “I’m not going to follow that path.”
Aleman has denied all the charges against him; he calls his former ally Bolanos a “traitor” and a “terrorist” and has declared a “political war” against him. The former president defends his credit-card expenses, saying that the Constitution doesn’t prohibit them. That may have been enough to spare Aleman in the past. No longer–the investigation is moving ahead. NEWSWEEK has learned that a top Nicaraguan prosecutor traveled to Miami last week to testify in a grand-jury investigation into alleged illegal real-estate purchases by Aleman and an associate. But if you look at the walls of the poorest houses in Nicaragua these days, the writing is clear. One message scrawled in red on a Managua shack summed it up: ALEMAN, YOUR HOUR HAS COME. Whether he’ll be spending it in jail is the next giant question.
BRITAIN
Charles in Charge
It’s taken Prince Charles half a decade to transform his reputation from cheating cad to loving dad. Now a tempest in an inkpot threatens to stain his hard-earned image. Somehow a couple of London newspapers got hold of sheaves of letters that the heir to the throne has been firing off to the prime minister and members of his cabinet on subjects ranging from growing litigiousness in Britain (dangerously American, he opined) to lax Army training (which he said was “set more and more within a comfort zone that already questions… the use of barbed wire on exercises”).
Some of his causes, once considered loopy, are now mainstream: his campaign against modernist architecture, for example, or his devotion to organic farming. And no one was surprised that he wrote letters to people in power; he’s been doing so at least since 1970, when, barely 20, he championed the cause of the endangered Atlantic salmon. What they didn’t know is that he has become the Prince of Spam–the gushing font of scores of letters to almost every department in Whitehall.
Britons have come to like their royals better if, politically, they’re seen and not heard. Charles’s letter-writing threatens to upset the balance. That’s a shame, for he is in fact a diligent monarch-in-waiting: he makes more than 500 public appearances a year and raises tens of millions of pounds annually for the 360 charities of which he is a patron. In a way, the saddest thing about Charles’s letters is that his penned arguments are so banal that they could be elicited by a visit to the nearest pub: he complains that “our lives are becoming ruled by a truly absurd degree of political correct interference” and bemoans the “blame culture” engendered by health and safety laws.
Hoping to quash criticism, Charles’s press operatives issued a statement confirming their boss’s intention to carry on writing: “It’s part of the Royal Family’s role to highlight excellence, express commiseration and draw attention to issues on behalf of us all.” If that’s the case, then who’s responsible for leaking Charles’s letters? It didn’t make sense that the leaker was in government: the letters were dispatched to so many government agencies as to make that unlikely. According to sources close to Charles, it seemed likely that the culprit was on his staff or was someone ex officio who somehow gained access to Charles’s computers or files. If Charles is lucky, the hunt for the letter leaker will distract people from the banal missives themselves.
TRENDS
Coming to America
High above Minneapolis, the prefab concrete Cedar-Riverside towers are crowded with newly arrived East African immigrants. Yemenis and Somalis spend weekends in the subsidized high-rises chewing over homeland politics–and nowadays, a few other things, too. Groups of up to a dozen middle-aged men plant themselves on couches and pull out banana-leaf-wrapped bundles of stems and buds called khat. Each $50 marduff, or bundle, recently FedExed from Africa, is a doorway to four hours of euphoria, clarity of thought, extreme verbosity and, eventually, mild depression and semi-coma. “You are a better man [chewing khat] than you were before because you can remember anything,” says Abraham, fresh from Somalia. “It creates big IQ.”
To an exploding population of immigrants from the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, particularly Somalis fleeing a decadelong civil war, khat is about as nefarious as espresso. But one man’s coffee is another man’s Schedule I narcotic. Khat (pronounced cot) has been illegal in the United States since 1993; thanks to the immigrant surge, it is climbing the authorities’ watch lists of new drugs. The Somali populations in Minneapolis and Columbus, Ohio, for instance, have grown from a few hundred in the early 1990s to roughly 40,000 and 30,000, respectively. At the same time, U.S. Customs agents have nearly doubled their khat seizures the last three years running. “It’s spiraling upward,” says Sgt. Ben Casuccio of the Columbus narcotics division. Already on edge because of post-9-11 surveillance, East Africans may understandably find that paranoia is running high. “Many people who have a deep conviction that khat isn’t drugs think law enforcement is attempting to smear the community,” says Omar Jamal of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Most Americans first heard of khat in 1991 as an exotic upper paid to men who helped warlords embarrass the U.S. Army in Mogadishu. But its roots reach much deeper. During the Ottoman Empire, religious leaders chewed khat as they read the Qur’an for days on end. East African leaders helped secularize it, offering the conversation- inducing leaves to visiting foreign dignitaries. Today, it’s chewed outdoors in the midday breeze and by students cramming for exams. But it’s eschewed by many fundamentalist Muslims.
The Drug Enforcement Administration downplays khat (because it has yet to spill into the broader population), while U.S. Customs officials are investigating whether there are any possible links to the funding of terrorism. At the state level, penalties vary wildly. A Somali recently convicted of possessing 77 pounds of khat in Ohio received a 10-year prison term. In Minnesota the same amount would get you only a year. “You try to keep in mind that people may not know it’s illegal,” says patrolman David Menter. “There may be a gray area.”
South Africa: A Muppet Education
The South African version of “Sesame Street” debuts its newest star this week, and she might even give Elmo a run for his money. Kami (the Tswana word for “acceptance”) is an affable 5-year-old girl infected with HIV/AIDS. But the realism doesn’t stop there: the producers imagined the orange-furred creature as an orphan who lost both her parents to the disease. Despite physical appearances, “we wanted Kami to be a totally normal child, so she can show South Africa’s children that there’s hope for the future,” explains Yvonne Kgame, general manager for education at the state-owned South African Broadcasting Corp. “Kami loves life. She defies the stigma of AIDS.”
Kami’s cheerfulness is in short supply. Experts estimate that by 2010, there’ll be more than 42 million orphans on the continent as a direct result of the AIDS pandemic. By introducing Kami to an entire generation of children, the creators hope to lay the groundwork for a social conscience that will grow to support currently underfunded AIDS treatment programs. (The South African government still does not dole out cash for antiretroviral programs for adults or children living with HIV/AIDS. Experts say even this simple solution could save millions of lives.)
For now, Kami is a uniquely South African muppet–American tots won’t get a glimpse of her any time soon. When the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee questioned whether an HIV-positive character should be introduced to U.S. preschool children, PBS, which airs “Sesame Street,” explained that she’d be solely a South African fixture. Gary Knell, president of Sesame Workshop, affirmed that “Kami is relevant for local context and local issues–the U.S. is at a different level.”
Kami is not alone: international adaptations of the show have covered a wide range of hot topics, from girls’ education in Egypt to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. If a cuddly character can have any impact on these fraught subjects, then surely Bert and Ernie won’t mind making space in the bathtub.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-16” author: “Matthew Jorgensen”
The Anxiety Election
The atmosphere in Washington–home of the damaged (and repaired) Pentagon, the anthrax attacks and now the sniper killer–is emblematic of the country. A theme is coalescing in these final weeks of the election season: call it the Anxiety Election. President George W. Bush remains popular and gets high marks for his performance as sheriff in the war of terror. The Republican and Democratic parties are at rough parity in esteem.
But beneath the placid surface of such numbers lie bleak concerns. Consumer confidence is down. Since the fall of 2000, stock markets have lost $9 trillion in value. The speculative (yet comforting) $5 trillion federal surplus has disappeared. Tales of boardroom banditry fill headlines. Al Qaeda remains a mortal threat. The public supports the use of U.S. military force to disarm and remove Saddam Hussein–which is why Congress voted overwhelmingly last week to authorize the president to attack if he deems it necessary. But voters are divided on how Bush should proceed, and skeptical of his motives.
Democrats look at this landscape and see victory on Nov. 5. In fact, they rushed through the vote on Iraq in hopes of turning Congress’s–and the voters’–attention to the new age of anxiety. Their brain trust has laid out three themes for the final weeks. One is the notion that the nation needs more Democrats to “balance” the GOP in Washington–a procedural argument, but one the strategists believe in. The second is to focus on a “bumpy” economy and accuse the president of not paying it close enough attention. The third is to offer themselves as defenders of programs such as Medicare, college loans and Social Security. GOP strategists don’t kid themselves that Bush’s popularity as commander in chief is enough to ensure GOP success. “This election is still weeks away,” fretted one White House insider. “This cake isn’t baked yet.”
But Republicans are not without advantages. One is cash. They’ll have twice as much to spend; Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney have set fund-raising records this year. The Democrats can’t agree on an economic plan to counter the president’s, largely because few of them openly want to fight his defense-spending plans or his tax cut. Grass-roots Democrats are angry that their congressional leaders failed to confront Bush forcefully on Iraq. And the GOP has Bush, who will hit the road for the final two weeks preaching post-9-11 revival, patriotism and optimism as the American way. That may not calm an anxious nation, but the president will settle for winning back the Senate.
GUATEMALA
Two Steps Back
In 1999, presidential candidate Alfonso Portillo took aim at military criminals in Guatemala, vowing that top military officers would be held accountable for their involvement in crimes committed during the country’s 36-year civil war. He won the presidency and within weeks he kept to his promise, arresting several prominent military officers on various murder charges. But come court time, Portillo’s pledges couldn’t be upheld–Guatemala’s judicial system succumbed time and time again to military pressure. Finally, two weeks ago, former colonel Juan Valencia was sentenced to 30 years in prison for ordering the murder of Guatemalan anthropologist Myrna Mack. Human-rights groups heralded the decision, calling it a step in the right direction.
But just last week, the country took two giant steps backward. In a courtroom in Guatemala City, the 2001 convictions of three military officers and a priest for the brutal 1998 slaying of a local bishop–the first successful convictions of their kind–were overturned. (The case will be retried on the grounds that a key witness’s testimony was inadequately verified.) Reformists fear that such a retrial will allow time for the defendants’ military supporters to intimidate remaining witnesses. Even more important is the signal the ruling sends to international observers.
During Portillo’s term, both the World Bank and Inter-American Development Bank have provided multimillion-dollar loans to help finance the overhaul of Guatemala’s judicial system. U.S. government agencies like USAID have donated annually –toward legal reform. This aid has not been entirely in vain: new judicial centers have been founded, creating wider access to legal representation; witness-protection spending has increased, and medical assistance and legal counseling services for crime victims have improved. But Guatemala seems determined to hang onto its old reputation: Portillo recently acceded to demands for compensation by former members of the civilian patrols, many of whom are considered responsible for some of the country’s worst atrocities. And the latest court ruling only re-emphasizes that Guatemalan reform has yet to penetrate the courtroom. Says William F. Schulz, executive director of Amnesty International’s U.S. operation: “This ruling strips the mask from the face of the Guatemalan judicial system.” If that face isn’t given a makeover soon, aid groups could tire of betting on a seemingly lost cause–and cease their efforts altogether.
NOBEL PRIZE
Tooting One’s Horn
As former U.S. President Jimmy Carter was being named recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize last Friday, a former winner, South Korean President Kim Dae Jung, was feeling more like a loser. Earlier in the week NEWSWEEK’s South Korean edition reported that President Kim, the 2000 Nobelist, won only after members of his government actively lobbied on his behalf. The allegations revolved around a copy of the so-called Blue Carpet Project, a plan penned by one of Kim’s former aides, which outlined strategies for nabbing the Nobel. The booklet spelled out ways to emphasize Kim’s role as a human-rights activist, ranging from personally persuading opinion leaders in Stockholm and Europe to comparing Kim and Nelson Mandela (in public and as often as possible). There was even mention of holding a charity concert for starving children in North Korea. (Michael Jackson indeed headlined such an event in 1999.)
While the allegations were the gossip of Seoul, Kim’s chief of staff called them “groundless vilification.” The plan was just a personal memo that was never implemented, he asserted. In any case, he reasoned, a Nobel Prize cannot be won through a lobbying campaign.
Some beg to differ. “It happens,” admits Nobel Prize historian Irwin Abrams, particularly with “men of state.” But even though the practice is frowned upon, Abrams isn’t too concerned with Kim’s innocence or guilt. With or without help, Kim deserved his prize, he says. His courageous fight for human rights and a faith that carried him through a life of hardship–including kidnappings, near executions and torture, all at the hands of his dictatorial political opponents–speak for his strength of character. By comparison, this scandal should seem a bump in the road.
EUROPEAN UNION: The Bad Blood That Binds
There was a lot of talk in Europe last week about expansion, as the European Commission officially recommended that the European Union accept 10 new members by 2004. But perhaps the biggest buzz surrounded one country left out in the cold–Turkey. Although the Turkish government has banned the death penalty and imposed other EU-inspired reforms, the country’s democracy and record on human rights were judged not quite up to European standards. Turkey wasn’t even offered a date to discuss its future EU eligibility.
But all is not lost for the Turks. EU diplomats will be keenly watching the country’s November elections to gauge Turkey’s stability. And the country is now receiving influential backing from two unlikely camps: the United States and Greece. The fact that Washington has publicly urged Brussels to consider Turkey’s bid favorably is hardly surprising: with a war in Iraq looming, the Americans are eager to placate their crucial ally. But Greece is an altogether different matter, considering its long-running dispute with Turkey over the sovereignty of Cyprus.
Ironically, that’s precisely the issue that has brought the two parties together. Recent reconciliation talks over the island–divided since 1974–have stalled. If Cyprus joins the EU in 2004, which now looks to be all but guaranteed, Turkey has threatened to annex the north of the island, thus cementing its ethnic rift. Enter the Greeks: Athens believes an EU engaged with Turkey might jump-start the reunification talks on Cyprus and prevent an annexation. Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou last week actually suggested that beginning EU accession talks for Turkey as early as December would not be a bad idea. Given the support from its rival–and the U.S. State Department’s insistence that “Turkey’s future is in Europe”–Ankara’s odds of eventually joining the Euro-club don’t look so dismal after all.
NATO
Ready… or Maybe Not
On Nov. 21 NATO leaders, including President George W. Bush, will convene in Prague to decide on the future expansion of their elite alliance. Maybe they like living dangerously. So far this year a veritable arsenal of military weaponry has been stolen from bases throughout the Czech Republic and remains unaccounted for. In recent months, reports of large amounts of semtex sold on the black market have emerged. More than 100 grenades and an unspecified number of cartridges have been stolen from an Army store in Rozmital pod Tremsinem. On Sept. 26 an unknown intruder broke into an Army base and escaped capture. Just two weeks ago two boxes each containing 80 Soviet F1 hand grenades simply vanished into thin air from an Army store in Bolepice. And don’t forget: one year ago an abandoned rocket launcher capable of bringing down a plane was discovered near Prague’s international airport. Czech Defense Minister Jaroslav Tvrdik recently called for heightened security at Army munitions stores across the country. But the situation has hardly improved: a special task force recently “broke into” an Army store on his orders–and the security guards didn’t even notice the intruders.
Czech authorities have no idea where all that ammo might be going. Terrorism expert Harvey Kushner says there is a “high probability” that the missing goods are making their way into the region’s lively arms market and then falling into the hands of terrorist cells, which may or may not be based in the Czech Republic. Officials say they’ve spared no expense in order to protect NATO luminaries during the summit. U.S.-Air Force F-16 fighters will provide air cover and antiaircraft guns will be arrayed around Prague. An AWACS plane will patrol the skies, while 12,000 police officers and 2,000 Czech troops will blanket the city’s medieval streets. Still, Kushner questions whether Prague is the most appropriate site for the meeting. “I don’t think the Czech Republic necessarily has the depth of security and military experience to protect American and British government officials [among others]. It is a daunting task,” he says. Hopefully the only explosions in Prague next month will be in the number of new NATO members.
PRIMATES
Family Report
The news on our cousins the primates is decidedly mixed. Monkeys and apes have been declining in population for years, and the latest survey by Conservation International confirms the worst. Since January 2000 the number of threatened species has swelled from 120 to 195; 55 are on the verge of extinction. Many of the newest names on the list live in Asia, where efforts to fight forest destruction and poaching have made little headway. Three years ago only 100 golden-headed langurs were left on Cat Ba Island off Vietnam; now there are about 50. At this rate, one in three primates is headed for extinction.
But there’s some cause for optimism. Conservationists have put protections in place for several species in Latin America; they could do the same in Asia, given enough funds. The alarming numbers are also partly due to the discovery of new species–38 since 1990. “We have a few more in cages waiting to be described,” says Conservation International director Russell Mittermeier. The animals are so shy they’re difficult to count. After scientists failed for decades to find trace of Miss Waldron’s red colobus, a West African monkey, they declared it to be extinct two years ago. Since then, they’ve sighted a freshly cut skin–grisly evidence that the animals are still alive, and still threatened.
PHOTOS: Pinups of the Past
You almost never hear the word pinup anymore. It has a charming, almost dusty connotation, like hi-fi or soda hop, that conjures up a more innocent time. Its heyday ran roughly from the ’20s to the ’50s, when Playboy took over. The pinup was often risque, but never pornographic. Calendars of them hung in barbershops and garages, and if your grandmother chanced to see one, she might have blushed, but she wouldn’t have gotten sick. Perusing “Bernard of Hollywood: The Ultimate Pin-Up Book” (Taschen), it is hard to think of another photographer who worked harder than Bruno Bernard to capture the slightly comic, almost daft notions of sensuality that we associate with pinup photography from the ’40s and ’50s. Imagine the musical-comedy star Jane Powell in a white–what? negligee? bustier? anyway, something with many feathers!–in a canopied bed in the middle of the desert. It’s Fellini years before “Juliet of the Spirits.”
There is hardly any nudity in this book, just a few Vegas showgirls, and the high-class stripper Lili St. Cyr. She thought of herself as an artist, and that’s the way Bernard shot her. He was not an ironic man and never retouched a photo: whatever he was up to, he was up to it in earnest. Back then a lot of people were willing to entertain the idea that a cheesecake photographer could be an artist, and so could a stripper. In 1951, at Ciro’s, a high-class Hollywood nightclub, the audience for Miss St. Cyr’s act included Bernard, Marilyn Monroe, Humphrey Bogart and Eleanor Roosevelt.
EGYPT
Why the Bellyaching About Belly Dancing?
Egypt’s most famous living belly dancer, Fifi Abdou, could hardly have expected the jeers she encountered upon announcing her latest project this past summer. She’s more used to cheers from audiences around the world for her performances of Egypt’s ancient art form. But Abdou wasn’t dancing this time: she was declaring her intent to form a professional association for Egypt’s nearly 5,000 belly dancers, hoping to win them the same respect given to other artists, like actors and writers. Critics promptly decried the plan–and the profession itself–as un-Islamic.
Given history, Abdou’s campaign could well belly-flop. In 1835 pasha Mohammed Ali banned the dance from Cairo. In the late 1970s and ’80s, when Islamic fundamentalism was at its peak in Egypt, belly-dancing nightclubs were torched and dancers were barred from television. Today dancers are free to perform in the city center, but they must cover their navels with sheer fabric or risk fines or arrest.
Working in Abdou’s favor is the fact that the belly-dancing debate is shifting from the question of piety to one of heritage. Egyptians did invent the art form, many argue, and they should be proud of that fact. But if the dancers were finally legitimized, does that mean Abdou would encourage her teenage daughters to follow in her footsteps? “Nooooo,” she told NEWSWEEK. “I’m sending them to the best schools.” Learning to wiggle their bellies, presumably, would not be part of the curriculum.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-08” author: “Cristy Odle”
The Oregon Trail
The seven muscular men would have stood out in any hotel. All heavily bearded, they hung around the lobby, doing chin-ups from the rafters and sparring in the courtyard of the Chini Bagh Hotel in Kashgar, China, where I saw them in late October 2001, about 300 kilometers from the Afghan border. This month, three of them were named as part of the so-called Portland Six, which U.S. authorities allege is a group of Qaeda supporters who desperately tried to reach Afghanistan to join Osama bin Laden’s men. Indeed, Jeffrey Leon Battle, 32, Patrice Lumumba Ford, 31, and Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal, 24–one half of the Portland Six–and four companions were closer to Afghanistan than authorities have so far disclosed.
They appeared more like bumbling holy-warrior wanna-bes than professional terrorists. They made little effort to fit in. Aside from Bilal and a white man in his early 20s named Ibrahim, the Kashgar Seven were all burly black men, such a rarity in China that their every move through the local markets–where they queried Pakistani traders about transport to Afghanistan–attracted crowds of gawkers. More important, their stories just didn’t add up. Ibrahim, from Oakland, California, talked hopefully of visiting Afghanistan. Yet his traveling companion, Battle, professed surprise at hearing the country’s border was so near. “You mean where the fighting is? You’re kidding,” he said. “I had no idea we were anywhere near there.”
Ford said they had all been touring China for two or three weeks after passing through Hong Kong. Separately, Battle insisted he had never been in Hong Kong. None of them had visited China previously, they all said. Yet Ford was later heard talking on a hotel phone in fluent Mandarin. When confronted, he confessed, “Actually, I lived for a while in Beijing.” Every so often, one of them would boast of their intentions. “We’re like a fighting squad,” said Ibrahim one day, with a wink. “We’re in training. Believe me, pretty soon we’ll have our chance to prove ourselves.”
Their sympathies were no secret, either. Battle expressed outrage over China’s treatment of its Uighur Muslim minority and praised the Taliban. They had restored the “natural balance between men and women” and “society to righteousness,” he declared. I brought the group and their comments to the attention of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. Contacted late last week, the State Department said it would look into the matter.
Meanwhile, the Portland Six remain shrouded in mystery. Bilal’s brother Ahmed was deported last week from Malaysia, pleading not guilty to charges of being part of a “sleeper cell.” Ford, Battle and Battle’s ex-wife, October Martinique Lewis, also denied any connection to Al Qaeda.
RUSSIA
Data Dumped
Citizens of most countries generally consider a census a mildly irritating obligation. But that doesn’t begin to compare with the feelings of many Russians asked to take part in their country’s first such citizen survey in the post-Soviet era. One man said he would comply only if the government provided him a cemetery plot. A Moscow resident was so upset by one question that he hit the census-taker in the face. And a young interviewer in Siberia was held by force in an apartment of drug addicts until being set free by police. Worryingly, these were the actions of the people who actually opened their doors.
The census, which ended last week, was supposed to answer questions about the Russian people. But the exercise rapidly became a referendum on the people’s faith in their government, their neighbors and society in general. People in the southern village of Barysh refused to cooperate to protest their low standard of living. One group of Muscovites refused to take part until the government abandons construction plans near their home. And one man ate his questionnaire as a protest against U.S. policy on Iraq.
Despite the difficulties in monitoring a people who clearly wish to be left alone, the census has managed to produce some surprising results: one village in the eastern province of Kamchatka–officially registered as having 2,000 residents–now has only 100; in Chechnya, early results show a major population boom in the past three years. (Census critics believe the Chechnya numbers are suspiciously high, so as to present an image of peace in the region. And census-takers themselves have admitted to being ordered to make up information for unfilled forms.) Interestingly, throughout Russia, some ancient cultures seem to have re-emerged, with several people stating their ethnicity as “Scythian.” (Presumably, they were being a little more serious than the handful of Russians who reportedly claimed to be “hobbits” and “elves.”) But the biggest surprise of all? Some Russians were actually eager to take part in the census. “It’s important to know how many Russians are still out there,” says 66-year-old pensioner Natasha Pavlova. “People wouldn’t be so apathetic if they realized their bus service or their pensions might improve because of this.” Even model citizen Pavlova makes no claims to being perfect, though. She kept her moonlighting job as a housekeeper for a wealthy Russian family a secret. “I certainly couldn’t tell the whole truth,” she admits. Certainly not. That just wouldn’t be in keeping with the one consensus on Russia’s census.
THE SNIPER
Shots in The Dark
Once again, a single shot, out of the darkness. Shortly after 8:30 on Saturday night, a 37-year-old man was gunned down outside a steak house in Ashland, Virginia, 90 miles south of Washington. Hit in the abdomen, the man was said to be in stable condition. Law-enforcement authorities couldn’t be sure the sniper had struck again, but within minutes cruisers and helicopters were flooding the scene, setting up roadblocks. After a dozen shootings in three weeks, the police have had plenty of practice.
Law enforcement seemed stumped, with one promising lead evaporating after another. On Friday evening, a spent shell casing was found in the back of a white rental truck. But “the casing is as much as a quarter of a century old,” a source close to the investigation told NEWSWEEK.
Naturally, people began wondering if the sniper was working for Al Qaeda. “It’s a 50-50 chance,” a high-ranking U.S. intelligence official told NEWSWEEK. Another top federal official confirmed that a Qaeda detainee held in Belgium had told investigators that teams of terrorists, practicing at Osama bin Laden’s camps in Afghanistan, trained to assassinate American public officials (in one exercise, U.S. senators on a golf course).
To help with the investigation, law enforcement has imported some high-tech help from the military: spy planes with sophisticated tracking cameras, radars and eavesdropping devices. But it remained a disturbing possibility that the sniper may never be caught. And if he is, it’s discouraging to think that copycats, including those loyal to bin Laden, may be watching and learning.
DEAR LEADERS
How Could You Say No?
Mark Twain once said that whenever one finds oneself on the side of the majority, it is time to reform. Perhaps now would be the time to whisper that in Saddam Hussein’s ear. Last week every single eligible Iraqi voter (11,445,638 in all) struck “yes” in the box beneath Saddam’s name in a national referendum. It’s a personal best–Saddam got a meager 99.96 percent in 1995–and perhaps a historic one, too. Consider the past decade’s most successful “democratic” despots:
Saparmurat Niyazov 1992 Turkmenistan 99.5 percent
Pervez Musharraf 2002 Pakistan 98 percent
Zine el Abidine Ben Ali 1999 Tunisia 99 percent
Hosni Mubarak 1999 Egypt 94 percent
Bashar Assad 2000 Syria 97.9 percent
HEALTH
New Hope in the War Against Breast Cancer
October is the official month for breast-cancer awareness, but too many women are already all too aware of the disease. In the United States alone, it will kill 40,000 women this year and be diagnosed in 200,000 more. The latest news:
ISRAEL
Lost and Found?
When the veteran Israeli journalist Hillel Halkin began hunting for the lost tribes of Israel four years ago, he thought the claim that a community of Indians on the Burmese border was descended from one of the tribes was either a fantasy or a hoax. The fate of Israel’s 10 lost tribes–which, after being driven from ancient Palestine in the eighth century B.C. by Assyrian conquerors, disappeared into ethnic oblivion–ranks among history’s biggest mysteries. But on his third trip to the Indian states of Manipur and Mizoram, Halkin was shown texts that convinced him that the community, which calls itself the Bnei Menashe, has roots in the lost tribe of Menashe. The documents included a will and words to a song about the Red Sea.
The argument, made in his new book, “Across the Sabbath River” (Houghton Mifflin), is not just academic. Some Israeli rabbis believe descendants of the lost tribes number more than 35 million around the world and could help offset the sharply increasing Palestinian population. As founder of the organization Amishav (My People Return), Eliyahu Avichail trots the globe in search of lost Jews, in order to bring them back to their religion through conversation and direct them to Israel. He’s even hoping to make it to Afghanistan later this year. “I believe that groups like the Bnei Menashe are part of the solution to Israel’s demographic problems,” says Amishav director Michael Freund. The group has already brought 700 of the Bnei Menashe to Israel and believes thousands more are eager to come. Most have been put up in settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip–the main arena of Israeli-Palestinian fighting.
Early this month at Utniel, a hilltop settlement south of Hebron, a few of the recent Indian immigrants brought back by Amishav sat on the grass during a break from their Jewish studies, singing songs they learned in Manipur about redemption in Jerusalem. A day earlier, Palestinians had shot two Israelis in an ambush a few miles up the road from the settlement. “We feel good here; we’re not scared,” says one of the students, Yosef Thangjom. At Kiryat Arba, another settlement in the area, Manipur native Odelia Khongsai explains why she chose to leave India two years ago, where she had family and a good job. “I had everything a person could want, but I still felt something spiritual was missing.”
Halkin plans to return to India in February with a team of Israeli and American doctors who will conduct genetic tests on the Bnei Menashe to determine scientifically if their ancestors hail from ancient Palestine. But this time it’s the Bnei Menashe who are skeptical. “I think DNA testing is just hogwash,” says Khongsai, who lives with her 6-year-old daughter in a trailer home in Kiryat Arba. “I know I’m a Jew from the Bnei Menashe tribe, and that’s all that matters.”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-05” author: “Trevor Buran”
C.W. Bush + With Cong. approval, he’s got the whip hand now and can ride this horse wherever he wants. God help us. Carter + Joins Mandela, Tutu (and Arafat) as Peace Nobelist. But Swedes shouldn’t have cheapened it with jab at Bush. Dems - Inaudible. Incoherent. Impotent. Other than that, the party of FDR, Truman and Kennedy is standing tall. Pitt - SEC chief sells out—again—to accounting interests, then blasts Dems for complaining. Take a hike, Harvey. Chief = Local cop in sniper case gets more network coverage than Moose President Bush. Keep your cool. Adam + Moron comic sheds Happy Gilmore image in first serious Sandler role in “Punch-Drunk Love.” Oscar for Opera Man? Correction In our Oct. 21 Conventional Wisdom (Periscope), we associated the Swedes with the Nobel Peace Prize. It is the Norwegians who actually confer that award.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-18” author: “Curtis Kratz”
Attempts to find a peaceful political solution to the Venezuelan crisis have so far failed, and the opposition continues to demand the president’s resignation. A group of junior officers from the Army and the national guard told NEWSWEEK recently that they were ready to stage a coup. “The conditions are ripe for a social explosion,” said an Army captain, dressed in camouflage fatigues and a ski mask. Chavez has warned that his civilian supporters will defend him, and there is a serious danger the military could split. “We’re ready for anything,” the junior officer said, warning that resistance could lead to “a river of blood.”
UNITED STATES Moth to The Flame On June 8, Terry Barton lit a match. For reasons that remain a mystery for a trusted 18-year veteran of the U.S. Forest Service, she started a blaze that would grow into the worst wildfire in Colorado history, the Hayman fire, scorching more than 135,000 acres, destroying more than 100 homes and forcing the evacuation of nearly 9,000 people. Officials say the blaze has exacted roughly $17.5 million in damages so far. In a confession to authorities, Barton said she had impulsively burned a two-page letter from her estranged husband, John, in a campfire, and that the flames somehow escaped the ring of rocks without her knowing it. But investigators don’t buy the story. Prosecutors say the fire was set “willfully” and “maliciously.” Forest Service investigator Brenda Schultz told a federal court last week that the estranged husband says he never sent any letter to his wife. Moreover, Schultz said investigators discovered that rocks around the campfire had been moved to let the fire spread quickly. Federal officials told NEWSWEEK they are exploring a theory that Barton, who had expressed interest in a job as an arson investigator, might have been trying to gain fame by discovering, reporting and quelching the fire. It was Barton who reported the fire; when firefighters arrived on the scene, she was trying to put it out. Sadly, the scenario is not all that rare; just in the past year, more than a half-dozen U.S. firefighters have been charged with starting a blaze, or intending to. “The big one is the vanity hero type,” says Doug Allen, an arson expert, “those who start blazes just so they can put them out.”
Last week Terry Barton mostly stared at the courtroom floor during her bond hearing in Denver, dabbing her eyes with a tissue. Her best friend, Stephanie Howard, told the court that Barton was trying to recover from a hellish marriage “and was starting to make decisions on her own–good decisions” until John returned. One of the prosecutors, David Conner, asked Howard, “Are you saying John caused Terry to set this fire?” Howard paused a moment, then responded, “Indirectly, I am, yes.”
U.S. Magistrate Judge Michael Watanabe said it seemed clear from testimony that Terry Barton had been a woman of upstanding character before the fire. Rejecting the prosecution’s request for denying bond, he set the bail at $60,000, saying Barton could stay in a halfway house until the trial, with some conditions. Among the judge’s orders: she is not to set foot in a forest.
EXCLUSIVE Hangin’ in Hamburg Nearly a year after September 11, German authorities say that key members of the hijack team based in Hamburg seem to have lived normal, secular lives–until they fell under radical Islamist “influence” around 1998. But they still don’t know precisely what or who this “influence” was. After the attacks, German authorities investigated around two dozen suspects for possible connections to the hijackers. But only one German resident, an alleged friend of the terrorists, is in custody in connection with the attacks.
Other alleged associates and acquaintances of the 9-11 leaders who lived in Germany are still visible in Hamburg. Mohammed Belfas, an Islamic activist from Indonesia described in a U.S. law-enforcement document as a “bin Laden contact person,” went to the Washington, D.C., area in 2000 for several weeks; through a legal loophole he fraudulently obtained a Virginia state identity card with the help of another acquaintance of the hijackers who worked as a pizza-delivery driver. In Hamburg last week, Belfas answered the door at his apartment himself and politely declined to answer NEWSWEEK’s questions.
German investigators know that jihad activists and bin Laden supporters are still active in the same Hamburg communities that spawned the 9-11 co-conspirators. But cracking down is another matter. Virtually all known Qaeda suspects have effectively gone to ground. German counterintelligence officials say they are legally forbidden to hide electronic bugs in rooms used by suspected terrorist plotters, making hard evidence difficult to collect. Attempts by Berlin to give investigators more surveillance powers in terrorism cases have been bogged down in political wrangling. Officials are also worried about possible cells of terrorist “sleepers” whose identities are well camouflaged or completely unknown to the authorities.
German intelligence officials say there are as many as a dozen experienced jihad fighters–with service in Islamic battle theaters from Afghanistan to Bosnia–living in the Ruhr region alone, which could mean scores of similar suspects around the country. German officials say their efforts to track down possible terrorists are not helped by current strained relations between U.S. and German law-enforcement and intelligence agencies. Senior German officials complain that although useful information apparently has been flooding into U.S. intelligence from captured Qaeda suspects, little if any evidence has yet filtered from Washington back to Germany. A CIA official declined to comment.
Gods Olympic Wrath Let’s face it: Olympic mascots are rarely inspiring. In 1992 Albertville’s half man/half star, Magique, was far more comical than magical. Munich unleashed a rainbow-colored dachshund named Waldi in 1972. And in 1996, few would have cared if Atlanta’s bizarre blue space creature, Izzy, had disappeared into a black hole. Having picked Greek gods Phevos (another name for Apollo) and Athena for Athens 2004, it looked like Greece might set a new precedent, but no such luck. Seeking a modern and child-pleasing look for the ancient god and goddess, International Olympic Committee organizers came up with two cartoonish cone-headed dolls with oversize, bulbous feet. These caricatures have inevitably aroused the wrath of some of Greece’s most devout god worshipers: the Greek Society of the Friends of the Ancients, a group that represents about 50,000 fervent believers. And in the true spirit of the modern Olympiad, the group is suing. “The mascots savagely insult our religion and identity,” said Panayiotis Marinis, head of the organization, in a lawsuit filed last week against the Greek organizing committee. In their defense, the masterminds behind the coneheads say the dolls weren’t intended to literally personify the almighty gods. And the Greek people seem to like them; the doll deities are selling like hot cakes. If they want to make a few more euros to pay for any damages that may arise from the lawsuit, maybe the organizers should consider adding a third mascot, Hermes. After all, he was the Greek god of athletes. And, incidentally, also the god of commerce.
LEADERS Pensions Of Power Former Chilean President Eduardo Frei Ruiz-Tagle could be forgiven for feeling bitter over his $18,000-a-year pension. Compared with former U.S. president Bill Clinton’s annual allowance of $161,200, plus an additional $300,000 to run an office, it’s peanuts. But what about Mexican ex-presidents like Ernesto Zedillo and Carlos Salinas, who receive an average $550,000, plus $620,000 for expenses and up to $4 mil-lion more for their staffs? Seems these astronomical pensions were business as usual during the long tenure of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled for 71 years before losing to Vicente Fox’s National Action Party in July 2000.
But those days of good living might soon be over. PRI Sen. Oscar Canton Zetina, in an effort to improve the reputation of his fallen party, is lobbying hard to reduce the pensions–and cut off any former president who lands himself a new job. These outlandish payouts are “ridiculous in a country with so many people in need,” he says. In fact, it’s just as ridiculous as the belief that big pensions would stamp out embezzlement and kickbacks. Last week Mexican newspapers reported that during 1993 and 1994, the last two years of Salinas’s stay in office, $10.5 million in presidential funds ended up in his brother’s accounts. His family has denied any wrongdoing in the past.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-14” author: “Elvira Calvo”
The ads are the latest phase in a sophisticated image makeover ordered up last year by Adel Al-Jubair, 39, the U.S.-educated Saudi diplomat in Washington who was all over the TV talk shows last week during Crown Prince Abdullah’s visit to President Bush’s ranch. Al-Jubair says he originally conceived the PR offensive “like a political campaign,” complete with paid media, internal polling and “coordinated” message development that would supplement the country’s usual lobbying efforts in Washington. After the 9-11 attacks, when the Saudis were taking a pummeling in the American press, Al-Jubair steered a $3 million contract to Qorvis Communications, a powerhouse Washington PR firm with close ties to the Bush White House. Among the firm’s partners is Judy Smith, a former deputy press secretary to the first President Bush. Another principal is Chris Wilson, a former executive director of the Texas Republican Party and veteran GOP pollster who has worked closely in the past with White House political director Karl Rove. Wilson’s job has been to run “tracking” polls on the Saudis’ standing with the public. The first numbers late last year showed that only about 35 percent of Americans had a favorable view of Saudi Arabia. (That compared with the days of the gulf war, when Saudi Arabia’s “favorables” were in the 60s.) Then the Saudis began running magazine and newspaper ads expressing the kingdom’s “pain” over the terrorist attack and its sympathy with the victims. By late March, after the crown prince unveiled his “peace plan,” which for the first time called for full-fledged Arab recognition of Israel, Wilson’s tracking polls showed that Saudi favorables were up slightly to 43 percent. “That was improved, but not dramatic,” says Michael Petruzzello, the Qorvis partner in charge of the Saudi account. Why the need for a foreign government to run tracking polls? “Just like in any campaign, you have to understand your audience to communicate effectively,” he explains.
Petruzzello says the ads may run “indefinitely” and that his hope is to get the Saudi poll ratings back into the 60s. But some critics are wondering if the whole thing isn’t a waste of time–and money. “This is all smoke and mirrors in order to hide the truth,” says Ali Al-Ahmed, a Washington-based Saudi dissident. “Instead of spending millions of dollars for these ads, they should be spending it building schools and modernizing the country.”
SPIES
Appreciation And Paychecks For the ‘Pigs’
Last year Seoul finally acknowledged its moles, passing a law promising them payment of pensions and compensation for illness. But because their training and missions were so classified, few records remain–and many ex-spies are still going without. The government compensation process is too slow and overly selective, argue the spies. In March they staged a major street demonstration–and they have vowed to take more action unless the government quickly meets their demands.
Still, despite being cast into the shadows by their own government, these former spies stand loyal to their country. Last week a group of them gathered in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul to protest Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s recent visit to a controversial war shrine that honors convicted World War II criminals. The ex-spies accused Tokyo of trying to beautify its wartime aggression; then they stabbed a pig repeatedly and dumped the shrieking and bleeding animal onto the street, where it died. The former agents declared that they were still eager to do anything to defend South Korea. “Even if our motherland casts us aside, we will not abandon [her],” read their leaflet.
FRANCE:THE MORE THINGS CHANGE…
Same Old Headaches
Merde, Merde, Go Away
Consider: Contassot’s anti-poo plan revolved largely around dog owners scooping up after little Fifi, and dumping it in trash cans. But when bin Laden attacked, the bins disappeared. New security measures, you know. Now, more than six months after September 11, Contassot is reintroducing his initiatives: the trash cans are back. Cleanup teams armed with green nylon bags are being deployed at prime poop-time (mornings and evenings) to hand out the Baggies. And fines are being imposed for poop-and-run offenders. By “next fall there shouldn’t be a problem anymore,” vows Contassot. Promises, promises…
AIDS CRISIS
Mbeki Finally Gets It
Even Mbeki’s personal views on AIDS seemed a little more sensible last week, when he declared that South Africans “cannot go around behaving in a rampantly promiscuous manner without catching something or other.” Not bad for a man who has consistently denied a link between HIV and heterosexual intercourse.
Some are skeptical of the turnaround, arguing that the government is simply making promises it won’t keep. It is already appealing a High Court order to make anti-retrovirals available under the South African Constitution, declaring that its policy should not be subject to the Constitution.
TRAGEDIES
Schoolyard Sins
Last week tragedy struck the schoolyard again, this time in Germany, and despite the country’s tight gun-control laws. A 19-year-old expelled student in Erfurt stormed into his old school on Friday with a shotgun and a pistol. He marched from classroom to classroom, killing 13 teachers, two schoolgirls and a policeman before taking his own life. The massacre was “beyond the powers of the imagination,” declared German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder. Tragically, as the existence of so many recent cases underlines, it was not beyond the powers of reality.
MUSEUMS
ALL ABOUT AUSTRIA
His creation contains public areas–gallery and performance spaces to showcase Austrian artists, plus a cafe and library–and a multilevel apartment with a terrace at the top for the forum’s director. With its stunning facade of cascading glass panels, the building has elicited strong praise for breaking out of the modern box. “I was never thinking of a rising tower, which would compete with the skyscrapers around it,” said Abraham. Instead, it seems the glass front could succumb to the gravitational pull. “Maybe it was my memory of climbing mountains in my childhood,” mused the 68-year-old architect.
Abraham was born in the Tyrol, in the Austrian Alps, though he’s lived, worked and taught in the United States since 1964. Being Austrian was one requirement of the 226 architects who competed for this commission. It’s ironic perhaps (and Abraham maintains that irony is “one hallmark of the Austrian personality”) that the competition’s winner gave up his Austrianness to become a U.S. citizen shortly before the recent opening of the Austrian Cultural Forum. Says Abraham, “It was my way of personally protesting” the current Austrian government’s inclusion of the far-right FPO party of Jorg Haider in its coalition. Not that the architect deliberately planned the close timing of becoming American. “I began the process two years ago,” he says.
The spectacular new Cultural Forum, financed by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is meant to polish and update the country’s old image as a producer of opera and Schlag–and better reflect the avant-garde scene that’s made Vienna one of the coolest capitals in Europe today. For the next three months, the Forum’s opening program, called “Transforming Modernity,” will feature contemporary and electronic music, jazz, design, literature and multi-media art forms. With all that cutting-edge stuff, the folks at Foreign Affairs may be hoping, too, that they can shake the lingering dark shadows of the 20th century as the world heads farther into the 21st.
MEDICINE
An All-New Near-Death Experience
The technique could revolutionize medicine because it would enable doctors to buy time for patients who arrive at the ER near death requiring time-consuming surgery. “His results are real,” says Dr. Tom Scalea, the chief trauma surgeon at the University of Maryland’s trauma center in Baltimore, one of the busiest emergency rooms in the United States. “There is not a question in my mind that this can happen. We could be testing within five years in ERs.”
Safar admits that it will be challenging to find patients to experiment on, since people “aren’t going to be in shape to give consent.” Choosing subjects will be made even tougher because liability-conscious hospitals will need to use all conventional lifesaving tactics before turning to the new science. And doctors say it will be critical to test the technique on some patients who aren’t too far gone if the team wants to publish promising results. Despite these hurdles, Safar is confident enough to predict that human trials in emergency rooms will be underway in less than five years, perhaps within as little as two. And Scalea says only some “technical kinks” need to be resolved before the technique hits an ER near you.
CORRECTION
P+ 1/2 pv(Squared)=P
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “Frances Jordan”
Bush’s Arm-Twister
President George W. Bush has relaunched his drive to curb the powers of the International Criminal Court–by cutting separate deals with 180 countries. Washington has eased its threats to halt global peacekeeping operations, but instead, countries are being asked to agree in writing not to turn over American citizens if they are indicted by the war-crimes tribunal, says the State Department’s Marisa Lino.
Lino, the former ambassador to Albania in charge of getting the signatures, will go afield in the coming weeks. And she carries a very big stick: Bush has signed a new law that threatens to halt military aid to those who refuse to provide the waiver. A senior State Department aide, Pierre Prosper, also recently warned that if aspiring NATO members in Eastern Europe do not comply, the United States will be forced to reconsider their NATO prospects. The State Department denies it has set a new condition for NATO membership, but aspirants are shaken by the tug of war between the EU and the U.S.-led NATO alliance. These U.S. tactics have left NATO members steaming, particularly after Washington signed up Romania, a candidate for both NATO and European Union membership, before vacationing European governments could agree to a common position.
In an effort to reduce friction, Secretary of State Colin Powell was in touch with several EU foreign ministers last week about an EU initiative to grant waivers to U.S. troops or government officials. But U.S. aides say they doubt administration hard-liners will agree to the compromise. Says one European: “We have to find a way to cooperate with the world’s sole superpower on this new court.” Says Lino: “We don’t want to cooperate with the ICC.”
TURKEY
A Little Just Isn’t Enough
When Turkey’s Parliament voted to ban the country’s death penalty last month, Ankara expected an important bonus–the government could now launch extradition proceedings against a dozen wanted Turkish criminals currently in jail or under police surveillance in Europe. Previous attempts to extradite the suspects had failed because many European countries ban repatriation of alleged criminals to countries where they may face execution. Now that there’s no death penalty, Turkey hopes it can bring the fugitives to justice at home.
The highest-profile suspect is Fehriye Erdal, wanted for her alleged role in the 1996 murder of Turkish industrialist Ozdemir Sabanci. Erdal was arrested in Belgium in 1999 and charged with carrying false papers and possession of illegal firearms. (She hasn’t yet stood trial for the alleged murder and is under house arrest in a secret location.)
But Turkey’s death-penalty reform might not be enough to make the Belgians–or other countries–hand over their prisoners. Belgium also cited serious reservations about whether Erdal would receive a fair trial when they turned down Turkey’s first extradition request. Regardless of whether Ankara extradites, these doubts remain. Says Erdal’s defense counsel, Jan Fermon: “It’s not a question of changing a few words in the law… Turkey has to overhaul its whole justice system.” Turkey passed a raft of human-rights legislation in the hopes of improving its chances of getting into the European Union. But if Erdal’s case is anything to go by, it seems that European courts–the first test cases of European opinion on the new, reformed Turkey–are likely to remain unconvinced.
LIKENESSES
Al Qaeda Que?
Famed Mexican revolutionary Francisco (Pancho) Villa has been hit by a smear campaign–almost 80 years after his death. Since 9-11, some U.S. media and historians have been comparing Villa to modern-day villain Osama bin Laden. Consider the similarities: Pancho had at least 17 wives; Osama has four. Villa, like bin Laden, was supported and trained by the United States in his revolutionary struggle. Villa became disillusioned with the Americans when they decided to back the Mexican government. He swore revenge–and invaded New Mexico in 1916, killing 18 Americans in the first foreign attack on U.S. soil in a century. President Woodrow Wilson subsequently launched the largest manhunt in U.S. history, sending 10,000 troops south of the border. Villa retreated into the mountain caves of Mexico, eluding his pursuers.
Although Villa’s name has long been associated with war, it is odd to hear it in such bad company; to be a Villa has historically been an asset in Mexico. The Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), which ruled from 1929 until 2000, often lined up Villa descendants at political rallies, trying to convince people that the party still held true to the values of the revolution. The PRI granted the family special scholarships, government jobs and pensions. These days, however, President Vicente Fox, unlike the PRI leaders, rarely mentions the great revolutionary. But a forgotten name is one thing, a smeared one is another. Villa’s descendants cringe at the connection to Al Qaeda’s Numero Uno. Pancho was a freedom fighter, not a terrorist, they argue. But they do agree that today’s most famous man-on-the-run may meet a similar fate to Villa’s. “If bin Laden is killed or captured it will not be because of the millions of tons of bombs or other technology,” says Augustine Villa, the original Villa’s Harley-riding grandson. “It will be luck, military intelligence or a traitor in his ranks.” Pancho Villa was shot to death by an unknown assailant in Hidalgo de Parral, Chihuahua, in 1923.
THE FAMILIES
A Few Lost and Found, Finally
Countless people harbored hope that, in the aftermath of the September attacks, their missing loved ones were wandering New York’s streets, suffering from amnesia. Nearly a year later, two people have resurfaced into their families’ lives. George Sims, a 47-year-old drifter, had performed odd jobs at the Trade Center and spent nights in its catacombs. After the attack, his family scoured the city. “I was going up to people sleeping on the street, turning them over, wondering if they were my brother,” Jonathan Sims told NEWSWEEK. An anonymous social worker helped Sims remember his Social Security number and birthday, then combed the missing-persons lists. In July, she reached George’s mother, Anna, and they exchanged photographs to confirm the match. The names of four more people discovered alive will be revealed this week. It’s a mixed blessing for Davis Sezna, whose son was never found. “It’s a bit like winning the lottery,” he says. “You don’t expect to win but you hope.” As the first anniversary of the attacks draws nearer, he’s hoping for closure.
MONEY TRAIL
Freezing the Terrorist Cash Stashes
Despite questions raised last week by the United Nations, Bush administration officials insist their campaign to eradicate financiers of terrorism has dramatically curbed Osama bin Laden’s ability to raise cash for new Qaeda attacks. As if to rebut a draft U.N. report claiming the financial crackdown had lost steam, the Treasury Department announced it was blocking the assets of 25 new individuals and entities. More than half of these are related to Al Taqwa, a now defunct offshore banking network. Treasury accused the Muslim Brotherhood, an influential (but supposedly moderate) Islamist group, of backing the Taqwa network, which the United States says funded Al Qaeda and financed militants in Algeria, Tunisia and the Palestinian territories.
American criminal investigators are currently examining Al Taqwa’s U.S. business contacts. John Rossi, a lawyer for Al Taqwa’s principals, says they deny any terrorist connections, but acknowledged that one of his clients’ offices in Lugano was searched by Swiss authorities as recently as May.
Some U.S. experts acknowledge that U.S. financial sanctions may be cutting proportionally deeper into the resources of Hamas and other Palestinian groups than into Al Qaeda’s cash. According to the Treasury, Al Taqwa alone handled $60 million for Hamas in 1997. The Holy Land Foundation, a Texas-based charity whose accounts Treasury froze last December, raised millions more for Hamas. The foundation denies supporting terrorism. The German government also shut down a major Hamas fund-raising operation in early August. Evidence suggests that the amount of money Al Taqwa handled for Palestinian groups was probably much larger than the sums it may have handled for bin Laden. Stanley Cohen, the American lawyer for Hamas’s political wing, argues: “This entire situation is being used as pretext to freeze Palestinian money they couldn’t freeze years ago.”
Bankers and investigators say a big problem in trying to disrupt the finances of a network of cells like Al Qaeda is that it does not launder funds in the same way as criminals. Cops have perfected techniques for tracking down the proceeds of swindlers and drug dealers, who usually seek to wash “dirty” money through complex corporate machinations so they can invest it in legitimate business. But terrorists seek to launder small sums of “clean money” so it can be used for “dirty” ends, a process that law-enforcement agencies are not traditionally set up to track. Many offshore tax havens were tightening money-laundering regulations before 9-11. But Jonathan Winer, a former State Department expert, cautions: “There is no evidence at this point that any Middle Eastern country has effectively enforced money-laundering laws.”
BOOKS
Reading Between Latitudinal Lines
Imagine you’re stranded alone on a desert island. You’ve just read the best book of your life. Oh, what you’d give to discuss it with someone else. Well, now you can, at least, if you have Internet access and a radio. (OK, so the desert-island image was a stretch.) Thanks to the BBC World Service, which broadcasts across the seven seas in 43 different languages, avid readers can now discuss works of literature on the recently launched World Book Club.
The instructions are simple: after reading the designated book of the month, listeners are urged to e-mail questions and feedback to the attention of the author. The first episode, which was recorded in mid-August, featured American writer Garrison Keillor and is expected to draw an audience of 45 million when it airs in September. Comments have already poured in from around the world from eager Keillor fans. Reading Keillor’s “Lake Wobegon Days” was “the best 10 days I ever spent in bed,” said one Dutch fan. A question from a Minnesotan living in Lodz, Poland, inquires as to the exact latitude and longitude of Lake Wobegon. (Fans of Keillor–especially Minnesotans–know that Wobegon is a fictional place.) The series, which will run every month, has already lined up the likes of Martin Amis and Nigerian writer Ben Okri for future discussions.
First Person Global
Fast-food addiction. Hollywood tie-in merchandising. Brand hyperconsciousness. Shopping-mall culture. Haute couture for 5-year-olds. There’s plenty to dislike about the blatant commercial celebration of children in America. But a trip to a minor-league baseball park when I was back in the States on vacation this summer reminded me that child-friendliness also has a lot going for it–especially if, like me, you’re used to the often child-hostile atmosphere of football in Britain.
On a hot Texas afternoon a few Saturdays ago, I took my 8-year-old son, Will, and his two grown-up brothers to an evening game at the Dell Diamond, home of the Round Rock Express. General admission tickets cost each of us $5 ($4 for Will). That gave us access not only to the grassy slopes beyond the outfield, where picnicking is encouraged, but to a bazaar of family-friendly attractions: food-and-drink stands with tables overlooking the field; a climbing wall for young would-be mountaineers; an elaborate playground, and a place where pint-size pitchers can measure the speed of their deliveries. There is even a swimming-pool-with-a-view that families can lease for special occasions. (OK, let’s put the pool in the “wretched excess” category.)
A week later Will and I found ourselves in north London, swept along in a tide of red shirts toward Arsenal Stadium, home of British defending champions Arsenal. The atmosphere was, to put it kindly, intense. Will wondered why so many police–on horseback, on foot, in anti-riot vans–were lining Highbury Hill. I explained that they were there to keep the peace between Arsenal’s supporters and the fans who had traveled to town to back the opposing team, Birmingham City. The stadium itself (“the Home of Football”) is as lacking in amenities–grim concrete passageways lead to seating so cramped that, once in place, few fans dare move until the match is over–as it is rich in history. Built in 1900, the stadium has housed Arsenal through 12 league championships and eight FA Cup triumphs.
The passion of the British fans, the breathtaking competence down on the gloriously green pitch–these are admirable things. But they thrive in an environment that is not child-friendly. Yes, the rule makers have tried to tame the game. Yet to get around the no-alcohol rule, supporters simply make sure they drink before and after the match. To get around no-smoking rules… well, they smoke anyway. To someone unaccustomed to the rites of football, even the rhythmic chanting–rife with expletives–is a shock.
For the record, Will says he enjoyed himself on both occasions. Furthermore, Arsenal does not represent the sum total of a child’s experience at sporting events in Britain; Wimbledon each year and cricket on a hundred village greens every Sunday are testament to that. But big-time British football could learn a lot from two-bit stadiums like the Dell Diamond in the American heartland.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-26” author: “Robert Harrigan”
Freezing the Terrorist Cash Stashes
Despite questions raised last week by the United Nations, Bush administration officials insist their worldwide campaign to eradicate financiers of terrorism has dramatically curbed Osama bin Laden’s ability to raise cash for new Qaeda attacks. As if to rebut a draft U.N. report claiming the financial crackdown had lost steam, the Treasury Department announced it was blocking the assets of 25 new individuals and entities. More than half of these are related to Al Taqwa, a now defunct offshore-banking network based in Switzerland. Treasury accused the Muslim Brotherhood, an influential (but supposedly moderate) Islamist group, of backing the Al Taqwa network, which the United States says funded bin Laden and Al Qaeda before and after 9-11 and financed militants in Algeria, Tunisia and the Palestinian territories.
NEWSWEEK has learned that American criminal investigators are currently examining Al Taqwa’s business contacts in the United States. John Rossi, a lawyer for Al Taqwa’s principals, says they deny any terrorist connections, but acknowledged that one of his clients’ offices in Lugano was searched by Swiss authorities as recently as May.
Some U.S. experts acknowledge that U.S. financial sanctions may be cutting pro- portionally deeper into the resources of Hamas and other Palestinian groups than into Al Qaeda’s secret stashes of cash. According to Treasury, Al Taqwa alone handled $60 million for Hamas in 1997. The Holy Land Foundation, a Texas-based charity whose accounts Treasury froze last December, raised millions more for the radical Palestinian movement. The foundation denies supporting terrorism. The German government also shut down a major Hamas fund-raising operation in early August. Evidence suggests that the amount of money Al Taqwa handled for Palestinian groups was probably much larger than the sums it may have handled for bin Laden. Stanley Cohen, the American lawyer for Hamas’s political wing, argues: “This entire situation is being used as pretext to freeze Palestinian money they couldn’t freeze years ago.”
Bankers and money-laundering investigators say a big problem in trying to disrupt the finances of a secretive network of cells like Al Qaeda is that it does not launder funds the same way money is laundered by criminals. Cops have perfected techniques for tracking down the proceeds of swindlers and drug dealers, who usually seek to wash large sums of “dirty” money through complex corporate machinations to make the cash “clean” so they can invest it in legitimate business.
But terrorists seek to take small sums of “clean” money and launder it so it can be used for “dirty” ends, a process that law-enforcement agencies are not traditionally set up to track. Many notorious offshore tax havens were tightening money-laundering regulations before September 11. But Jonathan Winer, a former State Department expert, cautions: “There is no evidence at this point that any Middle Eastern country has effectively enforced money-laundering laws.”
The Families
Lost and Found, Finally
Countless people harbored hope that, in the aftermath of the September attacks, their missing loved ones were wandering New York’s streets, suffering from amnesia. Nearly a year later, two people have resurfaced into their shocked families’ lives. George Sims, a 47-year-old drifter, had performed odd jobs at the Trade Center and spent nights in its catacombs. After the attacks, his family scoured the city. “I was going up to people sleeping on the street, turning them over, wondering if they were my brother,” Jonathan Sims told newsweek. An anonymous social worker helped Sims remember his Social Security number and birthday, then combed the missing-persons lists. In July, she reached George’s mother, Anna, and they exchanged photographs to confirm the match. The names of four more people discovered alive will be revealed this week. It’s a mixed blessing for Davis Sezna, whose son was never found. “It’s a bit like winning the lottery,” he says. “You don’t expect to win but you hope.” As the first anniversary of the attacks draws nearer, he’s hoping for closure.
SKAKEL
Tuning Mickey Out
The morning after his client Michael Skakel was sentenced to 20 years to life for murder, defense attorney Mickey Sherman sounds more chipper than ever. “Last night I did O’Reilly, Dan Abrams and Larry King,” he says. “I’ve been up since 6 doing the ‘Today’ show, CBS and Fox News.” Most lawyers might be home moping. But for the Kennedy cousin’s attorney, there’s nothing quite so soothing as the glare of a klieg light. Despite the perennially tanned lawyer’s recent omnipresence, insiders are sniping about how quickly he has been marginalized. Sherman’s cavalier courtroom presence and made-for-TV perma-grin preceded him into the trial and may not have won him points with a jury focused on the brutal murder of a 15-year-old girl. Incidentally, Sherman’s replacements, appellate lawyers Hope Seeley and Hubert Santos, have made a habit of virtually ignoring the press. And while Sherman holds that he’s still involved-“It’s not like I’ve been benched,” he told newsweek-prosecutor Jonathan Benedict argues that Sherman is done for. “The appeal was filed with Santos and Seeley in lieu of Sherman,” Benedict told newsweek. “I don’t know if anyone knows it yet, but Sherman is history.” But if he’s schmoozing with O’Reilly, he must be in the loop, right? Wrong. “He can’t help himself,” Benedict says. “[Sherman’s] not taking part in the post-conviction process for good reason.” Prosecutors expect the new defense team to say Sherman was incompetent, not an uncommon tactic in big appellate cases. So much for the power of the press.
Intelligence
Learning To Share
One year after September 11, local police chiefs are still fuming over the FBI’s failure to share intelligence about possible terrorist operations in their midst. “They’re angrier now than they’ve ever been,” says a spokesman for the International Association of Police Chiefs.
One big reason: in response to complaints from local cops first aired after the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks last year, the FBI in January mailed out a “background” questionnaire for local police chiefs to fill out if they wanted access to classified intelligence about local terrorist suspects. The 12-page forms were so intrusive–asking for reams of data about personal credit-card debts, job history and the background of family members–that many local cops simply tossed them aside. Many decided they didn’t have the time to fill them out. “It was ridiculous,” says North Miami Police Chief Bill Berger, president of the police chiefs’ group. “We weren’t getting the battle plans for Afghanistan.”
Out of 9,000 police chiefs nationwide, only about 400 have been cleared to receive the information so far. After recent complaints, FBI officials said last week they were working to streamline the forms and get more police chiefs approved. (“These are the same forms I had to fill out,” FBI Director Robert Mueller told a police chiefs’ group at one recent meeting.) In the meantime local cops say smoother intelligence sharing is critical because it is often they, not the FBI, who get the first heads-up on terrorist suspects. One example: a tip by local police recently prompted the FBI to begin surveillance of a group of Pakistani men who had been quietly gathering at a vacant Miami storefront. A routine license-plate check showed some of them were on a “hot list” of suspected Qaeda operatives. What was especially disquieting was the location of the storefront: six blocks from the FBI’s Miami headquarters.
Books
One Hundred Fifty Ways Of Remembering 9-11
Last fall publishers were at first reluctant to cash in on the events of September 11. “Nobody wants to set up a lemonade stand at the nuclear-bomb site,” David Rosenthal, publisher of Simon & Schuster, said at the time. But then the lemonade started selling. In the wake of the anthrax scare, “Germs,” by Judith Miller, Stephen Engelberg and William Broad, sold 370,000 copies. Its propitious publication was simple coincidence, but since then publishers have eagerly signed up books–at least 150 titles so far–related to the terrorist attacks. The titles range from self-help to poetry, with some surprises in between: The editors of DC Comics have compiled a weirdly moving anthology of graphic art, and Jim Defede’s The Day the World Came to Town (ReganBooks) is a beguiling account of what happened on September 11 when commercial flights ferrying 6,595 passengers were redirected to Newfoundland. The multitude of photography books about September 11 makes you wonder if everyone in New York had a camera that day. The truth is almost as fantastic: Magnum, the legendary photo cooperative, had held its monthly meeting in New York on Sept. 10, and so the next day a cadre of great photographers from around the world fanned out across the city. Their astonishing record is New York September 11 (powerHouse Books). Above Hallowed Ground (Viking), a book of policemen’s photos, offers an alternate raw view.
Books of analysis also abound. Victor Davis Hanson’s An Autumn of War (Anchor) and Lewis Lapham’s Theater of War (New Press) stand out. Lapham writes from the left, Hanson from the right, but both do a superb job of clarifying the terms of debate on subjects ranging from the core truths of Western civilization to the smugness of empire.
From the beginning, human-interest stories have supplied the bulk of the reporting on September 11, such as James B. Stewart’s Heart of a Soldier (Simon & Schuster). Only now, though, are we beginning to see books that weave those disparate narratives into a coherent whole. Out of the Blue (Times Books), by New York Times reporter Richard Bernstein, knits the work of Times reporters into an absorbing account of exactly what happened that morning. But the most thoughtful and original book to appear so far is the forthcoming American Ground (North Point), William Langewiesche’s meticulous description of the rescue effort at Ground Zero and the subsequent excavation of the 1.8 million tons of debris at the literal and emotional heart of this calamity. Langewiesche was granted almost unlimited access to the site and the rescue staff, and he made the most of the privilege.
Documentaries
How the Other Half Lived
When I picked my kids up from school that day, someone said, ‘Go back to where you came from. You’re an effing terrorist’,” says Brooklyn-born mother of two Hadjirah Nasser in “Caught in the Crossfire: Arab Americans in Wartime.” The raw documentary, which airs Sept. 4 on PBS, tracks the lives of three Arab-Americans in New York post-September 11. Ahmed Nasser (Hadjirah’s husband) grew up watching American police shows in Yemen and is now an NYPD officer. In this film he escorts Muslim schoolgirls home after they were physically assaulted and cries over what he witnessed working at the WTC site: “You’d see what looks like a rock, but pick it up and find it’s a bone.” Khader El-Yateem is a Palestinian Lutheran pastor who offers guidance to Christian and Muslim Arabs in his Brooklyn community. He consoles his traumatized flock by day (“My son doesn’t sleep at night,” says one; “We’ve all lost our serenity,” says another), and worries about his family in Israel by night. Raghida Dergham is a diplomatic correspondent for an independent Arabic newspaper who is criticized by Arabs and Americans alike for her political and social views. “It’s never easy,” says the exhausted journalist. The documentary can be frustratingly amateur at times, but it’s a rare glimpse into a previously invisible–and often in question–community. “We don’t know each other’s pain in any conflict,” says Dergham. “When we start to recognize each other’s pain, then there’s hope.”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-19” author: “Ida Thigpen”
Marriage Crisis
The United States and Saudi Arabia could be headed for a monumentally ugly divorce. The marriage was always one of convenience. But the issue today isn’t personal. It’s business–trillions of dollars, in fact.
Last month a Pentagon advising panel heard a briefing that labeled the Saudis an enemy of the United States. This month South Carolina lawyer Ronald Motley announced a suit targeting several Arab banks, the government of Sudan and a few key Saudi royals for $3 trillion in damages on behalf of the 9-11 victims.
If current frictions between the two countries continue, some analysts expect oil prices to hit $36 a barrel or more in the next few weeks. Saudi investors, who have put an estimated $600 billion into the U.S. economy, could pull a lot of their money out. (A report in the Financial Times that they’ve already withdrawn $200 billion from U.S. markets, though, now seems exaggerated.) And the Saudi national oil company is considering accepting payment for petroleum shipments in euros instead of dollars, thus undermining the strength of the dollar.
Leaders in both countries recognize their common bond: the United States is the world’s biggest oil consumer; Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest oil exporter, so stable markets with reasonable prices serve them both. The Saudis can raise production by as much as 3 million barrels a day just by turning on the taps. Nobody else can do that, and the Saudis have used that power to keep the market from spiking in times of crisis. For instance, after September 11 they boosted U.S. shipments by 500,000 barrels a day.
But such gestures have gone largely unnoticed by the American public. Instead, Americans are reminded constantly that 15 of the 19 hijackers on September 11 were Saudi citizens. One of the accused in the recent lawsuit is Prince Sultan bin Abdelaziz, a full brother of King Fahd, second in line to the throne and the kingdom’s minister of Defense, who is accused of contributing to Saudi charities with supposed links to Al Qaeda. “He was one of the most pro-U.S. princes,” says a source close to the royal family. “But now, the most ardent supporters of America have become its most hostile critics.”
The most attractive option for the Saudis could be to let oil prices continue to rise. According to Philip Verleger, an analyst at the Council on Foreign Relations, the Saudis could let prices ease up to the $36 range without making a show of it. “This would be the sort of subtle response one would expect,” he says. “The attitude is, ‘We’re not going to make speeches. We’re just going to send you a signal’.” The spike in prices at the pump, which would force gas prices into the $1.70-a-gallon range, would come just as U.S. elections draw near. Sounds like a little marriage counseling might be in order.
N. KOREA
Collect Call for Kim
North Korean leader Kim Jong Il may be willing to talk shop with Russian President Vladimir Putin as he did last week, but for the rest of the world, it’s extremely difficult to get even the smallest glimpse into North Korean life. So difficult, in fact, that the hottest item among Japan’s North Korea-watchers these days is one weathered copy of the North Korean telephone directory–circa 1995. According to popular Japanese weekly Shukan Bunshun, the directory was smuggled out and recently surfaced in the hands of a small group of local North Korea experts. The 300-page directory lists the telephone numbers of some 50,000 North Korean organizations and government corporations.
Experts believe they’ve found a looking glass into North Korea’s opaque systems: the book has written notes in it next to certain new numbers where changes had been made, which imply that it was used until recently, and two numbers listed under government departments with “nuclear” in their titles. Analysts have also found a network of telephone numbers listed under tongbo (meaning “reporting”) for snitches.
Analysts are equally intrigued by what they’ve found regarding life-style details: the only hospitals listed for emergency treatment are in Pyongyang, and restaurants and public bathhouses are listed (each with a number for a party secretary and the establishment’s manager). While these details may seem unimportant, analysts are clearly excited–the directory is being bootlegged at ¥25,000, about $210 per copy, within an elite circle. But is it really worth it? After all, there’s no number for the reclusive Kim Jong Il himself.
ITALY
Cooked Just Right
The age-old question of what makes a cuisine “authentic” may soon be answered–at least, for Italian-food lovers. Italy’s minister of Agriculture, Giovanni Alemanno, has announced the creation of an agency charged with ensuring that restaurants around the globe that claim to be Italian are indeed serving the real thing. “What is important is that when there is an Italian flag displayed, the food be Italian,” says Alemanno.
Restaurant owners: the new measure doesn’t mean that you have to run out and hire accordion players. Your pasta doesn’t even have to be cooked al dente. But if your Parmesan is made in Wisconsin rather than Parma, or if your sauce was stirred by Chef Boyardee, Italy’s new army of culinary cops will come after you. The rule is that the products put on the plate must originate in Italy. If a restaurant is serving Italian goods, it will be awarded a certificate of approval that gives diners a “clear guarantee” that they are eating the real deal.
This is the final warning: a dozen or so of Italy’s pesto police will be dispatched this fall and, at least according to the “agency,” amicably visit the world’s largest cities and most reputable Italian restaurants first. For those who were wondering, Alemanno does have a legitimate goal: he hopes to enter into business contracts with authentic Italian restaurants around the world that promise to serve only–or at least primarily–products from Italy, thus boosting his country’s sagging export market.
There is a major loophole for renegade restaurants, though. The so-called authorities obviously won’t have any jurisdiction outside Italy. But Alemanno is optimistic. His hope is that all alleged Italian restaurants will be tempted to comply due to the possibility of winning the homeland’s seal of approval. No doubt the French won’t be far behind.
ENRON
Expensing His Taxes
In a plea-bargain deal, former Enron executive Michael Kopper has admitted participating in several schemes that allegedly defrauded the energy giant. Financial records obtained by NEWSWEEK now offer a more detailed picture of how Kopper and other alleged participants in the schemes pocketed some of the money they got out of Enron deals.
The documents, including bank statements and canceled checks, come from the files of something called SONR #1 Limited Partnership, an entity run by Kopper and jointly owned by Kopper and his domestic partner, William Dodson. SONR was set up as a vehicle through which Kopper managed Chewco, yet another partnership formed by Enron. The Feds allege (and Kopper admits) that Chewco generated large, questionable returns to Kopper and Dodson, and made dubious payments to Enron CFO Andrew Fastow and his family. The documents show that Kopper wrote himself a monthly $1,500 check for SONR’s office rent, even though it appears that SONR had no office of its own. Also, according to the documents, in 1999 and 2000 Kopper wrote SONR checks totaling nearly $220,000 to cover tax liabilities incurred by his partner, Dodson; he also wrote smaller checks to cover his own tax liabilities. (Some investigators say that tax reimbursements to business executives are sometimes legitimate, and that some of the tax payments made to Dodson and Kopper were approved in writing by Enron.) The documents also show that Lea W. Fastow, wife of Andrew Fastow, periodically received $9,000 fees from SONR for “consulting support” and “account management”; an investigation by Enron’s board of directors, however, concluded that there was “little” management work for the SONR partnership to do. (Another document shows that when Kopper left Enron in July of last year, the company gave him a severance payment of $905,000.)
Lawyers for Kopper and Dodson and a spokesman for the Fastows declined to comment. Meanwhile, the investigations continue.
MEXICO
Fussing Over Flicks
The subject matter of Mexican director Carlos Carrera’s latest movie, “El Crimen del Padre Amaro” (“The Crime of Father Amaro”), was sure to raise more than eyebrows at home: corrupt priests and an affair between a young cleric named Amaro and a 16-year-old waitress that results in an unwanted pregnancy. Even before its release the Friday before last, the nation’s Roman Catholic organizations had condemned the movie as sacrilegious and offensive. One anti-abortion group, Pro Vida, called for a nationwide boycott of all movies if theaters continued showing “Amaro.” To see the movie, others said, would be a “sin.” Perhaps Mexico’s cardinal said it best, calling the movie “porkery.” The controversy, of course, fueled people’s curiosity. By the end of its first week, the movie had grossed nearly $4 million, making it the best-selling film in Mexican history.
“Amaro” is more than just a box-office sensation. In recent years Mexican film has been reflecting more on serious social issues. “La Ley de Herodes” viciously spoofed the country’s former ruling party, while “Y Tu Mama Tambien” and “Amores Perros” both depicted Mexican society with renewed freshness. With his latest flick, Carrera has zeroed in on a topic close to the hearts of Mexicans, who have always been wary of too much church power. The issue of abortion is equally fraught: it remains illegal in Mexico but is widely practiced in dirty clinics or in the dark of night. “This is the first time that we’re talking about these things in such a massive way,” says Gael Garcia, who plays Father Amaro.
Reviews have mostly been glowing. And in Mexico, like much of the rest of the world, the lines between entertainment, serious commentary and just plain gossip are becoming increasingly blurred.
MUSIC
Performing For Peace
Benin-born Angelique Kidjo has been a hit in Africa and much of Europe since her breakout song, “Batonga,” was released more than 10 years ago. But it took an extensive stadium tour with the Dave Matthews Band in 2001 to introduce her to the record-buying public in the United States. With the release of her seventh album, “Black Ivory Soul,” earlier this year, the launch of a new U.S. tour and a recent appointment as special representative for UNICEF, she shows no signs of fading away. She caught her breath with NEWSWEEK’s Karen Fragala in New York:
You’re busy enough with your grueling touring schedule. Now you’re working with UNICEF too?
I must do this for my continent and for me to be able to call myself a human being. I focus on education, because it is the key to everything. If a person is educated they can take responsibility for their decisions and their health. As good-will ambassador, I am doing the same thing I have been doing with my music–spreading the message that we are all one humankind, and we have to learn to live together and respect each other’s freedom.
On “Black Ivory Soul,” you explore the relationship between the music of your homeland in Benin, in West Africa, and the city of [Salvador de] Bahia in Brazil.
When I visited Bahia for the first time, I felt like I was at home in my village in Benin. Both places [were] Portuguese colonies, and there are so many similarities–the food, the culture and especially the music. I wanted to record this album as a bridge to the past, to retell the history of the African people, which up until now has been more of an oral tradition that a written one.
Why did you decide to record this album live, unlike your other studio albums?
In Bahia, live music is a part of daily life, as it is in Benin. I wanted to capture this organic connection to rhythm that has survived in both cultures.
Do you think that music can communicate even to those who don’t speak the language of the lyrics?
Every day I have that experience. I learn through the songs. Music goes beyond language and communicates something that is common to all people. If you limit yourself to what your mind can understand, you’ll miss out on a lot.
HOLLYWOOD
The Murky Mathematics of Movies
Hollywood seems to set anew box-office record every weekend. Or is it just concocting them? “Signs” was “the biggest debut for a film starring Mel Gibson.” “Austin Powers in Goldmember” claimed “the biggest opening ever for a comedy and the biggest July opening for a movie of any genre.” “Scooby-Doo” was “the best June opening for a movie based on a cartoon show starring a crime-fighting Great Dane.” (OK, we made that one up.)
What the studios aren’t saying is that in the second weekend, most of these “record-setters” dropped like ImClone stock. Traditionally, a movie’s falloff during the second weekend has been the measure of its global staying power, or “legs.” Films that fill theaters week in and week out usually make a mint in both U.S. and international markets. Any movie that fell more than 50 percent the second weekend was deemed a flop. (“Titanic,” the highest-grossing film ever, actually rose 24 percent its second weekend.) Yet this summer’s “Signs” collapsed 51 percent, “Austin Powers” 57 percent, “Men in Black II” 53 percent and “Scooby-Doo” 55 percent, and all are blockbuster hits. Can show-business math get any crazier? Thanks to megaplexes, studios can release a film on more than 6,000 screens. So by the time advertising-bombarded moviegoers realize a new film isn’t very good, the studio has already banked a fortune. (The formula doesn’t apply to stinkers like “K-19: The Widowmaker” and “Reign of Fire,” which didn’t enjoy even one good weekend.) These free falls make the success of “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” even more extraordinary. It won’t touch “Spider-Man” as the summer’s top hit, but the romantic comedy is virtually the season’s only movie with legs, and it’s already enjoying a profitable honeymoon in European theaters. Released in April, the $5 million “Greek Wedding” keeps climbing, often improving more than 20 percent a weekend. It could end up with some $60 million, more than would-be blockbuster “Stuart Little 2.”
–John Horn
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-27” author: “Barry Steger”
At first, FBI Director Bob Mueller insisted there was nothing the bureau could have done to penetrate the 9-11 plot. That account has been modified over time–and now may change again. NEWSWEEK has learned that one of the bureau’s informants had a close relationship with two of the hijackers: he was their roommate.
The connection, just discovered by congressional investigators, has stunned some top counterterrorism officials and raised new concerns about the lack of information-sharing among U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies. The two hijackers, Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, were hardly unknown. The CIA was first alerted to them in January 2000 when the two Saudi nationals showed up at a Qaeda “summit” in Malaysia. The pair then went to San Diego, where they took flight lessons. In September 2000, the two moved into the home of a Muslim man who had befriended them at the local Islamic Center. He regularly prayed with them and even helped one open a bank account. He was also, sources tell NEWSWEEK, a “tested” undercover “asset” who had been working closely with the FBI office in San Diego on terrorism cases related to Hamas.
A senior law enforcement official told NEWSWEEK the informant never provided the bureau with the names of his two houseguests. Nor does the FBI have any reason to believe the informant was concealing their identities. But the FBI concedes that the San Diego case agent appears to have been at least aware that Saudi visitors were renting rooms in his informant’s house. (On one occasion, a source says, the case agent called up the informant and was told he couldn’t talk because “Khalid”–a reference to Almihdhar–was in the room.) I.C. Smith, a former top FBI counter-intellligence official, says the case agent had an obligation to keep close tabs on who his informant was fraternizing with–if only to seek out the house guests as possible informants. About six weeks after moving into the house, Aldmihdhar abruptly left town. Alhazmi moved out at the end of 2000.
A few months after the Oct. 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen, CIA analysts discovered in their Malaysian file that one of the chief suspects in the Cole attack–Tawfiq bin Attash–was present at the “summit” and had been phtographed with Almihdhar and Alhazmi. It wasn’t until Aug. 23, 2001, that the CIA sent a cable to U.S. border and law enforcement agencies identifying the two men as “possible” terrorists. By then, it was too late. The bureau did not realize the San Diego connection until after 9-11 when the informant heard the names of the hijackers and called his case agent. “I know those guys,” the informant purportedly said referring to Almihdhar and Alhazmi. “They were my roommates.”
Support for U.S. legislation creating a special investigative panel is increasing. Only then, say some members of the House Senate intelligence committee investigating 9-11, will the public learn whether more secrets are buried in the government’s files.
TURKEY
Controlling The Kurds
The hawks in Washington say that deposing Saddam Hussein will free the region from the threat of his weapons of mass destruction. But for Turkey, regime change in Baghdad could bring more trouble than it eradicates. Ankara fears that if Saddam falls, Kurdish groups in northern Iraq will seize the opportunity to consolidate their current de facto independence from Baghdad. Even worse, a messy war could send a flood of Kurdish refugees into Turkey.
Although publicly the government opposes U.S. action against Iraq, Turkey’s military is making its own contingency plans for war. On Aug. 30, Turkey’s top general confirmed that Turkish troops are currently operating inside northern Iraq, ostensibly hunting down Kurdistan Workers Party rebels. Turkish advisers have also been installing electronic equipment at Bamerna airport in Kurdish-controlled Iraq, with a view to upgrading it into a military air base. Turkey has also formulated plans to move up to 12,000 troops into northern Iraq if the United States attacks, creating a 40-kilometer buffer zone to block Kurdish refugees.
Such plans have been met with consternation by Iraqi Kurds. “Ankara feels it has the right to interfere with our internal Iraqi affairs,” says a spokesman for the Kurdish Democratic Party, or KDP, which controls half of northern Iraq. And KDP president Masoud Barzani vows the region would “become a graveyard for Turkish soldiers if they invaded.”
Growing support in the Turkish media for the rights of Iraq’s 500,000-strong Turkic minority also has the Kurds on edge. The issue, fears one KDP official, could be used by Turkey as an excuse to occupy the Kurdish areas, “just like the Sudetenland Germans”–the ethnic German minority in Czechoslovakia whom Hitler used as an excuse to invade in 1938.
To make things worse, Ankara has cut back truck traffic through the Habur Gate border crossing into Turkey–which has been the main source of tax revenue for the KDP–and begun talks with Syria to open an Iraq route that would bypass Kurdish territory. Although a similar scheme was squashed last year under pressure from Washington, circumstances have changed; the White House now needs Turkish facilities to launch any operation against Baghdad. Iraq’s Kurds are likely to become the sacrificial pawns in this chess game.
NEWSWEEK Special Issues In this special report, the second in NEWSWEEK’s ongoing collaboration with the World Economic Forum, we peer into the future to see how the world might look a decade from now. Such prognostications can often seem fanciful. But given how much has transpired in the past 10 years–the rise of the Internet, the decoding of the human genome–it’s not unreasonable to expect the changes in the next decade to be equally dramatic.
This special issue draws upon World Economic Forum expertise and projects, among them the Bridging Europe initiative, which has brought together some 1,000 men and women under 25 from 33 nations to bring the voice of youth into the debate over the future of the European Union–heretofore dominated by men over 60. The Young Arab Leaders project was designed to bring young talent from this region into the international spotlight, and two of them (Tayeb Dajani and Mustafa Abdel-Wadood) speak out in this issue on Islam in 2012. The problems we examine are precisely those that will face the World Economic Forum’s Global Leaders for Tomorrow.
In October we will publish our next collaborative report, a 90-page special issue on the future of China. Klaus Schwab, the founder and president of the World Economic Forum, believes that “the synergy between the Forum and NEWSWEEK will benefit both our members and their readers.” I’m sure you will agree.
–Fareed Zakaria Editor, NEWSWEEK International
RESOURCES
Nervous On the Nile
On Sept. 5, the Egyptian government pushed the Arab League to pass a resolution creating a relief fund for southern Sudan, controlled by Christian rebels involved in that country’s 19-year civil war. Cairo’s motives, though, weren’t purely humanitarian. Under a peace agreement drawn up this summer in Kenya, the south has the right to separate from the Arab-Muslim north in 2009. A divided Sudan would mean one key thing for its northern neighbor: less Nile water.
Currently, a 1959 colonial-era treaty grants all Nile water to Egypt and Sudan. (Egypt gets the lion’s share.) Upstream countries like Ethiopia and Kenya are allowed to tap only into the Nile’s tributaries. If Sudan dissolves, so will the treaty–and a half dozen East African nations will be scrambling to draw upon the water denied to them for decades. “Any change in the formula would come at Egypt’s expense,” says one Western diplomat. “But what can they say: ‘Another million Sudanese should die so we can have our water’?”
Luckily for Egypt, few outside southern Sudan want to see the continent’s largest nation fracture along religious and racial lines: a split could have a domino effect in similarly fractious regions of Africa and would leave extremists unchecked on either side of the Sudanese front lines. Relief funds that might keep the south happy are a small price to pay to keep Egypt from going dry.
CEOS
Until Death Let Us Spend
Graef Crystal, a former compensation consultant turned pay critic, thought he’d seen it all–until former General Electric chairman Jack Welch’s soon-to-be ex-wife, Jane, filed court documents in their pending divorce case on Sept. 5. The papers reveal that much of the Welches’ lifestyle is being paid for by GE shareholders. Among the company-provided perks: a $15 million Manhattan apartment, cell phones, satellite televisions, computers and security service at each of their six homes, a Mercedes and limousine service. “What does he do, tow the Mercedes behind the limo?” asks Crystal. “I’m surprised they didn’t expense his toilet paper.” In fact, they did: GE, the filing says, covers “toiletries” at the New York pad.
Welch and GE’s board moved quickly to quell damage from the revelations. Both issued statements saying Welch’s retirement contract has been publicly available since 1996; that’s true, but details of exactly what GE was paying for are new. GE’s board said it made the deal in order to keep Welch onboard to select his successor, and that his performance made it worth the price. Welch dismissed the hubbub over “a one-sided filing by one party in a contested divorce.” Compensation professionals point out that it’s unclear how many of these perks he’s actually using, but they say the deal is definitely lavish–especially because it continues until he dies. Still, a few other A-list CEOs do almost as well, according to compensation experts. Whether publicity over Welch’s deal forces directors, who are already under pressure to ask tougher questions in the wake of Enron et al., to start paying more attention to overly generous retirement deals remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, younger CEOs may draw a valuable lesson from the episode. While Jack Welch got his board to grant him nearly every benefit known to man, he forgot to ask for the one that might have saved him more money than all his other perks put together: company-paid marriage counseling.
NORTH KOREA
Crayola Critic
In 1999, 17-year-old Jang Gil Su fled North Korea for China, hiding by day and begging by night, like some 150,000 to 300,000 of his compatriots. Jang, who escaped to South Korea only after he and his family had occupied the United Nations refugee agency’s Beijing office in June 2001, passed those trying times by drawing, creating a crayoned picture of the miseries of his homeland–a country so isolated that his drawings are some of the few existing visual records of life there. They created a stir in South Korea, where they were published as part of a book while the family was still hiding in China, and also in Japan, where both a book and a CD-ROM version have appeared. Now they’ve reached an unusual venue in the United States: the U.S. Senate. Nearly 60 of Jang’s drawings have been on display in the Senate’s Russell Office Building for the past week. The U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea, the show’s organizer, hopes to take the pictures to other American cities to highlight the plight of those still living in the North.
IRAN: Catching It While They Can
GATES OF WOMEN’S PRISON ARE FINALLY OPEN! reads the black-and-white poster of a controversial new Iranian film called “Women’s Prison.” The same might not be said of Iran itself, where the hard-liners continue to ban any movies–including director-producer Manijeh Hekmat’s tale of a budding relationship between a female warden and prisoner–that offend its strict sense of propriety. But there are signs that the ministry may be loosening up, including the fact that “Women’s Prison” was finally released in mid-August. Crowds have been flocking to see the gritty flick. “This is the third time I’m seeing this,” says Zahra, a 16-year-old high-school student clad from head to toe in Islamic dress. “I came to see it on the first day because I thought they might ban it again.” It wouldn’t have been the first time that a film’s distribution license was revoked despite initial approval. Last year “Bad Boys,” a film about three teenagers on the run, was banned several weeks after opening after being deemed immoral and offensive by the country’s Islamic hard-liners.
To get her movie on the big screen, Hekmat did have to make some concessions. “I had to cut seven and a half minutes of the film,” she says. “As a director I’m not happy with this version, but I had to do it, otherwise it would never be shown.” The director ditched several scenes, including one of the warden’s confiscating–and then trying on–lipstick. Still, “Women’s Prison” has other controversial moments that did make the final cut: prostitution, lesbianism and drug addiction–all of which have rarely been talked about in Iranian films–feature briefly. It also looks back critically at the 1979 Islamic revolution as a time of overideological zeal and condemns the postrevolution government’s policies. And for the first time in a film made since the revolution, Iranian moviegoers get to see women’s hair. Well, sort of. To circumvent the obligation to wear a head scarf, actresses in “Women’s Prison” put on wigs or simply shaved their heads.
Hekmat is just one of dozens of female filmmakers working in an Iranian movie industry that has won critical acclaim in recent years. “Your gender is not as important as whether you are independent,” says Hekmat. “There are many women filmmakers who comfortably work within the government structure, and many men who have to struggle in order to be independent.” What’s more remarkable is that the hard-liners feel comfortable enough–or at the very least obliged–to allow criticism of the country’s recent history. Films like “The Burnt Generation” and “The Hidden Half” have questioned the postrevolutionary extremism. The movie’s approval “shows how much [Iranian authorities] have changed in the past 20 years,” says Hekmat. Still, she isn’t counting out another ban. And Iranians like Zahra are heading back to the box office to catch her film while they still can.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-27” author: “Janice Gentle”
Even when he’s engaging in political warfare, Gen. Brent Scowcroft is courteous. Last week, the day before his op-ed titled DON’T ATTACK SADDAM appeared in The Wall Street Journal, he faxed a copy over to national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice–his protege when he held what is now her job under Bush the Elder. Rice already knew his views, but appreciated the heads-up–and maybe even the help.
For months, the Bush family friend and discreet adviser has been worried about the direction Bush the Younger was heading on Iraq. Secretary of State Colin Powell’s message of restraint seemed to be drowned out by hawks inside–and outside–the administration. With Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld heading to Bush’s Texas ranch to argue his case, Scowcroft went public. “A war fever has built up,” explains Philip Zelikow, who sits on the President’s Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, which Scowcroft chairs. “Brent felt it was time to apply a cold compress.”
General Scowcroft joined other GOP heavyweights–from Sen. Chuck Hagel to former secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger–in circling the wagons around Powell. Former secretary of State Henry Kissinger took his case to the op-ed pages, too. Kissinger was more receptive to a pre-emptive strike against Saddam Hussein than Scowcroft, but he wrote the piece, Kissinger told NEWSWEEK, “to encourage them to make their case.” Kissinger then met with Powell for a previously scheduled appointment. Why? “He likes me,” Kissinger joked, saying only, “He wanted my view on a number of issues”–including how to better influence the administration on Iraq. “The foreign-policy establishment wants to give ammunition to Powell to push back against the hawks,” says one Bush No. 41 insider.
Poppy’s friends seem to be ganging up on Bush No. 43–though Kissinger insists he did not coordinate with anyone. “Some very intelligent people are expressing their opinion about Saddam Hussein,” Bush 43 said from his ranch. “It’s a healthy debate for people to express their opinion.” But he added that he’d make up his own mind based on the “latest intelligence.” In other words, even his father doesn’t see the current intelligence briefings on Hussein’s evildoings. Meanwhile, one White House aide insists they “welcome the debate.” Rice, who sees her job as providing Bush with as many opinions as possible, may have even been happy about it. She and her mentor seemed to be working in tandem last week: while she gave a tough-talking interview to the BBC calling Hussein an “evil man,” Scowcroft reassured nervous U.S. allies that debate is still going on over Iraq. At least in the op-ed pages.
EUROPE: Rivers Run Through It
The tides that swept across Europe last week prompted some of the largest evacuation measures ever seen on the Continent: tens of thousands of Prague residents were evacuated and hundreds of thousands more Czechs fled their homes. In Germany some 16,000 residents from the town of Bitterfeld cleared out as more than 350 local industrial plants shifted chemical substances out of the high-risk area; 33,000 residents bailed out of Dresden.
But little could be done to stave off tragedy: close to 100 people have died. Many historical buildings, like Dresden’s Zwinger Palace, were left under water. (Thankfully, much of the priceless art inside many of these was saved.) The total cost of the damage? Austria and the Czech Republic estimate more than 2 billion [euros] each. Cleaning up Germany will likely cost even more. The government’s best estimate: “billions of euros.”
The cause of the floods remains unknown. One suspect is global warming. But scientists so far have been unwilling to attribute a single episode like this to climate change because random fluctuations always produce extreme weather from time to time. In other words, this could happen again. Anywhere, any time.
REFORM: Online in Iran
The past month provided little but bad news for Iran’s scrappy liberal press: three more reformist newspapers banned by the country’s conservative judiciary. Yet one small corner of free speech continues to flourish–in cyberspace.
Though Iran’s press law covers the Internet, authorities have yet to go after the popular Web sites posted by reformist papers. Presumably because the mullahs lack the technical know-how to shut down the sites, which are run out of Tehran and often vent criticism of the government. As more traditional forms of media have been reined in, these sites have attracted a following among Iran’s estimated 2 million Internet users, mostly students.
The authorities are not unaware of the Internet’s influence. Kayan, a newspaper that serves as a mouthpiece for the government’s hard-liners, recently denounced one site, www.emrooz.org, for its coverage of such newsbreaks as an alleged government plan to start a chain of brothels called “houses of chastity.” But instead of pulling the plug, the conservatives are joining the fray. A new right-wing site, www.daricheh.org, was launched last week, accusing the United States of recruiting spies in Iran. Maybe the conservative establishment “wants to reciprocate in cyberspace,” says one Tehran student who gets his news fix online. An Iranian cyberspace with both views presented equally to its people–now that sounds like reform.
TERRORISM: Preacher Probe
For years western security officials have warily kept watch on Abu Hamza al-Masri, a prominent Muslim preacher in London. A former jihad fighter who lost both hands and an eye in Afghanistan, the Egyptian-born imam allegedly encouraged followers, including his own son, to go abroad and fight the infidel. In the wake of 9-11, it was reported that suspected 20th hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui and would-be shoe-bomber Richard Reid had both attended Abu Hamza’s North London mosque. But even though the Bush administration froze his assets last spring, British authorities have been unable to get Abu Hamza off the streets, apparently because he has a British passport and hasn’t violated British law.
Now American investigators are exploring whether they can make a case against Abu Hamza. Law-enforcement sources say the Justice Department is investigating Abu Hamza’s alleged involvement in a suspected attempt to set up a “jihad training camp” at a ranch in remote Oregon. As part of the investigation, the Feds recently arrested a British citizen who formerly served as an imam at a mosque in Seattle. American Muslim James Ujaama was also arrested by the Feds as a material witness. Abu Hamza recently admitted to British reporters that Ujaama had worked at his mosque for six months. But while he has publicly praised Qaeda actions like the attack on the USS Cole, Abu Hamza has repeatedly denied any involvement in terrorism. He did not respond to a request for comment.
THE EURO: That’ll Be How Much?
The euro was made to travel. No more need to exchange money at each border you cross in Europe. Forget about dividing Austrian shillings by 17 to figure out what you’re paying in Irish punts. Tourists were able to leave their calculators at home this summer, the first holiday season since the euro was introduced in January. So, everybody’s happy, right?
Well, not exactly. While polls show that most tourists enjoyed the euro’s ease of exchange, they complain vehemently about euro-inflation–prices that have been raised extravagantly with the introduction of the new currency. In Italy, restaurant and bar price hikes of up to 5 percent have been reported as the norm, while in Germany, some 10,000 items have experienced dramatic price increases since Jan. 1. Sure, tourists have understood prices better this year. But they’ve also realized when they’re being ripped off. This hasn’t had a good impact on euro-opinion: anti-euro sentiment has actually risen in almost all of Europe this summer, according to polls.
At least Europe’s statisticians and coin collectors are content. Inspired by the mixing of eagle-adorned German euro coins with Italian Leonardo da Vincis, Greek owls, and Irish harps, German mathematics professor Dietrich Stoyan has come up with a prediction for the future. Eventually, he says, the coins will be evenly mixed across the continent–with proportions the same everywhere that correspond to each country’s share of the 52 billion coins minted. Given European travel mania, it should take only five years until the mixing is 99 percent complete, says Stoyan. He’s excited, but even he has one gripe: the relatively rare coins from the Vatican and Monaco are already disappearing under collectors’ and speculators’ mattresses, “destroying [the] beautiful statistical model.”
BOOKS: When Harry’s Away…
The muggles are getting restless, and J. K. Rowling’s fifth Harry Potter book is still a year away. That’s an eternity to the boy wizard’s pint-size followers. (Even the quart-size ones are getting antsy.) So it’s not too surprising that other fantastical fiction–billing itself as “the next Harry Potter”–is popping up to fill the void. What is shocking, in the case of “The Thief Lord” by Cornelia Funke, one of Germany’s most popular kiddie-lit writers, is that the book lives up to the audacious claim. It’s got the magic, the adventure, the awkward boy heroes and the plucky chick sidekick. It’s even been edited by Barry Cunningham, the man who “discovered” Rowling and published the Harry Potter series in England. (He bought the manuscript, but remembers counseling Rowling: “Get a proper job. You’ll never make a lot of money in children’s literature.” Ha!) But “Thief Lord,” written in German, set in Italy and now translated into English, is also just a darn good yarn–the charming tale of a band of urchin-thieves, a magical carousel and two orphaned brothers (they’re always orphans, aren’t they?). Even if it doesn’t give Harry and J.K. a run for their money, it’s likely to give the world’s muggles a bit of a thrill. The postmodern fairy tale was recently released in Britain, where it sold out in 10 days.
LANGUAGES: Words to Learn By
Samakah” means “fish.” Remember that by imagining trying to smack a fish. Smack. Samakah. Smack. Samakah. Yes, you’re learning Arabic one word at a time. In a few hours, claims unforget tablelanguages.com, you will learn at least 100 words. Doubt it? Try another one: the Portuguese for “bed” is “cama.” Picture a camel lying on your bed. “It’s rather addictive,” says site creator Michael Morehouse.
That’s evident from the sales numbers. The “unforgettable” people offer 30 languages, among them Swahili, Hebrew and Greek. The site wasn’t making money when it went up a year ago, but sales have since taken off, and the company claims more than 300,000 people have used the online or CD-ROM course. Several top British schools are even considering using the method since a leading private institution, Rugby School, decided to use it as a supplement to course work.
Are all these people really learning languages with pure mnemonic devices? The courses use memory researcher Michael Gruneberg’s Linkword method. After a weekend, the site promises, you’ll have a working vocabulary and basic grammar. But if it’s fluency you’re after, even Gruneberg suggests packing your bags and practicing in a foreign country.
THEATER: ‘Hairspray’ Goes On Hot
The buzz on “Hairspray” is so loud, it’s a wonder anyone can hear the orchestra. “Hairspray” is the latest movie turned Broadway musical, this one adapted from the John Waters campy 1988 comedy about a fat girl who triumphs. Even before the official opening on Aug. 15, it was already the hottest ticket in New York City. Two weeks ago, Nicole Kidman, Danny DeVito, Yoko Ono, Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker were in the audience, along with those ordinary folks eager to be in on the Next Big Thing. “The only other show I’ve had with this kind of response right off the bat is ‘Angels in America’,” says producer Margo Lion. “It’s huge.” How huge? “I’m Jewish. I don’t want to count my chickens.”
In fact, “Hairspray” is being compared to another phenomenon–“The Producers.” That makes the “Hairspray” folks nervous. “I love that people think it’s going to be a gigantic hit, but there is a downside,” says Lion. “I want this to be evaluated on its own terms.” Besides, Broadway critics have a habit of squashing shows they think are overhyped. “I hope the reviewers like it. But in the end, the success of a show is determined by the public,” says Lion. “People are coming back two or three times–and we’ve only been running three weeks.”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-16” author: “Rosalind Maxwell”
Beyond Baghdad
While still wrangling over how to overthrow Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, the Bush administration is already looking for other targets. President Bush has called for the ouster of Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat. Now some within the administration–and allies at D.C. think tanks–are eying Iran and even Saudi Arabia. As one senior British official put it: “Everyone wants to go to Baghdad. Real men want to go to Tehran.”
In a statement broadcast into Iran in mid-July, Bush promised unspecified U.S. “support” to “Iran’s people” as they “move toward a future defined by greater freedom.” And early this month a top Bush aide said the current regime–both the elected government of reformist Mohammed Khatami and the unelected mullahs who dominate public life–was ineffectual. Speaking to an audience at the Washington Institute for Near East Affairs, National Security Council aide Zalmay Khalilzad did not call outright for a regime change in Iran, but didn’t argue when a questioner asserted that this was the policy’s aim.
Richard Perle, chairman of Bush’s Defense Policy Board, recently invited a controversial French scholar to brief the outside advisers on “taking the Saudi out of Arabia.” When word leaked to the press, the Bush administration strongly denied it wanted to oust any Saudis. Still, some insiders continue to whisper about the possibility. Syria and even Egypt are now under discussion in neoconservative circles, along with North Korea and Burma.
“The thinking in the administration is really evolving toward the idea of promoting democracy and regime change–an overhaul of the Arab and Islamic world, rather than dealing with it as it is,” says Kenneth Katzman, a leading expert on Iran who works with the Congressional Research Service. Some military strategists worry that the talk of overthrowing other nations could jeopardize any invasion of Iraq. Tony Blair, the only foreign leader who might join in a U.S.-led intervention in Iraq, is asking tough questions. “He wants to know a lot more about what the administration’s real agenda is,” says a top Blair aide. Some Iraq invasion scenarios under review have U.S. carriers steaming into the narrow Persian Gulf–a place where they’d be vulnerable to missile strikes from Iranian shore batteries. Richard Murphy, a former top State Department official dealing with the Mideast, warns the U.S. could lose Iran as a needed ally. “They will be pretty cautious about putting their hands firmly in ours, knowing we have a knife headed for their back.”
COLOMBIA
An Explosive Start
Pity the 17 people left dead and 67 injured by several Bogota bomb blasts last Wednesday. And too bad for Alvaro Uribe Velez: the explosions occurred minutes before he was sworn in as president of Colombia. Unsurprisingly, authorities suspect Colombia’s largest rebel group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Although the group has not claimed responsibility, FARC’s involvement would shock no one, least of all Uribe, who ran for office swearing to bring peace to war-torn Colombia. That will be no easy task. In recent months, FARC has stepped up its wide-ranging offensive with attacks on infrastructure and urban centers around the country. More than 60 people have died in military exchanges between FARC and right-wing paramilitaries in the past two weeks. And most experts believe the first month or so of Uribe’s presidency will be as bad, if not worse. Says political analyst and former national-security adviser Alfredo Rangel: “FARC’s aim is to increase the conflict in the coming months through sabotage of the nation’s economic infrastructure. Damaging the economic lifeline of the nation would mean less money for the war effort.” But if Washington follows through on its recent pledge to use U.S. military aid to Colombia for counterguerrilla operations instead of restricting it to anti-drug ops, he stands a chance. If it doesn’t, Uribe’s–and Colombia’s–road to peace will be paved with problems.
ARGENTINA
Some Soul-Searching
Latin Americans have long considered Argentina their super-arrogant neighbor. But with Argentina’s economy in the tank, many Argentines are seemingly eating humble pie and recognizing their faults. Consider the new ad by the Argentine Advertising Council as part of a “moral values” campaign: two Argentines, vacationing abroad, chat with a waiter about what their country is famous for. Football and tango, they say. “And putting their hand in the till,” suggests the waiter. There are other instances of self-reflection: In June, when Uruguayan President Jorge Battle tearfully apologized for declaring that Argentines were “a bunch of crooks,” polls showed that roughly half of Argentina agreed. And in July, when U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill suggested that any money lent to Latin America would end up in Swiss bank accounts, hardly a peep was heard from the people of Argentina. (Their neighbors to the north, Brazil, demanded–and received–an apology.) Says Jorge Irazu, head of the Argentine Advertising Council’s campaign, “Argentina has an image of being a massive, rich country, but the economic crisis has demolished a lot of myths.” What’s next? An apology from Maradona for his blasphemous use of the Hand of God?
OLIGARCHS
Putin and His Pals?
Recently, Russia’s biggest business tycoons have had every reason to feel confident. They’ve been banking profits from high world oil prices that have propped up their raw-materials-based empires. And they’ve enjoyed the friendship of President Vladimir Putin, who has promised them an even playing field as long as they abstain from the active political involvement that typified their kind in the 1990s. According to reliable accounts, Putin even promised not to pursue the questionable privatization deals that enabled the oligarchs to build up their business empires under his predecessor, Boris Yeltsin.
Small wonder, then, that a recent Kremlin plan has left the oligarchs in shock. Two weeks ago a group of Putin aides reportedly suggested the renationalization of oil and gas resources–the foundations of most of the oligarchs’ fabulous wealth. Two of Russia’s most prominent tycoons headed straight for the Kremlin to protest. Putin immediately denied the reports, leaving some observers to speculate that the whole thing might have been a ploy to make the tycoons cough up money for the government’s war chest in upcoming parliamentary elections. That may be, but one could hardly blame Putin for wanting to cut the tycoons down to size. According to a new report by Western economists from the investment bank Brunswick UBS Warburg, 85 percent of Russia’s private economy is now controlled by a mere eight holding companies–all associated with one of the tycoons. Putin may have to turn these friends, at least, into foes if he means to transform Russia into a genuinely competitive market economy.
WEAPONS
Arms for Sale
It seems there’s an upside to the recent economic downturn: in the past two years, as the bubbles of big bucks have exploded, global arms sales have plummeted, according to a report by the U.S. Congressional Research Service. Last year developing nations bought about $16 billion in weapons, compared with almost $30 billion in 2000. The reason is simple: economic hard times crimp budgets for buying arms. The report held a few surprises–and many no-brainers. PERISCOPE offers a pop quiz of highlights:
Who was the biggest arms dealer in the past eight years? (Hint: United States of A… )
Which developing nation bought the most last year? (Hint: Israel is a developing nation?)
Which developing nation bought the most weapons over the past eight years? (United Arab Emirates? Good guess.)
As the findings show, arms sales are at the lowest level since 1997. And that’s good news for some.
IRAQ
Looking For a Link
Top Bush officials, eager to bolster their case for an invasion of Iraq, want the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) to give them more ammunition. Last week Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, an Iraq hawk, summoned two FBI officials to brief him on claims by Czech intelligence that 9-11 hijacker Mohamed Atta had met last year in Prague with an Iraqi intelligence agent. Wolfowitz wanted the FBI to endorse the Czech account to show ties between Saddam and Al Qaeda. But when FBI counterterrorism chief Pat D’Amuro and a case agent expressed skepticism, Wolfowitz vigorously challenged them, says one source. The sole evidence for the alleged meeting is the uncorroborated claim of a Czech informant. The informant says he saw Atta meeting with an Iraqi spy on April 9, 2001. But the FBI can’t find any evidence–such as airline or passport records–that Atta was in Prague that day. (The bureau has found credit-card receipts putting Atta in Florida two days earlier.) The case agent called the meeting “unlikely.” But under Wolfowitz’s grilling, the agent finally agreed it was “possible,” because the FBI can’t account for Atta’s whereabouts on the day in question. A Defense Department official says Wolfowitz wasn’t trying to pressure the bureau. “He believes it’s important to get clarity about what we know and what we don’t know,” said the official.
BEHAVIOR
It’s Only Natural
Dear NEWSWEEK: I’m dating a biologist. I want to study up and impress him, but all the textbooks are so dull. Why can’t science be… sexy?
–Bored With Bio
My dear, what you need is “Dr. Tatiana’s Sex Advice to All Creation,” 234 delightful pages of scientific wisdom dispensed by biologist Olivia Judson in the guise of Tatiana, an Ann Landers-style agony aunt in a lab coat. “I’ve noticed I enjoy sex more if I bite my lovers’ heads off first,” writes a praying mantis. The good doctor responds: “Some of my best friends are man-eaters,” then proceeds to explain why that’s not literally true, while assuring the insect that her snacking is as natural an aphrodisiac as candlelight and Barry White tunes.
The “deviant lifestyles” detailed in Dr. Tatiana’s fictional column by far eclipse anything we stodgy humans do. There are hermaphroditic sea hares who wonder why everyone else doesn’t have orgies all day, an elephant whose nether regions have turned green and a spoon worm who’s accidentally inhaled her husband. If your tastes are more ascetic, there’s also a talk-show transcript starring a unicellular critter who–horrors!–forgoes sex altogether in favor of cloning. Though the book is chock-full of technical footnotes, Judson says it’s aimed at general readers “who are interested in sex,” which should make it a quick best seller. Easy to understand, accurate and hilarious, it’s sex education at its best. Your boyfriend will be thrilled. Just don’t get too inspired and bite his head off.
MOVIES
Sex, Lies and Soderbergh
You can never second-guess Steven Soderbergh. Having reinvented himself as Hollywood’s hottest director with “Erin Brockovich,” “Traffic” and “Ocean’s Eleven,” he wanted to get back to his “sex, lies, and videotape” indie roots. “Full Frontal” may star Julia Roberts, David Hyde Pierce and David Duchovny (with a cameo from Brad Pitt), but it’s as far from studio filmmaking as you can get. It was shot in 18 days, mostly on video and in long uninterrupted takes. The actors had to provide their own costumes and makeup, and improvisation was de rigueur. No artificial lighting was allowed except in the scenes of a movie within the movie.
So don’t expect “Pretty Woman.” Transpiring in one smoggy day, “Full Frontal” (written by Coleman Hough) peeks over the shoulders of a gaggle of neurotic, creative L.A. types as they search for love, connections, success or (it sometimes seems) their lines. Catherine Keener is a bitchy corporate exec married to Hyde Pierce’s self-doubting magazine writer while having an affair with an actor (Blair Underwood) who is playing an actor about to have an affair with a journalist (Roberts) in the movie within a movie. Nicky Katt plays a stage actor playing Hitler in a dreadful show whose director (Enrico Colantoni) is carrying on a chat-room romance with Keener’s masseuse sister (Mary McCormack). They all come together at the party of the movie within the movie’s producer (Duchovny). Alternatingly hilarious and annoying, incisive and self-indulgent, “Full Frontal” swings uneasily between hip skit humor and cinema verite. Soderbergh’s playfully experimental spirit should be saluted, even if the end product looks like it was more fun to make than it is to watch.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-02-01” author: “Seymour Blanco”
How Best To Help?
With the Loya Jirga a success and a new government in place, the situation in Afghanistan was looking up. The Bush administration was set to review its “where now?” goals. But the assassination of Vice President Haji Abdul Qadir in early July, threats to President Hamid Karzai’s own life and signs that rising violence in the countryside could wreck the international-aid programs have given the picture an ominous new cast. And Karzai’s new U.S. bodyguards won’t fix the deeper problems. Without cash to run his embryonic Kabul government, without aid to disburse to the regions and without the forces to bring order, he is essentially powerless.
All of this has lent newurgency to the policy review. Among the White House options:
Extend the mission of the 4,650-strong International Security Assistance Force at least through the elections planned for 2004.
Send in a high-level civilian official to coordinate the flow of foreign aid. Karzai’s infant government lacks the wherewithal to handle the task, and donor nations, especially in Europe, worry about corruption.
Send a senior officer to Kabul to coordinate the U.S. role in supporting internal security. This would free up the current U.S. forces commander, Lt. Gen. Dan McNeill, to focus on hunting Al Qaeda.
Speed the creation of an Afghan national Army. The first 300 recruits graduated July 23 from 10 weeks’ basic training by U.S. Army Special Forces. But privately, U.S. officials say the program is already faltering. One problem: a shortage of recruits–warlords pay better. The most radical proposed remedy is to accept reality and train the warlords’ militias to become the core of a national Army.
Achieving consensus among Bush’s top-level officials has been difficult, sources say. “Nation-building is still a forbidden term,” one official acknowledged. And the Pentagon’s civilian and military leaders oppose any peacekeeping role for the 7,000 U.S. troops in country. The outcome will likely be a face-saving compromise that floats in Washington but may not change much in Afghanistan.
EXCLUSIVE
Internal Doubts
Attorney General John Ashcroft was about to proclaim the U.S. government’s biggest legal victory yet in the war on terrorism last week. Expecting Zacarias Moussaoui to plead guilty to charges he was involved in the 9-11 conspiracy, Ashcroft aides were busily crafting a celebratory statement.
But the erratic Moussaoui ruined the festivities when he abruptly withdrew his guilty plea after U.S. Judge Leonie Brinkema told him he had to admit direct participation in the 9-11 plot. This, Moussaoui said, he couldn’t do because of his “obligation toward my creator, Allah.” Now the case will go to trial Sept. 30. Justice officials say they are confident it won’t change the outcome. But privately, some lawyers familiar with the evidence are not so sure. Brinkema last week appeared to adopt arguments submitted by Moussaoui’s court-appointed lawyers that merely showing Moussaoui was a member of Al Qaeda and wanted to harm Americans is not enough to convict. Sources familiar with classified FBI documents relating to the case tell NEWSWEEK there’s nothing that shows Moussaoui ever had contact with any of the 9-11 hijackers. Some documents even suggest internal FBI doubts over whether Moussaoui was involved. Prosecutors do have one compelling piece of circumstantial evidence: Moussaoui received $14,000 in money orders from Ramzi bin al-Shibh, former roommate of Mohamed Atta, in August 2001. But Moussaoui’s lawyers have a counterargument: while the other hijackers met repeatedly, Moussaoui was conspicuously absent from any of their gatherings. Meanwhile Moussaoui, convinced the lawyers are out to kill him, insists on representing himself. His legal incompetence–rather than the evidence–may be the government’s strongest card.
CHINA: Skies on Schedule
A year ago Beijing won its bid to host the 2008 Olympics, and it’s been consumed with a frenzy of preparation ever since. Weather is a particular concern, since the city’s eye-searing pollution almost nixed China’s Olympic bid. So now China is banishing polluting factories from the capital, planting trees to keep out dust blown in from the Gobi Desert and clamping down on vehicle emissions in hopes of guaranteeing blue skies by 2008.
Beijing’s bureaucrats have also embarked on a Great Leap Forward in manipulating the weather by dispelling rain and fog, trying to ensure that nothing, er, clouds China’s achievements and image during important public events. “We’ll definitely be consulted on how to create beautiful conditions for the Olympics,” says Wang Wang of Beijing’s Study Institute of Artificial Influence on the Weather, one of China’s foremost weather experts.
Chinese officials’ interest in controlling weather dates to the 1950s, when Beijing had access to cloud-seeding expertise from the U.S.S.R. Since then, provincial bureaucrats all across northern China have learned to induce rainfall yearly between April and June to combat the region’s chronic drought, says Wang. Using aircraft, rockets and even land-based furnaces, experts propel tiny amounts of silver iodide into certain types of cloud formations to accelerate condensation, creating rain on demand–and averting showers during later scheduled events.
Does it work? Wang proudly relates how he helped provoke rainfall to douse a Heilongjiang forest fire in 1987. Around the same time, he says, “we experimented for a month to disperse fog and rain for China’s Oct. 1 National Day Parade.” Rain was also successfully averted at least three times in the past decade, twice for public sporting events and once during a panda festival, he says. And Beijing has now started trying to control those who would control the weather. Regulations unveiled two months ago stipulate that “artificially induced weather cannot take place whenever people want,” especially since “dangerous missiles” are sometimes used. Indeed, one rainmaking attempt went awry earlier this year when a rocket fell through a villager’s roof in northern China. “It’s still not a mature art,” says Wang.
CHURCH OF ENGLAND
Separation Anxiety?
British Prime Minister Tony Blair, exercising an ancient prerogative of his office, named Rowan Williams as the spiritual head of the Church of England last week. Big deal? Well, it was for the 70 million-strong Anglican communion around the world. But the selection also highlights the increasingly tenuous relationship between the British state and its official church. Williams has flirted with disestablishment–arguing, for example, that the status of the British monarch as titular head of the C of E has “outlived its usefulness.” Blair himself symbolizes the quirkiness of a prime ministerial role in choosing who should lead the church. Nominally an Anglican, Blair goes to mass with his Roman Catholic wife and children. The leaders of Britain’s two other major political parties are both Catholics. But despite the likelihood of the absurd scenario in which a future head of the Anglican Church would be named by a Catholic prime minister, a church-state divorce is not imminent. In his new role as Archbishop of Canterbury, Williams cannot push for it, and Blair, says an aide, “supports the longstanding relationship.” Paul Handley, editor of the Church Times, says change is likely, but “gradual.”
TERROR TRAIL
Fear of Finances
Secretive Swiss bankers are so fearful of getting caught laundering money for crooked foreign leaders and terrorists, they have started to scrub the backgrounds and monitor transactions of wealthy clients from the Mideast. A section of the new USA PATRIOT Act requires financial institutions doing business in the United States or with U.S. institutions to conduct “enhanced scrutiny” of bank accounts maintained by or for the benefit of “senior foreign political figures,” their family members or their close associates. Some Swiss-owned institutions are currying favor in Washington by checking out names with the State Department before opening new accounts. U.S. officials say bankers will be shown only data from already-public terrorism sanctions lists. Swiss authorities have also given U.S. officials copies of telephone records and other documents seized in raids on Al Taqwa, a now defunct Swiss-based offshore-banking network accused by Washington of financing terror groups. Meanwhile a consortium of big Wall Street and European firms, concerned about the new money-laundering rules, has set up a company called Regulatory DataCorp to conduct public-information databank searches on customers with accounts inside the United States.
Therapy: Analyzing Animals
Sonya Fitzpatrick’s patients sometimes feel as if they’re having the life sucked out of them. Perhaps that’s because it’s tick season. As global television phenomenon Animal Planet’s new “Pet Psychic,” the telepathic therapist from the United Kingdom treats emotionally disturbed denizens of the animal kingdom. NEWSWEEK’s Katherine Stroup had to settle for verbal communication.
When did you start speaking to animals?
I was born with this gift. I talked to animals before people. I had a hearing loss, so I didn’t talk at all until I was 4. My mother likes to say I haven’t stopped since.
How exactly does your “gift” work?
We communicate in pictures, feelings, emotions and senses. Pets and people transmit energy fields like radio stations. I pick up their signals. I could go into the metaphysics of it, dear, but you wouldn’t understand anyway.
Hey, I’m not dumb.
It’s just hard to explain. I become the animal–I think like a dog when I talk to a dog. You see the world on all fours, smell it on all fours.
But how do you know how a dog thinks?
I just know.
Can anyone talk to animals telepathically?
No, you have to be a true animal lover–someone who thinks of pets as children in fur clothes. Those people can learn.
Skeptics say you’re telling pet owners only what they want to hear.
That doesn’t bother me one bit. I know that what I’m experiencing and feeling is real.
What’s the most common complaint you hear from the animal world?
Oh, they always want to talk about their food. One problem is that people feed their dogs dog food. I don’t give my dogs anything that I wouldn’t eat. So I cook for them–not sweets, of course, just meat, rice and vegetables.
Are there any animals that are so dumb, their minds aren’t worth reading?
[ Gasps ] I can’t think in those terms. All animals are worthwhile. I even pull flies from my pool.
Can you also read my thoughts?
Oh, darling, I can’t be bothered with humans.
Museums: Exhibiting Signs of Intelligence
The cold war has thawed. The craft of gathering intelligence has been tarnished by the record of the CIA and FBI prior to September 11. It seems only fitting, then, that the techniques, technologies, gadgets and gimmicks of the spy world should be relegated to a museum–the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.
The museum, which opened earlier this month, is a window on a looking-glass world we’ve all dreamed of sneaking into. A stroll through the exhibits (under an assumed identity assigned at the entrance) rapidly gives way to unseen trickery. This shoe, for instance, is no ordinary shoe. Slide off the heel to reveal… an eavesdropping device. It’s no Gucci, but it was used by the Soviets in the cold war to listen in on sensitive conversations. And what about that lovely lipstick case? The gentleman of the old spy-vs.-spy days had to be wary; if his date brought this Soviet lipstick tube out of her handbag during a meal, there was trouble ahead–it doubled as a gun. Mysteries abound in the museum: on one side of a replica of a tunnel used in East Berlin by the U.S. government to eavesdrop on the enemy sit a washing machine and dryer. It wasn’t that these spies were domesticated–they needed clean clothes so as to emerge from the tunnel inconspicuously.
But there’s more to this museum than the umbrella that administered a shot of poison or the wristwatch-cum-camera; there’s history–and lots of it. Learn about the use of coded messages (not the ones you and your siblings once spontaneously invented and forgot just as quickly) from exhibits about the German World War II Enigma cipher machine and the U.S. Navajo code-talkers. If you still have that childhood desire to be a spy yourself, study the learning process in the museum’s “School for Spies” section–where recruitment and training drills are explained in depth–and see if you have what it takes to be an operative. And even if your interest in spy games is geared solely toward the Hollywood variety, you’ll be pleased, too: the museum boasts an exhibit on spy representations in the movies and pop culture.
The International Spy Museum has something for everyone–except for the infamous cigars that were designed by the CIA to explode in the face of Cuban leader Fidel Castro. (Perhaps they’re still trying to perfect those over at Langley?) And for visitors of all walks of life, the museum should provide a little bit of education. Convenient, then, that it’s located just one block away from FBI headquarters. Maybe some of today’s active agents will pop in every so often to learn a few tricks of this seemingly lost trade.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-27” author: “Aida Larson”
Even for McDonald’s, the war against falling prices in Japan is a losing battle. Back in early 2000, the fast-food giant cut the weekday price of its hamburger from 130 to 65 yen (about $1.09 to 54 cents), and sales shot up fivefold. By early this year, with Japan’s falling yen raising hopes of an export-led recovery, McDonald’s hiked the price of burgers to 80 yen apiece (67 cents); the company hoped the increase “might stop deflation in the whole country,” according to McDonald’s top boss in Japan, Den Fujita.
That didn’t happen. Consumers shunned the more expensive burger. Sales tumbled more than 10 percent a month and profits plunged 52 percent by midyear. McDonald’s announced plans to close 130 of its 3,894 Japanese stores. Last week McDonald’s cut the Tokyo price of its burger to a historic low of just 59 yen (50 cents). Says Miwa Sen, a company spokesperson in Tokyo: “It now seems that deflation will be with us for a long time.”
When even the undisputed market leader in global fast food can’t sustain London or New York prices in Japan, what hope do lesser producers have against deflation’s ravaging undertow? Surveys show that Japanese consumers figure prices will continue to fall, so they are putting off big-ticket purchases, which hobbles local enterprises, and the banks that lend to them. Bad debts are mounting. In short, the falling price of a burger in Tokyo foreshadows very real trouble for Japan. If there was any real hope that recovery in Japan would help the world stave off a return to recession, it’s all but gone now.
The core problem of persistent deflation is much bigger than fast food. Prices in Japan are falling at a rate of about a percentage point a year. The result: a buyer’s market in everything from real estate to minke-whale meat. In April, Sony, NEC and Fujitsu raised prices by 10 to 20 percent but backtracked once low-cost rival Dell began grabbing market share. Says Machiko Amano, a retail analyst at Standard & Poor’s in Tokyo: “With limited room for reduction in fixed costs like rents and wages, deflation leads to a decline in profitability.”
With hopes of an imminent rebound in Japan dwindling, the government finds itself under increased pressure to avert a deflationary spiral. Inflation targeting and other stimulus measures are back in vogue even though they risk perpetuating overcapacity by propping up weak companies. Peter Morgan, chief economist at HSBC Securities in Tokyo, suggests pump priming through “good” public works like widening freeways and improving the handicapped’s access to mass transit. The core issue, he says, is growth, not deflation. “It wouldn’t take a lot, maybe a 1 to 2 percent expansion, then deflation would be cured as a side effect.” And people could go back to paying for pricey happy meals with smiles on their faces again.
U.S. Economy
He Might Have Told You So
For months the world has been wondering if the U.S. recession was truly over. For months economists have remained cheerily optimistic. For months Stephen Roach, chief economist and director of global economics at Morgan Stanley, has warned that a double dip–a return to recessionary levels–was likely. No one wanted to believe his prediction; fellow economists openly scoffed. “This hasn’t made me a lot of friends,” says Roach.
Now Roach’s doomsaying has suddenly become the mantra of the moment. Last week U.S. GDP growth for 2001 was revised downward to 0.3 percent, and small increases in the first half of last year were restated as contractions. America’s short-lived recession of 2001, originally just one quarter in duration, now turns out to have been three quarters long. (The meager new estimate of 1.1 percent GDP growth for 2002 hasn’t lifted spirits, either.) At 10.8 percent of nominal GDP in 2002, capital spending remains at pre-bubble levels. Given volatile stock-market conditions, it’s unlikely to increase any time soon.
The good news–consumer spending increased by 0.5 percent in June and disposable income gained 0.7 percent–may not be enough to stave off another shock, which, according to Roach, would jolt the economy back into certain recession. American consumers have been strong but have been “in denial,” he says, continually spending “beyond their means.” All it would take to produce the dreaded double dip would be a pinprick in the housing bubble–which might not be so far off. Says Roach: “By the end of this year, we’ll have seen a significant unwinding of house-price appreciation.” Then consumers will wake up and realize that they can no longer accumulate debt solely on the back of their assets. And at that moment, says Roach, “America’s double dip will be the world’s double dip.” In the past, one might have shrugged off such pessimism. Nearly everyone’s listening now.
Egypt
Who Holds The Cards?
Last week’s resentencing of Egyptian-American human-rights activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim to seven years in prison for defamation of Egypt didn’t please Washington. “We are deeply disappointed,” declared the U.S. State Department. Ibrahim is one of the Arab world’s most famous intellectuals. He has been a U.N. consultant and is an old friend of President Hosni Mubarak’s wife. So why was the court so harsh?
Observers say that the Egyptian government has been taking advantage of the war on terror to crack down on internal dissent–and Ibrahim’s case is a prime example. Authorities called for a retrial on procedural grounds after his conviction last summer, but Ibrahim’s latest conviction shows that “the government will not tolerate criticism,” says Hafez Abu-Seda of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. There have been other such messages of late: a new law has made it difficult for NGOs to obtain operating licenses, and last month 200 peaceful demonstrators were arrested during parliamentary by-elections. One foreign reporter in Cairo was warned by police, incorrectly, that conducting man-in-the-street interviews was “illegal.”
Egyptian authorities may actually be looking to tweak Washington with such moves. “Egypt is fed up with American meddling,” says human-rights activist Faried Zahran. “Arresting America’s friends in Egypt puts stress on America.” And despite U.S. disappointment, the disgruntled superpower can do little about it. Washington is unlikely to freeze its $2 billion in annual aid to Egypt when it may soon need Cairo’s full support in a war against Iraq.
Adoptions
Caught in The Middle
The horrors of Romania’s state-run orphanages, exposed in the 1990s, focused the world’s attention on the plight of the country’s kids–and Romania became a leading source for foreign adoptions. But a decade later, European Parliament critics charge that the system has left the door wide open for child-trafficking rings. In response, Romania halted foreign adoptions last year.
But the debate didn’t end there. U.S. adoption agencies now argue that the moratorium deprives needy orphans of a good home abroad; they’re allegedly lobbying Washington to condition Romania’s NATO bid and financial aid on the reopening of adoptions. The Romanian government is now pushing legislation to end the moratorium by October. But Europe is worried that Romania hasn’t fully developed its new foster system or overhauled its authoritarian child-welfare legislation.
The discord threatens to undermine Romania’s twin goals: joining the EU and joining NATO. “The Romanians are like the ground beneath two warring elephants,” says one U.S. adoption manager. Unfortunately, its orphans are the ones likely to be trampled.
Terror: Keeping It in the Family
Osama bin Laden has four wives, one ex and about 23 children. Some are thought to be with him, assuming he is alive and in Afghanistan or Pakistan. Others are lying low in South Asia or the Mideast, possibly Saudi Arabia. But U.S. intelligence sources say that some of bin Laden’s older sons are taking an increasingly active role in Al Qaeda. These sources believe Saad bin Laden, at 21 Osama’s fourth or fifth oldest son, has helped arrange financing and logistical support for Qaeda terrorists in the field. U.S. officials dismiss Arabic-language reports that Saad has taken command of the organization; nor do they believe top lieutenants such as Ayman al-Zawahiri have been taking orders from Saad. But the United States is examining whether Saad may have helped set up a bombing in April at a synagogue in Tunisia, one of a handful of attacks since 9-11 that have been attributed to Al Qaeda. Another teenage bin Laden son, Mohammed, is also said to be involved in the terror group. He married the daughter of Muhammad Atef, a top Qaeda strategist killed in the U.S. attacks on Afghanistan. Some reports say Mohammed bin Laden sometimes acts as his father’s bodyguard when Osama is asleep. But not all of bin Laden’s family are keen to join the family business. Sources say that two of Osama’s oldest sons have distanced themselves from their father and his campaign of violence.
The Kaddafi Kid: Painting and Politics
Although the work may have symbolic meaning, most critics have so far failed to see past the artist’s technique.
The name Kaddafi has been associated with many things–including terrorism, eccentricity and despotism. Now, thanks to the recent opening of a London exhibit called “The Desert Is Not Silent,” the infamous Libyan leader’s name will be associated with art, too. But Muammar Kaddafi would be right to deny responsibility this time: it’s his 30-year-old son Saif el-Islam Kaddafi who’s making a name in painting.
The exhibition, headlined by Kaddafi and sponsored by his charity foundation, currently adorns the walls of a temporary gallery built for the show in Kensington Gardens; 37 of Kaddafi’s paintings and collages are on display. The bulk of his works concentrate on natural themes (mainly depicting desert landscapes and the animals who inhabit them). But most striking–if not most esthetically pleasing–are his three political pieces: “Intifada,” “War” and “The Challenge.” The last of these is a critique of the Western embargo against Libya: a small portrait of his father–in his trademark outsize glasses–overlooking three hooded men carrying crosses across the desert. Literally stuck onto the canvas is a fragment of an American bomb that Saif el-Islam says he found at the site of his old family home shortly after it was leveled in an air attack in 1986. In case viewers are left a bit baffled, the young Kaddafi’s political collection is explained succinctly in the collection’s program: “Libya was as strong as a rock, against which the arrogance of the neo-crusaders was broken.”
Although the work may have symbolic meaning, most critics have so far failed to see past the artist’s technique. “[Kaddafi] may be an able cultural ambassador, but as a painter he is not even a gifted amateur,” wrote Jonathan Jones of London’s Guardian. But perhaps all is not lost for Kaddafi. The exhibition, he explains, set out to “promote cultural ties between Britain and Libya.” And although he admits he brought his “ugly colors and nice antiques” to Britain to find out what people thought of his paintings, Kaddafi can take consolation in the company his collection is keeping. Also on display in the exhibit are splendid Libyan antiquities, including mosaics, statues and earthenware, as well as several paintings by respected contemporary Libyan artists Fawzi Omar Swei and Salah Shagroun. Needless to say, their styles are more grounded in realism than Kaddafi’s. After all, he is his father’s son.
Magic: New Tricks of the Trade
Now magicians can fit a whole show into their briefcase.
Ever get tired of knowing that the woman being sawed in two by the magician is just folding her body into the box? Magicians are now putting a high-tech spin on their routines, performing tricks on a laptop for small crowds or on an enlarged screen for a theater audience. The trend has barely caught on in the West, but Eddy Au, a Hong Kong-based magician who uses a Japanese-made CD-ROM magic program, says it’s becoming increasingly popular in Asia. Au believes the new style is the wave of the future of magic. “Now you can fit a whole show into your briefcase.”
Twenty-seven-year-old Haim Goldenberg from Tel Aviv calls up a self-made program on his laptop showing a row of flickering candles. A member of the audience points to a candle, and without punching any keys or clicking the mouse, Haim blows at the screen to make the chosen flame disappear. “The computer is just a prop for new ways to do magic,” he says.
Computer tricks still involve a sleight that goes unnoticed by the audience, but they’re more versatile. Say a tiny blip on the screen is the ruse that helps the magician pull off a particular trick. He or she can then go back before the next show and reprogram the location of the blip, or change its appearance, so that the secret will never be noticed. Computer magic probably won’t spell the end for the cutting in half of the assistant. But would we want it to?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-27” author: “Luis Bahena”
Officials confirm that key leads have come from one of the highest-ranking bin Laden aides in U.S. custody: Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi, a Libyan who reportedly ran Al Qaeda’s Khalden training camp. Al-Libi, who was picked up by the Pakistanis around the turn of the year and handed over to American forces, is now cooperating, a U.S. source says. Information he gave U.S. interrogators recently helped authorities in Yemen foil a planned attack by Qaeda militants on the American Embassy in Sanaa. His information enabled U.S. officials to take other antiterror “precautions,” the source says, but some of his information still remains to be “vetted.” Unconfirmed reports say al-Libi also provided the inside dope on trainees at the Khalden camp, including indicted shoe-bomber Richard Reid, who has pleaded not guilty. Other evidence from Afghanistan includes fresh clues about Al Qaeda’s efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction. Intelligence reports indicate that, over several years, a number of unemployed Russian weapons scientists traveled to Afghanistan for job interviews with Al Qaeda. Some of the Russians turned down offers from the terrorist network, said a U.S. source, apparently because they found their would-be employers too creepy.
Meanwhile, investigators following the money trail have turned up telling new connections. U.S. gumshoes have traced back a $14,000 wire transfer (received by suspected 20th hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui, who has also entered a not-guilty plea) to a mysterious Saudi suspected to be the paymaster for the September 11 attacks. Investigators say that Moussaoui was sent the money by Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a Hamburg terrorist-cell member identified last week by Attorney General John Ashcroft as the star of a suicide video message found in Afghanistan. Investigators think that al-Shibh became a support officer, backstopping the hijackers when his application for a visa to attend a U.S. flight school was rejected. Investigators say that the money transferred by al-Shibh to Moussaoui last August had earlier been wired to al-Shibh from the United Arab Emirates. The sender was identified as Hashim Abdurahman. But the receipt for one of the transfers lists a phone number for Mustapha Ahmed Al Hawsawi, the Saudi citizen believed by U.S. authorities to be the 9-11 attacks’ operational financier.
Intriguing evidence has also surfaced that gives an insight into the obsessions of the hijack team. German police found a videotape of the October 1999 wedding of Said Bahaji, the terror cell’s computer geek, who, like al-Shibh, disappeared from Hamburg shortly before 9-11. The video shows al-Shibh delivering a speech calling the Jews a danger for “all Muslims.” He ends with what intelligence sources describe as a Palestinian “war poem.” Investigators are undoubtedly poring over the video, looking for further intelligence on the hijackers’ support network.
Mark Hosenball and Daniel Klaidman
STALEMATES
Arafat’s Lost Horizons
In a small part of it, anyway. Arafat has been hemmed in before, and he has always been a Houdini in tight spots. His dramatic getaways from pursuers during the 1960s and ’70s are Palestinian legends. And he breezed out of Beirut 20 years ago when a hard-charging general named Ariel Sharon thought he had Arafat trapped. But last week the net around Arafat tightened. New violence left nine Israelis dead, including six who were killed when a member of Arafat’s own Fatah movement shot up a bat mitzvah. Israel tightened the military cordon, and the conviction grew, even among dovish Israelis, that Arafat is no longer useful–that he can’t make peace or guarantee security, even if he wants to.
For a stretch of 24 days Arafat kept a lid on violence, creating possibly the best climate in more than a year for a return to the bargaining table. But Sharon, now Israel’s prime minister, brushed off the lull as another trick. He cited as evidence of Arafat’s duplicity the weapons-laden ship intercepted by the Israelis, apparently as it headed for Palestinian territory. “Even if he could stop the violence, I don’t think there’s anything Arafat can do at this point to get Sharon to engage,” says a European diplomat involved in regional peacemaking. “And I don’t see Sharon letting him out of Ramallah.”
But Arafat still doesn’t rule out an agreement with Sharon. He says one of his top aides stays in touch with Sharon’s son Omri, and that he himself spoke to Sharon by phone recently to convey holiday greetings. “It was a warm telephone conversation from my side and from his side,” Arafat says. He has been written off so often that few would now predict his demise. In its zeal to marginalize Arafat, Israel sometimes unintentionally resurrects him by overreaching. Since the siege was imposed on Ramallah, Arafat’s popularity at home has surged, even among supporters of the militant Hamas group. “When Israel puts pressure on the symbol of Palestine, we line up behind the president,” says Hassan Yousef, a spokesman for Hamas.
Arafat insists he can reinstate the ceasefire. “I’ll do my best to sustain it,” he says. “I’m not joking with anyone. There’s one authority, and it will be respected.” For decades his followers referred to him affectionately as “the Old Man.” Now he really is old, though a year younger than Sharon. The two leaders are among the last of their generation, an age group in which Israelis locate their Founding Giants, and the Palestinians their Generation of Revenge. If Arafat and Sharon can’t cut a deal, the task of peacemaking will fall to the next generation. And on both sides, the identity of the next leader is far from clear.
WALKER: TAKING HEAT FOR TAKING THE CASE
COLUMBINE
One Family’s Investigation
For Danny’s parents, it’s the latest chapter in an almost three-year quest for answers. Almost immediately after the massacre, Rohrbough and Petrone began making secret recordings of their conversations about Columbine. After the shootings, Rohrbough, who runs a Denver-area electronics shop, dreamed up some stealthy devices to secretly record his talks. (In Colorado, that’s legal.) He fashioned one tiny microphone from a Bic ballpoint pen, and made a handful of other mikes, connecting them to digital recording devices. The tapes are already causing problems for police. Months after Columbine, Petrone used the Bic mike to record a conversation with Jim Taylor, a police officer and, at the time, a family friend. “They were just running in mass chaos and I seen a boy drop,” Taylor told her. At first he wasn’t sure of the boy’s identity, but after seeing a photo in the newspaper the next day he determined “it was Dan.” But months later, according to the Arapahoe County sheriff, Taylor told a different story to Internal Affairs, saying he never saw Danny killed. Taylor was fired for making false statements to the family. (He declined to comment.)
Rohrbough says he has about 100 more hours of Columbine conversations on disks (some of which, he hints, may be damaging to more officials). He can’t get his son back, but hopes he can at least find the truth.
DATA: HE’S ALREADY IN D.C.
does
ROYALS
The Handler
A PR nightmare, right? Not when Mark Bolland is working for your father. By the time Prince Charles’s spinmeister was done massaging the story, the newsstands were awash in adulation, congratulating Charles for handling his son’s temptations by sending him to visit a drug-rehab center to be scared straight. PRINCE PRAISED FOR STANCE ON HARRY’S DRUG USE, wrote The Guardian. It’s nothing new: Bolland has been performing media magic since Charles hired him in 1996, the year of his divorce from Princess Diana. That year 41 percent of Britons thought he’d make a good king; the figure’s past 60 percent now. Still, his rehabilitation of Charles has come at the expense of other royal family members, some courtiers believe. Says royal historian Hugo Vickers, “Bolland doesn’t care who the hell gets in his way of making Charles look good.”
FILM
The Making Of the Making Of
about
Unlike the usual behind-the-scenes puff pieces, the show hardly flatters the filmmakers. Actresses from Joan Allen to Emma Thompson turn down roles, young actors mangle dialogue and Jones struggles to film scenes under passing trains. Better yet is Damon’s bad-mouthing the script early on as an “Afterschool Special.” Strangers approached producer Moore in Sundance last week not to praise him on “Stolen Summer” but to harass him. “They keep saying, ‘Why did you have to be such a d—?’ " says Moore.
“Stolen Summer,” a drama about two young schoolchildren, hits theaters in March. Meanwhile, “Project Greenlight’s” ratings have surged 66 percent since it was moved to the post-“Sex and the City” slot three weeks ago, and Hollywood gossip about the crew’s mishaps nearly rivals Oscar chatter. Traffic on the series’ Web site (projectgreenlight.com) has been boosted by copies of memos sent by the film’s producers, including script notes from Damon and Affleck. But not everybody finds “Project Greenlight” compelling. “I live that life,” says David Gale, who runs MTV Films. “I don’t need to watch it.”
MAGAZINES
Tina, But No Talk
SINGERS
Music Police
Describe your CD. A little bit of Broadway, a little bit of Americana, a little bit of sacred music.
How do you juggle the roles of cop and singer? I’m constantly jumping outta my suit and into my uniform, then back again. My goal over the next couple of years is to nap, or get famous enough so someone else can sing for me.
Do fellow officers like what you do? When I used to warm up in the locker room, it was like “Shut up!” Now there’s a lot of respect.
MOVIES
It’s All Greek
poof!
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Special Pretzel Logic Edition
C.W. Bush = As Barney and Spot look on in horror, he hits the deck: A salt with a deadly weapon. Cheney - Plays Enron’s debt collector with India on key state visit. Classy, Dick. K. Lay - Tells employees Enron stock is “an incredible bargain”–as the company was crumbling. D. Duncan - Andersen partner says he threw shredding party “on orders.” Who’s he going to finger? A. Levitt + Ex-SEC chief warned of audit abuse, then bulldozed by greedheads. Listen to him now. Tina Brown - Her Talk goes mute. Publishing does not live by Gwyneth Paltrow covers alone.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-10” author: “Roy Cumings”
After his arrest, law-enforcement sources say that Reid, a British citizen, told FBI interrogators he obtained his shoes and their explosive contents in Amsterdam, where he worked odd jobs during an extended stay last year. Reid said he came up with the bomb plot on his own and found the bomb-making recipe, and later an Amsterdam explosives supplier, by surfing the Internet. Dutch authorities don’t believe Reid’s story. They are investigating contacts they believe he made in the Netherlands before he set off on his bombing mission, including reports he may have hooked up with Jerome Courtailler, a suspected French terrorist. Dutch police arrested Courtailler on Sept. 13; he is still being held on terrorism-conspiracy charges.
Investigators believe that Courtailler, in turn, was acquainted with Moussaoui. They suspect that during Moussaoui’s extended residence in London in the ’90s, Courtailler and his brother David visited Moussaoui’s south London apartment. And an eyewitness claims to have seen Moussaoui and the Courtailler brothers at a mosque in London’s Finsbury Park district. U.S. and British investigators have also unearthed records from two British cell phones used by Moussaoui from which nine calls were made to the Netherlands.
Evidence of direct contacts between Moussaoui and Reid is still largely circumstantial. Abu Zakaria, a leader at a mosque in London’s Brixton district, told NEWSWEEK that Reid and Moussaoui both prayed there for several months in the mid-’90s. Moussaoui then left the mosque, claiming its theology was too moderate. Reid left two years later, spouting similar dogma. Mosque officials say it is possible that Reid and Moussaoui met through worship, but no one at the mosque remembers their being pals. In a brief interview with NEWSWEEK at his tiny south London home, Reid’s father, Robin, said that his son never mentioned Moussaoui, but added that he hadn’t seen Richard for the last four years.
U.S. officials are pressing the Brits for more proof linking Reid and Moussaoui. But British and U.S. sources say the investigation is going slowly. American authorities are also troubled by the apparent “disappearance” of one of the most radical jihad preachers based in London, Abu Qatada, whose prayer meetings, says an eyewitness, were frequented by Moussaoui. Qatada, whose assets have been frozen by both British and American authorities, has been described by U.S. officials as a key bin Laden representative in Europe. Last year Tony Blair’s government introduced a new, post-September 11 antiterror law providing for the detention without trial of alleged agitators like Qatada. Around the time the law took effect, however, Qatada left his west London residence. A radical Muslim source, who recently talked to Qatada’s wife, said she had received a message that her husband had “gone underground.” British officials declined to say whether they had lost track of the missing imam. If he has truly disappeared, it could further complicate efforts to probe the London recruiting network that apparently swept up Moussaoui, Reid and other suspected terrorist “sleepers.”
CAMPUS: DO YOU SPEAK THE LANGUAGE?
it
RECOVERY
‘It’s a Kind of Needle-in-a-Haystack Proposition’
So far, several hundred cell phones have been found at Fresh Kills, where an elaborate system has been created to pick out small items from the wreckage. Front-end loaders spread out the debris for investigators to examine with a rake. Then a sorting machine separates even smaller parts, which are examined on conveyor belts. Almost every object on the belt is the same size and the same cement gray color, making it hard to distinguish a car part from human remains. “I don’t think you ever get used to seeing this,” says Richard Marx, an FBI agent who’s managing the site with the NYPD. Airplane parts are piled outside Marx’s trailer, near a bronze Rodin sculpture also recovered from the wreckage. Last week examiners found a British driver’s license, a bullet and nearly a dozen Deutsche Bank ID cards.
A recovered phone is sent to the FBI’s forensics lab where technicians attempt to raise its serial number. That can be used to trace the phone’s owner and account information. The FBI declined to comment on the search. But Leadbetter says he’s inspired by the passport belonging to a hijacker recovered on September 11: “It was a one-in-a-billion find.” Given the stakes, maybe two in a billion isn’t too much to hope for.
FAST CHAT
Hey, Liberals, Listen Up
JONES: Do the five books on conservative themes now on the Times best-seller list suggest that people are unhappy with what they’re getting from the mainstream media? GOLDBERG: Probably. But the implication that this is a conservative book written for conservatives misses the point. I’ve heard from many liberals who don’t agree with everything I say but who think I made a lot of sense. The media elite continue to pretend that this is an issue that appeals strictly to right-wing nuts.
So what would be your remedy for liberal bias? The only way to fix it is for the people out there who don’t want a conservative newscast but just more conservative voices to go along with the intelligent liberal voices, then they’re going to have to vote with their remote control and go someplace else for their news. And maybe when the major networks have even fewer viewers than they have now, they will either pay attention or they will become totally irrelevant.
ARCHITECTURE
A Memorial In Stone And Spirit
Samuel Mockbee, the beloved Mississippi architect and MacArthur fellow who died at 57 in late December, drew a proposal from his hospital bed. His idea was for two towers–even taller than the originals–and a vast pit dug into the earth, 911 feet deep, reached by a spiraling ramp. At the bottom would be a reflecting pool, a memorial and a cultural center. Daniel Libeskind, who designed the acclaimed Jewish Museum in Berlin, envisions a slender, jagged high-rise that includes a memorial. “Be it a skyscraper, a low-rise complex or a park developed on the site, the real question is about memory and the future of that memory,” Libeskind wrote with his submission. “It must be a response which takes into consideration the relationships between the uniqueness of a site and its global significance; fragility and stability; stone and spirit.”
The new Lower Manhattan Development Corp., charged with overseeing plans for rebuilding–including a memorial–has yet to consider stone or spirit, but its chairman, John C. Whitehead, announced that public hearings might be held as early as February. He also named Louis R.Tomson, a former top adviser to New York Gov. George Pataki, as the corporation’s executive director. “They’re trying to move this as fast as possible,” said a spokesman.
TRANSITION: THE BURGER KING
Well, what can you do, it’s his company.
But Thomas persevered, with the same doggedness that had led him–a high-school dropout–from behind the soda fountain of a Kentucky drugstore to the head of a company with more than 6,000 outlets. In lieu of polish, he brought to the task the sincerity of a billionaire who once described his “favorite gourmet meal” as “a double cheeseburger with mustard, pickles and onion, fries, a bowl of chili, Coke and a big Frosty.” When you looked at him, who could doubt it?
Thomas, who was adopted as an infant, had a knockabout childhood, and although he named his company after his own daughter, by his own account he was a sometimes distant father. When he died in Florida last week, at 69, his legacy was his own wildly improbable celebrity and his years of devotion toward his favored cause, children in need of adoption.
With his half-moon glasses and his blue-chip resume (Yale ‘39, Yale Law ‘42), Cyrus Vance as much as anyone personified the liberal wing of the American foreign-policy establishement. Vance, who died last week at 85, is perhaps best known for resigning as Jimmy Carter’s secretary of State to protest the Iranian hostage rescue mission.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Enron End-Run Edition
C.W. Bush - Scandal not in W.H. (yet). So why is he rewriting his history with “Kenny Boy” Lay? Cheney - Met secretly with Enron last spring to form energy policy. What did he know and when? A. Andersen - Enron’s accountants destroyed documents. Also shredded: Its reputation. Iran - Making mischief with Taliban remnants in Afghanistan. Ayatollyah so. Rink rage - Public’s fascination with thuggish dad signals we are back to pre-9-11 diversions. Sigh. Jordan - Wife’s detectives take him to the hoop. She could hit a $300 million pointer.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-22” author: “Harry Dixon”
Government sources tell NEWSWEEK that the secret new analysis shows anthrax found in a letter addressed to Senate Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy was ground to a microscopic fineness not achieved by U.S. biological-weapons experts. The Leahy anthrax–mailed in an envelope that was recovered unopened from a Washington post office last November– also was coated with a chemical compound unknown to experts who have worked in the field for years; the coating matches no known anthrax samples ever recovered from biological-weapons producers anywhere in the world, including Iraq and the former Soviet Union. The combination of the intense milling of the bacteria and the unusual coating produced an anthrax powder so fine and fluffy that individually coated anthrax spores were found in the Leahy envelope, something that U.S. bioweapons experts had never seen.
Hopes that the anthrax genetic code would point to its lab of origin are fading. Insiders now say that the Leahy strain traces back to an anthrax epidemic in Texas cattle in the 1970s, samples from which were very widely distributed. The new chemical findings are so puzzling that sources now fear the FBI’s already slow-moving investigation could be set back still further. Using psychological profiles and earlier scientific analyses, the FBI had begun to focus on the possibility that the anthrax letters might have been sent out by a disgruntled scientist or technician who once worked on a U.S. government biological-weapons program. Court records indicate that over the last several years, budget cuts and layoffs at Fort Detrick, the Frederick, Md., Army base which houses the U.S. government’s main germ-weapons lab, produced a platoon of disgruntled former employees with microbiological expertise and possible grievances against the government. But investigators question whether any laid-off U.S. government scientist is able enough–and has access to the right equipment–to produce the unusual substance found in the Leahy letter.
One alternative to the theory that the anthrax was produced by a brilliant loner is that it came from a team of scientists with access to sophisticated labs–the kind of team and labs that could be assembled only by a government. U.S. investigators can’t rule out the possibility that a foreign government, perhaps Iraq but more likely the former U.S.S.R., could have put together such a team. They have no leads on its possible existence, however. Another possibility is that an American scientific psycho bought the anthrax from a foreign government team. But there is no evidence to back this theory, either.
FIGHT
Who Will Run Intelligence?
In theory, the CIA chief runs U.S. intelligence. In reality, the Pentagon controls 80 percent of the intel budget, and the Defense secretary runs the three key intelligence-gathering agencies: the National Security Agency, the National Reconnaissance Office and the National Imagery and Mapping Agency. Scowcroft’s panel concluded that a string of intelligence failures, culminating in 9-11, was due in part to this CIA-DOD imbalance. It said the CIA chief needs power over the DOD agencies. Rumsfeld’s reply: give him an under secretary to run the agencies. Reformers scoff at making an under secretary so powerful. But Rumsfeld is riding high after Afghan-istan; the White House may not want to take him on. Scowcroft, the CIA and the White House declined to comment; the Pentagon did not return three calls seeking comment.
EXCLUSIVE
The Insider
COUP
AN OLD FOE RETURNS
Less clear is what else Hekmatyar may have planned. Fundamentalist and virulently anti-Western, he has been dealt out of the political process that will produce a new Afghan government this summer. Proteges of his former arch- enemy, Ahmed Shah Massoud, dominate Karzai’s cabinet. As with other sidelined warriors, including former Northern Alliance chieftain Burhanuddin Rabbani and Pashtun warlord Abdul Rab Rasul Sayaf, his options are dwindling. Violence remains his most viable option. One Afghan intelligence official says the warlord has tapped former allies in Pakistan to help recruit troops and stockpile weapons near Khowst. Others claim he has met with former Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar and residual forces of Al Qaeda near the Pakistani border to plot a guerrilla campaign for this spring. Clearly, the Kabul plot will not be his last.
MEDICINE
A New Near-Death Experience
The technique could revolutionize medicine because it would enable doctors to buy time for patients who arrive at the ER near death requiring time-consuming surgery.
“His results are real,” says Dr. Tom Scalea, the chief trauma surgeon at the University of Maryland’s trauma center in Baltimore. “There is not a question in my mind that this can happen. We could be testing within five years in ERs.”
Safar admits that it will be challenging to find patients to experiment on, since people “aren’t going to be in the shape to give consent.” Choosing subjects will be made even tougher because liability-conscious hospitals will need to use all conventional lifesaving tactics before turning to the new science. And doctors say it will be critical to test the technique on some patients who aren’t too far gone if the team wants to publish promising results.
Despite these hurdles, Safar predicts that human trials in emergency rooms will be underway in less than five years, perhaps within as little as two. And Scalea says only some “technical kinks” need to be resolved before the technique hits an ER near you.
DATA
Let’s Havarti!
EXTREME SPORTS
Snowballed
SCIENCE
Food for All
DESIGN
Dig It: Tools Of the Trade
oomph
MUSIC
Brand New
No one is finding the experience more sobering than Busta, who isn’t collecting so much as a complimentary miniature bottle of Courvoisier for singing the brand’s praises. That’s not surprising, however. Busta neglected to strike an endorsement deal with Courvoisier in advance because the song wasn’t initially intended as a concoction of art and commerce. As Busta and Puffy were sipping Courvoisier in the recording studio, their creative juices spontaneously moved them to write the ode. “It was nothing planned,” Busta says. “Usually, that’s how the best songs come about.” With little bargaining power now, the rap star’s managers are trying to negotiate a marketing deal with Courvoisier. If they fail, Busta can always drown his sorrows gulping Mountain Dew, for which he is a paid pitchman.
FOOD
What Nigella Wants
During a New York City shopping expedition at Williams-Sonoma, she’s surrounded by top-of-the-line luxury. But asked to pick the most important tools for any chef, she bypasses the KitchenAids in favor of a $10 whisk (a larger version of the flat one she always carries in her purse) and a $16 microplane grater. “Anything else, I can make do without,” Lawson insists. Then she asks if the store will ship a new powder blue five-quart mixer over to London. Like a second piece of pie, just because you can live without it doesn’t mean you should.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Helplessly Hopeless Edition
C.W. Bush = Enough is enough. It’s about time you stopped disengagement with a strong speech. Powell = Welcome to the Middle East, which makes the gulf war look like playing jacks. Arafat = Sets new world standard for playing the victim–even as he kills innocents. Sharon = Sets new speed record for turning Passover sympathy into worldwide condemnation. Gumbel - Leaves failing “Early Show.” Who’d have thought Greg would be the star of the family? Oprah - Stops book club, claiming can’t find one new good read a month. Know any librarians?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-30” author: “David Bieniek”
Palestinian Security Structures in Rubble
Israel’s war on the “infrastructure of terrorism” in the West Bank has also caused incalculable damage to the infrastructure of Palestinian security agencies. During the three-week offensive, Israel has leveled some of their headquarters, seized their guns, flattened police cars and destroyed communications gear and archives. In Bethlehem, where a compound that housed local branches of four different agencies has been reduced to rubble, Lt. Col. Khader Alowneh is still looking for 1,000 of his men. “They fled the barracks before the Israeli bombing,” he says. “Most of them live far away and couldn’t go home because of the curfew. I don’t know where they are.”
The disarray could have long-term consequences. Israel accuses some of the agencies of abetting terrorists, including Yasir Arafat’s elite Force 17 unit. Few Israelis are bemoaning the damage done to that group. But other agencies that have largely stayed out of the fighting, like Jibril Rajoub’s Preventive Security, were also hit. The Israeli offensive has turned Rajoub’s hilltop compound into a burned-out shell. Rajoub’s men, some trained by the CIA, had spent years jailing Islamic militants and preventing strikes on Israel. Now, says Rajoub, they can’t lift a finger against Hamas or other groups without looking like Israel’s stooges. And even if they wanted to, they no longer have the facilities.
Other groups thrashed in the Israeli offensive are dedicated to local law enforcement–the kind of blue-uniformed cops who direct traffic and catch common criminals. Of the 5,000 Palestinians rounded up in the past three weeks, hundreds are in this group, Palestinians say. In Bethlehem, for instance, more than 100 policemen took refuge in the Church of the Nativity, fearing a collision with Israeli forces. “If they’re arrested, my force is ruined,” says the deputy commander of one precinct. The disintegration of these units raises the specter of chaos in the West Bank. “The security agencies are the backbone of Arafat’s administration,” says Danny Rubinstein, an Arab- affairs analyst who writes for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “Without them, there’s no Palestinian Authority.”
Alowneh and other security chiefs say they’ll rebuild their forces the moment Israeli troops leave. Washington has vowed to send the CIA’s George Tenet to assess the damage to the agencies and help resurrect them. But Prime Minister Ariel Sharon might have other ideas for filling the vacuum. Though Sharon has promised a withdrawal, Israeli tanks will remain in Bethlehem and Ramallah until the standoffs in those cities are resolved. In other places, troops are pulling back but not out. While some of the 23,000 reservists Israel called up for the operation have gone home in recent days, new ones were mobilized over the weekend, NEWSWEEK has learned. “It’s look-ing more and more like a reoccupation,” says Rubinstein, the Israeli analyst. Which might explain why some of the security agencies were targeted in the first place.
VENEZUELA
The Coup Failed–And The Fallout Goes On
Those contacts, NEWSWEEK has learned, are more extensive than the White House has acknowledged. Among those suspected of financing the plot is Gustavo Cisneros, a media tycoon and fishing buddy of former president George H.W. Bush. (Cisneros denies any role. But Pedro Carmona, who was sworn in as Chavez’s replacement on April 12, was seen coming directly from Cisneros’s office.) Otto Reich, the State Department’s Latin American affairs chief, said he spoke with Cisneros “two or three times” during the coup; the businessman says they spoke once. Reich said he was using Cisneros only as a source of information. “We had absolutely nothing to do with this,” said Reich. Senate investigators believe that at a minimum the Bush administration had ample warnings a plot was in the works–and didn’t act forcefully enough. In December, Pentagon official Rogelio Pardo-Maurer met with Venezuela’s top military commander. “I viewed him as being in the same situation as Col. [Augusto] Pinochet in Chile in 1971,” Pardo-Maurer said. While sympathizing with the general’s complaints about the leftist Chavez, Pardo-Maurer said he waved his finger “in a friendly way” and told him: “No golpes.” (No coups.) The failure of that message to take hold has meant a setback for U.S. interests. As soon as Chavez returned to power last week, sources said, his first phone call was with Fidel Castro.
Michael Isikoff and Joseph Contreras
TERRORISM
Keeping Up the Fight Against the Financiers
Meanwhile, back in Washington, Bush officials parried complaints from Arab-American activists, including some with ties to the White House and GOP leadership, about recent Customs raids on Muslim organizations in northern Virginia. Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, with White House approval, met with Muslim leaders, including people connected with groups targeted in the raids. But Bush officials say the session was held merely to allow the activists to let off steam. Treasury and the FBI are also engaged in a turf war over the investigation of terrorist financiers. Officials say weekly meetings are being held to “sort out” the conflicts.
TRANSITION
Iconoclasts
Thor Heyerdahl, 87, loved to tell a good story, and he had plenty of material. In 1947, at 32, he spent 101 days drifting in a raft named Kon-Tiki from Peru to an island near Tahiti. His goal: to prove the Polynesian islands could have been settled by prehistoric South Americans. Heyerdahl documented the voyage in “Kon-Tiki,” a best seller translated into 65 languages. Scientists weren’t impressed. Undeterred, he used his book royalties to fund other expeditions.
EDUCATION
Studying to Prevent the Past
WTC FAMILIES’ SAD CHOICES: ‘He Just Vanished’
While thousands of families yearn for a call from the New York City medical examiner’s office, the news brings its own set of heartaches. “My friend’s fiance was 6 foot 2, and she got a foot,” says WTC widow Christine Papasso. “How do you justify that?” Another family buried the bottom half of their son. Families must choose: do they want to know each time another part is identified? Or would they prefer not to know? A third option: have the medical examiner hold everything until all tests are done. “As many as a hundred remains have been linked to one person,” says Ellen Borakove of the New York City medical examiner’s office. That raises more questions: should families have another memorial service if they already held one last fall? Many families haven’t held any type of service, still hoping their spouse or son or daughter will be found, intact. Maria Vigiano plans to buy a casket and have a funeral service in May, whether or not they find her husband, John, a firefighter. “I’m going to have a wake for two days, and a mass,” she says, hoping it will provide her daughters with a sense of closure. “Having a body is part of the grieving process, and we don’t even have that. He just vanished. There’s not really an end.”
SOFT DRINKS
Drink Up–And Pay Up
MUSIC
Rock and Roll Never Forgets
The most important rule: “It’s not about age, it’s about what you love.”
INFOTAINMENT
Egypt Rocks!
How did you prep for the role? Oh, there were hours and hours and hours of sword practice. Also camel riding.
That doesn’t sound easy. They aren’t the most docile animals. But they’re lovable. I got to know the camels very well.
Scholar John Darnell calls “The Mummy” “unrecognizably unhistorical.” Is your movie? It’s pretty accurate, I think.
Are you a documentary fan? In college, I saved up like $200 to get a set of A&E’s “Biography.”
What about the History Channel? Well, I’ll watch my show.
So, The Rock vs. the Scorpion King–who wins in a fight? The people’s eyebrow vs. a four-foot sword? Hmm… It’s a tie.
BOOKS
A Perfect Visit ‘By the Lake’
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Special East Meets West Edition
C.W. Bush - Mideast impotence, Venezuela coup reversal, ANWR drilling loss. A real Bushwhacking. Powell - Forget Sharon and Arafat–he couldn’t even win over his own administration. Ouch. Tommy Franks - Did gen. in charge of Afghan war let bin Laden slip away? Ask Al-Jazeera. Byron White + Late Sup. Court justice once led NFL in rushing. We won’t see that again. R.I.P. Ally McBeal = Calista Flockhart loses series. Upside: Can console self with a box of Krispy Cremes. Rob’t Blake - Baretta scores new TV series. Downside: It might last for life.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-08” author: “Lisa Capetillo”
At a minimum, the Americans want a papal mandate requiring all U.S. bishops to implement tough, uniform standards for dealing with clergy accused of child molestation. They also want a clear word from Rome that the church’s main concern is the welfare of children, not the protection of abusive priests. For their part, Vatican officials want to know what the U.S. seminaries are doing to screen out potential child abusers. And Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos, leader of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Clergy and the meeting’s chair, will likely raise the issue of sexually active homosexuals in the U.S. clergy.
Already, news of the Rome summit has had one important effect: formerly silent U.S. cardinals have suddenly become clerical Chatty Cathys. In Washington last week, Cardinal Theodore McCarrick told The Washington Post that he hopes the Rome meeting will call for full disclosure of all the priests who have been removed for sexually abusing children and how much the various dioceses have paid in settling cases. “The sunshine should come in,” he said. In Chicago, Cardinal Francis George encouraged victims who have settled cases with the church and have promised they would remain silent to speak up if “it would be therapeutic to go public.” In a televised press conference in Los Angeles, Cardinal Roger Mahony went much further. In Rome, he declared, he would urge the Vatican to open discussion of a married clergy for the church, and even of ordaining women to the priesthood. “It’s not a panacea that you have married clergy or women clergy,” Mahony said.
If Mahony has his way, it would be a historical turning point for the papacy–and for John Paul II in particular. Since Vatican Council II (1962-66), the Catholic Church has been very reluctant to allow bishops to speak their minds on taboo subjects like birth control and changes in the celibate, all-male priesthood. Since the mid-1960s, several bishops have published studies questioning the psychosexual maturity of many seminarians. One young canon lawyer even submitted a study predicting a crisis exactly like the one today. All of these were suppressed.
But one shouldn’t expect a historical decision this week, or soon, for that matter. If the gathering is wise, says Jesuit Avery Dulles (the only real theologian among the American cardinals), the assembled prelates will realize that “a crisis situation is not a good time to change policies, like clerical celibacy, that have been affirmed over long centuries.” Still, at least a long-overdue dialogue on fundamental change now has a chance to begin.
Afghanistan: The Return Of The King
On the surface, Tajiks from the interim administration have expressed their support for Shah’s return as a figure of national unity. But if the king favors the Pashtuns currently in office, that support could quickly wane. Given his age and failing health, the last thing Zahir Shah needs now is to fall into a political snake pit.
TURKEY
Baby Steps
This leaves the Turkish government in a tough spot. The European Union was just about to declare the PKK a terrorist organization after lobbying from Ankara; now it doesn’t exist. And Turkey insists the name change is just a tactic to avoid an EU ban. KADEK’s leader, for instance, is still the old PKK boss, Abdullah Ocalan, imprisoned in Turkey since 1999. Whatever they call themselves, says Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Mesut Yilmaz, “those involved in terrorism will still be held accountable.”
By going legit, KADEK hopes to ensure rights for Kurds in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria. It has little chance, though, of participating in mainstream politics in any of these countries–all are wary of separatism, and Turkey even bans parties that are based on race or religion. But at least KADEK’s strong party structure is likely to prevent radical splinter groups from forming. But Ankara must gauge its response carefully. To kill off Kurdish radicalism altogether, the Turkish government could grant moderate demands: the rights to broadcast in Kurdish and to give children Kurdish names and some education in Kurdish. If it doesn’t, Kurdish radicals will likely be back in business. After all, they may be laying down their arms, but they’re not surrendering.
WEST BANK
Feeling Insecure
The disarray could have long-term consequences. Israel has accused some of the agencies–including Yasir Arafat’s elite Force-17 unit–of abetting terrorists. But other agencies that have stayed out of the fighting, like Jibril Rajoub’s Preventive Security, were also hit. So were groups dedicated to local law enforcement–blue-uniformed cops who direct traffic and catch common criminals. Their disintegration raises the specter of chaos in the West Bank. “The security agencies are the backbone of Arafat’s administration,” says Danny Rubinstein, an Arab-affairs analyst who writes for the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. “Without them, there’s no Palestinian Authority.”
Security chiefs say they’ll rebuild their forces the moment Israeli troops leave. But although Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has promised a withdrawal, Israeli tanks will remain in Bethlehem and Ramallah until the standoffs are resolved. In other locations, troops are pulling back but not out. “We’ll be ringing the cities for the time being, but every time there’s another suicide attack, we’ll go back in and clean things up,” says Interior Minister Eli Suissa. “Our incursions will be rougher, and we’ll stay longer.” And Palestinian security agencies will continue disintegrating.
TRIBUTES
A City Saved
SOUTH KOREA
Roh’s Rise
Most importantly for Roh, the majority of South Korea’s youth look to the Internet–a domain in which he is king because of his popularity with the young–for their information. Tens of thousands of Roh supporters log on each night and act as his cyber-missionaries. They publicize his accomplishments and ideas and send campaign e-mails to primary delegates. Roh’s rapid rise really shows what separates winners and losers. Al Gore may have invented the Internet. Roh clearly knows how to use it.
MUSIC
Name Games
Now comes another band faced with a post-9-11 dilemma: I Am the World Trade Center. Bad names aside, track 11 on its album, released back in May, was coincidentally called “September.” Naturally, the band received tons of hate e-mail, and considered changing its name to I Am the World, or I Am the Empire State Building. Eventually, explains IATWTC member Dan Geller, they decided to stick with the original name. “Our lives had become so intertwined. [Bandmate Amy Dykes and I] were two people standing for one entity, like the towers,” says Geller. Oh, those pop stars, they’re so deep.
First Person Global: Getting Around Moscow
By Eve Conant
Moscow has three main modes of transport: subway (excellent, but not all metro stops are that near to your final destination), bus (think of endless, cold waits in subzero temps) and taxi. By default, I, like many Muscovites, often go for taxis.
Actually, riding a cab in Moscow is more like hitchhiking. Despite Moscow’s high crime rate, hitchhiking is so widespread and generally safe that official cabs have never been able to get a corner on the market. Not only are their fares high (some even turn the meter on), there are so few official cabs that you’d end up waiting forever. So private “taxis” have moved in. As one surprised American visitor recently put it: “Any car can be your cab.” The average wait for a private taxi? Ten seconds of streetside chill before a Russian car comes hurtling across five lanes of traffic, wheels squealing to a halt three inches from your toes.
Just as any car can be your cab, so can any Muscovite drive it. In recent weeks I have been driven by a geophysicist, a former paratroop commander, a conductor, a computer specialist and a high-ranking officer in the tax police. I even asked Mr. Taxman if our ride was legally questionable. He just rolled his eyes. “If they paid the tax police decently, we wouldn’t have to do this,” he sighed. My transport in the past has included off-duty drivers, and cars, of the presidential administration (complete with flashing blue lights and deafening horns), two hearses (empty, thankfully), several ambulances and even the occasional Mercedes of a rich businessman whose driver was just circling around town while his boss had lunch.
Just as their occupations vary, so do their prices, rules and behavior. Some have no-smoking decrees, often using the ashtray to prop up small Orthodox icons. Most drivers, however, will smoke up a storm. But no cigarettes will be lit until a route is chosen. That’s no small feat, given Moscow’s labyrinth of streets and wretched traffic jams. The ride usually begins with a heated routing debate–as if driving in Moscow were a chess game with pitfalls and brilliant plays, all best negotiated several moves in advance.
But the most rousing debate is usually over seat belts. Nearly all drivers will berate you if you even try to strap yourself in. Buckling up is seen as an insult to your cabbie’s ability as a driver and choice of vehicle, a goody-two-shoes tactic, a laughable stab at self-preservation in the face of cruel destiny. It is simply not done. “You’re certainly a law-abiding citizen!” chortled one driver, Maxim, the other night as I put mine on. He quickly grew more serious. “There’s no need for that in Moscow!” His argument: because there is so much traffic, you won’t be going fast enough to cause anything more than a fender bender.
Most Russian drivers see seat belts as dangerous, too. They argue that Russian cars have a tendency to spontaneously ignite or, in a minor accident, crunch up like a tin can–requiring an ever-so-swift exit. Others point out that larger Russian models like the Volga are such a “smooth” and “easy” ride that you could never, ever get into an accident. Even a safety professional like driving instructor and moonlighting cabbie Alexei says: “It’s just not a habit.” So in Moscow, you tend to just go with the flow, unless you’re a big eno
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-26” author: “Carolyn Mcmaster”
A Half Brother Under Scrutiny
Osama bin Laden’s legion of half brothers and sisters insist that they turned their backs on their radical sibling years ago after he refused to stop his militant agitation against the Saudi royal family. But investigators in Europe are raising new questions about the financial dealings of one of Osama’s best-known relatives. No charges have been filed anywhere. But after receiving a formal request from the French government, authorities in Switzerland last week raided 13 addresses they believe are connected to bin Laden half brother Yeslam Binladin. Like the rest of Osama’s relatives, Yeslam adopted a different family name to distance himself from his infamous kin. Yeslam’s Swiss attorney says the raids will ultimately prove his innocence.
Yeslam manages large Binladin family investments in Europe, and is a longtime Swiss resident. A colorful entrepreneur whose interests include a jet-charter business, Yeslam, before September 11, announced plans to market a Binladin clothing line. After 9-11 Yeslam condemned the attacks and said he had not been in contact with Osama for 20 years. He threatened to sue anyone alleging he was involved with terrorists.
But French investigators are now taking another look. According to law-enforcement sources, French government money-laundering experts last year ran across what they considered a series of suspicious financial transactions involving obscure companies connected to Yeslam. The experts alerted judicial authorities, and a French magistrate was assigned to investigate. Ten days ago French police searched a Binladin family villa near Cannes. The French also asked the Swiss to raid addresses linked to Saudi Investment Co., a Binladin family investment vehicle headed by Yeslam. U.S. officials say French investigators are pursuing a possible money-laundering and tax-fraud case against Yeslam. An American source says that the French also are looking for any evidence of cash flow to Al Qaeda, but so far have not found it. Yeslam strongly denies any ties to Osama. “If the authorities want to look at his companies and his finances, Yeslam says they’re welcome to them,” says his American lawyer, Lawrence Schoenbach. “He has nothing to hide.”
Yeslam Binladin is not the only sibling of Osama’s to come to the attention of investigators. Authorities are closely examining a lawsuit in which another Binladin brother, Ghalib Mohammad Binladin, unsuccessfully sued the Bahamas-registered Al Taqwa Bank for $2.4 million. U.S. officials say the now defunct bank was part of an international financial network, also based in Switzerland, that allegedly laundered money to an assortment of terrorist groups; the U.S. Treasury told Congress that Al Taqwa provided financial support for Osama both before and after September 11. Al Taqwa officials deny any connection to terrorists. Some European investigators believe that Ghalib sued Al Taqwa to help the family distance itself from Osama. The family has said its dealings with Al Taqwa can’t “be imputed to connote any hint of support for Osama. The family has repeatedly stated that Osama was ostracized and cut off from family contact and support nearly eight years ago.”
Mark Hosenball, Peg Tyre and Alison Langley
BRITAIN
The Odd Couple Unites
George Bush and Tony Blair are hardly an ideal pair: a conservative Texas Republican with a taste for locker-room humor versus an Oxford-educated barrister and lifelong center-left politician. But Bush knew that he and Blair could do business–and he knew it, NEWSWEEK has learned, from one of his oldest friends: Bill Gammell, the 49-year-old CEO of Cairn Energy in Edinburgh. Gammell, who declined to comment, has known both Bush and Blair since they were teenagers. So before Bush and Blair got together, Gammell assured George that Tony was “a good chap.”
Since September 11 they’ve spent hours on the phone, marshaled an international coalition against terrorism and sent their troops to war in Afghanistan. This weekend, at a summit at Bush’s ranch, they will contemplate what to do about Iraq. As different as they seem to be, they are both classic postmodern leaders–political pragmatists who are much less rooted in their party traditions than they seem to be from afar. If there’s a single dark cloud over the Crawford summit, it is Blair’s slightly shaky political standing back home for his “poodle-like” obeisance to Bush. If there’s disagreement–Blair’s expected to make a show of toughness and insist that military action against Iraq be linked to Mideast peace–perhaps Gammell can lend a hand.
REFORM
Hide and Sign
It was the first significant campaign-finance reform in a generation, but President Bush signed the bill in virtual seclusion with only a few aides present and no news cameras. The blackout was seen as a snub of Sen. John McCain, the bill’s longtime champion. McCain learned of the signing after the fact from a White House aide. Bush loyalists say the nonceremony had nothing to do with stiffing McCain, and everything to do with Bush’s wish to avoid angering his conservative base, which was very much against the bill. But the senator understands the politics, says an aide, and told his allies not to bellyache. “He’s instructed us to be glad about it, so we’re glad,” said the aide.
IRAQ
A Reason For New Hope?
It’s a family tragedy–and a made-for-TV drama. Is a U.S. Navy pilot a secret captive in Iraq? Or are conservative hawks exploiting his death to fuel their “Get Saddam” campaign?
Lt. Cmdr. Michael Scott Speicher was shot down over Iraq in the early hours of Jan. 17, 1991, the first night of the gulf war. Fellow pilots reported a fireball as a missile hit his F/A-18; the Navy declared Speicher, 33, “killed in action, body not recovered.”
Two years later a Qatari general in the Iraqi desert (with Iraqi soldiers) found Speicher’s plane. The ejection seat was missing; the cockpit canopy was a mile away. Speicher had evidently lived long enough to eject. So what happened to him? In January 2001 the Navy, under family pressure, changed his status to “missing in action.” A flurry of stories in the past two weeks suggest Speicher is being held in an Iraqi prison. There’s been talk of Iraqi defectors identifying him and of new information from British intelligence. Last week the State Department responded by repeating demands that Iraq account for Speicher.
The furor is baffling experts on the case. There are no solid new leads, they say. “The current news stories… originate from an Iraqi with hearsay evidence,” the Pentagon’s POW/Missing Personnel Office said in a statement. British sources deny they have new information. And, NEWSWEEK has learned, allied airmen who were POWs in Iraq are bewildered, too. All 45 known allied POWs were released promptly at war’s end. At their 10th POW reunion last year, they discussed Speicher. “None of them had any information [suggesting] that he might be alive,” says John Nichol, former British Tornado navigator and POW. “I never even heard his name at the time.” U.S. sources say that, at the Pentagon’s request, these former POWs were questioned by their respective Defense ministries a couple of years ago. None recalled anything about Speicher.
Speicher family spokesman Richard Adams knows the case could be used “as a possible excuse to put our country into a conflict with Iraq.” But the family supports “any kind of action to bring Scott home, dead or alive.”
John Barry
FAST FOOD
Courting the Veggie Minority
If you’re a meat eater, Burger King has always been the place to “Have it your way.” Now vegetarians can, too. The chain recently introduced its BK Veggie burger, the first big vegetarian alternative in burger-flipping history. There’s little evidence millions of Americans crave veggie burgers: they account for less than 1 percent of meals consumed at home, according to NPD Group. But even if few people buy the new sandwich, BK may boost overall sales by eliminating the “veto vote,” industry parlance for how one person (perhaps a vegetarian) can persuade his friends to go elsewhere because he won’t eat anything on the menu. The new offering could also give BK a healthier image, similar to the glow Subway got with its low-fat subs and “Jared” ads.
The Veggie has 330 calories and just 10 grams of fat–a fraction of the bad stuff in burgers. But it’s not likely the start of an industry revolution. “If there were enough demand for healthy fast food,” says Dennis Lombardi of Technomic, a food-service consulting firm, “there’d be a healthy-fast-food chain by now.”
PREGNANCY
Age: Not Just a Number
Women who put off having kids until 35 already get enough grief from anxious would-be grandmothers. Now, a new study shows they’re in for more serious troubles–greater risk of developing diabetes and high blood pressure by 50, and possibly higher risk of heart attacks. (They can take some comfort in being less likely stroke victims.) Older women are already known to be more prone to pregnancy-induced diabetes, which often returns later in life. But there’s no such previously proven link for the other maladies. It’s tempting to blame the study’s conclusions on outside factors–perhaps the women who waited weren’t healthy to begin with?–but virtually all the women in the study gave themselves glowing assessments of their health habits. What’s more, typical scapegoats like race, income and marital status didn’t appear to matter, either. Study author and sociologist Angelo Alonzo can’t identify any biological reason for the increased risks, and most doctors are loathe to speculate. “What this study does is tell me, boy, we doctors probably need to look closer at these things,” says perinatologist Amy Murtha of Duke University. Until scientists do some closer looking of their own, she adds, she won’t tell her patients to stop hitting the snooze button on their biological clocks.
BASEBALL
Good Eye
You know how it goes: you’re at a ball game, you go grab a hot dog and–crack!–you miss That Shot, as in, “Man, did you see that shot?” Now you don’t have to admit the sad truth to your friends watching at home. Immersion Entertainment has developed The Insider, a wireless, View-Master-like device that lets you watch replays from your seat. Here’s how it works: it has seven channels, and, when watching, it’s like looking at a 52-inch TV screen. There’s a strap to hang it from your neck and a battery pack that clips to your waist. Channel 1 is the broadcast you’d see at home. Channels 2 and 3 show live feeds from remote cameras in center field or above home plate. Channel 4 has replays of 2 and 3, because who trusts the JumboTron operator? The other three channels air cartoons, another sporting event–in case the game’s lame–and news. “That’s so you can stay in touch with what’s going on in the world,” says Taz Anderson, managing partner. (Isn’t that what you go to a game to escape?) Currently the gadget rents for $20 at Turner Field, home of the Braves. Other teams–and sports–are interested, says Anderson. “If you’re in the upper deck,” he says, “you have no idea what’s happening at home on a close slide. Now you do.” Great, pass the mustard.
TRANSITION
The King Behind the Camera
When Billy Wilder arrived in Hollywood in 1934, he could barely speak a word of English–not a problem for a flaxen-haired starlet, but Wilder was a shrimpy, caustic Jew from Vienna, and what he really wanted to do was write and direct. So for months, in a musty, rented room he shared with actor Peter Lorre, Wilder would lay on his bed and listen to baseball games on the radio. He had a rule: learn 20 words of English every day. Soon, he could gather up all those words and do anything he wanted with them. In his career, Wilder, who died last week at 95, received 21 Oscar nominations, 13 for screenwriting in a language he didn’t speak until he was nearly 30.
If you took Hollywood’s entire history and fashioned a series of top 10 lists by genre, a Billy Wilder film would be near the top of almost every one. Film noir: “Double Indemnity” (1944), starring Fred MacMurray as a salesman who murders his lover’s husband for the insurance. Drama: “The Lost Weekend” (1945), a stinging portrait of an alcoholic and the first of Wilder’s two best-picture winners. Melodrama: “Sunset Boulevard” (1950), his blackhearted screed about the film industry. Slapstick: “Some Like It Hot” (1959), the cross-dressing farce with Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe that is perhaps the funniest movie ever made. Black comedy: “The Apartment” (1960), best picture No. 2, starring Lemmon as a corporate lackey who loans out his place to his bosses for trysts.
His films, mad with humanity even as they picked apart the flaws of human beings, came from lessons he learned young. Wilder’s mother, Eugenia, was killed at Auschwitz. Wilder himself narrowly escaped the Nazis, leaving Berlin for Paris in 1933. As a director, his acid tongue often betrayed his anguish–but he was so irresistibly funny his charges loved him anyway. He once told an actor he had “Van Gogh’s ear for music.” In recent years, Wilder’s public life consisted largely of tributes, or, as he called them, “quick before they croak!” awards. Fair enough, no more sappy encomiums. We’ll just watch the movies, over and over.
The Original Mr. Television
Back in the grainy, black-and-white days of 1948, there were only about a half-million TV sets in the entire United States. But on Tuesday nights at 8 p.m., 80 percent of them were tuned to a frenetic, rabbit-toothed ex-vaudevillian who dressed in ridiculous drag, shouted “I’ll kiwl you a miwlyn times!” and was whomped with a giant powder puff whenever he uttered the word “makeup” in a skit. Milton Berle, who died last week at 93, was rightfully known as Mr. Television. His “Texaco Star Theater” not only drubbed the competition, but it caused nightclubs to shut down on Tuesdays. In Detroit, water pressure dropped suddenly at 9 o’clock–when dedicated viewers would finally get up to go to the bathroom. Almost single-handedly, Berle made the tube a household necessity. To comedian Alan King, Berle’s success was a simple trifecta: the novelty of television; Berle’s being genuinely funny, and people getting it all free. Inevitably, fellow former vaudevillians, such as George Burns and Jack Benny–who’d originally thought Berle crazy to jump so precipitously into TV–followed his lead and got their own shows. But there was only one Uncle Miltie.
A True Arthurian Legend
One colleague called Dudley Moore, who died last week at 66, a “grubby cherub.” He costarred in “Beyond the Fringe,” the satirical ’60s British revue, which, as NEWSWEEK’s Jack Kroll wrote, carved up the establishment as if “slicing baloney with Wilkinson swords.” His best-known film role was the hero of the 1981 “Arthur,” a spoiled, sottish, charming millionaire. But his true onscreen alter ego was the nebbishy songwriter in “10,” hopelessly in love with Bo Derek. “I guess if I had been able to hit somebody in the nose,” said the 5-foot-2 Moore of his difficult childhood, “I wouldn’t have been a comic.”
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
National Pastime Edition
C.W. Yankees + Miss 4th cons. champ. by an inning, spend millions to get better. Give us a break. Selig - Commish Grinch insists the game’s broke (hah!), tries to kill teams. Booooo! Twins + Would-be Selig victims are now contenders to win division. Take that, Bud. Ichiro + Mariner’s sensation says this year he feels comfortable. So MVP was chopped sushi? Rolen = Philly’s 3b is OK to think his owners are cheap. But griping puts team in chaos. Beane + Oakland GM plays trade game, waivers like a Stradivarius. Watch out, George S.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-19” author: “Robert Fetter”
At approximately 3 a.m. local time on March 4, Razor 3, piloted by Chief Warrant Officer “Al,” roared out of the darkness and set down at Objective Ginger, on a ridgeline near the battlefield. His cargo of Army, Navy and Air Force operators was tasked with calling in airstrikes on Qaeda troops attacking 101st Airborne soldiers nearby. As soon as they touched down, “the place lit up” with rocket and machine-gun fire. A door gunner was wounded; the chopper’s hydraulic and electrical systems shredded. Al threw the 60-foot-long Chinook helicopter into the air, heading south, when the crew shouted the horrifying news: “A guy’s out!” A Navy SEAL, Petty Officer Neil Roberts, had somehow fallen out of the chopper. “I turned around to go get him,” said Al. “That’s when the controls locked up.” Al couldn’t pick up the lost man. He limped south, looking for a safe landing zone, and calling on a battery-powered radio to his wingman to rescue Roberts. But the radio wasn’t working. Last week Al and his comrades from the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment gave NEWSWEEK this exclusive account of what happened to them in Operation Anaconda.
It took wingman chief “Jason,” in Razor 4, 45 minutes to reach Al’s chopper. With reports of Qaeda troops converging on their position, Razor 4 loaded everyone onboard and returned to a Special Forces base near Gardez, dropping off Al and his crew before returning to Ginger with the operators to look for Roberts. When Razor 4 hit the LZ they were met with heavy machine-gun fire, but they dropped off the team before hobbling back to base. On the ground, a firefight with Qaeda forces broke out. Air Force Special Operations Combat Controller Sgt. John Chapman was shot and killed. Two other Chinooks, Razors 1 and 2, loaded a quick reaction force of Rangers and headed to the battlefield. Razor 1 roared into Ginger about 6:30 a.m., and in the morning light it was easy for Qaeda fighters to hit the huge black chopper as it neared the ground. The 20-ton Chinook belly-flopped onto the snow. “Everybody around me got hit,” says the mission commander, Chief Warrant Officer “Don.” “The two pilots in front of me were wounded, one door gunner was wounded. The other, Phil Svitak, was killed. Three Rangers were killed right then.” The surviving Rangers dashed out the back and took up positions in the snow, firing on the guerrillas only 25 yards away. Razor 2, with another team of Rangers, approached the besieged Americans, but, says Al, “the team on the ground told him don’t go into that LZ, or you’re not coming out.” The pilots dropped off their Rangers nearby, and the troopers hiked up the mountain to link up with their comrades. No one could get out. Enemy fire was too heavy. The Americans were cut off from rescue, but were not forgotten. An AC-130 gunship stayed overhead, raining fire on the enemy positions until it was almost out of fuel, and Air Force jets bombed throughout the day. As the Americans ran low on ammunition, they returned to the crashed chopper to scrounge for more. Air Force medic Senior Airman Jason Cunningham, treating a wounded man, was shot; he later died. As the afternoon went on, Qaeda resistance lessened. By evening three Chinooks got in to evacuate the Americans, their wounded and seven dead. Among them was Neil Roberts, the man they came to save. His body was recovered during the battle for what the men who fought there call Roberts Ridge.
VENEZUELA
No Role–But No Complaint
Celebrations proved premature: Carmona resigned less than two days later amid growing chaos. That hardly lowers the stakes. One area where a change could make a difference: the battle against FARC guerrillas in Colombia. The Bush administration is moving to expand U.S. military and intelligence assistance to disrupt FARC and other groups tied to the drug trade, sources say. While Chavez has given the FARC a haven inside Venezuela, a more moderate leader might crack down, officials say.
CLONING
Frist Goes Right
WTC VICTIMS
Suing the Saudis–And Saddam
BOOKS
Please Turn to Chapter Two
PREGNANCY
Dining In
everything
WELFARE
Signs Of Hope
PROTESTS
World Music
DESIGN
Chairs on the Edge: How to Sit in Style
FAST CHAT: STARCK
MEADOWS: Isn’t it a little weird for crowds to swoon over a designer? STARCK: They are stupid enough to say “he is a genius” when there are real geniuses in physics, astronomy, etc.
These low-price products allow everybody access to good design. Aren’t they also loaded with status? I don’t believe in class. This is not class elevation. It is intelligence elevation.
When does a design become a piece of art? I am not interested when a chair becomes a piece of art. That is something ridiculous. When it helps to make a better life, that is the duty of the chair.
Can an object really make life better? A nice object will never change the life of somebody, but it helps. Everything around us has an influence on our subconscious. It will not bring back the husband, but it can send a sign of intelligence and poetry and humor.
Humor in my toothbrush? Humor is the most beautiful symptom of human intelligence. In French it’s easy to remember the two most important things: humour and amour.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Powell Mission Edition
C.W. Bush - Old CW: Bracing moral clarity. New: Muddled, clueless confusion. Powell = Will he buy the Euro “moral equivalent” argument–or stand tall against terrorism? Arafat - He’s shockedby suicide bombers. Even as he supports them. And the world winks. Sharon - OK, Big Guy, you made your point. Now withdraw and negotiate. Gore = Tan, clean-shaven and ready, gives comeback speech in Fla. Uh, Al, the recount’s over. AOLTW - Media giant desperately shuffles online execs as stocks tank. You’ve got fail?
CORRECTION
In an April 22 Periscope item, “Operation Anaconda: What the Pilots Saw,” a caption misidentified the photo of a helicopter, which was in fact a Special Operations Chinook. We regret the error.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-30” author: “Karen Savoie”
Oil Rivers Run Deep
The world’s oil market was hit again last week when Saddam Hussein drew another arrow from his quiver, announcing a 30-day halt of Iraqi oil exports in protest of Israeli military action against the Palestinians. Saddam’s gambit came only three days after Iran’s supreme leader had called on all OPEC nations to take the same action. Oil prices, which have already risen 25 percent since mid-February, shot up by 5 percent. For even the most optimistic, it looked like Saddam had hit a bull’s-eye, and that the U.S. economy–and the global market that it drives–would plummet back into a recession.
In the end Saddam’s arrow fell short. Saudi Arabia and OPEC announced that they would not follow his squeeze on oil, and prices stabilized. But economists remained anxious about the volatile oil market, worrying that the price spikes caused by Mideast turmoil (chart) could hurt the world’s economic recovery. Morgan Stanley analysts warned that every $1 rise in oil costs the Asian economy 0.1 percent in GDP growth. European market analysts were also unnerved. And most worryingly, the White House expressed its concern about the U.S. economic rebound. Higher gas prices, said Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham, could “strain the budgets of America’s working families, raise the cost of goods and services and ultimately create a drag on the [U.S.] economy.” This was hardly the news the world wanted to hear.
But maybe some of the fears are overblown. While oil prices may remain unstable, we’re unlikely to plummet back into a recession just yet. For one thing, the world economy is less dependent on oil than it has been in the past. Energy expenditures account for only 7 percent of U.S. GDP, compared with roughly 14 percent in 1980. And Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan remains confident of U.S. economic expansion (in the 3 to 4 percent range) despite the mixed signals the economy is sending. Investment may remain momentarily dead, but consumer spending is rising almost as strongly as before the Twin Towers disaster. In addition, the Bush administration tax cuts passed last year will add $50 billion to incomes in 2002, just about offsetting the drain on spending power imposed by the recent 50 cent gas-price increase. Certainly, the current U.S. rebound will be slowed–but only a little.
Which is good news for the rest of the world. With U.S. economic growth likely, global markets can expect stronger exports, despite ongoing Mideast violence and any oily tricks Saddam may still have up his sleeve. OPEC and Saudi Arabia have oil supplies large enough to compensate for any further moves by Iraq. And Venezuela, where production slowed dramatically last week amid a coup d’etat, won’t drag the world economy down either. Regardless of who is in power, the Venezuelan government (the world’s No. 4 oil exporter) will almost entirely depend on revenue from the 2 million barrels of oil the country exports to the United States each day, and will have to maintain consistent production levels. The same goes for the other exporters–and Russian exports are rising daily. The wild card, of course, is Saudi Arabia. With their smaller gulf allies, the Saudis could still, at some point in the Mideast crisis, announce an embargo against the United States, as they did in 1973. This could trim production enough to force world prices temporarily higher. So, while it looks like the world markets aren’t headed back into the well just yet, it’s still too early to claim that the global economy is completely in the clear.
ISRAEL
On the Right Side of Sharon
Can Israel deal with Arafat? I don’t see any leader who will trust this man even if for a short time he pretends to control the fire… This man embodies terror, its way of life.
But Israel is coming under heavy pressure from the United States to withdraw. Can you afford to rebuff your most important ally? You [the United States] took your B-52s and you bombed everything under the clouds in Afghanistan. You didn’t care about civilians; you didn’t care about infrastructure. You could allow yourself to do that because you felt safe from international criticism. For weeks you didn’t allow the media to come in. And you needed time, seven months. We need another eight weeks. I will tell Colin Powell not to have a moral double standard.
How do you solve the problem in the long run? I would offer the Palestinians a very broad and progressive autonomy… They could enjoy everything that Israeli citizens enjoy except three things: they will not be able to control their external borders, they will not have any armed organizations and they will not be allowed to vote.
Some people would call that apartheid. People can use all kinds of slogans and all kinds of equations but they’re irrelevant. You have to remember that there’s not one single Arab among a hundred million Arabs in the world who has the right for a free vote. We know that in all those Arab countries where elections are taking place it’s a fiction.
FILMS
A Commanding View Of The Economy
We’ve asked the question before. The first great era of globalization, in the late 19th century, says Yergin, was a time of optimism similar to this past decade. But it all ended with an act of terrorism. The death of Archduke Ferdinand in 1914 propelled the world into war, the Great Depression and the fracturing of the world economy. September 11–as well as the 1997 Asian economic crisis–sent similar shockwaves throughout the markets.
But the film argues that the free-market system will survive, if not prosper, in spite of terrorism. The key problem for globalization is not terror, but that other more consistent dilemma: how to close the gap between the rich and the poor. Gandhi debated it with Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, it infuriates anti-globalism protesters and it continues to weigh down the majority of the world. “Global poverty is the great test of globalization,” says Yergin. “The markets will be judged by this.”
POST 9-11
Suing the Saudis–and Saddam
O, THAT ONEROUS OPIUM
Abdullah Gul, an Afghan residing in Pakistan, says he was recently paid to distribute 30,000 such leaflets. His employer? Haji Khano Gul, a former mujahedin commander and now an alleged opium smuggler. Khano Gul told NEWSWEEK that it is the duty of all Afghans to fight Americans and their Afghan allies “by destabilizing the country with the opium and hashish trade.”
The war against opium has already proven tough for President Karzai. Just days after Interior Minister Mohammed Younis Qanooni announced the interim administration’s plans to carry out its declared poppy ban, a bomb nearly killed the Defense minister in Jalalabad, a notorious center of poppy cultivation. But Karzai has little alternative: if he wants to keep good relations with his international supporters, he has to crack down on drugs.
SCIENCE
Shower to the Nth Power
DOCTORS
Kicked Out
FIRST PERSON GLOBAL
By Joe Cochrane
The steak sandwich sat seductively before my eyes. Seven hours removed from a 61-day assignment in Afghanistan and sitting down to my first Western meal in weeks at the U.N. Club in Islamabad, it was as if I had died and woken up in gourmet heaven. With glass raised I began my re-introduction to the world.
Was Afghanistan that bad? Yes and no. It certainly is a stressful place. But in Kabul I was able to watch television, buy most things I could get in other countries, and even a few I couldn’t, such as genuine Persian carpets. And every day brought a full spectrum of emotions. I interviewed a former senior Taliban official who had defected to the Northern Alliance shortly before Kabul fell, in order to save his own skin. He said I shouldn’t be worried about how many Afghans were executed by the Taliban because more than 1.5 million people had died during the entire two-decade war. I felt like vomiting as I left his office. Then there were the many times when the humanity of the Afghan people had me wondering how they could have ever gone to war in the first place. One impoverished family who saw me doing an interview on a nearby street invited me in for tea. They insisted that I stay the night at their dilapidated apartment, offering to slaughter a sheep for dinner. I had to muster all my courage to politely decline. I just couldn’t justify this poor family’s killing a prized piece of property just to feed me, although doing so would have been a great honor for them. I went home that night and felt like crying. Afghanistan stirred in me the kind of emotions that I did not get in other strife-torn countries, such as Cambodia and East Timor. It is its own intriguing universe housed inside an invisible bubble that ends at the border with Pakistan.
The reality is that, as happy as I am to be safe and sound outside Afghanistan, I find myself desperately longing to be back there. The incredible stories, camaraderie with fellow journalists and my Afghan assistants, and (I admit) the adrenaline rush of conflict journalism proved overpowering. It was almost like being back in college, but the bonding was far more intense given the dangerous circumstances. I would spend hours asking questions of my Afghan driver, Moukhim, about his experiences during the war: How had he survived? How did he maintain such a positive outlook? I would also spend hours alone pondering what I would do if I was about to be kidnapped or killed while working in the field. Would there even be enough time to react? This was a disturbing question probably best left unanswered.
My longing to return to Afghanistan didn’t subside when I returned to Thailand, where I am based. I was apathetic to the usual excitement of Bangkok life, and stories from friends about what had happened while I was gone. The Thai prime minister was attempting to crack down again on the media, one person told me. A Canadian friend confided that he had met a wonderful woman while I was gone. It meant nothing to me. So I took desperate action–a beach holiday on Bali. As peaceful and relaxing as it is here, though, my postcard still reads: WISH I WAS THERE.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-12” author: “Ray Schank”
Musharraf has chosen to hold a referendum in May, to decide whether he should remain in power for five more years. But the process will not be without serious risks for the general and his campaign to wipe out terrorism in Pakistan. Voter turnout is expected to be embarrassingly low, as Musharraf lacks the support of a nationwide political organization to mobilize the electorate. In order to galvanize voters, he may have to make concessions to right-wing Muslim parties, whose militants he has been trying to curb.
Musharraf’s alternative–to follow the letter of the Constitution and stand for election before an elected Parliament in October–isn’t tempting. He and his fellow generals simply don’t want to risk submitting his presidency to the vagaries of parliamentary politics. “Musharraf has p—ed on everyone,” says a former senior government official. “He has been hostile to every politician and political force in the country.” So instead, Musharraf is reaching out to the Muslim right that for years has been the prime recruiting ground of Pakistani terrorists. In early March, he ordered the release of some 1,300 of the 2,000 alleged Muslim extremists whom his security forces had arrested in his antiterror campaign. (None had been charged with any crime.) He then freed the leaders of three right-wing Muslim parties from prison. Masood Azhar, the founder of banned extremist party Jaish-e-Mohammad, was transferred from prison to his home, where he remains under house arrest. And two other imprisoned Muslim leaders, Qazi Hussain Ahmed (head of Jamaat-i-Islami, the country’s largest religious-based party) and Fazlur Rehman, have been sent home without restrictions.
This all may come at a cost. If it supports Musharraf in the referendum, the religious right could be able to win back some, if not all, of its previous freedom of action from the government. “Any concessions he makes to the religious parties will only embolden the extremists in their ranks,” says Pakistani political analyst Samina Ahmed. By allowing moderate Islamic parties like Jamaat-i-Islami more political freedom than others, Musharraf may encourage militants from more radical parties like Jaish to quietly infiltrate Jamaat as a cover for their extremist operations. And already, at least one banned extremist organization, the Lashkar-e-Taiba, is quietly transforming itself into a legal party in the hope that its militants will be able to operate more openly. And what then for Musharraf’s promises to the West?
SPY VS. SPY
Give Up The Ghost
Many Russian news reports claim the move to indict Kalugin comes from the FSB, the KGB’s successor. And some Russia-watchers fear that the growing power of KGB alumni in Putin’s entourage is tempting elements of the Kremlin to stir up old ghosts. But these ghosts are unlikely to jeopardize the new and improved U.S.-Russian relationship prior to their leaders’ summit in May. Washington, for one, is not really paying any attention to KGB matters. What matters is Putin’s performance, not KGB activities, says a senior State Department official. And so far, Putin’s doing just fine.
OLD BOYS’ CLUB
A Key Link
But Bush knew that he and Blair could do business–and he knew it, NEWSWEEK has learned, from one of his oldest friends: Bill Gammell, the 49-year-old CEO of Cairn Energy in Edinburgh. Gammell has known both Bush and Blair since they were teenagers. From the age of 13 on, Bush visited Gammell in Scotland a half dozen times. Concurrently, Gammell and Blair were in the same “house” at Fettes College, a Scottish boarding school. So before Bush and Blair got together, Gammell did the proper Fettesian thing. He assured George that Tony was “a good chap.” We always knew there was a missing link in the evolution of the Blair-Bush friendship. Turns out it was Gammell.
ATHENS 2004
Doing It the Greek Way
Some of the government’s overambitious construction plans have collapsed, and a nervous International Olympic Committee is now demanding daily progress reports. IOC officials will be in Athens this week to ensure the Greek government is finally moving along the right path after four years of political infighting and a distinct lack of progress. But even the harshest critics admit that the delays are not all due to alleged government incompetence. The usual protests have also caused holdups. Since day one, environmentalists and ordinary citizens have cried out that the construction will harm the environment, ruin the neighborhood and exacerbate Athens’s concrete vista. One group forced organizers to scale back a watersports complex on the ancient site of Marathon, near Athens. As the site is also a major wildlife haven, the EU ruled that it deserved ecological protection, forcing organizers to rethink their plans.
Other grand Olympic schemes to remedy hotel-room shortages and speed up Athens’s traffic (the dream of a subway extension to the Olympic Stadium) have met similarly tragic fates. And on top of that, international organizations have stepped up calls for Greece to crack down on terrorist group November 17, which has claimed 21 lives since 1975 without one single arrest. Greek authorities quite rightly fear this will simply add to the already overwhelming costs.
Many Greek citizens are now just fed up. So much so that a recent PR advertisement was deemed necessary to reawaken their great Greek Olympic spirit. The ad indirectly sought to reassure the widespread conviction that Greeks can miraculously fix everything at the last minute–a trait President Kostis Stephanopoulos calls the “Greek way.’’ Let’s hope they can. Otherwise Greece’s handling of these Olympics might coin a new meaning of the term.
NEWSWEEK SPECIAL ISSUES
The World Economic Forum is best known for convening its annual meeting at Davos, Switzerland. But the Forum is more than Davos–or even New York, where it held its meeting this year. It holds regional summits, launches task forces and policy initiatives and has a unique network of CEOs, policymakers and experts. NEWSWEEK has tapped into these resources in producing our Special Report.
NEWSWEEK and the Forum have worked together over the years and this new arrangement is a natural extension of a highly successful relationship. Klaus Schwab, the founder and president of the Forum, believes that “the synergy between the Forum and NEWSWEEK will benefit both our members and their readers.” I’m sure you will agree.
Fareed Zakaria, Editor NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL
SCIENCE
Fishy Fertility
The news gets worse. This is the water cycle, after all, and what goes around comes around. And some scientists now argue that this could also damage humans. They fear that high levels of estrogen in drinking water could even be responsible for the steep decline in male fertility in Britain over the past three decades. Many dismiss this as ludicrous, but if it does prove to be the case, at least British men can be reassured that they are not alone in their fears–high levels of estrogen have been found in river water in the United States, Germany and Japan. But until the human effect is confirmed, there’s an even bigger question on our minds. What will the recently introduced–and oft overused–Viagra do to those poor fish?
A NEWSWEEK MILESTONE
Luffman devoted 31 years to NEWSWEEK. Born in Salisbury, England, he had to drop out of school at 14 for family financial reasons. He soon got his first job in publishing as an office boy at a daily newspaper–“my first stroke of luck,” as he calls it. At 20, he moved to Australia, where he worked for Australian Consolidated Press for five years, followed by three and a half years with New Guinea Newspapers. Then in 1970 came his “second stroke of luck”–and the company’s–when he came to work for NEWSWEEK.
From his start as a sales rep in Sydney, Luffman quickly ascended NEWSWEEK’s ranks, becoming Southeast Asia’s advertising manager in Hong Kong a year later. In 1976 he became the first ad director for NEWSWEEK’s Pacific edition, and in 1978, its publisher. In this role, he oversaw the decentralization of Asia-Pacific operations. In 1980 he moved to New York, as vice president of operations, followed by a promotion to senior vice president and then publisher of the overseas editions. In 1986 he was named president of NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL. As president, Luffman managed the entire operation, and was also known as a staunch advocate of editorial independence. With Luffman’s help and guidance, NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL developed from an appendage of the U.S. issue into a major international newsmagazine serving four continents, with editions in five foreign languages. Luffman literally led NEWSWEEK around the world, too. One would find him visiting a European head of state one week and pitching a corporation in West Africa the next. His travels never took him too far away, though. “Wherever he may be on the planet,” said NEWSWEEK Chairman Rick Smith, “he is always there for you.”
Luffman has relished that leadership role. “It has all been highlights,” he says. “The fun thing about our business is it makes you really interested in all countries, GNPs, trading blocs and currencies. You find yourself avidly reading about lots of esoteric stuff.”
Most of all, Luffman says, he enjoyed working in an organization that prides itself on putting journalism first. “I owe everything to [NEWSWEEK’S parent company] The Washington Post,” he says. “Everybody has always seen this as a news organization. We’ve never been an entertainment conglomerate.” The company’s “good, solid, journalistic tradition is unique,” says Luffman. “I’ve enjoyed that more than anything.”
Luffman may have dropped out of school at 14, but he has few regrets after learning so much in his time at NEWSWEEK. “I finally went to university,” said Luffman at his farewell party. “The best of all universities–NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL.” And he graduated with the highest honors possible. Godspeed, Peter.
COMPENSATION
Pay Up, Please
COCHRANE: Should the U.S. government compensate Afghan civilian victims? RUZICKA: Definitely. In war, when you hurt innocent people, you should help with their medical costs, economic impact, and help to rebuild their lives. Many people are completely traumatized. One 6-year-old boy, Fardin, saw eight people killed [by a bomb]. He was a whole child the day before. When I saw him afterwards I thought he was 2. He refuses to walk, he wets his bed, he has complete amnesia. His family needs some medical help so he can be a normal boy again.
You’ve asked for at least $20 million for all the victims. What’s the U.S. response? I go to the embassy a lot. They’re not exactly helpful. They don’t want to admit mistakes by saying, “Yes, here’s some compensation.” One, it would show there were mistakes within their military; two, it sets a precedent if the U.S. turns its attention to Iraq or other countries.
Will you keep fighting? As an American, it’s our responsibility to keep our government accountable. In Zimbabwe everyone’s looking at Robert Mugabe, telling him how he should do things. So who is watching the Americans? It has to be us, the people.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-28” author: “Bernard Jackson”
That’s good news for the world. Begin with Europe. (Wasn’t it only last year that Europeans were hailing the “decoupling” of their economies from America and boasting of their superior prospects for growth?) On Thursday, Germany’s Ifo Institute announced that the continent’s moribund bellwether economy would “bottom out” by summer. “The worst is behind us,” agrees Mark Wall, a Eurozone economist at Deutsche Bank. British analysts were all smiles. As the “U.S. locomotive” picks up steam, says Robin Marshall of JPMorgan, “we [should] get some growth out of the manufacturing sector.” High-tech Ireland is poised to do pretty well from the rebound, according to economists there. Sweden even hiked interest rates, the first such move by an industrialized country this year.
Asia, too, looks set for a bounce. With U.S. markets reviving, South Korea’s export-driven economy looks forward to growth approaching 5 percent this year, a figure likely to be surpassed only by China. Meanwhile, Taiwan seems to be winning its deflation battle. Malaysia’s 2002 GDP outlook is improving, and Singapore should get a lift as well, since 15 percent of its exports are to the United States. A Reuters poll last week also predicted significant growth for Hong Kong, the Philippines and Australia.
Not all the news is good, though. Japan is a big question mark. The rise of the Nikkei index since January, from the low 9000s to above 11,000 last week, is largely a fiction bred of new government restrictions on short selling. The goal: to buoy the market before March 31, when the country’s banks must declare their financial standing. (If stocks can be pumped up in relation to debts, their condition will appear stronger.) Trouble is, all of Japan’s “underlying problems remain,” says Giles Ockenden of JPMorgan. Many experts, therefore, advise clients to dump holdings by April Fool’s Day.
Nor is the United States entirely home free. With U.S. growth outpacing the rest of the world, America’s imports are likely to rise disproportionately quickly as well. The result? A widening trade deficit, which could embolden congressional protectionists and other hawks to clamp down on trade. With a war already raging on steel tariffs, that’s not good. Did we say “phew”?
ELECTIONS
Presidential Puppet
Chirac won’t condemn the parody. But France’s pundits are contemplating the possibility of a puppet’s bringing down the man who just seven years ago was portrayed as Mr. Nice Guy on the show. (His own daughter once gave him “Guignol” videotapes for his birthday.) Now, he’s Super Liar: manipulative and greedy–an ace at “how to get away with it.” (While Chirac’s refusal to testify about alleged connections in recent corruption scandals has satisfied the courts, it hasn’t done so for “Les Guignols.”)
Chirac’s race against Jospin is so close–a poll margin of 3 percent at last count–that “Les Guignols” could win the votes of those citizens more interested in image than political platforms. And polls do show that some 13 percent of voters admitted that satirical shows were a deciding factor in the 1995 elections. Egad. Life imitating farce?
ART
Showing ‘Em Some Skin
Why in the World… ? My objective is education… enlightenment. By showing healthy and diseased organs in comparison, observers will get knowledge of their own bodies and the effect of healthy lifestyles. People use the plastinate as an optical bridge to themselves. They experience body pride in the exhibit.
Is this art or science? Education is part of science. It really bridges the art world with the world of science.
Some call you Dr. Frankenstein. Frankenstein was compelled to bring dead people back to life, with some hocus-pocus. I bring the specimens back to life by putting them into a lifelike pose. I animate the specimens. So, I am kind of a modern Frankenstein.
You’ve plastinated many bodies–even your best friend. It was good for my consolation, but it was not very effective. I learned you should never operate on your loved ones.
FINANCIAL NETWORKS
A Troubling Money Trail
Funding for the institute could prove problematic. Saffuri confirmed the authenticity of checks obtained by NEWSWEEK showing the institute received $20,000 from the SAFA Trust and another $20,000 from Abdurhanman Alamoudi, a board member of the Success Foundation, whose offices were also raided. Steve Emerson, who tracks U.S.-based terror groups, said the checks “raise questions as to whether militant Islamic groups were trying to acquire political influence” in the United States. But Saffuri denied the funds came with any strings. Norquist, an institute board member, said the group “promotes democracy and free markets.”
Sources close to the case told NEWSWEEK the raids were prompted by evidence showing the SAFA Trust and related groups transferred millions of dollars to obscure entities on the Isle of Man, a notorious money-laundering haven. Records also show that the president of SAFA Trust once served on the board of a firm associated with Al-Taqwa, an international financial network whose assets were frozen by President Bush. So far, no charges have been filed and U.S. Islamic groups called the raids an “outrageous” violation of their civil liberties.
The Academy Of War Awards
Best Picture: “Osama’s Story,” or: How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb”– Al-Jazeera. Best Director: Colin Powell, for “The Distinguished Gentleman.” Best Actor: George W. Bush, for “Axis of Evil” and “All the President’s Pretzels.” Best Supporting Actor: Tony Blair, for answering to Dubya’s calls of “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” Best Actress: MSNBC reporter Ashleigh Banfield, in “Not All Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.” She wowed us as a blonde at Ground Zero. Now a brunette, she schmoozes with the political elite. Best Supporting Actress: Sharbat Gula, in “The Return of the Afghan Girl.” Last seen in 1984 on National Geographic’s cover, Gula was re-discovered in March. It’s a tear-jerking tale of an Afghan orphan’s survival. Best Original Screenplay: The Pentagon, for “Office of Disinformation.” Best Newcomer: Hamid Karzai, for “High Noon.” Watch out, Gary Cooper. Afghanistan’s suave new sheriff (interim leader) wears a cape.
COLLECTIBLES
Operation Infinite Merchandise
too
Now comes a toy that might suit the more troublesome tyke: action figures of a pistol-packing George W. Bush in a SWAT uniform and a camouflage-clad Osama bin Laden. “The Evil One” also comes with a pink tutu, if that’s your style. They’re not too steep (buy your boy a bin Laden at herobuilders.com for only $25), and they’re pretty popular. Since its launch a month ago, the site has been hit more than 5,000 times, even more than Tora Bora. Just wait till they release their man-of-the-moment Donald “Pentagon Don” Rumsfeld doll. No dates yet, but it’ll be soon, promises site founder Emil Vicale.
First Person Global
–By Anna Kuchment
When I heard the news–Century 21 was reopening–I wanted to be first in line. Before the September 11 attacks forced its closing, the fashionista paradise in downtown Manhattan had been one of my favorite stores. On weekends, I used to take the 30-minute train ride from my Upper West Side apartment to the Cortlandt Street station, just beneath the World Trade Center. Swept along by the crosscurrents of commuters, I would inevitably come out on the wrong street and have to circumnavigate the buildings, pressing my body into the whipping wind as I searched for my objective. But it was worth it.
Century 21 was like a giant town square. In the communal dressing room, you could find yourself changing next to a model, a tourist or a female construction worker. The merchandise was a mix of Prada suits, Gucci handbags and the kind of chintzy ceramics you might find on your grandmother’s mantel.
I had actually avoided Ground Zero since September 11–partly out of a need for denial, partly because I didn’t want to mix with the hordes of gawking tourists. The other week, though, I boarded the subway train and settled in for the long ride. It was creepy. My old stop, Cortlandt Street, is closed–the station boarded up, with signs that warn conductors: DO NOT STOP and DO NOT OPEN DOORS. The train slowed to a silent crawl as we passed a buckled metal gate draped with an American flag.
I emerged from the subway at Rector Street, one stop down from Cortlandt, and walked north. The neighborhood looked much the same–just sunnier, since the Twin Towers once blocked out most of the light. The area outside Century 21 resembled a vast construction site. From the sidewalk, all I could see were construction trailers inside a chain-link fence and the tops of bulldozers. Few of the surrounding buildings were damaged, making it seem as if the earth had opened up and swallowed the towers whole.
Inside the store, the mood was gushy. A woman standing next to me sighed and said to no one in particular: “It’s good to be back.” Another came up and told me how the weather that day was just like September 11: warm, sunny and clear. At the watch counter a man gleefully greeted his old-time clerk–they were on a first-name basis–and asked about a customer named Wanda. Of course, others were just there to shop; a fight soon broke out over some Kenneth Cole pumps.
The store was more crowded than ever. “It’s like Christmas,” said a cheerful clerk, who sported a red pin that said ASK ME I CARE. By lunchtime, the crowd had reached capacity and people lined up on the sidewalk to wait their turn. For the first time, I left Century 21 without buying a thing. I had come to commune with fellow New Yorkers, with people like me for whom Century 21 was an emblematic part of how things were. With the approach of spring, it was good to see that yet another piece of New York had come back to life.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-30” author: “Emily Elgin”
C.W. Bush + Invests political capital and gets fabulous return: The Senate back. CW should stop “misunderestimating” him. Rove + King Karl’s political genius wins historic victory and more power for himself. Will he run the war now? Powell + Old CW: Marginalized by hawks. New CW: Brilliant diplomacy wins over France, Syria and hawks. Gephardt - After abysmal midterms, steps down as minority leader to run for president. Who’s he kidding? N. Pelosi + S.F. liberal is apparent winner as Dem House leader. Tip: Borrow your daughter’s videocam when you visit Dubya. Mondale - Carter gets a Nobel and I’m dragged out of retirement to get my butt kicked again. Thanks, fellas.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-22” author: “Kevin Sexton”
Tel Aviv Takes a Sharp Turn to the Right
For Shaul Mofaz, it was a moment to forget. The Israeli Army chief had been touring a military base on the West Bank with his boss, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, waiting to talk to him privately. He got his chance during a break in the action, with the two men seated alone at a table. Not realizing the microphone of a TV crew was picking up every word, Mofaz told Sharon what he thought Israel should do to Palestinian leader Yasir Arafat: “This is our chance to get rid of him. We have to do it.”
Sharon ignored Mofaz’s advice at the time–the exchange was six months ago–but last week he tapped the retired general to be his new Defense minister, a job that would give him enough clout to authorize such schemes. Sharon is in trouble. Since his coalition collapsed last week with the walkout of the center-left Labor Party, the Israeli leader has reached out to a cast of hard-liners, hoping to assemble a government and avert early elections. The result could be the most right-wing coalition in Israel’s history.
Analysts say international pressure would moderate such a government. But some Mideast watchers in Washington are worried that extremist policies could undermine the war effort against Iraq. “This would put more pressure on the Arab governments whose support we’re going to need, not only during the military phase of the war on Iraq, but afterward as well,” says Edward Walker, who served as a U.S. ambassador in the region and as assistant secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs. Arafat’s expulsion is only one scenario. Among Sharon’s potential coalition partners are lawmakers who advocate scrapping the Oslo peace accords, authorizing new Jewish settlements and even annexing parts of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Two parties have already demanded changes in the government’s written guidelines–dropping restrictions on settlement expansion and limiting contacts with Palestinians–as a condition for joining.
Sharon is already trying to reassure Washington that no sudden shifts would take place under a narrow government, officials say. Though Sharon’s hand has been weakened by Labor’s departure, his approval rating is high. That political muscle, Sharon aides argue, will give the prime minister some leverage against the far-right parties. But it might not be enough. “It’s a question of whether Sharon is going to have to pay a price when it comes to the more right-leaning parties whose support he needs,” Walker says. If he does pay, it could very well be in American currency.
Terrorists
Seeking Safety With Saddam
To hear Abu Abbas tell it, terrorists like Osama bin Laden give terrorists like him a bad name. Abbas, leader of a fringe Palestinian faction, has lived on the run ever since the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro. When the latest intifada began, he quit his hiding place in Gaza for Iraq, where Saddam Hussein has made him feel welcome. NEWSWEEK interviewed him in Baghdad recently. “They say I am a terrorist. And Osama bin Laden is a terrorist. But terrorist is a very bad name to use.” Abbas has now renounced violence against civilians outside of Israel. “Al Qaeda’s point of view is universal violence. They are against everything. That is terrorism.”
Abbas’s Palestine National Front staged a beachfront raid in Tel Aviv using inflatable boats, wrecking the peace process in 1990, and invad-ed Israel by hang gliders. But neither Abbas nor other Palestinian terrorists ever managed anything remotely approaching the scale of 9-11, or the Qaeda-authored U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa. Abbas bristles at such comparisons. “We Palestinians have lost our country, our homeland, our families, our land; we are fighting for our human rights. Osama bin Laden is not fighting for a national cause; he’s not even fighting for the Arab nation. He wants an Islamic war.” And Abbas doesn’t believe that Al Qaeda truly cares about Palestinians.
It’s unclear whether his host does either. Abbas praises Saddam for giving $25,000 to the family of any suicide bomber in Israel, and says a U.S. attack on Iraq would be just as bad as what Al Qaeda has done. (“There are many kinds of terrorism,” he says.) But in Baghdad recently, Western and Arab diplomats told NEWSWEEK they believe the Iraqis killed fellow Palestinian Abu Nidal on Aug. 16 because of his possible Qaeda connections, and out of fear that the Americans could exploit that as justification for attacking Saddam. Nidal, the 65-year-old leader of the Fatah Revolutionary Council who was blamed for attacks in Rome and Vienna in 1985, allegedly shot himself to death after his arrest by Iraqi authorities. (His followers say his body had three bullet wounds–an odd sort of suicide.) The alleged Qaeda connection had certainly blackened his name: the PLO office in Baghdad refused his body, and he now lies in a pauper’s grave.
Natural Disasters
Cause and Effect
Days after the eruption of Mount Etna in Sicily on Oct. 27, Italy’s mainland was shaken by an earthquake and several aftershocks, which killed 29 people, including 26 children who died when their school collapsed (left) in the village of San Giuliano di Puglia. The succession of tragedies prompted furious speculation over whether the events were related. Italy’s National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology in Rome insisted the events were isolated. Other experts agree: while there are often links between earthquakes and volcanoes, the tremors that rocked Italy were tectonic, unlike those usually caused by volcanoes, says Waverly Person of the United States Geological Survey in Colorado. Still, volcanoes and earthquakes are two of the most unpredictable forces of nature. So, just to be on the safe side, vulcanologists are now monitoring Mount Vesuvius for the slightest hint of activity.
Politics
Jurassic Park, 2002
The morning after the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone on Oct. 25, Marty Kaplan, a 56-year-old movie producer, writer and teacher, got a call: would he rush to Minnesota? Walter Mondale, 74, was going to take over as the Democrats’ Senate candidate. He wanted Kaplan to write his speeches again, just like he had back in 1984. (Which, incidentally, was Kaplan’s last gig in politics.) Kaplan accepted and the Ancient Mondaleans were back.
Their return was a fitting finale to an election season that featured weary faces making weary arguments to weary voters. Republicans pushed 66-year-old Elizabeth Dole in North Carolina (aided by husband Bob, 79, the Viagra pitchman) and resurrected former presidential candidate Lamar Alexander, 62, in Tennessee. Mondale, for his part, could at least claim juniority to former senator Frank Lautenberg, who eagerly returned to the Senate campaign trail in New Jersey at the age of 78.
No wonder this campaign had an aura of forced nostalgia. Most candidates studiously avoided addressing the profound questions raised by the rise of Al Qaeda and its allies. And there was little discussion of the economy at large, since few Democrats –were willing to challenge George W. Bush’s $1.3 trillion tax cut. Rather than addressing the big issues, the record-setting barrage of TV ads dwelled on issues aimed at seniors and near seniors, who vote in disproportionately high numbers in low-turnout midterm elections. Candidates focused on Social Security, prescription-drug plans, Medicare and a patient’s bill of rights. The electoral system seemed caught in a downdraft, with courts bracing for challenges to voting procedures and ever-mounting hoards of cash producing ever-nastier campaigns–and ever-lower turnout. The country as a whole, and politics in particular, seemed in dire need of a cleansing, idealistic youth movement. Instead, as Americans go to the polls this week, they’ll find a bunch of dinosaurs.
AIDS
Credit Crunch
With an estimated 5 million South Africans infected with HIV–the highest rate in the world–you’d think experts trying to curb the epidemic would be far too busy to argue among themselves. Well, think again. Since June, when the government reported that infection rates among teenagers had been dropping, a battle has been brewing over who will get the most credit for this achievement, and, in turn, who might get a piece of the massive international funding to fight new fronts in other HIV-plagued nations. The best-financed AIDS-awareness outfit, loveLife, says that its unconventional marketing techniques–designed to create brand awareness and get teenagers to talk more freely about sex–are “spearheading a sea change” in the dissemination of AIDS-prevention messages. LoveLife’s numbers look rather impressive. A 2001 loveLife survey of teenagers showed that 62 percent were aware of the organization’s public-awareness program, and that 78 percent of the sexually active among these teens used condoms.
But not everyone is ready to congratulate loveLife. The $20 million-a-year program financed by the Gates and Kaiser foundations, UNAIDS and the South African government has had opponents since its 1999 launch. Conservative religious leaders and politicians complain that loveLife’s newspaper inserts condone oral sex and same-sex unions. A Johannesburg group, the Centre for AIDS Development, Research and Evaluation, questions loveLife’s use of data. Lovelife’s recent dismissal of two foreign experts who were helping design scientific studies of its campaign has added to the controversy. LoveLife CEO Dr. David Harrison says simply that “the partnership didn’t work out.” And although Harrison does concede that his organization has no proof of its own effectiveness, he says he’s not particularly concerned about who gets what share of the glory. “We aren’t knocking the efforts of others,” Harrison states. “Our only goal is a dramatic reduction in HIV incidence.” Shouldn’t that be what everyone’s focusing on?
Microsoft Judging Windows
Here’s the Microsoft formula for disposing of an antitrust suit: cross your fingers and wait. If you’re lucky, a new administration will replace an unfriendly antitrust czar (Joel Klein) with one willing to make a deal (Charles James, whose settlement was so weak that nine states kept fighting for a harsher remedy). Then you hope that the new judge (Colleen Kollar-Kotelly) is less hostile than predecessor Thomas Penfield Jackson, who compared Gates & Co. to the mob. Last Friday the wait paid off, as Kollar-Kotelly essentially let the settlement stand, and the so-called case of the century ended with a whimper.
American state officials had spent months in court arguing that drastic measures were needed to restrain the now official monopolists–like yanking the browser out of Windows or forcing Microsoft to share its precious source code. Kollar-Kotelly had none of it. “This suit,” she wrote, “is not the vehicle through which Plaintiff can resolve all existing allegations of anti-competitive conduct…” Putting a happy face on it, the state A.G.s claimed delight at the minor toughening of the original settlement. (For instance, now Microsoft is banned not only from retaliating against competitors, but also isn’t allowed to threaten them. And Kollar-Kotelly said she’ll be very angry if Microsoft violates the rules.)
Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer still have to settle a complaint by the European Commission and deal with civil litigation. They end the suit “five years older and 10 years wiser,” says chief counsel Brad Smith. And, with record earnings and $40 billion in cash, more powerful than ever.
ART
Viewing Vietnam
These days, the slightest sound of saber rattling propels TV crews armed with bulletproof vests and makeup off to far-flung corners of the globe to report from outside their hotels. But it is the series of vivid images of Vietnam–the first war to be covered live and on the air, direct from the fray–that remains seared in the collective memory. Evening-news footage and now famous photographs brought home the unrelenting brutality of modern battle. Until recently, though, Vietnam has generally been viewed through a Western lens.
A new exhibit at London’s British Museum called “Vietnam Behind the Lines: Images from the War 1965-75” aims to redress the balance. Featuring a recently acquired collection of works, the exhibit portrays the conflict through 132 North Vietnamese posters, paintings and sketches. Many are crude social-realist propaganda posters, painted in bright blocks of color, that try to rally patriotic sentiment. But seeing these posters underlines how strongly they influenced the rest of Vietnamese art during the period. (Relatively few Vietnamese artists of that era portrayed bloody combat, more often depicting the camaraderie of wartime.) In “Behind the Lines,” images of the wounded are few, as many of these works were originally part of exhibits intended to boost the morale of both soldiers and civilians.
More fascinating are the behind-the-scenes sketches of army life that give a rare insight into the conditions, training, tactics and everyday existence of the North Vietnamese in wartime. In one sketch, villagers are depicted trying to go about their daily lives as they lug bags of rice through the jungle; in another, a group of women are taught to fire a mortar shell. Some of the images on display are of primarily historical interest (the propaganda posters, for example), but some are truly beautiful. Nguyen Thu’s evocative paintings–particularly one of soldiers dismantling a time bomb–truly open one’s eyes to the realities of wartime Vietnam. Only this time, we’re seeing it from the other side.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-27” author: “Kevin Womble”
Saddam’s Next Steps
When it comes to Iraq and U.N. Security Council resolutions, nothing is ever quite what it seems. Saddam Hussein pretended to be furious last week, but just before the deadline to accept the resolution on weapons inspections, he did. U.N. inspectors were headed back into Iraq on Nov. 18. Interestingly, Baghdad may have reason to regard their return as at least an interim victory.
Saddam knows better than to believe his own rhetoric about fighting off a U.S. invasion. His best option now is to at least pretend to go along with weapons inspections and hope the charade is convincing. (The Iraqis have proved much better at that than at tank warfare.) If they manage to cooperate passably well for the full 105 days until inspectors have to report back to the Security Council, that will take things until the last week of February. Allowing even just two weeks of further debate at the United Nations, the Ides of March–and the beginning of Iraq’s fierce summer, when temperatures rise to 125 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade–will have arrived. No Western army would invade in that sort of weather. “All he wants to do is get through this winter,” said a diplomat in Baghdad recently. By the winter of 2003-04, the momentum for action will have already dissipated and the Bush administration will be in re-election mode, he added. “That’s Saddam’s only hope.”
The Bush administration is fully expecting Saddam to stall. And the White House clearly isn’t counting on U.N. inspectors to outwit the wily dictator. Hans Blix, who heads the weapons inspections, is a “wimp,” says one of the U.S. president’s top advisers. Blix recently earned the ire of U.S. officials when he said it would be unworkable to take Iraqi weapons scientists out of the country with their entire families in order to interview them without fear of retribution. In the debate leading up to the U.N. resolution, the United States wanted that provision to be mandatory, but the French disagreed. Now taking Iraqi officials abroad is optional–and Blix has all but ruled out doing so. “Inexcusable,” one White House official called Blix’s declaration.
But, says the presidential adviser, war “hinges on how tough George W. Bush is, not Hans Blix.” Toby Dodge, an Iraq expert at Britain’s Warwick University, doesn’t think Saddam will buy another year’s grace with a replay of cheat and retreat. “I’m sure our friends in the Pentagon have thought of that, and there are enough triggers built into the Security Council resolution to prevent it.” Iraq has to fully declare all of its weapons of mass destruction by Dec. 23. If the United States claims Saddam hasn’t been truthful enough, it might decide to attack Iraq with or without U.N. blessing. “I’ve had January penciled in my diary for seven or eight months now,” said Dodge. “I haven’t seen anything to change that.”
U.S. Politics
Retooling Gore for 2004
Al Gore opposes President George W. Bush on Iraq, favors a single-payer health system and thinks the Bush tax cut should be repealed. He sounds like a presidential candidate, and he is likely to announce in December that he’s running. But what are his chances? A monthlong tour to promote his book on family life will give voters a fresh look at Gore. A series of soft-focus television interviews and appearances should showcase a looser side voters rarely saw in 2000. “It’s all about whether Gore can find his voice and soul and transmit that to people,” says an adviser.
Gore’s rigid persona turned off voters when they watched him debate the more affable Bush. The new Gore is a man of big ideas, an abstract and conceptual thinker who isn’t hemmed in by conventional political ideas. Former president Bill Clinton has been privately saying that if Gore runs, he has a 60 percent chance of winning the nomination. A Gore adviser puts the odds at two in three. “He is definitely the prohibitive favorite.” Gore has made a point of releasing his former running mate, Joe Lieberman, from his pledge not to run if Gore does. “You don’t want to look like you’re holding someone hostage,” says an adviser. Gore says he may even pick Hillary Clinton as his running mate. That’s unlikely, but the Clintons would be happy with Gore in 2004. If he loses, he would clear the way for her in 2008.
With terrorism and security issues dominant, Gore’s supporters say he’s the only Democrat who can convey confidence as a commander in chief. Backers of Sen. John Kerry, another potential candidate, would dispute that. But Gore’s people think his experience as vice president will be an asset in 2004 in a way that it wasn’t in 2000, when foreign policy was not a top concern and Gore was overshadowed by Bill Clinton. Gore has no formal organization in place, and has raised very little money. “The elites don’t want him to run again, but primary voters feel personally cheated and want him to,” says an adviser. He’ll have to come out of the gate strong. “His candidacy can’t stumble,” says a Democratic consultant. “If you’re perceived as the front runner and you stumble early, there is no later.” Gore’s friends concede the political terrain is forbidding. “It doesn’t look good for any Democrat,” says one. “Why would he do it? As long a shot as it is, if he wants to be president, this is it.”
Britain
Old Look For New Labour
Cool Britannia was looking particularly uncool last week. The nation’s firefighters–they were seeking a 40 percent pay hike; the government offered 11 percent–walked off the job for 48 hours. Across the country, soldiers were left to man ancient military fire trucks. Scattered fire deaths were reported, and tabloids blared angry headlines like: HOW MANY MORE HAVE TO DIE?
At the same time, Londoners endured massive Tube tie-ups and traffic jams as hundreds of London Under-ground train drivers sympathetic to the firefighters’ cause stayed home for what they called “safety” reasons. This week, barring a settlement, the firefighters could begin striking for an additional eight days. And imminent strikes have already been threatened by everyone from air-traffic controllers to court magistrates to mail carriers to university staffers.
A country in the grip of strikes is not the image that Prime Minister Tony Blair wants to project to the electorate–or the world. Blair and his fellow modernizers spent more than a decade reforming and rebranding the Labour Party as New Labour–the political party that means business, not the one that the Conservatives so successfully demonized in 1979 with their scathing campaign slogan, “Labour isn’t working.” Those were the days of the grim “winter of discontent,” a desperate era that ushered in Margaret Thatcher and, until Blair marshaled his new-look party to victory in 1997, nearly two decades of Tory rule. Since September 11, Blair has demonstrated his prowess as an international statesman and spent much energy backing a proposed U.S. strike on Iraq. But it may turn out to be the strikes at home that pose the most threatening challenge of all.
Cuba: Hemingway Help
The history of Ernest Hemingway’s time in Cuba has forever been tied up in the political blood feud between the United States and the small communist country–when Hemingway committed suicide in 1961, it took the personal intervention of John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro to allow Hemingway’s widow to take 200 pounds of Papa’s possessions back to America. Now scholars will finally have access to the papers left behind in Hemingway’s Havana residence, which range from notes on manuscripts to bar bills; Hemingway’s wife left everything she didn’t take out in ‘61 to the Cuban people. Last week U.S. Congressman James McGovern helped negotiate an arrangement to keep the papers in Cuba, with American experts–and private American money–directing a preservation effort. Eventually, the entire trove will be electronically archived and available for scholars at Boston’s Kennedy library. Complications loom: McGovern is still working on getting licenses to bring preservation equipment into Cuba. But, he says hopefully, the agreement could “go a long way” toward bringing together two cultures “kept apart by politics and rhetoric and mistrust.”
Business
Messier Mess
Jean-Marie Messier, ousted as CEO of Vivendi Universal in July, is finally pleading mea culpa. Well, sort of. In his new book, “Mon Vrai Journal” (“My True Diary”), Messier admits that as the head of the French utility and communications conglomerate, he made several serious mistakes that sent the company’s stock plunging–and sent him packing. Messier acknowledges that he should have moved “more quickly and radically” on separating Vivendi Environment, which dealt with issues like water and waste, and Vivendi Universal, which dealt with Hollywood hotshots like Jonathan Demme and Russell Crowe. He wishes he’d fired Pierre Lescure, the head of Canal Plus, sooner but claims he was “seduced by the man and intimidated by the icon.” And regarding acquisitions, Messier regrets that he “may have done a bit too much too quickly.” Most important, he now seems to understand that declaring that the French “cultural exception” was “dead” was a major public-relations faux pas. “There are things I regret, beginning with that,” Messier told reporters at the book launch in Paris on Friday.
But Messier is far from throwing in the towel. Regarding his $17 million corporate apartment in Manhattan, he explains that “it was not me who decided.” Whereas he once vehemently denied the Vivendi board’s ownership of an Airbus, he now merely claims it was “a just proportion.” And although he insisted to NEWSWEEK that his ouster was not a plot against him, he lashed out minutes later at French business titan and former president of AXA insurance Claude Bebear, who had publicly called for Messier’s resignation. “He would not let me stay at Vivendi Universal,” Messier snapped. “He did all that he could to contribute to the rumors that turned against me.”
Messier says he’s finally ready to move on. He’s turned down “several offers” from “major companies,” opting instead to launch his own consulting firm. “After all,” he says, “the best revenge is success.” Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t seem fully able to let bygones be bygones quite yet.
Cartoons
Drawing in Defiance
Like many of those molded by the fight for racial equality in his country, 44-year-old South African political cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro, a.k.a. Zapiro, loathes American conservatism. So it’s only natural that Shapiro has spent much of the last year savagely sending up President George W. Bush. The cover of his upcoming seventh book, “Bushwhacked,” encapsulates this acid view of America’s new hegemony: a cowboy president, nostrils flaring and gun blazing, mastering a bucking world.
Zapiro’s new book is manna to Bush-bashers. But it also accurately reflects the political center of gravity of a country that aspires to speak for all of Africa and often for the entire developing world. While Zapiro’s works regularly appear in three of South Africa’s most respected newspapers, he still takes risks. One cartoon transforms the United Nations logo into a garland for Bush’s head, in the style of the Roman emperors. Another hits below the belt, depicting Bush’s recent colonoscopy. On the operating-room TV monitor: an image of the president’s brain.
Zapiro pulls no punches on Israel, either. One recent cartoon, after the alleged massacre at Jenin earlier this year, showed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in a Nazi SS uniform. And Zapiro’s takes on local issues are just as barbed. No fan of President Thabo Mbeki, Zapiro shows him and his Health minister being dragged toward universal AIDS treatment by a towering Nelson Mandela.
Given his no-holds-barred criticism, Zapiro is likely to offend many with his latest offering. But those who don’t like it can at least console themselves knowing that they are not alone.
Movies
United States of Jackass
Johnny Knoxville would like to make an apology. Naturally, he’s delighted that his masterwork, “Jackass: The Movie”–an 80-minute highlight reel of outrageous stunts, pranks and assaults on personal hygiene–has taken America by storm. But… “Oh, my goodness, when I think of all those poor filmmakers who spent so much time and tens of millions of dollars on their movies–and our stinker was No. 1?” Knoxville shakes his head. “That is so wrong.”
Finally, something Knoxville and his howling detractors can agree upon. After all, “Jackass: The Movie” is a movie in the loosest sense. There is no plot, just one gross gimmick after another. Knoxville is the star, but in name only. The best gags belong to his crew of longtime pals, most notably Chris Pontius, who loves dancing naked in public; Steve-O, who enjoys snorting wasabi, and a midget named Wee Man, who’s short… which is funny. As advertised, “Jackass: The Movie” is for people who think the only thing more amusing than jamming a toy car up a man’s rectum is the word “rectum.” Who knew there were so many of us?!
Exhibit: Club Culture
Ever since the Village People hit the stage in 1977, the so-called gay lifestyle has been associated with the nightclub. Queer Nation, a gay London club, is celebrating its 12th anniversary with a show that celebrates the connection, at the Elms Lester Painting Rooms in London. Featuring 150 photographs, installations of digital imagery, projections and memorabilia that span five decades, the exhibit paints a beautiful–and sometimes explicit–social history of gay lifestyle through the prism of clubbing.
The photos depict almost every conceivable nook and cranny of club culture–from friends getting ready to go out for the evening to sweating masses on the dance floor. Some of the pictures are cliche, focusing on the more flamboyant of gay archetypes. But others offer intimate glimpses into the universal search for love–a shot of two men leaning in to kiss as another, the jealous lover, protectively tries to hold his partner back. As a whole, the exhibition deconstructs myths about gay culture to reveal that clubs aren’t just hot spots for a good time: they can be critical to social survival in an often hostile world.
Perhaps the most novel aspect of “Queer Nation O2” is not its photography, but its technology–text-messaging is a major component of the show. Visitors can receive exhibit information via their mobile phones: what music was popular during the time period in question or anecdotal stories told by the photographers. OK, so it’s a relatively camp gimmick. But hey, this is club culture. Anything goes.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-25” author: “Nellie Holliday”
Qaeda on the Rebound
Even as the United States steps up precautions against future terrorist attacks, fears are growing that would-be attackers are adapting tactics to circumvent heightened security measures. Confessions from captured Qaeda operatives and evidence seized from terrorist hideouts indicate that terrorists may be turning toward softer targets, like the Bali nightclub bombed by suspected Qaeda sympathizers two weeks ago.
One U.S. intelligence concern is that Qaeda sympathizers, frustrated by their inability to pull off another 9-11, could turn to suicide-bombing attacks on U.S. interests both overseas and inside the United States. U.S. counterterrorism experts have visited Israel and Jordan to learn how Mideast security officials handle the suicide-bombing threat. Some U.S. officials are also expressing renewed alarm about terrorists’ using crop-dusting planes to spread biological or chemical agents. U.S. officials say that recent attacks in Bali, Kuwait (shooting at Marines) and Yemen (an explosives-laden dinghy attacking a French oil tanker) could represent a new war on U.S. and Western economic interests.
The threats made against the U.S. economy in a recent video clip by Ayman Al-Zawahiri seem to tie in with fresh evidence collected by U.S. intelligence from Qaeda detainees, terrorist safe houses in Kuwait and at least one captured Qaeda leader. A warning recently sent by homeland-security officials to U.S. railroads mentioned potential threats to oil-industry facilities, shipping and nuclear power plants, as well as passenger and freight trains. The railroad warning mentioned threats to bridges, engines and hazardous-materials cars. A U.S. official said that computers seized from suspects arrested after the Kuwait shooting contained detailed information on the U.S. rail infrastructure, including pictures of passenger and freight cars. An Amtrak spokesman said that the passenger railroad had not received information about a specific threat to its operations, but customers may notice “increased vigilance” at stations and on trains.
U.S. officials say they hope recent arrests of Qaeda suspects in the United States and overseas have disrupted current and future terrorist plots. Intelligence sources say that Ramzi bin al Shibh, the alleged Hamburg-based 9-11 fixer (and would-be 20th hijacker) has begun talking to American interrogators. British security services made a breakthrough last week when they arrested Abu Qatada, a radical imam with bin Laden connections who had disappeared from under their noses earlier this year. Though Abu Qatada had eluded Britain’s elite M.I.5 counterintelligence unit for months, a friend of the mullah’s told NEWSWEEK that he was located after his wife visited him and inadvertently gave away his hideout by switching on her mobile phone.
YUGOSLAVIA
Unsavory Company
The Boka Star seemed like just another ship seeking shelter from an Adriatic storm. But authorities reportedly found some surprises in its hold when the vessel docked in the Croatian port of Rijeka last week. On its way from Yugoslavia to Iraq, the Boka Star was said to be carrying material used to spark Scud missiles. The discovery has in turn sparked accusations of a larger arms-smuggling operation between the two countries. This is “just the tip of the iceberg,” says James Lyon, head of the International Crisis Group’s Serbia Project.
Lyon says that Iraq is not the only shady recipient of Yugoslav aid; of the many countries facing U.N.-imposed arms embargoes, Yugoslavia has traded with Libya and Liberia, he says. And according to recent reports from the Belgrade-based newspaper Blic, Yugoslav expertise is also being exported. Blic reports that documents found in the October raid of a Bosnian Serb state-owned factory confirm that Yugoslav engineering experts are in Iraq at this moment, installing military equipment like MiG-21 jet engines. The documents reportedly include instructions to remove the labels of Jugoimport, the state-owned company allegedly responsible for shipping the goods–and even outline concealment procedures in the event of U.N. inspection, so as to cover up all evidence of Jugoimport’s involvement.
If theses allegations prove to be true, Yugoslavia’s President Vojislav Kostunica could soon face the wrath of NATO, the European Union and the United States. Upon winning the presidency in October 2000, Kostunica vowed to clean up the military and place it firmly under civilian control in accordance with the demands of the Big Three. But firing generals like Nebojsa Pavkovic–as Kostunica did earlier this year–has not been enough. Kostunica is still widely seen as the official “most responsible” for the lack of control of the Army, says Lyon. “He kept a lot of people who have a very questionable background.” That coziness–and the military’s own friendly relations with the likes of Iraq–could soon come back to haunt him.
JAPAN
Moment of Truth
This week, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi faces the ultimate test. He was elected in April 2001 promising sweeping economic reform. But he avoided serious action until appointing an emergency financial czar, Heizo Takenaka on Sept. 30. When Takenaka hinted to NEWSWEEK on Oct. 3 that he would come down so hard that no Japanese bank would be “too big to fail,” the country’s financial establishment trembled with fear. Rightly so: Japanese banks suddenly realized that they might no longer receive the no-strings-attached support that has kept them alive.
Takenaka’s plan leaked last week, and all hell broke loose. Japan’s banks are carrying a stunning $350 billion in bad debt on their books–and most experts believe the real deadbeat debt is twice that. Takenaka’s plan would erase that debt from the banks’ books and force the closure of many money-losing companies, which have borrowed and wasted that flow of bad loans. Takenaka would then recapitalize the banks with fresh government funds. This harsh treatment would result in higher temporary unemployment–and even worse, nearly all bank shareholders would likely be required to forfeit more than half their equity to the government.
The banks threatened to sue. The Parliament’s opposition parties introduced a motion of no confidence. Most of the factions in Koizumi’s own ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)–many of whom have close ties to the banks–also openly rebelled. And a quickly assembled LDP committee drew up an alternate plan that would amount to continuing business as usual in Japan.
Although sorely in need of parliamentary approval for some of Takenaka’s proposals, Koizumi reacted to his party’s disapproval by insisting that he is still behind his man. But he also postponed the introduction of the plan until after the weekend’s parliamentary by-elections. Come this Wednesday, when the final Takenaka plan should be announced, there will be no more wiggling room. Koizumi is left with two choices. Negotiate Takenaka’s plan down to a sham, get it passed through Parliament and cling to office. The second tunnel isn’t much brighter: stick with the substance of Takenaka’s plan, lose in Parliament and call a new election. Either way, it doesn’t look good for the one Japanese voters once called “Lionheart.”
OIL: Angola’s Hidden Costs
With Iraq’s future uncertain, the bigwigs in the U.S. oil industry have been looking to shore up their supplies elsewhere. West African oil, for one, has never looked so attractive, as much of it lies safely offshore in the Gulf of Guinea. This area is already one of the fastest-growing American sources of petroleum (African oil accounts for 15 percent of U.S. imports) and is a far safer bet than importing Mideast crude during a conflict. No African oil nation is figuring more prominently than Angola, presently the eighth largest exporter of oil to the United States. In July, Angola’s Petroleum minister predicted that the country’s output would increase to 1 million barrels a day by the end of the year.
American oil companies, though, should probably pay more attention to the company they keep. According to a confidential International Monetary Fund report leaked to the media last week, $4.3 billion has disappeared from Angolan public funds over the past five years. In 2001 alone, says the study, nearly $1 billion was unaccounted for. In the report, state-owned oil company Sonangol is explicitly accused of chaotic bookkeeping, particularly in secretive treatment of “signature bonuses” that multinationals pay to the company in order to gain access to Angola’s oil fields. In one instance, Angolan authorities have allegedly acknowledged receipt of $285 million, while the foreign companies involved claim to have paid $400 million for the concession in question. In response to these accusations, the Angolan government has expectedly issued a strong denial.
Angola watchers do not doubt the report’s accuracy. But given the current oil climate, U.S. oilmen are unlikely to be deterred by a few missing dollars. The shenanigans attributed to Angola’s rulers may look ugly. But the reign of Saddam Hussein is downright crude.
LATIN AMERICA
Knowing Too Much
The United States is often accused of meddling in the affairs of its neighbors. But sometimes U.S. inaction is worse. Last week it was reported that in 1976, U.S. Embassy officials were called back from planned talks with South American leaders regarding their use of death squads the day before former Chilean foreign minister Orlando Letelier was assassinated in Washington. Another recently released State Department document shows U.S. diplomats in Buenos Aires may have had prior knowledge of Argentine Army intelligence plans to murder four leftist guerrillas in 1980–but apparently did nothing to prevent the killings.
On June 19 of that year, the U.S. Embassy’s regional security officer, James Blystone, sent a cable to U.S. Ambassador Raul Castro. It recounted his meeting with an Argentine intelligence source, who mentioned the June 14, 1980, abduction of four suspected left-wing subversives in Peru. The kidnapping was carried out by a joint team of Argentine and Peruvian intelligence agents and has been linked to Operation Condor, a secret pact among several Latin American regimes to crack down on exiled opponents by whatever means necessary. Blystone’s source told him that the abductees would be “permanently disappeared” back in Argentina. The body of one of the victims, Noemi Gianetti de Molfino, turned up later that summer in Madrid.
Blystone told NEWSWEEK by e-mail that he had written the document, which was obtained by Long Island University professor J. Patrice McSherry. Blystone says that U.S. authorities did nothing with the information as far as he knows, and Castro doesn’t recall the Molfino case or Blystone’s memo. That amounts to guilt by omission for McSherry, who is writing a book about Operation Condor. “The document shows that U.S. officials had intimate details about the most secret plans and operations of Condor, including disappearances and murders,” she says. And then apparently, at least in this instance, they sat back and crossed their arms.
BOOKS: Knot for Kids?
Who would have guessed that a yoga book could cause so much stress? “Babar’s Yoga for Elephants,” released last month in the United States, has the American Yoga Association in knots–and not for therapeutic reasons. “I’m shocked by it,” says AYA president Alice Christensen, who believes yoga shouldn’t be practiced by kids under 16. She says yoga positions put pressure on the body’s glandular region, which affects a child’s growth system. However, Reginald Washington of the American Academy of Pediatrics says there’s no data on any negative effects for kids. Meanwhile, kiddie yoga is on the upswing in America–and there are filled classes to prove it. Proponents say yoga destresses kids and boosts self-esteem. “Babar” author Laurent de Brunhoff says the book’s exercises can benefit children, but advises adult supervision. It’s the book’s back page, however, that clears Babar. “This book is intended for elephants interested in yoga,” it reads. “Humans and other animals should consult books written specifically with them in mind.” But will the warning keep kiddies away? That’s a stretch.
NIRVANA
Reading Cobain’s Pain
Next month late Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain’s life will once again become public property, courtesy of Riverhead Books. And true to Cobain form, “Journals”–which NEWSWEEK’s Lorraine Ali described in last week’s U.S. edition as “a collection of handwritten diary entries, letters, band memos, drawings, screeds and cries from the heart”–won’t be released without controversy.
Riverhead has reportedly paid Cobain’s widow, Courtney Love, and his 10-year-old daughter, Frances, roughly $4 million for “Journals.” As Ali writes, some fans “worry that it’s an invasion of Cobain’s privacy, his suicide in April 1994 being tragic, irrefutable evidence of his desire to be left alone.” Many would tend to agree. But having read the book, Ali seems to acknowledge its value. " ‘Journals’ can be raw and unsettling,” she writes. But “the book also illuminates Cobain’s sweet, whimsical side,” she continues. “These contradictions may enhance the way we listen to Nirvana.”
NEWSWEEK’s excerpts offer a gripping look at Cobain’s world: the early worries concerning Nirvana performances and lack of band-rehearsal time (“We’re tired of total uncertainty everytime we play a show. We think, ‘Are we going to suck’?” he wrote in a 1988 letter to then drummer Dave Foster) and Nirvana’s coming of age–at least in their own minds–as more than just another band (in a 1991 letter to ex-girlfriend Tobi Vail that he never sent, Cobain writes: “The band now has an image: the anti-gluttony, materialism and consumerism image which we plan to incorperate into all of our videos.”) Perhaps that image was to be their downfall: even at their peak, Nirvana–and Cobain in particular–struggled with the idea of what they were. Their toughest critics called them hypocrites–how could they not realize how famous they could become?–but maybe they were just confused, as so many artists propelled to stardom find themselves. After all, they were just music fans who happened to get lucky–in Nirvana’s case, very lucky. For Cobain, whose drug use and depression were more than often the subject of media attention–the life that he had dreamed of must have been worlds away. No amount of musical success would make up for the impact fame had on his life.
But despite the existential debate raging inside his head, Cobain did always care. He cared about his wife, he cared about his child and he cared about the group’s following. In one lengthy 1991 letter excerpted by NEWSWEEK, Cobain addresses his fans, apologizing to the loyal few. “Oh Pleez GAWD I can’t handle the success!” he reveals. “The success! And I feel so incredibly guilty! For abandoning my true commrades who were the ones who are devoted who were into us a few years ago.”
When Kurt Cobain killed himself in April 1994, the world was stunned. But perhaps we should have seen it coming. Cobain had never been one to say “never mind.” He had objected to his idolatry, rejected media invasions and downplayed his prescribed role in society. The man had been pushed too far, and one thing he clearly valued highly, his privacy, had been utterly taken away. One excerpt in particular describes his feelings. “Within the months between October 1991 thru December 92 I have had 4 four notebooks filled with two years worth of poetry and personal writings and lyrics stolen from me at separate times,” he writes in his journal. “The most violating things ive felt this year is not the media exxaggerations or the catty gossip, but the rape of my personal thoughts.”
Rightly or wrongly, “Journals” is bound for history, whether as memoirs of a genius or as a coffee-table collectible for the twentysomething crowd. To be sure, as NEWSWEEK’s Ali writes, “there’s no way that Cobain intended all these entries to end up on somebody’s coffee table. (The 1-800 number for Nordic Trac? The recipe for ‘Mom’s Seashell Shrimp Salad’?)” In fact, he may have intended it to remain secret for eternity. But as Ali notes, “Cobain never thought he was worth as much as we did.”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-12” author: “George Sloat”
The question now is whether Qaeda and Taliban fighters are as resilient as their laundry. Two weeks of intensive airstrikes and ground combat have effectively eliminated resistance in the Shahikot valley. But claims that the fighting is finished are premature. Despite estimates of as many as 700 enemy killed, fewer than 10 corpses have been found. Even friendly Afghan commanders say dozens of guerrillas could have escaped. While the fighting still raged, Taliban commanders were sending boastful emissaries across the border into Pakistan. “We have made a point,” one told a Pashtun leader in Peshawar. “We have proved we can stand up and fight the Americans.”
Anaconda may be the first fire fight in the kind of guerrilla war planners feared. Throughout eastern Afghanistan, leaflets known as shabnamas, night letters, have appeared, accusing America of having killed tens of thousands of civilians. Sources in Peshawar claim Taliban and Qaeda forces have begun to regroup along both sides of the border. Most units are small, 20 to 30 fighters, and led by former low-level Taliban. Sources claiming to be in contact with the holdouts say they are only waiting for an opportune moment to strike. Time is on the guerrillas’ side. Resentment is growing across southern Afghanistan. Many Pashtuns feel alienated from the government in Kabul, which is led by a Pashtun, Hamid Karzai, but dominated by Tajiks from the Northern Alliance. Civilian casualties have bred animosity. Squabbling among warlords has revived respect for the Taliban, who stamped out internecine fighting during their reign. And America won no friends when they needed reinforcements, and the central government sent 2,000 Tajik troops from the Panjshir Valley.
Over time, too, some of the inherent cracks in the U.S.-Afghan coalition are likely to widen. The ambush that claimed eight American and three Afghan lives was based on advance warning of the attack. During the fighting, Qaeda guerrillas managed to buy or win over local Afghans, who reinforced their positions. “My heart is still with Osama bin Laden,” says Gulbat, a foot soldier who boasts that he was given his pickup truck by U.S. Special Forces for helping them clean out the caves at Tora Bora. “If anyone starts fighting the Americans, I’ll join tomorrow.” So far those are only tough words. But Washington would do well to heed them.
Rod Nordland, Babak Dehghanpisheh, Scott Johnson, Sami Yusefzai and Ron Moreau
WHITMAN
‘A Little Bitterness There’
Whitman’s remarks sounded to some like a career-ender. “Ouch,” said a GOP pollster. “A little bitterness there.” But the White House took it in stride. “You only make those jokes if you know your position is secure,” said a senior official. The president “loves” Whitman, he said. “She gave him his dog, Barney, and he loves that dog.” Whitman gets more leeway than most members of the loyalty-sensitive administration in part because George W. Bush is vulnerable on the environment and wouldn’t want to lose her. And she took the job knowing the limitations, but still believing she could do some good. “It’s one of those Faustian deals,” says a friend.
Environmentalists regard her as their main ally in the administration, and she occasionally wins a battle, like ordering General Electric to clean up the Hudson River. Once touted as a candidate for higher office, she denies any interest in running for the Senate in New Jersey. Whitman says her Gridiron comments were meant in good humor. “I actually do have a seat at the table,” she told NEWSWEEK. “It’s a real chair. It has a little plaque on the back of it.” But she confided that one joke she told is “close to home”: “When you give a Republican a choice between more poison and less regulation, we need some time to think about it.” While she would have done some things differently, Whitman says, “Every decision made thus far I can live with.”
Politics: Tipper’s Turn
WTC DEBRIS
Unclean Cars?
New York City was planning to release hundreds of vehicles recovered from the WTC area beginning Monday. In recent weeks, city officials sent owners and insurance companies a letter about how to retrieve the cars from the Fresh Kills landfill, along with a three-page tipsheet on how to clean them of WTC dust and debris. But last Thursday, New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler wrote a letter to the EPA’s Christie Whitman urging her to file an emergency injunction against the city to prevent the vehicles’ release. On Friday the EPA asked the city to delay releasing the cars until it meets with EPA officials to discuss procedures. The NYC Department of Health will honor the EPA’s request, but Kelly McKinney, associate commissioner for environmental health, says the decision to release the cars was based on a careful review of numerous tests. “There is no significant risk to human health,” he says. “People will not get sick by taking these cars.”
One local law-enforcement source says investigators who searched the cars for evidence are worried about a different hazard: body parts. In cleaning, “we found arms, legs, a ribcage–imagine if we missed something?” said the source.
DOLLS
One Less Babe In Toyland
American Girl’s flagship line is a series of seven dolls from pivotal times in American history: Molly’s story centers on life during World War II; Addy, the black character, lives during the Civil War, and Josefina is a Mexican immigrant in 1824. A spokeswoman for the company says that “a Jewish character is something we’re considering” as an addition to that line. “It’s definitely one of our top requests,” she tells NEWSWEEK.
American Girls come with six stories and, judging from Lindsey, the company may want to finesse her narrative. Lindsey, who is 10, seems like an early retiree, but a read of her self-titled work makes you wonder how she’s made it this far. The story–a total caricature–begins: “As soon as I saw the matzo ball sailing across the room, I tried to duck. But I didn’t move fast enough. It hit me in the face.” Better times next year in Jerusalem, kid.
HEALTH
Gross Out, Smoke Out
Now the U.S. Justice Department is proposing similar tactics, asking a judge to force cigarette makers to cover half their packs with “graphic health warning labels.” The move, disclosed last week, surprised anti-smoking forces, who expected the Bush administration to go easy on Big Tobacco. Cigarette makers scoff at the legal maneuver and argue that only Congress can mandate warning labels. “This is ludicrous,” says William S. Ohlemeyer, VP for Philip Morris Cos., which is suing the Canadian government overthe warnings. Canadian officials say smoking is declining in Canada, partly due to the warnings. But McCaffrey still smokes a pack a day: “Short of being lobotomized, I just don’t know if I can give it up.” Now, that would make a really ghastly label.
Hits: ‘Nanny Diaries’
not
BASEBALL
The Big Show
Baseball’s natural historical relevance aside, the display showcases the evolution (aha!) of The Game’s cultural import and provides you with the Cliffs Notes version of what the Hall of Fame has in Cooperstown, N.Y. There are 35,000 artifacts there. This show has 500, and it’s good stuff: the Honus Wagner card, the Doubleday Ball (a.k.a. the original baseball), “Shoeless Joe” Jackson’s shoes, the bat Roger Maris used for No. 61. George Brett’s bat is there also, the one with too much pine tar. You’ll relive his bolting from the dugout, mouth foaming, as your past and baseball’s intersect. Or maybe that’ll happen when you see the ball from Don Larsen’s perfect World Series game in 1956.
That’s a once-in-a-lifetime moment. The exhibit–it travels to nine more museums during the next four years–is at its best when it shows how deeply the game has penetrated everyday life. “You’ll find stuff here that has nothing to do with hitting home runs,” says Ted Spencer, the Hall of Fame’s chief curator. “It all has to do with response to the game.” A must-see piece is the scoreboard from the Blair Hotel in Pennsylvania, which used levers and pulleys to keep guests up on the action. It reminds you just how powerful the game’s grip can be, as does a ball pulled from World Trade Center rubble and Curt Schilling’s God Bless America cap. Baseball sustains us in wartime–FDR’s letter urging play to continue in 1942 is on hand–and when we’re hungry. Check out the “Reggie!” bar and the can of BroccaPop. Though maybe it’s best to let that rest in obscurity.
Transition: Bold In Boston
H.D.S. Greenway
Home Plate
The food is splendid and as American as, well, baseball. The New York strip with garlic probably would appall your physician, but a codicil to the rules of healthy living says the rules are suspended during spring training. The food, though, is almost beside the point. At the tables are many members of baseball’s family–players, broadcasters, sportswriters, coaches, clubhouse guys and many others. On the walls are bric-a-brac–signed balls and bats and uniforms, and a billion or so photographs of famous sports types who have dined there. So, this is March in Arizona: baseball, then Don & Charlie’s. Life really does not get any better.
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Tonya Defeats Paula Edition
C.W. Powell + Persuades Sharon to withdraw Army. But suicide bombers won’t listen to him. O’Neill = Good news: Speaks mind opposing steel tariffs. Bad news: Bushies hate mind-speakers. Tipper = Ponders Tenn. Senate bid. Advice: Don’t stand too close to the guy with the beard. INS - Extends visas of 9-11 hijackers. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Deport them. Andersen - Obstruction indictment could kill company, but reputation already in shreds. Fox TV = Bad news: No show too sleazy to air. Worse news: No show too sleazy for us to watch.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-13” author: “Robert Trevino”
So what do you say to Andersen clients to try to stop them from joining the ever-longer list of ex-clients? As luck would have it, NEWSWEEK knows: we’ve gotten a copy of a presentation that Andersen is currently making to corporate boards. We didn’t see the show–we’re not that wired–but the presentation is revealing.
The fortysomething-page package, with highly confidential printed on each page, claims that news accounts have exaggerated Andersen’s role in Enron’s collapse. (You know what those newsies are like.) Andersen blames Enron officials, Enron’s board of directors, investment banks, credit-rating agencies and the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the best “mistakes were made” tradition, Andersen says, “We will acknowledge errors in judgment and have done so.” Not exactly the same as “we’re sorry” or “we screwed up, but we promise not to do it again.” But maybe those wouldn’t look good in PowerPoint.
Andersen invokes the weather defense: “This is our 100-year flood–an extraordinary and unusual set of events.” And the “everyone else sucks” defense. Andersen says it had a 21 percent market share of Big Five accounting clients but accounted for only 15 percent of the financial restatements from 1997 through 2000. The Enron restatement was in 2001. Maybe it and Andersen’s other recent disaster, Global Crossing, will be in the updated versions.
The real question about Andersen these days is whether it will survive in anything like its current form. It’s all well and good to hire the sainted Paul Volcker to be a public symbol of rectitude, but how do you deal with the drain of customers, partners and bright young talent? Not to mention the financial hits? The last page of the Andersen package, which purports to address the perception that “Andersen will not survive,” says: “What we know for a fact is that we are a strong and financially healthy firm and that we intend to learn from this experience and be better for it.” Not exactly Churchillian. Then again, what do you expect from accountants?
SPATS: WILL THE SMILES FADE?
But this doesn’t mean that Beijing and Taipei are finally singing to one tune. China’s “smile offensive” stems in part from its desire to draw Taiwan into the mainland’s economic orbit–primarily through direct sea, air and postal connections. Even more important, Beijing is eager to avoid anything that might complicate its leadership transition. Within the next year, nearly half of China’s political leaders–including President Jiang Zemin–are slated to step down from key posts.
What could force a frown is the U.S. relationship with Taiwan. Last week Washington announced that Taiwan’s Defense Minister Tang Yiau-ming would be granted a visa to visit the United States, in contrast with past policy. Tang may meet with U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz in Florida this week. And next month the Pentagon will make its annual decision on U.S. arms sales to Taiwan. Already Beijing has loudly demanded an end to all U.S.-Taiwanese military ties and dialogue–familiar words that could soon drown out all the sweet talk.
AIR HELL
Oops… They Did It Again
KENTUCKY CATNAP: The lines sure moved fast at the airport in Louisville, Kentucky, on Feb. 20–because a security screener fell asleep. A thousand happy passengers slipped on by, but were soon back to their disgruntled selves when authorities awoke the napper and sent them all through again. MILE-HIGH MATES: Two men, constantly ducking into the bathroom together–they must be terrorists! At least, so assumed the crew of a recent flight from London to New York. Within minutes, two Air Force jets scrambled to escort the plane home. As it turns out, the men weren’t terrorists–just a lascivious gay couple. THUMBS DOWN: Do air marshals really make a difference? When one passenger disobeyed a flight attendant on a Los Angeles-Salt Lake City flight by leaving his seat, an air marshal who had seen the culprit give the thumbs up to another passenger put two and two together–and made five. All the passengers were forced to keep their hands on their heads until landing. Come on, guys. Just because the “thumbs up” means “up yours” in many parts of the world… HIGH-JACKING? Who could confuse Osama bin Laden with a deceased Ethiopian emperor? A flight attendant on JMC Airlines, that’s who. The stewardess on a London-to-Spain flight accosted two passengers when she confused the man adorning their T shirts, Jah Ras Tafari Haile Selassie I, with bin Laden. The angry Rastas were ordered off the plane before takeoff, after allegedly inflaming the situation with a hostile reaction to the flight attendant. Who can blame them–first the no smoking rule, now this?
ARCHITECTURE
Take This Job And Shove It!
Homicide? We’re becoming a much more violent culture. Employees are getting fired and coming back and shooting their human-resources officer. In the 1940s they would jump off of buildings or go and drink heavily. How can design help? If you fire somebody you should have good access control–a perimeter fence, door controls, locks with ID-card access. So when that employee packs up their stuff, you say, “Here’s your two weeks’ paycheck, take your stuff, bye-bye, have a nice life,” and they can’t get back in to assault somebody. Can color help prevent outbursts? The whole idea of the pink jail cell had its microseconds of fame. It was supposed to look like the inside of a womb. But the color loses its pacifying effect. What does play a role is lighting and graphic design. If you create a space that’s well lit, well signed and well marked, you will prevent confusion. People will know where they’re supposed to be and where they’re going. They’re not going to be bumping into each other. Are other countries experiencing similar levels of violence in the workplace? I met with the top security government minister in France. He’s in charge of crime prevention and… [Atlas shouts at his fax machine] No, that can’t be. No, no, no, it cannot be! Goddammit! This is a brand-new cartridge. This has got to work. No, no, no! What is it about today’s workplace? The technology never works… it can drive normal people like me to violence. I’m sorry, I’m just not really present here. I just don’t have the time and patience for this right now, I’m sorry. I’ve got my fax machine here… I just put a brand-new cartridge in and it’s telling me the cartridge needs to be changed. It’s a $26 ink cartridge, and I can’t get out the faxes from my machine. I’m going to get real ugly here, so I’m not going to subject you to that.
BLUNDERS
Blind as a… Bush?
ART?
Twins of Thin
What’s your point? When we are together, people stare at us. When we are on a train, we are always the ones that the police pick out to question. Is it that we look like we take drugs? Is it that we scare them because we are thin? People somehow are afraid of us. This was a reaction to that. We want to create a new fashion brand of women and men–clones of us. Society wants us to fit into its rules. It is about exclusion. It is rather unsettling. People either love it or hate it. There is no in between. Women tend to have a really angry reaction. What’s with the smells emitted in the installation viewing rooms? It is about our identity. In shops there are smells released to influence the public. We smell exactly the same. We had a doctor take our shirts, which we had worn for three weeks, and analyze the smell and come up with an organic scent. It’s the smell of wine, body odor, our eating habits. Also urine. Cats use urine to say: “This is my territory and you do not belong here.” Are you anorexic? We do not think we have an eating problem. But people want to hear that we do. It is so irritating that everybody has this victim image. We don’t have an obsession about losing weight.
FIRST PERSON GLOBAL
By Ron Moreau
During times of war, when journalists, U.N. staffers and soldiers pour into a conflict zone, prices suddenly go insane. In Cambodia, I once paid $800 for a 50 kilometer tank ride to the Thai border. During the gulf war, a rental-car agent tried to force me to buy him a new Nissan 4x4 simply because I had dented a fender. Not surprisingly, war profiteering in Pakistan has been just as scandalous. At the outset of the U.S. campaign in Afghanistan, hotel prices tripled, a small platform on one’s rooftop for TV broadcasts went for $500 a day and young men barely able to speak English demanded $100 a day–and up–to work as interpreters and guides.
The gouging was deepest in the small, western Pakistani town of Quetta last December. In Quetta, where smuggling is just about the only game in town, the influx of cash-flush journalists set off a feeding frenzy among savvy locals. When a Western cable network began broadcasting from Mullah Mohammed Omar’s former stronghold of Kandahar, rumors immediately circulated that the network had paid tens, even hundreds, of thousands of dollars for safe passage from Quetta to Kandahar. One well-connected local man named Agha was quick to approach NEWSWEEK’s Scott Johnson, photographer Ilkka Uimonen and me, saying he knew an Afghan tribal leader who could get us to Kandahar in a hurry.
He introduced us to Haji Abdul Bari Maruffi, a thirtysomething leader of the Alizai tribe. Maruffi laid out the deal: he didn’t want to make any money, but as a tribal leader he had to take care of his people. It was a matter of his honor and our safety, he said. First, he’d have to send an advance man to pay off tribal militia manning the checkpoints en route. Then he’d have to hire a bevy of armed men to accompany us in several rented 4x4 pickup trucks.
“So, how much do you want?” we asked. “$1 million,” he replied.
When the initial shock wore off, we laughed. “You’ve got to be kidding.” Maruffi didn’t crack a smile. In my notebook, he scribbled what I assume was his final offer: “$300,000.” When we rejected it, he was both surprised and miffed.
The next day, we struck a deal with a young man at the border who had just driven a van in from Kandahar. Soon, Johnson and Uimonen were on their way for $400. As the war on terror moves toward its next possible targets–Sudan, Somalia, Yemen, even Iraq–you can bet the local profiteers are already calculating their take. They’ll mark up everything from hotels to vehicles and security. And who can blame them? The hordes of well-heeled hacks may come their way only once. In the best capitalist tradition, the locals might as well cash in while they can.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-22” author: “Jack Guetierrez”
Power Diplomacy–Or Just Politics?
Talk about disdain. The very public flap between Europe and the United States over Iraq doesn’t do justice to the word. When George Bush delivered his “axis of evil” speech to Congress, American diplomats were almost as jarred as the allies–so much so that Secretary of State Colin Powell had to instruct his striped-pants set not to undermine the president by trying to “take the edge off” his words. But then came the European reaction, this minister and that accusing Washington of being “simplistic” or “absolutist.” Stateside squeamishness soon turned to annoyance, followed by a deep sense that enough was enough. “There go the whine-and-cheese Europeans–whine, whine, whine about consultations, not asking how can we help,” says one senior State Department official, summing up the mood within the administration. With Iraq now preoccupying American policy, the erstwhile transatlantic partners are utterly sidelined. What does Europe think? “Nobody here really cares,” says this State Department source.
At bottom, Washington sees the Europeans as fakes. Their shows of prickly rhetoric are considered to be purely for domestic audiences. With presidential elections looming in France and Germany, especially, Foreign Ministers Hubert Vedrine and Joschka Fischer hoped to boost their political standing by striking high-minded and “responsible” positions on the international stage. After all the hemming and hawing, the Bush administration expects Europe to fall quietly back into line. Indeed, British Prime Minister Tony Blair did so last week, declaring his support for “phase two” of the U.S. war on terror–a campaign against Iraq’s Saddam Hussein.
The price for Blair’s backing seems to be a commitment sought by other Europeans–that whatever policy the United States ultimately adopts, it must at least go through the motions of multilateral diplomacy. In other words, to put maximum pressure on Saddam to accept a return of U.N. inspectors, and to do so without restrictions or procrastination. What happens if Saddam doesn’t go along? The Europeans will be back at square one, with America determined as ever to go after Saddam alone, if need be. Will it be whine and cheese all over again, or a united front? “It’s too nice a day to be Europhobic,” says a senior U.S. official.
ENVIRONMENT
War and Peace
War: Most of the world’s recent violent conflicts have been fought in mountain ranges. And bombs–no matter how smart they may be–just don’t do a mountain any good. The most serious problems are in the Himalayan, Karakoram and Hindu Kush ranges.
Peace: Peace-lovers are loving their mountains to death. Recreation and tourism have made the Alps the most threatened range in the developed world. Mountain development is “a success story gone wrong,” says Jack Ives, who headed the U.N. research. Same in the Rockies, where Americans are climbing peaks, rafting rivers and four-wheeling into the wilderness. New roads and increasing traffic are polluting mountain valleys and lakes, fragmenting habitats and severing migration routes. To top it off, all the most fertile river valleys are being filled… with mountain McMansions.
Conservation efforts and restrictions are needed, say environmentalists. But those are mountains many nations are unprepared to scale.
HUMAN RIGHTS
Swept Under The Carpet
Not so, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch. Russian military “sweeps” on civilians continued in the region throughout last summer. Hundreds of Chechens have reported violations of human rights in the past nine months. Worse still, since September 11 further abuses have been ignored, as the ongoing war on terror has stolen the spotlight. Civilians continue to “face a daily threat of being arbitrarily detained, tortured or just ‘disappearing’ in custody,” says Human Rights Watch executive director Elizabeth Andersen. “That’s a far cry from normal.”
Human Rights Watch is now calling for an international commission of inquiry to monitor all human-rights violations, as Russian investigations are proving too slow. As the deputy chief of the Russian General Staff, Yuri Baluyevski, says: “The Army is not a democratic institution. It never has been and never will be.” The generals want discipline across the board, he adds, “but that doesn’t always work out.”
Wildlife: Killer Inuit?
Is idyllic Greenland gone for good? The postcard myth of the lonely hunter in his kayak is being blown to pieces. People talk rubbish about the Greenland Inuit being born environmentalists. It’s lying, denial and betrayal.
Why are they killing off wildlife? Greenland is still hunting with rules from the good old days. The outboard motor, automatic rifles, snowmobiles, GPS navigators and satellite telephones allow huge kills, [but] many of the hunters will still shoot at anything that moves–not just to gather food.
What about regulations? Among Greenlanders there is a popular saying: “Hunting rules only apply within sight of a township.”
What’s likely to die off first? Beluga whales will be gone within 20 years. The thick-billed murre population has been cut in half, 16 of 40 colonies shot to oblivion, mainly from illegal summer hunting. Common eider numbers are down by 80 percent, mainly from egg collecting and shooting females on nests. Walrus have stopped visiting Greenland’s shores, except for two spots in the northeastern national park. Hunters in boats still travel out to the drift ice and kill 300 [to] 600 walrus a year. Many behead them to sell the tusks to tourists, and leave the skin and meat behind. If this were the rhino in Africa, you’d have armed guards protecting the walrus.
Are Greenlanders aware of the situation? Collective denial is a big part of the problem. Inuit people in Greenland can do nothing wrong–that is still the credo.
WAR CRIMINALS
Going After Karadzic
The first attempt came up empty-handed. According to unconfirmed reports, German soldiers prevented Karadzic and his bodyguards from crossing into Yugoslavia near the village of Celebici. After an exchange of fire, Karadzic and his men apparently fled into nearby woods on the Bosnian side of the frontier. Another NATO swoop followed on Friday. Using explosives to blast into buildings, the soldiers found three weapons caches in what were suspected to be Karadzic’s hideouts.
His whereabouts may now be unclear, but the message isn’t. “Your time is running out,” said NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson. Expecting heavy opposition, SFOR sent in the usual number of large armored vehicles, backed by helicopters and APCs; many vehicles were marked ambulance. Most of the troops were French and German, but villagers saw dozens of American soldiers, too. All wore green or black balaclavas.
As the net tightens around Karadzic, it loosens around military chief Ratko Mladic, suspected of living under Yugoslav Army protection in Belgrade. Should Karadzic escape across the Montenegro border, he, too, could find refuge.
OLYMPICS 2002
Close Calls
LEGENDS
Goodbye to an Old Goon
God’s creations:His time as a soldier:Contraception:Education:Esperanto:Money:Marriage:Parents:Death:Heaven:
FIRST PERSON GLOBAL
Rio’s international airport is noticeably bereft of signs in English. Stories on the nightly TV news are almost all about Brazil. On my first trip there recently, when I asked a Brazilian acquaintance if there was a local English-language newspaper, he responded quizzically: “Why would we need that?” Brazilians get by just fine on their own–without foreign influences, he explained. It’s not that Brazilians are unconcerned with the outside world; it’s just that everything and everyone there screams: “Brazil is the best!”
At first blush, the country seems to be its own arrogant superpower–another United States of America. But underneath the pride, I found a deep sense of insecurity and denial. Take the language, which initially seems one of the country’s strengths: most visitors don’t speak Portuguese, and many resort to Spanish instead (like me). Some might shrug that off, but consider this: if you spoke German in the United States, just because English and German are related, share a few words and sound relatively similar, would Americans be insulted? You bet. Brazilians suffer this indignity every day. Even in some international institutions where Portuguese is an official language, high-ranking Brazilian and Portuguese members are often asked to please speak a language that other members understand.
Then there’s football, the sport Brazilians dominate. Or do they? Endemic corruption and injuries to stars like Ronaldo threaten to destroy Brazilians’ once-justified faith in one-named greats like Junior, Pele, Zico and Socrates. When I asked a few Rio locals who they thought would win this year’s World Cup, they all predictably cried, “Brazil!” But they immediately corrected themselves. “Probably France,” they admitted sheepishly.
You’d think that Brazil’s famed sexuality would be a realm of utter self-confidence. (In what other nation does the average citizen have the guts to sport nothing but the thinnest of thongs?) But that’s not really the case. Brazil has become one of the cosmetic-surgery capitals of the world. Clearly, Brazilians don’t think it’s that OK to show off a butt that bulges not-so-boastfully out of its bikini. Worse still is Brazil’s AIDS crisis–more than half a million Brazilians are infected with the HIV virus. Brazil is well known for its medical movement to fight AIDS, and in recent years has launched pro-condom campaigns. But in the bars I went to in Rio and Salvador, neither abstinence nor safe sex seemed to be on anyone’s mind. Perhaps naively, I had expected condoms to be used instinctually. From the surprised look I saw on one young lady’s face when the subject came up, I gather they aren’t.
The sad truth is that although Brazil is the biggest nation in South America, and the fourth largest country on earth, it has never been considered sophisticated and glamorous by outsiders–or, deep down, it would seem, by Brazilians themselves. Nonetheless, I left the country with a sense of faith in the raw self-confidence that had initially struck me. I can’t help but feel that one day Brazil will outgrow its insecurities. Its exuberance, however conflicted, is just too infectious. On New Year’s Day, as I watched a promising dawn break over Copacabana Beach, one of the girls I was sitting with summed it up: “Brazil is the best!” she exclaimed. In Spanish, of course.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-31” author: “Tony Dailey”
What’s really new, they argue, is the review’s conclusion that the Pentagon must develop high-precision conventional-strike weapons as a substitute for nuclear weapons. The explosive power of nuclear warheads was designed in part to compensate for their missiles’ inaccuracy. But new weapons like the JDAM bomb steer to within a few feet of their targets by tracking signals from orbiting Global Positioning Systems. The Pentagon is now working to give the same accuracy to its missiles. One such project: putting a GPS-steering conventional warhead on a Trident D-5 submarine-launched ICBM. That would give the United States the capacity to hit a target anywhere in the world in half an hour. The Pentagon is also developing the “common aerospace vehicle,” a Star Wars spinoff that would loiter in near-Earth space over global trouble spots, prepared to shoot conventional missiles down at targets on Earth. These high-speed, high-precision missiles may be one answer, Defense Department sources say, to one of the key problems the review highlights: the use by “rogue states” of deeply buried bunkers to hide command centers and entire chemical- or bioweapon plants. Penetrating the earth and rock protecting these bunkers is a top U.S. priority, and a high-precision conventional ICBM may be one answer. An ICBM closes on its target at more than 15,000mph –giving it the energy to drive a warhead hundreds of feet underground.
So, despite cries to the contrary, it would seem the United States isn’t as nuke-obsessed as critics presume. Insists a senior Defense Department official: “America should be the last to use nuclear weapons. We should utilize our conventional superiority… The last thing we want to do is to legitimize the use of the only weapon that could defeat the United States of America.”
MISSING
Up the Khyber Pass
INDONESIA
More Power for Megawati
But maybe not really. A closer look shows that Indonesia’s judicial system is still far from perfect. Observers expect prosecutors to allow Tommy, former president Suharto’s youngest son, to escape the death sentence for murder. Tandjung, who denies the charges, remains House speaker, and signs that Parliament is unlikely to set up its own investigation this week could take the steam out of the prosecution’s case. And Sabirin has kept his job, despite his sentence, as he appeals the court’s decision.
No matter what the courts decide, the arrests do demonstrate Megawati’s newfound confidence, which many consider more important than convictions. The country, they argue, needs strong leadership to push through reforms to kick-start the economy far more than judicial reforms. Finally, Megawati is hinting that she just might have that strength.
R.I.P.
Yugoslavia, 1929-2002
Last week the troubled nation was finally put to rest. The aptly named “rump Yugoslavia” was rechristened as Serbia and Montenegro. The two wanted to go their separate ways, but the European Union wouldn’t let them. And so now they share a U.N. seat and, without hope of success, will try to craft a common defense and foreign policy. In all other respects, they are divorced, with separate governments, economies, budgets, customs and currencies. If the parties don’t like this arrangement, the split can be made complete after a three-year trial.
And why not? Feelings in the two capitals, Belgrade and Podgorica, ranged from indifference to frustration at being manipulated by EU power brokers. The big countries feared a Montenegrin independence referendum that might violently split the nation–and pose dangers elsewhere, most notably in Bosnia (restive under a union imposed by NATO) and Kosovo. Security Council Resolution 1244 authorizes the United Nations to administer Kosovo as a de facto protectorate, formally recognizing the province as part of “Yugoslavia”–but specifically not Serbia. Maintaining the fiction of the old federation, it’s hoped, will keep Kosovo Albanians from immediately seeking independence. Hence the name game. Will it save this poor land more heartache? Not likely.
OOPS…
Come Again?
For its part, the Washington, D.C.-based INS, formally known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service (and now more commonly known as the Inept Naturalization Service), issued no apology for the goof. But late last week it did move to make amends, replacing and reassigning four senior officials responsible for immigration. Let’s hope they like their new positions. Otherwise they might apply for jobs just across town at the Office of Homeland Security.
Dolls: No More American Whore
WHISPERS
Bye, Bye, Bye?
BOOKS
He’s Come Undone
Why do you think he did it? He had quite a horrible childhood. He was abused in foster care. That’s a very sad story. It also has nothing to do with the larger sweep of history. I think there’s this desire to have a story that other people know to empathize with. For the same reason that my family was drawn to him, people see their connection to history through stories like this.
He seemed to relish his victim fame. He wasn’t hoping to achieve that? I don’t think it was conscious at the beginning: what historical event am I going to pick? I think he was drawn to the Holocaust to understand his missing past. But you point a camera or a microphone at a lot of people and they change. You want to give people what they want to hear.
Did you like him? He had this passive charisma. You’re drawn to him because you want to help him. He sort of looked like the Cowardly Lion. You’re afraid he won’t make it across the room without crumpling. He was very cooperative. He gave me what I wanted: a good story. It turned out to be even better than what I thought it would be.
FIRST PERSON GLOBAL
–By Caille Millner
I must explain something to you,” said Chris, trying to be heard above the music.
That’s how it starts. I’ve been in Cape Town for three months, and by now I recognize the warning signs. Whenever I’m approached by white South African men, I expect the inevitable: a confession.
“My aunt married P. W. Botha. Have you heard of P. W. Botha?” asked Chris.
P. W. Botha? As in the former president of South Africa? As in the man synonymous with apartheid?
“Yes. You can’t imagine what it’s been like being his relation.”
Sorry, darlin’, I can’t. For one thing, I’m American. For another, I’m what’s known in the United States as “light-skinned black,” but what South Africans call “colored.” The labels are arbitrary–like any racial classification–but in South Africa, as in America, they carry heavy weight. So much weight, in fact, that since arriving in Cape Town I have found myself acting as absolver. To some men, the vision of a young brown woman with access to a world that was so segregated is an occasion for shock. Then jubilation. And finally, the kind of internal turmoil that has historically driven people to priests, rabbis or the bottle.
In Chris’s case that particular night, it drove him to both the bottle and me. Apparently, being related to P. W. Botha is a source of shame, guilt and an attraction to all things “colored.” As Chris kept pouring drinks, he told me the story of when Botha kicked his ex-girlfriend–a colored–out of a family dinner. “I was horrified,” he said.
So was I. Not about his feelings, but about the feelings of that poor colored girl–and this poor colored girl. What was Chris thinking, telling me this? And what was I thinking, listening to him?
But as I have recently found in similar situations, I couldn’t turn away. Just weeks before, I had choked down my horror to wipe the tears of a man who saw me and relived his experiences in South Africa’s National Army. “I had to shoot people who look like you,” he said, weeping. He tried to give me his phone number, so we could talk about the matter further. I declined.
So why do I listen? I listen because that is all I can do. I would lie if I told them what they wanted to hear: no one hates you for the way white people treated people of color all those years. I would lie if I told them it was OK to pour out their feelings to the one person of color in the room they found acceptable–a young, educated, American woman–and ignore the anger of the people of color they see every day, the ones who sweep their floors and park their cars and beg them for change. I would lie if I told them that it’s in my power to forgive them for what they feel.
Rather than lie, I listen. And sometimes I respond. As Chris was wrapping up his tragic tales, I suddenly felt ill from all the drink. He had just turned to me for his absolution when I vomited all over the floor. As he hustled me outside, I croaked: “Not exactly the answer you were looking for, was it?”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-09” author: “Rita Sparkman”
So what do you say to Andersen clients to try to stop them from joining the ever-longer list of ex-clients? As luck would have it, NEWSWEEK knows: we’ve gotten a copy of a presentation that Andersen is currently making to corporate boards. We didn’t see the show–we’re not that wired–but the presentation is revealing.
The fortysomething-page package, with highly confidential printed on each page, claims that news accounts have exaggerated Andersen’s role in Enron’s collapse. (You knew what those newsies are like.) Andersen blames Enron officials, Enron’s board of directors, investment banks, credit-rating agencies and the Securities and Exchange Commission. In the best “mistakes were made” tradition, Andersen says, “We will acknowledge errors in judgment and have done so.” Not exactly the same as “we’re sorry” or “we screwed up, but we promise not to do it again.” But maybe those wouldn’t look good in PowerPoint.
Andersen invokes the weather defense: “This is our 100-year flood–an extraordinary and unusual set of events.” And the “everyone else sucks” defense. Andersen says it had a 21 percent market share of Big Five accounting clients but accounted for only 15 percent of the financial restatements from 1997 through 2000. The Enron restatement was in 2001. Maybe it and Andersen’s other recent disaster, Global Crossing, will be in the updated versions.
The real question about Andersen these days is whether it will survive in anything like its current form. It’s all well and good to hire the sainted Paul Volcker to be a public symbol of rectitude, but how do you deal with the drain of customers, partners and bright young talent? Not to mention the financial hits? The last page of the Andersen package, which purports to address the perception that “Andersen will not survive,” says: “What we know for a fact is that we are a strong and financially healthy firm and that we intend to learn from this experience and be better for it.” Not exactly Churchillian. Then again, what do you expect from accountants?
ANDREA YATES
Examining a Spiritual Leader’s Influence
Was Andrea Yates’s “spiritual leader” partly responsible for her delusional thinking? As testimony comes to a close in her trial, evangelist Michael Woroniecki’s influence over the mother accused of murdering her five children has become an issue. A day after Yates, who has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, drowned the children in the family bathtub, she told a jail psychiatrist that her bad mothering had made the kids “not righteous,” and, as a result, they would “perish in the fires of hell.” If she killed them while they were young, God would show mercy on their souls.
Where did these thoughts stem from? Yates’s attorney, George Parnham, has put into evidence a copy of Woroniecki’s newsletter The Perilous Times, sent to Yates and her husband, Rusty. In it a poem laments the disobedient kids of the “Modern Mother Worldly” and ends with the question, “What becomes of the children of such a Jezebel?” Houston psychiatrist Lucy Puryear told the jury that literature is “what her delusions are built around.”
In a letter to NEWSWEEK, Woroniecki, 48, denies negatively influencing Yates, and points at Rusty. “Knock, knock… Hello… earth to Rusty… your wife and children are in desperate need of your love,” he writes. “I warned him over and over again that his life was headed for tragedy.” Rusty, who declined to comment, first met Woroniecki while he was a student at Auburn University. Woroniecki was preaching on campus. Rusty introduced the preacher to Andrea, and in 1998 the Yateses bought a Greyhound bus from Woroniecki, who had lived in it with his wife and their six children as they toured the nation.
During a 1994 protest at Brigham Young University, Woroniecki called the school’s women “contemporary witches.” He told them sarcastically, “Go and be a 20th-century career woman and forget about your families.” One of his pamphlets proclaimed, “As man was created to dominate, God reveals that woman was created to be his helpmeet.” Though Andrea quit her job to stay home with the kids, Woroniecki says he never urged her to do this. “Although she was an excellent nurse, she never wanted to pursue a career,” he wrote NEWSWEEK.
Rusty told the jury that he agreed with Woroniecki’s support for home-schooling and living the “simple life” in a bus–two decisions the Yateses copied but which Puryear says caused significant stress for the passive Andrea. Forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz agreed, and said these factors led to her two previous suicide attempts. “She couldn’t say to people, ‘I can’t stand this’.”
For his part, Woroniecki writes that he and his wife were “a very compassionate and caring couple who did all we could to love them… After all we did for this family, it is preposterous for us to be cast into such a terrible image.”
PARDONS
Secret E-Mail
A stack of private e-mails has given fresh impetus to the Justice Department investigation into former president Bill Clinton’s last-minute pardon of fugitive financier Marc Rich. The messages were withheld on the ground of attorney-client privilege, but a judge recently ordered them turned over, ruling they were about political lobbying, not legal matters. Since then there’s been a flurry of grand-jury subpoenas to Rich’s lawyers. In one e-mail, Rich lawyer Jack Quinn asks an associate about an alleged conversation between Rich’s ex-wife, Denise Rich, and the president about the pardon. “Is this the moment to say that he asked DR for pol support? Or might DR have said something stupid like that when they spoke. God knows, I hope not.” A forthcoming House committee report obtained by NEWSWEEK says the e-mail raises “a real question as to whether President Clinton asked Denise Rich for political or financial support in the midst of their discussions about the Rich pardon.” A Quinn spokesman says the “he” refers to the then New York mayor Rudy Giuliani, not Clinton. New evidence also shows that Denise Rich gave the Clintons $7,373 in furniture for their new Chappaqua, N.Y., home on Dec. 1, 2000–just five days before she wrote Clinton pleading for the pardon. Rich’s lawyer says the gift had “no connection” to the pardon request. Other e-mails raise questions about Quinn’s denials that he would bill Rich, or accept further fees, for his work on the pardon. “Not that I’m concerned, but did Marc decide to renew the retainer?” Quinn wrote another Rich lawyer after the pardon was granted. A Quinn spokesman says Quinn signed a new retainer with Rich–to cover new legal matters. Rich is also paying Quinn’s legal fees in the probe.
ART
Light From Ground Zero
Ever since September 11, the vibrations from Ground Zero and vicinity have been a wrenching mix of heroism and horror, hope and despair. Now, with a rapturous collaborative work of public art called “Tribute in Light,” something purely uplifting will emanate from a vacant lot just north of the site of the terrorist attacks. Two shafts of light will soar into the sky, each night for 34 days, in memoriam to the victims of 9-11 and, very secondarily, to the skyline icons that were the World Trade Center towers themselves. At the base of each 50-foot-square tower of light are 44 science-fiction-like 7,000-watt light bulbs called “space cannons.” The juice for the project is supplied by the still-working generators in the evacuated Embassy Suites hotel. Its estimated $500,000 cost is being underwritten by a variety of corporate and private donations.
Inspiration for the work of art came simultaneously from three sources initially unaware of each another. Architect Richard Nash Gould saw the towers collapse and, that night, called a friend at the Municipal Art Society with the idea of restoring the light that used to come from the buildings. Julian Laverdiere and Paul Myoda were already working on a collaborative light-beam “sculpture.” When The New York Times Magazine wanted a cover image for a Ground Zero renewal story, its editors were directed to the two artists, who supplied an image of some ghostly spires of light rising above Manhattan. Laverdiere says the rescue lamps and dust from the debris made a “ghastly halo,” and that “Paul wanted to rein in the chaos of light, and sculpt it into something signifying hope.” Meanwhile, in Greenwich Village, architects Gustavo Bonevardi and John Bennett–who specialize in digital-video re-creations of architecture for museum exhibitions–had an almost identical idea, but with a more practical, less spiritual edge. They called their vision “PRISM: Project to Restore Immediately the Skyline of Manhattan.” Public-art groups Creative Time and the MAS brought everybody together with lighting designer Paul Marantz and started the usually arduous approval process.
Something about the undeniable virtue of the project must have clicked with the bureaucrats: only six months after the awfulness, Mayor Mike Bloomberg oversees the flip of the switch this week. (Since low cloud cover could diffuse the light and disorient pilots flying in the vicinity, the FAA will evaluate the weather daily and decide whether to turn the bulbs on or not. The Audubon Society will monitor bird-migration patterns and suggest turnoffs if birds get disoriented.) Architect Bennett says that “Tribute” just might be “the brightest light on earth, visible from space.” And very visible in a lot of hearts around Gotham.
TABOO TOPIC
The German Titanic
It was the worst tragedy in maritime history, six times more deadly than the Titanic. When the German cruise ship Wilhelm Gustloff was hit by torpedoes fired from a Soviet submarine in the final winter of World War II, more than 10,000 people–mostly women, children and old people fleeing the final Red Army push into Nazi Germany–were packed aboard. The disaster, survived by only 1,200, was rarely mentioned for more than half a century. Since most Germans feared they would be accused of equating their losses with the horrors they inflicted on others, only the nationalist right spoke freely about what happened to the 13 million Germans brutally driven out of their homelands at the end of the war. Now Germany’s Nobel Prize-winning author Gunter Grass has resurrected the memory of the dead with his novel “Crab Walk,” published last month (and due out in English next year). His willingness to break the taboo against writing about what happened as WWII ended has had an electrifying effect: critics from left and right are praising his work.
The long silence about the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff and other tragedies of that period was probably unavoidable–and necessary. By owning up to their country’s role as the perpetrator of monstrous crimes, Germans have managed to win acceptance abroad, marginalize the neo-Nazis at home and make peace with their neighbors. But as Grass has shown, even the most politically correct Germans believe they’ve now earned the right to discuss the full historical record. Not to equate Germany’s suffering with that of its victims, but simply to acknowledge a terrible tragedy.
STARLETS
Summertime: The Last Phoenix Takes Flight
The Phoenix family is the gift that keeps on giving. Now Summer Phoenix, the younger sister of actors Joaquin, Rain and the late River, comes into her own. This month the 24-year-old appears in three films: “Esther Kahn,” Showtime’s “The Believer” and MTV’s “Wasted.” NEWSWEEK’s Marc Peyser caught up with the last of the line.
“Wasted” is about heroin deaths at a high school. Did River’s overdose have anything to do with your decision to be in the film?
Honestly, I didn’t even think about it. I could see how people would wonder about that, but this movie was so much more about, one, working with friends and, number two, about a problem that’s really apparent and that has no prejudice and sees no status or color. It’s become an epidemic. And it’s sad for the people that are, you know, the parents of these children and the friends of these kids that are left behind wondering.
So it would be wrong to think that this has become a cause for you.
That would be very wrong. I’m not taking up any causes.
What was your childhood like?
I did every ’80s sitcom, like “Growing Pains.” I did a lot of pilots that were spinoffs of “Family Ties.” I did a spinoff when Nick had his own show. I played his niece.
Were you in school?
No, I was in school for part of it. I graduated elementary school and then went down to Central America, and I traveled and I worked in a restaurant and I–
How old were you?
Well, I went when I was 12, and when I was 13 or 14 my sister and I started a vegan restaurant in Costa Rica. Yeah, we were crazy. I was sous-chef and prep, and my sister was head chef. I took my GED when I was 14.
Were there times when you wanted to have a normal name like Susan?
Yeah. When we played house when we were kids, [my sister] Liberty and I were always like Stacy and Tiffany–those were our names. When you’re a kid, you don’t recognize the beauty in difference and being unique and special. Yeah, we were odd and different, but everybody sort of wanted to know why, and what made us that way and could they have some of my blue corn chips.
Have the names become appropriate? Are you bright and happy?
No, my parents really should have named me Winter.
COLLEGE HOOPS
Let’s Dance
In the sweet science of NCAA bracketology, everybody has a system. Some people always pick the higher seed. Some imagine a fight between the two mascots and go with the winner. Some just pencil in their alma mater straight to the Final Four. (Memo to Winthrop grads: do not do this.) There is another way: raise your college-hoops IQ. Jason Williams (Duke) and Drew Gooden (Kansas) might lead their teams to the title, but these six unsung stars might lead you into the money.
Dan Dickau, Gonzaga Mop-headed mad bomber (20.9 points per game) looks like fourth Brady son but shoots much better than Greg.
Emeka Okafor, Connecticut Six-foot-9 pogo stick can take over games with shot blocking; freshman swatted eight or more six times this season.
Dwyane Wade, Marquette Supersoph turns ball over too much but leads team in points, rebounds and assists (just ahead of Rog and Rerun).
Trevor Huffman, Kent State Hit 51 percent of threes in last seven games. (Tip: always pick MAC conference teams in first round. They can really play.)
Erwin Dudley, Alabama Tireless rebounder, clutch scorer in the paint. Top player in nation’s toughest conference (SEC).
Hollis Price, Oklahoma Hot and cold with perimeter shot, but flawless floor general: just 1.7 turnovers per game, fantastic for a point guard.
GOLF
Straight Shots
Your short game needs work? Here’s a fast fix. Wilson’s new Staff True golf ball is arriving in stores with the audacious claim that it rolls straighter than other balls. According to Wilson, the golf-ball-making process creates tiny variances in the centering of the ball’s rubber core. If the core, which is heavier than the covering material, is off center, the imbalance can make a 10-foot putt on a perfectly flat surface drift toward the heavy side–enough to miss the hole entirely. In tests with a robotic putting machine, the company found the problem in up to 25 percent of golf balls of all makes. The True ball equalizes the density of the ball’s solid core and cover materials: no heavy side, no veering. “We have not found a way to put the core perfectly in the middle,” says Wilson’s Luke Reese. “We just made it irrelevant.” Now you’ll never have to ask, “Was it the ball?”
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Six months after terrorist attacks, soldiers still fighting, bin Laden still at large, U.S resolve still strong. Toughest question of all: where do we go from here?
C.W. Bush = Protectionist George sells out free-trade principles on steel for swing-state votes. Shaoron - World: Too tough on PLO. Israel: Not tough enough. CW: It’s hopeless. Gray Davis + Calif. Dem. Gov. monkey-wrenches GOP primary. Simon says: You’re a shoo-in. Condit - Crushed in Calif. re-elect bid. Next: Boxes O.J. on Fox? Welch - Neutron Jack (married) love-bombs Harvard Biz Review editor (who loses job). Smooth. Windshield - Note to Fort Worth driver: When you hit- Lady and-run, leave victim behind, please.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-17” author: “Amanda Bittner”
Was September 11 supposed to be only one of a series of carefully timed Qaeda attacks on American targets? That theory is gaining currency among investigators in the wake of law-enforcement crackdowns around the world. The latest: Italian authorities last week arrested five alleged Moroccan terrorists, who possessed a map of the Rome water system, another map pinpointing the location of the American Embassy and a quantity of an industrial chemical related to cyanide. (Qaeda recruits were trained to use cyanide to gas buildings; the chemical seized in Rome, however, was harmless.) Some U.S. officials now think that the abortive Rome attack could be the latest in a series of plots that Osama bin Laden set in motion early last year as supporting acts for 9-11.
Several foreign governments have foiled Qaeda attempts since last September. And many of these raids have turned up evidence of bin Laden’s plans. Within days of the 9-11 attacks, France, Holland, Belgium, Britain, Italy and Spain announced the arrests of alleged co-conspirators in a Qaeda terror campaign. The believed centerpiece? A spectacular suicide bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Paris. In November authorities in Singapore uncovered a plot to attack the U.S. Embassy and American commercial and military targets there. A few weeks later plots were uncovered in Malaysia and Indonesia. In January local authorities in Yemen broke up yet another plot directed at the U.S. Embassy in Sana. One possibility is that bin Laden’s original plan was to hit U.S. targets at intervals of about a month over a period of six months or more. Some U.S. law-enforcement officials suspect that shoe-bomber Richard Reid’s pre-Christmas mission was planned months earlier as part of bin Laden’s grand scenario.
U.S. officials point with satisfaction to the fact that all of these known plots were foiled with the cooperation of law-enforcement agencies in coalition countries, not all of them traditional U.S. allies. The White House is particularly grateful to Yemen, historically a haven for some of the worst Qaeda plotters. Yemen lately has become one of Washington’s most eager partners in rounding up terror suspects.
Administration officials are more vague when asked for details of plots foiled inside the United States. Intelligence sources speak of two or more passenger-jet hijackings that were prevented, and a possible suicide attack on the U.S. Capitol. Officials insist that some of the dozens of suspects picked up by U.S. authorities since 9-11 were involved in Qaeda plots, though little official information has come to light to support these assertions. U.S. officials are hardly complacent: the consensus among the Feds is that more Qaeda attacks on U.S. targets at home and abroad are inevitable.
ARGENTINA
Knockout Politics
Feb. 18:Feb. 13:Jan. 23:Jan. 12:
PEACE CORPS
Straight Into Harm’s Way?
FIGUREHEADS
The Power of Powell
be
Did Powell confer with the president over that big speech? When asked to explain his “axis of evil” in Tokyo last week, Dubya passed the hot potato to Powell. “You might want to ask him what he meant by ’the vapors’,” said the president. It was meant to say, “Let’s not swoon,” as the Victorians meant it, explained Powell. Then, at a banquet with China’s President Jiang Zemin, Bush deferred once again. Asked whether he would like to sing, Dubya declared: “Secretary Powell would like to sing a song.” The secretary declined. A shame, really. MTV would have loved it.
MILITARY OPS: NAME GAMES
Still, a tough-sounding name doesn’t guarantee intimi-dation. In Kenya, the Marines of Edged Mallet are reportedly being taunted constantly by local children, who follow them around, whispering, “Osama, Osama,” and “Saddam, Saddam.”
Meanwhile…
Spanish sunbathers were in for a shock last weekend when about 20 of Britain’s Royal Marines stormed a beach in Spain. The Marines were aiming for British-owned Gibraltar a few hundred yards away–and just missed. In the true spirit of diplomacy, the Spanish government quickly forgave them. In the true spirit of stereotypes, the British Ministry of Defense blamed the weather.
OLYMPICS 2002
Russian Judges Give It a ‘0’
(Graph) Straight Downhill? (Graphic omitted)
POP LEGENDS
Boy George, It’s a Musical!
Drugs, debauchery, AIDS… How did you escape the ’80s unscathed? I wouldn’t say I escaped unscathed. But one of my saving graces is [that] I can laugh at myself. I get great pleasure out of taking the piss out of myself. That’s what we do in the show. We send up everybody, and everything.
How has Britain changed since the ’80s? As kids back then we had more to fight for, we were rebelling against the whole Thatcher-Reagan thing. Young people frighten me now. They’re so conservative.
You once said you’d rather have a cup of tea than have sex. That flippant comment has haunted me for 20 years! I had a choice of saying I was gay, and upsetting my mum, or just lying–so said I’d rather have a cup of tea. Anyone with a brain knows I was joking. As if I’d prefer a cup of tea to sex…
Would the new show upset your mum? Every freak has a mother. I remember about three years ago meeting Marilyn Manson and his parents, and they were so like my parents, really ordinary. I took a fantastic picture of them, with this kind of bizarre-looking creature with the colored eyes and all the makeup.
Are you still a Karma Chameleon? Or a Hare Krishna? I’m a pantheist. I believe that God is in everything and everyone.
Do you ever get tired of the image you created for yourself? There isn’t a separation between Boy George and George O’Dowd. It’s been a fantastic adventure, I can’t believe I got away with half of it. Its almost voyeuristic, as if I’m outside of myself, looking in and thinking–is this for real?
FIRST PERSON GLOBAL
Ever since I moved to Israel a year ago, the Jerusalem Peace Forest has been my escape from the fear and loathing of the intifada. Perched on a ridge between East and West Jerusalem, this mile-long oasis of landscaped woods and gardens was constructed in the 1970s as a symbol of the city’s unification after the Six Day War. Since the recent uprising effectively redivided Jerusalem in two hostile halves, it has been one of the last places in the city where Palestinians and Jews rub shoulders–albeit warily.
The hatreds of the present seem to give way to a timeless serenity in the Peace Forest. Jogging along the Haas Promenade in the late afternoon, I can gaze upon the Dome of the Rock glimmering above the Old City walls and hear the wailing of muezzin from mosques scattered across East Jerusalem. On clear days the setting sun casts a rosy glow on the dun-colored warrens of the packed Palestinian neighborhoods. In the forest itself, Orthodox Jews and new Russian immigrants share the paths with picnicking Palestinian families and ball-playing Arab youths. The tension is undeniable, but the beauty of the setting seems to dispel all possibilities of violence.
In early February, however, everything changed. A 24-year-old female law student from Haifa was surrounded by a masked gang of Palestinian youths while strolling through the Peace Forest one Friday afternoon. They stabbed her a dozen times, and she died in a hospital hours later. Police and soldiers captured the boys as they fled to the Abu Tor neighborhood (where NEWSWEEK’S bureau is located) and shot a 14-year-old suspect to death, possibly after his arrest. Suddenly the intifada had intruded into my oasis.
When I returned to the Peace Forest for my afternoon run three days after the killings, the atmosphere was drastically different. Israeli soldiers stood guard at the entrance, and a jeep patrolled the road below. And for the first time since I’d begun jogging there a year ago, the promenade was–spookily–deserted. As I reached the end of the path and prepared to turn back, a man with a TV camera called to me from an observation point above the promenade. “Can I film you?” he asked. “Why?” I replied. “Because you’re the last one here.” Of course, I’ll keep coming back. But I have a sense my runs are going to be a lot lonelier.
DEATHS
Two Victims
On Saturday the discovery of veteran rebel leader Jonas Savimbi’s bullet-riddled body marked the end of an era in Angola. Since 1975, Savimbi had led the UNITA rebels against Angola’s government in a civil war that has cost an estimated 500,000 casualties and hundreds of thousands of refugees. Some observers see his death as a beacon of hope for peace. This is probably the “beginning of the end of Angola’s war,” said one U.N. representative.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-27” author: “Jeffrey Terry”
But as he crisscrossed the nation, simmering questions about his own accountability have boiled over. Andrea’s mother and siblings told reporters that Rusty, a controlling husband who often downplayed his wife’s mental illness and shut them out, bears some responsibility for the tragedy. Andrea’s best friend, Deborah Holmes, did the same. On radio call-in shows, Internet chat rooms and newspaper editorial pages, the questions continue.
Rusty calls such claims “outrageous” and says he did all he could to care for his wife. He says he never knew his wife was so sick, and he blames the medical community for not properly diagnosing and treating her. He has threatened to sue Andrea’s doctors and insurance providers.
Soon, however, he could have legal troubles of his own. The judge in the case is still considering whether Rusty violated the gag order and should be held in contempt of court. And Harris County D.A. Chuck Rosenthal told NEWSWEEK that his staff is investigating Rusty for crimes of omission including child endangerment.
Indeed, it’s what Rusty didn’t do that Andrea’s family and friends question. Andrea’s brother, Brian Kennedy, told NEWSWEEK he often tried to convince Rusty that Andrea’s illness was severe. “He just never accepted it,” says Kennedy, who calls his brother-in-law’s media appearances “damage control.” Holmes told NEWSWEEK that Andrea talked to Rusty about her mental illness before the drownings. But instead of immediately seeking treatment for her, Rusty bolstered Andrea’s belief that she was probably being influenced by demons, Holmes says.
Even forensic psychiatrist Park Dietz, who was the prosecution’s star witness, told NEWSWEEK that Rusty may have prevented the tragedy. He says Rusty’s insistence that his wife home-school their children and that they live in a cramped bus for a while, and his limiting her contact with friends and family and ex-posing her to Michael Woroniecki’s cult teachings about Satan, were all major contributors to her mental illness.
Rusty is “innocent of any criminal offense,” says his lawyer, Ed Mallet. Some legal experts, however, think that even if Yates escapes criminal charges (including contempt of court) he may have a tough time defending himself in civil court, where a jury could find him partly responsible.
While her attorneys and others mull over book deals and movie rights, Andrea will remain in an isolated cell 23 hours a day, allowed only one hour a day for recreation, according to a prison spokesman. She will not be allowed to make any phone calls or have any visitors for at least a month.
Rusty said last week that marriage is for companionship and children–and that he has neither. But while Andrea’s brother questions Rusty’s commitment to Andrea, he says her own family won’t waver. “Mom’s already written a letter to her,” Kennedy says. “We’ll always be there for her.”
EXCLUSIVE
A Troubling Money Trail
Funding for the institute’s $170,000-a-year operation could prove problematic. Saffuri confirmed the authenticity of checks obtained by NEWSWEEK showing the institute received $20,000 from the SAFA Trust and another $20,000 from Abdurhanman Alamoudi, a board member of the Success Foundation, whose offices were also raided. (The institute has also received foreign funding, including $55,000 from Kuwait and more than $200,000 from Qatar.) Steve Emerson, who tracks U.S.-based terror groups, said the checks “raise questions as to whether militant Islamic groups were trying to acquire political influence” in the United States. But Saffuri denied the funds came with any strings. Norquist, an institute board member, said the group “promotes democracy and free markets. Any effort to imply guilt by association is incompetent McCarthyism.” Sources close to the case told NEWSWEEK the raids were prompted by evidence showing the SAFA Trust and related groups transferred millions of dollars to obscure entities on the Isle of Man, a notorious money-laundering haven. Records also show that the president of SAFA Trust once served on the board of a firm associated with Al Taqwa, an international financial network whose assets were frozen by President Bush. So far no charges have been filed, and U.S. Islamic groups called the raids an “outrageous” violation of their civil liberties.
DOCTORS: Kicked Out
M.C.
DRUGS
In Court, Special After-School Activities
THE DEAD
Who’ll Tame Tiger and Wolf?
After a yearlong legal battle that pitted the Dead’s surviving members against each other, a January ruling returned Tiger and Wolf–Garcia’s other favorite–to maker Doug Irwin, to whom Garcia willed them before he died in 1995. The only stipulation: should he sell them, he must do so at public auction. Irwin, 52, contracted with New York auction house Guernsey’s to sell the guitars in May. They will likely best the amount ever paid for a rock guitar. (The current mark: $450,000, spent on the one Eric Clapton used to record “Layla.”) “They’d be worth every penny,” says Barrie Herman, who oversees buying for the Hard Rock Cafe’s collection.
Where will Garcia’s pets wind up? “I just hope they don’t end up in some Saudi prince’s tent encased in glass,” says bandmate Bob Weir. He and the band’s production company are building a coalition to make a collective bid. If the group wins, the guitars could go to a museum planned for San Francisco called Terrapin Station, the realization of an idea Weir and Garcia “kicked around endlessly,” Weir says. “We’re still grappling with how to honor Jerry’s memory.” Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, a Dead fan, is rumored to be a contender. (He declined to comment.) He may buy the guitars and display them at his Experience Music Project in Seattle, much like he did with the guitar Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock.
Tiger and Wolf were Irwin’s masterworks. Unlike stock Gibsons or Fenders that have 22 and 21 frets, respectively, Tiger boasts 24. That let Garcia play ear-piercing high notes. Irwin’s craftsmanship–he used rare cocobola and purple-heart hardwoods with mother-of-pearl inlays–isn’t the only reason they’re unique. Garcia’s collection was small: he tinkered with only a handful of guitars. “They were at the center of our whole Grateful Dead scene,” says roadie Steve Parish, who looked after the axes for almost two decades. “We lived and breathed with them. We’d buy first-class airplane seats for them, and I’d literally sleep with them at night.”
MUSIC
They’re Still The World Trade Center
BEGUN: How’d the name come about to begin with? GELLER: We were living in Brooklyn. Bands on the label I own have location-based names, like Vermont. I said, “I can get onstage and say, ‘I Am the World Trade Center’.” Before 9-11 we talked about changing, but our lives had become so intertwined. We were two people standing for one entity, like the towers.
After 9-11, what reaction did the name get? We got hate e-mails. Our first record came out last May. We randomly named a song “September,” and it randomly was track 11. This guy wrote us accusing us of being conspirators. We were going to play New York Sept. 13. After 9-11, promoters said, “You might not want to come up here with that name.” Now we’re booked in New York.
You consider a new name? We temporarily changed to I Am the World. Before IATWTC, I considered I Am the Empire State Building. After 9-11 we weren’t connecting to anything like that. The way our luck was going, it would’ve been a bad decision.
Any songs on the new album inspired by 9-11? There’s a song, “Soiree.” It addresses our struggles to have a good time in all this darkness. We could’ve gone political, or we could’ve said, “Let’s have a good time, forget about our problems.” That’s what we did.
FAST CHAT
Mythmaking
Why do kids spread rumors about what a girl probably didn’t do in the back seat? Storytelling fulfills a need for a communal experience, like a ghost story. There’s a real rush of belonging when someone approaches you with a “pass it on.”
Are the rumors ever true? The stories never matched up. Some girls got wild at one party and became the slut. Other girls were virgins. One girl wore a pair of boots she got in California that no one had ever seen in Texas–“What does she think she’s doing?” And after that, it would become a sex thing. Often it was the girl who developed breasts early.
It’s hard to believe that in the post Madonna-Britney era, teens are scandalized by sex. I think there’s a separation that occurs between celebrity and school. I think the laws of the school are still ancient. I talked to girls in urban areas who didn’t fit my story. The more diversity, the less these stories can flourish. It’s about girls who are somehow different.
Aren’t some well liked for it? Some of the girls were intimidating and famous, so they didn’t feel like outcasts. They very often felt alone.
TV
And The Winner Isn’t…
Marc Peyser
‘PANIC ROOM’
Hiding Safely Inside Formula
Instead of Audrey Hepburn, you get Foster and Kristen Stewart as her daughter besieged by a trio of thugs who’ve broken into their half-empty New York brownstone. Our panicked heroines take refuge in the high-tech “panic room,” a small, impregnable fortress within the house complete with video monitors and survival supplies, while the bad guys–desperate to get to the safe that’s hidden inside the panic room–try to flush them out.
The movie, of course, looks great, and Foster and Stewart (who may remind you of Jodie as a kid) have a nice, unhackneyed rapport. But it all feels awfully familiar, and the villains cooked up by screenwriter David Koepp–vicious Dwight Yoakam, conflicted Forest Whitaker and Jared Leto, who should be ticketed for overacting–are a ho-hum lot. Whether you loved or hated Fincher’s earlier films, they at least got under your skin. In “Panic Room,” he’s retreated to the safety of genre formula. Nothing ventured, little gained. David Ansen
CONVENTIONAL WISDOM
Special March Madness Edition
C.W. Priests - Good ones feel like they work for Enron or Andersen. End celibacy now? Arafat - Truce talks ahead. But why should anyone trust this lying loser? Saudis = Their peace plan could fly, but first cut the anti-Jewish garbage in official press. McCain + Finally wins camp. fin. reform. It’s a Swiss-cheese bill, but better than nothin’. NCAA + March Madness goes orgasmic. CW is sure you’ll declare winnings on your 1040s. Thatcher + Iron Lady retires after suffering strokes. Maggie, we hardly knew ye.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-18” author: “Marilyn Rondeau”
C.W. George Bush + Solidified his power with big midterm win. But war economy, and Lott fallout, could dent his armor in ‘03. Dick Cheney = Old CW: “The real president.” New CW: “The ex-real president”—with low visibility but plenty of clout. Colin Powell + Old: Internationalist overwhelmed by admin hawks. New: Internationalist who quietly overwhelmed the hawks. Donald Rumsfeld + “The crocodile” still devouring Washington with his guile, style and smile. But watch out for hubris. Al Gore + Bows out of ‘04 race early and with class, saying country needs to look forward, not backward. Bonus: Boffo on “SNL.” Trent Lott - Pro-segregation remark at Thurmond’s 100th costs him his leadership job and outs the GOP’s Southern Strategy. Condi Rice + National-security adviser has president’s ear—but wouldn’t if Thurmond had won in ‘48. Saddam - Happy New Year! One way or another, it’s your last one in Baghdad. How many of his own people will he take down with him? Bill Clinton = He’s tan, rested and ready. Send him to fix the Middle East. But bring him back in time for Hillary’s ‘08 run. Osama bin Laden - Maybe he can’t run, but he sure can hide. Why hasn’t Bush mentioned his name since July? Karl Rove + Bush’s brain scares all those he surveys. Cross him and you’ll sleep with Ralphie Cifaretto’s brain. Nancy Pelosi + San Francisco liberal is first woman to lead a party in Congress. Can she dodge the barrage? Queen Elizabeth - The butler did it: Embarrassing palace revelations cause another annus horribilis. Give William the crown. Saudis - Rulers try to make nice with U.S. “ally” while minions coddle terrorists and blame Jews. It oil makes sense. Tom Daschle - Former Senate leader got outfoxed and blown away in midterms. Some nice guys finish last. P.S.: Get a message. Bernard Law - Boston cardinal who coddled molesting priests finally “resigns.” But does the Vatican really get it? Eminem + Old: Vile, misogynist homophobic jerk. New: Plucky cover boy and movie star is America’s sweetheart. Let’s hum along! J. Lo + This year’s CD is a hit, this year’s movie is boffo, this year’s boyfriend is certified sexy. CW gives the marriage nine months. SpongeBob + Sea-dwelling hit cartoon character connects on many, um, levels. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Martha Stewart - If she had been nicer to people on the way up, people would be nicer to her on the way down. Hootie Johnson - The real reason he won’t let women join Augusta: They’d throw out those hideous green jackets. AOL TW - Old: Cash-cow online service will propel deal of the century. New: Flat-growth online service sets up worst deal of the century. Sopranos + Last-minute domestic fireworks redeem uneven season. Next: Carmela meets charming ex-president? Grand Theft = Super popular videogame teaches little Johnnie to be a Auto pimp and a thug. Now isn’t that special! Sarah Hughes + Brilliant gold-medal ice finale at Salt Lake City ruins Michelle Kwan’s swan song. And she got accepted to Harvard! Barry Bonds + Manners aren’t everything. The greatest baseball player of his day deserves more respect. “CSI” + CBS forensics franchise is “Law & Order” with its stomach split open. So strong it even revived David Caruso’s career. “Lovely Bones” + Alice Sebold’s heavenly novel is brilliant fiction debut. Downside: Inevitable wave of books narrated by the dead. Madonna = Her movie career got “Swept Away” by one of worst films in history. But her music career lives to “Die Another Day.” Whew! “Curb Your + Seinfeld” creator’s self-mocking L.A. sendup on HBO un-PC Enthusiasm” must see TV. Thank God there’s no profanity.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-22” author: “Jennifer Gibson”
C.W. Lott - His I’m-really-sorry, some-of-my-best-friends-are-black press conf. saves him until another slur surfaces. Karl Rove = Bush honcho wants Lott out as Senate maj. leader in favor of Tenn.’s Bill Frist. But hasn’t figured out how. Cardinal - Forced to resign but keeps title. As Boston church faces Law bankruptcy, he’s now Cardinal Lawsuit. Kissinger - When push comes to shove, puts his day job above 9-11 commission. And so did George Mitchell. Iraq = Saddam’s 12,000-page document dump as confusing as Microsoft case discovery phase. Paging David Boies. Leonardo + One-two punch in (good!) flicks by Spielberg and DiCaprio Scorsese. Catch Him If You Can.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-05” author: “Stephen Mazzola”
Kissinger’s Clients
White House aides were taken aback last week when Henry Kissinger abruptly stepped down as chair of the independent commission to investigate the 9-11 terrorist attacks. But some administration sources say they may have only themselves to blame. Unlike other high-profile presidential appointments, NEWSWEEK has learned, Kissinger was never “vetted” for conflicts of interest by White House lawyers.
Only a few weeks ago, White House staffers were crowing about Kissinger. But their esteem for the ex-Secretary of State blinded them to the possibility of a firestorm developing over his secretive consulting firm, Kissinger Associates. Normally, White House lawyers review such matters as part of a thorough check of the personal and financial lives of all appointments. “It’s amazing how tone deaf they can be,” said Steve Push, a leader of the 9-11 victims’ families.
Nobody was angrier than Kissinger. At a meeting with 9-11 family members before he resigned, Kissinger told them he was “personally humiliated” to have his integrity questioned in newspaper editorials demanding that he disclose his clients. Kissinger reassured the group he did no current work for Mideast clients. But sources familiar with his business tell NEWSWEEK that some of his clients could have been problematic. Among firms that pay a minimum of $250,000 a year are several with heavy investments in Saudi Arabia, such as ABB Group, a Swiss-Swedish engineering firm, and Boeing Corp.
Boeing’s sale of $7.2 billion worth of aircraft to Saudi Arabia in 1995 was the largest single overseas deal in Boeing history. After 9-11, Boeing helped pay for a newspaper supplement that touted close U.S.-Saudi ties and included such articles as “Crown Prince Abdullah: A Leader With a Global Vision.” Similar issues confronted former Sen. George Mitchell, who resigned last week as vice chair. His move came after congressional lawyers said he, too, would be required to disclose all the clients of his lawyer lobbying firm, Piper Rudnick. Among recent clients were the governments of Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, and a firm owned by Mohammed Hussain Al-Amoudi, a Saudi magnate under scrutiny from U.S. anti-terror investigators. (Through his lawyers, Al-Amoudi denies any connection to terrorism.)
White House lawyers were scrambling to find replacements. But congressional staffers worried that the commission only has an 18-month time limit and, as one said, “The clock is ticking.”
IRAQ
Welcome Wagon?
As the United States gears up for a possible invasion of Iraq, the global media have been quick to provide polls showing almost universal opposition to war. We know how the Saudis, Russians, French, Germans, Britons, Kuwaitis and Turks feel–and almost everybody’s against it. Everybody that is, except the Iraqis. In a report released early this month, International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, found that most Iraqis interviewed support the idea of an invasion, as well as U.S. occupation during the transition to a post-Saddam government. Iraqis have had it with more than a decade of impoverishment, isolation and fear, says the study’s researcher, who asked not to be named. “I found very few people who were against American intervention,” the researcher says. Over three weeks in September and October, she spoke to Iraqis without government “minders” present, and found them surprisingly open and willing to talk, even in public places like beauty parlors. “People are depressed, exhausted. They can’t take it anymore,” she says.
Her interviews found that those most opposed to U.S. intervention enjoyed privileges under the current regime, or feared Americans would call for an uprising against Saddam, then abandon it (as in the aftermath of the Kuwait war in 1991). They also found that American occupation is seen by –many as preferable to an “imported” regime, or a violent scramble for power, given the hostility and fear that many people feel toward the Iraqi opposition in exile. A young Baghdad architect summarizes the majority opinion: “We do not particularly want a U.S. military strike, but we do want a political change. We have nothing to lose, and it cannot be any worse than our current condition.”
BRITAIN
The Bane Of Blair
From day one, British Prime Minister Tony Blair made it his mission to make sure the conservative opposition and Britain’s media couldn’t spin too much out of his control. The scandals that had plagued his Tory predecessors would not be the downfall of his Labour Party. As a result, reports of “Teflon” Tony’s walks on the wild side have largely been limited to stories of his picking up an electric guitar. Papers could find nothing to sink their talons into except for his wife Cherie’s vaguely New Age ideas and sometimes odd fashion sense.
So Cherie’s recent real-estate scandal involving former topless model Carole Caplin (who became Cherie’s “lifestyle guru”) and Caplin’s boyfriend–Peter Foster, an Australian with a criminal record for promoting fraudulent weight-loss schemes–looks especially embarrassing for Blair. Cherie, a barrister earning £350,000 or more a year, initially denied having enlisted the help of Caplin and Foster to buy two apartments, one for son Euan and another as an investment. After right-wing tabloids published e-mails between her and Foster, however, she denied knowledge of his past and was eventually forced into a public apology. Blair himself was reduced to lashing out at the press, telling them they’d had their “pound of flesh” and should “move on.”
Despite the vitriol, though, “Cheriegate” is unlikely to grow into a full-blown political crisis for the Blair government. It may be open season on the Blairs for Associated Newspapers–which broke the story–but the prime minister retains an immense majority in the House of Commons. In fact, the aggressive British press is about the only opposition Blair’s got. “They feel absolutely haunted by the media,” says media critic and former newspaper editor Roy Greenslade. Yet however intimidating the press might be, it can’t step into the Labour Party’s shoes and run the country. And Blair knows it.
CATHOLICISM: Cardinal Lawsuit
Last week, when Rome reversed itself and accepted Boston Cardinal Bernard Law’s resignation, the reaction among many Boston Roman Catholics was one of awe. “The situation is so explosive,” says Stephen J. Pope, chair of the theology department at Boston College, “that there is really no historical parallel or protocol within the church.” U.S. groups are now galvanizing forces that have been building in the church for years. They argue that one reason bad priests keep getting reassigned is that the church is desperately short of clergy. Recruiting women or married men might help solve that problem. A hierarchy that included women and parents might have been more sensitive toward the victims of abuse.
The Vatican, on the other hand, is taking a more conservative view. The word in Rome, says one top official in the Curia, is that Law failed to follow the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ directives on handling priests accused of sexual abuse, which called for close supervision and monitoring of their treatment and subsequent activities. The implication is that while individuals might be flawed, the solution, as always, is to follow the church’s policies more closely. The official also condemned American priests who have become careless in their vows, arguing that this was rooted in the moral laxity for which the nation is notorious.
Law’s final mistake, in Rome’s view, was to make generous settlements to victims in the early cases, whetting the appetites of America’s litigious citizens. “The situation in the United States now is getting out of control,” says a prominent cardinal in Rome. “Many are profiting from the big scandal and following the smell of money.” Of course, that, too, is seen as the American way.
MEDICINE
The Gift of Stem Cells
Last week California offered its latest thumbs-up to stem-cell research when Stanford announced it had received a $12 million anonymous donation to fund the new Institute for Cancer/Stem Cell Biology and Medicine. After last year’s ban on federal money for the creation of new human stem-cell lines, private investors are stepping up with their own dollars for research. The news comes just months after the University of California, San Francisco, launched its own program with $5 million from Intel chair Andy Grove. And in September, Gov. Gray Davis signed landmark legislation promoting stem-cell research in California–a move that may be echoed by other states.
The activity at the state level is encouraging for scientists who say stem cells could lead to a better understanding of diseases and perhaps even cures. At the federal level, President Bush’s August 2001 announcement still stands, allowing federal funds to be used in research on the few dozen human stem-cell lines that already exist worldwide, but not in the generation of new ones.
UCSF, which has two of the existing lines, said last week it has distributed batches to 40 scientists since early fall. At Stanford, Dr. Irving Weissman, head of the new institute, was eager to state his position on human reproductive cloning–which relies on some of the same techniques used to create stem-cell lines–saying it “should be banned.” The institute’s goals, he says, are to study the self-replication of cancer cells and to make stem-cell lines containing genetic defects that lead to disease so scientists can pinpoint where things go wrong.
FERTILITY
Reading The Beads
There’s no doubt about it: birth control is maddening. Pills are simple enough to use but can cause damaging side effects. Condoms and diaphragms are expensive–and a pain. And, let’s face it, natural (read: unpredictable) birth control just doesn’t work.
Or does it? CycleBeads, a new, colorful, necklace-like gadget, serves as a visual aid to help a woman accurately track her menstrual cycle. They’re available online ($12.50 at cyclebeads.com) and they’re simple to use: just move the black rubber band from bead to bead during the course of the month. A red bead marks the start of a woman’s period, brown beads mark infertile days and glow-in-the-dark beads mark the fertile days. In trials, CycleBeads have proved more than 95 percent effective when used correctly. Now USAID hopes to make them available around the world.. “It will be very effective for a certain small select population,” says Susan Ross of CARE, who has been overseeing a CycleBeads study in Uttar Pradesh, India. The gadget could be especially useful in rural areas, says Ross, as women wouldn’t need to visit their health clinic to restock.
But not everyone is keen on reading the beads. Some family-planning groups are skeptical, arguing that natural methods work only with abstinence. Still, CycleBeads might be worth a shot. If nothing else, they make for a nice night light.
BOOKS: Mad for Marquez
Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s highly anticipated memoir, “Vivir Para Contarla” (“To Live to Tell the Tale”), has only just hit U.S. bookstores, and translated editions are still a long way off–but true fans already have their copies. The first in the Colombian author’s three-part autobiography, which has set sales records since its Latin American release in October, has been the must-have item in U.S. Spanish-speaking communities. (The English version’s slated for late fall 2003.) “Everyone wants a Marquez. It’s almost a cult thing,” says Raquel Roque, a Miami bookseller who imported copies from Mexico and Argentina for her “special customers.”
But selling pirated imports in the United States is nothing compared with the mayhem the book has caused outside U.S. borders. Photocopied versions have been peddled in Puerto Rico, and armed police guarded bookstores in Mexico in October after a delivery truck was reportedly hijacked in Colombia. “If I hadn’t been stuck in the office, I’d have been out there bootlegging it my-self,” says Sonny Mehta, editor in chief of Knopf Pub-lishing, which won a bidding war to release the book in the States. “He’s just so damn good.”
COLA
‘Pepsi’ for Palestine
More than half a million red and white bottles with looping script advertising “Classic” cola sold out with-in a week in France this Ramadan. But it wasn’t Coca-Cola that American-product boycotters were thirsty for–it was Mecca-Cola. “You can’t fight violence with violence, so we’re pressuring America in the economic way,” says Tawfiq Mathlouthi, the brand’s creator. With 10 percent of its profits funding Palestinian relief, increasing numbers of countries are heeding Mecca-Cola’s call: “Don’t drink foolishly, drink with commitment!” Saudi Arabia ordered 5 million bottles, and the two-month-old company is filling orders from throughout the Middle East, Pakistan, China, Russia and even the United States. Palestinian donations are a major selling point. Instead of celebs sipping soda, online ads show real-life footage of the Palestinian uprising. One features a Palestinian father crouching with his son against a wall moments before the son was shot dead in cross-fire. The cola is selling so well that Mathlouthi’s considering alternatives to other American products like laun-dry detergent, soup, fried chicken and cigarettes.
SPORTS
Kneed to Know
Women’s rights have come a long way, but women athletes still aren’t treated equally at the orthopedist. Because of anatomical and hormonal differences, women suffer ACL tears significantly more often than men. But simple training could drastically lower the rate of knee injuries in women’s sports.
Women’s bone structure at the knee and hip makes them vulnerable, and hormonal changes during menstruation compound the risk by loosening ligaments and joints. So women must learn to move weight off their heels and onto their toes; keep knees in alignment rather than spread-eagled; and use the hamstrings, not the thigh muscles, to cushion shocks. The requisite regimen’s largely based on repetitive jumping exercises to condition muscle memory–like rapid high-bounces, keeping knees loose and landing on feet, ball to heel, or playing catch while standing on one leg.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-02-01” author: “Verla Frisby”
A Wakened Giant
Stagnant pay and unease at the prospect of labor-market reforms are pushing Europe’s largest unions toward confrontation. This summer’s walkout by a million Spaniards was the country’s first general strike in eight years. Recent weeks have seen union-led strikes in Italy, Belgium and Portugal. The British Army was recently called in to cover for the nation’s striking firefighters. And last week, in France, tens of thousands–from air-traffic controllers to train drivers–quit work to protest. Worse could be on the way: Germany’s biggest union is squaring up for a tussle with the government. The unions have acted in a “very responsible” manner up until recent months, says Wim Bergans of the Brussels-based European Trades Union Confederation–which represents 44 million workers. But restraint is now out of fashion.
The upsurge in action is a blow to any optimists lulled into believing that union militancy was on the wane. One reason for the calm was rising prosperity. No longer. And although their numbers have been declining, Europe’s unions still have power. Only Britain has managed to push through the kind of legislation needed to de-claw the unions. The German government, in particular, still likes to see its unions as close partners rather than adversaries. And under its own statutes, the EU itself is obliged to consult the unions on a slew of topics.
What’s more, union membership has actually stayed strong in the EU’s public sector, where around half of all employees still pay their dues. And state employees have new grievances. In many Eurozone countries, the public sector felt the tightest pinch of the fiscal belt-tightening required in the late ’90s, before countries could sign up for membership of the single currency. The result: pent-up demand for hefty pay raises to narrow the gap with the private sector. The immense German union Verdi is now talking of its first mass walkout in a decade unless the government promises a settlement of more than 3 percent.
For some states a tough struggle could lie ahead. Once upon a time, EU governments could–and likely would–have bought peace with generous pay deals. But with economies on the slide, that’s no longer an easy option. And the Eurozone countries are tied by a pledge–the Growth and Stability Pact–to avoid running up the deficits that might undermine the currency. Last week EU president Romano Prodi, under pressure from hard-pressed member states, suggested a loosening of the pact’s rules. But an important principle is still in place. “The pact may be no more than a symbol, but there is still a fundamental commitment to budgetary stability in the long run,” says one commission insider. Sure, today’s government tightwads have one excuse never available to the last generation: blame the euro. But that probably won’t help them stall the strikers.
DICTATORS
The Least Wanted
Belarus and the Ukraine, two former Soviet backwaters, are rapidly becoming renowned for the wrong reasons. No, their leaders, Aleksandr Lukashenko and Leonid Kuchma, are not on any “wanted” lists. But they’ve got the opposite problem. Both are deemed persona non grata as soon as they try to head West.
Last week the United States imposed a travel ban on Belarus’s President Lukashenko because of what the State Department described as the “erosion of human rights and democratic principles in Belarus.” Kuchma has recently had the same problem–although he simply ignored the restrictions. Despite NATO’s repeated demands that Kuchma stay away from its November meeting in Prague, he crashed the conference. NATO officials were forced to orchestrate a new seating plan, arranged alphabetically to keep Kuchma as far away as possible from President George W. Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
For the leader of a country that aspires to future EU and NATO membership, Kuchma seems strangely intent on irritating the West. His administration is already under fire for allegations of corruption, abuse of office, murder and selling a radar system to Iraq. Even Kuchma’s efforts to please have gone astray. He recently ushered in an unlikely newcomer to the post of prime minister: regional governor Viktor Yanukovych. Kuchma is despised at home (Ukraine has been in political crisis since September, when tens of thousands took to the streets to call for his ouster), and his team is in dire need of a political makeover. But Yanukovych is hardly a departure from the standard Kuchma cast. According to local press reports, he has at least two criminal convictions, one of them for gross embezzlement.
Kuchma has done little to change public opinion in the West, either. The United States, for its part, is unimpressed with his new man on the block. Washington still has “concerns regarding Kuchma and his policies,” says a State Department spokesperson. A shadowy new prime minister is hardly going to alleviate those–or boost Ukraine’s chances of making friends in the EU and NATO. But the lonely Lukashenko might be free for tea.
DEPT. OF IRONY
Privacy Is In the Past
In October 1997, a pro-Internet privacy article by a U.S. Republican senator from Missouri was published in the State Department’s Electronic Journals. Entitled keep big brother’s hands off the Internet, the piece condemned Bill Clinton’s administration for attempting to “harness the Internet with a confusing array of intrusive regulations” and trying to give federal authorities “the capability to read any international or domestic computer communications.” The Missouri senator denounced efforts to give the FBI “access to decode, digest and discuss financial transactions, personal e-mail and proprietary information sent abroad–all in the name of national security.”
In recent weeks, those very same issues of privacy have been in the thoughts of most Americans. Under new legislation being pushed hard by Attorney General John Ashcroft, federal authorities would be granted the access that the Missouri senator had feared: the power to trace e-mails and other Internet traffic (in some cases without standard court pre-approval), and the government capability to demand user records from Internet service providers. In the past year, the FBI has already been granted a wider range of power in its use of Carnivore, a computer program that can follow and record the Internet user’s every action by filtering networks for traffic and searching for key phrases.
Civil-libertarian groups are notably outraged. They agree that terrorists must not be allowed to use the Internet to harmful ends. But that doesn’t mean Big Brother can rule the Web. Jay Stanley of the ACLU recently declared that these so-called advances are “the way rights are lost.” At a time like this, those opposed could do far more if they had the help of that same senator from Missouri to argue their case. Unfortunately for them, he was John Ashcroft.
NIGERIA: Fatwa Follies
The prophet Muhammad, the Christian Nigerian reporter Isioma Daniel wrote in ThisDay, might have chosen a bride from among the Miss World contestants. The slight, which exploded into rioting in northern Nigeria (leaving 250 dead), has now set off a debate over the reach of Islamic law in a country that’s about half Muslim. Daniel was reportedly forced into U.S. exile last week after the deputy governor of Nigeria’s Zamfara State told a rally that the Muslim faithful should behead her. Daniel, whose boss remains in police custody, had also been told to report to the Secret Security Service. But Nigeria’s Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs says the Zamfara politician had no authority to issue what was being called a fatwa, and voided it. Outside experts agree. “They have no right to kill if the person expresses regret,” says Sheikh Saadal-Saleh, an official of Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Islamic Affairs. The newspaper has repeatedly apologized.
The debate coincides with the run-up to the 2003 national elections. Also wrecked in the rioting were businesses owned by one of President Olusegun Obasanjo’s closest allies. Obasanjo, a Christian, hopes to be the first Nigerian head of state to succeed himself in democratic elections, and Muslim power brokers are doing their best to stop him. The president blames the whole mess on the press. But Daniel’s boss says her resignation and departure came at the behest of another set of authorities–her parents.
FIGURES
A Banker’s Vocal Wife
With the economy in the tank and interest rates still a hot issue, it’s a good time for European Central Bank president Wim Duisenberg & Co. to lie low. But it seems Duisenberg’s wife, Gretta, didn’t get the memo. Her pro-Palestinian antics have been causing controversy in Europe of late. She chairs the Dutch-based movement Stop the Occupation, attends demonstrations against the Israeli presence in the West Bank and in the Gaza Strip, and has been known to fly a Palestinian flag from her balcony. Her actions have also become a concern for ECB reps, who believe that her bad publicity could harm her husband as he tries to close out his ECB term with dignity. NEWSWEEK’s Friso Endt got her side of the story:
Why are you suddenly so active? Because your husband will retire in July and you will have to withdraw from the limelight? That’s a wrong impression. I have always been active for the people of Palestine, before and during my marriage. I took part in political movements to support these poor Palestinians.
Press reports said during the demonstration in April, in which you took part, there was violence, and people yelled, “Hamas, Hamas, all the Jews at the gas.” Did you act this way, too? No–I never did. The violence broke out at the end of the demonstration, when I had gone home already.
Some have called you anti-Semitic. I am not anti-Semitic at all. I never have been. I am not that kind of woman.
Do you realize that your activities could be hurting your husband’s reputation? I have offered to stop several times. [Wim] doesn’t want me to; he has said in public that he [and] the bank have nothing to do with [my] private activities.
But you are using his name. Duisenberg has been my name [for] 15 years. I always have been active under my married name. Should I stop doing so suddenly under pressure from outside?
You were supposed to leave for Israel and Palestine on Nov. 6. You didn’t go for “security reasons”? When our movement received the message that we [couldn’t] go for “security reasons,” I burst into tears. Instead, Wim took me to Mexico, where he had to attend a conference, and we went to museums. [But] we want to go with a small delegation in early January, as [Yasir] Arafat’s invitation still stands.
VIAGRA
Splitting The Cost
Sex sells, but how much should it cost? For an American man who uses Viagra, it’s roughly $10 a tablet, whether he needs the 25mg, 50mg or 100mg dose. To save money, some men buy 100mg pills and slice them in half. But pill-splitting can be problematic with Viagra, which has a beveled shape, hard exterior and a powdery inside. So Carmen Reitano invented the V2 Pill Splitter. His soon-to-be-patented gizmo features a Viagra-shaped crevice and a surgical blade to hold the tablet secure for a perfect cut. He’s sold more than 1,500, at $25 each, on the Internet since June. (Ken Welch, inventor of the more sophisticated $79 Swiss Pill Cutter, says he may lower his price to better compete.) Doctors say that with or without a special Viagra splitter, more men are discovering the trick. “More than half the people who use Viagra in our practice are pill splitters,” says Dr. Irwin Goldstein, a prominent Boston urologist.
SKIING
Trying to Stay Cool
Ski-resort operators in the Rocky Mountains are elated about this year’s early-season snowfall: despite advances in snowmaking technology, resorts still live or die with Mother Nature. No other business, it seems, should care more about global warming–you can’t schuss in slush. But until now the industry has been loath to address the issue for fear of creating the impression that the sport is imperiled. In February the U.S. National Ski Areas Association, which represents 350 hills from Maine to California, will formally announce its Keep Winter Cool campaign, the first industry-wide initiative aimed at combating climate change. Locales will ramp up their efforts to reduce greenhouse gases–ski areas will purchase more wind power to run lifts and snowmaking operations (which account for the bulk of their carbon-dioxide emissions). The industry also plans to use its clout in Washington to encourage federal incentives for renewable energies; with their affluence and Republican tilt, skiers may become major players in policymaking. “It’s mind-boggling that the ski industry has not been on the forefront of this issue,” says Auden Schendler of Aspen Skiing Co. “We utterly depend on climate.”
So why is the industry acting now? Resort officials say there is no longer any doubt about the science–the United Nations and the Bush administration agree the planet is warming. Climate models predict that nights (when resorts make snow) will be warmer and winters shorter, with more rain, less snowfall and unpredictable weather. A U.N. report shows the Alps are warming faster than the rest of the globe, and a rising snow line could turn some ski runs into green pastures by the end of the century. Nobody can predict what the Rockies will look like in 100 years, but climate trends indicate the ski industry has real reason for concern.
EXHIBITS: Homes Away From Home
Grand Hotel. Always the same. People come, people go. Nothing ever happens,” said Dr. Otternschlag in the 1932 film “Grand Hotel.” In his time, maybe he was right. But today, hotels are business centers, diplomatic gathering grounds and nightlife hubs. And with top names like Philippe Starck designing them, hotels are even being regarded as art. Little wonder, then, that New York’s Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is currently showing “New Hotels for Global Nomads,” an exhibit in honor of the home-away-from-home.
Through photos, miniature replica models, videos and hotel accessories on display, the visitor is introduced to the hotel as comfort, luxury, convenience and escape. At the museum, you can see for yourself what kind of roamer you are. The opulent nomad would love Dubai’s sail-like Burj Al-Arab. The rooms with tiny bunk beds in Tokyo’s capsule hotels should appeal to those who miss boarding school.
For the true escapist, there are the gimmicks of the future. The Lobbi_Ports, a system of capsules that developers can add to hotels to provide additional high-rise lounges and observation decks, seem straight out of “Back to the Future II.” Such fantasies unfortunately are a little overeager to impress–in fact, just like the exhibit itself. While the actual hotels make one’s jaw drop, the setting here disappoints. For instance, a model and a photo of the Burj Al-Arab, displayed in a minimalist room with dim lights, simply don’t do the real thing justice. The usually cutting-edge Cooper-Hewitt tries too hard to emulate the minimalist chic–and now overplayed–style of Starck, whose designs are copied from New York to Sydney. If Dr. Otternschlag could see hotel design today, he might well apply his statement to museums, not hotels.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-20” author: “Mark Fisher”
Nabbing Nashiri
American intelligence believes top Qaeda field commander Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri was actively plotting terrorist attacks against U.S. targets in the Persian Gulf and elsewhere–attacks that U.S. officials hope have been foiled as a result of Nashiri’s recent arrest near the gulf region. Nashiri is undergoing interrogation by CIA specialists at an undisclosed location. Word leaked more than a week ago that a Qaeda big shot had been captured. But U.S. officials kept his name under wraps for several days to exploit evidence gathered during his arrest. Bush administration officials believe that he can provide an intelligence windfall.
According to intelligence sources, Nashiri’s role as Al Qaeda’s operational chief in the Persian Gulf region made him one of the best-connected Qaeda members still on the loose. U.S. officials say he was involved in the August 1998 bombings of U.S. Embassies in Africa, and the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen. In the embassy attacks, Nashiri allegedly helped train the bombers, one of whom was his cousin. U.S. officials say that Nashiri was the chief planner of the Cole attack, leaving Yemen a few days before the bombing. Visiting Yemen before the attack, Nashiri came into contact with Ahmed Al-Hada, father-in-law of 9-11 hijacker Khalid Almihdhar, intelligence sources say. (Al-Hada ran a Qaeda safe house used to relay phone calls to and from the Qaeda high command in Afghanistan.) Officials believe that in Yemen, Nashiri also encountered Ramzi bin al-Shibh, a fixer for the 9-11 hijack cell in Hamburg, Germany, who was recently captured in Pakistan. U.S. officials say they do not believe that Nashiri was involved in the 9-11 attacks. But his co-plotters in the Cole attack included Khallad, a notorious one-legged terrorist, and Qaed Senyan al-Harithi, Al Qaeda’s alleged chief in Yemen, who was recently killed by a missile fired from a CIA-operated Predator drone. Since the Cole attack, intelligence sources say, Nashiri has commuted between Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
U.S. officials indicated that they were very pleased at the extent to which the once recalcitrant Yemeni government is now aggressively going after the terrorists in its midst. Antiterrorism experts were also heartened by the arrest in Indonesia of Imam Samudra, an alleged plotter of the Bali nightclub bombings. But officials still acknowledge that Al Qaeda is likely to remain a major threat until Osama bin Laden himself is finally captured or killed.
VENEZUELA
Poll Power
Thousands took to the streets of Caracas last week to protest–yet again–the government of President Hugo Chavez. Opposition forces have collected 2 million signatures for a petition to schedule a so-called consultative referendum next month on whether Chavez should step down. Although a defeat wouldn’t legally oblige him to leave office, his opponents hope it would bring enough pressure to make him quit. Chavez has rejected the initiative, buying time by citing a provision in the country’s 1999 Constitution that says a “binding” vote can take place only halfway through his term, which won’t be until next August. Only then–were he to lose the vote–would Chavez have to hold a new general election.
What opposition figures are neglecting is that a referendum loss won’t necessarily spell the end for Chavez. There would be nothing to stop him from running for president again. And although his popularity has plummeted over the past 12 months, Chavez still enjoys the support of an estimated 25 to 30 percent of voters. No opposition figure can currently match those numbers, and the Constitution that Chavez and his allies drafted three years ago doesn’t provide for a second-round runoff if no candidate wins a majority of the ballots. That means the so far splintered and leaderless opposition forces would have to rally around a single, anybody-but-Chavez nominee–an unlikely prospect. The opposition could also tinker with the Constitution to bring Chavez down by writing an amendment that would introduce the runoff-vote mechanism. But any change to the country’s political charter can’t take effect until voters approve it through–you guessed it–a referendum. One way or the other, Venezuelans may be trooping to the polls on a regular basis in the coming months.
DISCRIMINATION
Mixed Messages
Washington recently announced plans to spend $15 million to improve America’s image in the Muslim world. How about allotting some cash to better educate Americans about Muslims in their own country? In 2001, hate crimes against those perceived to be Arabs or Muslims (even some Hindus and Sikhs) in the United States increased by an astounding 1,700 percent–soaring from just 28 incidents in 2000 to 481 last year. And those were just the reported infractions. (Studies show that roughly 75 percent of hate crimes go unreported.)
The FBI says it’s doing its best to make sure this doesn’t happen again. Working with groups like the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) over the past year, the FBI has improved ties to Muslim communities. It has also provided security at local mosques, Islamic organizations and schools when called upon by community leaders.
But the government is somewhat schizophrenic, says the ADC’s Hussein Ibish. While the FBI is reaching out, the Immigration and Naturalization Service has imposed harsh conditions on travelers from the Middle East; all temporary visitors from Iran, Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Libya are now subject to mandatory fingerprinting and must check in with local authorities once a year. The Justice Department as a whole has bred resentment with its detention of more than 1,200 suspects, mostly Arab men, in the months following 9-11. Such “mixed messages” are causing “rampant distrust” among Arab-Americans and Muslims, says Ibish. That’s probably not the smartest way to fight crime–hate or otherwise.
SHIPPING
Just Missing the Boat
Figuring out where the Prestige, a single-hull oil tanker that sank Nov. 19 off the northwest coast of Spain, originated from isn’t easy. The tanker was captained by a Greek, crewed by Filipinos and Romanians, owned by a Liberian-registered company, chartered by a Swiss-based Russian commodities trader and flew the Bahamian flag. Pinpointing what caused it to sink–and who’s responsible–is even tougher. Fingers are pointing all over, but there is one thing that everybody agrees on: it could have been avoided. “The frustrating thing,” says Michael Voogel, secretary of Paris MOU, an international shipping operation in the Netherlands, “is that we have the laws on paper that could have prevented this, but they don’t come into effect until July.” In 1999, when the Maltese oil tanker Erika split near Brittany and washed 20,000 tons of oil along the French coast, the European Union called for a number of stiff regulations, ultimately passing measures for increased, rigorous inspections of older vessels, additional monitoring of EU waters, even a “blacklist” of suspected substandard vessels. The Erika measures, which take effect in July 2003, will make Western Europe home to some of the world’s toughest maritime laws. One measure eventually bans single-hull tankers from EU ports–starting in 2005. Therein lies part of the tragedy of the Prestige oil spill: it’s a result of bad timing. As mandated by international law, the 26-year-old Prestige would have been permanently retired in ‘05 before it turned 30. And if the ship had sunk just one year later than it did, the money available for cleanup from the International Fund for Compensation for Oil Pollution Damage–which will be forking over up to $180 million–would have been 50 percent more.
IRAN: Spreading Free Speech
For the last two weeks, university campuses in Iran have been alive with the sound of student protests calling for change. Much to the concern of the government, that dissent is now spreading to the rest of the populace. Approximately 4,000 Tehran residents gathered last Friday to express their dissatisfaction with the current regime, chanting “Free political prisoners” and “Revolution is the people’s will.” They had convened to mark the anniversary of the assassination of Dariush Forouhar and his wife, Parvaneh Eskandari, political activists who were mysteriously slain in 1998.
Earlier on Friday, tens of thousands of government supporters had also turned out to hear Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hoseini Khamenei for Friday prayers. Inevitably, the two groups clashed on Friday afternoon. Hundreds of plainclothes Basij, an Islamic militia linked with conservatives in the Iranian government, set upon protesters, beating anyone who got in their way. Smaller antigovernment protests were held in Shiraz and Mashhad–and were also disrupted by the Basij.
As the protests continue and expand, the government is getting more nervous. The student protests could well turn into a “widespread populist movement,” says Hadi Semati, a political-science professor at Tehran University. “If this happens, the current regime will feel threatened and crack down hard.” Until then, it looks as if Iranians will remain determined to be heard.
MEDICINE
Close to A Cure
In the developing world, cervical cancer caused by human papillomavirus (HPV)–a sexually transmitted disease that causes genital warts in both sexes–terrorizes women who don’t have the benefit of regular Pap-smear testing; the disease kills more than 200,000 every year. So the development of a vaccine against HPV–the culmination of two decades of research, announced last week in The New England Journal of Medicine–is a major advance.
For the vaccine to fulfill its promise, the next five years may be just as crucial as the last 20. Merck plans to bring it to market by 2007. The pharmaceutical giant will need to conduct more tests to ensure ironclad safety. It will also have to formulate a version of the vaccine that can ward off multiple strains of HPV. (The version revealed last week protects against only one type.) It will have to persuade men as well as women to get immunized. And it will have to do it all without pushing the price of the vaccine past the limits of developing countries, where the need is greatest since screening isn’t as common. “I don’t want to throw a wet blanket on the enthusiasm,” says gynecologic oncologist Charles Levenback, “but women still need to get Pap smears.” For those who can’t, though, a vaccine could be a lifesaver.
COSTUME DRAMAS: Made for TV
Long nights and low temperatures mean one thing to the British public: ’tis the season of the telenovel. The tradition, kept dutifully since the smashing success of the BBC’s “Pride and Prejudice” in 1995, is to stick lavish productions of classic European novels on screen. This year’s offerings: “Daniel Deronda”–George Eliot’s tale of drawing-room anti-Semitism–and Boris Pasternak’s Russian Revolution epic “Dr. Zhivago.”
Snobs usually shudder at the thought of sticking the European Greats on television, arguing that it crushes subtlety and mangles sentiment. But the truth is that 19th-century novels and the small screen are as perfectly paired as “Pride and Prejudice’s” Lizzie Bennett and Mr. Darcy. In their time, Europe’s novelists aimed to wrestle the huge social currents of the day into the drawing room–preferably with bosoms heaving. Charles Dickens and Emile Zola would show us prisons, orphanages and glittering pinnacles of society within the space of a few pages. Today, good television–aided by the channel changer–similarly allows us to flip from the plight of Afghan orphans to “The West Wing” with a single click.
Curled on our sofas with our cocoa, we are far better positioned to follow “The Forsyte Saga” or “David Copperfield” than we would be in some dark and drafty movie theater. Television is simply far better suited to the kinder, gentler pace of earlier eras. Nineteenth-century heroes required huge hunks of time to make love or fortunes. A universe like Jane Austen’s–where a carriage ride, a sideways glance or a cup of tea can make or break a reputation, or even a heart–needs the intimacy of that most cozily domestic of all modern art forms, the television script. The lush new version of “Dr. Zhivago” reportedly has more sex, and less Russian Revolution, than the 1965 movie. Good. The living room is certainly more suited to lovemaking than to facing off with the Cossacks.
WEATHER
Showers Solved
Ever been caught umbrella-less in an unexpected afternoon rain shower? Thanks to a simple mathematical formula developed by scientists in Israel at the Weizmann Center’s Department of Physics and Complex Systems, the days of meteorological uncertainty may be over. According to Prof. Gregory Falkovich, who created the formula with graduate students, the algorithm combines new theoretical work by the Weizmann team with older, fairly established, physical principles. By plugging a few easily measurable variables into the formula, Falkovich says, forecasters may soon be able to more accurately predict rain a few days in advance and “within 15 to 20 minutes and miles of its fall” (present estimates are usually in hours and counties). In the future, the theorem may also help scientists to better manage rainfall, a potentially significant development for countries like Israel that rely heavily upon rain to augment water supplies. While secondary applications like this are farther off, forecasters can’t wait to get their hands on the theorem, and anything else that will bring more precision to the uncertain task of weather prediction.
EXHIBITS
A Terrible Beauty
Founded in 1863 as part of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, the Mutter Museum was created as an educational service for practicing physicians. Its collection of bottled fetuses, skulls, wax replicas of diseased bodies and Siamese-twin body casts was meant to give doctors a look at what they might face in the examining room and the operating theater. Today the museum serves the public. And a new book, “Mutter Museum,” collects the work of a group of photographers, including Rosamond Purcell, William Wegman and Joel-Peter Witkin, who have traveled to the Mutter repeatedly to photograph its contents. The results, sometimes ghastly, sometimes heartbreaking, are mysteriously mesmerizing, and together they comprise–as museum exhibits and as photographs–a terrible beauty. The Mutter’s curator, Gretchen Worden, wants people to look boldly at what’s in the museum. “In the Mutter Museum, sometimes the objects seem to be looking at you,” she writes in the introduction to the photo book. “And, sometimes, the objects seem to be you.” This museum of human life gone haywire will revise and enlarge your idea of what it is to be human. Look at your own risk.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-02” author: “Joann Salgado”
The Question of When
Now that Iraq has released a declaration of its weapons of mass destruction, many expect the war clock to really start ticking. But despite its recent drumbeating, the Bush administration appears to have decided to give peace–or at least the U.N. weapons inspectors–a chance.
Washington hopes to keep the international support it gained by going through the U.N. Security Council. But there are practical considerations, too. Translating the declaration will take days, checking it out could take months, says a top Western diplomat at the United Nations. U.S. and British officials will be hard-pressed to prove any of Saddam’s damning omissions without revealing sensitive intelligence sources, and tensions on the Security Council could heat up because only the so-called Permanent Five members will likely get the full text. Once the report is digested, U.S. and British officials will pass on any contradictory intelligence to chief inspector Hans Blix for his team to investigate. They’re leaning on Blix to take Iraqi scientists and their families out of the country to interview them in safety–the kind of thing that could trigger Saddam’s noncooperation, which would be a “material breach” that America could cite in going to war. So far, Blix isn’t biting.
The smart money is on war beginning in February–or even next winter instead. (Severe Iraqi weather would make a campaign all but impossible from late March through September.) The hawks have other problems. Plans to train 5,000 Iraqi exiles are off to a slow start; so far just 3,700 have been recruited, and training hasn’t begun. Huge amounts of heavy equipment have been prepositioned to accommodate the arrival of large numbers of American troops in short order. But to support those troops, President Bush would have to call up the Reserves–which he still has yet to do. When he does, that will be the time to really start the countdown.
SAUDI ARABIA
Tough Times
It’s been a tough week for the Saudis. Interior Minister Prince Nayef declared “Zionists” responsible for 9-11, prompting Washington to consider a formal rebuke for Riyadh. And in a Hamburg courtroom, a German police official testified that when authorities raided the apartment of Mounir el-Motassadeq–an alleged accomplice of the organizers of the 9-11 attacks–they found the business card of Muhammad J. Fakihi of the Saudi Embassy in Berlin. (El-Motassadeq denies knowing of the 9-11 plot.) German police memos show German officials twice sought to question Saudi officials about Fakihi and whether el-Motassadeq visited him during a trip to Berlin two months after the terrorist attacks. But the Saudis never responded to written questions. The Saudis also demurred when asked to explain phone records showing repeated calls from el-Motassadeq’s apartment to the Riyadh office of Sheikh Safar al-Hawali, who helped set up a charity that U.S. officials alleged assisted a Qaeda cell that bombed the U.S. Embassy in Kenya. Al-Hawali was jailed by Saudi authorities in the early 1990s for inciting violence, but was released in 2000 on Nayef’s orders. El-Motassadeq’s phone records show he began calling the office of al-Hawali and other radical Saudi clerics in December 2000–about the time Muhammad Atta and two other Hamburg cell members were finishing flight training in America. That was also when, officials suspect, most of the 15 Saudis who served as “muscle” in the attacks were first recruited.
Then there was the federal authorities’ raid of the Quincy, Massachusetts, office of Ptech, a computer-software firm, in search of evidence linking the company to Yassin al-Qadi, a Saudi businessman who U.S. officials charge has helped finance Islamic terrorist groups. The National Security Council ordered U.S. Customs to investigate the firm after discovering Ptech has software contracts with the likes of the FBI and the Pentagon. A lawyer for al-Qadi confirmed that al-Qadi had arranged initial financing for Ptech but had sold his stake in the firm in 1999. But the lawyer denied any connection between al-Qadi and Al Qaeda or terrorism.
COLOMBIA
Catching a Chemist
American anti-drug officials say last week’s extradition of former Colombian drug baron Victor Patino Fomeque to Miami could open the door to a treasure trove of new evidence about high-level drug corruption and arms smuggling in the war-torn Latin nation. Patino Fomeque, a.k.a. the “Chemist,” once a top boss of the Cali cocaine cartel, faces charges stemming from the seizure of 83 pounds of cocaine in Miami in 1999. But Patino’s importance extends well beyond that case, U.S. officials say. A recent Drug Enforcement Administration report alleges that Patino’s organization paid “millions of dollars in bribes” to numerous Colombian government officials. Among the alleged recipients: Navy Adm. Rodrigo Alfonso Quinonez, the former director of Colombian naval intelligence and until recently the military attache at the Colombian Embassy in Israel. (Quinonez denies the allegations. He resigned two weeks ago “of his own accord, to preserve the name and image of the armed forces,” according to a Defense Ministry statement.) Even more significant, officials say, Patino played a key role in a massive arms-smuggling network that, in the last three years, funneled 5,000 AK-47 automatic weapons from Eastern Europe through Israel to the AUC, a right-wing paramilitary group that human-rights groups say has been responsible for most of the massacres of Colombian civilians in recent years. “This is very big,” said one U.S. official about Patino’s extradition. “It’s about stopping a pipeline to one of the biggest terrorist groups in South America.”
TAIWAN
Can Ma Make Chen Change?
Ma Ying-jeou’s re-election as Taipei mayor over the weekend must be causing tremors across town at the presidential palace. Most political observers expect Ma to take on President Chen Shui-bian in elections scheduled for 2004. He’s already beaten Chen once–in 1998, in the race for Taipei mayor–and his ratings are higher than the president’s now. Whereas Chen has taken heat for Taiwan’s economic slump and continued discord with the mainland, Ma has improved his image by learning the local dialect and broadening his exposure across the country.
Beijing, which hopes to lure Taiwan back through political and economic incentives, stands to gain from Ma’s rise. Ma’s Kuomintang party has won support for its eagerness to increase direct commercial and transport links with China. Chen, whose Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has historically been far more leery of Beijing, is now being forced to forge such links himself in order to blunt Ma’s appeal. Last week the DPP approved indirect charter flights between Shanghai and Taiwan during the Chinese New Year. Approvals for investment and banking ties with the mainland are rolling in at an unprecedented pace. Expect more from Chen. “The DPP will try to do more to increase cross-strait interaction,” notes National Taiwan University political scientist Philip Yang. With the next presidential election less than 18 months away, it will need to. Otherwise Chen and other party leaders may have to watch yet another Ma victory celebration.
EGYPT
A Case for Reform
The case of Egyptian-American sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim has been a bone of contention between Egypt and the United States since Ibrahim was first convicted in 2001 of “tarnishing” the image of Egypt abroad and accepting foreign funds for election reform. Human-rights activists have denounced Egypt’s courts, calling for reform. And in August, in response to Ibrahim’s resentencing, Washington announced that it would withhold any new aid to Egypt. Last week, on his 64th birthday, Ibrahim was released: Egypt’s highest appeals court had ordered a retrial.
Ibrahim isn’t out of the desert yet, but his prospects are better than ever before. This is the second time Egypt’s Court of Cassation has overturned the State Security Court’s ruling on Ibrahim. On Jan. 7 the Cassation court itself will adjudicate his final trial, so his odds look good. And so do Egypt’s on the whole. Problems still exist with its special courts. The Court of Cassation has always been one of the country’s more independent judicial institutions; the problem is the so-called exceptional courts–the high-security, emergency and military courts–which still “allow for political interference,” says Hafez Abu Saeda, head of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights. But thankfully for Egyptians, the regular court system has made recent improvements. The latest U.N. Global Human Development report cited judicial reform as one of the few positive indicators in the country. Even Egypt’s corporate fat cats are no longer above the law: Prime Minister Atef Abeid is currently forcing previously untouchable businessmen to pay back bad loans.
Crackdowns of this nature may not be able to save activists like Ibrahim from being hauled before special courts. But the more the traditional courts–and the Court of Cassation–check the powers of politically motivated prosecutors, the more likely it is that they could end up securing the freedom of those who choose to speak freely.
REALITY TV
A Recipe for Success
Britain’s Jamie Oliver–the star of “The Naked Chef”–zips around London on a scooter, speaks in a mock-Cockney accent, makes annoying TV adverts for the British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s, and has become a parody of himself. But Oliver’s first restaurant. Fifteen, in London’s East End, is something even most of his critics are calling fresh. Not only is the food amazing, but so is the concept. Oliver advertised in job centers throughout London, aiming to train 15 unemployed youths into gourmet chefs–and produce a television documentary following their progression. Last month he and his students opened the eatery to rave reviews. NEWSWEEK’s Ginanne Brownell asked Oliver about his recipe for reality-TV success:
Have you been pleased with the response so far?
It was all worth it. This restaurant has brought out different things in me that I haven’t felt before.
What about your students?
The students are absolutely stoked. They are buzzing. And in all honesty, [although] we’ve been through some ups and downs, they are the best [junior] chefs I have worked with.
How did you cook up the idea in the first place?
When we first moved to London, my wife had a friend who took care of disadvantaged kids who said that when you get them cooking and focused, they become so nice, kind and gentle. I thought cooking had a few emotions that brought out some nice things in people. [But] up until two years ago, I didn’t have the money to fund it. This project was about still being young enough and mad enough to put it all on the line. I think if it was two years later, I would have been a bit more settled and mature, and I certainly would not have [taken out a mortgage] on my house for a charity restaurant. I think a bit of juvenile madness did help.
How did you train your students to develop refined taste buds?
You teach taste like you teach anything. I first had to teach them to live, breathe and get excited about food.
Some critics still call the documentary a shameless plug.
Fifteen is a complete charity, and I do not even take a wage. I make my living from selling books. [But] I am inspired now more than ever. My wages are [paid] in inspiration.
CATHOLICISM
A New Blessing
Recently, the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) outlined a way for discontented Roman Catholics to reject their baptisms. Called “unchristening” by its primarily atheist proponents, the policy requires priests to note in the records if an adult requests to leave the church. Catholic leaders consider the move a matter of bookkeeping–not a departure from religious doctrine. And just how many lost souls will take advantage of the unchristening process remains to be seen. One activist group claims 10,000 people have put in requests; the church says it’s been only a “few dozen.” But if other numbers available for the predominantly Catholic country are any indicator, then de-baptism could become a popular trend. Although 98 percent of Italians are baptized, only 36 percent attend mass regularly–and some 14 percent never attend at all.
THEATER
Death Becomes Them, Even Off-Broadway
How do you attract audiences to an off-off-Broadway play about the death penalty? Packing the cast with celebrities works pretty well. Since “The Exonerated” opened last month with Richard Dreyfuss, Jill Clayburgh and Sara Gilbert, it has become one of the hottest tickets in New York, even though its artfully woven testimonials of people freed from death row is hardly your light evening out. The show has become something of the new “Vagina Monologues,” with rotating casts of famous folks–in mid-November it was Mia Farrow, Aidan Quinn and Gabriel Byrne–drawing people to a play they might not otherwise dare see. Despite Hollywood’s alleged liberal bias, it hasn’t been that easy snagging movie actors willing to sit on a stool eight times a week for $600. “Occasionally people ask us, but 99 percent of the time we make lists and I start calling,” says actor Bob Balaban (“Gosford Park”), the show’s director. “I’m shameless. I ran into Aidan Quinn at a benefit, and within three minutes after explaining what was involved, he said he’d do it.” Of course, recruitment is easier with people of a left-leaning persuasion. But Balaban says he’s not above searching for less obvious candidates. “Maybe it’s my hubris,” he says, “but I think any caring human being on the right or the left who allows themselves to hear the facts would have to say injustice has occurred, whether they’re for the death penalty or not. Am I crazy?”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-25” author: “Jessica Souza”
New Year, New Tears?
After another grim year, everyone from America to Europe to Asia is hoping for an economic rebound in 2003. Unfortunately, the global economy looks to be two-faced next year: Europe, Japan and much of South America will grimace from stagnation and recession. The other half of the world will sport the sunniest smiles since the boom went bust in the spring of 2000.
Why the schizoid outlook? “Structural divergencies,” explains Jean-Philippe Cotis, chief economist for the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. He’s referring to the high taxes and no-layoff job protections in slowpoke economies like Germany and France, which have progressively crippled new investment and therefore prospects for growth. These once stalwart nations will soon become stagnant.
In contrast, the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, with low taxes and free labor markets, should expand by a range of 2.7 to 3.7 percent, according to the OECD forecast. Developing countries like China, India, Chile, Mexico and South Korea–also with low tax rates and free labor markets–will enjoy 5 to 7 percent expansions, says the IMF. The newly freed economies of the former Soviet Union look to join the winners’ club as well. Although still plagued by inefficiencies, it’s estimated they’ll grow by almost 5 percent. Under Vladimir Putin, Russia is finally getting enough things right to post its third straight year of strong growth.
More good news snuggles in these numbers. Expansion in each of these countries exceeds increases in population. Adding the growers together, more than half of the world’s citizens next year will be individually richer than they were the year before. World poverty will decline–slightly. Among the boomers, China and India alone account for well over a third of the world’s population.
Here’s the bad news. Half a dozen Latin American countries may follow Argentina into default next year. Despite some reform in the 1990s, Brazil, Venezuela and much of South America is still hampered by corruption and protectionism aimed at saving and expanding jobs among the unionized industrial and governing middle class. This bloated sector absorbs resources that could be put to better use elsewhere. In Brazil, for instance, only 19 percent of all kids are offered a chance at high school, but every highly paid and underworked government worker gets to retire at 55.
In Western Europe and Japan, high taxation (roughly 50 percent of output in Europe) and rigidly socialized labor markets are drastically slowing new investment. The result: private job growth has vanished. Germany is likely to slide into a recession next year, following two years of more than 8 percent unemployment and less than 1 percent output growth. Japan has fared worse; it’s managed less than 1 percent growth annually over the past decade. As it remains totally unreformed, it, too, faces a recession in 2003. ‘Tis a happier new year–but only if you live in the right country.
AFRICA
Disaster, Yet Again
For the first time in nearly two decades, sub-Saharan Africa faces massive famine. Some 17 million people could die by the spring if they do not receive food over the next three months, according to a report issued in December by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.
One million people died in the last such disaster, in 1984, despite a massive international relief effort. Today the circumstances are more dire in part because of the diversity of factors contributing to the famine. In southern Africa soaring rates of HIV/AIDS have decimated the rural labor force, and cutthroat government policies have delayed food deliveries. In Zimbabwe, for instance, the government has been accused of withholding food from those loyal to opposition groups. A major drought in the Horn and parts of western Africa has left 19 million hungry. And in central Africa and the Great Lakes region, civil strife is causing millions of others to starve. The U.N. World Food Program estimates that$1.4 billion in aid is needed to stave off the current crisis–that translates into 993,000 tons of food. Only two thirds of that goal has been achieved; 663,000 tons are on the way to the hungry.
IRAN AND AIDS: Finally Facing Up to the Facts
December saw the largest government-sponsored AIDS conference ever held in Iran. Reformist President Mohammed Khatami asked all agencies to join in the effort to fight the “epidemic.” A week earlier, conservative Defense Minister Mohammad Shamkhani said that AIDS could pose as serious a danger as a military threat. It was a drastic shift for a regime that until 1996 had banned any kind of education or public campaign about the disease.
Sounds like progress, right? Not quite. Activists say that the facts are still being obfuscated. Tehran claims that there are only about 4,000 HIV-positive Iranians in the country. Yet Ahmad Ghavidel, president of Iran’s Society to Protect AIDS Patients, says the number is nearly 150,000. The reason for the discrepancy: the government refuses to account for prostitution, one of the primary vectors for infection. “They don’t dare to announce that sexual intercourse is the main cause of the epidemic,” says Ghavidel. The government insists that the main source of AIDS is intravenous drug use.
The latest stats show that there are 2.5 million drug addicts in Iran, and the official forecast predicts that within 20 years the number could balloon to 9 million. But no numbers are kept for sex workers–anyone who publishes a study about sex can be accused of “propagating prostitution.” Nevertheless, Iranian health officials admitted to NEWSWEEK that they know the real numbers are many times higher than the official count. This may be forcing a quiet policy change. There’s been talk of sex education for high-school students and broadcasting safe-sex messages on state-run TV channels. Now that would be progress.
JAPAN
Loosen Up The Links
Before Japan’s bubble burst, golfers would happily pay up to $400,000 for membership in the country’s most elite clubs. And those fees–often paid before courses were completed–were used to finance them. So when the economy turned sour and membership levels dropped off, clubs had no way of paying their creditors. Now banks have started calling in outstanding loans and club members are demanding their deposit money back. Mass bankruptcies have ensued. In 2002 alone, 92 operators have gone bust, and over the next year hundreds more courses are likely to do the same. The result: a new land glut that has inspired pioneering investors with proposals to revive good courses and break up the bad ones.
So far most of the money spent buying the failed golf courses has gone toward schemes to broaden the clientele. Goldman Sachs snatched 30 courses from Nitto Kogyo, one of Japan’s largest golf companies, after the business failed to repay the $1 billion it owed the bank. Now it has plans in the works to attract a whole new demographic by making the courses public. No longer will the sand traps be dominated by blue-suited salarymen, but by women, twentysomethings and foreigners.
The fate of the worst-hit courses may be “adaptive reuse”: a euphemism for shopping malls, housing projects and even farms. The same farmers who were courted to sell their rice fields for fairways a decade ago are now getting a second round of calls–this time to get their farmland back on the cheap.
For the golfer who once paid a small fortune to play, the idea that his former exec paradise will be turned back into pasture isn’t very comforting. But that may soon be par for the course.
WAR ON TERROR
Al Qaeda Online
The latest internet entertainment for aspiring Islamic holy warriors is a video montage that opens with a picture of Osama bin Laden set against a background of rugged mountains. Bin Laden is aiming an assault rifle across the computer screen. A few seconds later, an image of George W. Bush appears on the opposite side of the screen. Bin Laden opens fire, almost immediately shooting Bush’s face full of bullet holes. Seconds later, the Bush and bin Laden images dissolve, replaced by graphics of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Islamic archenemy, Chechen guerrilla leader Khattab. Putin also ends up full of holes, and he is followed by a jihadist rogues’ gallery: Israeli leader Ariel Sharon and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
Intelligence and terrorism experts say that the Islamist presence on the Internet has expanded rapidly in recent months, and it’s not just a matter of virtual violence. New Web sites feature gory games, comic strips and themes including enigmatic symbols such as flowers and trees–which could contain coded messages for terrorists. Driven even deeper underground since 9-11, Al Qaeda and close affiliates have increasingly begun using the Internet to assert their role in the recent killings, such as those of Kenyans and Israelis in Mombasa, and to threaten future assaults. At a time when bin Laden is believed to be alive and at large, the Web presence is an eerie reminder of the war on terror’s very much unfinished business.
Some U.S. experts suggest it’s also a sign of Qaeda desperation. Robbed of its base in Afghanistan, fragmented by arrests and deaths, the organization’s leadership has few places to roost. But the terror group is proving that the Net is far more effective for propaganda than a samizdat newspaper. Recently, for instance, a site called Mojahedoon.net distributed an audio message from Qaeda spokesman Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, taking responsibility for the Mombasa attacks.
For terror trackers, Qaeda’s invasion of the Net has posed a fresh challenge. Agencies like the CIA and the supersecret U.S. National Security Agency say they feel they have to flirt with the kind of covert activities they’ve pledged to shun, like spying on Americans and bugging companies. “We’re living in a global telecommunications structure in which the communications you really want me to be [targeting] are coexisting with yours,” says a senior Defense Department official involved in the tracking. “The trick we have is to convince you and the Congress to give up some money and the power to grab [enemy] communications while trusting we won’t touch yours.” The CIA also employs “psy-ops” agents and linguists who work chat rooms, either trying to trick radicals into revealing information or posing as moderate Muslims countering extremist arguments.
Sometimes Internet service providers can host suspect Web sites unawares. Six months ago, the operators of an obscure ISP in a northeastern U.S. city were astonished to learn from business contacts that their computers were hosting Jehad.net, which U.S. officials regard as a semiofficial Qaeda site. Jehad.net recently carried a message from bin Laden’s official spokes-man, as well as copies of two purported jihadi training manuals: “The Mujahideen Explosives Handbook” and “The Mujahideen Poisons Handbook.”
Increasingly, the Bush administration also worries that Islamic extremists may be among the owners of U.S. companies involved in sophisticated computer activity. In Dallas on Dec. 18, a posse of FBI agents arrested the operators of Infocom, an Internet service firm allegedly financed by a leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas. In mid-December, Customs agents searched the office of a Quincy, Massachusetts, software firm called Ptech that had been financed by capital raised by Yassin al-Qadi, a Saudi businessman whose assets were frozen by the Bush administration after 9-11. The company had software contracts with several government agencies, including the FBI, Federal Aviation Administration, Navy and Energy Department. Both the company and al-Qadi have denied any connection to terrorism, and U.S. officials say there is no evidence national security has been compromised. But in the borderless world of the Web, culprits could be anywhere.
MUSIC
Bootleg Bonanza
The wholesale boot-legging of Bob Dylan sessions and concerts took off decades ago. But Dylan and Columbia Records naturally want control over the vast amount of unreleased material–and their share of the money. They released an official “Basement Tapes” compilation in 1975, “Bootleg Series” in 1991 and a recording of 1966 concerts in 1998. Now comes “Bob Dylan: Live 1975,” two CDs from his Rolling Thunder Revue tour. Except for an annoying stop-and-start version of “Romance in Durango,” it’s a keeper, with fiery reworkings of “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You,” “A Hard Rain’s Gonna Fall” and “Hurricane.” Even Joan Baez’s embarrassingly overenthusiastic harmonies can’t ruin “The Water Is Wide.” After 40 years of concerts, there must be enough additional live Dylan kicking around for you to spend the rest of your life listening to it. You could do worse.
BOOKS
What Made Tolkien Tick?
Prof. Michael Drout certainly wasn’t the first academic to seek out the true meaning behind J.R.R. Tolkien’s incredibly popular fantasy world, “The Lord of the Rings.” But he was the first to devote an entire academic journal to the subject. During his quest, the Tolkien scholar also uncovered some of the late author’s lost manuscripts, which he recently published in a book called “Beowulf and the Critics.” NEWSWEEK’s John Ness spoke with Drout about the master of Middle-earth:
Tolkien fought in World War I? Tolkien wrote his first fantasy stories in the trenches and when he was in camp hospitals with trench fever. All of his best friends were dead by the time he was 22 because of the war.
Did it affect his writing? “The Fall of Gondolin” describes this beautiful, perfect elven city that is betrayed by treachery: all the [elves] are killed and the city is burned. Some critics say Tolkien glorified war, but it’s clear he hated it.
Most of “The Lord of the Rings” was written during World War II. What effect did the war have on the trilogy? It’s worth noting that most of what are now considered the great fantasy books came out in the ’40s and ’50s, as a reaction in some ways to World War II. They use medieval material as their source, but with a different philosophy: that power in and of itself turns people evil. That is really a postwar idea.
Why did he always write about elves? They existed in English literature, but they were these vaguely defined, silly little things. And from a philologist’s point of view–which Tolkien was first and foremost–that didn’t make sense. The Anglo-Saxon word for elf is the first part of very well-respected names. King Alfred–whose name means “counseled by elves”–was the first king of all England, and saved England from invasion by the Danes. I think that drove Tolkien nuts. The king of England is not named after little things prancing under mushrooms.
COMICS: A Much-Needed Hero for Mexico
Serpio, an angry, Superman-like master of martial arts who fights crime by his own rules, couldn’t have timed his arrival in Mexico much better. Mexico City desperately needs a crime-fighting boost–even if it’s only psychological. With an average of two murders a day and countless acts of lesser violence, it has one of the the worst crime rates in Latin America. Authorities estimate that someone gets kidnapped at least once a day. Corruption within the police force is so endemic that citizens rarely bother to report crimes. So it’s no wonder that Serpio, who made his debut in the first issue of a wonderfully drawn 22-page comic book last November is proving exceptionally popular. Says Serpio creator Ricardo Gonzalez Duprat: “Mexico needs a superhero.”
Serpio may not have any real effect on Mexican crime, but he could give much-needed inspiration to the homegrown comic industry. Though some 24 million comic books are sold in Mexico each year, most are translated imports. (For good reason: the domestic books are mostly poorly drawn soft-porn tales or folksy adventures of ranchers and their mistresses.)
So far, the Mexican public seems ready to accept the orginal series. Readers are raving about their new hero. The first issue sold 1,500 copies at a recent comic-book fair in Mexico City–not quite the millions that the popular U.S series “Spawn” sold in the United States when it first appeared in 1992, but a positive sign for Duprat. One lifelong Mexico City resident recently e-mailed the creator that Serpio was uperperronsisimo–beyond excellent. “You’ve created something totally Mexican,” he wrote. If only Duprat could bring him to life.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-29” author: “Michelle Adams”
Belarus hasn’t been in the limelight for a while–its appalling human-rights record and disinterest in democratic progress have largely isolated dictator Aleksandr Lukashenko. But Lukashenko’s pariah status has ingratiated him with one world leader: Saddam Hussein. Now their relationship seems to be attracting Western attention once again.
In recent years Belarus has regularly exported goods to Iraq under the U.N. Oil-for-Food Program. But lately Washington has grown concerned that those commercial ties might be concealing a more sinister program: the transfer of illicit arms and technology. Particularly worrying for the U.S. government are the frequent “humanitarian flights” from the Belarus capital of Minsk to Baghdad. Such flights are permitted under the sanctions imposed on Iraq after the gulf war–as long as they don’t contain any goods that might have military applications. U.S. officials suspect that the planes are in fact transporting forbidden arms–and even military experts–to Baghdad.
The Americans have long been complaining to the United Nations about notably vague freight manifests connected with the flights. (On occasion, the same manifests have even been resubmitted for different flights, with only the date changed.) Around two months ago U.S. patience snapped, and Washington appealed to the U.N. Sanctions Committee to prevent one of the flights from taking off. No one will disclose what America suspected was onboard, but the U.S. action did succeed in keeping the plane on the ground in Minsk for several hours before it was allowed to depart. And sources in Minsk say that recent passengers have included senior executives from some of the country’s biggest Soviet-era arms factories. These companies include those that make military optics, tractor-trailers that can be used as mobile missile launchers and high-precision manufacturing equipment.
U.S. fears aren’t entirely unjustified. Before they left Iraq in 1998, U.N. weapons inspectors found prohibited equipment from Belarus in Iraqi military installations. And last year the United States openly scolded Minsk for arms smuggling in breach of U.N. sanctions–as well as for training Iraqi air-defense officers in the use of Russian-made S-300 antiaircraft missiles. Yet another U.S. concern is that Belarus may be serving as middleman for Russian weaponry that the Kremlin–or rogue firms in Russia–wouldn’t dare sell to Iraq openly. Leonid Kozik, one of the Belarus officials who traveled to Iraq last fall, also serves on the board of a Russian-Belarussian company that markets weapons from the two countries. Little Belarus, with its population of just 10 million, is one of the world’s leading importers of Russian weaponry. The Bush administration has been eagerly watching for a link between Iraq and Al Qaeda. Now it seems the Lukashenko connection might be back on its radar.
–Christian Caryl and Sandy L. Edry
Volcanoes: Waiting to Exhale
Think of Italy’s Mount Etna as a volcano in a very, very bad mood. A decade of seismic activity has built up incredible pressure and Etna needs some sort of release–soon, according to a new study by the National Institute of Geophysics and Vulcanology in Sicily. The study found that a reservoir of magma has migrated 15 kilometers upward to a shallow pocket just below the mountain. Etna’s eruptions in 2001 and 2002 were mostly show, doing little more than raining ash down on nearby cities. Apparently what Etna really needs is the equivalent of a good cry. Domenico Patane, a scientist involved in the study, told NEWSWEEK that “eruptions must be expected to occur at intervals ranging from one to three years, and some of them might be much more voluminous and probably more explosive than in the past.” That’s hardly comforting news for those who live on this angry mountain.
–Barbie Nadeau
Colombia: Fragile Illusion
Alvaro Uribe Velez came to power last year on a pledge to crack down on Colombia’s guerrilla forces and stamp out government corruption. Six months on, he’s still riding high in opinion surveys. He has delighted the business sector with new laws that lengthened the workday and slashed pensions. And he’s even receiving high marks from abroad: the Bush administration has praised the government’s aggressive anti-drug fumigation program, and the IMF rewarded Bogota with a new $2.1 billion loan last month. “He’s the –most effective Colombian president I’ve met,” says former U.S. ambassador to Colombia Myles Frechette. “There is a sense in Colombia that here’s a guy who’s going to do what he says he’s going to do.”
But is it all illusion? The armed forces have yet to capture a key guerrilla commander or score a big victory in the field since Uribe took over. Last Friday, the guerrillas struck again–with a bomb blast that killed more than 30 people in a high-end Bogota nightclub. The attack was widely attributed to the 17,000-strong Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. “The guerrillas’ power remains intact,” warns military-affairs expert Alfredo Rangel.
Terrorism aside, Uribe faces another big test in June, when he is expected to submit several reform measures to a national referendum. Barring a sudden nose dive in popularity, analysts expect a fresh endorsement from the voters–in part because war-weary Colombians really want their president to succeed. “People have a desperate faith in Uribe,” says El Tiempo codirector Enrique Santos Calderon. But if bomb blasts like last Friday’s become routine in Colombia’s cities, the tenuousness of Uribe’s popularity could quickly be exposed.
–Joseph Contreras and Steven Ambrus
Justice: Supreme Switch
It’s been nine years since the last vacancy on the U.S. Supreme Court. That drought could end this year with at least one resignation. With the White House and the Senate both in Republican hands, GOP-nominated Chief Justice William Rehnquist, 78, and Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, 72, are considered most likely to depart.
Many strategists predict Bush will give the court its first Hispanic justice. Early betting has centered on White House counsel and Bush confidant Alberto Gonzales. But some elements of Bush’s conservative base seem to have cooled on the idea. And White House insiders say Gonzales himself has never been enthusiastic about going on the high court. Other possibilities: appellate Judge Emilio M. Garza of Texas and, if he’s confirmed to the D.C. circuit court, lawyer Miguel Estrada.
Some observers think Bush could take another approach, appointing California Supreme Court Justice Janice Rogers Brown instead. Brown is a conservative African-American who’s ruled against affirmative action and abortion rights. She would be court’s third woman and second African-American. And White House lawyers have already interviewed her. Tom Goldstein, a Washington lawyer who argues cases before the court, believes Brown could even get the nod for chief justice, if that position should open up. “An African-American female nominee is not going to be filibustered,” he says. “She doesn’t have a record that will stop Democrats in their tracks.” And after months of Senate fights over nominations to lower courts, that could have an appeal all its own.
–Debra Rosenberg and Tamara Lipper
Sex: Dictators Do It Best?
This friday, much of the world will be focused on the United Nations and Hans Blix. An even greater number of people will be obsessed with the flowers and chocolates of Valentine’s Day. Nigel Cawthorne, author of “Sex Lives of the Great Dictators,” is one of the few who might see a link between the two. He explained the love connection to NEWSWEEK’s Malcolm Beith:
Is Saddam the despot a sexpot?
Certainly. There are reports that he now has three wives and five other full-time lovers. And that he’s popping Viagra. It seems he’s having a bit of trouble with his biological weapon.
Kim Il Sung allegedly liked his ladies. Is Kim Jong Il turning out like his late father?
He seems to be almost worse. The Communist Party has always been sort of set up as a pimping outfit, which brings in attractive young women and sends them to the center. In North Korea they set up these private brothels all over the place, where Kim and his father would enjoy the ladies. The girls are supposed to make a fantasy for them.
If Saddam and Kim were to celebrate Valentine’s Day, what sort of surprise do you think they’d muster up for their gals?
Both have had unsatisfactory women shot. So I can well imagine a bullet.
Is there an Axis of Evil in the bedroom? In other words, the three worst-loving leaders ever?
Certainly Hitler. Idi Amin, too. If he wanted your wife, he’d have your head. And [former emperor of the Central African Republic and alleged cannibal Jean-Bedel] Bokassa. He always kept his fridge fully stocked with young girls.
What can you tell us about President Bush, whom some consider a dictator?
I don’t think one can think of him as a dictator, although in the eyes of the American press he might seem like an elected king. [But] there are certain rumors that he was once a bit of a lad with the ladies. Then he married, sobered up and got boring.
Would the world be a safer place right now if our leaders were all a different sort of lover?
One has just to recall how much better things were when Clinton was in the White House. It was much more fun thinking about dry-cleaning than “dirty bombs.”
So who are the better lovers–hawks or doves?
Ladies do tend to go for the Saddam types. Look at Hitler–they loved him. He got the rock-star treatment. But then again, lots of women voted for Clinton, too. It is worth remembering that Gandhi used to sleep with two young women to test his will and see if he could resist temptation–at least that’s what he told his wife.
N. Ireland: Writing on the Wall
The brutal and divided history of Northern Ireland has long been written on its walls. For years, all one needed to do in order to find out the Roman Catholic or Protestant allegiance of an inner-city district was to read the menacing slogans and giant sectarian emblems daubed on local brickwork. But no longer. Thanks to a church-led initiative, three groups of Protestant paramilitaries in East Belfast recently agreed to scrub out some of the most obnoxious graffiti and other grim examples of local folk art. At one notorious intersection–a flashpoint for intercommunal violence last summer–graffiti warning Catholics to stay out of a Protestant neighborhood is already gone. Next in line are three enormous murals depicting hooded Protestant gunmen. In their place will come depictions of less contentious local role models like football hero George Best, writer C. S. Lewis and singer Van Morrison.
The cleanup could bring practical benefits to a run-down area where racketeering is widespread and jobs are few. And according to local pastor Rev. Gary Mason, who helped broker the agreement, the interest already shown by groups outside Belfast suggests that similar projects could follow across Northern Ireland. Says Mason: “Hopefully this is just the beginning of a process.” In a region where the word “process” is largely equated with failed peace efforts, any new initiatives are being welcomed. Says David Irvine, leader of the Progressive Unionist Party: “Anything that makes communities feel less threatened has to be valuable.” If Northern Ireland’s politicians cannot paint over their differences, perhaps their people can.
–William Underhill
Food: The Quickest Way to Your Heart
You’d think that in a country where 60 percent of people are considered overweight and diets are all the rage, a cookbook of artery-clogging recipes wouldn’t find many buyers. Think again. In 1999, sick of the media’s “unhealthy” fixation on dieting, Benjamin Lewis and Rodrigo Velloso cooked up “Eat Dangerously,” a cardiac arrest of a cookbook stuffed with recipes like the 22-pound, whiskey-filled Turkey From Hell. Americans gobbled up 3,000 copies. (Not bad for a book available mostly online.) With more than 750,000 unique hits on their Web site (eatdangerously.com), the pair decided to offer “dangerous” menus for every occasion. The boys’ newest release is aimed straight at your heart: Valentine’s Dangerously, which serves up lamb chops stuffed with gorgonzola and comes with a recommendation to “wash it down with a cigarette” so you can feel it “clogging your arteries.” (“Don’t worry though, you’ve got tons of arteries,” write the duo.) In response to the charge that fat may be unromantic, the authors argue that a hearty candlelit meal that forgoes dietary niceties will release untapped chemicals in the brain, which are bound to be mistaken for love. Americans might want to consider that this medical advice comes from two cooks who regard data linking healthy diets to longevity “highly questionable.” But they do cook a damn fine meal.
–Michael Hastings
Letters: A Starr is Reborn
Wondering what happened to Ken Starr after Whitewater? NEWSWEEK has obtained a copy of Starr’s Christmas missive, which (in his own words) provides an update:
“Ken… is currently devoting himself to the campaign finance litigation now unfolding in a special three-judge district court in Washington. He is teaching at NYU Law School, George Mason School of Law, and (as you might expect) Sunday School.” And by the sounds of it, he’s also joined the ranks of the ugly Americans that make much of the rest of the world cringe these days. Excerpts from Starr’s thoughts and hopes for 2003:
“Proudly, this nation, hewn from the vast frontier by those great generations who went before us, stands strong, recovering from the unspeakably horrid destruction visited upon the innocents on that date that rings, like December 7, 1941, in infamy… The treachery this time came from those duly admitted into the land of the free and home of the brave. And they used our own instruments of commerce against us. Time for Homeland Security, one might say.
“We shall prevail. With apologies to no one, we already are prevailing. And not to worry about opinion polls suggesting that our popularity around the globe is sinking faster than one can utter ‘NASDAQ.’ Americans come from sturdy stock. We gave the world a new birth in freedom, whereas those our forebears left behind in Europe gave us Nazism, Fascism and Communism. (Take note, England is a brave and bold exception to this hothouse of political pathologies.) We’ll take the Declaration of Independence and our beloved Constitution any day. And we genuinely seek good, unapologetically standing for principles which everyone should have learned in kindergarten, captured in the Golden Rule and more elaborately in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Like many American families, we have a flag on every car and one waving proudly outside our home sweet home.”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-15” author: “Benjamin Gilman”
Man on the Run
One of the most wanted terrorists today is a 36-year-old Palestinian Qaeda leader known as Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, who has been linked to recent Qaeda activity and possibly even Iraq. Wanted by Jordan since 1999, when he allegedly plotted to bomb U.S. targets in Amman, Zarqawi is supposed to be one of Al Qaeda’s top experts on chemical and biological weapons. Some investigators believe he is behind a recently foiled London plot to poison food at a British military base with ricin. Jordanian authorities believe Zarqawi was involved in the murder of a U.S. foreign-aid official late last year.
Zarqawi evaded capture in Afghanistan after 9-11 by crossing the border into Iran, according to intelligence reports. After sojourning under what some Pentagon officials believe was the protection of Iranian “security forces,” Zarqawi supposedly went to Baghdad, where doctors amputated his leg (injured in Afghan fighting) and replaced it with a prosthesis. Later, so the story goes, Zarqawi moved farther westward, via Syria, to Lebanon. Last August, at a terrorist camp in southern Lebanon, he purportedly attended a terrorist “summit” whose participants included Hizbollah militants, Iranian secret agents and a Lebanese Islamist gang called Asbat al-Ansar. According to some reports, Zarqawi also may have traveled to Iraq’s Kurdish region to visit a pro-bin Laden militia called Ansar al-Islam, and to the Pankisi Gorge in Georgia, where Qaeda operatives reportedly train with Chechen militants.
Not surprisingly, reports putting Zarqawi in Iraq piqued the interest of Pentagon hardliners eager to find evidence to support their suspicion that Saddam and bin Laden are allied and may have plotted 9-11 together. But neither the CIA nor Britain’s legendary M.I.6 put much stock in Zarqawi’s alleged Iraqi visits, stressing such reports are “unconfirmed.”
Science
Talk About the Weather
Let’s face it: when a moisture-heavy southwestern monsoon is raging through India in the summer, the average Indian couldn’t care less what the weather’s like in the North Atlantic. But maybe he should. A new report published last week in the science journal Nature shows a link between weather patterns in the North Atlantic and summer monsoons in South Asia. By studying planktonic sediment samples gathered from the floor of the Oman Margin in the Arabian Sea, Anil K. Gupta of the Indian Institute of Technology and his colleagues constructed a detailed record of the centennial patterns of the southwestern monsoon over the last 11,000 years. After comparing the information with climate cycles in the North Atlantic during the same period, they found that arctic conditions in that region coincided with a weakened monsoon season in South Asia.
These findings could well spark more than casual Asian interest in European weather. Gupta has already contacted several climate modelers to see how best the study can be used to predict whether the North Atlantic is going to cool or warm–and how this would in turn affect the tropics. And scientists agree that this long-term link could be a key to understanding global climate. Further data on the monsoon’s northern connection is still needed, says Gupta, which he plans to find by analyzing samples from the same site at more frequent intervals. But for now, Gupta is hoping to put his findings to a more immediate use: examining the coldest Indian winter in almost four decades by gathering data on what is happening in the North Atlantic. “If there is some abnormality in the climate over there, maybe we can do something,” he says. With more than 1,800 dead from a month of bitter cold in India and its neighbors to the northeast, any ray of sunshine the scientist could provide would certainly be welcome.
Iraq
What Price Is Right?
Would the benefits of attacking Iraq outweigh the costs? Experts are struggling to assess the likely toll on the 26 million people who happen to live in Iraq. The best estimates of deaths, injuries and humanitarian fallout from a conflict–contained in new reports from the United Nations, the World Health Organization and independent medical experts–are by no means definitive. But none of them is attractive.
Body counts are hard to predict, but they would no doubt extend beyond the battlefield. The projected death tolls range from 48,000 up to 260,000 (the high number includes 21,000 deaths from chemical and biological weapons). And civilians are likely to bear the brunt of the damage. The new reports predict that as bombs destroy Iraq’s transportation networks and electricity grids, millions will lose access to basic medicine, adequate food and even potable water. The likely health consequences range from malnutrition and dysentery to deadly outbreaks of measles and meningitis. Experts agree that a U.S. invasion could also trigger a refugee crisis, an economic meltdown and years of civil unrest in Iraq and neighboring countries.
The most chilling of the new reports is not a published monograph but an internal United Nations memo assessing the practical challenges a war will pose for relief agencies. The U.N. document, obtained by The Times of London in December and made public this month by a humanitarian group called Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq, notes that Iraqi civilians are far more vulnerable today than they were during the 1991 gulf war, when most had jobs and basic assets. A decade of economic sanctions has since left 60 percent of the population dependent on food baskets distributed by the Iraqi government, the memo explains. If military combat paralyzes that system, some 3 million mothers and young children will face dire food shortages, and relief workers may not be able to reach them at all.
Drawing on data from UNICEF and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, the memo predicts that 7.4 million Iraqis will require some kind of humanitarian assistance in the event of a U.S.-led invasion. More than 5 million will need “food and necessities,” and 2 million will “require some assistance with shelter.” At the same time, 39 percent of the population will “need to be provided with potable water,” the memo predicts–and 500,000 people may need treatment for injuries. The Bush administration says that its postwar plans include humanitarian relief as well as major efforts to rebuild Iraq’s economy and civic institutions. There will certainly be a lot of work to do.
Fiat Coming to America?
Fiat patriarch Gianni Agnelli, 81, died last week just hours before a family meeting to decide the fate of his beloved but broken-down car company. Now it looks as though General Motors may reluctantly ride to the rescue of the debt-ridden Italian automaker. GM already owns 20 percent of Fiat, and the Italian automaker has an option to sell the entire company to the General in 2004. The strong-willed Agnelli, once a rival of Henry Ford II, fiercely opposed letting the Americans take the wheel. But now that younger brother Umberto is in charge, analysts expect him to turn the keys over to GM so he can focus on Fiat’s more promising ventures in newspaper publishing, jet engines and soccer.
A GM spokeswoman declined to comment, but the No. 1 automaker cannot relish the prospect. GM has already written off nearly all of its original $2.5 billion investment in Fiat, and repairing the automaker won’t be easy in a country where strong labor unions resist U.S.-style downsizing. (Fiat workers briefly halted their latest strike when news of Agnelli’s death emerged Friday.) The one bright spot for U.S. car enthusiasts is that GM might bring over to America another, sexier car line that Fiat owns: Alfa Romeo. But with the Italian wreck headed for GM’s garage, the U.S. automaker is likely to learn why mechanics say Fiat stands for Fix It Again Tomorrow.
FBI
Touchy New Targeting
Frustrated that his troops are still not aggressive enough in hunting down terrorists, FBI Director Robert Mueller has launched a potentially controversial initiative. As part of the effort, NEWSWEEK has learned, Mueller’s top aides have ordered chiefs of the bureau’s 56 field offices to develop “demographic” profiles of their localities–including tallying the number of mosques. These profiles are then being used, along with other factors, to set specific numerical goals for counterterrorism investigations and secret national-security wiretaps in each region. Top bureau officials have signaled that if field offices don’t meet their pre-established goals, they may be subjected to special reviews by inspection teams from headquarters.
Field offices learned of the new project earlier this month when they received a six-page questionnaire that, in a section headlined vulnerability, asked about the number of mosques in their communities. The approach has raised concerns that the FBI is engaging in a new form of religious “profiling.”
FBI officials have acknowledged that the initiative could be politically dicey. But they say the move is justified given continuing concerns about undetected “sleeper cells” and troublesome evidence that some mosques may be serving as cover for terrorist activity. Other FBI officials stressed that mosque tallies are only one of several criteria used to assess the terrorist threat in each region. Among others, they said, are the number of “vulnerable assets” in an area (such as bridges, dams and nuclear plants), flight schools and Islamic charities that have been linked to terrorism.
Lego
The Smallest Big Guys
It’s as if his opponents’ dreams have finally come true. There stands Shaquille O’Neal, just 4.1cm tall. The towering Los Angeles Lakers center is one of 24 NBA stars who have been rendered in miniature by LEGO, the Denmark-based toy company. The new line of tiny characters, part of a worldwide licensing deal with the NBA, represents a number of firsts. Little Shaq, Mini Kobe and friends are the first LEGO figures based on actual people, as well as the first black LEGO figures in the 71-year history of the company. Sensitive to the suggestion that LEGO is targeting black toy buyers, company spokesperson Melinda Siemionko points out that the NBA characters also include the first-ever white LEGO figures. (Up to now, LEGO people have all been bright yellow.) But 18 of the NBA figures are black, and while the company says the toys are aimed at all groups, the little hoopsters could have particular appeal among African-Americans. By race, the top LEGO markets right now are whites and Asians, which might also argue for a Yao Ming figure to compete against Shaq in LEGO playoffs someday. (Six of the new figures are non-U.S. players, and LEGO is hoping to introduce another all-star line in 2004.)
Working within the limitations of the medium–everybody has the same barrel-shaped head–LEGO’s designers seem to have relied on hairstyles and whiskers to distinguish the players. Allen Iverson sports cornrows, while Predrag Stojakovic features a mustache and some funky-looking stubble. As for Shaq–well, even when he’s reduced to the size of a midget’s thumb, there’s something about the guy that says, “Get out of my way.”
ART ‘Perfect’ Paintings
If you can imagine such professional grown-ups as retired Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, ex-Clintonite James Carville and former NOW head Patricia Ireland dabbling with paints and pastels–then your name can only be… Debra Trione. Trione was “a task-force liaison” for Bill Clinton’s Council on Sustainable Development, and has written for public radio and newspapers. In 1997, she began interviewing every pooh-bah she could find, posing such stumpers as “Name two or three things you hope will be true about the world in fifty years.” She also brought her paints and somehow got them to picture their utopias. The result is “A Perfect World: Words and Paintings From Over 50 of America’s Most Powerful People.”
It turns out that America’s MPPs have hearts as golden as the parachutes they’ve received from various distinguished institutions. Carville paints “a daddy, a momma, two children, a paycheck and a future”; Ireland envisions “a general spiral of progress on the issues I care about”; Schwarzkopf pictures “a kind of universal well-being.” Trione writes that when she sprung the paints on former senator Alan Simpson, he said, “This is appalling to me.” But he produced a preschool-expressionist landscape of his native Wyoming, with “one of the most unique plants the world has ever known, known only to the imagination.” (“This is the damnedest interview I’ve ever had,” he concluded.) The funniest is critic Harold Bloom’s scrawl–looks like about 30 seconds’ work–of a triangle-faced lady scowling at a book. But you know who can really paint? Former NASA administrator Daniel Goldin, whose rendering of a rocket, suns and “very happy planets” looks like a modernist masterwork until you see what it’s supposed to be. He’s about the only one who should’ve given up his day job.
Oil
Fueling Up On Guilt
Americans bought a record number of SUVs last year, but new campaigns are urging drivers to change their gas-guzzling ways. The guilt factor’s at work: recent TV ads ask, “What is your SUV doing to our national security?” (Last fall an evangelical group’s ads asked, “What would Jesus drive?”) And although several TV stations are refusing to run new ads that link SUVs to terrorism, Detroit seems to be preparing for a change in attitude. GM has said that it plans to sell fuel-saving hybrid gas-electric vehicles, including SUVs.
Meanwhile, some Americans are starting to fill up only at gas stations that don’t import Mideast oil. But the oil’s origin is less important than trimming usage, says Environmental Defense’s transportation director, Michael Replogle: “There’s no need to take your big SUV down to get a quart of milk when you can use the smaller vehicle.” Or use your legs. In the end, it may not be the activists’ efforts–but high gas prices–that turn consumers into environmentalists.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-06” author: “Ruth Otto”
Duct tape was adhered to America’s consciousness last week, as if it were the only thing holding the country in place. On Monday, the U.S. government told citizens to stockpile food and water and to designate a safe room in their homes to be secured against germs and gas with duct tape and plastic sheeting. By Wednesday, hardware stores in the New York and Washington, D.C., areas were already running low on survival supplies. One Connecticut man even wrapped his whole house in plastic.
America’s reaction to the latest series of terror threats was not so surprising. For one, some 11 million Americans already suffer from phobias. And the signals coming from authorities and the media didn’t help ease their anxiety. For instance, CIA Director George Tenet said the threats were “not idle chatter [but] the most specific we’ve seen,” yet no one shared this specific information with the public. As cable-TV networks splashed their “high alert” logos across the screen, local media like New York’s Fox 5 reported that police were on the lookout for sarin gas and cyanide in light bulbs, soda bottles, aerosol spray cans, briefcases and, er, mayonnaise jars.
The Fox report went on to say that police were to be “on the lookout for men who appear freshly shaven with cuts and nicks–which could indicate a beard had just been removed.” Not the most specific warning in a country where most men shave every morning, and more than a few suffer a nick or two. Luckily, there was a fair amount of irony in the air too, as jokes began to make the rounds. One newspaper columnist, Dave Barry, posted this note on his Web site: “What if for the past year or so,” he wrote on Thursday, “terrorists working in U.S. factories have been putting lethal biochemical agents on… duct tape?”
The one group that seemed to benefit from the country’s anxious, distracted mood was House Republicans, who got a quiet start on their domestic agenda. Without a public hearing and only a brief floor debate, House leaders passed a new, stricter welfare-reform bill–which calls for tougher work requirements and limits on training, education and child-care funding–just 10 days after it was introduced. “I think the Republicans are using what’s going on to get their goods through Customs,” says Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a former Clinton aide who helped shape the original 1996 welfare-reform plan.
Next week the House is expected to pass a bill banning all human cloning–also without any new hearings. Opponents, who favor an alternative that would allow cloning for research, complain they haven’t had time to educate lawmakers on the complex topic. Also introduced last week: a bill outlawing “partial-birth abortion.” “It seems crazy to us that banning partial-birth abortion should be at the top of the agenda,” says Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette. Senate Republicans just put welfare reform and partial-birth abortion on their list of priorities, too. Of course, few Americans will be aware of these congressional moves. They’ll be too busy duct-taping their mayonnaise jars shut.
–Debra Rosenberg
Justice: Big Trouble In Belgium?
If Washington thought France was its biggest European pain in the derriere, it may have to think again. Tiny Belgium could eventually pose an even bigger threat: just –when the United States thought it had avoided future war-crimes prosecutions by shunning the International Criminal Court, Brussels has opened its legal system to anyone who wants to sue world leaders–regardless of where or when the crimes were committed.
Right now Israel is in the dock, after Belgium’s highest court ruled last week that prosecutors can pursue war-crimes charges against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after he leaves office. The ruling reversed a lower court decision that had limited Belgium to prosecuting war crimes only if the accused is physically on Belgian soil. Now Belgium is free to prosecute crimes of war, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by anyone at any time anywhere in the world–by invoking “universal jurisdiction,” a longstanding principle of international law that allows any country to prosecute crimes that are universally reviled.
Washington needn’t worry just yet. The law’s supporters say they are not looking to build an empire with the gavel. “We just want to be a small drop in the way of improving how crimes against humanity and genocide are dealt with,” says Belgian Sen. Alain Destexhe. “Nobody in Belgium intends to be justice of the world.” Whether America can credibly say the same is another matter.
–Daphne Eviatar
Child Soldiers: A Mother’s Nightmare
Last Wednesday should have been a day of play for kids the world over–it was the first anniversary of an international treaty banning the use of child soldiers. But in the year since the world vowed to wage war against this practice, thousands of children remain involved in adult battles. In Burma, an estimated 70,000 children serve in the state Army, say human-rights activists. Up to 14,000 boys and girls as young as 10 have been recruited into armed paramilitary groups and militias in Colombia. Peace hasn’t even stopped the practice in Angola, where some 10,000 children have yet to be demobilized despite government promises to do so.
The international community seems powerless to stop the practice. In December, the United Nations identified five key conflicts that involved child soldiers and discussed the possibility of measures like economic sanctions and travel restrictions to ensure that the 111 governments that signed the treaty actually enforce their pledge. (Only 46 have made a binding legal commitment to the protocol.) None have been imposed so far. Casey Kelso, of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, says the United Nations must now “back up its words.” It will have a chance to do just that in October, when it convenes to examine the other 21 worst offending countries as well as how to proceed with the five already effectively blacklisted. By then, however, thousands more kids could be under arms.
–Malcolm Beith
Science: Counting GMCrops
Here’s a fact that might convince even skeptics of genetically modified food: GM crops produce more yield in the fields of developing countries while cutting pesticide use dramatically. So says a recent report that studied the effects of Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) cotton growth at 157 different farms in three major cotton-producing states in India. The report, coauthored by Matin Qaim of the Center of Development Research in Bonn, Germany, found that the BT cotton needed to be sprayed with only 30 percent of the pesticide used on its natural neighbors to keep bollworms away. Meanwhile, its yields exceeded those of its counterparts by an astounding 80 percent.
The results could translate into a real economic argument for GM. Previous GM tests have produced yields of a maximum 10 percent more than local non-GM crops. But they were tested in countries like the United States and China, where regular use of pesticides has already controlled bollworms. “India is more representative of developing countries and tropics and subtropics than the United States or China,” says Qaim. He argues that the new yield studies could be applicable to GM crops across the board, while admitting further tests need to be done. Perhaps most important, though, is that separate field studies done on those same BT-trial farms showed no health risks when cotton seeds were fed to cows and other animals. “This brings a whole new dimension to the whole GM discussion,” explains Qaim. Let the new debate begin.
–Malcolm Beith
Colombia: Trapped in the Jungle
The crash of a contractor aircraft in the jungles of Colombia last week threatens to enmesh U.S. military forces more deeply in that country’s bloody civil war. One U.S. civilian aboard was shot and killed; three others are missing and presumably captured by the leftist Revolutionary Army Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. U.S. officials fear the men have been moved to a remote location and will be held by the FARC for ransom or as a bargaining tool to free its own imprisoned leaders. Sources tell NEWSWEEK the Americans were on an intelligence mission, equipped with “jungle-busting” radar to identify FARC command “nodes” that are used for both cocaine trafficking and guerrilla operations.
The incident is likely to strengthen the hands of some U.S. officials who want far more aggressive actions against the FARC. The State Department was already debating –whether to seek a waiver from congressionally imposed ceilings that limit the U.S. to 400 military and 500 contractor personnel in Colombia. “This incident is just a punctuation point that shows we are already very much involved,” said one U.S. anti-drug expert.
–Michael Isikoff
Music: A Star Out Of Africa
South African music has a new star. Electronica artist Felix Laband is winning critical acclaim all over Europe with his first two albums, and MTV Europe has caught on to his mix of soothing lounge melodies and quirky beats, slating Laband’s first video, “Run, Alive, Run,” on its usually pop-dominated play lists. Many Americans–knowingly or not–have also been listening to Laband in a new ad. Music insiders agree that Laband’s success could mean big things for African music, which is typically relegated to the world-music bins. For one, his songs have no lyrics, hence no translation difficulties. And Laband himself is convinced that Africa’s vibrant rhythms are what’s needed to take electronica in a new direction. “The daily existence of people here is characterized by such extreme differences in poverty, wealth and violence–so in general people are much more emotive,” he says, “and we are much more bold.” One thing that boldness–and Laband–have already broken down are stereotypes.
–Miriam Mahlow
Activism: Acting Out For Peace
Greek playwright Aristophanes once wrote of a woman named Lysistrata who inspired her fellow Athenian women to push for peace against men eager for war–by refraining from having sex with them. The outcome: peace with Sparta. Now, nearly 2,500 years later, his work will be re-enacted on March 3 in more than 30 countries. More than 350 readings or performances of the play will be staged from Buenos Aires to Beirut, from Dunedin to Damascus–all in the name of peace in Iraq.
New York actors Kathryn Blume and Sharron Bower created the Lysistrata Project so that people could “learn about the history of the peace movement.” They decided to hold a New York reading of the play, followed by a discussion group on the subject of war, and suggested the idea to some friends. Within 24 hours the plan “had spread,” says Bower. “We sent e-mails to all our friends, who sent them to all their friends, who sent them to all their friends.” Bower and Blume realize they may not change the world, but they’re determined to make themselves heard. “Lysistrata” is a “great example of how a powerless population got creative and was able to express their ideas and make a change,” says Bower. “We’re actors. We’re broke. We have no power. But we can do this.” And while they don’t expect women to actually swear off sex, they agree that it would be nice if four women in particular would at least consider it. “The First Lady and Saddam’s three wives,” says Bower. “And I don’t know what’s going on at the Powell household.”
–Malcolm Beith
Global Buzz
By A. L. Bardach
OUTFOXED: Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda’s resignation last month fueled much speculation. “I was a foreign minister with no international agenda,” Castaneda said, just when 9-11 had tossed Mexico onto the Bushies’ back burner. He had reportedly been eying the Ministry of Education spot, but President Vicente Fox declined to accommodate him. “Both men miscalculated,” says Mexican political analyst Denise Dresser. “Fox thought he would never leave and Castaneda thought he would always get another job.”
According to Mexico’s chattering classes, Castaneda might try for another job–Fox’s. Rumors abound that he has set his sights on the presidency in 2006. But without a political party behind him, Castaneda would need to raise about $50 million to finance a credible run. And there are other problems. “He is very gifted,” says Dresser, “but he is his own worst enemy–arrogant, with no political loyalties.” Castaneda denies having sought any specific ministry while in the president’s cabinet, and says he hasn’t made “any decision at this stage” about his future. He also continues to shrug off reports of strain between him and Fox–adding that he will now “barnstorm the country on behalf of Fox’s agenda.” Of course, that’s an activity not unhelpful for presidential hopefuls.
NEW DIGS: Robert Vesco, the former tycoon turned fugitive, has resurfaced in Havana. Vesco’s six-figure cash contributions reportedly financed the Watergate burglars and prompted him to flee to Costa Rica in the mid-1970s. In 1983 Fidel Castro took him under his wing as an unofficial adviser on U.S. markets; in 1996 Vesco fell afoul of his host by pursuing an unauthorized business deal and was handed a 13-year prison sentence. A year ago, however, Vesco was quietly released from prison–along with his mistress and business partner, Lidia Alonso–and the two set up house in what a friend describes as “a little shack by the side of the road” in an unfashionable part of Havana, where they share housekeeping duties and house arrest.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-03” author: “Thomas Price”
How to Confront Kim?
For the Bush administration, the worsening nuclear crisis in North Korea is turning into an exercise in frustration. For years, conservatives inside the administration have longed to face down the Stalinist state. But now that they have a cast-iron case–satellite pictures show the North is moving its stockpile of nuclear fuel rods–they can only shrug their shoulders.
When North Korea took its first aggressive steps–by kicking out U.N. nuclear inspectors in December–the Bush administration decided to play it cool. They ruled out military strikes against the nuclear complex at Yongbyon, and instead of rushing to the United Nations for action, allowed the inspectors themselves to take the lead.
Now that go-slow approach is going even slower than the Bush administration wants. After a month of diplomacy, the United States has hit a brick wall. American officials tell NEWSWEEK that the Russian, Chinese and South Korean governments have effectively blocked the nuclear inspectors from taking North Korea to the U.N. Security Council, where the United States had hoped to bring the world together against North Korea.
A board meeting of the United Nations’ nuclear inspection group, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), was scheduled for this week. But South Korean officials requested yet another delay to allow for more diplomacy. The reality has been American exasperation while North Korea stages ever more aggressive moves. “We can’t get the Russians and the Chinese to help us get the IAEA to live up to its mandate,” complained one senior administration official.
U.S. officials say the Chinese government is deeply split over the issue, annoyed by the North Koreans but also fearful that the regime will collapse on its doorstep. The Russians, for their part, are suffering “bureaucratic inertia,” according to the administration. In the meantime, the North Koreans are exploiting the crisis in Iraq to place added pressure on Washington. U.S. officials are waiting for the North to stage its next aggressive step in an attempt to shock Washington into agreeing to a big new aid package. “I anticipate a missile test probably five to eight days after we launch military strikes against Iraq,” says one administration official.
Where North Korea is moving its fuel rods, nobody really knows. What U.S. officials do know is that the fuel rods–which were kept under seal since 1994–can be rapidly reprocessed into weapons-grade plutonium. North Korea, which already sells missiles to anyone who can pay hard cash, could soon go into full-scale production of nuclear weapons. That prospect–which once filled conservatives with horror–is now met with a giant question mark. “If a country is hellbent on developing nuclear weapons,” says one official, “what can you do?”
AIDS
A Reason To Hope
When President George W. Bush unveiled a $15 billion AIDS relief package last week in his State of the Union, he showed a new enthusiasm for solving the epidemic–and a willingness to buck two of his key constituencies: the pharmaceutical industry and the religious right. Big Pharma has long resisted the idea of letting poor nations use generic AIDS drugs, contending that generics undermine their patents. But the new Bush plan relies on the lower-cost generics to make widespread treatment affordable. “The drug companies recognize AIDS drugs in Africa are a unique situation,” says one senior administration official.
Many evangelical Christians agree that combating AIDS is “a moral imperative,” as the aide puts it, but they shun a chief AIDS prevention tool: the condom. Believing condoms encourage promiscuity, they prefer abstinence-until-marriage education instead. The Bush plan, however, will rely on both. Bush’s new policy won mostly glowing reviews from the global AIDS community. “The fact that he has said this is extraordinarily good news,” says Sandra Thurman, president of the International AIDS Trust. “Now we have to ensure that the rhetoric becomes reality.”
CAMBODIA
Anger Over Angkor
Sometimes, people actually listen to what actors have to say off-screen. That was the case last week in Cambodia, when two newspaper reports quoted Suwanan Kongying, a popular Thai TV actress, as allegedly saying that Cambodia had stolen the famous Angkor Wat temple from Thailand. Prime Minister Hun Sen quickly sprang to his nation’s defense, declaring that Kongying was worth less than “grass.” Hundreds of university students and street mobs responded, ransacking the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh and several Thai properties. The carnage was a national embarrassment to Cambodia. Especially since Kongying denied making the comment in the first place.
In the aftermath, all sides involved–even the Cambodian government–agreed that the anti-Thai riots were orchestrated. But whodunit? Government critics, led by opposition leader Sam Rainsy, claim Hun Sen’s ruling party organized them in order to incite confusion ahead of July’s national elections. “If he can neutralize the opposition, it’s very beneficial,” says Rainsy. Events following the violence support the opposition leader’s fears. As the riots died down, police shut down the country’s only independent radio station and arrested its owner on charges of inciting rioters. Meanwhile, the two pro-government newspapers and a pro-Hun Sen radio station that spread the false stories about the Thai actress weren’t even reprimanded. In addition, Cambodia’s Interior Ministry is now focusing its investigation on an opposition parliamentarian from Rainsy’s party, who one official says may have incited rioters. Arguing against this theory, several political analysts believe that Hun Sen may have hoped to attract voters by promoting Cambodian nationalism, not realizing the street protests would spiral out of control.
Regardless of who is to blame, Hun Sen’s government will be waking up this week to the realization that it is in deep economic trouble. Thailand is one of Cambodia’s largest foreign investors, but now its citizens are being encouraged not to go to Cambodia. Cambodia’s recent tourist boom will undoubtedly suffer as travelers cancel plans to visit the country. And the Thai government is demanding reimbursement for the estimated $23 million in damages–about 3 percent of Cambodia’s budget for 2003–despite accepting Hun Sen’s apology late last week. Whether it was his plan or not, the aftershocks don’t bode well for the Cambodian leader.
CHINA: An Unhappy New Year
At maternity wards across China, expecting mothers were trying to squeeze out their babies before the stroke of midnight last Friday to avoid having their children in the Year of the Sheep. The reason? Babies born in this new lunar year are supposedly followers rather than leaders, in addition to being timid and, well, sheepish. There is one benefit to being a Sheep, however. With the population dip that is currently being predicted, it should be easier for babies born this year to get into good universities since they’ll have fewer classmates to compete against. Of course, whether they’ll be assertive enough to apply is another question.
ENVIRONMENT
Suing Over Sewage
It seems the conflict in the Middle East is sinking to new lows–right down to the cesspool. An Egyptian environmental NGO and a slew of officials are accusing Israel of dumping raw sewage into the Mediterranean, sullying Gaza and nearby Egyptian beaches. Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s had enough to worry about with the unceasing conflict in the region, not to mention recent corruption charges. Now he’s being sued for nearly $11 million by Egypt’s Rafah-based Organization for Environmental Protection in compensation for the health hazards caused by the alleged pollution.
But as with every dispute in the region, this story has two sides. While the Egyptian Ministry of Environment says that Israeli dumping–an alleged average of 140 to 170 cubic meters of untreated sewage at surface level each day since 1993–has contaminated waters with unsafe levels of ammonia and hydrogen sulfide, Israeli environmentalists are passing the buck. They claim the sewage pipes can clearly be seen from the border, and that they are under Palestinian control.
Although Greenpeace stopped off in Israel in December and deemed it “notorious in the region for holding back international regulations to protect the Mediterranean Sea,” international observers have yet to investigate the claims of either side. Until that happens, Egypt–which is hardly the world’s most environmentally friendly nation itself–will likely press on with its lawsuit. And Palestinian sympathizers will maintain their demand that Israel disarm its weapons of mass defecation.
MOVIES
The New Australia
Hollywood’s as trendy about film locations as it is about velour tracksuits. And the latest hot spot turning heads? New Zealand. Tom Cruise and Gwyneth Paltrow are filming their respective movies there, “The Last Samurai” and “Ted and Sylvia,” and it’s Disney’s and CBS’s pick for some upcoming American TV movies. Studio execs were wowed by the variety of stunning landscapes they saw in “Lord of the Rings”–beaches, mountains, glaciers, farmland–all of which are close to cosmo-politan cities. And what really appeals to U.S. studios is the low cost of filming there, with the dollar going nearly twice as far. So now the buzz is that when it comes to a location that’s both cheap and chic, New Zealand is the new Australia (which, coincidentally, used to be the new Canada). But Kiwis beware: in Hollywood, last year’s trend is often this year’s fad.
CRIME
Don’t Date On Drugs
In recent weeks U.S. newspapers have been preoccupied with two sensational cases involving gamma hydroxybutyrate acid (GHB). Use of the so-called date-rape drug, which knocks out its victims for several hours, has been growing for almost a decade. As recently as 1994 there were only 56 GHB-related emergency-room visits nationwide. By 2001 that number had spiked to 3,340, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.
Doctors, advocates for rape victims and toxicologists recently called in to testify in sex-assault cases say they’ve seen a large surge in reports of GHB-fueled sex assaults. The liquid drug is colorless, odorless and frighteningly easy to use, and exits the body within six to 12 hours. Without toxicological evidence, it can be difficult to prove that the rape victim didn’t willingly consent to sex. Most victims wake up hours later with little or no memory of what has happened.
Alarmed, U.S. colleges are taking an active role in protecting women. More than 40 universities and thousands of bars have ordered coasters that detect the drug by turning blue when exposed to GHB (women splash their drink onto “test spots”). But activists are already warning women not to rely solely on the coasters, since they don’t test for increasingly popular, easy-to-obtain–and still legal–GHB knockoffs like GBL and 1,4BD. The DEA is so concerned about the rise in GHB-facilitated sexual assaults that officials have been meeting with representatives from the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network to heighten awareness of GHB and other “predatory” drugs–an unusual move for an agency typically focused on interdiction. The DEA plans to double the number of its predatory-drug investigations.
WORLD BUZZ
By A. L. Bardach
ALL THE PRESIDENT’S MEN: As the Venezuelan meltdown continues, each day in Caracas unfolds like an episode in a telenovela with an increasingly bizarre cast of characters. Embattled President Hugo Chavez has grown more eccentric and erratic, according to several former close friends. “He sleeps four hours a day and spends half his time with Dr. Chang,” his personal Chinese acupuncturist, one former Chavista noted recently. “He never goes out without his Cuban security detail–and usually brings Dr. Chang along.” Worse, Chavez’s ties with Fidel Castro have deepened along with his woes, complains another former ally. “Chavez picked up Fidel in Havana in his jet en route to Lula’s inauguration,” he says of the new Brazilian president, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, “just so they could spend even more time together. That’s when they cooked up their Axis of Good routine.” And when he’s not chatting it up with Castro? “He’s consulting with his babalaos [Santeria priests], whom he flies in from Havana,” says the ex-Chavista. Of course, the opposition have their own babalaos, and Chavez fans accuse his opponents of selfishly hijacking the country with a national strike.
Chavez seems intent on demonstrating the perks of power. According to reports, “he kept Lula waiting an hour [in Brazil] because he overslept,” says Ana Julia Jatar, a Venezuelan scholar at Harvard. Nobelist Jimmy Carter, seeking to negotiate a resolution to the crisis, also got the two-step recently. After his four-hour meeting with Chavez, he looked forward to a scheduled dinner that night. But an hour before their 8:30 appointment, Chavez called to cancel. An unflappable diplomat and optimist, Carter declined to comment on the supper snub.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-25” author: “Jerry Hill”
Duct tape was adhered to America’s consciousness last week, as if it were the only thing holding the country in place. On Monday, the U.S. government told citizens to stockpile food and water and to designate a safe room in their homes to be secured against germs and gas with duct tape and plastic sheeting. By Wednesday, hardware stores in the New York and Washington, D.C., areas were already running low on survival supplies. One Connecticut man even wrapped his whole house in plastic.
America’s reaction to the latest series of terror threats was not so surprising. For one, some 11 million Americans already suffer from phobias. And the signals coming from authorities and the media didn’t help ease their anxiety. For instance, CIA Director George Tenet said the threats were “not idle chatter [but] the most specific we’ve seen,” yet no one shared this specific information with the public. As cable-TV networks splashed their “high alert” logos across the screen, local media like New York’s Fox 5 reported that police were on the lookout for sarin gas and cyanide in light bulbs, soda bottles, aerosol spray cans, briefcases and, er, mayonnaise jars.
The Fox report went on to say that police were to be “on the lookout for men who appear freshly shaven with cuts and nicks–which could indicate a beard had just been removed.” Not the most specific warning in a country where most men shave every morning, and more than a few suffer a nick or two. Luckily, there was a fair amount of irony in the air too, as jokes began to make the rounds. One newspaper columnist, Dave Barry, posted this note on his Web site: “What if for the past year or so,” he wrote on Thursday, “terrorists working in U.S. factories have been putting lethal biochemical agents on… duct tape?”
The one group that seemed to benefit from the country’s anxious, distracted mood was House Republicans, who got a quiet start on their domestic agenda. Without a public hearing and only a brief floor debate, House leaders passed a new, stricter welfare-reform bill–which calls for tougher work requirements and limits on training, education and child-care funding–just 10 days after it was introduced. “I think the Republicans are using what’s going on to get their goods through Customs,” says Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a former Clinton aide who helped shape the original 1996 welfare-reform plan.
Next week the House is expected to pass a bill banning all human cloning–also without any new hearings. Opponents, who favor an alternative that would allow cloning for research, complain they haven’t had time to educate lawmakers on the complex topic. Also introduced last week: a bill outlawing “partial-birth abortion.” “It seems crazy to us that banning partial-birth abortion should be at the top of the agenda,” says Democratic Rep. Diana DeGette. Senate Republicans just put welfare reform and partial-birth abortion on their list of priorities, too. Of course, few Americans will be aware of these congressional moves. They’ll be too busy duct-taping their mayonnaise jars shut.
–Debra Rosenberg
Justice: Big Trouble In Belgium?
If Washington thought France was its biggest European pain in the derriere, it may have to think again. Tiny Belgium could eventually pose an even bigger threat: just –when the United States thought it had avoided future war-crimes prosecutions by shunning the International Criminal Court, Brussels has opened its legal system to anyone who wants to sue world leaders–regardless of where or when the crimes were committed.
Right now Israel is in the dock, after Belgium’s highest court ruled last week that prosecutors can pursue war-crimes charges against Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after he leaves office. The ruling reversed a lower court decision that had limited Belgium to prosecuting war crimes only if the accused is physically on Belgian soil. Now Belgium is free to prosecute crimes of war, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by anyone at any time anywhere in the world–by invoking “universal jurisdiction,” a longstanding principle of international law that allows any country to prosecute crimes that are universally reviled.
Washington needn’t worry just yet. The law’s supporters say they are not looking to build an empire with the gavel. “We just want to be a small drop in the way of improving how crimes against humanity and genocide are dealt with,” says Belgian Sen. Alain Destexhe. “Nobody in Belgium intends to be justice of the world.” Whether America can credibly say the same is another matter.
–Daphne Eviatar
Child Soldiers: A Mother’s Nightmare
Last Wednesday should have been a day of play for kids the world over–it was the first anniversary of an international treaty banning the use of child soldiers. But in the year since the world vowed to wage war against this practice, thousands of children remain involved in adult battles. In Burma, an estimated 70,000 children serve in the state Army, say human-rights activists. Up to 14,000 boys and girls as young as 10 have been recruited into armed paramilitary groups and militias in Colombia. Peace hasn’t even stopped the practice in Angola, where some 10,000 children have yet to be demobilized despite government promises to do so.
The international community seems powerless to stop the practice. In December, the United Nations identified five key conflicts that involved child soldiers and discussed the possibility of measures like economic sanctions and travel restrictions to ensure that the 111 governments that signed the treaty actually enforce their pledge. (Only 46 have made a binding legal commitment to the protocol.) None have been imposed so far. Casey Kelso, of the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, says the United Nations must now “back up its words.” It will have a chance to do just that in October, when it convenes to examine the other 21 worst offending countries as well as how to proceed with the five already effectively blacklisted. By then, however, thousands more kids could be under arms.
–Malcolm Beith
Science: Counting GMCrops
Here’s a fact that might convince even skeptics of genetically modified food: GM crops produce more yield in the fields of developing countries while cutting pesticide use dramatically. So says a recent report that studied the effects of Bacillus thuringiensis (BT) cotton growth at 157 different farms in three major cotton-producing states in India. The report, coauthored by Matin Qaim of the Center of Development Research in Bonn, Germany, found that the BT cotton needed to be sprayed with only 30 percent of the pesticide used on its natural neighbors to keep bollworms away. Meanwhile, its yields exceeded those of its counterparts by an astounding 80 percent.
The results could translate into a real economic argument for GM. Previous GM tests have produced yields of a maximum 10 percent more than local non-GM crops. But they were tested in countries like the United States and China, where regular use of pesticides has already controlled bollworms. “India is more representative of developing countries and tropics and subtropics than the United States or China,” says Qaim. He argues that the new yield studies could be applicable to GM crops across the board, while admitting further tests need to be done. Perhaps most important, though, is that separate field studies done on those same BT-trial farms showed no health risks when cotton seeds were fed to cows and other animals. “This brings a whole new dimension to the whole GM discussion,” explains Qaim. Let the new debate begin.
–Malcolm Beith
Colombia: Trapped in the Jungle
The crash of a contractor aircraft in the jungles of Colombia last week threatens to enmesh U.S. military forces more deeply in that country’s bloody civil war. One U.S. civilian aboard was shot and killed; three others are missing and presumably captured by the leftist Revolutionary Army Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas. U.S. officials fear the men have been moved to a remote location and will be held by the FARC for ransom or as a bargaining tool to free its own imprisoned leaders. Sources tell NEWSWEEK the Americans were on an intelligence mission, equipped with “jungle-busting” radar to identify FARC command “nodes” that are used for both cocaine trafficking and guerrilla operations.
The incident is likely to strengthen the hands of some U.S. officials who want far more aggressive actions against the FARC. The State Department was already debating –whether to seek a waiver from congressionally imposed ceilings that limit the U.S. to 400 military and 500 contractor personnel in Colombia. “This incident is just a punctuation point that shows we are already very much involved,” said one U.S. anti-drug expert.
–Michael Isikoff
Music: A Star Out Of Africa
South African music has a new star. Electronica artist Felix Laband is winning critical acclaim all over Europe with his first two albums, and MTV Europe has caught on to his mix of soothing lounge melodies and quirky beats, slating Laband’s first video, “Run, Alive, Run,” on its usually pop-dominated play lists. Many Americans–knowingly or not–have also been listening to Laband in a new ad. Music insiders agree that Laband’s success could mean big things for African music, which is typically relegated to the world-music bins. For one, his songs have no lyrics, hence no translation difficulties. And Laband himself is convinced that Africa’s vibrant rhythms are what’s needed to take electronica in a new direction. “The daily existence of people here is characterized by such extreme differences in poverty, wealth and violence–so in general people are much more emotive,” he says, “and we are much more bold.” One thing that boldness–and Laband–have already broken down are stereotypes.
–Miriam Mahlow
Activism: Acting Out For Peace
Greek playwright Aristophanes once wrote of a woman named Lysistrata who inspired her fellow Athenian women to push for peace against men eager for war–by refraining from having sex with them. The outcome: peace with Sparta. Now, nearly 2,500 years later, his work will be re-enacted on March 3 in more than 30 countries. More than 350 readings or performances of the play will be staged from Buenos Aires to Beirut, from Dunedin to Damascus–all in the name of peace in Iraq.
New York actors Kathryn Blume and Sharron Bower created the Lysistrata Project so that people could “learn about the history of the peace movement.” They decided to hold a New York reading of the play, followed by a discussion group on the subject of war, and suggested the idea to some friends. Within 24 hours the plan “had spread,” says Bower. “We sent e-mails to all our friends, who sent them to all their friends, who sent them to all their friends.” Bower and Blume realize they may not change the world, but they’re determined to make themselves heard. “Lysistrata” is a “great example of how a powerless population got creative and was able to express their ideas and make a change,” says Bower. “We’re actors. We’re broke. We have no power. But we can do this.” And while they don’t expect women to actually swear off sex, they agree that it would be nice if four women in particular would at least consider it. “The First Lady and Saddam’s three wives,” says Bower. “And I don’t know what’s going on at the Powell household.”
–Malcolm Beith
Global Buzz
By A. L. Bardach
OUTFOXED: Mexican Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda’s resignation last month fueled much speculation. “I was a foreign minister with no international agenda,” Castaneda said, just when 9-11 had tossed Mexico onto the Bushies’ back burner. He had reportedly been eying the Ministry of Education spot, but President Vicente Fox declined to accommodate him. “Both men miscalculated,” says Mexican political analyst Denise Dresser. “Fox thought he would never leave and Castaneda thought he would always get another job.”
According to Mexico’s chattering classes, Castaneda might try for another job–Fox’s. Rumors abound that he has set his sights on the presidency in 2006. But without a political party behind him, Castaneda would need to raise about $50 million to finance a credible run. And there are other problems. “He is very gifted,” says Dresser, “but he is his own worst enemy–arrogant, with no political loyalties.” Castaneda denies having sought any specific ministry while in the president’s cabinet, and says he hasn’t made “any decision at this stage” about his future. He also continues to shrug off reports of strain between him and Fox–adding that he will now “barnstorm the country on behalf of Fox’s agenda.” Of course, that’s an activity not unhelpful for presidential hopefuls.
NEW DIGS: Robert Vesco, the former tycoon turned fugitive, has resurfaced in Havana. Vesco’s six-figure cash contributions reportedly financed the Watergate burglars and prompted him to flee to Costa Rica in the mid-1970s. In 1983 Fidel Castro took him under his wing as an unofficial adviser on U.S. markets; in 1996 Vesco fell afoul of his host by pursuing an unauthorized business deal and was handed a 13-year prison sentence. A year ago, however, Vesco was quietly released from prison–along with his mistress and business partner, Lidia Alonso–and the two set up house in what a friend describes as “a little shack by the side of the road” in an unfashionable part of Havana, where they share housekeeping duties and house arrest.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-26” author: “Ernesto Leonard”
Hardball, Kremlin Style
Moscow’s political class is abuzz with conspiracy theories these days. So what’s new? The rumors all involve the Russian parliamentary elections scheduled for December. It would seem that in Moscow, winter is never that far off.
The pro-presidential party, United Russia, has been spending vast amounts of cash to ensure a big parliamentary majority for President Vladimir Putin’s supporters in the vote. To ensure things go the Kremlin’s way, pro-government parliamentary deputies just passed a new law drastically limiting what journalists can say or write about politicians during the campaign period. Critics charge that the law is so vague that media outlets could be shut down for saying anything even remotely critical of any candidate or party platform.
Putin’s Kremlin cohorts have also made a show of cracking down on the country’s notoriously corrupt police. A gang of Russian cops were recently accused of extorting money from companies in return for not arresting top executives–by none other than their boss, Minister of Internal Affairs Boris Gryzlov. (They deny the charges.) Gryzlov also happens to be the head of United Russia, leading many ordinary Russians to suspect that the government’s heightened interest in curtailing corruption might have more to do with politics than with morals.
Why would the Kremlin be playing hardball so early in the game? Analysts point to two reasons. Russia’s business tycoons are using their profits from the sale of high-priced oil to buy up more and more of Russia’s economy, giving them more power by the day. The richest among them, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, has even been touted as a potential Putin successor–a threatening prospect to the former KGB men and military officers who form an important part of Putin’s entourage. These Putinites have even started a smear campaign to head off Khodorkovsky and any candidates he might be funding in the elections.
The main threat, though, remains the Communist Party, which has been seeing its support steadily rise. Last month, according to leading Russian pollsters, the communists’ approval rating reached 29 percent, overtaking United Russia for the first time this year. Insiders say that the Kremlin’s own confidential polls have the communists even farther ahead. All this despite having been almost entirely shut out by the national media. No wonder Putin doesn’t want to start giving them TV time now.
GLOBAL BUZZ
The Money Changes Everything Edition
Some problems deserve to have dollars–or euros or renminbi–thrown at them. Around the world this month, tensions are being addressed with cash.
China
With remittances from SARS-hit cities down, farmers need help. Beijing will forestall trouble by cutting taxes and pouring money into rural infrastructure.
North Korea
Washington’s gaining support for efforts to quarantine the country, while pushing diplomacy to call the North’s bluff. Kim is running out of wiggle room. Pakistan/India
The promise of U.S. funding is fueling Pakistan’s antijihad efforts–and India’s willingness to talk. China’s pledging money, too. Can peace be bought?
Croatia
Italian P.M. Berlusconi, eager for stability and an integrated market, will push his neighbor’s EU candidacy while EU prez. The first western Balkan nation to join.
IRAQ
Jumping The Gun
It’s no surprise that the U.S. administration sent out a barrage of press releases for the July 3 reopening of the Iraqi National Museum in Baghdad: Washington was blasted for allowing the institution to be severely looted back in April. “Of 8,000 items of world-class value, we can now only not account for 47,” a Coalition spokesman told reporters. But skeptics, including experts who advised the U.S. government on recovering Iraqi antiquities, say that the damage was much more widespread–and ignored. The reopening ceremony was “a one-day publicity stunt for the press in the hope that people will stop talking about how serious the situation is,” says art history and archeology professor John Russell, a member of the Archaeological Institute of America’s (AIA) Task Force on the Culture Heritage of Iraq, which advised U.S. officials on the damage.
Many top archeologists agree with Russell, and remain convinced that the losses have been “devastating.” There was widespread looting at many other museums around the country, and a comprehensive inventory has yet to be done, they argue. Many archeological sites, particularly in southern Iraq, “have been dismantled virtually down to bedrock,” says Claire Lyons, who also serves on the AIA. McGuire Gibson, a professor of archeology at the University of Chicago who recently reviewed several of Iraq’s archeological sites with Coalition forces, puts “major losses” to looters into historical perspective. “You could compare them to the bombing of Dresden or the flood in Venice. And it’s ongoing,” he says. When it comes to Iraq’s cultural heritage, Washington may be declaring victory too soon.
2004 CAMPAIGN
Why Rivals Dig Dean
You’d think that Howard Dean’s rivals would start attacking now that his fund-raising prowess has elevated him to what amounts to front-runner status in the Democratic presidential race. But each leading contender has his own strategic reason for laying off–a scenario that could backfire.
Advisers to the other front runner, Sen. John Kerry, think he’ll crumble quickly when they finally do go after him. In the meantime, Kerry advisers say, it’s good for the race to be seen by many party insiders as a two-way Kerry-Dean contest, since that deprives the other top-tier candidates–Dick Gephardt, John Edwards and Joe Lieberman–of media attention and campaign donations.
Kerry hopes ultimately to argue that the party can’t afford to nominate the antiwar Dean. But other Dean rivals believe that he is most bothersome to the Kerry campaign, especially in New Hampshire, where the primary next January is do or die for both men. Gephardt’s and Lieberman’s advisers see Dean blocking the progress of Edwards, who has also positioned himself as an outsider. Lieberman and Edwards are delighted to see Dean rising in the polls in Iowa, deep in Gephardt country.
But some independent Democratic strategists say all this Machiavellian restraint could backfire. When Kerry finally does unload, for example, the theme will be that Dean is a phony because he really isn’t the progressive he claims to be. He will focus on the fact that Dean has supported a balanced-budget amendment, opposes gun control and now supports the death penalty in some cases. Ironically, those issues could undercut the other point Kerry’s advisers want to make: that Dean isn’t mainstream enough to beat Dubya.
SCIENCE
Twice Shy
Just about every-one is timid at some point. But what if every human encounter made you blush, tremble or perspire? Forget shyness–you may have social anxiety disorder, a diagnosable mental-health condition. It appears to be triggered by a complex mix of genes (it runs in families) and environment, which could include growing up with anxious parents or teasing by classmates. Technology is now helping to pinpoint changes in socially anxious brains. Using MRI scans, Dr. Murray Stein of the University of California, San Diego, found that when people with the disorder are shown pictures of angry faces, their amygdala–the brain’s fear center–lights up with more activity than it does in people without the condition. Now Stein is looking deeper to see if the amygdala itself is overreacting or if the problem starts even earlier, in the processing of fear.
Unsurprisingly, Big Pharma is getting in on the act, too. Earlier this year two anti-depressants, Effexor and Zoloft, were approved to treat social anxiety disorder, joining Paxil, which hit the market in 1999. Other drugs, including Lexapro, may follow. Unlike behavioral therapy, though, this approach can lead to relapse once treatment stops. And the pills raise a critical question: could medicating the disorder lead to pathologizing normal shyness? “In an extroverted and drug-happy culture,” says Wellesley College psychologist Jonathan Cheek, “the drugs are falling into fertile fields.”
For now, specialists are focused on getting help to those who need it. Social anxiety disorder, destructive on its own, can lead to depression and substance abuse. The key is to seek out and treat those who truly suffer–and let shy people enrich the world just as they are.
BOOKS Reading the Rude It’s safe to say most Europeans generally consider Americans to be uncouth by nature and ill-bred by nurture. Miss Manners (a pseudonym for American etiquette “aunt” Judith Martin) obviously means to combat that image with her latest volume, titled “Star-Spangled Manners.” She points out that the country’s Founding Fathers paid close attention to etiquette when drafting legislative procedures in the Constitution. She finds justification for seemingly gauche habits: Americans switch forks from their left to right hands while eating, she says, because they’ve been influenced by an old European tradition borrowed from the Byzantine Empire. And she tries to restore historical credit where credit is due. She claims it is African slaves and not the British who are responsible for the notion of Southern hospitality, as the children of Southern gentry imbibed African traditions of welcoming from their nannies.
But just like impeccable manners, Martin’s tome is too often stiff and forced. Her philosophizing, in particular, can be eye-glazing: “Disastrous as it is to mandate a radical change in etiquette, ignoring the cultural pull that remains even when the culture itself has been rejected, it is worse to believe that it is optional to have any system of etiquette.” Beg your pardon? Excuse our rudeness, but let’s face it–no one reads Miss Manners to learn that egalitarianism was born out of good social etiquette. They read her for fun–which this book just isn’t.
SLEEP
We Snooze, Who Wins?
Science has already established that women outlive men. Now a study from Penn State’s College of Medicine proves that the supposedly fairer sex is stronger in yet another way: women can survive better without their beauty sleep.
Although the study’s original intent was to see if humans function as well without a full eight hours of shut-eye (the answer is no, for both genders), it unexpectedly found that women do better than men when their sleep is cut back or disturbed. Allowed eight hours of sleep for the first four nights of the study, but only six hours for the next eight nights, the men and women did equally well on tests measuring concentration. But the women had lower levels of TNF-alpha, a hormone associated with fatigue. They enjoyed deeper sleep during the six-hour nights. And when researchers intentionally messed with their sleep on two nights by drawing blood every half hour, the women slept more soundly than the men.
The main reason women rest better may be evolutionary. Child rearing often means tending to a screaming tot who wakes Mom up every few hours. As a result, says the study’s lead researcher, Dr. Alexandros N. Vgontzas, women’s sleep systems may have adapted to bounce back better than men’s. Worryingly, the consequences of less sleep for men may be worse than a restless night. High levels of various hormones linked to fatigue have also been associated over the long term with cardiovascular problems.
FESTIVALS
Other Fun In the Sun
For vacationers, the summer offers a selection of great festivals. Check out whatsonwhen.com for a comprehensive list, or zero in on these three fun fests:
Q&A: HARRISON FORD
Harrison Ford has had the coolest on-screen life ever. He’s been Han Solo, Indiana Jones, CIA agent Jack Ryan and fugitive Dr. Richard Kimble. But off-screen, he has a reputation for liking the low-key life. Still, NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin got him talking…
You’re in “Hollywood Homicide” with Josh Hartnett. Does your teenage daughter think he’s supercute?
She does. She calls him Josh Hotnett.
Do you think he’s cute?
I call him Josh Hairnet.
Does your teenage daughter ever get embarrassed by you?
I’m sure she does.
You’re Irish and Russian-Jewish. Which do you like better, Irish soda bread or challah?
I don’t like either of them.
You fly your own planes. Ever get scared?
No. If a situation becomes complicated I get more focused. I think people have a backassward view of flying. It’s not about risk, it’s about mitigation of risk.
You’re a big environmentalist and you even have a spider named after you. Are you a strict greenie?
Perhaps not as strict as I should be. I occasionally use paper plates and cups.
OK, what’s the one thing I haven’t asked you about?
My personal life.
How’s it going with you and Calista Flockhart?
Fine, thank you.
You make a lovely couple.
Thank you.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-27” author: “Annemarie Wilson”
The FBI blew repeated chances to uncover the 9-11 plot because it failed to aggressively investigate evidence of Al Qaeda’s presence in the United States, especially in the San Diego, California, area, where two of the hijackers were living with one of the bureau’s own informants, according to the congressional report set for release this week.
The long-delayed 900-page report also contains new evidence suggesting that Omar al-Bayoumi, a key associate of two of the hijackers, may have been a Saudi-government agent, sources tell NEWSWEEK. The report documents extensive ties between al-Bayoumi and the hijackers. But the bureau never kept tabs on al-Bayoumi–despite receiving prior information he was a secret Saudi agent, the report says. In January 2000, al-Bayoumi had a meeting at the Saudi Consulate in Los Angeles–and then went directly to a restaurant where he met future hijackers Khalid Almihdhar and Nawaf Alhazmi, whom he took back with him to San Diego. (Al-Bayoumi later arranged for the men to get an apartment next to his and fronted them their first two months rent.) The report is sure to reignite questions about whether some Saudi officials were secretly monitoring the hijackers–or even facilitating their conduct. Questions about the Saudi role arose repeatedly during last year’s joint House-Senate intelligence-committees inquiry. But the Bush administration has refused to declassify many key passages of the committees’ findings. A 28-page section of the report dealing with the Saudis and other foreign governments will be deleted. “They are protecting a foreign government,” charged Sen. Bob Graham, who oversaw the inquiry.
The report criticizes the Pentagon for resisting military strikes against Qaeda camps in Afghanistan prior to 9-11, and the CIA for failing to pass along crucial information about Almihdhar and Alhazmi at a terrorists’ summit in Malaysia. But the FBI gets the toughest treatment. A few months after al-Bayoumi took them to San Diego, Almihdhar and Alhazmi moved into the house of a local professor who was a longtime FBI “asset.” The prof also had earlier contact with another hijacker, Hani Hanjour. But even though the informant was in regular touch with his FBI handler, the bureau never pieced together that he was living with terrorists. The bureau also failed to pursue other leads, including a local imam who dealt with several key 9-11 figures. The report, one congressional investigator said, “is a scathing indictment of the FBI as an agency that doesn’t have a clue about terrorism.” Furious bureau officials say the report misstates the evidence. They say the bureau checked out al-Bayoumi–now back in Saudi Arabia–and concluded he had not given the hijackers “material support.” As for Almihdhar and Alhazmi, “there was nothing there that gave us any suspicion about these guys,” said one FBI official.
–Michael Isikoff
Adios: King of Son, Queen of Salsa
Though separated by the Florida Straits and an embargo for four decades, Compay Segundo and Celia Cruz were still the closest thing Cuba ever had to royalty. Segundo strummed and sang his traditional son throughout Cuba for most of his 95 years, only really stepping into the international spotlight after 1997’s “Buena Vista Social Club.” Cruz, who fled Cuba to the United States in 1959, never to return, spread the island’s rhythms around the planet. Last week, thousands partook in Segundo’s funeral procession after the cigar-smoking, lady-loving legend passed away. Two days later, Cruz died at 75 in New Jersey, and Afro-Cuban music aficionados the world over once again mourned in harmony.
–Malcolm Beith
Go-Go, Gum
After decades of stifling social rules, Singapore’s government is finally letting its hair down. Dubbed “gum, gays and go-go dancing” by the locals, recent reforms include legalizing bar-top dancing–a popular but illegal tradition at local nightspots–ending discrimination against gays and lesbians and, yes, bringing chewing gum back to the mouths of the masses for the first time since it was banned in 1991. The reason for this madness? To goose the glum economy.
Desperate times call for desperate measures. Singapore has recently seen players in key industries gobbled up by China. Lawmakers believe the authoritarian tendencies of governments past pushed many Singaporeans away from the island and scared off foreign professionals. The politicians decided societal reforms might be their only hope. So far, most Singaporeans are pleased, even if the expert jury is still out: “We may be changing symbolically, but it’s just the tip of the iceberg,” says political analyst Simon Tay. “I’m hoping there is fundamental change.” There’s little press freedom and the current government still enjoys a stranglehold on power. That doesn’t mean they’re clueless. Says trade minister George Yeo, who two months ago helped reverse the gum ban to close a deal with Wrigley’s, “If you polled Singaporeans, many would want gum–until they get it stuck on their shoe.” No one said freedom was easy.
–Joe Cochrane
Corruption: Who, Moi?
Perhaps nothing epitomizes Africa’s ceaseless battles against impunity better than the dilemma of Kenya’s recently elected president, Mwai Kibaki. The country Kibaki inherited in January had been fleeced beyond recognition by rampant corruption during two decades of Daniel arap Moi’s government’s rule. Last month anticorruption police announced their intent to question Moi about his relationship with –the now defunct Euro Bank–from which $14 million of public money disappeared before the bank finally collapsed in February. At the same time, Kibaki chose a more diplomatic approach to examining Moi-era misdoings. He called for a commission to investigate the biggest scandal of Moi’s era–a fraudulent import-export scheme known simply as Goldenberg–but to hold off on prosecuting anyone found responsible. “Unmask him and then leave him,” as Kenyan political analyst Njuguna Ngethe puts it.
The longevity of Moi’s career owed much to his foes’ inability to unite against him. For years, Kibaki and Raila Odinga played political footsie, but never closed the deal. In the end, term limits pushed out Moi, but the once impotent opposition did crush his chosen successor. As a reward, Odinga was appointed Public Works and Roads minister, and he remains the front runner for the new prime-minister position likely to be created this year.
But last week Odinga, who told NEWSWEEK in January that the new government would hunt ill-gotten gains to the top echelons of power, declared that Moi should “be left to enjoy his retirement.” This all puts Kibaki in a tight spot. Although the authorities are moving fearlessly against Moi, some observers speculate that the big question may not be whether there’s enough evidence to tighten the noose around Kenya’s former leader, but whether the new leaders should be pursuing the ex-president at all.
If the trickle of allegations turns into a flood, Moi’s party may see the old man as a liability and acquiesce to a censure of some sort. But Moi’s not likely to make things easier for Kibaki by fleeing the country. A Kenyan homebody, “the professor of politics,” denying all charges of misdeeds, has vowed through his lawyer to stick around and face his accusers.
So times are likely to get tougher for Kibaki. He can acknowledge the allegations and pursue his predecessor–and risk splitting his country again. Or he can ignore the anti-impunity platform that helped get him elected. Heavy is the head…
–John Ness
HIV: Stopgap to Success?
Last year 800,000 children worldwide contracted HIV, and no signs pointed to an improved situation in the near future. But now, scientists with Stopping Infection From Mother-to-Child via Breastfeeding in Africa, or SIMBA, have announced a breakthrough that could save hundreds of thousands of lives each year. SIMBA treated 397 infants in Rwanda and Kampala with a syrup containing either lamivudine or nevirapine–both powerful antiretroviral drugs–during a three- to four-month period of breastfeeding and the month subsequent to weaning. Expectant mothers were also treated with a cocktail of zidovudine and didanosine from week 36 of their pregnancies until one week after delivery. The results were staggering: The rate of transmission to babies born to HIV-infected mothers dropped from 15 percent to 1 percent.
As nearly all babies infected with HIV contract the virus though mother-to-child transmission, lowering the incidence rate through breastfeeding could have profound effects, especially in countries where culture and economics preclude breast-milk alternatives. But even the SIMBA scientists admit this is only a stopgap solution. Before the treatment is adopted more testing is needed. For instance, SIMBA’s study focused only on mothers whose HIV was moderate and not highly aggressive. And for the developing world to benefit most, health infrastructure must improve so that drugs like nevirapine–which is already offered free to many developing nations–reach the right people in the right amount of time.
–Kristin Kovner
Emotions: Gendered Jealousy
Why does the green-eyed monster rear its ugly head? Apparently, it has something to do with nationality. While it’s well documented that men are more jealous of sexual infidelity than women, Gary Brase of the University of Sunderland in England and his colleagues have found that the disparity between the genders varies across the globe. Using data from 12 countries, Brase found that men are comparatively more jealous than women in countries with higher fertility rates and where large chunks of the population live in cities. The most comparatively jealous males: Brazilians, who live in a country where fertility rates are extremely high. The least jealous: the Japanese, where the rate is relatively low.
For females, long-held theories indicate that jealousy is linked to emotional infidelity, and stems from a fear that her mate will divert resources away from their children or leave altogether should he fall in love with someone else. (Not all females fit that mold. In Sweden, for instance, nearly 40 percent of the women expressed greater concern over cheating than emotional unfaithfulness.) The only country to enjoy equality in gender jealousy? Romania, where low fertility rates have doused the flames for men and women alike.
–Kristin Kovner
Night Life: An Itch For Kitsch
From the nursing home to… the nightclub? Bingo is being co-opted by a younger generation of Americans, and a racier version has popped up at bars from New York to Los Angeles, complete with drag queens and spankings for calling false bingos. “It’s not your mama’s bingo,” says Judy Maeda, owner of New York nightspot Global 33, which offers weekly games. Pete’s Candy Store in Brooklyn started its game for older neighborhood ladies, and drew a hipper crowd by accident. Now the young and old play together. John Jeffcoat–director of the documentary “Bingo!”–spotted “all these giddy high-school couples on dates” while filming in Seattle’s bingo halls.
Like its sister sports shuffleboard and canasta, bingo is so unhip, it’s hip. It’s also easy to play and, let’s face it, winning comes down to pure luck. Jeffrey Bowman of Legendary Bingo in L.A. says that the game is a distraction from the club scene: “You can be whoever you want to be, and you can go home feeling fine that you didn’t score.” And, according to Bowman, the best thing about bingo still holds true, no matter how old you are: “You always get really close to winning.”
–Meredith Sadin
Movies: Will Thai Flicks Stick?
Everyone’s had a taste of Thai food, but what about Thai film? The international release of “The Legend of Suriyothai,” a 2001 hit in Thailand, is sure to tease our palates. Directed by Thailand’s Prince Chatri Chalerm Yukol and mostly paid for by Queen Sirikit, the epic costume drama has the widest distribution ever for a Thai movie. With overseas backing from Sony Pictures Classics, “Suriyothai” is expected to hit movie theaters across the United States, Canada and Russia this summer.
Traditionally, Thailand has been regarded as a Hollywood backdrop–the Thai government has long marketed the country as a cheap shooting location to foreign film crews, rather than pushing its own talent. Nevertheless, Thailand is now enjoying a domestic film boom: it is expected to produce as many as 50 films in 2003, compared with some 20 films in 2002 and 15 in 2001.
So, will Bangkok be the next Hong Kong in the celluloid world? Not so fast, say critics. For the foreseeable future, Thailand will still lag behind South Korea and Japan in film exports. However, says Asian film expert Andy Klein, “Suriyothai” is sure to raise its profile. “It tells people in other countries that there is the ability to produce up-to-date, beautifully shot, beautifully designed films here,” says Klein. Which means Thai films may one day be ashot as its curries.
–Jonathan Adams and Colum Murphy
Paul Taylor
Nearly 50 years ago, American modern-dance choreographer Paul Taylor began developing vivid, style-hopping works that now lie at the heart of the U.S. dance tradition. His works have been performed in more than 60 countries. NEWSWEEK’s Tara Pepper recently talked to the still-touring 72-year-old:
Why is U.S. modern dance still No. 1?
We don’t have the strong tradition of classic ballet that Europe has. The originators were freer to start their own points of view.
How did dance develop in your generation?
Choreographers like me began to use music that was more in the popular vernacular as well as using an older tradition of music. We weren’t afraid to step into more accessible areas.
What aspects of U.S. culture and history have inspired you?
That dichotomy between Puritanism [and] the free spirit in our culture. You see it all the time. In [my dance] “Speaking in Tongues,” the community has a religious leader who’s a creationist, there are people under the thumb of this religious leader, and they burst out with all this energy. A lot of my work is dual.
What kind of reaction does your work get from international audiences?
You never know what to expect. But I like to think dance is an international language that all people can appreciate. All societies have some form of dance as a form of communication.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-07” author: “Earl Hammer”
Continental Motives?
On his whirlwind tour of Africa last week, President George W. Bush pledged $15 billion to fight AIDS, denounced the American slave trade as “one of the greatest crimes in history,” toured a wildlife park, met with African leaders and publicly weighed sending troops to help suffering Liberians. In the words of one GOP official, the trip was intended to “catch people’s attention,” reminding them that the war in Iraq hasn’t diminished Bush’s desire to be seen as a compassionate conservative. With next year’s elections approaching, Bush aides were especially eager to use the trip to improve his standing with African-American voters, who have a “perception problem with the Republican Party,” says one official. (One major sore point is the president’s own stand against affirmative action.) Some close Bush aides had contemplated a major race speech earlier, but political operatives feared Democrats would accuse the president of pandering. Africa seemed the perfect backdrop. Bush was scheduled to visit the continent in January 2002, but war preparations got in the way. Aides say Bush insisted on going during his first term to demonstrate his concern for the region. (Bush aides have reminded reporters that Bill Clinton waited until late in his second term to make the journey.)
The White House made no secret of its desire to put forth an image of diversity on the trip. Two of Bush’s most powerful advisers, Colin Powell and Condoleezza Rice, were prominently at his side, greeting heads of state–and were the only two officials to join Bush on his tour of the Goree Island House of Slaves. But the secretary of State didn’t share in all the boss’s perks. The White House advance team spent almost a week constructing a special platform for Bush’s Goree Island speech, positioning the podium so cameras would capture the House of Slaves in the background. As he stood in the sweltering sun listening to the president’s address, the customarily crisp Powell turned damp and rumpled. A few feet away, Bush stayed cool. At the president’s feet, hidden behind the podium, an air conditioner was going full blast.
WAR STORIES
Private Tales
Fresh details are throwing new light onto what happened to Pfc. Jessica Lynch when her convoy made a wrong turn and was ambushed during the Iraq war. The U.S. Army has released a report stating that her unit’s captain made a “single navigational error.” But the report avoids the details of the plight of Private Lynch, suggesting that she was injured after her Humvee was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashed. U.S. military intelligence officers believe Lynch’s injuries were inflicted after she surrendered. Sources say she was standing when she surrendered, and had minor injuries at most. That was confirmed by Mehdi Kafaji, the Iraqi surgeon in charge of her treatment at the hospital in An Nasiriya. Her injuries appeared to have been inflicted by a severe beating.
Lynch’s dramatic rescue by American commandos on April 1 was criticized by hospital officials as unnecessary grandstanding, since the Iraqi intelligence agents guarding her had all fled two days earlier. Indeed, there was no armed resistance to her rescue. But two military intelligence officers involved in planning her rescue told NEWSWEEK they’d learned from “multiple sources” that Iraqi officials were pressuring doctors to amputate her leg so she could more easily be transported to Baghdad.
IRAN: Pop Goes the Protest
Hardliners in the Iranian government unleashed riot police and the Basij, a voluntary Islamic militia, last week to break up protests commemorating a 1999 student uprising. But they also employed more subtle tactics. In the weeks preceding the July 9 anniversary, the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance doled out hard-to-get performance passes to a series of local music acts. And Arian, the hottest pop group in the country, was given permission to perform two concerts every night of last week. Apparently, the hard-line clerics thought pop would ease their people’s rage against the machine.
The irony of clerics’ allowing funky bass solos to distract potential protesters wasn’t lost on many Iranians. A reformist daily printed a cartoon showing a homeless man being dragged away by two burly pro-hard-line thugs. One thug barks into a cell phone, “Sir, we’ve found another star. He’s a little rough around the edges but he can sing well,” while the homeless man shouts, “I don’t want to give a pop concert! Why are you forcing me?” Many of Tehran’s residents simply put politics aside and flocked to the shows. But things didn’t go as smoothly as planned. At one sold-out Arian show, dozens of teens jumped out of their seats and began dancing to a popular song. Government minders scrambled to control the crowd until the band cut the music. Apparently, Iranian hard-liners may be ready to allow public singing, but the boogieing will just have to stay at home.
TRIALS
The Right To Return
Do staunch allies have the right to try each other’s citizens in secret courts? More than 200 British M.P.s think not. Last week they signed a motion calling for the repatriation of two Britons now facing trial–and possible death sentences–by a U.S. military tribunal in Guantanamo Bay.
That puts Prime Minister Tony Blair in a bind. Reluctant to strain relations with Washington, Blair has in the past pressed only for assurances that 35-year-old Mozzam Begg and Feroz Abbasi, 23, should receive fair treatment at any hearing. But last week Blair shifted ground. A Downing Street spokesman said London was discussing “various options” with the Americans, including repatriation. Small wonder. “The public pressure on Blair has become intolerable,” says Stephen Jacobi of the lobby group Fair Trials Abroad. “These [trials] appear to be a studied insult from his closest ally.” However, Washington will find a repatriation request tricky to accept. The British government can offer no guarantees that the two men would ever face trial once back home. That would need the approval of the independent Crown Prosecution Service, which might rule that the evidence against the men was inadmissible, particularly as they –were refused access to lawyers while in American hands.
Just because Britain is speaking out against the Guantanamo detentions, that doesn’t mean it’s squeaky-clean itself. Amnesty International has recently been calling attention to the cases of 15 foreign detainees being held without charge as suspected threats to national security under Britain’s own antiterror legislation, introduced after 9-11. “This isn’t as bad as Guantanamo Bay, but since it’s Britain it’s much more insidious,” says Livio Gilli, an Amnesty expert on Britain. After all, since Britain’s detention legislation passed properly through Parliament, it simply looks as though the government is abiding by the law.
SCIENCE
Mickey Muscles
When it comes to muscular dystrophy, an incurable degenerative disease in humans, success stories are few and far between. But mice are a different breed altogether. According to a study published in last week’s Science, Giulio Cossu and his colleagues at Milan’s Stem Cell Research Institute have found that stem cells called meso-angioblasts have the ability to repair degenerated muscle fibers. These cells are able to take on the distinct characteristics of the tissues they enter. Once injected from an outside source, the mesoangioblasts act like firemen, using the body’s quickest route–the bloodstream–to seek out inflamed dystrophic tissues and “cure” the muscular fibers from within.
Despite the findings, it is still too early to celebrate a cure. Cossu says that it will be several years before this cell therapy will be ready for clinical trials, and warns that humans–unlike the genetically identical mice used in the experiment–may reject the injected cells, just as they often do transplanted organs. “The history of muscular dystrophy has been a continuous series of hopes and disillusions for patients,” says Cossu. “This is a step–possibly an important step–but not the therapy.” Fair enough, but given that no human has ever survived muscular dystrophy, any step is worth at least a hesitant hooray.
VIDEOGAMES
Studying The Screen
Memo to all moms: before giving your teenager a hard time for wasting his time playing videogames, consider the economy. While many sectors are foundering, the $21 billion videogame-software industry is booming, adding game developers at a rate of 2,500 per year in the United States alone. Nearly 200 colleges the world over now offer coursework in videogame development, and in South Korea, developers are considered so vital to the economy that they are exempted from the country’s mandatory military service.
David Najjab, director of the new videogame program at Southern Methodist University, argues that the college courses will revolutionize gaming in the same way 1960s film schools made moviemaking a more sophisticated art form. Students enrolled in SMU’s new 18-month program will take classes in level editing, life draw-ing and physics for three-dimensional games. Najjab predicts this education will help videogames become what the novel and the moving picture were to earlier eras. But just because top gaming grads often earn up to $70,000 straight out of school doesn’t mean that hours spent running down old ladies in Grand Theft Auto is necessarily the best form of eduation. Rusty Rueff, head of human resources at Electronic Arts, says that aspiring developers need to have a firm grip on linear algebra and geometry, as well as an eye for design. Maybe Mom was right after all.
TELEVISION
Building A Bridge
Tired of seeing Muslims on American TV portrayed as terrorists or cabdrivers, Buffalo, New York-based banker Muzzammil Hassan decided to do something about it. His solution: an English-language cable-TV station for North America’s 8 million Muslims. Bridges TV–which Hassan hopes to launch next summer in the U. S. and Canada–is aimed primarily at young adult viewers, who, Hassan says, don’t relate to U.S. TV or to imports like Al-Jazeera. He hopes to attract them with a combination of movies, sitcoms and, yes, religious programming.
Hassan already has about 2,000 subscribers and hopes to get 8,000 more by the time the channel launches. “There is a desire within the community for Muslims to express themselves and find themselves,” he says. “[Bridges TV] will give them a national platform.”
FILM: Zombies Go Digital
A virus that infects carriers with murderous rage has been unleashed on Britain. In a matter of weeks, all that’s left is a tiny population of sickies and a few fight-to-the-death normal folk. That’s when our hero, a bike messenger named Jim (newcomer Cillian Murphy), awakens from a coma to find London a very different place from what he remembers. Released in Britain in November 2002, the thriller “28 Days Later” is now prompting audiences around the world to run to the nearest theater. (Be warned: you might be running out by the five-minute mark. The movie is that scary.)
“28 Days Later,” directed by Danny Boyle (“Trainspotting”) from a script by Alex Garland (Boyle’s “The Beach”), is a modern-day zombie flick, with an adoring debt to George Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead.” The chief hurdle was the zombie itself, a lumbering horror-film archetype that has lost its punch over the years. To play his “infecteds,” Boyle hired ex-athletes who could bring speed and power to the part. For budgetary reasons, he shot in digital video–a choice that paid off visually as well. “When DV cameras record fast motion, they kind of snatch at it,” he explains. “It creates a tone of anxiety.”
Given the recent and very real SARS epidemic, “28 Days Later” may seem eerily prescient. But for Boyle and Garland, the movie reflects a vague anxiety they’ve lived with for years in England, thanks to mad-cow and foot-and-mouth diseases. “Our aim was to make a paranoid film,” says Garland. “Something about a very dangerous exterior threat that turns out to be an interior threat. You think it’s coming through the window, but in fact it’s already in your room.”
Brad Pitt
What’s the point of Brad Pitt’s being in a film without baring his bod? The heartthrob is currently reading the voice for the title role of “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas,” a DreamWorks animated movie. NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin probed Pitt about this life choice–and some past ones as well:
You, a cartoon voice?
I’ve got these little nieces and nephews. It made me want to do something for them.
Catherine Zeta-Jones plays a hottie cartoon character. When you were younger, did you think any cartoon girls were hot?
Ooh, good question. I’m going to have to think about that one. Go on to the next question.
You left college without graduating. Were your parents mad?v No. I think they would have liked to have gotten the diploma they paid for. Other than that, they’re all right with it.
I know this is a really weird question, but do you ever look in the mirror in the morning and think, “Hey, I’m pretty good looking”?
[Laughs] Oh, shut the f– up. Are you kidding me? Oh, my God. I’m vain about once every two or three months.
Really?
No, I just feel like it’s all put together all right.
How about Wonder Woman? Did you think she was hot?
Nah, overdone.
OK, who then?
I was a Jonny Quest fanatic. I thought he was pretty bad-a–. Oh, favorite cartoon chick. I’m going to have to go with Catherine Zeta-Jones.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-07” author: “Gregory Taylor”
Chechnya’s Oct. 5 elections are closing in fast. So why is there none of the usual pre-election madness? Perhaps it’s because everyone already knows the winner–current Chechen administrator Akhmad Kadyrov. With nary a vote cast, he’s already hard at work preparing to assume the presidency. “How will I start work? I will continue what I have been doing, " he says, and “put an end to the conflict between Russia and Chechnya.” That was the Kremlin’s plan for these elections: Chechnya votes, elects its own president and a “normalization” of relations between Russia and Chechen separatists is confirmed. But the fact that Kadyrov is a shoo-in–and that many consider him a Kremlin puppet–only really proves one thing: peace in Chechnya is a sham.
It’s been that way from day one, say observers. The last serious competitors bailed out of the race a month before polling day, complaining of intimidation, official pressure and even the murder of staffers. Kadyrov has enjoyed the uncompromising and obvious support of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has put all the Kremlin’s resources behind the favorite. Residents of the capital, Grozny, have given NEWSWEEK detailed accounts of how members of the current Moscow-appointed administration have for months been leaning on them at schools and workplaces to vote for Kadyrov.
This comes as no real surprise to the people of Chechnya, who are deeply skeptical of Putin. Tens of thousands of Chechens have died since 1992, and hundreds of thousands of others have fled as refugees. Those who have stayed and survived are no more sympathetic to Moscow now than they ever were: In a recent independent poll, 61 percent of Chechens rejected the idea of Kadyrov as their president. But many may still vote for him anyway. That, local rebels warn, only means more trouble. “Everyone believes that he and his son will be executed,” says rebel representative Salambek Maigov. “Even other pro—Moscow Chechens hate Kadyrov. He’ll be killed not because he’s too pro-Russian. He has too much blood on his hands.”
All this bodes very badly for Putin. A genuine election could have given Chechen elites a stake in restoring order in the republic. Now that they’ve been shut out, Moscow’s only choice will be to invest all its resources in the increasingly isolated and unpopular Kadyrov. And that will leave the Kremlin back at square one, denying all indications that the war still rages on. Only this time, Moscow officials won’t have an election to look forward to in Chechnya. They’ll be too busy worrying about their own parliamentary elections in December and Putin’s own re-election in March 2004.
–Christian Caryl
The One Step Forward, Two Steps Back Edition
Egypt was leading the Arab world, Argentina was alright, and Iran was reform-ready. Not anymore. At least Indonesia’s still on the right track.
Egypt Nationalist criticism of Hosni Mubarak is growing. And pushing son Gamal into the limelight may backfire–nepotism could unite the opposition.
Argentina It’s got an IMF deal, but if Argentina doesn’t commit to structural reforms soon, confidence will be shot again. Insecurity continues to reign.
Iran Hardliners will bow to global pressure on nukes. But in return, moderates will have to back off on new progressive laws. Reform remains stalled.
Indonesia At year’s end, the IMF is out. But Indonesia’s own economic plan has the market’s confidence–and the country has shown it can recover from terror attacks.
Weapons: Light at The End of The Barrel
One of the few things that concerns antiterrorism officials almost as much as the proliferation of nuclear arms is the proliferation of small ones. No wonder sub-Saharan Africa is such a region of concern: for years it has been seen as an unregulated arsenal of handguns and light weapons, with an estimated cache of some 100 million small arms. But perhaps a new study will put those fears to rest–or at least into perspective. The Small Arms Survey, an independent project focusing on small-arms issues, has found that there are likely no more than 30 million small arms in sub-Saharan Africa–a mere fraction of the previous estimates. Several African nations have been making progress in seizing such weapons and, most encouraging, the survey found that there is a “downward trend” in armed conflict in Africa, which is reducing demand for small arms. But while this news may shock U.S. and European law-enforcement officials, so should several relatively unnoticed conclusions released by the Small Arms Survey earlier this summer. There are an average of 17.4 guns per 100 people in the EU. And German civilians buy nearly as many private firearms per capita as Americans–who, incidentally, now lead the world in most guns owned. This summer the Yanks officially outgunned the Yemenis, with roughly nine guns for every 10 people.
–Malcolm Beith
China: Dousing The Flames
With yet an-other protester attempting suicide last week–the fourth since late August–Beijing is growing concerned about the level of overt dissent in the Chinese capital. Wang Baoguang, a truck driver protesting the demolition of his home, was emulating a provincial farmer who had tried to set himself on fire the week before. (Wang wound up in a hospital bed, burns covering his body.) With a major party meeting scheduled for mid-October in Beijing, authorities fear such copycat protests could snowball into larger demonstrations. In the last week, protests against a range of government abuses–especially the demolition and construction that have destroyed thousands of homes with little notice or compensation–have continued to mount.
The party’s Propaganda Department has gone into damage-control mode, warning local journalists to quit reporting on antidemolition protests. But it may be too late. As many as 1,000 demonstrators and grassroots organizers from across China have already converged on the capital. And at the party plenum in October, there could be even more. Beijing activist Liu Anjun says that like-minded groups from all over the country hope thousands will deliver a joint petition against “official corruption and illegal demolitions” during the meetings. Meanwhile, authorities are still scrambling to find ways to defuse the current protests, without appearing too hard or too soft. By the looks of it–and Wang’s protest last week–it’s clear they’ve yet to find one.
–Melinda Liu
Technology: Computers That Care
By 2006, more French will retire each year than enter the work force. By 2028, 71 percent of Germany will be retirees. And come 2050, Japan will have 1 million 100-year-olds. Coping with the increase in elderly will be tough on established facilities, but high-tech companies are currently testing innovations that could revolutionize the way we grow old. Some items in the works:
Pressure pads. Intel researcher Eric Dishman is testing pressure pads in senior citizens’ favorite chairs. People with advanced Alzheimer’s disease tend not to be very mobile, and caregivers fear leaving them alone. With the pads, relatives will be alerted through their PCs, phones or by text message if an elderly relative gets up or falls.
Wireless motion sensors. Intel is testing sensors that can be placed throughout a home to monitor behavior and help with daily routines. If, for example, the data say that Grandma has not been in the kitchen that morning, a message will pop up on her TV screen reminding her to eat. The sensors may one day be able to guide her through the steps of cooking and know if she has gotten confused midtask.
TV pop quiz. People with minor memory loss may be able to avoid public embarrassment by quizzing themselves on familiar names and faces (the “first things to go,” according to Dishman) through their TV, thanks to Intel.
GPS watch. This gadget, now being tested by Texas’s Sears Methodist Retirement System, can help relatives track down a senior who has wandered away from home.
Medication dispenser. At the appropriate time, this pill dispenser reminds an elderly person to take his medicine. If the pills are not removed from the machine after a series of reminders, a home-care facility will automatically be notified.
–Meredith Sadin
History: Revisiting a Martyr
A member of Ireland’s Protestant elite, Robert Emmet was an unlikely republican hero. Yet after he was executed 200 years ago on the Dublin street where he had staged an ill-fated rebellion in July 1803, he was transformed from an obscure, rather confused rebel leader into a central figure in Irish nationalism. In her new book, “Robert Emmet: The Making of a Legend,” Marianne Elliott explores the creation of his myth, noting his youth, his idealism and his tragic love affair as key factors ensuring his posterity.
An account of Emmet’s hanging, written 40 years later, first set the stage for his martyrdom, describing how onlookers dipped their handkerchiefs in his blood as mementos. Berlioz dedicated a composition to him, Shelley a poem. Yeats referred to him in a 1912 speech as “saint of nationality.” He was the subject of countless popular songs, and the speech he made at his trial has been recited endlessly in Irish schools since.
In her short, powerful study, Elliott also addresses elements of Emmet’s life that many Irish patriots would rather ignore. His execution helped fix the notion of blood sacrifice and heroic death firmly in the mentality of nationalists. And his rebellion signified an abrupt end to an era of tolerance that had previously been established, leaving stricter security measures and greater sectarian violence in its wake. But though historians are revising these traditional tales of Irish victimhood versus British brutality, their bitter legacy in Northern Ireland’s communities has proved much harder to remove.
–Tara Pepper
Guides: Everyone’s A Critic
If there’s anything we critics hate, it’s letting other people make up their own minds. Maybe that’s why we’re so threatened by the ever-expanding Zagat empire–with its charmingly populist message that anyone who eats in a restaurant is qualified to review the meal. How ludicrous! Since 1979, Tim and Nina Zagat (that’s Za-GAT) have been publishing their best-selling burgundy books, compiling thousands of reviews from layman gourmets around the world. In New York alone, their annual restaurant handbook moves 650,000 copies, outselling the dictionary and the Bible. And now–thanks to online surveying and a massive database–they’ve ventured into new territory: nightlife, shopping, golf courses and Broadway shows. They recently announced a business traveler’s guide to wireless Internet access, and they’re working on a series of travel books, as well as making city-specific versions of their popular nightlife guides.
Their most ambitious project to date may be the “Zagat Music Guide to the 1,000 Top Albums of All Time.” “Music’s not my area,” says Tim Zagat. “I’m learning lots of new vocabulary. Like ‘burning’ a CD. Our reviewers do lots of that.” (Although music purists might find the guide “overly simplistic” with “hard-to-fathom rankings,” most casual listeners will agree: “It’s the coolest thing since hi-fi.”) What next? “I only do subjects people are passionate about,” Zagat says. “I wouldn’t do cars. But I would do sports cars.”
–Kate Stroup
Movies: Learning Deadly Lessons
Counterinsurgency is almost always the dirtiest kind of war. And it’s often the hardest to win. In a powerful new documentary, “Death Squads: The French School,” filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin dips into this dark, timely subject, and explores the lessons learned by the French while battling anticolonial movements.
The film starts with the independence struggle in Algeria. The French Army devised tactics specifically for urban warfare to snuff out the Algerian insurgency, relying largely on commando patrols, torture and death squads. Carefully reconstructing events through chilling accounts from veterans, Robin deftly weaves in footage from the 1966 drama “The Battle of Algiers” to convey the horror and to make up for a lack of archival reel.
The use of the drama in Robin’s documentary should not be sneered at. “The Battle of Algiers” itself was more than a movie; it was an instructional video. South American military academies lapped it up in the 1970s, using it to educate new recruits. Robin traces how the so-called French doctrine was praised and followed by an entire generation of U.S. and –Latin American military officers in the early 1960s. Her film, which also features hidden-camera footage of Latin American generals issuing French-style training instructions, may follow a similar path; it has already caught the eye of Argentine justice officials, who are considering using it to investigate past war crimes.
–Marie Valla
PAUL MCCARTNEY Now 61, sir Paul McCartney is enjoying something of a renaissance. His latest tour drew 500,000 outside the Colosseum in Rome and grossed $126 million worldwide. In November, McCartney will release a cleaned-up version of “Let It Be” called “Let It Be Naked.” NEWSWEEK’s Jonathan Alter stopped by for a chat with the ever-cool star.
Why do you think the tour was so big?
For some, nostalgia. These are songs you can sing to. The kids don’t care when they were recorded. To them, all of the psychedelic clothing is the future, not the past. There’s just something there that’s timeless.
Your legacy is so secure. Why the fight [with Yoko Ono, over reversing writing credits from “by John Lennon and Paul McCartney” to “by Paul McCartney and John Lennon”]? Why would you care about the credit?
Why do I care? I dunno. I’m human. I’ve given up–I’m not going to bother with it. It’s very unseemly for me to care because John’s not here and it’s like walking on a dead man’s grave.
Do you think if John Lennon hadn’t been killed [in 1980] that the Beatles would have reunited?
I think we might have. The dust would have settled. We [he and Lennon] were talking a lot more just before [his death], about his new son and all kinds of other things. But we’ll never know, will we?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-23” author: “Floyd Morsbach”
Washington trumpeted an impressive victory last week in the United Nations Security Council that cleared the way for other countries to aid in the reconstruction effort in Iraq. But it’s only a symbolic win for the White House. The bulk of the financing for rebuilding Iraq will continue to come from the United States, as will the majority of troops responsible for maintaining security. India continues to insist it cannot contribute troops who are needed in Kashmir, while Pakistan and other Muslim countries remain reluctant to commit without an invitation from the Iraqi Governing Council.
To make matters worse, the one crucial commitment Washington looked to have won is now increasingly suspect. Opposition from the Iraqi Governing Council and Turkish demands are complicating the deployment of some 10,000 Turkish soldiers Ankara had agreed in principle to send. Iraqi leaders fear that Turkish involvement may encourage Iraq’s other neighbors to intervene too, and that historically tense relations with Iraq’s Kurds could flare out of control. Kurdish council member Massoud Barzani has even threatened to resign if the deployment goes ahead. As a result, says a Western diplomat in Ankara, Washington is considering formulas for Turkish troops that could soothe the IGC’s fears. One option: to position them in the western sector of the so-called Sunni Triangle near Baghdad–far from Kurdish areas but the most dangerous region in the country. Other ideas include dispersing the Turks around Iraq instead of giving them a distinct sector to control and reducing the size of the force. Even that worries the Governing Council, which fears that Turkish troops could use any violence against Iraqi Turkomans–some of whom have clashed with Kurds recently–as an excuse to intervene in the north.
Ankara is laying down some stiff conditions of its own. Particularly thorny is a demand that all Turkish troops travel and be supplied by land routes, whose security Turkish forces would be responsible for. (Back to square one: the main road from Turkey into Iraq runs through Kurdish territory, and is one of the Kurds’ most strategic assets.) Ankara also insists that it be allowed to pursue Kurdish militants from the separatist PKK group, and wants a refugee camp set up for Kurds fleeing Turkey in the 1990s to be dismantled. It’s “deeply worrying,” says a top Kurdish official, that Turkey is beginning to “tell us how to run our affairs even at this early stage.” Given how unpopular the proposed deployment is both at home and in Iraq, the Turks may yet decide to withdraw their offer, especially if other, less controversial countries step forward to take their place in the Coalition.
–Owen Matthews and Rod Nordland
Deals: A Rival Swoops In to Steal a Siberian Pipeline
For the past decade China has implored Russia to build a pipeline from its Siberian oilfields to the energy-starved People’s Republic. So Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov stunned his Chinese hosts in Beijing last month when he announced that the $2.5 billion project had been postponed. Officials kept up a polite face, but the state-run China Daily thundered in an editorial that “certain factions” in Russia were becoming increasingly hostile to the growth of its giant communist neighbor.
Now the real culprit may be clear. China’s great Asian rival, Japan, has put $7 billion on the table to persuade Moscow to pipe oil to the Russian Pacific port of Nakhodka, where it could then be transported across the Sea of Japan. That route would also allow Russia to export its crude to other Asian countries, and perhaps even to the United States.
In many ways Russia is leery of China’s growing economic might. “We can get immediate dividends from choosing the Chinese route, but we will be tied to one country and find ourselves at the whims of their policy,” says Sergei Grigoriyev, of the Russian pipeline operator Transneft, which has lobbied for the Pacific route. Especially given fears that China has designs on Russia’s vast but unpopulated East, that might be enough to clinch the deal with the Japanese.
–Henry Meyer
Science: The Steadiest Metal
Turn up the heat, and most materials expand as the space between their atoms widens. A few semirebellious materials defy that particular law of physics and actually shrink. And an even rarer group stays almost exactly the same size–or exhibit “zero thermal expansion,” in lab speak. Now, scientists at Michigan State University have found a compound that’s the least expansive yet–and conducts electricity to boot. The winning recipe, known as YbGaGe–a dash of ytterbium, gallium and germanium–maintains its composure and size from 175 degrees below zero Celsius to a blistering 125 above. Mercouri Kanatzidis, one of the scientists who discovered the compound’s properties, calls it “a unique, special material.” It could also be quite useful. Compounds like YbGaGe could be used in space hardware like infrared telescopes and high-precision valves handling liquid oxygen and helium. “Spacecraft go through large temperature swings, and materials that aren’t subject to thermal shock are going to be very attractive to designers,” says Brad Carpenter, lead scientist for NASA’s Physical Sciences Research Division. “This is certainly a step forward.” And since such metal compounds are reflective, they could also be used to make longer-lasting space-telescope mirrors. Back on Earth, the compound could potentially be employed as a durable base component for electrical circuitry, says Kanatzidis. Whatever the case, YbGaGe will soon have the chance to prove its mettle.
–Jonathan Adams
South Korea: Risky Ploy
Frustrated by a stubborn Parliament and sinking public support, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun threw the dice last week, calling for a national referendum on Dec. 15. If he loses the confidence vote, he says he’ll step down–prompting even close associates to denounce his rashness as “suicidal.” And the prospect of another presidential election in April–at the same time as the next parliamentary polls–has thrown Koreans into a frenzy. More political turmoil is the last thing they want.
There may be method to Roh’s madness, though. New polls indicate that he would get up to 60 percent of the vote if the recall were held today. Most Koreans are unhappy with Roh’s rule so far, but are more concerned about possible political instability (and less enamored of any potential rivals). Analysts say that could give Roh’s party much-needed momentum in the parliamentary elections.
Even so, Roh may have overlooked one factor. North and South Korea will join the United States, China, Russia and Japan to discuss the North Korean nuclear issue, possibly in November. With Roh tied up with a recall vote, it’s unlikely South Korea will be able to play an active role. “Because of the president’s problems, Seoul’s voice could be ignored completely,” says Paik Hak Soon of Sejong Institute in Seoul. “The other parties will try to bypass South Korea.” Right now, though, retaining his position at the risk of forfeiting his country’s seems to be a risk Roh is willing to take.
–B. J. Lee
Arab World: Freeing the Mind
The United Nations Development Program has released its second Arab Human Development Report, this time focusing on the state of knowledge in the 22 member nations of the Arab League. Thanks to factors like authoritarian rule, economic stagnation and an ongoing brain drain, the Arab world’s level of learning–once the envy of the rest of the world–has fallen woefully behind. Worse, young Arabs don’t have access to the new knowledge they need to catch up. Only 53 newspapers are published per 1,000 Arab citizens, in contrast to 285 in the developed world. There are fewer than 18 computers per 1,000 Arabs, compared with the world’s 78.3, and only 1.6 percent have Internet access. The region is no better off with book-learning. Less than one translated book per 1 million citizens was published annually in the Arab world during the early 1980s. Compare that with Spain, which alone averaged 920 per year. More worrying still, even those Arabs who manage to acquire knowledge have limited opportunity at home. R&D spending constitutes less than 0.2 percent of Arab GNP.
The report is not all gloom and doom. Female representation in the governments of Morocco and Qatar has grown since 2001. On the whole, today’s –Arabs believe that men are no more entitled to university education than women. (Although when it comes to the job market, most think that men should be given priority in employment.) Artistic creativity continues to flourish. And a noted increase in independent, often Arabic-language broadcast media could well help boost the dissemination of knowledge.
Still, despite advances, there is no instant remedy. Decades had passed before 9/11 forced much of the globe–including the UNDP, which started these Arab-specific reports only last year–to wake up to the region’s failings. Solving them may take almost as long.
–Malcolm Beith
Music: Mi Salsa Es Su Salsa
The CD sleeve description reads like a recipe for disaster: “A Latin dance party with a twist, featuring salsa from Greece, India, Scotland and beyond.” But in its recent release “Salsa Around the World,” Putumayo World Music has produced a salsa platter that really grooves. To be sure, its featured bands–Apurimac from Greece, India’s Shaan and Salsa Celtica from Scotland, among others–are unlikely to answer the eternal debate among Puerto Rico, Cuba, Los Angeles, Miami and New York over whose salsa is the true one. But the album will get your hips moving. And in salsa’s spirit of evolution, the bands add their own azucar and spice. Bagpipes blend with bongos as Salsa Celtica’s singers–in their best Highland Spanish–ask whether their love will dance with them in the north of Scotland. (The answer is “si,” or as their countrymen might say, “aye.”) The ricocheting rhythms of the Japanese ensemble Orquesta de la Luz reaffirm why it was picked to perform alongside the likes of legends Celia Cruz and Tito Puente on past tours, and El Septeto’s gently seductive tribute to Cuban son will make your brain think “Buena Vista Social Club,” even though you know the band is from Finland. Pick up this album. So what if some of the tunes are a little formulaic? The compilation is still a lovely listen. And at the very least, it proves that those unfortunate non-Latinos walking among us can play salsa, too. The dancing might take a little more practice.
–Malcolm Beith
Books: Ghost Writers?
Who wrote “And Quiet Flows the Don”? The book jacket credits Mikhail Sholokhov, the Russian author who took home the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1965. But ever since the novel hit shelves in 1928, rumors have persisted that Sholokhov didn’t write the book himself. In fact, so the story goes, large portions were written by a team of Soviet hacks in order to create a working-class literary idol for the Soviet state. Sholokhov, who had almost no formal education, fit the theory perfectly. Over the years, arguers both for and against the rumors have received boosts of evidence, but nothing ever totally turned the tide. Sholokhov fans seemed to get the upper hand in 1999, when Russian scholars produced a manuscript of at least part of the novel in Sholokhov’s own hand.
But the pendulum has swung again. In a new book, Israeli literary historian Zeev Bar-Sella claims that the core of the novel was authored by White Army officer Veniamin Krasnushkin, a little-known literary talent who was shot by communist forces during the Russian civil war. The Soviet secret police confiscated his unfinished manuscript and handed it off to a group of authors who expanded on it. Through analysis of the original text, Bar-Sella convincingly shows that the collective approach left the novel rife with stylistic inconsistencies and competing voices. This evidence could close the book on “And Quiet Flows the Don.” Or, given this particular work’s past, we could just be in for another round.
–Christian Caryl
Poetry: The Trials of Sylvia Plath
In the four decades since Sylvia Plath gassed herself to death, people have argued about who was to blame. Feminists accused her philandering husband, poet Ted Hughes, of pushing her to the edge. Hughes’s defenders portrayed Plath as emotionally unbalanced. But Diane Middlebrook’s excellent book, “Her Husband,” is one sign that we may have finally come far enough for a balanced appraisal of the Plath-Hughes marriage: “Depression,” she writes, “killed Sylvia Plath.”
Another sign is the new film “Sylvia,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow, which also tries for an evenhanded approach. The surviving family–Hughes died in 1998–isn’t so dispassionate. Frieda Hughes, their daughter, is violently opposed to the movie; she recently published a poem attacking the film’s conception of her mother as “Their Sylvia Suicide Doll.” As guardians of the Plath-Hughes estate–Plath left no will–Frieda and Ted’s sister, Olwyn, have kept tight control over Plath’s poetry, and the film uses only brief snippets.
In researching her book, Middlebrook minimized involvement with the family, quoting from both poets’ work but asking Olwyn only to verify an anecdote. Middlebrook balances scholarship–she is among the first to delve into the documentary trove Hughes sold to Atlanta’s Emory University–with analysis of the interplay of the couple’s poems. Many refer to specific works by the other, and some have deeply embedded messages, some cutting, some loving, meant only for each other.
“Her Husband” also breaks news. An unsent letter by Hughes suggests that he may not have destroyed Plath’s journal written in the weeks before her death. Middlebrook also questions his claim that another journal went missing. “I am so desperately hoping that the 1960-62 journal exists–that if he hid the last one, hehid the next-to-last one, too.” At Emory, a tantalizing chest of documents sits locked, on Hughes’s order, until 2023. Some mysteries of their marriage remain.
–Mark Miller
Sharon Stone
Since Sharon Stone’s last film, a Komodo dragon bit her husband’s foot, and she had a very public divorce and a brain hemorrhage. After all that–and with a new film, “Cold Creek Manor,” to promote–talking to NEWSWEEK’s B. J. Sigesmund was all in a day’s work.
Let’s start with easy stuff before we get…
… To the real tough questions, like how I feel about dating?
You must get that a lot.
Not from anyone who actually wants a date.
Speaking of which–not to kiss up to you at all–you’re aging so beautifully.
I’ve gotten bonier. I get more and more cheekbones, and I just keep getting skinnier. And that’s been my good luck. My parents are very young-looking people. They’re gorgeous, and they’re in their 70s. Have you ever seen my folks? You probably can on the Internet.
What’s it like being back on the PR circuit?
I have to say, it feels very different. Before, it was like I spent my life hanging on to a rocket. And now I’ve mellowed, and I have the ability to say, “I’d like to talk about this, and I’d really rather not talk about that.” I also don’t feel like if I don’t do everything, it will all go away.
Can we get back to your dating life?
I really don’t feel like dating, to be honest with you. I’d go for a cup of coffee, and by the time I was halfway through the second cup there’d be paparazzi outside. So that doesn’t seem worth it.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-12” author: “Juan Ferguson”
Seoul Searching on Iraq
Washington’s efforts to enlist troops from other nations to help out in Iraq continues to hit snags. While the Turks have agreed in principle to send 10,000 soldiers, the deployment has run into fierce resistance from the Iraqi Governing Council, suspicious of Ankara’s intentions. Now even South Korea is sending Washington mixed signals. Just weeks ago, Seoul was tilting toward deploying thousands of combat troops in Iraq. That commitment now looks less than firm–and delay inevitable.
The reasons are several. First, South Korean President Roh Moo Hyun has needs, too. He has repeatedly suggested that he wants Washington to soften its line on North Korea in return for sending troops to Iraq. Second, an official Korean fact-finding mission to Mosul, where Korean soldiers would likely be based, backfired last week. Team member Park Gun Young complained that the U.S. military hosts didn’t show them nearly enough. Park says that his group had just four hours on the ground in Mosul, hardly enough time “to see everything for our own eyes.” He now wants another investigation team, and Korean civic groups want to be included as well.
Roh’s rapidly eroding popularity, exacerbated by economic woes and corruption scandals surrounding his cabinet, could prove the biggest obstacle. Last week his entire cabinet offered to resign (Roh turned them down), and each downtick in his approval rating makes it tougher for him to dispatch troops. Among the nation’s younger lawmakers there is growing–and vocal–opposition to the move. According to a well-connected Korean scholar, a “huge debate” has erupted inside Roh’s national-security team between political advisers, who see a deployment hurting him in next spring’s elections, and the Defense and Foreign ministries, which see it as a golden opportunity to shore up military relations with the United States.
To sway the debate, Roh needs to make his case quickly. One indication that he hasn’t: U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s decision to delay a visit to South Korea originally scheduled to follow this week’s APEC meeting in Bangkok. No official reason was offered, but analysts in Seoul think the outspoken Defense don delayed the trip to avoid giving the impression that he was in town to negotiate the deployment. Indeed, many observers say his presence might have undermined that cause. As a leading hawk in the Bush cabinet, Rumsfeld is deeply unpopular among young South Koreans. And the last thing Roh needs right now is another blow to his popularity.
Germany
‘Big Bang’ Or Bust?
In recent months, Germany has drawn heated criticism from the European Union for failing to revive its economy and comply with the EU’s budget rules. Further infuriating his EU counterparts, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder has stubbornly avoided necessary reforms during his first five years in office. But with Germany’s 2003 growth forecast now scaled back to an anemic .25 percent and fear spreading that unemployment could shoot past 5 million this winter, the chancellor suddenly seems in a hurry to right his wrongs. He recently passed his first major reform bill, which will put an 18-month cap on the time workers can stay on the dole. This Friday, lawmakers will vote on an even bigger reform package: the “big bang,” as Berliners are calling it. On the menu: major cutbacks like an 18 billion euro income-tax cut, a drastic slimming down of welfare entitlements and a reorganization of the country’s notoriously ineffective labor bureaucracy.
Can Schroder pull it off? It’ll be tough. Left-wing rebels in Schroder’s own party have threatened to vote against what they see as a treasonous watering down of their cherished welfare state. Thousands of rank-and-file members have actually abandoned the party in protest. That said, Schroder’s chances for success are better than ever. The biggest foot-draggers on reform, Germany’s labor unions, have been sidelined since losing a landmark strike in June. Even the opposition could come to Schroder’s rescue. The Christian Democrats last week announced that they would embrace radical reform, individual freedom and free-market enterprise, increasing Schroder’s chances of passing measures in Parliament. “Germany is on its way to becoming a different republic,” exclaimed news magazine Die Zeit.
More major reforms are scheduled for early 2004. If Schroder succeeds then, the country will be reborn. If not, then Germany can say hello again to economic despair–and auf Wiedersehen to its chancellor.
Arafat
He’s Fine, Likes Fish
Is Yasir Arafat dying? After he looked haggard at a news conference last week, media in Israel (and abroad) reported that the Palestinian leader had a heart attack or stomach cancer. With his second prime minister in four months threatening to resign, and no clear successor, Arafat would have a motive to play down any illness. But his Jordanian doctor, Ashraf al-Kurdi, tells NEWSWEEK’s Dan Ephron that Arafat’s fine.
On his general condition:
Arafat is “in good health. They’ve put all the tumors on him in existence, but all he has is acute gastritis.”
On his health compared with other men his age:
“He’s normal. He’s tired, and I don’t blame him. He lives in abnormal conditions. His room is tiny and has no window. The oxygen level is low. He doesn’t see the sun. [But] he’s in good spirits. Whenever I feel low, believe me, I call him.”
On reports that he’d been deliberately poisoned with a substance that’s hard to trace:
“I took along an expert in blood examination and we took blood samples and tested them for several days. He said he couldn’t find any abnormality.”
On whether his tremor is Parkinson’s disease:
“No. It’s a benign positional tremor. Sometimes the tremors increase with tension and anxiety. He never had Parkinson’s.”
On what kind of patient Arafat is:
“He mainly likes to eat vegetables and occasionally fish and chicken. He gives himself to God and says, ‘Let God do whatever needs to be done.’ He has no phobias.”
Terror
Targeting U.K. Jews
Scotland Yard has warned Britain’s Jewish community of the threat of imminent terrorist attacks. British security officers say that while they can’t predict specific attacks, urgent measures are needed to protect potential targets such as synagogues and community centers. Some U.S. State Department officials are considering issuing an official warning to U.S. travelers to Britain. U.S. officials say that no comparable intelligence has recently surfaced about threats to Jewish targets in America.
Some of the terrorism concern in Britain appears to relate to suspicious Iranian activities. Security sources say that in recent weeks police questioned a carload of Iranian “tourists” who were spotted covertly taking video pictures of Jewish community buildings in London. Sources said that about a year ago, Swiss authorities traced a similar apparent attempt to surveil a Jewish target in Geneva to an Iranian diplomatic mission. Some U.S. officials say that recent intelligence indicates backsliding in official Iranian attitudes toward Islamic terrorism and Al Qaeda. Earlier this year Tehran claimed to have arrested significant Qaeda suspects. U.S. officials believed that Qaeda operatives then in Iranian custody were top aides to Osama bin Laden, including his son Saad and Qaeda military chief Saif al-Adil. But recent intelligence suggests these suspects have been released and have returned to hideouts in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Books
Philanthropic Profits
With 10,000 new children’s books published each year, it’s tough to stand out if your name isn’t J. K. Rowling. So this fall, authors are marketing a feel-good reason to pick their titles: they’re giving some of their proceeds to charity. Madonna’s donating “every penny” of her profits from “The English Roses” to the Spirituality for Kids Foundation, a Kabbalah group. American Second Lady Lynne Cheney’s net proceeds for “A Is for Abigail” will be donated. And on the jacket of his latest book, “I’m a Manatee,” John Lithgow plugs the Save the Manatee Club. Celebs aren’t the only ones hooking up nonprofits. Longtime zoo fan Betty Lou Phillips, who wrote “Emily Goes Wild,” about a pet monkey, is giving some of her profits to the American Zoo and Aquarium Association.
Not that there’s nothing in it for the authors. “Cause-related marketing” is good PR, particularly when it’s a pricey hardback, says Christie Nordhielm of Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. In Phillips’s case, the benefits could be substantial: next month the AZAA newsletter is plugging the book. “Potentially millions could see this book in zoo and aquarium gift shops,” says AZAA’s Jane Ballentine. So are these authors true philanthropists, self-promoters or a bit of both? And does it even matter? Cheney did give away $370,000 from her two children’s books. Rabbi Yehuda Berg, codirector of the Spirituality for Kids Foundation, claims Madonna’s newest headline-generator is “not a stunt.” And whether you buy that or not, purchasing her book only increases the cash in the hat.
Dylan
Sights and Sounds
Look at that face: Bob Dylan at about 20. Photographer-musician John Cohen took it in 1962, and he’s just put out a book of these images (many never seen before) called “Young Bob.” It’s hard to reconcile these sweet-funny images with the savage ironies of “Like a Rolling Stone” three years later. Not to mention what’s come after.
Dylan’s still working, we’re told, on his autobiography–and that’s all we’re told. Meanwhile, Columbia Legacy has just dropped a 15-CD set of remastered albums, from “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” (1963) to “Love and Theft” (2001). It’s the first time anyone’s worked from the original tapes: previous CDs simply digitized tapes that were equalized to be pressed on vinyl and played on yesterday’s stereos; they’re missing some frequencies and details. The new discs have a two-channel CD layer, with much better sound, a two-channel Super Audio layer, with even more aural information–and a high-density layer for 5.1 multichannel Surround Sound, which puts you in the studio with the musicians around you.
Movies: Lukewarm About ‘The Passion’
Mel Gibson’s “Passion”–a traditional Roman Catholic portrayal of Jesus’ death–has inspired more hostile attention than any movie in recent history, with accusations that it could foster anti-Semitism, even when few have seen it. Although supporters of the film are just as vocal, the film could prove a PR ulcer for any large, publicly held movie studio. “It’s not worth the aggravation,” says a studio head. “Even if it makes money, it’s not going to be ‘Titanic’.”
So who’s going to put it out? Gibson’s company, Icon Productions, hasn’t sought out buyers, but waited to see which suitors came knocking. The studios didn’t, apparently. (Fox, which has a first-look deal with Icon, is the only studio that officially passed.) Icon, however, did get interest from small, independent companies without public shareholders or other assets, like music companies and theme parks, that could be hurt by boycotts or protests–companies “that have nothing to lose,” as one executive puts it. The top contender now appears to be Newmarket, which released “Memento.” It has made a formal bid, but will not confirm if it has seen the film. Two higher-profile independents, Lions Gate and Miramax, have expressed interest in the film and have asked to see it. They have yet to be invited. The film could prove problematic for Miramax, as its parent company, Disney, dislikes controversy.
Meanwhile, the press surrounding the film–in particular a New Yorker profile that delineated Gibson’s rigid religious beliefs–has done some damage to the actor’s reputation. Says a studio head, “People feel like his character in ‘Lethal Weapon’ isn’t that far from who he is. It’s like, ‘Wow, he’s way out on a limb’.” So is his film.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-19” author: “June Thacker”
Attorney general John Ashcroft’s announcement last week that the FBI had secretly arrested Iyman Faris, an Ohio truck driver and Qaeda operative, was a big victory in the war on terror. Faris, a naturalized U.S. citizen from Pakistan, was plotting to destroy the Brooklyn Bridge as well as other U.S. targets. He represents the most chilling evidence that Al Qaeda was actively planning attacks here after 9-11. And while Ashcroft crowed over taking “another American-based Al Qaeda operative off the streets,” the Feds know they can’t afford to let down their guard. Almost every day officials from the FBI and the CIA see new intelligence showing that Al Qaeda is determined to attack America. Earlier this month, NEWSWEEK has learned, U.S. intelligence intercepted chat-room conversations between suspected Qaeda associates about attacks in Texas around the Fourth of July. One of the operatives, known only as “Sakr,” said the terrorists were simply waiting for approval from “the sheik” –a possible reference to Osama bin Laden or another top Qaeda commander. Law-enforcement officials tell NEWSWEEK they believe the objective may be to take out oil facilities or pipelines.
Intel officials receive a steady stream of threat traffic, much of which is unreliable. Why did Sakr’s warning get their attention? Two days before the deadly Casablanca bombings on May 16, he predicted “good news” coming from “Morocco,” according to Homeland Security documents obtained by NEWSWEEK. It’s unclear where Sakr is based. He has claimed in his Internet communications that he operates out of a Qaeda camp in Sudan. Officials haven’t confirmed this. But his information raises the possibility that more terrorists are already in the States.
What is the FBI doing to find them? The case of Iyman Faris provides a window into the Feds’ creative new legal tactics as they try to foil more attacks. Faris, who secretly pleaded guilty to charges of supporting a terrorist organization on April 17, was turned into an informant by the FBI. Until recently he was not in prison. Instead, the Feds moved the Kashmir native between hotel rooms and safe houses and listened in as he phoned friends and associates. The Feds tell NEWSWEEK they are pleased with the intelligence their snitch gathered. But some law-enforcement officials question how serious a threat Faris represented. They wonder if he was meant as a diversion while other, more seasoned operatives plot real attacks.
–Daniel Klaidman and Mark Hosenball
Italy: Loose Cannon
Umberto Bossi, Italy’s minister of Institutional Reform and Devolution, is fed up with Rome’s feeble attempts to block illegal immigration, including supposedly aggressive boat patrols that still let 15,000 to 20,000 migrants into the country every year. Bossi’s solution, offered up in an interview with an Italian newspaper on June 16? Just shoot them. “After a second or third warning,” he declared, “bang! Fire the cannon. Otherwise we’re never going to put an end to this problem.”
The idea may be crackpot, but Bossi isn’t. In 1994 he –brought down Silvio Berlusconi’s first government by withdrawing his party’s support when his immigration proposals weren’t acted upon. Now Berlusconi needs him more than ever: the coalition government just passed an immunity bill halting criminal proceedings against the prime minister as long as he’s in office. If Bossi splinters the coalition–which he’s threatened to do if his complaints are ignored–the prime minister could find himself in the dock.
As provincial governor in Lombardy, Bossi stopped the construction of several mosques to deter Muslim immigrants. Now he’s demanding a fence along Italy’s land border with Slovenia and deportation for any immigrant who doesn’t find a job within a year of arrival. It’s unlikely the Navy will shoot at ships. But Bossi has successfully passed stricter measures on employment and asylum, so his other proposals could well see the light of day. If he wants to forestall Bossi–and avoid the courtroom–Berlusconi had better come up with some ideas of his own, fast.
–Barbie Nadeau
Environment: Just off The Green
Is the United States out to make peace with ecofriendly Europe? At first glance, it seems so. Thanks to a recent deal, America and the EU will pool research into hydrogen-powered fuel cells, which should speed the development of the first commercial fuel-cell cars or home heating systems.
But try telling Europe’s greens that this is all good news. “There are a lot of dangers in this,” says Robin Oakley of Greenpeace in London. “It’s all about the U.S. trying to save face.” Behind the skepticism lie fears that U.S.-led research efforts will skew the technology’s development. Fuel cells create electricity by combining oxygen and hydrogen without producing harmful emissions, and technical construction poses few basic challenges. But opinion is sharply divided over how to obtain hydrogen without wasting more natural resources. Isolating hydrogen can take plenty of energy, and most European environmentalists favor a green approach. That means harnessing renewable resources–wind, solar or biomass–for the task. By contrast, the United States appears more than willing to use dwindling supplies of fossil fuels, such as coal or natural gas. Worse, it also favors employing nuclear power.
Feeding European suspicions is America’s greater financial commitment. President George W. Bush has proposed splurging $1.7 billion on fuel-cell research over the next five years, not least because the United States is keen to find a secure substitute for Middle Eastern oil. For its part, Europe is stumping up only around 150 million euros a year. Money earns the right to choose.
–William Underhill
China: Grad Glut
In recent years a college education–once rare and highly coveted–has become far more commonplace in China. This summer some 2.12 million Chinese will graduate from the country’s universities, more than ever before. Unfortunately, they’re emerging into an economy that, while still chugging along, has been hit by SARS and the global downturn. Urban unemployment is projected to reach 4.5 percent this year, which means college degrees don’t necessarily translate to success in the real world. “An education doesn’t mean very much anymore,” says Kanji Wong, a senior majoring in engineering at Shanghai Normal University. “It’s important to be able to talk and do things quickly–not study.”
This is all new to Chinese students, who until the early ’90s were assured jobs for life straight out of college. And the future doesn’t look all that promising: experts argue that the main reason for the dismal outlook is not the economy, but the overabundance of graduates. A policy adopted by the Ministry of Education in 1999 increased the number of undergraduates by as much as 30 percent in places like Shanghai in an effort to make higher education more accessible. Today, –drawing attention to oneself in this mob of grads requires special skills not necessarily taught in school. Some unabashed ladies attach glossy, retouched portraits to their resumes, while many students join the Communist Party, hoping that connections will land them a government position.
Students tell of interviews where they’re asked how little they’d work for. Others have accepted positions far beneath their qualifications, like flipping hamburgers at McDonald’s. Even top students are settling for offers that pay $250 a month or less, half what they could once command. Beijing has appealed to grads’ sense of duty, encouraging them to work in the countryside or more remote cities. But if they want to keep the country’s best and brightest happy, authorities would do better to come up with more jobs than platitudes.
–Jen Lin-Liu
Volcanoes: Visiting Vesuvius
Italy’s mount Vesuvius is a vacationer’s dream, with its luscious vineyards and dense olive groves spilling down the mountainside. Finally Italian tourism officials are catching on, touting the volcano as a vital Italian destination. A visit to the active volcano isn’t dangerous, they argue–more than a million people live in the hilltop villages and in the sprawling metropolis of Naples at the volcano’s base.
For years, though, volcanologists have warned civil authorities in Naples that Vesuvius is overdue for an eruption. Fearing a catastrophe, Regional Council member Marco Di Lello recently came up with an innovative plan to evacuate the mountain before an eruption occurs by offering residents 25,000 euros to pack up and leave. The buyout, which is awaiting approval from Rome, would be funded through local coffers and an EU grant.
So what will happen to all those vacant houses? The government will turn them into bed-and-breakfasts for tourists, says Di Lello. The government, of course, insists it’s not callously enticing foreigners to a destination it considers too dangerous for Italians. Tourists are simply much cheaper and easier to evacuate quickly, says John Seach, a volcano-research scientist who organizes volcano vacations all over the world.
–Barbie Nadeau
Portugal: All in a Day’s Rest
In sun-drenched southern Europe, there’s nothing quite so beloved as an afternoon doze. But the tradition has faded in recent years, in part because of the desire to harmonize working hours within the EU. One group of Portuguese professionals refuses to take the siesta’s demise lying down. A band of journalists, lawyers and even one member of Parliament are rallying to preserve the midday snooze. “Great historical personalities used to take a nap in the afternoon so that they had their work rhythm adapted to their biological rhythm,” says Jose Miguel Medeiros, a founder of the Portuguese Association of Friends of the Siesta and a Parliament member. “People like Newton, who thought of gravity’s law when an apple hit him on the head while taking a nap.”
Medeiros and his catnapping cohorts plan to support a scientific study, enlisting the help of neurologists and sleep therapists to exchange ideas with countries where breaks during the day are the norm. Do naps warrant so much work? Medeiros thinks they do. Siestas are a way of fighting against the stresses of modern life, he says, and the stifling Mediterranean climate makes working during the afternoon virtually unbearable anyway. On top of that, says Medeiros, Portugal’s Spanish neighbors still reserve the right to siesta in peace–and they’re anything but unproductive.
–Suzanne Smalley and Luis Morais
Books: The Secrets of the Quietly Successful
“Good to Great” by Jim Collins, a former Stanford lecturer turned full-time researcher and author, is that rare species in book publishing: a business book with mass appeal. The book shows how 11 companies transformed themselves from so-so to spectacular performers. (One of its lessons: first, get the right people, then figure out the right job for them.) It’s gone through 48 reprintings, and just inked its millionth hardcover. Collins–whose first book, “Built to Last,’’ sold about 200,000 hardcover copies–has received thousands of e-mails and roughly 250 speaking requests from people outside the business world, including orchestra managers, church leaders, principals and hospital chiefs.
What’s the attraction? Many of the book’s findings are counterintuitive. The companies that made the leap are low-profile firms. Abbott, Kimberly-Clark and Nucor are among those that overcame average stock performance for a 15-year run that far outpaced the broader market. None were run by flashy CEOs from the outside–they were led by quiet insiders who inspired with standards and goals. They determined what their company could do better than anyone else’s, figured out the smartest way to measure progress and stayed focused.
The book isn’t bulletproof. There may be factors at work that Collins didn’t find, for example. And there are no guarantees–one of the 11 firms, Circuit City, has faltered badly. Even so, the book has insights for any group that asks how it can improve. “That’s a universal question,’’ says Collins. One that, clearly, many are asking.
–Adam Bryant and Joan Raymond
Samira Makhmalbaf
At 14, Samira Makhmalbaf left school to study filmmaking. In 1998, at 18, she presented her first feature, “The Apple,” at Cannes, making her the youngest director ever to participate there. The next year she returned to show “The Blackboard,” and won the Jury Prize. This year the 23-year-old received her second Jury Prize at Cannes for her third feature, “Five O’clock in the Afternoon,” a frank and poetic look at women in post-Taliban Afghanistan. Dana Thomas spoke to Makhmalbaf about life as a filmmaker in the Islamic Republic:
What is it like to work as a filmmaker in Iran, where politics often mesh with the arts?
We have censorship in Iran, but I think the pressure of censorship can be good because it makes you think deeper and find other ways to talk about the reality.
Have censorship practices changed in recent years?
Before, you had to give pages of your script, [the names of] the actors and everything [to the government]. But now it’s less strict: first you give the script and then you show the final film. So at least you can make your film. For this film, they told me not to translate the Qur’an. I said, “Why? It’s not my opinion or analysis of it. It’s what the Qur’an says.” So I translated it.
Did you get in trouble?
Not yet. Maybe they won’t let me show the movie in Iran.
But you showed it in Cannes.
Yes, and now the rest of the world will see it. So there.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-23” author: “Alice Wood”
Who Knew What When?
Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee are seeking access to a classified transcript that could determine whether the CIA misled Congress about documents purporting to show Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium from Niger. Last week agency officials acknowledged that a former U.S. diplomat had been sent to Niger nearly a year earlier and concluded the documents were bogus. But the CIA apparently never passed the diplomat’s assessment along to its congressional overseers.
One missed opportunity to do that was on Sept. 24, 2002–just as Congress was debating an Iraq war resolution–when Robert Walpole, the CIA’s national intelligence officer for nuclear issues, was questioned by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about British assertions that Saddam was seeking “significant” quantities of uranium from Africa. Two sources at the classified hearing tell NEWSWEEK that Walpole appeared to endorse the British report. “He didn’t say there was anything to be doubtful about,” said one source. But an agency spokesman insists Walpole told the senators that “there were concerns about the accuracy” of reports from Niger. Senate Intelligence vice chair Sen. Jay Rockefeller wants a full-scale investigation into the handling of the Niger documents.. But GOP Intelligence Committee chair Sen. Pat Roberts has appeared to rule out a formal probe. He has authorized only an informal “review” of intelligence files.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials last week confirmed that two top Qaeda leaders in U.S. custody told interrogators Osama bin Laden had vetoed a relationship with Saddam–another intelligence report that was never passed to Congress. But U.S. intelligence officials insist some evidence of Iraq-Al Qaeda ties is turning up. Sources say Farouk Hijazi, a former top Iraqi diplomat, has told his U.S. interrogators that he did meet with bin Laden in Sudan in the early to mid-1990s–an indication, officials say, that there were at least some of the “contacts” claimed by senior Bush officials prior to the war.
Iraq
Change of Allegiance
U.S Army regulars and soldiers from Delta Force engaged in the biggest single battle of the postwar period last week. More than 60 Iraqis died in an attack on an alleged “terrorist camp” near the town of Rawah. Another 27 were killed in nearby Badah in an operation to root out what U.S. officials believe are loosely organized groups of insurgents. Eliminating the opposition may be more difficult than it sounds for one very important reason: key allies who facilitated the U.S. victory in Iraq are losing patience. NEWSWEEK has learned that U.S. officials who went to visit key tribal leaders in Ambar province last week were told that some of them could no longer guarantee the cooperation of their members, despite considerable sums of money paid out by U.S. Special Forces to safeguard that very support. “[The tribal leaders] weren’t bought,” said one Coalition official, “They were just rented” for the war.
One reason for the change in tribal attitudes may have been a U.S. attack in early April that killed Malik Kharbit, a leader of the powerful tribe of Sunnis, the Dulaimi. According to Robert Baer, a former CIA operative who has maintained extensive contacts with members of the tribe, the sheik’s house was targeted with six JDAMs because U.S. officials were led to believe Barzan Tikriti, Saddam Hussein’s half brother, was inside. The death left the Dulaimi bitter over the U.S. tactics. “You don’t mess with these guys,” says Baer. “There are 700,000 of them and now they’re p–ed off.”
Whatever the reasons, the erosion of support among much-needed local leaders at this stage could be a crucial setback. If the proverb about the Dulaimi is true–“There is no Iraq without the Dulaimi, but there will always be the Dulaimi, even without Iraq”–the Americans would do well to pay attention to how the tribes are feeling.
Crimes
Hero–Or Perp?
Two years after indicting Croatian Gen. Ante Gotovina for crimes against humanity, The Hague tribunal may reconsider its charges. Tribunal officials now acknowledge that the accusations against him–that he was responsible for the murder of at least 150 ethnic Serbs and the flight of more than 150,000 in 1995–were based on circumstantial evidence. “Circumstantial evidence is valid unless there is some other reasonable hypothesis,” a Hague prosecution official tells NEWSWEEK. But, he says, there could be evidence proving Gotovina “was not responsible” in papers released last Friday.
Gotovina emerged from hiding last week, offering to surrender if the tribunal withdraws the indictment. “After they hear my statement,” he told an interviewer, “if they continue to hold the indictment against me, I will voluntarily go to The Hague. I truly have nothing to hide.”
If Gotovina is freed, the tribunal will have to face down the fact that it issued an eight-count indictment based on untruths. The most bizarre charge, the deportation of Serbs from the Krajina region of Croatia, flew in the face of media reports that the Serb exodus was ordered by Serb leaders. One of the most authoritative accounts was by Florence Hartmann–a correspondent for Le Monde at the time, and now tribunal spokeswoman. “Our only purpose is to establish truth,” she says.
Retirement
Into the Dark Ages
Retirement was once regarded as a time to enjoy the fruits of one’s lifelong labors, join bridge clubs, cruise the Caribbean and enjoy the grandkids. But, apparently, fewer and fewer young folk are naive enough to believe that. According to a study released last week by the Principal Financial Group, a financial-services firm, citizens in several countries think the future’s so bleak, they’ve gotta wear shades.
The Principal Global Financial Well-Being Study canvassed 5,000 working adults in 11 countries about their visions of retirement. Most pessimistic are the French, 56 percent of whom think their standard of living in retirement will be “worse than it is now.” High numbers of Japanese and Brazilians also have bleak outlooks, whereas Americans, Chinese and Mexicans are more optimistic–due in part to the firecracker Chinese economy and Mexico’s steps toward pension reform, says the report.
Even those with a rosier view are skeptical about the role government will play in their future well-being. Worldwide, only 5 percent of all the global respondents think their government is doing “very well” to ensure financial stability for retirees. Mind you, those quizzed don’t seem to expect much more from companies–only 24 percent of respondents are “very confident” of receiving full benefits from their employers. Maybe we should rename the golden years. How about the Dark Ages?
Migration
Weary Wings
A layover on a long-haul flight is sometimes more exhausting than the flying itself. Now a new study in Nature says that birds agree. According to the report, the New World Catharus thrush spends twice as much energy during stopovers as it does in flight during migration.
Using tiny radio transmitters superglued just above the birds’ tails, G. Henk Visser of the Zoological Laboratory in the Netherlands and his colleagues were able to release, track and retrap 14 birds along their migrations. Most of the birds’ energy was spent during stopovers, when they prepared for the next leg of their journey by eating earthworms–often to the point of obesity. But even long-distance travelers like snow geese–who gorge to 50 percent body fat preflight–are once again “quite lean” upon arrival, says Vissner, proving that migration is still a bird’s best workout. If walking were that effective, perhaps we humans would forget about the Atkins diet.
Documentaries
Comeback
It’s rare enough when a documentary achieves cult status. Rarer still when it actually changes lives. “Stone Reader,” a movie about the love of reading, manages to do both. The filmmaker, Mark Moskowitz, became obsessed with a dense, lyrical coming-of-age novel by Dow Mossman called “The Stones of Summer.” Published to ecstatic reviews in 1972, it sold few copies and vanished along with its author. Moskowitz, a fanatic reader who makes political commercials for a living, set out to find Mossman and to explore the mystery of one-book wonders. He interviewed such literary luminaries as critic Leslie Fiedler, editor Robert Gottlieb and writer Frank Conroy–none of whom had read the book or heard of its author. Moskowitz finally found Mossman in Iowa. He’d had a breakdown after finishing his novel, worked as a welder for 20 years, then bundled newspapers for $6.25 an hour before losing that job four years ago. Now he may be the best-known writer no one has ever read in the United States.
Books
Writing on the Will
When writing about England’s royal family, follow these simple rules: (1) to ensure sales, plaster a prince or princess on the cover; (2) make it salacious. Unfortunately, the authors of three books out this summer ignored the latter and placed their hopes on the former. The resulting texts–Ingrid Seward’s “William and Harry,” Tim Graham and Peter Archer’s “William” and “Prince William” by Brian Hoey–all cover well-trodden ground, timed for release before the prince’s 21st birthday on June 21.
Rarely do books on the royal family reveal anything, well, revealing. Hoey acknowledges that the “main difficulty in writing about any living member of the royal family is that the subject rarely gives interviews to authors.” So the books recycle the same old stories we’ve read for years. William, for instance, was the first heir to the British throne to be born in a hospital, his dislike for the press began at an early age and he was a great comfort to his troubled mother, Diana. (Don’t lie, you knew all that.) Some readers may be enthralled by a few anecdotes about William Wales (as he likes to be known by his peers at university), like his large appetite–he sometimes eats two bacon sandwiches with tea for breakfast. Or the fact that he is fond of colorful language like “OK” and “absolutely hideous.”
Of the three abysmal tomes, Seward’s is probably the best buy. Amazingly, she stretches her book out to 295 pages, puffed up with often irrelevant info about William’s friends and family. Yet she does break new ground when she reveals that both William and his brother, Harry, were circumcised. Who cares, one might ask? Millions. Along with the commemorative stamps, coins and glossy mags that will herald Will’s birthday, these books will fly off the shelves. Guaranteed.
Helpfulness
The Friendliest Folks
These days we all know which nation is the most powerful in the world. But power isn’t everything. If you’re looking to escape the arrogance, why not head to the friendliest nation in the world? According to a study recently published in American Scientist, that would be Brazil, thanks to the super Samaritans of Rio de Janeiro. The study’s author, psychology professor Robert Levine of California State University in Fresno, ranked 23 different cities in the world based on three “trials of helpfulness”–helping a blind person cross a busy intersection, assisting an injured person in picking up a magazine from the ground and returning a dropped pen to its rightful owner–to see how many strangers would take on the role of Do-Gooder.
The results: Latin America rules. Four of the world’s 11 friendliest cities–Rio de Janeiro; San Jose, Costa Rica; Mexico City, and San Savador–are in the region. And in both Rio and San Jose, strangers escorted the experimenters (who feigned blindness) 100 percent of the time. (In all, more than 1,000 people were subjected to the trials.) What’s nicest to know is that those friendly folks in Latin America are not alone. In Prague, too, all “blind” people were escorted. (Only half the strangers there would stoop to recover a fallen pen, though. Perhaps Czechs prefer pencils?) Oh, and in case you were wondering where to avoid on your next holiday, New Yorkers came in second to last. Only 30 percent of the rotten bunch in the Big Apple picked up the pen, and even fewer helped the injured person. But at least New Yawkers did assist three out of every four blind people. That’s better than the folks in Kuala Lumpur. The best Levine could conclude about them was that they were “not helpful at all.”
Q&A: Matthew Perry
On hiatus from “Friends,” Matthew Perry is making his stage debut in London, playing a snide seducer in David Mamet’s “Sexual Perversity in Chicago.” The show’s a surprise hit. NEWSWEEK’s Sean Smith chatted on the phone with Perry backstage at Comedy Theatre just before curtain:
You recently broke the record for advance-ticket sales in London theater history. How’d that happen?
That is just insane. I had no real idea of the success. I was just trying to learn my lines and not vomit in the wings.
In fact, you broke the record set by Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith in “Breath of Life.” You kicked the asses of two of the greatest lights in British theater!
Yeah! They showed up [one night], and I did that literally. When you’re fighting Judi Dench, you gotta go to the body.
“Friends” is huge there. So is the play a hit because you’re in it–or will Brits see anything with “sexual perversity” in the title?
[Laughs] I think people will see anything with me and “sexual perversity” in the title.
This year will be your last season of “Friends.” Are you ready to let it go?
It’s definitely going to be sad. But I think it’s time to be done. When the universe shuts a door, another one opens somewhere, and it’s your job to find where that is. One of the wonderful things about this experience is that I’ve realized I love acting on the stage.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-14” author: “Julia Cooper”
Who Knew What When?
Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee are seeking access to a classified transcript that could determine whether the CIA misled Congress about documents purporting to show Saddam Hussein was trying to buy uranium from Niger. Last week agency officials acknowledged that a former U.S. diplomat had been sent to Niger nearly a year earlier and concluded the documents were bogus. But the CIA apparently never passed the diplomat’s assessment along to its congressional overseers.
One missed opportunity to do that was on Sept. 24, 2002–just as Congress was debating an Iraq war resolution–when Robert Walpole, the CIA’s national intelligence officer for nuclear issues, was questioned by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about British assertions that Saddam was seeking “significant” quantities of uranium from Africa. Two sources at the classified hearing tell NEWSWEEK that Walpole appeared to endorse the British report. “He didn’t say there was anything to be doubtful about,” said one source. But an agency spokesman insists Walpole told the senators that “there were concerns about the accuracy” of reports from Niger. Senate Intelligence vice chair Sen. Jay Rockefeller wants a full-scale investigation into the handling of the Niger documents.. But GOP Intelligence Committee chair Sen. Pat Roberts has appeared to rule out a formal probe. He has authorized only an informal “review” of intelligence files.
Meanwhile, U.S. officials last week confirmed that two top Qaeda leaders in U.S. custody told interrogators Osama bin Laden had vetoed a relationship with Saddam–another intelligence report that was never passed to Congress. But U.S. intelligence officials insist some evidence of Iraq-Al Qaeda ties is turning up. Sources say Farouk Hijazi, a former top Iraqi diplomat, has told his U.S. interrogators that he did meet with bin Laden in Sudan in the early to mid-1990s–an indication, officials say, that there were at least some of the “contacts” claimed by senior Bush officials prior to the war.
Iraq
Change of Allegiance
U.S Army regulars and soldiers from Delta Force engaged in the biggest single battle of the postwar period last week. More than 60 Iraqis died in an attack on an alleged “terrorist camp” near the town of Rawah. Another 27 were killed in nearby Badah in an operation to root out what U.S. officials believe are loosely organized groups of insurgents. Eliminating the opposition may be more difficult than it sounds for one very important reason: key allies who facilitated the U.S. victory in Iraq are losing patience. NEWSWEEK has learned that U.S. officials who went to visit key tribal leaders in Ambar province last week were told that some of them could no longer guarantee the cooperation of their members, despite considerable sums of money paid out by U.S. Special Forces to safeguard that very support. “[The tribal leaders] weren’t bought,” said one Coalition official, “They were just rented” for the war.
One reason for the change in tribal attitudes may have been a U.S. attack in early April that killed Malik Kharbit, a leader of the powerful tribe of Sunnis, the Dulaimi. According to Robert Baer, a former CIA operative who has maintained extensive contacts with members of the tribe, the sheik’s house was targeted with six JDAMs because U.S. officials were led to believe Barzan Tikriti, Saddam Hussein’s half brother, was inside. The death left the Dulaimi bitter over the U.S. tactics. “You don’t mess with these guys,” says Baer. “There are 700,000 of them and now they’re p–ed off.”
Whatever the reasons, the erosion of support among much-needed local leaders at this stage could be a crucial setback. If the proverb about the Dulaimi is true–“There is no Iraq without the Dulaimi, but there will always be the Dulaimi, even without Iraq”–the Americans would do well to pay attention to how the tribes are feeling.
Crimes
Hero–Or Perp?
Two years after indicting Croatian Gen. Ante Gotovina for crimes against humanity, The Hague tribunal may reconsider its charges. Tribunal officials now acknowledge that the accusations against him–that he was responsible for the murder of at least 150 ethnic Serbs and the flight of more than 150,000 in 1995–were based on circumstantial evidence. “Circumstantial evidence is valid unless there is some other reasonable hypothesis,” a Hague prosecution official tells NEWSWEEK. But, he says, there could be evidence proving Gotovina “was not responsible” in papers released last Friday.
Gotovina emerged from hiding last week, offering to surrender if the tribunal withdraws the indictment. “After they hear my statement,” he told an interviewer, “if they continue to hold the indictment against me, I will voluntarily go to The Hague. I truly have nothing to hide.”
If Gotovina is freed, the tribunal will have to face down the fact that it issued an eight-count indictment based on untruths. The most bizarre charge, the deportation of Serbs from the Krajina region of Croatia, flew in the face of media reports that the Serb exodus was ordered by Serb leaders. One of the most authoritative accounts was by Florence Hartmann–a correspondent for Le Monde at the time, and now tribunal spokeswoman. “Our only purpose is to establish truth,” she says.
Retirement
Into the Dark Ages
Retirement was once regarded as a time to enjoy the fruits of one’s lifelong labors, join bridge clubs, cruise the Caribbean and enjoy the grandkids. But, apparently, fewer and fewer young folk are naive enough to believe that. According to a study released last week by the Principal Financial Group, a financial-services firm, citizens in several countries think the future’s so bleak, they’ve gotta wear shades.
The Principal Global Financial Well-Being Study canvassed 5,000 working adults in 11 countries about their visions of retirement. Most pessimistic are the French, 56 percent of whom think their standard of living in retirement will be “worse than it is now.” High numbers of Japanese and Brazilians also have bleak outlooks, whereas Americans, Chinese and Mexicans are more optimistic–due in part to the firecracker Chinese economy and Mexico’s steps toward pension reform, says the report.
Even those with a rosier view are skeptical about the role government will play in their future well-being. Worldwide, only 5 percent of all the global respondents think their government is doing “very well” to ensure financial stability for retirees. Mind you, those quizzed don’t seem to expect much more from companies–only 24 percent of respondents are “very confident” of receiving full benefits from their employers. Maybe we should rename the golden years. How about the Dark Ages?
Migration
Weary Wings
A layover on a long-haul flight is sometimes more exhausting than the flying itself. Now a new study in Nature says that birds agree. According to the report, the New World Catharus thrush spends twice as much energy during stopovers as it does in flight during migration.
Using tiny radio transmitters superglued just above the birds’ tails, G. Henk Visser of the Zoological Laboratory in the Netherlands and his colleagues were able to release, track and retrap 14 birds along their migrations. Most of the birds’ energy was spent during stopovers, when they prepared for the next leg of their journey by eating earthworms–often to the point of obesity. But even long-distance travelers like snow geese–who gorge to 50 percent body fat preflight–are once again “quite lean” upon arrival, says Vissner, proving that migration is still a bird’s best workout. If walking were that effective, perhaps we humans would forget about the Atkins diet.
Documentaries
Comeback
It’s rare enough when a documentary achieves cult status. Rarer still when it actually changes lives. “Stone Reader,” a movie about the love of reading, manages to do both. The filmmaker, Mark Moskowitz, became obsessed with a dense, lyrical coming-of-age novel by Dow Mossman called “The Stones of Summer.” Published to ecstatic reviews in 1972, it sold few copies and vanished along with its author. Moskowitz, a fanatic reader who makes political commercials for a living, set out to find Mossman and to explore the mystery of one-book wonders. He interviewed such literary luminaries as critic Leslie Fiedler, editor Robert Gottlieb and writer Frank Conroy–none of whom had read the book or heard of its author. Moskowitz finally found Mossman in Iowa. He’d had a breakdown after finishing his novel, worked as a welder for 20 years, then bundled newspapers for $6.25 an hour before losing that job four years ago. Now he may be the best-known writer no one has ever read in the United States.
Books
Writing on the Will
When writing about England’s royal family, follow these simple rules: (1) to ensure sales, plaster a prince or princess on the cover; (2) make it salacious. Unfortunately, the authors of three books out this summer ignored the latter and placed their hopes on the former. The resulting texts–Ingrid Seward’s “William and Harry,” Tim Graham and Peter Archer’s “William” and “Prince William” by Brian Hoey–all cover well-trodden ground, timed for release before the prince’s 21st birthday on June 21.
Rarely do books on the royal family reveal anything, well, revealing. Hoey acknowledges that the “main difficulty in writing about any living member of the royal family is that the subject rarely gives interviews to authors.” So the books recycle the same old stories we’ve read for years. William, for instance, was the first heir to the British throne to be born in a hospital, his dislike for the press began at an early age and he was a great comfort to his troubled mother, Diana. (Don’t lie, you knew all that.) Some readers may be enthralled by a few anecdotes about William Wales (as he likes to be known by his peers at university), like his large appetite–he sometimes eats two bacon sandwiches with tea for breakfast. Or the fact that he is fond of colorful language like “OK” and “absolutely hideous.”
Of the three abysmal tomes, Seward’s is probably the best buy. Amazingly, she stretches her book out to 295 pages, puffed up with often irrelevant info about William’s friends and family. Yet she does break new ground when she reveals that both William and his brother, Harry, were circumcised. Who cares, one might ask? Millions. Along with the commemorative stamps, coins and glossy mags that will herald Will’s birthday, these books will fly off the shelves. Guaranteed.
Helpfulness
The Friendliest Folks
These days we all know which nation is the most powerful in the world. But power isn’t everything. If you’re looking to escape the arrogance, why not head to the friendliest nation in the world? According to a study recently published in American Scientist, that would be Brazil, thanks to the super Samaritans of Rio de Janeiro. The study’s author, psychology professor Robert Levine of California State University in Fresno, ranked 23 different cities in the world based on three “trials of helpfulness”–helping a blind person cross a busy intersection, assisting an injured person in picking up a magazine from the ground and returning a dropped pen to its rightful owner–to see how many strangers would take on the role of Do-Gooder.
The results: Latin America rules. Four of the world’s 11 friendliest cities–Rio de Janeiro; San Jose, Costa Rica; Mexico City, and San Savador–are in the region. And in both Rio and San Jose, strangers escorted the experimenters (who feigned blindness) 100 percent of the time. (In all, more than 1,000 people were subjected to the trials.) What’s nicest to know is that those friendly folks in Latin America are not alone. In Prague, too, all “blind” people were escorted. (Only half the strangers there would stoop to recover a fallen pen, though. Perhaps Czechs prefer pencils?) Oh, and in case you were wondering where to avoid on your next holiday, New Yorkers came in second to last. Only 30 percent of the rotten bunch in the Big Apple picked up the pen, and even fewer helped the injured person. But at least New Yawkers did assist three out of every four blind people. That’s better than the folks in Kuala Lumpur. The best Levine could conclude about them was that they were “not helpful at all.”
Q&A: Matthew Perry
On hiatus from “Friends,” Matthew Perry is making his stage debut in London, playing a snide seducer in David Mamet’s “Sexual Perversity in Chicago.” The show’s a surprise hit. NEWSWEEK’s Sean Smith chatted on the phone with Perry backstage at Comedy Theatre just before curtain:
You recently broke the record for advance-ticket sales in London theater history. How’d that happen?
That is just insane. I had no real idea of the success. I was just trying to learn my lines and not vomit in the wings.
In fact, you broke the record set by Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith in “Breath of Life.” You kicked the asses of two of the greatest lights in British theater!
Yeah! They showed up [one night], and I did that literally. When you’re fighting Judi Dench, you gotta go to the body.
“Friends” is huge there. So is the play a hit because you’re in it–or will Brits see anything with “sexual perversity” in the title?
[Laughs] I think people will see anything with me and “sexual perversity” in the title.
This year will be your last season of “Friends.” Are you ready to let it go?
It’s definitely going to be sad. But I think it’s time to be done. When the universe shuts a door, another one opens somewhere, and it’s your job to find where that is. One of the wonderful things about this experience is that I’ve realized I love acting on the stage.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-24” author: “Theresa Sprouse”
Washington may have reduced the domestic terrorist-alert level to yellow from orange, but that doesn’t mean the threat of a terrorist attack has greatly receded recently. Officials tell NEWSWEEK that U.S. intelligence agencies still believe the threat to U.S. interests–including those in America–remains quite high. Officials say “chatter” among known terrorists monitored by intelligence services has not dramatically fallen since the terror-alert level was last raised.
One set of particularly lurid threats that caught the attention of U.S. intelligence last week related to two radical Saudi clerics who intelligence officials believe have “strong connections” to Al Qaeda, possibly including the cell that carried out the recent Riyadh attacks. U.S. officials say the two clerics, sheiks Ali al-Khudayr and Ahmad al-Khalidi, were arrested by Saudi authorities in the post-bombing crackdown. After the bombings, the sheiks posted an Internet message ordering all good Muslims to refuse to cooperate with official investigations into the attacks.
The clerics had been under surveillance by Saudi authorities for months, but disappeared from view shortly before the United States attacked Iraq. What alarms U.S. intelligence is that Islamist Web sites and London-based jihad groups claim that the sheiks were killed during a raid last week on their hideout in the holy city of Medina. Omar Bakri Muhammad, a London cleric who supports the Saudi militants, told NEWSWEEK that eyewitnesses saw two bodies being carried on stretchers from the house, and Saudi authorities have refused to tell the clerics’ families what happened. U.S. and Saudi officials strongly deny the sheiks were killed. But the allegation has resonated noisily in the world of the cyberjihad: on an Internet bulletin board used by the 9-11 hijackers, someone purporting to be Osama bin Laden’s bodyguard last week said that bin Laden was “emotionally shaken” by news of the alleged Medina killings. The message said that if the sheiks’ deaths are confirmed, Al Qaeda would respond against the Saudi royal family with a “forceful statement that is dripping with blood,” according to a translation by terrorism expert Rita Katz. The message disappeared the next day.
U.S. officials say in the wake of the Riyadh attacks, –Saudi authorities have changed their attitude toward Islamic terrorism. FBI investigators on the scene are elated by the level of cooperation, which includes allowing U.S. investigators to question suspects directly. But intelligence also indicates suspects in the Riyadh attacks may have escaped and could be heading to Europe or the United States. Pessimistic officials in Washington say even at “condition yellow,” the fragmentary picture that intelligence information paints of Qaeda activities still evokes uncanny echoes of what analysts saw in the weeks before 9-11.
–Mark Hosenball and Michael Isikoff
Global Buzz: The Repercussions Edition
Around the world, June will be a month for making amends. Or in some unfortunate cases, paying dearly for recent noncooperation.
U.S.-Mexico Prez Fox turns to mutual concerns like drugs and borders, while Bush hopes not to alienate the Latino vote before 2004 elections. Amigos again.
China Thanks to Beijing’s fumbling of the SARS epidemic, Taiwan Prez Chen can now safely subdue calls for closer ties to the mainland. Relations stay frosty.
Russia Still no WTO membership, thanks to low domestic- energy pricing and high farm tariffs. Who cares if it’s the largest non-WTO trading economy?
Saudi Arabia U.S. troop withdrawal will only inspire Al Qaeda to pursue other aims, like driving out U.S. civilians and burning Saudi ties to Washington. Expect trouble.
Iraq: Return to Sender
Bush administration officials say that U.S. intelligence agencies and the Pentagon expected that American troops in Iraq would stumble across all kinds of lethal and “dual use” equipment made by Western companies as they combed through the wreckage of Saddam Hussein’s military-industrial complex. Among the more intriguing items that have turned up is an assortment of French military equipment and German-made chemical-weapon protective gear; the French and Germans emphatically deny violating any United Nations weapons embargoes. A more awkward find was a cache of missiles that were made in the United States.
Though details of the discovery are classified, sources in Washington say that military and intelligence agencies launched an urgent investigation to find out how the weapons got to Iraq and whether American firms might have violated U.N. embargoes and U.S. laws. Recently the inquiry was abandoned when convincing evidence turned up that the missiles had been exported legally from the United States to Iraq in the years before the first gulf war, when American policymakers cozied up to Saddam as a counterbalance to Iranian ayatollahs.
–Mark Hosenball
Crime: Made in The U.S.A.
If you thought fast food was the United States’ worst export to the world, think again. It’s more likely gang culture. Since the passing of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act in the United States in 1996, thousands of gang members have been deported from the North American streets back to their homes in Central American countries like El Salvador. Having picked up violent habits in cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, the young deportees often return home to find endless supplies of guns at their disposal, thanks to a legacy of civil wars. And they are finding new strength in their unity as deportees. “[Gangs] didn’t exist before the deportations,” says Milton Andaluz, a San Francisco gang-unit officer of Salvadoran ancestry. “The deportations brought them together.”
The phenomenon is roiling war-weary countries like El Salvador. Today, according to a study by the Insitute of Public Opinion at the University of Central America, there may be –as many as 20,000 criminal gang members in the tiny country of 6.4 million. Many of the gangs are allegedly involved in murder and drug running, exacerbating already severe problems of street crime and rural banditry. And worryingly, too much money is being spent on tackling the problems to no avail. More than 12 percent of El Salvador’s GNP is spent on controling violence and its consequences, according to the Institute of Public Opinion’s study.
Many Central Americans blame this latest round of violence on U.S. policies, much as they did during the cold war. To be sure, the United States is not immune. “Deportations are not the answer,” says Jason Lee, a gang specialist and public-relations officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. “These guys sometimes come right back.” But if they’re not on U.S. streets, they’re likely to be turning their country of origin into an even more vicious and brutal version of gangland America.
–Curt Hopkins
1/4 Cloning: Make Me a Mule
Add another animal to the list of successfully cloned species. Scientists at the University of Idaho have conjured up a mule, dubbed “Idaho Gem,” according to a report published in Science last week. The researchers bred the parents of a top racing mule named Taz, extracted a cell from the resulting fetus and created 305 mule embryos. Three survived, and so was born Idaho Gem on May 5. Two twins are due in June and August.
So what’s the big deal about a mule, one might ask? Idaho Gem represents a breakthrough on a few fronts. He’s the first replica in the equine family, suggesting that cloned horses could be around the corner. (In fact, two teams–one at Texas A–M University and another at the Laboratory of Reproductive Technology in Cremona, Italy–are reportedly close to producing the first horse clone.) His birth offers hope for saving endangered equines. But perhaps the most significant outcome of the experiment could be the discovery of new techniques for fighting human ailments like prostate cancer, diabetes and hypertension. Gordon Woods, who headed the Idaho team, says that what the researchers learned about manipulating calcium levels during the cloning could be applicable to several human ailments. “The real opportunity from these studies is to use the horse as a model to study age-onset diseases in humans,” he says.
Racing enthusiasts will likely be pleased with Idaho Gem, too; with the same genes, he should be as fast as his brother when he comes of age. But they shouldn’t expect genetically engineered supercolts in the Kentucky Derby any time soon: regulations currently prohibit using assisted-reproduction techniques.
–Jonathan Adams
Golf: Who Needs a Brain?
Think golf is a thinking man’s game? Think again. Researchers including Debbie Crews of Arizona State University and John Milton of the University of Chicago have been studying patterns of brain activation in golfers. Their conclusion: the better the golfer, the less brain activity he shows in the seconds before he makes his shot.
Crews, a sports psychologist who studies putting, has found that a key difference between amateurs and pros lies in the left hemisphere, the seat of logic, analysis, verbal reasoning and the kinds of thoughts–Maybe I should just kind of squinch over a little more to the left–that you never imagine crossing Tiger Woods’s mind. Professionals, once they’ve determined how to make a shot, follow an invariable routine that renders conscious thought unnecessary.
When Milton asked some LPGA golfers what they thought about just before taking a shot, they answered: nothing. He rounded up a half-dozen pros and an equal number of amateurs and had them imagine making a specific shot while monitoring their brains in a functional MRI machine. The amateurs showed far more total brain activation, involving more areas of the brain. In particular, amateurs activated the basal ganglia–involved in learning motor functions–and the basal forebrain and amygdala, responsible for, among other functions, emotions. Some of his subjects worried about hitting the ball into the water, which was curious, because he hadn’t even mentioned a water hazard in describing the imaginary shot to them.
Milton is trying to apply these lessons to stroke and other rehabilitation patients who have to relearn skills like walking; he recommends putting more emphasis on visualization and improving mental focus. In many aspects of life, it seems, half the game really is 90 percent mental.
–Jerry Adler
Health: Eat Meat, Weigh Less
For 30 years, dieters have sworn by Dr. Atkins’s low-carb, high-fat, high-protein plan. Doctors have been less convinced. But two recent studies in The New England Journal of Medicine make it harder to dismiss as a quick way to shed pounds. In one study, Atkins dieters lost twice as much weight in the first six months as people who followed a food-pyramid-based regimen; in the other, severely obese subjects lost an average of 13 pounds after six months on Atkins and only four pounds on a traditional diet. Researchers say the Atkins diet may be simpler to follow, may make people fuller or may just be so monotonous–another steak?–that people eat less. The studies don’t address whether the Atkins diet helps keep weight off. Says researcher James Hill, “People fixate on weight loss; they should fixate on weight maintenance.”
–Karen Springen
Art: Some Irony With That?
As an artist, Adolf Hitler was a hack watercolorist who nevertheless enjoyed a fairly good overall sense of design. He had a hand in the look of all those dramatic torchlight Nuremberg rallies, Gestapo uniforms and even the original Volkswagen. Hitler also collected cliched, sentimental paintings that were at least legit works of art. By comparison, as an art collector, Saddam Hussein is a true vulgarian–a cross between a leering beer chugger on “The Man Show” and a pubescent video gamer sequestered in his Vin Diesel-themed bedroom. The half-dozen paintings recently unearthed from one of Saddam’s safe houses resemble nothing so much as oily versions of PlayStation 2 still frames. There are buff guys menaced by reptiles, and a woman (is that a suicide bomber’s packet of explosives on her military belt?) about to be shot with an arrow. Those must have appealed to Saddam’s warrior side. A couple of pictures display a full moon and a swirling cosmos behind dreaming or meditating pretty (and androgynous) faces. But in the art world these days, context is everything. If the same pictures had been found on the crisp white walls of a hip gallery in Chelsea or Santa Monica instead of a tyrant’s sandy hideaway, the critics might now be toasting yet another bright new artist whose work is so deliciously, ironically “bad.” Pity it’s only contemporary painters–and not dictators–who succeed by playing harmlessly at being the real thing.
–Peter Plagens
Penelope Cruz
Penelope Cruz has never been hotter. Once just a Spanish-language star, she’s become a hip Hollywood commodity, nabbing roles in the likes of “Vanilla Sky” and dating none other than Tom Cruise. But it’s still her foreign work that’s stealing the show. She recently premiered her new film, “Fanfan la Tulipe,” at this year’s Cannes Film Festival. NEWSWEEK’s Dana Thomas caught up with her to discuss her celebrity.
Do you feel that you’ve lost your privacy?
I do have my privacy. You have to fight for it, but you can have it. I don’t read gossip; I’m not part of that game. To me, what’s important is my family and things outside of my job. Where would I be without them?
What’s it like to see all those screaming fans taking pictures of you?
I want to be the person observing, not only the one being observed. I like to see what’s happening, too!
You take pictures, too. What do you do with them?
Some of them have been published in Interview magazine, of Salma Hayek. I had a lot of fun photographing her because we are both very bossy. But I had to give the orders: “Today you have to do what I say.”
How else are you bossy?
I’m very stubborn. I was born like that. I have very strong opinions about everything. I’m a Taurus. It’s one of my qualities, and sometimes it can become my worst enemy.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-11” author: “Jasmine Lewis”
Getting terrorist suspects off the streets can be a struggle. But one lengthy surveillance ended last week when French authorities arrested Christian Ganczarski, a Muslim convert born in Germany, at a Paris airport. Ganczarski made several visits to Qaeda training camps, and he was phoned by a Qaeda suicide bomber moments before the suspect blew himself up at a Tunisian synagogue in April 2002. Intelligence has shown Ganczarski may have had contacts with Qaeda mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and may have been involved in 9-11.
The Bush administration pressed Germany to arrest Ganczarski, but the Germans said they couldn’t: he hadn’t committed a crime. The FBI protested when Ganczarski was then allowed to leave for Saudi Arabia last year. But neither the Germans nor the Saudis were able to do anything about him until a Saudi crackdown after the recent Riyadh bombings. French authorities say that Ganczarski flew to Paris after being expelled from Saudi Arabia. U.S. officials say he may have planned to travel from Saudi Arabia to orchestrate a Bali-style nightclub attack on the French island Reunion.
Investigators were watching Ganczarski, but for a long time couldn’t touch him. NEWSWEEK has learned that Canadian officials flat-out lost would-be Millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam. According to Canadian and U.S. government documents, CSIS, Canada’s spy agency, first identified Ressam’s voice on a tap in 1996. By March 1998, CSIS knew that Ressam was headed to an Afghan training camp. What it didn’t know was that Ressam had obtained a real Canadian passport using a phony name and had later re-entered Canada and gone underground. It also had no idea that his training in Afghanistan had set him on course for an attack in America. Because they thought Ressam was part of a militant network focused on Algeria, Canadian officials say it is likely that nobody in Canada told U.S. officials an international terror suspect was loose, probably in Vancouver. Ultimately, Ressam was arrested by a U.S. Customs inspector who thought Ressam looked nervous driving an explosives-laden car off a ferry from British Columbia.
–Mark Hosenball
U.S.-Mexico: Border Brotherhood
U.S. borders have been tightened since September 11, but that has done little to deter more than a million Latin Americans–primarily Mexicans–from trying to sneak into the country each year. Human smugglers known as coyotes have actually been the biggest beneficiaries of the Bush administration’s policy of homeland protection: trips that cost $500 a decade ago now run $2,000, and they have more takers. Tragically, fatalities are also up: in the past year, almost 100 migrants have died attempting the crossing, often from suffocating inside closed trucks.
Washington took a high-profile stab at addressing those casualties last week with the launch of Operation Desert Safeguard, which will beef up patrols and medical resources in the border region and increase cooperation with Mexican police. Immigration advocates, though, complain that the plan misses the point. “There’s no doubt that these measures will help save lives,” says Deborah Meyers of the Migration Policy Institute, a Washington think tank. “But ultimately, we’re still addressing a symptom of the problem.” Meyers and others argue that the more pressing need is to le–galize the 2 million illegal Mexicans already working in the United States, a measure that seemed likely to pass until September 11. More legal mechanisms need to be created if Mexicans are to enter the United States without enduring long waits for temporary work visas. And it would help to give Mexican workers reason to stay put in their own country by boosting the economy in Mexico, where 15 percent of the population currently lives on less than $1 a day.
The coming year could bring more substantial improvements. Although nothing is openly in the cards as yet, the Bush administration could find itself reassessing its Mexico policy in the run-up to the 2004 elections, particularly if the Democrats make it an issue in their primaries, says Meyers. After all, winning the presidency without the Latino vote is a near impossibility.
–Malcolm Beith
Media: Outward Bound
Some media watchers suspected that heads would roll at The New York Times after fallen star Jayson Blair resigned on May 1. Many thought that Blair, charged with plagiarism, was never going to be the one to shoulder all the blame. But it still came as a surprise to many when the Times’s publisher, Arthur Sulzberger Jr., confirmed last week that Howell Raines and Gerald Boyd, the paper’s executive and managing editors, were resigning. “This was like a cold-water shock,” Gail Collins, the Times’s editorial- page editor, told NEWSWEEK. “Even for those people who wanted to see [Raines] go.”
So what now? Sulzberger knows the paper still has a tough road ahead. Joe Lelyveld, who has been named interim executive editor, has told friends he expects to be in place only for a month or so. Bill Keller, the paper’s former managing editor, is one obvious choice–he has experience running the newsroom and is well liked and respected internally. Two former Timesmen, Dean Baquet (now the managing editor at the Los Angeles Times) and Marty Baron (currently the top editor at The Boston Globe, a New York Times property) are also strong candidates. John Geddes, the paper’s current deputy managing editor, and Collins –are seen as dark-horse options.
One thing is certain: whoever takes over will face a staff that seems emboldened by its success in ousting the much-reviled Raines. “We’ve created a situation where management is impossible,” says one longtime Times staffer. In the newsroom on 43d Street, there’s a deep fear that it may be some time before the paper has completely repaired the damage from the events Blair set in motion.
–Seth Mnookin
1/4 Environment: Evergreen?
Despite these positive repercussions, climate change could well cast a shadow on plant life in the long term. Scientists argue that continued growth could disrupt fragile ecosystems that have been in place for thousands of years; take the strangler figs, climber plants whose spurred growth could entirely smother the taller trees they usually adorn. Still, here’s to green while we’ve got it.
–Kristin Kovner
Liberia: Court of Opinion
The United Nations is new at playing cop, and it shows. Last week its prosecutors clashed with its diplomats when a special tribunal investigating war crimes in Sierra Leone unsealed an indictment of rogue Liberian President Charles Taylor, who helped create the rebel force notorious for amputating hands as a terror tactic. Even backers of an international criminal-justice system questioned the timing: Taylor was in Ghana opening peace talks with two Liberian rebel groups that control most of his country. Ghana balked at arresting a visiting head of state, and Taylor bolted for home. The court’s legal move, while clearly within its mandate, may have reduced chances for a negotiated end to the conflict.
The reputation of such courts is already straining. Former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic’s self-defense in The Hague tribunal has turned the proceeding into a farce. In Arusha, Tanzania, the prosecution of Rwandans accused in the 1994 genocide has proved clumsy and subject to suspected lawyer-fee abuses. Having missed its mark last week, the Sierra Leone panel faces a mixed result at best because Taylor may never fall into its grasp. Washington, which is leaving prosecution in Iraq to local tribunals, remains hesitant to ratify the 1998 treaty establishing an International Criminal Court. Miscues like last week’s hardly advance the case.
–Tom Masland
Italy: Traffic on the Tiber
When in rome…do as the French and British? In an effort to combat congestion, the Italian capital recently spent €2.5 million to clean up the River Tiber and transform it into a thoroughfare for aquatic buses, just like London and Paris have done. City officials hope as many as 15 percent of the 7 million annual visitors to the city will use the Tiber taxis. It hasn’t been an easy task (sanitation workers have dredged up 38 tons of waste from the river so far, including a Fiat and countless mopeds and wine bottles) but with the summer tourist season fast approaching, city officials are confident that their master plan will be a hit.
It’s likely they’ll be right. For a mere euro each way, commuter boats make eight stops between the Olympic stadium in northern Rome and the city’s southern suburbs. Glass-covered tourist boats offer multilingual tours of the city from just €10. There is even a dinner barge that meanders along the river at sunset, doling out wine and pasta below the bridges for just €43 a head. Officials say that by July, boats will travel more than 30 kilometers to the Mediterranean port of Ostia. Rome has even reached an accord with London and Paris whereby river enthusiasts can buy a tri-city pass, good for travel on any of the three rivers.
There are of course already some complaints. While traveling on the Tiber may work well for the tourists, business commuters will probably need to rely on a more efficient service–the boats are unpredictable, always late and float down the Tiber at a leisurely pace. Admits Mayor Walter Veltroni: “It’s an alternative means of transport for those who aren’t in a hurry.”
–Barbie Nadeau
Books: Donald Rumsfeld’s Poetic License
Truth may be beauty, but evading the truth can be downright poetic. In a June 2002 interview with The Washington Times, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said, “The truth is, look:/If something is going to happen,/ There has to be something/For it to happen with/ That’s interested in having it happen.” Rumsfeld’s verse, long embedded in news briefings, interviews and the U.S. Defense Department Web site, has now been collected in one volume, “Pieces of Intelligence: The Existential Poetry of Donald H. Rumsfeld,” compiled and edited by Hart Seely.
Not everyone’s words can be converted to verse by pressing the return key in weird places. Seely, a reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard, first tried to fit Ari Fleischer’s sentences into stanzas but the press secretary’s words proved too controlled for art. When Seely started reading Rumsfeld transcripts, he discovered real talent. “This guy wasn’t saying anything about anything!” With colorful tangents and a tendency to repeat himself in a majestic way–“Like a chorus in a bad song,” says Seely–Rumsfeld’s words were already lyrical. Like modern African-American street poetry, Rumsfeld’s riffs originated as oral improvisation, Seely writes in his introduction. In “The Unknown,” Rumsfeld’s thoughts are particularly deep: “As we know,/There are known knowns./There are things we know we know./We also know/There are known unknowns./ That is to say/We know there are some things/We do not know./But there are also unknown unknowns,/The ones we don’t know we don’t know.” Says Seely, “The unknown unknown is a brilliant concept. I wish he’d take it one step further and go unknown unknown unknown.”
–Susannah Meadows
Ireland: Into the Drink
Around the tables in Dublin’s Temple Bar area, the sense of resignation is as thick as the plumes of smoke wisping toward the ceiling. “If it happens, it happens,” says Mark Collender, an off-duty policeman as he drains his second pint of Guinness. He’s referring to Irish Prime Minister BertieAhern’s vow to crack down on alcohol abuse. Warning labels would be slapped on bottles; there will be restrictions on alcohol advertising on radio and TV. Ahern has even proposed banning happy hours. Ireland will also, as of Jan. 1, become the first European country to ban smoking from all places of employment, including pubs and restaurants.
Much of the Irish public supports Ahern. They worry that alcohol consumption has gone up 46 percent in Ireland since 1990, even as it’s declined elsewhere in Europe. A quarter of Ireland’s emergency-room cases are now alcohol-related. Lisa Carley, the bartender at the Hairy Lemon in Dublin, considers drinking to be Ireland’s national sport. “It’s just what we do,” she says with a shrug–helping to prove Ahern’s point.
–John Ghazvinian
Ricky Martin
Ricky martin has been missing in action since his days of living la vida loca. But the suave Puerto Rican has a new album–his first in Spanish since 1998–called “Almas Del Silencio” (Souls of Silence). Martin bared his soul to NEWSWEEK’s Vanessa Juarez:
Why a Spanish album now?
I never said I was going to stop recording in Spanish. That would be like denying who I am. I was about to release an album in English, but then I thought, “Hold on, I need to go back to step one.” For me, step one is Spanish.
Do you realize you started a Latin explosion?
I never thought of an explosion. I was just enjoying what I was doing. After that, a lot of people came. Look at Shakira, she’s done amazing. And Jennifer Lopez, she’s a diva, mama.
What else have you been up to?
I spent some time in India and became part of a foundation called Sabera. Philanthropy is very important to me. The thing is, since we live in a first-world country, we say, “Yeah, yeah, whatever, I don’t care, that’s their reality, not ours.” No, man, don’t be so narrow-minded, dude, their reality is affecting us as well.
You were once in the group Menudo. Have you eaten menudo–the chile, hominy and tripe soup?
No, I never did. I think that’s from Mexico. Let me tell you, in Puerto Rico, they have all the crazy things, too–very fattening but oh so tasty.
Correction
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-14” author: “Carole Wright”
“You have to look at history as an evolution of society.” Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien, on his country’s decision to legalize marriage for same-sex couples
“We have lost our patience with Burma.” U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Lorne Craner, on Burma’s continued refusal to release pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi despite international pressure
“What did I fall for, you [expletive]? Shove it in your mother’s [expletive].” Cuban President Fidel Castro, after learning that Miami talk-show radio hosts had tricked him into responding to a recording of his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chavez
“If that’s the only way, then I’m all for destroying their machines.” U.S. Sen. Orrin Hatch, on one way to control people who illegally download music from the Internet
“Let us see if these people are mentally balanced. We have to end this insanity.” Lagos Traffic Ministry spokesman Ogundeji Adesegun, on the new move to require psychiatric tests of traffic offenders in an effort to counter the Nigerian city’s horrific gridlock
“Harry goes through hell every time he returns to school, so I think a bit of snogging [kissing] would alleviate matters.” “Harry Potter” author J. K. Rowling, on the boy wizard’s coming of age in the new and fifth book in the wildly popular series
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-24” author: “James Hoggan”
Something strange is happening on Kifah Street, home to the shuttered Baghdad stock market and hawkers of everything from cigarettes to fistfuls of dinars adorned with a young Saddam Hussein. The Saddam dinar is rising fast against the U.S. dollar–at the beginning of last week it was trading at 2,000 to the dollar; on Friday it was at 1,000–but why? Even the U.S. officials temporarily running Iraq see the rising dinar value as an odd vote of confidence in the soon-to-be-retired currency of a government that no longer exists. “For there to be confidence in the currency, you need a stable government, which there is not,” says George Mullinax, a U.S. Treasury official now in Baghdad.
But the reasons are actually pretty simple: Iraqis are expecting a better currency soon, and they hope an efficient and wealthy government will quickly be in place. As Erbil businessman Sadiq Ismail puts it, the Iraqi people “think that Baghdad will not let them down.”
It could, though, just as it has before. After the first gulf war, the Central Bank began printing large numbers of dinars with Saddam’s image. In the north, angry Kurds refused the bills, sticking with the Swiss-printed dinar, which has held its value. In the south, inflation made small bills almost worthless.
Now merchants no longer accept 10,000-dinar notes, fearing the United States will cancel them due to bank looting. That leaves only the 250-dinar note in wide circulation. Thus dinar supply is falling at a time of rising demand from U.S. officials, journalists and even Iraqis shopping for looted bargains in Baghdad’s black markets, says economist Mussab Al-Dubayli, who fears “disastrous” results for the Iraqi economy. Normally, a developing nation wants an underpriced currency so its goods sell competitively abroad.
To jump-start the economy, the United States is handing out $20 cash payments to all Iraqi state employees, who sniff that $20 will now buy food for only a few days. Foreign contractors working in Iraq say they are in danger of bankruptcy, due to the rising dollar cost of Iraqi labor. Prices of imports like cigarettes are gyrating wildly. For now, the United States plans to let the Saddam dinar move with the market, but is working with Iraqis to develop a new currency to be introduced sometime next year. They plan to remove Saddam and replace him with a less controversial image, says Mullinax. Perhaps a palm tree, maybe a pine. Something rooted and stable.
–Scott Johnson and Owen Matthews
Extravagance: New Old Russia
The motto of nouveau riche New Russia, “Spare no expense,” is catching on in the Kremlin. In recent months an army of construction workers has been swarming over the site of the Konstantinovsky Palace, a 1,000-room complex on the outskirts of St. Petersburg. The plan: to transform the palace into a suitable venue for President Vladimir Putin to host multiple summits with 45 heads of state on May 31 and June 1. But it’s one thing for a rich yuppie to spend so extravagantly. Russians are questioning Putin’s right to do so.
Officially revamped in preparation for St. Petersburg’s 300th anniversary this year, the palace operation is just one of many city projects underway, including the restoration of other historic monuments and fixing up a metro line. But in Old Russia style, most of the talk has centered around corruption, cronyism and sheer disregard for today’s proletariat. The total bill will likely come to over $1 billion; locals fear that much of the money was funneled into private pockets, and that their city won’t look all that much better in the end.
Then there’s the matter of the ordinary man being allowed to take part in the festivities scheduled around the summits. Residents were told to stay out of town so as not to make traffic even worse. “The celebration should be for us,” says cabbie Mark Krasner. Still, some don’t mind money being spent on monuments. Says local writer and historian Daniil Granin: “If we lived in the time of Catherine the Great, we’d all be saying, ‘Surely they could spend all that money on the people rather than putting it into the Winter Palace’.” He has a point. But you could also argue that the current controversy shows how little has changed since Peter the Great founded the city back in 1703.
–Christian Caryl
Argentina: Kirchner Is Crowned
When flamboyant former Argentine president Carlos Menem dropped out of Argentina’s presidential race last week, no one could have been happier than Peronist Nestor Kirchner. Kirchner, a virtual unknown just weeks ago, will now march unopposed into the presidency on May 25. But it won’t be an easy job: Argentina’s economic woes continue and the troubled nation has had six presidents in the past 18 months. To get an insight on the new president’s chances of success, news-week’s Joseph Contreras spoke with Argentine sociologist Torcuato Di Tella, who recently conducted a series of interviews with Kirchner for a new book:
What kinds of policies should we expect from Kirchner?
In economic policy, he’ll continue what is going on now. You’ll see an effort to give the state a greater role in the economy and more protectionism.
Is Kirchner popular enough to succeed?
Kirchner doesn’t have much solid support of his own and he certainly is not going to have the support of Menem’s people. He will be a weak president, and the big test will be whether he can form a coalition.
What’s he like as a man?
He’s more solid than he seems. He’s said to have been a rather authoritarian sort of boss. But I’m not too concerned about that. We need a person with a certain authoritarianism.
How will his leadership affect Argentina’s relations with the United States and international investors?
Kirchner will soon realize he will have to cooperate with the United States and foreign capital–if he hasn’t realized it already. But he won’t do anything the United States or the International Monetary Fund wants. Kirchner will be a bit more troublesome and the United States and international investors will [face] a rather hard interlocutor. But he won’t be unmanageable.
Science: Gone Fish
You know that old uplifting adage: there are plenty more fish in the sea? It’s a big lie. According to a recent study, industrial fishing over the past 50 years has reduced the population of the world’s predatory swimmers by 90 percent. Sharks, tuna, swordfish and marlins are just some of the many species that have seen their numbers drop drastically, according to the study, first published in Nature on May 15. “This overfishing will eventually lead to the extinction of the larger animals,” says Ransom A. Myers, the lead author of the study and a fisheries biologist based at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada.
The data was assembled over 10 years, using information gathered from research trawlers and commercial vessels from the Gulf of Thailand to the Arctic. According to Myers, what’s happening to the oceans is comparable to what occurred on land 10,000 years ago when mankind invaded North America and Australia. Beasts like the woolly mammoth and the giant ground sloth went extinct once humans had the right tools to hunt effectively. So it is at sea, where technology, from satellites and sonar to long lines, have made extinction a reality: a fish like the hammerhead shark could be gone in a generation. The study does conclude that there might be hope: if the world heeds suggestions that came out of last year’s Johannesburg summit–including reduced quotas, stronger regulations and the prevention of accidental catches–it’s possible many fish stocks could be restored by 2015. But given the failure of some other recent U.N. efforts, Jaws and friends should probably start counting their days.
–Michael Hastings
The Euro: Will Sweden Suffer?
It’s the worst-kept secret in London: on June 9, the British Treasury will say “not yet” to the common European currency, as the convergence criteria necessary for Britain to join have not been met. While pro-euro Britons may feel let down by Prime Minister Tony Blair, the most disappointed Blair ally may be Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson. With a euro referendum scheduled for Sept. 14, Persson had been hoping against hope that the Blair government, perhaps emboldened by its joint military victory with the United States in Iraq, would take a stronger pro-euro position. The current London waffle will hurt Persson’s case for “yes” and help Sweden’s growing Euro-skeptic movement. Popular support for joining the single currency has sunk dramatically in recent months, and is now at 35 percent. Swedes, says a member of Parliament from Persson’s party, “see few advantages [of joining] when the economy here is so much stronger than that in Euroland. The [euro] missionaries don’t appear credible when they describe the blessings of joining a club that appears mediocre.” Could it get any worse? Yes, apparently. Recently Persson and other senior party members have all but gagged leading Euro-skeptics. Some people are best seen and not heard, it would seem.
–Stryker Mcguire
The Wizardry of Oz
New York’s Asia Society recently announced the winner of the first annual Osborn Elliott Prize for an outstanding journalist writing about Asia. We take note of it because the “Ozzie,” as it is now called, is named after legendary NEWSWEEK Editor Elliott, who pioneered many of the techniques that have now become standard fare in weekly journalism. Elizabeth Rosenthal of The New York Times was this year’s winner for her extraordinary and persistent coverage of the AIDS crisis in China. We congratulate her and salute our old chief Oz Elliott as well.
–Fareed Zakaria, Editor, NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-06” author: “Robert Johnson”
U.S. troops have yet to turn up conclusive evidence that Iraq was maintaining a nuclear, biological or chemical (NBC) arsenal. Two very suspicious trailer rigs turned up last week in Mosul. The Pentagon called them mobile bio-labs. The first of the truck-drawn labs, intercepted at a roadblock, had been swabbed clean. The other, discovered Friday, was stripped by looters before U.S. troops found it.
Looters, in fact, have outrun the WMD hunters in several instances. “Once a site has been hit with a 2,000-pound bomb, then looted, there’s not a lot left,” says Maj. Paul Haldeman, the 101st Airborne Division’s top NBC officer. In the rush to Baghdad, Coalition forces raced past most suspected WMD sites. After Saddam Hussein’s fall, there were too few U.S. troops to secure the facilities. Roughly 900 possible WMD sites appeared on the initial target lists. So far, V Corps officers say, fewer than 150 have been searched.
Some of the lapses are frightening. The Al Tuwaitha Nuclear Research Center, about 12 miles south of Baghdad, had nearly two tons of partially enriched uranium, along with significant quantities of highly radioactive medical and industrial isotopes, when International Atomic Energy Agency officials made their last visit in January. By the time U.S. troops arrived in early April, armed guards were holding off looters–but the Americans only disarmed the guards, Al Tuwaitha department heads told NEWSWEEK. As soon as the soldiers left, looters broke in. The staff fled; when they returned, the containment vaults’ seals had been broken, and radioactive material was everywhere.
U.S. officers say the center had already been ransacked before their troops arrived. Last week American troops finally went back to secure the site. Al Tuwaitha’s scientists still can’t fully assess the damage; some areas are too badly contaminated to inspect. Stainless-steel uranium canisters had been stolen. Some were later found in local markets and in villagers’ homes. The looted materials could not make a nuclear bomb, but IAEA officials worry that terrorists could build plenty of dirty bombs with some of the isotopes that may have gone missing.
Not finding WMDs doesn’t mean there are none. Last week the ground-forces commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. David McKiernan, told NEWSWEEK he’s confident evidence will emerge. “We haven’t found yet the big, hard evidence, but I think that will come,” he said. Officials in Washington spoke more cautiously. “I think we’re going to find that they had a weapons-of-mass-destruction program,” said Stephen Cambone, under secretary of Defense for intelligence–carefully not saying the weapons themselves would be found. Proving Saddam’s guilt is almost beside the point. The urgent job now is to keep his WMD materials out of terrorist hands–if it isn’t already too late.
–Rod Nordland with bureau reports
SARS, Still
Two film studios in China and Hong Kong are already reportedly planning movies about SARS, but that doesn’t mean we can all breathe easy again. Early last week the World Health Organization changed its estimated death rate to 15 percent–double the rate previously thought–due to new data. Even if the spread is soon contained, rehabilitation will be difficult: the Asian Development Bank has now warned that SARS could cost Asia $28 billion in lost economic output.
Iraq: Killer Jokes
Telling a joke like that could get you maimed, tortured and even killed in Saddam Hussein’s Iraq. The most common penalty was tongue amputation. Iraqis know the story of Lt. Gen. Omar al-Hazzaa, one of Saddam’s top officers. During a backgammon game with friends in 1984, the subject of Saddam’s mother came up. Al-Hazzaa joked, “Who is she, anyway?” Saddam and his four brothers all had different mothers. Everyone laughed, but one of them informed on him. According to accounts from family survivors who later fled Iraq, first al-Hazzaa’s tongue was cut out, then his sons had their tongues cut out while their wives were forced to watch. Then his male family members were killed in front of him, and his wife and daughters turned out of their home. Finally he was executed.
Nor was such penalty reserved for the mighty. Last week a poor Shiite family showed up at a human-rights group in Baghdad to see if they could find where their son’s body might be buried; they produced the official death warrant that ordered him executed “for telling jokes and showing disrespect to Saddam Hussein and other officials.” When jokes could kill, Iraqis traded them in secret. Now the laughter is gushing out. Iraqis are beginning to tell jokes about the Americans, too. Here’s one that covers three nationalities: A TV interviewer asks an American, an Afghan and an Iraqi, in turn: “What is your opinion about electricity shortages?” The American replies, “What’s an ’electricity shortage’?” The Afghan says, “What’s an ’electricity’?” The Iraqi says, “What’s an ‘opinion’?”
–Rod Nordland
Religion: Impolitic Timing
Last month the pope beatified a 17th-century Capuchin priest who’s perhaps most famous for preventing a Muslim invasion of Europe. When the Ottoman Turks tried to seize Vienna in 1683, the priest, Marco d’Aviano, led the Christian armies to victory. Legend has it that when the Turks fled they forgot their coffee–leaving it to the triumphant Viennese, who named their new favorite beverage cappuccino, after the order to which d’Aviano had dedicated his life.
Forget coffee, says the Vatican, which is too busy defending the pope’s heralding of an anti-Muslim crusader to be much interested in Starbucks prehistory. In his beatification speech, the pope said d’Aviano is a symbol that Europe’s “unity will be more stable if it is based on its common Christian roots.” A Vatican spokeswoman defends the impolitic choice of d’Aviano for public exaltation in late April, and asserts that he has been slated for “some time now.” But John Allen, Vatican correspondent for the Kansas City, Missouri-based National Catholic Reporter, thinks the timing was calculated, noting that the Vatican has insisted that the EU’s constitutional document include a specific reference to the Christian identity of Europe as the basis for its value system. Not surprisingly, delegates from some countries, including France and Sweden, balked.
–Suzanne Smalley and Barbie Nadeau
PSYOPS: Cruel and Unusual
Washington may be trying to win hearts and minds in Iraq. But those recalcitrant Saddam supporters who don’t want to hear of it are being forced to listen to a very different message. Some U.S. military units have taken to exposing uncooperative Iraqis to long doses of heavy-metal music or even popular children’s songs in an effort to convince them not to resist Coalition forces. “Trust me, it works,” says one U.S. operative on the ground. “In training, they forced me to listen to the Barney ‘I Love You’ song for 45 minutes. I never want to go through that again.”
The idea, explains Sgt. Mark Hadsell, is to break down a subject’s resistance through sleep deprivation and annoyance with music that is as culturally offensive and terrifying as possible. Hadsell’s personal favorites include “Bodies” from the “XXX” soundtrack and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.” “These people haven’t heard heavy metal before,” he explained. “They can’t take it. If you play it for 24 hours, your brain and body functions start to slide, your train of thought slows down and your will is broken. That’s when we come in and talk to them.” The sledgehammer riffs of Metallica, that’s understandable. But can children’s songs really break a strong mind? (Two current favorites are the “Sesame Street” theme song and the crooning purple dinosaur Barney–for 24 hours straight.) In search of comment from Barney’s people, Hit Entertainment, NEWSWEEK endured five minutes of Barney while on hold. Yes, it broke us, too.
–Adam Piore
Campaign 2004: The Dean Machine
Many things in U.S. politics–soaring promises, hearty handshakes–are immutable. But the media methods for reaching voters keep evolving. In 1980, Ronald Reagan’s team overrode hostile reporting on broadcast news with irresistibly cinematic photo –ops. In 1992, Bill Clinton’s battalions understood that cable and satellite uplinks–and the “rapid response” they made possible–were the next new thing. And although Al Gore may have claimed to have invented the Internet, Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean of Vermont is actually using it. Last week thousands of Dean supporters met at various functions around the country, all summoned there by e-mail and via the Internet, creating a serious Dean buzz.
But not every candidacy is a tech-based insurgency, and Democratic insiders don’t want one. They see Dean, who rose to prominence by opposing the Iraq war, as a disaster in the making. They dream of settling pre-emptively (after a foreshortened primary season) on a well-funded centrist. This minute’s party buzz is enveloping Sen. Joe Lieberman, after he declared that “no Democrat will be elected president in 2004 who is not strong on defense.” Party types–and Republicans–loved the indirect swipe at Dean. Dean, who plans to continue using the Internet as his medium of choice, so far remains unfazed. And only time will tell where the buzz bounces next.
–Howard Fineman and Rebecca Sinderbrand
The Smithsonian: Pictures of Controversy
For photographer Subhankar Banerjee, it should have been a publicity coup. During the U.S. Senate’s March 19 debate over proposed oil drilling in Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, opponents of the legislation used blown-up photographs of polar bears and caribou to urge the reserve’s preservation. The photographs were from “Seasons of Life and Land,” Banerjee’s first book and the subject of an exhibit at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History. During the debate, which resulted in defeat of the bill, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer held up Banerjee’s book and implored her colleagues to visit the exhibition.
Days later, Banerjee received notice that the Smithsonian, which depends on Congress for its funding, had decided to move his exhibition from a prominent space near the museum’s rotunda to the bottom floor, and the exhibit’s captions were expunged of quotes from Jimmy Carter, who, in the foreword to Banerjee’s book, urges the refuge’s preservation. Attorneys for the museum insisted that Banerjee remove all mentions of the Smithsonian from his book. “I was told that my work was just too political. It’s just photographs,” Banerjee says.
A Feb. 27 design plan lists the exhibit’s location to be a space near the rotunda, but Smithsonian officials say the changes were “routine” and deny any political pressure. “To my knowledge, there have been no complaints about the show,” says Michelle Urie. Others aren’t so sure. Last month Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin wrote Smithsonian chief Lawrence Small, demanding an explanation. “I really hope this is not an effort by the White House or anyone else to diminish the value of these photographs,” says Durbin. The White House had no comment.
–Holly Bailey
Global Buzz
By A. L. Bardach
SALMAN SPEAKS: At a recent book party in Manhattan, novelist Salman Rushdie explained his imperturbability in the face of yet another fatwa slapped on him just two months ago. “Every year on the anniversary of the first fatwa,” he said wearily, “some unknown shaggy mullah crawls out of a cave somewhere–usually in Pakistan–and announces that he too is issuing a fatwa against me. Then the mullah gives a speech, which gets picked up by some militant Pakistani rag, which then gets picked up by Reuters, and it’s a big story again.”
But Rushdie was far more intrigued with the fatwas coming out of Washington. “They are basically going to war with the world. The U.S. economy is plummeting like a stone… and W. is going to be in big trouble next year. They probably have Osama bin Laden stashed away somewhere. I’m not kidding. Then they use him as their trump card right before the election. Another October surprise!”
TEARING OFF THE VEIL: Moroccan Islamic scholar Fatema Mernissi reports that women have taken a dominant role in the Arab media. Of the 80,000 people employed in radio and television, some 50,000 are women, according to a recent article in Egyptian magazine Rose El Youssef. Among the most famous is Muntaha ar-Rimhy, an attractive Al-Jazeera anchorwoman who also hosts a top-rated talk show, “For Women Only.” The program can be pretty racy at times: ar-Rimhy devoted an entire show to the taboo topic of sexuality–specifically, “the reasons for the lack of sexual desire among spouses,” which she informed her macho Arab viewers was “statistically alarming.”
BAGHDAD VS. KABUL: Although President Bush has assured the world that America plans to stay in Iraq, Afghanistan is not an encouraging precedent. A high-level military team sent to assess the stability of the country came away disheartened. “The job is just not done,” said a source close to one of the generals on the team. “There were conference calls every day with Rumsfeld and Tommy Franks. They were told that they needed more men and equipment. But he turned down the request–no more money.” Perhaps they should ask for a tax cut instead.
Nigella Lawson
She could pass for the love child of Wolfgang Puck and Sophia Loren–if it weren’t for that British accent. Television’s domestic goddess recently launched a new season of cooking shows, “Forever Summer With Nigella,” and published her fourth book, also called “Forever Summer.” Lawson chewed the fat with NEWSWEEK’s Jac Chebatoris.
You’re not trained as a chef. Doesn’t that make you an easy target for critics?
I have friends who are great chefs, and they love what I do because there isn’t a great chef who hasn’t got fond memories of home cooking. They know I’m not trying to do the same thing that they are. It’s the wanna-be great chefs that feel threatened.
One thing women seem to love about you is that you obviously eat.
I’d be lying if I said there aren’t times when I’m deeply insecure about walking into a room if I know there are going to be a lot of thin women there. If you eat less and exercise more, you will get thin, but I just accept that it’s too high a price for me.
What’s the most exotic thing you’ve eaten?
I’ve eaten ostrich once. I didn’t like it much. It’s illogical, my eating one animal and not the other.
I have to confess. I just cook everything on high.
That’s what I do. Nobody will stay in the kitchen with me, I live so dangerously. It’s sort of pathetic, really, when your idea of living dangerously is how high your flames are.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-13” author: “Joe Olsson”
Despite all the frisson from the French and the anger from the Americans, it seems the so-called great divide between the two traditional allies could yet be bridged–starting with NATO.
Even with the recent talk of its impending doom, NATO may still have a role to play in Iraq. And such a role, NEWSWEEK has learned, is actively under discussion. French President Jacques Chirac, in his latest effort at fence-mending, told U.S. President George W. Bush in a recent phone call that France would not object to a NATO peacekeeping presence in Iraq, according to a knowledgeable source. French officials suggest Paris would be willing to contribute a brigade and put the NATO presence under overall American control.
Although one U.S. administration hawk says Bush–who is still incensed over Chirac’s opposition to the Iraq war–is unlikely to OK any kind of French role, U.S. officials say Washington is open to using NATO to supply security–especially as Bush faces the prospect that U.S. occupation troops might be bogged down for a long time in Iraq. “NATO can play an important role in post-Saddam Iraq,” says Maj. Tim Blair, a Pentagon spokesman. A senior U.S. administration official agrees: “At a minimum you’re likely to have several NATO countries” become part of a Coalition of the Willing. “I wouldn’t rule out a formal role,” he adds. But he cautions: “We’re not quite there yet.”
Still, things look relatively promising for Europe. President Bush, in remarks to a group of reporters last week, waxed enthusiastic about expanding NATO’s duties in general. “One of the things that’s interesting that’s happening overseas is NATO is beginning to reconfigure itself in the war on terror,” he said. If NATO heads to Iraq, that would be its most ambitious “out-of-area” leap yet.
–Michael Hirsh and John Barry
Saudi Arabia: Man on the Inside?
Moving to quell an embarrassing scandal, Saudi Arabian authorities have detained one of the country’s own diplomats on suspicions that he may have funneled hundreds of thousands of dollars out of official Saudi accounts to Qaeda operatives in Europe, NEWSWEEK has learned.
The unfolding probe into the activities of Muhammad J. Fakihi, who until recently served as acting chief of the Islamic Affairs section of the Saudi Embassy in Berlin, is being watched closely as a crucial test of how aggressively the Saudi government is willing to root out Osama bin Laden loyalists within its own ranks. Interrogated by Saudi investigators, sources say, Fakihi has acknowledged he sympathized with bin Laden and that he steered embassy funds to charities and mosques that were suggested by Qaeda loyalists. A U.S. source familiar with the probe said Fakihi was “more than just a sympathizer of bin Laden. He was organizationally involved” with bin Laden’s network. Officials say Saudi authorities–with the help of the CIA–are attempting to trace some $800,000 in funds that were doled out by the Islamic Affairs department after Fakihi assumed control more than two years ago. Officials are trying to determine whether some of those funds may have financed terrorist activities. But a Saudi official told NEWSWEEK that neither German nor U.S. officials had turned over any evidence against Fakihi, and so far no improprieties have been found.
–Michael Isikoff and Stefan Theil
Pakistan: Pervez’sProblems
Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf may be regretting his decision to give up a bit of power last fall. The elected political opposition–led by lawmakers from a coalition of six right-wing religious parties, the United Action Council, or MMA–has paralyzed Parliament. The mullahs are protesting against Musharraf’s holding the positions both of president and Army chief of staff, and the extraordinary constitutional powers he has awarded himself. Nearly half the body is in open revolt; as soon as the Qur’anic convocation is read at each session, the Islamist legislators jump to their feet, bang their fists on their desks and shout “Go, Musharraf, go.” The uproar has prevented Musharraf from addressing the Assembly, which constitutionally cannot pass any legislation until he does. “Musharraf is confronting his biggest domestic political challenge since 9-11,” says one senior government official.
Musharraf had hoped that holding elections last October would allow him to step back from the day-to-day demands of governing and concentrate on the larger issues of security, the economy and tensions with India. He reserved the right to unilaterally dissolve Parliament, just in case. But the current standoff is forcing him to confront the impracticality of such a strong-arm tactic: he –knows it could isolate him both domestically and internationally. “Dissolving Parliament has a huge political cost,” says the senior official, noting that even the Army doesn’t want a return to military rule. “And then what do you do the morning after?” Tough question, but no tougher than the question of what to do now.
–Ron Moreau and Zahid Hussain
Reconstruction: Piece of the Pie, Please
As the reconstruction of Iraq gets underway, a cottage industry has sprung up to facilitate the grab for a piece of the pie. On May 5, Equity International will sponsor “The Iraqi Reconstruction Conference,” where private companies, relief groups and development organizations can network with top government officials and bureaucrats overseeing the rebuilding of Iraq–an estimated $25 billion to $100 billion undertaking. Early-bird registration for the conference: $245 to $495. Months before a single JDAM struck Baghdad, EI began planning its gathering. “It was our feeling there would be conflict,” says William Loiry, EI’s president. EI has held similar reconstruction conferences covering trouble spots from Kosovo and Bosnia to Afghanistan. “For us, it has become a niche,” says Loiry.
EI now has competition. On May 1, the London-based military-data giant Jane’s Information Group and the Washington think tank Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) are cosponsoring “Companies on the Ground: The Challenges for Business in Rebuilding Iraq.” Registration: $528 to $1,100. The partnership began planning after the war started. “Bush seemed prepared to use the private sector in ways we haven’t seen before,” says Bathsheba Crocker, a CSIS fellow. “There hadn’t been a lot of focus on the role for the private sector, no one place for businesses to go for in-depth information.”
For conferees, information and a possible inside track to –a contract are up for grabs. The man who awards Iraqi contracts, U.S. Agency for International Development boss Andrew Natsios, will speak to EI participants about the oil-well repairs, hospital equipment, road construction, water pipelines and a long list of other needs that companies can profitably fill. Jane’s and CSIS landed his deputy. Between sessions on “Funding for Iraqi Reconstruction” and “Rebuilding Iraq,” EI conferees may also get a chance to slip their company brochures to the top contracting official from Halliburton, which already has a lucrative oilfield contract from the Pentagon. How big is the new networking business itself? A lot depends on the size of any warmaking backlog at the Pentagon. “It’s too soon to tell if there is an ongoing need,” says CSIS’s Crocker.
–Johnnie L. Roberts
Viagra: Breathing Easier
Scientists are testing Viagra on Mount Everest climbers. No, not for that. For pulmonary hypertension (PHT), a dangerous disorder in which blood pressure in the lung’s main artery increases, impeding breathing. PHT kills several thousand Americans a year, and there’s no cure. Because Viagra relaxes blood vessels and increases blood flow, lung experts are interested in its effect on PHT. Last year a group of German physicians reported that the drug helped relieve pressure–specifically in the lungs–in a group of 16 PHT patients and was more effective than available treatments. Now, with the help of 120 porters, 50 yaks, 6 Sherpas and funding from the German Research Foundation and drug manufacturer Pfizer, the docs will see if Viagra improves the lung function and exercise capacity of men and women exposed to the oxygen deprivation of thin air–a condition that mimics lung changes developed over years in PHT patients.
The climbing world is buzzing about Viagra as an antidote to high altitudes, but, says team member Dr. Ardeschir Ghofrani, there’s no evidence yet to support its use. At least no one on the team has complained about, ahem, side effects.
–Claudia Kalb
Charities: The Bucks Are Passed
Ali Ismaeel Abbas–the Baghdad boy who lost his arms and sustained burns to 60 percent of his body in a Coalition bombing–has received over $2 million in donations from British citizens alone. Since April 1, the British Red Cross has seen twice the number of expected donors giving 50 percent more than usual; the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent have raked in nearly $9 million dollars in cash donations. But as Iraq’s needy draw attention and money from Western donors, charities across Britain and the United States say they fear the shift in priorities will drain their coffers for the next year.
A recent report from the U.S.-based Trust for Philanthropy should reinforce those worries. According to the report, donations to “international” causes went up by 16.4 percent in the United States after the first Gulf War, making it the charitable sector with the strongest growth. At the same time, the domestic “human services” charitable sector suffered a 6 percent drop from the previous year’s intake. After September 11, a number of local charities in America and Britain even went belly-up.
Anticipating a similar reaction, fund-raising departments are bracing for budget shortfalls and retooling their messages. Timothy Burgess, co-founder of an international fund-raising consultancy called The Domain Group, suggests that charities without any overt connection to Iraq must find a way of creating one. “They should change their messages [and] acknowledge what’s happening,” he says. For example, he recommends that medical researchers should point out that the Iraqi people need help, but stress that folks in England could use some assistance, too. According to director of fund-raising Stephanie Smith, the new mailing campaign for the British Alzheimer’s Society, plans to add the line: “In these unsettling times, we need your support.” For local charities, that’s more true than ever.
–Emily Flynn
Books: Perusing “The Path”
“The Path” is a book about meditation. But it also happens to be a meditation, divided into eight chapters best perused at the rate of one per day (and two on Sunday). This delightful little volume by Chet Raymo isn’t aimed at the Deepak Chopra crowd–it’s for those whose tastes run more to the scientific than the spiritual. The path in question is an actual walkway, a one-mile journey Raymo undertakes every day from his house near Boston, Massachusetts, to the campus of Stonehill College. Each chapter consists of a mini-ecosystem on the way–village, woods, water meadow–and what Raymo observes there. If this sounds limited, consider the book’s subtitle: “A One-Mile Walk Through the Universe.”
Walking with Raymo, it turns out, is a little like free association. One minute you’re strolling down Jenny Lind Street, admiring the houses; the next you’re discovering that “according to present theories, the universe began about 15 billion years ago as an explosion from an infinitely small, infinitely hot seed of pure energy.” You see, the energy drove the water cycle that filled the brook that attracted the man who founded the factory that hired the people who built the houses on Jenny Lind Street. It will surprise no one at this point to learn that Raymo is a physicist, and a very nimble writer to boot.
–Mary Carmichael
TV: The Next ‘SpongeBob’
In brightly colored cartoon land, “SpongeBob SquarePants” has reigned supreme. But now the Nickelodeon series–which is No. 1 among kids from the ages of 2 to 11 in the United States–has competition. The challenger: “The Fairly OddParents,” also on Nick. Although “OddParents,” which features two bumbling fairies who live in a fishbowl and empower 10-year-old Timmy, has been around for nearly two years, “it’s steadily narrowing the gap,” says Nick general manager Cyma Zarghami. The show has even squarely beaten “SquarePants” on certain episodes. Now it’s getting the star treatment: the network’s planning a telemovie in July and syndication later this year. But can “OddParents” achieve the same kind of cult status as “SpongeBob”? (Come on, it’s a talking sponge.) It’s trying, by courting the critical teen and adult audience. “They’re the fans that ultimately control the dial,” says “OddParents” creator Butch Hartman. Zarghami believes in the show’s crossover appeal: “I think it has the right level of sophistication.” It’s no “Masterpiece Theatre,” but with references to “Seinfeld” and “I Love Lucy,” as well as parodies of teen idols (a boy-band caricature is voiced by ‘N Sync’s Chris Kirkpatrick), the toon is smart enough to keep adult interest. Should “SpongeBob” be scared? “He does have the sponge factor,” Zarghami reminds, because, duh, sponges are funny. But “OddParents” has fairies in a fishbowl. Watch out, “SpongeBob.”
–Elise Christenson
Julie Andrews
If there really was lots of chocolate for us to eat, if the hills were alive with the sound of music, if we never had to say “So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen” for good… oh, forget it. Even Julie Andrews herself doesn’t live in the world her name evokes. But, at 67, she’s still a graceful and gracious presence. Last week she gave a lesson in comportment to NEWSWEEK’s Jac Chebatoris.
Have you seen the Web site called the Julie Andrews Obsession Page? It’s dedicated to “the most talented person on earth.”
[Gasps] No! Oh, my God, that’s scary. I mean, that’s a lot to live up to in terms of PR. I don’t believe it for a minute.
Then there’s the standing ovation you got at this year’s Oscars. How did that feel?
Extraordinary. Deeply touching. I mean, I didn’t quite understand it. The evening wasn’t about me, and I couldn’t have been more touched and surprised.
I’ve heard you have an auto-biography coming out?
It’s commissioned, but it’s a little behindh and because I have a wonderful imprint of children’s books and I’ve been very busy getting the first four ready for its debut in the fall.
It’s been about five years since the operation on your vocal cords went wrong and left you unable to sing. How have you handled that?
It was a tremendous setback. But I’m one of those people who see the glass as half full rather than half empty. And in truth, it seems I’ve never been busier.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-24” author: “Roosevelt Rieves”
Americans have taken sledgehammers to Peugeots. Germans have boycotted McDonald’s. The Iraq war may be over, but the transatlantic rancor it inspired has yet to fade. Washington has hinted at commercial punishment against France for opposing the war, while some French officials talk almost gleefully of how George W. Bush’s behavior is turning the world away from the American model–in business as in all things. To counter the vitriol, Washington has launched a charm offensive to repair commercial ties to Europe. In Paris last week, U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick reassured a group of worried French business leaders that there will be no trade sanctions and reminded everyone that transatlantic –trade has shot up to $1.5 trillion per year: “At the economic level, the United States and Europe are joined at the hip.”
Yes, the Bush administration appears to be rediscovering its financial friends in Europe. Last Monday, U.S. Under Secretary for Commerce Grant Aldonis came to Brussels to try to re-energize the Transatlantic Business Dialogue, a regular gathering of government and private-sector leaders that has fizzled out since its last meeting in November. Two days later Zoellick told a gathering of trade ministers that he and EU counterpart Pascal Lamy, a friend and sometime running partner, had agreed to find ways to reduce tariffs on manufactured goods, in part just to “make a positive statement about relations between the U.S. and Europe.” This comes after months of battles over steel, drugs and farm goods. “The Lamy-Zoellick show is back on track,” says a pleased European trade official in Geneva.
So has the collateral damage to transatlantic commerce been undone? Truth is there wasn’t much in the first place. For every story about an American tossing Dom Perignon into the toilet, there was a much bigger deal that got less press attention: Procter & Gamble agreed to pay ¤3.2 billion for a controlling stake in German hair-care company Wella in March; a Hollywood billionaire agreed to buy a TV broadcaster from Kirch Media of Munich the same month; Deutsche Post is trying to buy U.S. delivery company Airborne… the list goes on. Below the level of government ministers, “people are getting on with making money,” says Cambridge University political economist Geoffrey Lee Williams. As for the high-level political damage, he says, that could take a few years to repair.
–Karen Lowry Miller
Mothers: It’s a Dirty Job…
Flowers are nice, but a new report from Save the Children suggests that schooling and basic health care would make better Mother’s Day gifts for many of the world’s women. In its fourth annual “State of the World’s Mothers” report, due out this week, the group documents disparities among the 117 countries it surveyed. In the lowest-ranking countries, women die in childbirth at roughly 600 times the rate of women in the most developed countries, and their babies are 27 times more likely to perish during the first year of life. African countries crowd the bottom end of the “Mothers’ Index,” while Scandinavia and Northern Europe dominate the top. The United States, with its wide disparities in access to health care, ranks 11th. Maternal and infant mortality are higher there than in any of the top 10 countries. American women are also significantly less likely to hold national office.
BEST COUNTRIES TO BE A MOTHER
Sweden
Denmark*
Norway*
Switzerland
Finland
Canada*
Netherlands*
Australia
Austria*
United Kingdom*
WORST COUNTRIES TOBE A MOTHER
Angola
Chad*
Mali*
Guinea*
Sierra Leone*
Yemen*
Guinea-Bissau
Ethiopia
Burkina Faso
Niger
- asterisks denote tie scores
–Geoffrey Cowley
Turkey: The Kurdish Question
Iran enraged the United States last month when undercover Revolutionary Guards were spotted stirring up trouble in Shiite areas of southern Iraq. Now another of Iraq’s neighbors seems to be trying to influence post-Saddam politics by infiltrating agents across its borders. Turkey, a U.S. ally and NATO member, has sent “at least a hundred” Special Forces troops into the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq, says Col. William Mayville, who leads U.S. forces in Kirkuk. The United States isn’t pleased with these developments. “The Turks have seen this area as their sandbox for a while now,” Mayville says of Kirkuk, an oil-rich city disputed among Kurds, Arabs and Turkomans. “We’re telling them–get out.”
The United States is concerned that Turkish troops may be offering covert military support to ethnic Turkomans, who form a significant minority in northern Iraq. On April 25 Mayville’s men detained a dozen Turkish Special Forces soldiers carrying automatic weapons, radios and night-vision equipment concealed as humanitarian aid. More worryingly, the undercover Turks were also carrying freshly printed flags and other insignia of the Iraqi Turkoman Front (ITF), the most radical of several Turkoman groups. It’s also the one group that is backed by hard-line nationalists in Ankara, who hate the idea of a Kurdish-dominated federal state in northern Iraq.
In recent weeks the ITF has been working overtime to show the world that Turkomans are currently being persecuted, maligned and intimidated by Kurds. The ITF’s Falah Kara Altun says that more than 300 have been forcibly “dispossessed” by Kurds over the past month–a claim discounted by mainstream Kurdish leaders and U.S. commanders–and that six people have been murdered in interethnic violence. So far the only verified case is that of an 8-year-old Turkoman boy who was fatally shot in the head while fleeing the scene of a dispute between Kurdish militiamen and members of the ITF in mid-April. The boy’s body was paraded in front of foreign journalists.
U.S. forces have so far had considerable success in keeping the peace in Kirkuk. But an armed bid for power from one faction could send things out of control. “Violence is the default setting here,” says Mayville. “We could lose this all very quickly.” Officially, Ankara wants only to send aid, protect Turkomans from discrimination and ensure they have a fair say in Iraq’s future. But disorder in northern Iraq could give Ankara’s hawkish military an excuse to go a step further, sending “peacekeeping” troops into a “security zone” deep inside Iraq. That’s something Washington insists Turkey must not do–for fear Iraq’s other neighbors could follow suit.
–Owen Matthews, Babak Dehghanpisheh and Sami Kohen
Al Qaeda: Dwindling Numbers
The arrests of a half dozen Qaeda operatives in Pakistan last week could bring U.S. intelligence officials a giant stride closer to unraveling the inner workings of the 9-11 terrorist plot–and possibly even locating Osama bin Laden, officials tell NEWSWEEK. One of those apprehended, Ali Abd al-Aziz–a nephew of 9-11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed–was a key, if largely mysterious, financial figure in the plot. Between April and September 2000, al-Aziz wired $119,500 to the hijackers from the United Arab Emirates. But officials discount the idea that al-Aziz, believed to be in his mid-20s, was the ultimate source of the funds. If he cooperates, investigators say, it –could allow them to piece together one of the enduring mysteries of 9-11: who put up the money? Some officials were even more ecstatic about another terrorist picked up in the Pakistani roundup, Tawfiq bin Attash. A one-legged former Afghan fighter, bin Attash–a.k.a. Khalled–was present at the January 2000 Malaysia summit where, officials believe, the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole and possibly 9-11 was hatched. More important, bin Attash is a former bin Laden bodyguard who is likely to have the freshest and most reliable information yet about the Qaeda leader’s current whereabouts. “Ooh, baby!” crowed one top U.S. counter terrorism official when asked about bin Attash.
Although they are reluctant to publicly admit it, some officials say the latest arrests are strong evidence that the U.S. campaign against Al Qaeda may have finally broken the organization’s back, seriously undermining the group’s ability to launch sophisticated “spectacular” attacks such as 9-11. But smaller strikes are still feared: at the time of their arrests last week, the Qaeda operatives had just received a delivery of hundreds of pounds of explosives for what was believed to be a planned airborne assault on the U.S. Consulate in Karachi.
–Michael Isikoff
Science: Get GABA or Go Gaga
Fifty-one-year-old neurobiologist Audie Leventhal has just published research that indicates we’re all getting stupider with age. And for the first time, it hints at why. As years go by, the brain’s capacity for higher thought declines. So do its levels of GABA, a neurotransmitter that filters out “noise” in the brain and directs the activity of neurons involved in vision, hearing, memory and other cognitive skills. As shown in Leventhal’s research, published recently in Science, neurons fire at whim when deprived of GABA, unable to make sense of incoming signals.
Based on his findings, Leventhal has come up with a remarkably simple solution to keeping the brain sharp: just add GABA. Working with the oldest monkeys in the world, Leventhal discovered that regular doses of either GABA or muscimol, a more potent chemical cousin, perked up neurons, giving the monkeys back the brain power of their youth by stopping their random firing. A similar regimen could someday be used to treat people, he figures. In fact, there’s already a class of human drugs that increase GABA levels: benzodiazepines, like Valium and Xanax. Says Leventhal: “You may actually make Grandpa a little faster by tranquilizing him.”
–Mary Carmichael
Exhibits: Osama’s Casa Es Su Casa
You grab the Microsoft joystick and maneuver your way toward the concrete house set above a lake outside Jalalabad, Afghanistan. Swiveling furiously, you punch buttons to check out a half-ruined mosque, camouflaged jeep, rucked-up tribal carpet, cheap sandals and scattered wooden bed frames. Someone sure left in a hurry. Scan as you might across the scrubby Afghan mountains behind, you won’t find Osama bin Laden.
That’s the joke, of course, of “The House of Osama Bin Laden,” a virtual-reality artwork by Ben Langlands and Nikki Bell for London’s Imperial War Museum. Commissioned as the venerable institution’s official war artists, their brief was to chronicle the aftermath of 9-11 and the conflict in Afghanistan. To make the spooky computerized model of bin Laden’s late ’90s abode, they used technology from the videogame Quake to turn hundreds of photos into a 3-D interactive environment. Across the white room devoted to the exhibit plays a film the two artists made of a local thug’s Kabul trial. The judge wears a turban, the mullah chants before the charges are read and the soldiers finger their Kalashnikovs–scenes, the wall caption excitedly informs us, “that seem to have come straight from Biblical times.” Sitting in a neat white room in London, losing a videogame that’s not a game at all and listening to a trial play over and over, is what living through an asymmetrical war might feel like: baffling, lonely and bleak.
–Carla Power
Books: Don’t Shrug at This Atlas
Anyone yearning for an illustrated version of Tolstoy’s masterpiece will likely be disappointed by “The Atlas of War and Peace.” But for those interested in precisely where and how the 47 current conflicts the world over are being fought, it makes for a colorful reference. With striking maps and graphics, British historian Dan Smith lays out the themes and locales of modern warfare. Fifteen or so world maps focus on starkly labeled trends like “death,” “U.S. power” and “young soldiers.” Other sections map global hot spots, like the Caucasus and the Gulf.
Easy-to-read statistics on everything from arms sales to terrorism provide sharp commentary. One bar graph on West Africa shows that in Sierra Leone, the average person lives to just 39 years of age, half the lifespan of a Norwegian.
The 128-page volume does include some irksome oversimplifications: Smith argues that the reason the West tends to attack the Gulf is to secure oil. But his atlas does a fine job of boiling down complex conflicts to digestible concepts. The last chapter, “Peace Building,” ranks the likeliness of peace in war-torn areas, from a “minimal” in Chechnya to a “solid” for South Africa. One hopes the latter category will expand in future editions.
–Emily Flynn
Italy: Pizza and Prejudice
Calling all pizzaioli. The city of Naples is desperately seeking the learned professionals who alone can be trusted to make a true Italian pizza. In spite of an average regional unemployment rate of 20 percent, Neapolitan pizzerias cannot find anyone to continue the art of making “real” pizzas. They’ve all gone abroad, laments Antonio Pace, president of the Association of the Real Neapolitan Pizza, seeking work at modern American-style pizzerias.
True pizzaioli are licensed as artisans, a task that entails an intense four-week certification process. They must be able to choose everything from the right type of wood to burn in the pizza ovens to the precise mixture of flour and water based on daily humidity levels. According to Pace, over the past five years Naples has gone from an overflow of pizza pros in the marketplace to a painful shortage. “Being a real pizzaioli is such hard work, young men are afraid to try it,” he says.
The outlook has become so dismal that a Neapolitan temp agency, Gevi, whose nationwide recruitment effort to fill just 20 vacancies failed miserably, has persuaded the government to intervene and offer incentives like tax breaks for those choosing the profession. The government has acknowledged the crisis–Rosario Lopa, who will head the pizza project for the Ministry of Agriculture, admits “the situation is urgent.” Apparently not urgent enough, though, to double the number of potential pizzaioli by allowing women to be certified; there are no plans to allow female chefs yet, says Pace. Perhaps if pizza’s macho makers took a little of the pene out of their profession, they’d have themselves a cooking industry–and a proper piece of pie.
–Barbie Nadeau
Rick de Oliveira
Like it or not, reality programming has moved to the big screen. “The Real Cancun,” the first full-length reality flick about American college kids on spring break, recently hit theaters across the United States. NEWSWEEK’s Malcolm Beith spoke to director Rick de Oliveira about the reality of real movies:
What is it about reality programming that grips us?
People like to know that it could be them. Whether [or not] they’re a person who goes out and has sex with 10 girls, the thing is, it could be them. It’s like watching your neighbor versus watching Courteney Cox, who you’ll never be. You’ll never be Brad Pitt.
But the casts are selected and the reality is staged.
Not really. In our casting of “The Real Cancun,” we have a bunch of different people.
Different, maybe, but they sure are all more beautiful than average.
We have to have telegenic people. Telegenic is not pretty, telegenic is not skinny. As long as you don’t have a big boil on your face…
How is reality programming affecting television and film?
The economics of doing a reality show are always going to be less than the economics of doing “The West Wing.” “The Matrix” is going to be out there, but now we can do three or four of these movies [at the same time].
Why should people see this film?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-19” author: “Dorothy Beaumont”
Saddam Hussein was apparently convinced that U.S. forces would never invade Iraq and oust him from power, say U.S. officials familiar with the accounts of captured members of the former dictator’s regime. U.S. Defense and security sources say that high-ranking former Saddam aides have told U.S. interrogators that Saddam believed the only assault President George W. Bush would ever launch against Iraq was the kind of low-risk bombing campaign that the Clinton administration used in the former Yugoslavia. Saddam was also confident that France and Germany would pressure the United States to retreat from this course, leaving Iraq shaken but Saddam still in power. Even after U.S. divisions assembled on Iraq’s borders, Saddam thought U.S. ground forces would only go after suspected unconventional-weapons sites, Scud-missile launchers and military bases.
U.S. officials say that this account of Saddam’s misunderstanding of American intentions could well explain the haphazard way in which the regime defended itself and fell apart early in the American onslaught. U.S. analysts are also taking more seriously stories that detained Iraqi leaders are telling about what happened to Saddam’s weapons of mass destruction. U.S. sources say that captured Iraqis insist Saddam’s top strategic objective was to persuade the United Nations to relax sanctions on his regime. So, after Saddam’s son-in-law Hussein Kamel, head of his unconventional-weapons programs, defected to Jordan in 1995, Saddam ordered intensified efforts to destroy blueprints and “dual use” technology. Not only were documents and equipment hidden or obliterated, but records showing what had been destroyed were also pulped. Some U.S. and British intel officials still say stockpiles of chemical or biological agents will turn up. But U.S. Defense analysts are paying more attention to a “working hypothesis,” based on stories told by Iraqi captives, that no live WMD may ever be found. Some U.S. officials even think Iraqi defectors who surfaced before the war saying Saddam was still making WMD were double agents dispatched by Saddam to spread disinformation to deter his enemies. Others say this would have undermined his effort to have U.N. sanctions lifted.
–Mark Hosenball
Economics: Currency Wars
The Bush administration blames runaway U.S. job loss on weak Asian currencies–in particular the Chinese yuan. Yet when U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow toured the region last week, he didn’t openly confront Beijing on the issue and “tacitly approved” Japanese intervention to prevent a sharp rise in the value of the yen, says former Japanese Finance official Eisuke Sakakibara. “To some extent this is not a real [currency] war but political posturing. The U.S. election is next year, and manufacturing is a very important constituency for Bush.”
Nicknamed “Mr. Yen” for his ability to move currency markets as Japan’s vice Finance minister in the mid-1990s, Sakakibara knows spin when he hears it. He’s convinced that the United States won’t push for an early floating yuan because most experts concur it’s too risky. China faces a huge bad-loan glut in its banks, failing state enterprises and a yawning rural-urban income gap, he argues, all of which make it “suicide for them to revalue” any time soon. Scars –from the Asian Financial Crisis, triggered by runs on convertible currencies, are still too fresh.
Mr. Yen’s spin on China: join what you can’t beat. “There are two strategies for countries like the U.S. and Japan: take advantage of China’s low costs by building factories and joint-ventures there or complain and gripe to try and force a currency revaluation. I think the former is the right one.” Economically, that logic is flawless. But try selling it to the 93,000 Americans who lost jobs in August–and his prognosis for the U.S. economy is that it will falter right around the election in 2004. Squaring that with a non-hostile China policy is impossible. Which explains last week’s Snow-job.
–George Wehrfritz
Macedonia: No Rest in Peace
Few could have been surprised that ethnic tensions would continue to simmer after Macedonia’s short but bloody conflict that officially ended in 2001. But even fewer could have guessed the latest source of animosity. This summer, ethnic Macedonians and ethnic Albanians have been battling over rights to a statue in honor of the late Mother Teresa, which was originally meant to be erected near the Rome headquarters of her charity. Albanians claim she was one of their own and that she should be honored by ethnic Albanians, with all the statue’s inscriptions written in their language. Ethnic Macedonians, of course, are labeling her Macedonian. (After all, she was born in the capital, Skopje.) A war of words that began in Internet chat rooms has now spread everywhere from the streets of Skopje to the two countries’ diplomatic and intellectual circles.
The strife is unlikely to ease any time soon, at least not in time for Mother Teresa’s beatification on Oct. 19, the scheduled deadline for the statue’s completion. Even if Macedonians and Albanians come to some sort of agreement on Mother Teresa’s actual roots–a near-impossible dream, as almost all the facts are clouded by conflicting interpretations–the political tangle has left the preparations far behind schedule. Even Tome Serafimovski, the monument’s sculptor, remains skeptical about whether the huge monument will be ready in time. Perhaps the only hope for this tribute to go ahead is if both Macedonians and Albanians alike see the shame in their defamation of the nun’s good name and let the international community handle it. As Kapital, a Macedonian weekly recently put it: MOTHER TERESA SHOULD BE PROTECTED FROM THE BALKAN PEOPLES. Then perhaps she could rest in peace.
–Zoran Cirjakovic
Trade: Seeing Shadows In the Soy?
With global trade talks in Cancun nearing, tensions are running so high that some of the sparring nations now seem to be falling into spy-vs.-spy games and paranoia reminiscent of the cold war. Last week the Brazilians announced that a U.S. Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) agent had made an unannounced visit to Brazilian soybean farms in August. Although his official mission was to participate in a conference on soybean farming and to gather info on crop diseases, the Brazilians suspected foul play. Local authorities feared the American might be a commercial spy or a bio-saboteur, bent on spreading a crippling Asiatic soy rust throughout Brazil’s prized soybean crop. Brazil is second only to the United States in soybean production, and its officials figured the American agent was out to increase that lead. U.S. officials withdrew the inspector shortly after the charges were made but deny any subterfuge. Who ever said world trade wasn’t the stuff of a good novel?
–Mac Margolis
Technology: Online Relief
In the world of inter-national relief agencies, it’s known as “the fog of disaster.” Brought on by wars, earthquakes and other calamities, it’s a condition that descends upon any organization trying to mobilize rapidly to help those in dire need. Getting the necessary donations to buy the right supplies and get them to rescuers on the scene can be a bureaucratic nightmare. But perhaps the Internet can save the day. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies have instituted a new Web-based technology designed to cut through the confusion and paperwork of a crisis.
Developed by the Fritz Institute in San Francisco, the Humanitarian Logistics Software can track donations of money and supplies in real time, from the moment they are offered to the minute they arrive at disaster sites anywhere in the world. It is designed to avoid common snafus, such as a team in the field waiting for supplies that were never shipped. It also allows aid groups to make an instant and accurate accounting for every dollar a donor gives.
The software couldn’t come at a better time. According to the World Disaster Report, 226 million people were hit by disasters in 2002. A study conducted by the IFRC shows that the software will be able to speed up the relief process by 20 to 30 percent. “We will put it to practice the first disaster we encounter,” says Jean Ayoub, director of disaster management and coordination at the IFRC. With luck, that test will come later rather than sooner.
–Michael Hastings
Teens: Galatians for Girls
In the beginning, there was Gutenberg. Now there’s Revolve, a $14.99 annotated New Testament Bible for American girls, made to look and read like a teen magazine. On 400 color glossy pages, Revolve jazzes up the old text by winding it through pieces that include bios of biblical women, advice Q&A’s (“If God made pot, why can’t I smoke it?”) and even Bible-inspired beauty tips (“You need a good, balanced foundation for the rest of your makeup, kinda like how Jesus is the strong foundation in our lives”). “This is a Bible, there’s no doubt about it,” says creator Laurie Whaley. “But it doesn’t pretend that things like how a girl grooms herself aren’t important. Our thinking is that teens who read teen Cosmo or Cosmo would pick this up.”
Creating themed editions of the Holy Scriptures isn’t new. But the early buzz around Revolve has been so positive–it’s been among the top five biggest-selling Bibles in the United States for the past four weeks–that the company is now planning a magazine Bible aimed at teen guys. But will the boobs-and-beer format that keeps most male mags flying off the shelves lend itself to a printing of the New Testament? Whaley says teen guys can expect their version of the holy book to be a bit more explicit on sex and relationships, but she says the company’s aim is still to create a Bible–not a laddie mag.
–Geoffrey Gagnon
Health: Reserve the Resveratrol
Harvard pathologist David Sinclair can barely contain himself on the phone. “We’re making history,” he says. “What surprises me–well, a lot of things do–oh, I’ve gotten carried away. What was my point?” What’s got him so excited is none other than a small molecule, and if you happen to want a long and healthy life, it’ll have you in a tizzy, too. Sinclair and colleagues reported recently in Nature that a chemical called resveratrol can lengthen the life of a Saccharomyces yeast cell by 80 percent–and it might do similar wonders for human cells. Resveratrol activates enzymes that prevent cancer, stave off cell death and boost cellular-repair systems. A naturally occurring molecule, it builds up in undernourished animals and plants attacked by fungi. One of the latter is the grapevine–yup, resveratrol is found in red wine. Of course, if we had a nickel for every study touting wine as healthy, we’d own our own vineyard. But wine doesn’t contain much resveratrol, and the compound degrades in both the glass and the body. A pill might work better, and a provisional patent has already been filed. “I don’t think we’ll see any Methuselahs in our lifetime,” says Sinclair. “But we might each get another five years of life.” That, by the way, was his point. It’s a good one.
–Mary Carmichael
Movies: Deeper Into ‘Deep’
The 1972 film “Deep Throat” is not only the most famous porn flick to date, but the most profitable movie in history. (It cost about $25,000 and grossed $600 million.) More than that, it forever changed not only Hollywood but American culture. Which is why A-list producer Brian Grazer–the man behind “A Beautiful Mind” –is making “Inside Deep Throat,” a documentary about the film’s life and times. “It was an atomic explosion in pop culture,” says Grazer. “My grandmother and grandfather saw it!” The film launched hundreds of obscenity lawsuits as well as the modern porn industry. And aside from spicing up the bedroom practices of millions, it forced mainstream filmmakers to push the boundaries of sexual content in their work. “You couldn’t just have a coy kiss or an open blouse anymore,” Grazer says.” If a movie was designed to have any sexual impact, you suddenly had to go farther. “Grazer’s initial plan was to make a feature film about “Deep Throat” star Linda Lovelace, who died last year, but eventually decided the story was bigger than the woman herself. He hired documentary filmmakers Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey, who made the 2002 “Monica in Black and White,” about the infamous White House intern. Do we see a pattern here? “I never thought of that,” Grazer says, laughing. “I just liked their movie.”
–Sean Smith and Jennifer Ordonez
John Cleese
Kids know him as Harry Potter’s pal Nearly Headless Nick. But back in the day, John Cleese used to star in Monty Python, whose hilarious “Meaning of Life” will soon be released on DVD. NEWSWEEK’s Andrew Phillips quizzed Cleese about the old days and those to come:
How was it being strung up for “Harry Potter”?
Doing that kind of special-effects shooting is the most sterile experience known to an actor. Of course, it made me a hero to my grandchildren. But special-effects supervisors have not really spoken to human beings before.
Do you revisit those Monty Python one-liners?
I suppose once a day someone smiles at me in the street and says something that I know is a quote, but I don’t know what it’s a quote from.
I hope the new DVD has some wild outtakes.
I haven’t seen it myself. I have not reached that sad stage of sitting at home in the evenings and watching my own movies. I will say, in my final week, as I lie there at the age of 104, I shall no doubt be watching this DVD with my 18-year-old bride.
Speaking of that: in the film you play a headmaster who brings his wife in to a sex-ed class. Is this really how young people should learn about sex?
I don’t think anyone should be educated sexually. There’s far too many people on the planet. If we could hush it up for a few years, that would help.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-15” author: “Ricky Pease”
Oil and the Oligarchs
Yukos, Russia’s largest oil company, may soon gain some American friends. U.S. oil majors ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco are each bidding for a 25 percent stake in Yukos, at a price approaching $12 billion. But there’s more at stake than just money. This could be one of the final rounds of President Vladimir Putin versus the oligarchs.
Certainly, Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky stands to make a killing off the deal. But he may have more than money on his mind. Khodorkovsky spent the summer on the defensive after he funded anti-Putin opposition parties in the run-up to December’s parliamentary elections. Now a key Yukos associate is in jail, and Khodorkovsky fears he might be next. By selling to the Americans, analysts say, he would protect himself. Putin would hesitate to take on a major U.S. company, and Khodorkovsky could reinvest proceeds from the sale into less vulnerable assets.
He’s not alone. Other Russian oligarchs, like Roman Abramovich, are also looking abroad. Abramovich recently bought London’s Chelsea football club for $230 million and is in talks to sell off key assets. “The tycoons have come to the end of their life cycle,” says Stanislav Belkovsky, a Moscow political analyst. Destroying them would solve many of Putin’s political troubles. Yet he recognizes that they are the source of Russia’s economic dynamism. That’s the reason, perhaps, that Putin has yet to deliver the final blow.
IRAQ
Cutting the Connection
While Americans seem increasingly skeptical of their leaders’ overheated claims about Iraq’s WMD arsenal, they have been less eager to question an equally shaky claim, that Saddam was somehow connected to the 9/11 attacks. According to polls, more than two thirds of Americans still believe that charge, which the Bush administration has not explicitly made but insinuated, as Vice President Dick Cheney did as recently as last week. Cheney said Czech officials had “alleged that Muhammad Atta… met in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official five months before the attack” and that this claim had neither been confirmed nor discredited.
In fact, many in the administration seem to recognize that there’s no connection. Just days after Cheney’s remarks, President George W. Bush told reporters there was “no evidence” that Saddam was involved in 9/11. (So why did Cheney raise the issue? “He was asked a question and said we don’t know” about the truth of the allegations, says an aide.) Intelligence and law-enforcement sources say they know of no new intel that would justify reviving the Saddam-9/11 allegation. In fact, other U.S. officials say the FBI and the CIA are convinced the Prague meeting never took place: most investigators believe Atta was in the United States at the time. The Iraqi who allegedly met Atta is now in U.S. custody and denies the meeting occurred, though some Czechs apparently still stand by the story.
Cheney also claimed 1993 World Trade Center bombing co-conspirator Abdul Rahman Yasin had received “financing” and “safe haven” from Saddam’s government. But the Iraqis claimed that Yasin was in prison from 1994 until shortly before the war. “He was being clothed and fed by them so long as he wore stripes,” joked one U.S. investigator. Sources close to the White House say the FBI recently found evidence in Iraq that appears to show Saddam ordered monthly payments and housing for Yasin. But sources say the FBI and CIA have no evidence of a connection between Saddam and the ‘93 attack. Little wonder, then, that Bush backed off from Cheney’s comments. The last thing the U.S. president needs now is a new controversy over his administration’s credibility.
IRAQ
Cash for The Kurds
While Iraqis in and around Baghdad are forced to deal with bombings, carjackings and kidnappings, Kurds in northern Iraq are getting on with life post-Saddam–and trying to get their economy going again. Last week nearly 100 businesses from Iran set up the first postwar trade fair, in the city of As Sulaymaniyah. Cell-phone-toting businessmen, trade representatives from other parts of Iraq and curious locals checked out the goods, which ranged from carpets and dairy products to Dara and Sara dolls (Iran’s equivalent of Ken and Barbie). Seyed Talib Ahmad, head of As Sulaymaniyah’s chamber of commerce, proudly touted the fact that more than two dozen contracts–worth nearly $50 million–were signed to import Iranian goods. Beyond their dollar value, such deals may help cement legitimate business ties with a prominent neighbor as well as fellow Iraqis, who were barred from visiting the Kurdish enclave under Saddam’s rule.
Don’t expect northern Iraq to become a hotbed for high-stakes deals right away, though. Local business has long revolved around a thriving black-market trade in arms, fuel and food products; mending those ways could take some time. And then there’s the problem of infrastructure; some of the Iranian businessmen attending the fair lamented that the lack of a banking network will prevent large-scale ventures in the near future. Still, given how stalled the rest of Iraq’s non-oil economy is right now, almost any deal is a good deal.
SCIENCE
Secrets of Sleepers
Sleep with someone enough times, and you’re bound to get to know his or her personality. Now a British scientist says he’s stumbled on a quicker method. Chris Idzikowski, director of Britain’s Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service, examined six of the most common sleeping positions–which one rarely changes throughout adulthood–and discovered that each corresponds to a particular personality type. If you like to curl up in the fetal position, you’re most often shy and sensitive. (Apparently, this is most of us–41 percent of those who took part in the survey opt for fetal.) Then there’s the log: if you lie straight on your side like a log, it means you’re generally easygoing and social. There are also the yearners–loggers who extends their arms. They’re warm by nature, but can have cynical and suspicious streaks. The soldier lies on his back, arms pinned to attention. He’s generally quite reserved. The least common sleepers are the gregarious yet sometimes insecure ones who sleep in “freefall” mode (on the stomach with hands around the head, and legs nonchalantly apart) and the starfish, who are apparently really good listeners–perhaps because both ears are unobstructed. Confused about your identity? This should help you sleep a little better at night.
MARKETS
Overheated Exchange
The furor that led to the resignation of New York Stock Exchange chairman Dick Grasso last week had much to do with greed, or the perception of it. Even Americans, long used to the supersize pay packages of their corporate titans, were appalled by the $140 million payout to which Grasso was entitled. Businessmen across the pond were equally affronted by his $12 million salary, more than those of the nine other major stock-exchange chiefs combined. But the NYSE could probably learn more from its European brethren than the virtues of thrift and modesty. As the American bourse begins to re-examine a system whereby its chief executive’s compensation is determined by board members who are in turn executives of companies that the NYSE regulates, it would do well to look closely at reforms that have begun to take hold across Europe.
Until recently, roughly half of Europe’s exchanges worked like the NYSE; the same people who were trading on the exchange also acted as watchdogs, approving new listings and executive compensation. But during the past few years, the European Commission has sought to overhaul the system, making it clear in a series of directives that it doesn’t look kindly on for-profit exchanges continuing to hold regulatory powers. “The trend in Europe is definitely towards a split between commercial and regulatory activity,” says Gregor Pozniak, deputy secretary-general of the Federation of European Stock Exchanges in Brussels. “Some are further advanced with this process, and others are less so.” Lagging behind are Paris and Frankfurt, which still play an important role in such tasks as approving listings. On the other hand, most Eastern European bourses are following the new directives to the letter.
Still, at least the French and German exchanges have gone public, bringing in more dispassionate shareholders from the outside. Five of Europe’s exchanges, including London’s, are publicly traded, and more are likely to follow. The competitive pressure resulting from a more commercial focus will probably push forward the consolidation that is predicted for Europe’s exchanges (Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon are already members of the larger, publicly held Euronext trading group). Will salaries rise as the number of stock markets shrinks? Maybe, but there’s no risk of a Grasso-like payout, say analysts. In Britain, for example, the average salary of a top CEO (and that of LSE head Clara Furse) is only about 1 million pounds.
SIGHTSEEING
Can’t Talk. On a Tour.
Checking e-mail, taking pictures–there isn’t much you can’t do with a cell phone these days. And now you can add something else to the list: a cell-phone walking tour of New York City’s Lower East Side. Narrated by New Yawk comic actor Jerry Stiller, the expedition focuses on the neighborhood’s Jewish roots. There’s music from composer Irving Berlin, a former resident, and interviews with historians.
By calling a toll-free number (with the exception of individual phone charges, the tours are free), visitors dial up audio segments cued to 13 stops that are mapped out at talkingstreet.com; including walking time, the trip takes a little more than an hour. Next spring tourists will be able to explore other Manhattan neighborhoods, including the financial district and Times Square. Creator Miles Kronby is working on plans for Boston; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; London, and Paris. “It would be a dream to have a cell-phone tour of something like Route 66,” says Kronby. But “walking and listening can be dangerous enough.”
WRITING
Showing Some Skin
Sarah Kamens feels a connection to Shelley Jackson’s new short story “Skin.” Specifically, she feels it midback and a little to the right, where the story’s first word, if, is tattooed. “I like my word,” says Kamens, 23. “It’s like there’s more to the story than what’s there.”
There is. Kamens was the first American to answer last month’s call in Cabinet magazine to participate in a unique project. Jackson wanted to publish her newest short story one word at a time–on human volunteers. Since then she’s had 64 people sign up for the 2,301-word story. From couples wanting to be linked not just romantically but syntactically, too, to those who just aspire to become human magnetic poetry, volunteers are slowly (and painfully) publishing the work. Want to read it? Too bad. Jackson’s not releasing the text–only her “words” get the whole story. But she may publish a book of photos of her volunteers (tattoos not showing). “I like the idea of the story encrypted as people,” she says. “Maybe they will meet. Sentences will form that I never wrote.”
THEATER
Project Greenhorns
It’s a measure of Matt Damon’s and Ben Affleck’s celebrity that these best-friends-4-ever can make news without doing anything. The hottest play in New York right now is an off-off-off-Broadway production called “Matt & Ben,” a spoof set in 1995, when the two were struggling actors living in Boston. They’re played by actresses (coplaywrights Brenda Withers and Mindy Kaling) who bear little resemblance to the guys but do bang-up impersonations. The show has already drawn a few big names–Nicole Kidman, Steve Martin–though not a peep from the real Matt and Ben. A spokesman for the play notes that Matt’s in Europe and Ben… well, he has other stuff on his mind.
Onstage, the script for “Good Will Hunting” literally falls from the ceiling, touching off an hourlong existential crisis. Matt thinks it’s a blessing; Ben thinks it’s a curse. (And how right they are!) Withers, who’s very tall, plays Matt, the short one; Kaling, who’s very short, plays Ben, the tall one. Another incongruity: onstage, Ben slugs Matt and knocks him out; in reality, the scrappy Damon would surely beat the tar out of the Sexiest Man Alive. Best gag: Affleck, pining for stardom, fantasizes about a certain Latina: “I’m gonna meet Daisy Fuentes!”
Q&A Sarah J. Parker
Sarah Jessica Parker is just so glam and authoritative in “Sex and the City.” But what’s she like inreal life? NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin put her to the personality test.
What will you miss most when “Sex and the City” is over? Hanging out with the girls, or the free clothes?
Oh my God. I’m going to miss hanging out with the girls. Luckily it’s a city filled with clothes.
There’s a fire at your home, and you can save only one pair of shoes. Manolos or Jimmy Choos?
I don’t wear Jimmy Choos. I only ever wear Manolos.
OK. A pair of Manolos or a Kelly bag?
Oh, well, that’s like “Sophie’s Choice.” That’s an impossible situation.
OK. All the shoes or the dog?
The dog. Jesus Christ! Do I appear to be a terribly superficial person, with all these questions about clothes? I have deeper thoughts than what I might put on that day. I’m not my character. I don’t want people to think I spend the better part of the day deciding where to shop.
It’s only because I read that your husband [Matthew Broderick] gave you a Kelly bag.
He did and I love it. Why don’t we assume the dog is safely out of the house and then I can have it all?
That’s it! I feel like I wasn’t very good at this.
Oh, no, that “Sophie’s Choice” comment was just perfect.
Oh, OK. Thank you so much.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-21” author: “Jeffrey Bartamian”
Taking Stock of the $
Last spring the U.S. dollar looked as if it was heading for a meltdown. The bears warned that it marked the end of the strong-dollar era, a time when New Economy hype overinflated the price of the dollar as well. So now that the greenback has bounced up about 8 percent in the past three months against the euro, you’d guess that all those pessimistic analysts are eating their hats.
Guess again. This is an uptick that cannot last, insist the bears; the dollar is climbing because a mini-bubble in bonds burst in June, sending long-term interest rates higher. Many investors think higher rates mean that a powerful recovery is on its way. That’s just not true, argues Bernard Connolly, an economist for AIG Trading, who thinks the recovery can last three more quarters at most. By then, U.S. consumers will have spent their tax cuts, growth will slow and foreign investors will be spooked by huge U.S. deficits.
The dollar won’t necessarily rise in line with soaring U.S. stocks, either. There is no correlation between currencies and markets, says Alex Patelis of Merrill Lynch. “Currency markets are fickle; they don’t move in a straight line,” he says. Others differ with the bearish view, of course. Dennis Gartman, editor of The Gartman Letter, a closely watched Virginia-based trading newsletter, shrugs off the deficit jitters, noting that betting against the American consumer and U.S. technology has been a bad bet since 1780. Moreover, currencies correlate well with nothing but market psychology. “The bearish psychology has stopped,” says Gartman. “Now the dollar will get stronger until it gets strong enough. That’s the closest I can get to brilliance.” Many hope he’s also closest to being right.
Global Buzz: The ‘Just When Things Were Looking Up’ Edition
So much for high hopes. Investors balk on Brazil, peace eludes Chechnya and Turkey rocks its vote. Only China gets to have its way–for now.
Brazil Can social-security and tax reforms lure foreigners? Nope. They’re largely cosmetic and the tangible benefits won’t appear soon. Investors will remain wary.
Russia The Kremlin wants Chechnya’s Oct. 5 elections to prove it’s won the war. Rebels want them to prove it hasn’t. More violence and crackdowns are likely.
Turkey Ankara may invalidate the pro-Kurdish party’s election votes. A Parliament reshuffle or new elections will send struggling economy spinning.
China Hurting U.S. industries want China to revalue the yuan. But China doesn’t often cave, and with unemployment growing, it won’t start now.
BRITAIN
So Long, Sir Spin
Tony Blair was working on a lot more than his tan during his August holiday in Barbados. As they had done all summer long, countless memos and papers flew back and forth between the prime minister and his brain trust in London. The task at hand: an ambitious makeover of the Blair government, which had been besieged by allegations, first broadcast by the BBC, that Blair’s inner circle had “sexed up” WMD intelligence to make the case for war in Iraq. The furor, which severely diminished trust in Blair’s leadership, reached a peak after David Kelly, the British scientist ex–posed by the government as the source of the damning WMD stories, turned up dead in mid-July, an apparent suicide.
The first overt step toward the transformation of 10 Downing Street came last Friday when Blair’s communications czar, Alastair Campbell, announced his resignation. Campbell’s departure was not unexpected; he has wanted to leave for some time. But the timing–the day after Blair himself testified at an inquiry into Kelly’s death–signals a change that Blair desperately needs right now. Campbell had become the personification of spin, and his resignation may well help buy back at least some of the trust that Blair and his government have lost.
There’s more news in the pipeline. NEWSWEEK has learned that Blair will put in place a new communications directorate, probably headed by David Hill, a widely respected former Labour Party spokesman who has spent the past few years in the private sector. Blair is also planning to introduce new civil-service legislation in an effort to draw the line more clearly between political spin doctors and supposedly unbiased civil-service communications personnel.
As for the inquiry into Kelly’s death, it is expected to drag on for weeks. But the outlines of its likely findings already seem clear: Kelly was caught up in a macho brawl between the BBC, whose journalism in this instance has been shown up as less than rigorous, and the government, which went to extreme lengths–including exposing Kelly–to deflect criticism of its obsession with spin and presentation.
FRANCE
The Heat Goes On…
France’s broiling temperatures may have eased, but concern that the government significantly undercounted the death toll still has politicians in Paris hot and bothered. Two weeks ago the French government estimated that some 5,000 people had died from this summer’s heat wave. But OGF, France’s largest funeral company, released data suggesting that as many as 13,632 citizens died in the first three weeks of August alone. The government was quick to jump on the private-sector figures, calling them inaccurate. But last Friday authorities seemed ready to admit their mistake, releasing a new number: 11,435 deaths during just the first two weeks of August.
Paris was so slow in coming around because the government relied on numbers from hospitals, which didn’t include people who had died in their ovenlike apartments before being able to call ambulances. On the other hand, OGF simply extrapolated its estimate from its own increased business across the country. OGF’s homes, which account for an astounding 25 percent of France’s funeral business, reported an estimated 3,600 more deaths in the first three weeks of this August than during the same period last year. The company concluded that, as a result, the total surge in French deaths from last year’s numbers–whether heat-related or not–must have been about four times that.
Although France’s Health Ministry has shown no indication that it will change its official policies on tallying crisis-death tolls, rising numbers may well force it to at least consider doing so. Even before arriving at its new tally, the French government had asked researchers in its employ to produce an accurate count by the end of September. By then the government will also have additional death reports from all over the country, which can sometimes take up to two months to reach Paris. Expect the issue to reach the boiling point this fall. After all, there’s only so much heat a government can take.
ENVIRONMENT
Breathing Bad Air
Christine Todd Whitman, the former head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is in the hot seat over her role in the downplaying of the health hazards for New York City residents after 9/11. A report by the EPA inspector general says Whitman assured the public that the air was safe before testing was conclusive. In addition, all EPA statements were required to be filtered through the White House and screened by the Council on Environmental Quality, chaired by James Connaughton, a lawyer who formerly represented the asbestos industry.
The long-term effects of inhaling air contaminated with chemicals and pulverized metals is unknown. But New York Rep. Jerrold Nadler accuses the administration of covering up a potential health danger in order to get the economy up and running. “Many people will die early because of this,” says Nadler, who warns of lawsuits on the scale of Agent Orange.
Whitman tells NEWSWEEK that she did not object when the White House edited out cautionary notes by EPA scientists. She believes that much of the data were open to interpretation, and the White House appropriately reached for the more reassuring analysis. Spikes in asbestos readings tended to return to lower levels, so the EPA saw no need to alarm the public, she says. But New York Sen. Hillary Clinton is calling for an investigation, saying somebody surely leaned on the EPA to lie, which Whitman strongly denies.
MARRIAGE
Love and Algebra
Apparently, the key to a good marriage isn’t love or even hard work. It’s algebra. So says Prof. James Murray of the University of Washington. Murray and his colleagues developed two algorithms to predict whether a group of 700 American couples who wed in the early 1990s would be compatible over the long term. Each couple was asked to converse for 15 minutes on a “topic of contention”–anything ranging from in-laws to money to sex. Their statements, reactions and interactions were videotaped, and they were graded on a scale of ?4 to -4 for each interaction. Positive signals like jokes were awarded ?2, while negative actions like rolling one’s eyes merited an appropriately negative score.
Adding it together, Murray got a sense of how each couple communicated and came up with this: W (t+1) = a + rW (t) + IHw (H(t)). For those of us who slept through algebra class, that odd equation, loosely translated, means that the wife’s future mood is determined by her prior attitude, her husband’s influence over her and her own rigidity. (Murray also developed a corresponding algorithm for husbands.) Couples who were five times more positive than negative tended to have stable marriages. Murray’s predictions were correct in an astounding 94 percent of the cases. (Then again, that number could fall–the couples have been together for only about 10 years.)
But even though his findings are fun and fascinating, and could perhaps spur ef-forts to mathematicize other human interactions, the upshot isn’t actually that sur-prising. So communication is key. Anyone’s ex-wife could have told him that.
AUTOMOBILES
Hot Rides From London
Americans love their cars. And they tend to swoon over anything British. So perhaps it’s no surprise that some Americans are considering ditching their Humvees for cabs–London black cabs, that is. At the end of this month, Boston-based London Taxi Co. will start peddling the cavernous taxis in the United States at $45,000 a pop, and more than 120 have already been presold. The target audience for the tall, boxy vehicles are livery-cab companies (several firms in Boston and Chicago already plan to use them). But private owners shouldn’t be put off by the fact that the front seat only has room for one. That’s enough room for gubernatorial hopeful Arnold Schwarzenegger,who recently signed up for his very own black cab.
THEATER: Can You Tell Me How to Get to Avenue Q?
Interracial dating, postgraduate unemployment, homosexuality, Internet porn–and that’s just the first 10 minutes of “Avenue Q,” an edgy puppet musical whose fictional universe seems to exist at the intersection of Sesame Street, South Park and the Twilight Zone. The new production, which opened on Broadway earlier this month to rave reviews, is a tale of twentysomethings and the problems they face, told through the medium of classic children’s television. It’s also Broadway’s first musical to showcase puppets and puppeteers side by side. There’s an investment banker who grapples with coming out of the closet, a hermit who’s lovable but lewd, and a nerdy kindergarten teacher suffering from low self-esteem. “It’s not Big Bird smoking crack,” says puppeteer Rick Lyon, a principal in “Avenue Q” and a longtime “Sesame Street” veteran. “These are real characters.”
Indeed, songs like “It Sucks to Be Me,” “Everyone’s a Little Bit Racist” and “If You Were Gay” are a heady mix of humor and biting truth. “We’re able to walk that fine line between offensive and cute,” says cocreator Robert Lopez. That means that while television monitors above the stage play mock-educational segments, the vignettes include a discussion of schadenfreude and one-night stands. Can you say “naughty,” boys and girls?
Ray Allen
Last summer, America’s Dream Team turned into a nightmare. Playing at home in the world basketball championships in Indianapolis, they finished a sorry sixth. As a result, the United States must compete in a regional tourney, which just began in Puerto Rico, just to qualify for next summer’s Olympics in Athens. Team member Ray Allen shot around with NEWSWEEK’s Mark Starr.
You weren’t part of last year’s debacle, but did you feel the pain?
It was like a gut-wrenching feeling in the stomach. You walked around uneasy. You’re not the best anymore.
How embarrassing is that?
It’s not embarrassing. But you no longer can go to an international competition and expect the other guys to bow down at your feet. Now they say, “We know we can beat you.” Now they think, “We’re just as tall, just as quick, and our jump shots are just as good.”
Isn’t the Dream Team concept getting stale?
Yeah. It’s been played out. After the first Dream Team [at the 1992 Olympics], there was no more. There will never be that magnitude of talent on the floor again. But those guys also played the game with class and respected each other. We players today have to take note of that.
How confident are you?
I don’t want to go over there cocky. It’s proven now that we can be beat. We can’t afford any slip-ups. We have to work harder to be better.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-20” author: “Jacqueline Garst”
Cotton, King of Cancun
With the world on the warpath against farm subsidies, U.S. cotton was ripe for the pickin’ at the WTO summit in Cancun. So why did the $3.2 billion subsidy program survive the talks unscathed? It wasn’t due to the forgiving nature of the world’s other major cotton-growers, who still loathe the U.S. system for jeopardizing the livelihood of farmers in impoverished areas of the world. Rather, some skillful politicking by U.S. lobby group the National Cotton Council, a.k.a. King Cotton, helped keep the money flowing.
King Cotton has long worked Capitol Hill to guarantee subsidies for some 25,000 U.S. farmers. The money helps sustain some of the poorest regions of the southern United States by propping up large farms that bankers, dealers, farmhands and equipment salesmen rely on to survive. Last year U.S. cotton farmers landed roughly five times as much in government payments per acre as grain farmers.
On the eve of Cancun, and at the behest of King Cotton, three U.S. senators from the cotton belt wrote a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick asking that cotton not be singled out for subsidy cuts, and that any cuts be negotiated only as part of a broad agreement on agriculture. That’s exactly what Zoellick told ministers from West Africa in Cancun, knowing full well how unlikely such a deal is. The Europeans haven’t shown any more willingness to cut back on their own massive subsidies than the Americans.
Coincidence? “It would be a mistake to say the cotton lobby influences the U.S. Trade Representative’s office,” says a USTR official. “But clearly they have powerful allies in Congress.” And now they’ve got even angrier enemies around the world, too.
Al-Jazeera
Too Tight With Terror?
How does Al-Jazeera keep getting hold of those Osama bin Laden videos? Editors at the Arab TV network won’t say. But questions persist about just how tight some of its correspondents may be with terrorists: an investigation in Spain has led to the imprisonment of a top reporter on charges that he conspired with some of that country’s Qaeda suspects.
The reporter, Tayssir Alouni, a native of Syria, gained brief fame two years ago when he got the first post-9/11 bin Laden tape. Internal Spanish police documents show that Alouni, 48, has been under scrutiny since at least early 2000, when phone wiretaps revealed he was in “frequent and continuous” contact with Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, the suspected leader of Al Qaeda’s Spanish cell. Before moving to Afghanistan in January 2000 to open up the Al-Jazeera bureau there, Alouni called Yarkas to let him know he was leaving. “It sounded like he was informing this fact to a superior,” reads one report. Yarkas talked to Alouni about carrying cash to Mohamed Bahaiah–a fellow Syrian whom Spanish authorities consider a key Qaeda moneyman.
Last week Spanish investigating judge Baltasar Garzon charged that Alouni took a total of $4,500 to terrorists in Afghanistan on two occasions. Alouni’s lawyers say he did take smaller sums to Syrians abroad. But some of the most damning evidence against Alouni, according to the police reports, was a 2001 visit–upon his return to Spain–from Yarkas and Mahmoun Darkanzanli, a German-based businessman who Western intel officials believe was a key financier for Mohammed Atta’s Hamburg cell. Alouni contends that he had returned to Spain simply to visit his wife.
Al-Jazeera editors insist that Alouni is being persecuted because he refused to cooperate when Western intel agencies asked him to become an informant. Other ex-colleagues say he never expressed the slightest sympathy for Al Qaeda. But Judge Garzon doesn’t buy it. After interrogating Alouni, he ordered he be held indefinitely in a maximum-security prison.
U.S. POLITICS
Educating Arnold
With less than a month before California’s Oct. 7 recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s getting a crash course in government: tutorials from Warren Buffett and George Schultz and coaching on issues like workers’ compensation reform and irrigation subsidies from the likes of former governor Pete Wilson and other California experts. “Arnold’s gotten a Ph.D. in a few weeks,” claims his strategist, George Gorton.
He’ll need it. Schwarzenegger still trails Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante in some polls. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that he will have to flex more than his personality to win California voters. A Los Angeles Times survey last week found that 67 percent of likely voters thought Schwarzenegger “tried to avoid taking positions on issues.”
This week, Schwarzenegger will reach out to women voters by appearing on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” with his wife, Maria Shriver. He also plans to propose that California create a “hydrogen highway,” committing $60 million in public and private funds to construct a network of hydrogen fueling stations along major interstates. And he hopes to unveil one of his controversial Humvees, which he is having retrofitted to run on hydrogen. That hydrogen could be more symbolic than Schwarzenegger imagines; when he takes part in his first and only debate of the campaign on Sept. 24, he’ll need to prove that he’s not just full of hot air.
Turkey
Reopening Old Wounds
Trouble is brewing again in Turkey’s volatile southeast. Earlier this month, the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, a separatist guerrilla group known by the acronym PKK/KADEK, announced the end of a ceasefire declared in 1999 when its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was imprisoned after years on the run. The reason, according to many Turkish analysts, lies next door in Iraq, where Ankara is pushing the United States to move against the 5,000 remaining PKK rebels holed up in on the slopes of Kandil Mountain. Last week a U.S. delegation arrived in Ankara to hash out details for a possible assault; one option on the table is a U.S. air assault backed by Turkish commandos on the ground.
Right now Washington has its hands full in Iraq, but if such an operation does begin to take shape, it could re-ignite the PKK’s bloody insurgency. That in turn would almost certainly trigger a brutal response by Turkey’s security forces, which view certain Kurdish populated regions of Turkey as off-limits to Ankara’s civilian politicians. It would also derail progress on pro-Kurdish reforms being pushed by the ruling AK Party and the European Union. Some civilian officials argue that the PKK has run out of friends–years of careful Turkish diplomacy have persuaded the Syrians, the Greeks and the Iranians to drop their support for the guerrillas–and lacks the manpower to start a terror campaign. For their own sake, they’d better be right.
Energy
Runs on AA Bacteria
The compost heap in the backyard may have more potential than we ever imagined. Scientists from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, led by microbiology professor Derek Lovley, have discovered a bacterium that’s astoundingly good at converting sugars into electricity. Thanks to its unique metabolism, the Rhodoferax ferrireducens can transform more than 80 percent of a sugar grain’s electrons into energy.
Don’t throw away your MP3 batteries just yet, though–it takes the prototype bacteria battery several days to convert just a spoonful of sugar into electricity. Then there’s the problem of power; the prototype generates only enough juice to fire up a calculator. But Lovley and colleagues are working on these glitches, searching for more efficient materials to use as electrodes and utilizing nanotechnology to get more surface area on the electrode, resulting in more power.
If perfected, the bacterial battery could well find many takers. Already, the U.S. Department of Defense has expressed interest in using the device to power its monitoring devices on the ocean floor; Lovley says that could happen as soon as a year from now. In the next five years or so, the bacteria could be used to convert organic waste into electricity. In much of the developing world, where some domestic waste is already converted into methane gas for stoves, the bacteria could be used to generate low-level power, breaking the waste down into sugars and converting them into electricity. And the bacteria could even be used as low-level chargers for other batteries, like those used in mobile phones. Yes, someday we’ll all take great pleasure in knowing that the annoying person yelling into his cell phone gets his power from a pile of cow dung.
MOVIES
The Buzz Begins
The Oscar race began this month (yes, already) with the launch of the 28th Toronto International Film Festival. The annual industry gathering–more than 700 critics and journalists attend, too–is a bellwether for the Oscars. Last year “Far From Heaven,” “The Quiet American,” “Talk to Her,” “Frida” and “Bowling for Columbine” all made a splash and later earned Oscar nods. But this year it’s even more important: Oscar night has been moved up a month, to Feb. 29, so positive reviews coming out of the 10-day festival could carry a film right onto Academy ballots. “The shortening of the window increases the sense of urgency,” says Nancy Utley, president of marketing at Fox Searchlight. “It’s going to be noisier than ever.”
The buzz has already started on “The Human Stain,” based on the Philip Roth novel, starring Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins; “21 Grams,” with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, and Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation.” The festival has a particularly good track record of showcasing performances that go on to garner acclaim. Val Kilmer’s starring role as porn star John Holmes in “Wonderland” should generate some heat. Ditto Meg Ryan’s turn in the sexual thriller “In the Cut” and Toni Collette’s in “Japanese Story.”
Travel
Coming To Kabul
The Taliban may still be hiding out in the hills, but already the backpacking set is jetting into Afghanistan. So it’s no wonder the guidebook industry is getting in on the deal. The idea for “Kabul: The Bradt Mini Guide” was dreamed up by journalist Dominic Medley and NGO employee Jude Barrand in the hope of creating a survival handbook for new arrivals. The duo at first simply put together photocopied pamphlets of embassy contacts, U.N. office addresses and top guesthouses, distributing them free to the city’s street children, who could then sell them and make a quick buck. They sold fast, and soon Bradt Travel Guides swooped in with an offer to publish the books, providing Kabul’s kids continue to sell them to the expatriate community and new-arrival tourists. So, what are the new travel guides like? NEWSWEEK sneaked a peek and they’re not half bad. The guide gives practical tips on security (“Be extra careful walking or driving around at night”), steers readers to the hot hotels (the Mustafa and Intercontinental) and even reveals where to buy NEWSWEEK (the Habibi Book Centre “halfway down Chicken Street”). The index reveals almost everything a foreigner might want to know about Kabul and its environs. Except, of course, where Osama bin Laden is hiding out. That’d be too easy, right?
VEHICLES
Share and Share Alike
Car sharing debuted in the 1980s in Switzerland and later gained mileage in Germany and Japan, where governments partly subsidized these ecofriendly ventures that allow urbanites to rent cars by the hour rather than taking public transportation or clogging up traffic arteries with their own vehicles. Now it’s catching on in America, the land of the SUV. There are 15 car-sharing organizations in about 20 U.S. cities, with double last year’s membership. Some are environmentally minded non-profits, like City CarShare in the Bay Area. The biggest growth has been in two companies going national: Boston’s Zipcar and Seattle’s Flexcar.
The key to U.S. success has been inspiring a sense of ownership. The companies rely on their members not only to return the cars to neighborhood parking spots on time but to help keep them clean and gassed. People police each other, and social pressure seems to work, especially as the members get to know each other at the occasional party thrown by the companies.
But there has been one hiccup for the U.S. car-share industry: turning a profit. Car- share companies are already trying to expand through deals with universities and city transit systems and other businesses. Given the Bush administration’s evident lack of interest in things green, they’ll have to keep thinking outside the box. After all, it’s likely to be some time before U.S. government subsidies fill their fuel tanks.
Q&A: Donald Trump
Everyone seems to be doing reality TV shows these days. So why not mogul Donald Trump? On his upcoming show, “The Apprentice,” contestants get to work for him, and he gets to fire them one by one until he picks a winner. Trump spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin about reality TV and his reality.
Do looks count for the contestants on your show?
Well, looks always count with me, but I’m not going to be the sole proprietor of what happens. If it was up to me you’d probably end up with 16 supermodels.
Will they have to pick up your dry cleaning?
No, but they will be doing things that are very unbelievable.
Like?
Well, I can’t tell you. But I’ll give you an example. We may rent 16 stores in a really rough neighborhood and give a store to each one of the contestants and say, “Good luck, folks,” and see who can make the most money at the end of the week.
How much of your success can be attributed to your having the perfect tycoon’s last name?
It is an interesting last name, isn’t it? I do have a good last name. It really is a perfect name. The trump card, the winning card.
I’ve heard that you’re germphobic. How many times a day do you wash your hands?
As often as possible.
Your girlfriend Melania is Slovenian. Do you dig chicks with foreign accents?
No, I dig people with great personalities.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-15” author: “Dennis Leavitt”
Cotton, King of Cancun
With the world on the warpath against farm subsidies, U.S. cotton was ripe for the pickin’ at the WTO summit in Cancun. So why did the $3.2 billion subsidy program survive the talks unscathed? It wasn’t due to the forgiving nature of the world’s other major cotton-growers, who still loathe the U.S. system for jeopardizing the livelihood of farmers in impoverished areas of the world. Rather, some skillful politicking by U.S. lobby group the National Cotton Council, a.k.a. King Cotton, helped keep the money flowing.
King Cotton has long worked Capitol Hill to guarantee subsidies for some 25,000 U.S. farmers. The money helps sustain some of the poorest regions of the southern United States by propping up large farms that bankers, dealers, farmhands and equipment salesmen rely on to survive. Last year U.S. cotton farmers landed roughly five times as much in government payments per acre as grain farmers.
On the eve of Cancun, and at the behest of King Cotton, three U.S. senators from the cotton belt wrote a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick asking that cotton not be singled out for subsidy cuts, and that any cuts be negotiated only as part of a broad agreement on agriculture. That’s exactly what Zoellick told ministers from West Africa in Cancun, knowing full well how unlikely such a deal is. The Europeans haven’t shown any more willingness to cut back on their own massive subsidies than the Americans.
Coincidence? “It would be a mistake to say the cotton lobby influences the U.S. Trade Representative’s office,” says a USTR official. “But clearly they have powerful allies in Congress.” And now they’ve got even angrier enemies around the world, too.
Al-Jazeera
Too Tight With Terror?
How does Al-Jazeera keep getting hold of those Osama bin Laden videos? Editors at the Arab TV network won’t say. But questions persist about just how tight some of its correspondents may be with terrorists: an investigation in Spain has led to the imprisonment of a top reporter on charges that he conspired with some of that country’s Qaeda suspects.
The reporter, Tayssir Alouni, a native of Syria, gained brief fame two years ago when he got the first post-9/11 bin Laden tape. Internal Spanish police documents show that Alouni, 48, has been under scrutiny since at least early 2000, when phone wiretaps revealed he was in “frequent and continuous” contact with Imad Eddin Barakat Yarkas, the suspected leader of Al Qaeda’s Spanish cell. Before moving to Afghanistan in January 2000 to open up the Al-Jazeera bureau there, Alouni called Yarkas to let him know he was leaving. “It sounded like he was informing this fact to a superior,” reads one report. Yarkas talked to Alouni about carrying cash to Mohamed Bahaiah–a fellow Syrian whom Spanish authorities consider a key Qaeda moneyman.
Last week Spanish investigating judge Baltasar Garzon charged that Alouni took a total of $4,500 to terrorists in Afghanistan on two occasions. Alouni’s lawyers say he did take smaller sums to Syrians abroad. But some of the most damning evidence against Alouni, according to the police reports, was a 2001 visit–upon his return to Spain–from Yarkas and Mahmoun Darkanzanli, a German-based businessman who Western intel officials believe was a key financier for Mohammed Atta’s Hamburg cell. Alouni contends that he had returned to Spain simply to visit his wife.
Al-Jazeera editors insist that Alouni is being persecuted because he refused to cooperate when Western intel agencies asked him to become an informant. Other ex-colleagues say he never expressed the slightest sympathy for Al Qaeda. But Judge Garzon doesn’t buy it. After interrogating Alouni, he ordered he be held indefinitely in a maximum-security prison.
U.S. POLITICS
Educating Arnold
With less than a month before California’s Oct. 7 recall, Arnold Schwarzenegger’s getting a crash course in government: tutorials from Warren Buffett and George Schultz and coaching on issues like workers’ compensation reform and irrigation subsidies from the likes of former governor Pete Wilson and other California experts. “Arnold’s gotten a Ph.D. in a few weeks,” claims his strategist, George Gorton.
He’ll need it. Schwarzenegger still trails Democratic Lt. Gov. Cruz Bustamante in some polls. And it’s becoming increasingly clear that he will have to flex more than his personality to win California voters. A Los Angeles Times survey last week found that 67 percent of likely voters thought Schwarzenegger “tried to avoid taking positions on issues.”
This week, Schwarzenegger will reach out to women voters by appearing on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” with his wife, Maria Shriver. He also plans to propose that California create a “hydrogen highway,” committing $60 million in public and private funds to construct a network of hydrogen fueling stations along major interstates. And he hopes to unveil one of his controversial Humvees, which he is having retrofitted to run on hydrogen. That hydrogen could be more symbolic than Schwarzenegger imagines; when he takes part in his first and only debate of the campaign on Sept. 24, he’ll need to prove that he’s not just full of hot air.
Turkey
Reopening Old Wounds
Trouble is brewing again in Turkey’s volatile southeast. Earlier this month, the Kurdistan Worker’s Party, a separatist guerrilla group known by the acronym PKK/KADEK, announced the end of a ceasefire declared in 1999 when its leader, Abdullah Ocalan, was imprisoned after years on the run. The reason, according to many Turkish analysts, lies next door in Iraq, where Ankara is pushing the United States to move against the 5,000 remaining PKK rebels holed up in on the slopes of Kandil Mountain. Last week a U.S. delegation arrived in Ankara to hash out details for a possible assault; one option on the table is a U.S. air assault backed by Turkish commandos on the ground.
Right now Washington has its hands full in Iraq, but if such an operation does begin to take shape, it could re-ignite the PKK’s bloody insurgency. That in turn would almost certainly trigger a brutal response by Turkey’s security forces, which view certain Kurdish populated regions of Turkey as off-limits to Ankara’s civilian politicians. It would also derail progress on pro-Kurdish reforms being pushed by the ruling AK Party and the European Union. Some civilian officials argue that the PKK has run out of friends–years of careful Turkish diplomacy have persuaded the Syrians, the Greeks and the Iranians to drop their support for the guerrillas–and lacks the manpower to start a terror campaign. For their own sake, they’d better be right.
Energy
Runs on AA Bacteria
The compost heap in the backyard may have more potential than we ever imagined. Scientists from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, led by microbiology professor Derek Lovley, have discovered a bacterium that’s astoundingly good at converting sugars into electricity. Thanks to its unique metabolism, the Rhodoferax ferrireducens can transform more than 80 percent of a sugar grain’s electrons into energy.
Don’t throw away your MP3 batteries just yet, though–it takes the prototype bacteria battery several days to convert just a spoonful of sugar into electricity. Then there’s the problem of power; the prototype generates only enough juice to fire up a calculator. But Lovley and colleagues are working on these glitches, searching for more efficient materials to use as electrodes and utilizing nanotechnology to get more surface area on the electrode, resulting in more power.
If perfected, the bacterial battery could well find many takers. Already, the U.S. Department of Defense has expressed interest in using the device to power its monitoring devices on the ocean floor; Lovley says that could happen as soon as a year from now. In the next five years or so, the bacteria could be used to convert organic waste into electricity. In much of the developing world, where some domestic waste is already converted into methane gas for stoves, the bacteria could be used to generate low-level power, breaking the waste down into sugars and converting them into electricity. And the bacteria could even be used as low-level chargers for other batteries, like those used in mobile phones. Yes, someday we’ll all take great pleasure in knowing that the annoying person yelling into his cell phone gets his power from a pile of cow dung.
MOVIES
The Buzz Begins
The Oscar race began this month (yes, already) with the launch of the 28th Toronto International Film Festival. The annual industry gathering–more than 700 critics and journalists attend, too–is a bellwether for the Oscars. Last year “Far From Heaven,” “The Quiet American,” “Talk to Her,” “Frida” and “Bowling for Columbine” all made a splash and later earned Oscar nods. But this year it’s even more important: Oscar night has been moved up a month, to Feb. 29, so positive reviews coming out of the 10-day festival could carry a film right onto Academy ballots. “The shortening of the window increases the sense of urgency,” says Nancy Utley, president of marketing at Fox Searchlight. “It’s going to be noisier than ever.”
The buzz has already started on “The Human Stain,” based on the Philip Roth novel, starring Nicole Kidman and Anthony Hopkins; “21 Grams,” with Naomi Watts and Sean Penn, and Sofia Coppola’s “Lost in Translation.” The festival has a particularly good track record of showcasing performances that go on to garner acclaim. Val Kilmer’s starring role as porn star John Holmes in “Wonderland” should generate some heat. Ditto Meg Ryan’s turn in the sexual thriller “In the Cut” and Toni Collette’s in “Japanese Story.”
Travel
Coming To Kabul
The Taliban may still be hiding out in the hills, but already the backpacking set is jetting into Afghanistan. So it’s no wonder the guidebook industry is getting in on the deal. The idea for “Kabul: The Bradt Mini Guide” was dreamed up by journalist Dominic Medley and NGO employee Jude Barrand in the hope of creating a survival handbook for new arrivals. The duo at first simply put together photocopied pamphlets of embassy contacts, U.N. office addresses and top guesthouses, distributing them free to the city’s street children, who could then sell them and make a quick buck. They sold fast, and soon Bradt Travel Guides swooped in with an offer to publish the books, providing Kabul’s kids continue to sell them to the expatriate community and new-arrival tourists. So, what are the new travel guides like? NEWSWEEK sneaked a peek and they’re not half bad. The guide gives practical tips on security (“Be extra careful walking or driving around at night”), steers readers to the hot hotels (the Mustafa and Intercontinental) and even reveals where to buy NEWSWEEK (the Habibi Book Centre “halfway down Chicken Street”). The index reveals almost everything a foreigner might want to know about Kabul and its environs. Except, of course, where Osama bin Laden is hiding out. That’d be too easy, right?
VEHICLES
Share and Share Alike
Car sharing debuted in the 1980s in Switzerland and later gained mileage in Germany and Japan, where governments partly subsidized these ecofriendly ventures that allow urbanites to rent cars by the hour rather than taking public transportation or clogging up traffic arteries with their own vehicles. Now it’s catching on in America, the land of the SUV. There are 15 car-sharing organizations in about 20 U.S. cities, with double last year’s membership. Some are environmentally minded non-profits, like City CarShare in the Bay Area. The biggest growth has been in two companies going national: Boston’s Zipcar and Seattle’s Flexcar.
The key to U.S. success has been inspiring a sense of ownership. The companies rely on their members not only to return the cars to neighborhood parking spots on time but to help keep them clean and gassed. People police each other, and social pressure seems to work, especially as the members get to know each other at the occasional party thrown by the companies.
But there has been one hiccup for the U.S. car-share industry: turning a profit. Car- share companies are already trying to expand through deals with universities and city transit systems and other businesses. Given the Bush administration’s evident lack of interest in things green, they’ll have to keep thinking outside the box. After all, it’s likely to be some time before U.S. government subsidies fill their fuel tanks.
Q&A: Donald Trump
Everyone seems to be doing reality TV shows these days. So why not mogul Donald Trump? On his upcoming show, “The Apprentice,” contestants get to work for him, and he gets to fire them one by one until he picks a winner. Trump spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin about reality TV and his reality.
Do looks count for the contestants on your show?
Well, looks always count with me, but I’m not going to be the sole proprietor of what happens. If it was up to me you’d probably end up with 16 supermodels.
Will they have to pick up your dry cleaning?
No, but they will be doing things that are very unbelievable.
Like?
Well, I can’t tell you. But I’ll give you an example. We may rent 16 stores in a really rough neighborhood and give a store to each one of the contestants and say, “Good luck, folks,” and see who can make the most money at the end of the week.
How much of your success can be attributed to your having the perfect tycoon’s last name?
It is an interesting last name, isn’t it? I do have a good last name. It really is a perfect name. The trump card, the winning card.
I’ve heard that you’re germphobic. How many times a day do you wash your hands?
As often as possible.
Your girlfriend Melania is Slovenian. Do you dig chicks with foreign accents?
No, I dig people with great personalities.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-25” author: “Walter Parker”
Defying Gravity
The world’s markets have been going gangbusters of late. The Dow is up 24 percent since March. Tokyo’s Nikkei has surged 30 percent over the same time period. Europe’s bourses have been even hotter, with Frankfurt’s DAX leading the pack. The world’s soaring share prices have analysts raving, central bankers cheering–and investors hoping that this time the rebound is for real. But how likely is that? Every year since 2000, hopes for a global economic recovery have fed big rallies in share prices. Twice, they have been followed by even bigger crashes.
This time is different, argue analysts, because the basis for a healthy rebound of growth and profits looks a great deal more solid than on previous occasions. Positive signals abound: U.S. companies have begun investing in IT again. In long-stagnant Germany, all-important business confidence has increased three months in a row. Even depressed Japan posted an unexpectedly strong second-quarter GDP. Another key difference: European corporate earnings are showing healthy profits. And perhaps most encouraging, European governments are getting serious about reforming the high tax and expensive welfare systems that hobble their economies.
Still, a degree of cynicism might be warranted. Consider the depths from which these bourses are rising: the star of this show, Frankfurt’s DAX, lost 73 percent of its value between its all-time high in March 2000 and its low in March 2003. Compare that with a 39 percent peak-to-trough loss for the Dow. Even after its recent run, the DAX is at only 43 percent of its former high, compared with 89 percent for the Dow. The situation in Europe “just couldn’t get any worse,” explains Bob McKee, investment analyst at Independent Strategy, a consultancy in London. If it’s not yet a turnaround, though, at least the markets are heading in the right direction.
ISRAEL
Back Off or Boycott
International criticism of Jewish settlements is a headache for the Israeli government. Now the EU is using its economic leverage to give it a migraine. The EU, which has a free-trade agreement with Israel, has long demanded Israel pay customs on goods made in settlements in areas under Israeli occupation. The cost is only about $10 million a year, but Israel considers the tariffs an admission that the settlements are illegitimate, and has routinely obscured the origin of all its exports to Europe on customs forms. That has prompted several EU countries to demand customs on all Israeli imports unless their source is clearly identified. Last month Israeli exporters told government officials to pay the fee on settlement products and let the other $8 billion in Israeli goods to Europe flow freely. The government has shown no sign of yielding. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who helped build many of the settlements, is loath to give in on such a symbolic issue.
DICTATORS
Africa’s Brutal Buffoon
Idi Amin absurdly declared himself the king of Scotland, reportedly drove himself in his Jeep to official functions while offering lifts to kids along the way, declared that Queen Elizabeth II should step aside to allow him to head the Commonwealth, gave himself the Victoria Cross medal for bravery, and banned hippies and miniskirts throughout Uganda. (He liked kilts though, once wearing one to a royal Saudi Arabian funeral.) But while quirkiness may describe the man himself, the word trivializes his evil actions. During his iron-fisted rule of Uganda from 1971 to 1979, Amin had an estimated 300,000 of his countrymen killed, drove out the country’s 50,000 Asians and led his nation to economic ruin. He fled in 1979 after an invasion by Tanzanian-backed military exiles. Until his death on Aug. 15, the former dictator lived largely on handouts from his hosts, the Saudi Arabian government. Few will miss him, and fewer will mourn him.
AFGHANISTAN
Fleeing the Fray?
A growing number of attacks around the Kabul-to-Kandahar highway are strangling the flow of aid to southeastern Afghanistan. July and August have seen some of the heaviest fighting since the Taliban fell. Bounties have been placed on the heads of U.S. soldiers and Western aid workers, and explosive experts working to demine this stretch of highway have come under fire from Taliban snipers. The United Nations has advised all relief agencies to avoid using certain sections of the road until further notice, virtually cutting off relief access to two of the neediest provinces.
The upsurge in attacks–occurring at a time of dwindling international funding–is forcing many aid groups to cut programs and significantly reduce the number of personnel on the ground in Afghanistan before the year-end. The UNHCR is withdrawing 40 percent of its expatriate staff. The International Rescue Committee, committed to remaining long term, is still being forced to eliminate eight expat positions. In the heavy Taliban areas, international agencies have been forced to subcontract to local Afghan relief agencies. Both Afghan and expat relief officials admit that some of these local agencies are business fronts for corrupt officials, but the saving grace is that many Afghans working for international agencies have deep ties with their communities. Now the risks are on the rise for Afghan relief workers, too. In Khost, “night letters” warn Afghans not to work alongside foreigners. The U.S. military has told the United Nations it will not provide even emergency first-aid for relief workers. And if the U.S. military can’t save the aid workers, who is going to save Afghanistan–especially after American troops are gone?
BOOKS
Stalin Revisited
“Joseph, what exactly are you now?” asked Stalin’s aging mother during a visit from her son. “Well, remember the Tsar?” he replied. “I’m something like the Tsar.” Her response: “You would have done better to become a priest.”
Indeed. According to Stalin’s latest biographer, Simon Sebag Montefiore, the dictator was delighted by this motherly critique–and accurate in his self-description. “Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar” reveals that the Soviet leader could often be as autocratic as a royal tyrant. And like any monarch, he ruled indirectly through an entourage of henchmen, bound by fear and desire for his favor. What emerges is a picture of the intimate existence led by the leader’s inner circle, living at close quarters inside the Kremlin.
Through newly opened Russian archives and interviews with the children of Stalin’s intimates, Sebag Montefiore’s book brings to life this shadowy second family. The author uncovered a mass of details, both chilling and entertaining. For example, Beria, Stalin’s secret-police chief, was a serial rapist who used his bodyguards as pimps. On the other hand, life for “responsible workers” was sweet: even in the worst years of Stalin’s reign of terror, their families could expect summer holidays by the Black Sea or in the Crimea. Intriguingly, the author contends that Stalin ruled his circle almost as much through charm as fear. And apparently he wasn’t quite the joyless philistine often depicted. A keen gardener, Stalin took particular pride in his lemon trees. No doubt his mother–not to mention his country–would have preferred it if he had pursued those passions instead.
PARODY
Stacking the Deck
Let’s face it: the Pentagon never was too good at considering all the ramifications of its actions. But when U.S. Central Command produced playing cards of Iraq’s “most wanted” for U.S. soldiers on the front lines, it surely should have realized it was creating fodder for parody. Independent media entrepreneurs Zach Levy, Ben Daily and Ryan Deussing have put out a deck of their own, called Bush Cards, featuring 52 of America’s political finest, from George W. Bush (the Ace of Spades) to Condoleezza (Queen of Hearts) Rice to Colin Powell, who’s still hanging on as the Ace of Clubs. The jokers are silly rather than wild, featuring cartoons of Bush atop an aircraft carrier and playing T-ball. But the deck’s best touches are its guest appearances–Iraqi National Congress leader Ahmad Chalabi as the Four of Spades, for example–and the red resigned stamps adorning Ari Fleischer and the rest of the dear departed (seven down, only 45 to go?). Available online at bushcards .com for only $5, the cards are selling fast–about 500 packs a day–to everyone from liberal college types and Europeans to aides of presidential candidate Howard Dean. Apparently some in the present administration are amused, too; Levy says someone at the Pentagon has ordered a deck. Florida-based CENTCOM, though, is maintaining a poker face. When NEWSWEEK contacted CENTCOM’s reps for their thoughts on the cards, they declined to comment.
MOVIES: Lord of the Oscars?
Peter Jackson might want to clear off his mantel. The director of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy, which has already grossed more than $1.8 billion worldwide, is finishing part three, “The Return of the King,” and even without seeing a frame, Hollywood insiders consider it the front runner for a best-picture statuette–and Jackson for best director–come Oscar time. No surprise: the first two films were both nominated. What’s remarkable is that in an industry known for vicious battles for Academy Awards, many people who plan to compete against Jackson’s film secretly want him to win. “I’m such a fan of his,” says a studio head with a film sure to be up against “LOTR.” “I’ve been waiting for the Academy to reward him for his nine-hour movie.” It may be even longer. There’s rampant speculation about the length of the film–still two months from completion–with reports circulating that “King” will clock in at more than three hours. If it does, that’s not likely to matter much to fans, critics or even the studio. The first two installments squeaked in just under the 180-minute mark, and it’s hard to imagine they could have made any more money. And while New Line head Robert Shaye shares final cut with Jackson, he has yet to meddle with the director’s creative decisions. “We do not talk about length,” says studio COO Mark Ordesky. “We talk about the film.” So, apparently, does everybody else in Hollywood. They always did like a happy ending. —Sean Smith
TYRA BANKS
She’s cruised the runways in Milan and Paris and faced the cameras in Hollywood. Tyra Banks has now added TV producer to the list, acting as creator-producer of “America’s Next Top Model,” a recent reality show in which 12 hopefuls compete for a modeling-agency contract. Having walked the walk, Banks talked the talk with NEWSWEEK’s Allison Samuels.
The show exposes some ugly truths about the modeling world. Was that your goal? Exactly. I wanted the world to see that modeling can be a cutthroat business. It’s filled with pressure to always look a certain way and be a certain way. Yes, it’s a great job, but it has its downsides. I think young girls who want this life deserve to see it from all perspectives so they know what they’re getting into.
Did you experience some of these situations yourself? Like the girls’ not telling each other when photo shoots were to begin?
Yes, that happened to me. I felt the negative attitudes of other models–older models who didn’t like me and didn’t really want me to succeed. I vowed that I wouldn’t do that to another girl.
Do you miss modeling yourself?
Well, I still model for Victoria’s Secret, which is cool because they work with my schedule. As far as this gig–I love it. I’ve never had structure before in my life, somewhere to go every morning. I can’t believe what fun I have going to the editing bay and rolling up my sleeves and working nonstop.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-10” author: “Juan Harris”
As U.S. troops try to fend off “guerrilla” attacks in Iraq, American spies and diplomats are increasingly preoccupied with a scary group of Qaeda operatives in neighboring Iran. Last week Ali Younesi, Tehran’s intelligence minister, confirmed that a “large number” of Qaeda personnel are presently in his country. Younesi claimed the terror suspects were “in custody.” U.S. officials believe that the suspects include some of America’s Most Wanted: Saad bin Laden, Osama’s son and possible successor; Sulaiman Abu Ghaith, a Kuwaiti who surfaced as one of Al Qaeda’s top media “spokesmen” after 9/11; Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian alleged by Colin Powell to be a key link between bin Laden and Saddam Hussein, and possibly Saif Al-Adel, once Al Qaeda’s military and security chief. Also believed to be in Iran are deputy leaders of two key Egyptian Qaeda affiliates, Islamic Jihad (headed by bin Laden sidekick Ayman Al- Zawahiri, still thought to be in hiding with bin Laden on the Afghan-Pakistani border) and Jemaah Islamiah, headed by Omar Abdel-Rahman, the “blind sheik” held by the United States for plotting attacks in New York. Some U.S. officials believe that some of these suspects, including bin Laden Jr. and the Egyptians, really are in Iranian custody, but administration hard-liners believe Iranian authorities leave some of them free enough to hatch new terror plots.
The United States would love to get its hands on the suspects, but relations with Iran have been fractured since the 1979 hostage crisis. U.S. officials are now working quietly with allies on deals to transfer suspects to third countries and then eventually into American hands. In early July Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the head of Iran’s judiciary, visited Saudi Arabia, where he met with the king and crown prince. Around the same time, according to some sources, authorities in Riyadh decided to strip Saad bin Laden of his Saudi citizenship, making it easier for the Iranians not to turn him over to his native country. Meanwhile, Kuwait announced that it had declined an Iranian offer to turn over Abu Ghaith, who was stripped of his Kuwaiti citizenship after 9/11. These moves could pave the way for Iranians to expel the suspects to countries other than their homelands.
Any hush-hush diplomatic arrangements regarding the terror suspects could be sabotaged by hard-liners in either the United States or Iran. Some Washington activists with ties to administration conservatives last week alleged that Iranian officials may have been caught by authorities in Belgium and Germany trying to obtain nuclear material from the Congo. State Department officials say that because Iran is partly democratic, they don’t want to write off possible negotiations over terrorists. But hard-liners want the Bush administration to support political movements in Tehran that seek to overthrow the fundamentalists who control Iran’s security and intelligence agencies.
–Mark Hosenball and Babak Dehghanpisheh
U.S.-Turkey: Yet Another Front?
Washington may soon secure a key regional alliance to share the burden of occupying Iraq–but it comes at a price. Turkey has offered to send up to 10,000 troops to serve in central or southern Iraq. That would heal a rift caused by the Turks’ refusal to allow U.S. troops to attack Iraq from their soil back in March–and defuse Turkish anger after U.S. forces arrested 11 of its troops in northern Iraq last month. The downside of the rapprochement: U.S. troops could be dragged into a war against Kurdish separatists, who have been a thorn in Turkey’s side for two decades. Ankara has asked that the U.S. military take action against a 5,000-strong Kurdish rebel group known as the PKK/KADEK, which is currently holed up in northern Iraq. Such an operation could be difficult and bloody, at a time when the United States already has its hands full elsewhere in the country.
Both sides insist that this is not a quid pro quo; the Turkish offer to assist in Iraq doesn’t depend on U.S. action –against the rebels. But the PKK is already on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, and to ignore its presence in Iraq would run counter to America’s stated aim of preventing the country from turning into a terrorist haven. As one senior Turkish official puts it, combating the PKK is now “the responsibility of the United States.” Last week Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld promised Turkey’s Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul that “the PKK will be finished.” And U.S. officials privately concede that once the Turks actually fall in line with U.S. troops, there will be increased “moral pressure” to eliminate the PKK.
Washington hopes that the mere threat of force–and a new partial amnesty law for the PKK currently making its way through the Turkish Parliament–will persuade most of the guerrillas to give up and go home. In Iraq, though, wishful thinking can have dangerous results.
–Owen Matthews and Sami Kohen
California: Gray Clouds Over the Golden State
California is on edge as it prepares for a recall election on Oct. 7. Officials were forced to schedule the vote after Republican activists submitted 1.6 million voter signatures on petitions demanding Gov. Gray Davis’s recall, triggering a 92-year-old provision of the state constitution. Voters will be asked two questions: First, should Davis be recalled as governor? And if so, who should replace him? Whoever has the most votes–no majority is needed–wins. “It’s a crapshoot,” said Davis. “This is no way to run a railroad.”
Or, for that matter, the fifth largest economy in the world. Last week Wall Street credit agencies, citing the recall election and the state’s $38 billion deficit, downgraded California’s credit rating. That means California will have to pay higher interest rates on the billions it needs to borrow in order to pay its bills. Davis is in an even tighter spot. He narrowly won re-election, and will now face a crowded field of would-be replacements. Most of the suspense surrounds Arnold Schwarzenegger, who is expected to announce this week whether he will run, and who remains dogged by allegations of womanizing. If Arnie doesn’t run, says close friend and former L.A. mayor Richard Riordan, then he will.
The White House is watching nervously. If Davis wins, the Republican-backed recall debacle could hurt George W. Bush’s re-election bid in 2004. But if Davis loses, a new Republican governor could give Bush a badly needed boost in this heavily Democratic state. Davis says he’s confident he will beat back the challenge. “I have nothing to fear from California voters,” he says.
–Karen Breslau
Trade: Something Fishy
In September, trade ministers from around the world will meet in Cancun, Mexico, supposedly to open up markets in Japan, North America and Europe to goods from the developing world. But given recent developments, many are beginning to wonder if they shouldn’t stay home. Last year Mississippi catfish farmers persuaded the U.S. Congress to declare that only the U.S.-born family of the bewhiskered species could be called “catfish,” slapping down eager capitalists –in Vietnam, who must now export their fish under names like “basa” and “tra.” Then last week, the United States slapped tariffs of up to 64 percent on Vietnamese catfish. Washington is now considering imposing similar tariffs on Vietnamese shrimp imports, a $470 million industry.
The hypocrisy is blatant; this is exactly the kind of geopolitical maneuvering for which the United States continually reprimands its European cousins. Last week the EU published a list of 35 product names–including Chablis and Parmesan–that it intends to ban from use on products outside these specific regions. Rather than freeing up markets, all this bickering does is reinforce the conviction that the United States and the EU spend more time arguing about who is the worse offender, rather than focusing on fixing the core barriers to free and open trade. “Current trade practices are creating underdevelopment,” says political economist Jean-Pierre Lehmann of the Swiss business school IMD. “The really tragic part is that the global marketplace is being transformed into a battlefield, precisely the opposite of what was intended.” That’s hardly a good enough argument to convince globalization fans, let alone the skeptics who are bound to turn up in Cancun.
–Karen Lowry Miller
Environment: Losing Ground
By the end of this century, 42 percent of animal species in Southeast Asia could become extinct, says a new study published in Nature. Worse still, at least half of those species could disappear worldwide. Using Singapore as a microcosm for examining a region wide tropical biodiversity crisis, Navjot Sodhi of the National University of Singapore and his colleagues compiled population data from the past two centuries to prove that as Singapore’s forests have been sacrificed– for agriculture and urban development–animals that call the forest home have suffered enormously. In the past 80 years, two thirds of the 91 known forest-dependent species of birds in Singapore have become extinct.
As deforestation has been the overwhelming contributor to species demise in Singapore, Sodhi and his team used the current deforestation rate–a staggering 74 percent loss over the past two centuries–for the entire region of Southeast Asia, to predict that somewhere between 13 percent and 42 percent of species regionwide may be doomed. The future looks “bleak,” says Sodhi. What’s needed are strong measures against illegal logging and poaching, or economic incentives to establish nature reserves. Unless those more rigorous efforts are undertaken, Asia may ultimately bid the likes of the banded leaf monkey and the leopard cat adieu.
–Kristin Kovner
Standoff: Mutiny in Manila
From the start, they insisted their uprising was no coup. “We are not attempting to grab power,” said Lt. (s.g.) Antonio Trillanes. “We are just trying to express our grievances.” Early Sunday morning, he and roughly 50 heavily armed members of the Philippine military seized a commercial complex in Manila’s financial district and rigged the place with explosives, swearing to blow it up if they were attacked. At least two unnamed Americans were reported to be trapped inside, although members of the mutiny insisted they –were holding no hostages. Government troops surrounded the complex but kept their distance.
The uprising included several Special Operations officers who had earned decorations in the three-decade war against Muslim rebels in the south. Calling themselves Soldiers of the Nation, the mutinous troops issued a statement complaining of favoritism and corruption. “We demand the resignation of our leaders in the present regime,” it said. “We are willing to sacrifice our lives today to pursue a program not tainted with politicking.” Armed Forces spokesman Lt. Col. Daniel Lucero said that the siege was not seen as a threat to power, and that the Manila government hoped for a peaceful resolution. Shortly afterward, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo appeared on television and gave the soldiers seven hours to stand down and return to their barracks or face “reasonable force.”
Art: Trench Trinkets
During times of war, soldiers always search for ways to express the nature of their experience. After World War I, one such trend was given the name “trench art.” Now, an exhibit at Freemason’s Hall in London is devoted solely to wartime art, with works spanning the past four centuries. The theme: pieces made out of debris straight from the battlefield–like shell casings and bayonets–refashioned to reflect the emotional devastation of war. “These objects give us a very live image of what people felt about the conflicts,” says Mark Dennis, exhibit curator. “They tell us how to make sense of it, and [help the artists] to preserve their identity.”
Consider one piece made by Muslim metal workers who engraved traditional religious designs into Serbian shell cases lobbed at them at the end of the Serb-Bosnian conflict in 1995. “They took ownership of these shells,” says Dennis. “They made them theirs.” Another particularly insightful exhibit, crafted by bored and homesick German soldiers held captive on Britain’s Isle of Man during WWII, is a collection of large animal bones decorated with carvings of British insignias and cornflowers–the national flower of Germany. The exhibit provides a memorable artistic glimpse into a world few of us would ever want to see.
–Dalia Martinez
Internet: E-R.I.P.
It’s hard to find the time to tell people how much you care while they are still around to hear it. And apparently, sometimes it’s a challenge even after they’re gone. For Niamh Crowe, a professional speechwriter in Dublin, the demand for eulogies–a fifth of her business–keeps growing.
For $29 at www.speech-writers.com, you can buy a prewritten eulogy for a mother, a father or even a neighbor. Grieving customers choose from a list of relations, then simply click “add to cart.” Twenty minutes later, Crowe’s one-size-fits-all words arrive in your in box, and a $10 coupon is put toward your next purchase. “Anyone who has ever broken an arm will know how I feel today,” she’s ghostwritten for husbands who lose their wives.
If stock speeches are not for you, personalized eulogies are available for $275. Just fill out a short questionnaire about the hobbies, habits, and personality of the deceased. Crowe pays tribute to “John,” a fisherman, with verse: “We know that he, like the salmon’s leap/ Will always be there in our memories deep.”
And Crowe’s Web site brims with positive feedback. M.K. from Washington writes: “How did you write such a wonderful speech when I provided you with so little information? It was like you knew my wife longer than I did.”
–Meredith Sadin
Beauty: Ma, I’ll Be at the Spa
Two cousins, Anna Johnson, 11, and Heather Stearns, 9, sit at the Seventeen Spa, a beauty salon for teenagers in Plano, Texas, chatting while they get a makeover. The esthetician applies foundation and glitter across their faces, dabs on pink eye shadow and lacquers their up-dos with hair spray. Anna preens, but Heather’s more jaded. The fourth grader’s been getting manicures and pedicures for more than a year. For beauty parlors and day spas across America, preteens like Anna and Heather are the future. All over the country, salons are blaring Justin Timberlake and devising acne-fighting facials to lure kids–and big-spending parents–for pricey treatments. “It used to be the minimum age for customers was 18,” says the Day Spa Association’s Hannelore Leavy. “Now spas are welcoming kids who are 14, 13, even 12.” At the Hyatt Regency Hill Country Resort and Spa in San Antonio, Texas, preteens get manicures, pedicures, hair braiding and henna tattoos. The Red Mountain Adventure Spa in Utah offers kids a detoxifying scalp massage and body exfoliation for $115. “It’s very popular with high-income families,” says general manager Deborah Evans. “They want to expose the kids to a healthier life.”
But is it healthier? Girls Inc.’s Heather Johnston Nicholson doesn’t think so. “An enormous amount of money is being made by suggesting that girls have to fix themselves in order to be acceptable,” she says. Girls Inc. is launching a series of radio spots reminding parents that self-confidence, not a pedicure, makes girls beautiful. Teens, too, say there’s a limit. “If you start before you hit your teens,” says Hayley Tannery, 14, who’s getting a manicure at the Plano spa, “you have nothing to look forward to when you get older.” She says she was shocked to learn that a fifth-grade friend gets her legs waxed. “Fifth grade? I think that’s too young,” says Hayley, waving her freshly painted fingernails. “Sixth grade, maybe.”
–Peg Tyre and Ellise Pierce
Goran Bregovic
Bosnian Gypsy-music composer and performer Goran Bregovic’s concerts are a bit like attending four weddings, a funeral and a symphonic circus, all at the same time. On a recent stop in London to perform his “Tolerant Heart” symphony, which includes a Russian male choir, a Moroccan-Andalusian band, an Israeli transsexual chanteuse and Bulgarian folk singers, Bregovic spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Ginanne Brownell:
You’ve described “Tolerant Heart” as a prayer for peace in response to war in the Balkans.
When I wrote it, I tried to translate “tolerant,” but in my language that word simply does not exist. I wanted this composition to [acknowledge] the existence of the three main monotheistic religions. I am sending a message that reconciliation is possible. Of course, for one composer it is possible to put Jews, Arabs and Christians together with no problems. It is with the politicians where it gets complicated.
Can music really heal wounds?
No, but I believe if it is written as decent music, this has its own force. I don’t have delusions that as a metaphor it means anything.
Gypsy music has had something of a revival–did people not get it?
I think people used to think Gypsy music was sort of like Frankenstein–ugly because it is glued together by the different pieces. But that is its beauty.
Who are your biggest fans?
If you’re in a hurry, you would not put my records on.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-02” author: “Doris Morgan”
High-Seas Terrorism
Accused Qaeda operative Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, captured late last year, has given CIA investigators information raising concerns that Al Qaeda’s “navy” could be the biggest current threat to U.S. and global security. NEWSWEEK has learned that “there are four major elements in al-Nashiri’s strategy,” as a senior foreign intelligence source puts it, and they may still be moving ahead.
First, the use of Zodiac-type speedboats loaded with explosives to attack U.S. warships and other targets. According to this source, Nashiri (a.k.a. Mullah Bilal) has admitted playing a key role organizing the October 2000 attack on the USS Cole and an attack on a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen this past October. Both used suicide Zodiacs. Early last year Nashiri sent a team of Afghan-trained Saudis to Morocco to prepare for Zodiac attacks on U.S. warships transiting the Strait of Gibraltar. The Moroccan intelligence service busted the operation, but a key operative got away. Known by the pseudonyms Riyad and Nawaf, he “is more dangerous than Nashiri,” says one Arab intelligence official who is on his trail.
The second strategy, say sources familiar with Nashiri’s debriefings, is the acquisition of medium-size ships that can be blown up near other vessels. If warships become too difficult to approach, tourist ships could be targeted.
The third strategy is the use of private planes bought or stolen from flying clubs and small airports and loaded with explosives. The fourth strategy involves training underwater demolition teams. Arab intelligence officials say a Tunisian naturalized as a Dutch citizen was sent to Morocco before 9-11 to set up a Qaeda diving school, but Tunisian intelligence identified him as a suspect and Morocco expelled him. He is now believed to be hiding in Britain.
HAITI
Duvalier Redux?
For the past two months, Haiti has been paralyzed by strikes and violent marches. Last week’s walkout by the nation’s public-school teachers was just the latest in a string of protests against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide and his ineffective policies. Once the hope for democracy in the tiny island nation, Aristide has recently come to be seen as the cause of the people’s plight rather than their salvation.
So what happened to the overwhelming support for Aristide? Since his re-election in 2000, human-rights abuses, soaring prices and the government’s failure to curb poverty have sent the president’s approval ratings into the gutter. Two thirds of the labor force is unemployed, and six of every 10 people are malnourished. Prices for basic necessities increased sharply last year, and a recent transport strike was triggered by steep hikes in the price of gasoline and kerosene used by the urban poor to light their shanties. “The average person is worse off today than he was in 1991,” says economic consultant Jean-Claude Paulvin. “No wonder the people have revolted.”
Admittedly, Aristide’s Lavalas party has had little to work with. For the past two years the Bush administration, Canada, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have effectively blocked about $500 million in aid and loans earmarked for Haiti because of charges of fraud in 2000’s parliamentary vote. Aristide has “been ground down” by this “destructive policy,” says Larry Birns, di–rector of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in Washington. Haiti’s political opposition–a chronically splintered coalition–has also been uncooperative, attempting to block almost every Aristide initiative. With few options, Aristide “has failed to deliver” on promises both to his people and to the international community, says a diplomatic source in the region.
What’s making matters worse, say critics, is the fact that Aristide is resorting to authoritarian rule to keep control. Almost every antigovernment demonstration is quelled by groups of violent pro-Aristide thugs; the recent unrest has claimed the lives of five people and left more than a hundred wounded. Opponents say the president is resorting to tactics used by the dictator Francois Duvalier and his son Jean-Claude. “The Lavalas movement lost its way,” says Father Max Dominique, a former ally of the president’s. “And little by little [its] thugs have become what Duvalier’s Tonton Macoutes used to be.” Aristide has countered his critics with calls for “peace.” But it’s likely more chaos will come first.
EGYPT
Charm Offensive
During the 1991 gulf war, Egypt contributed troops and reaped the rewards: namely, $7 billion in debt relief. This time around, Cairo has vowed not to take part in a U.S.-led assault on Iraq. But, in what analysts are saying is an attempt to calm the Egyptian street and stay in the West’s good graces, President Hosni Mubarak has launched a charm offensive aimed at everyone from Coptic Christians to Israelis to Egyptian women. In a recent presidential decree, the Coptic Christmas of Jan. 7 was declared a national holiday in what Muslim democracy activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim called a “show of respect” for Egypt’s largest religious minority. This week Tahany el-Gebali is set to be officially appointed as Egypt’s first female judge, serving on the nation’s Supreme Constitutional Court. And most significantly, Mubarak’s government has taken a lead role in pushing Palestinians toward a ceasefire agreement with Israel.
Although Egypt has cut almost all diplomatic ties to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as demanded by its pro-Palestinian populace, the government has been courting opposition leader Amram Mitzna in the run-up to this month’s Israeli elections. A top Egyptian presidential adviser did his part by penning a series of articles in the semiofficial Al-Ahram newspaper, taking anti-Semitic Arab intellectuals to task. And Mubarak continues to shuttle Palestinian militants in and out of Cairo, reportedly pushing for an end to suicide bombings inside Israel. Last week Egypt even pulled its chief of military intelligence out of the shadows to attend a London peace conference. So far Omar Sulaiman hasn’t persuaded Hamas to defuse its human bombs, but he’s pushing hard for a breakthrough in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “Egypt is serious. Now they’re getting their top guys involved,” says one diplomat in the region. Amr Moussa, the Egyptian head of the Arab League, has said that a war in Iraq could “open the gates of hell.” Mubarak seems to be doing everything he can to ensure that, for Egypt at least, it doesn’t.
RUSSIA: Heat Over the Cold
Winter in Russia has never been a breeze. But this year is turning out to be much worse than usual. By official count, about 30,000 Russians are living in homes without heat–in areas where temperatures have plunged to minus 30 degrees Celsius. The media have been full of horror stories: newborns in a maternity ward in one especially hard-hit city 400 kilometers northwest of Moscow are being kept alive with hot-water bottles, and schools and hospitals across the country have shut down because of subzero temperatures indoors. Many Russians have been resorting to improvised wood stoves and going to bed in full winter garb. And those are the people who have homes. In Moscow more than 300 of the city’s estimated 100,000 homeless have already died from the cold.
In the Kremlin last week, however, the heat was on. Moscow’s politicians were busy trading insults, refusing to shoulder the blame for Russia’s creaky infrastructure. Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov riled Parliament by refusing to meet demands to give a public accounting for the heating outages. One communist deputy declared that members of the government should be treated to a spell in unheated apartments to sensitize them to the problem. As for President Vladimir Putin, he has so far managed to remain comfortably above the fray, loftily admonishing the government to get its act together–or else.
ECONOMY
Smart Money
Finally, some decent economic news for the developing world. According to the annual survey of private investment by the Institute of International Finance (IIC), international capitalists will boost investments in developing countries in 2003 for the first time in three years. But here’s the rub: the increased net flows, up $25 billion to $137 billion, will be ruthlessly funneled into the best-run countries. Nations like Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela and Indonesia, where debts and financial systems are shaky or out of control, will be punished by net continued withdrawals. The reason: international investors have become adept at discriminating between well-run and poorly run countries.
As a result, the big Asian winners in 2003 will be South Korea and China, which sucked up 85 percent of last year’s net equity investment in the Asia-Pacific area. Mexico and Chile will take the lion’s share of new funding in Latin America, which is expected to jump from $25.5 billion last year to $35.5 billion. And the newly freed countries of Eastern Europe, Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia will score the biggest gains. Meanwhile, crisis countries–particularly Brazil, which has a new government that is honestly struggling to put its house in order–will get little or no help from private foreign investors until they have clearly turned things around. Still, the overall increase in private investment is great news for the developing world. Companies and capitalists from richer countries are recommitting to the cause of global free trade and global growth. Their targeting of investment only to countries offering stable finances is a sober warning. Poor countries that cannot or will not reform are going to be left behind.
MUSIC
The Globalization of Shakira
Midriff-baring singer Shakira, dubbed Colombia’s “second finest export” by FHM magazine, has long been a darling of the Latin pop world. Now she’s got a string of U.S. English-language hits under her belt, and her first current world tour is in full swing. NEWSWEEK’s Vanessa Juarez chatted with her to find out how she’s been affected by globalization:
How is your tour going?
I’m performing in front of 10,000 [to] 15,000 people every night. That’s just magic, you know.
Will your next album will be in English or Spanish, or both?
I would love to do two albums. I don’t know if it’s possible, but I’d like to do one in Spanish, one in English.
Do you feel like you’ve been Americanized?
I do feel that there is a difference between–especially the visual part–what I used to do in Latin America and what I do now. This album [“Laundry Service”] came out and all of a sudden I saw myself surrounded by 20 stylists, makeup artists, hairdressers, directors, assistant to the director, assistant to the assistant to the director. I try to be in control because some of your essence kind of gets a little hurt. That’s why it’s so important for me to do these live shows. On the stage, there’s no tricks, there’s no way to fool anybody, so you either you like what you see or you hate it, that’s it. It’s just the bare truth.
HUMVEES
Driving A Hard Bargain
The seeds of capitalism have already sprouted in the Middle East. With the Pentagon hinting that journalists could have wider access to the battlefield than before, some reporters arriving in Kuwait are shopping for rough-and-tumble vehicles that can keep up with the Army in the desert. That’s good news for “Mr. Sharif”–a.k.a. “King Hummer”–a local used-car salesman and Iraqi immigrant who has the only lot in town with a selection of grungy but functional Humvees.
“Ha!” he mocks the other drivers as he whips around the corner. “They are afraid!” And his entrepreneurial savvy is as sharp as his U-turns: he’s currently got a fine desert-camo number parked across the street from the hotel where most reporters are staying. He says Fox News and other networks keep calling. CNN bought a couple for 10,500 Kuwaiti dinars apiece (about $35,000). But King Hummer is always ready to strike a deal. Sitting in his office near a framed photo of George H.W. Bush, he leans in. “For you?” he says. “Nine thousand.”
Global Buzz
THE DESPOT’S DOCTOR: For more than two decades a Cuban orthopedic surgeon named Rodrigo Alvarez Cambras has been doing his best to keep Saddam Hussein alive and well. According to one of his friends, Alvarez Cambras’s relationship with Saddam began in the late 1970s, when the surgeon operated on Saddam’s son Uday for an elbow injury. Later, the surgeon said, he was summoned by Saddam himself. He removed a tumor from the strongman’s spinal column and also operated on his sister. His reward was a shower of Midas-like gifts, including a hospital built in his honor in Baghdad. Their relationship has deepened, and in July Alvarez Cambras visited Saddam to pass on a “verbal message” from Castro. Queried as to its substance, the doctor stood firm behind patient confidentiality. Earlier, when pressed for dirt on the Iraqi dictator, he had dodged artfully. “Did you know that [Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister] Tariq Aziz is a Catholic?” he asked. “The only Catholic in the Iraqi government.” Just one more tie between the Iraqi and Cuban people, he noted with satisfaction.
CONAN THE REPUBLICAN: Action star Arnold Schwarzenegger has assembled a blue-chip team of Republican wise men to guide his entry into California’s 2006 gubernatorial race. But his efforts to ensure a smooth ride in politics started long ago. In the early ’90s, Schwarzenegger began negotiations to purchase the rights to “Pumping Iron,” the 1977 documentary that chronicled his rise to bodybuilding stardom–and also showed the future Terminator smoking marijuana and blithely admitting that he skipped his father’s funeral. One of the film’s producers, who said that the rights cost Schwarzenegger about $1.5 million, speculated that the muscle man had hoped to recut the film but realized that video copies were too plentiful. Nevertheless, he continues to control all sales and distribution rights.
SWELL FIDEL: “Bottom line, Fidel Castro is a movie star,” Oliver Stone says about the subject of his new film, “Comandante.” Stone spent 30 hours over three days and nights with Castro, and despite their chumminess, the maverick filmmaker occasionally blindsides him in the 93-minute documentary. “Have you ever felt you needed to talk to a psychiatrist?” Stone asks Castro. “It never even crossed my mind,” responds the Cuban incredulously. Boasting of Cuba’s literacy rate, Castro quips that “even our prostitutes are university graduates.” Castro also claims to have married just once. “But my life has been one with love,” he assures Stone. Toward the end of the film, Castro muses on his seemingly eternal reign as Cuba’s unelected president: “Is it so bad to be a dictator?”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-25” author: “Linda Deleon”
As soon as Brazilian President Luiz Inacio (Lula) da Silva was sworn in on Jan. 1, the world worried that his leftist leadership would send Brazil down the path of neighboring Argentina. Foreign investors feared he would focus on pleasing his support base and fail to execute necessary reforms. Instead, Lula seems to be taking steps to defuse what some considered Latin America’s biggest time bomb.
The Brazilian president has wowed financial markets by introducing a program of severe fiscal austerity. The largely impoverished voters who elected Lula have been placated–for the time being at least–by the appointment of large numbers of trade unionists (seven), women (four), blacks (two) and others of the dispossessed who have rarely graced Brazilian cabinets.
All along, Lula has said that he will delay fighting poverty until he could restore Brazil’s teetering finances. His program should do just that. He has proposed no large new taxes. Brazil already collects a hefty 34 percent of all output in taxes, high by regional standards. For his voter base, Lula offered just one consolation–food stamps for Brazil’s poorest under a plan called “Zero Hunger.” It aims to provide each Brazilian enough for three meals a day. And even that initiative is responsibly financed. Lula is canceling the purchase of new fighter aircraft for the military and proposes a politically courageous reduction in the lavish pension benefits paid to unionized, upper-middle-class workers in government and state-owned enterprises.
As a result, Brazil’s government budget should continue in a surplus (excluding debt service) of 3.75 percent of GDP and inflation should shrink. Brazil’s trade surplus is soaring and interest rates on the debt that have been threatening to sink Brazil have already fallen by 40 percent. Brazil’s currency has risen by 20 percent since the election.
Of course, Brazil still faces problems–$120 billion in public debt is denominated in hard-to-earn dollars. And skepticism among foreign investors still exists. “Even so,” says John Williamson of the Institute for International Economics in Washington, “I think the financial crisis is winding down.” An old and nasty joke about Brazil is that it is “a country with a great future–and always will be.” Under Lula–if he can stick to his program–the future may be starting now.
–Rich Thomas
Africa: Unease About Ebola
Apollo, the world’s best-known gorilla, is missing, and the Ebola virus may be the culprit. The alpha male of a 24-member family hasn’t been seen since early December when two members of his family were found dead–along with three other endangered western lowland gorillas and several chimps–in the remote Odzala National Park of the Republic of the Congo. Less than a year ago, contact with a dead ape was blamed for an Ebola outbreak in the area that killed at least 53 people. Specialists have again found Ebola in the dead apes, NEWSWEEK has learned. Last week government officials began warning locals not to eat monkeys or to ritually wash any relatives who die of fever. So far there have been no confirmed human deaths, but keeping the epidemic at bay is a daunting challenge. Some 3,000 Pygmies and others in the area live from hunting monkeys. The area is thick with apes–as many as nine per square kilometer. That adds up to 80 percent of the world’s remaining lowland gorillas. Efforts to protect the apes until recently have centered on ending the traditional trade in “bush meat.”
But Ebola may prove far more devastating to man’s closest relatives. The Wildlife Conservation Society, based at the Bronx Zoo, suggests that huge numbers of gorillas and chimps may have died in an Ebola epidemic in the area five years ago. And the new outbreak may not be over–another chimp was found dead in the park last week, according to Jean-Marc Froment of ECOFAC, a regional conservation group. “We may be heading into a catastrophe,” he says.
–Tom Masland
Iraq: Help for Blix Is Nixed
We need more actionable intelligence,” chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix repeated last week, appealing for help from–especially–America. Blix complains Washington has been slow to pass evidence or leads on Saddam Hussein’s forbidden weapons programs to his inspection teams. One reason for U.S. delay, NEWSWEEK has learned: the U.N. teams don’t yet have overhead surveillance. The CIA has a list of suspect sites in Iraq and wants overhead monitoring of the sites before, during and after surprise U.N. visits–“to see nothing goes in or out,” a source said. America has offered Blix use of its Predator surveillance drone (UAV). To avoid the appearance of bias, Blix wants Europe to provide the UAVs. But European UAVs are not as good as Predator. “They [the CIA] don’t have that many shots in their locker,” said the source, referring to the suspect-sites list. “They want to ensure the U.N. makes effective use of what they do know.”
–John Barry
Guns: The Battle Of Britain
Cricket on the village green, “bobbies” armed with no more than nightsticks, leisurely strolls along cobbled city lanes at any hour. Those who still cling to this sepia-tone image of Britain would not recognize the land depicted in the national media of late: teenage girls gunned down with a machine-pistol; urban areas plagued by gangland shootings; heavily armed special police laying siege to the home of a hostage-taking gunman; handguns so common in some neighborhoods that they are seen as fashion accessories. This sounds like the United States, not the United Kingdom.
The British government moved into action last week–prompted by a series of sensational shootings over the holidays and some alarming new statistics: firearms offenses up 35 percent in the past year, and up 60 percent since 1996. It proposed minimum five-year prison sentences for illegal possession of firearms. Home Secretary David Blunkett summoned police and community leaders to a gun-crime summit last Friday to explore new ways of tackling the problem. However, British gun-control authority Peter Squires cautions that gun crime is “a crisis of our own making.” While new legislation and enforcement crackdowns may be useful, he says, they do not address the underlying societal causes of crime.
The shocking rise in gun crimes understandably offends traditional British standards of safety and civility, and Britons may rightly be worried that they are heading toward an American-style gun culture. But the good news is they’ve got a long way to go. Firearms are used in less than 1 percent of all offenses recorded in Britain. (Handguns are banned; even British Olympic shooters have to train in other countries.) British police studies show that up to three out of four “guns” used in crimes are actually so-called replica weapons–realistic toys, or firearms that have been incapacitated, which criminals use because the penalties for possession are much less severe. The number of homicides by firearms in Britain each year is about 100; during the 1990s, the United States averaged 16,500 per year. Gun crime has inarguably worsened in Britain, but an American is still 34 times more likely to be murdered with a gun than a Briton is.
–Stryker Mcguire and Emily Flynn
Hoaxes: Fooled by ‘Fidel’
Last Monday, Venezuela’s embattled President Hugo Chavez received what he assumed to be a pleasant early-morning phone call from his friend and staunch ally Fidel Castro. Minutes later, Chavez realized he’d been duped–by Miami DJs Enrique Santos and Joe Ferrero. Using digitally mixed clips of the Cuban leader’s voice, the two pranksters had managed to con the Venezuelan presidential palace–and its occupant–into –believing Castro was on the line. NEWSWEEK’s Malcolm Beith spoke to them about the most successful coup against Chavez to date:
NEWSWEEK: What inspired the idea?
SANTOS: We’ve been doing this segment for two months called “Fidel Te Llama” (“Fidel’s Calling You”). We’ve taken the conversation that Fidel Castro secretly recorded and made public last year between him and Mexican President Vicente Fox, extracted 43 different words and phrases and utilized these to prank-call people. We’ve called residences, different banks, information.
Why Chavez?
FERRERO: We were really concerned with what’s going on in Venezuela, [so] we decided we should do something. Actually, we never imagined we would be able to speak to Chavez. But he fell for the trick.
Fidel doesn’t exactly sound coherent on the tape. Were you trying to infer something about the aging comandante?
FERRERO: That’s the way Fidel Castro behaves and talks. I guess Chavez knows him so well that it didn’t bother him at all to hear Castro saying incoherent things–things that didn’t make any sense whatsoever. So he tried to start up the conversation to find out why [Castro] was calling him.
And Chavez hung up on you as soon as he caught on?
SANTOS: We hung up on him. The moment we identified ourselves, there was total silence. He didn’t respond back, so at that time I took the opportunity to tell him what I think of him.
The Chavez government has said it won’t press charges for taping without consent and verbally abusing him–at least for now.
SANTOS: It’s ridiculous. [Chavez] and the people surrounding him–the Venezuelan government–they’re the criminals. They’re the ones that charges should be imposed on.
Any other pranks on the horizon?
SANTOS: We’ve actually thought of calling Cuba to see if we can get Fidel Castro to believe he’s got Chavez on the line.
Entertainment: One Hot ‘Mamma’?
The shows that become Vegas staples–think Siegfried and Roy and Cirque du Soleil–dazzle guests, then dump them at the blackjack tables. Tourists here don’t like to sit still. But next month Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino will stage a $7 million production of the ABBA musical “Mamma Mia!”–a Broadway import that runs more than two hours and will be the only show in Vegas with an intermission. New York stalwarts like “Fiddler on the Roof” and “Rent” failed in Vegas; “Chicago” was a modest success–but with locals, not visitors. “The spectacle of Broadway isn’t the same as the spectacle of the Strip,” says Vegas4Visitors.com executive producer Rick Garman. “Vegas is not a place where you want to pay attention to plot.”
“Mamma Mia!’s” plot is easy to ignore, which is why Mandalay thinks it will be a hit. The story is a thinly veiled excuse for staging catchy tunes in that over-the-top, Sin City style. Still, the touring production of the show made two extended visits to nearby Los Angeles and has played in 25 U.S. cities a year for the past two years. Garman wonders if tourists will spend their vacation dough on a show they can see elsewhere, since most visitors crave those only-in-Vegas experiences. Mandalay likes the odds. “Given that the content of the show is light and brisk,” says Mandalay Resort Group president Glenn Schaeffer, “it has every feature that would spell success for the Las Vegas Strip.”
–Steve Friess
Internet: A Friend Indeed
At first it seems as if someone has gone to great–even weird–lengths to proclaim his fealty. “There are over 6 billion people alive today,” the personalized Web site proclaims. “Out of all those, I consider Seth Mnookin my friend.” With the gushing music from “Dragonheart” playing in the background, a host of… attributes? compliments?… flashes on the screen: “Companion. Colleague. Depend. Grateful. Truth. Gift. Happiness.” Never mind that the site can’t seem to tell nouns from verbs. The latest word-of-mouth Web sensation is youaremyfriend .com–a nifty little project that requires nothing more than the ability to type in someone’s name (as in seth.mnookin. youaremyfriend.com) to produce instant,personalized treacle. Since early December, the site’s averaged a million visitors a week. “It started as a way to test other software,” says the site’s creator, Robert Blake, a Canadian systems analyst. “I’ve heard people have used it to keep from breaking up with their girlfriends.” Blake, who speaks in the truncated English endemic to computer programmers, says one of his goals is “to make the lower-quality Internet slightly more useful.” Happiness!
–Seth Mnookin
Culture Notes: The Rest Dissing the West?
Strolling amid the crowds of fashionably dressed under-30s out for a Saturday night in Seoul, South Korea, I chanced on a busy outdoor market where sidewalk vendors had set up long tables piled high with CDs. A boombox was blasting out the latest Korean rock. One song caught my ear and I decided on the spot to buy the CD as a present for my twentysomething American son. Back in New York, when I presented it to him he stared suspiciously at the Korean-language titles on the label and asked, “What’s this? Some kind of Korean folk music?”
“No, it’s rock,” I told him. “Korean rock. It’s by Cool, the No. 1-selling band in South Korea.” He was shocked. “I knew Koreans listened to American rock and British rock,” he said. “I guess I just didn’t think their own bands would sell more than the Western imports.”
Guess again. Not only do Korean kids prefer their own rockers, but so do Japanese kids, Chinese kids, Russian kids and Egyptian kids. While rock is certainly an American invention, and a big-selling import in many world markets, local music is still what the masses are buying most of.
Chalk that encounter up to the BJ&M syndrome–that’s blue jeans and McDonald’s. Sufferers from BJ&M syndrome seem to believe that because many people all over the world like rock and roll, blue jeans, fast food and American movies, they are equally enamored of American values and ideas about how the world works.
Wrong. Sometimes it’s just the beat or the cut that attracts the world’s huddled masses. Nor is anybody who is sipping Starbucks necessarily saluting American culture. In fact, in a number of places, American imports are decidedly under pressure, especially those products whose style can be easily appropriated.(Take Mecca-Cola–a Coke knockoff aimed at Middle Easterners who like the taste of the American soda pop but don’t really like America.)
If Americans are ever to understand the emerging revolt against their supposed cultural hegemony–McDonald’s, Starbucks, Kentucky Fried Chicken and Procter & Gamble, among others, have all been challenged–they must look beneath the surface. Or as Harvard’s Samuel P. Huntington famously put it: “Somewhere in the Middle East a half-dozen young men could well be dressed in jeans, drinking Coke, listening to rap, and, between their bows to Mecca, putting together a bomb to blow up an American airliner.” Even in South Korea, where sharpening attitudes toward the West still pale in comparison with those in many Middle Eastern countries, it should come as no surprise that many of the kids screaming in the streets protesting U.S. policy are wearing… Levi’s.
–Ron Javers
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-07” author: “David Ketron”
Has the war in Iraq already started? It sure looks that way to U.S. pilots in the region. The Pentagon makes no secret of the fact that since the mid-1990s, the U.S. military has been bombing targets in southern Iraq. But the number of sorties is rising–all with the aim of weakening Iraq before H-hour.
According to a senior Defense official, on Nov. 18 there were more than 50 incidents of U.S. pilots’ spotting Iraqi fire on the horizon in the no-flight zone. Under the rules of engagement, the pilots leave the area unless directly fired upon, then return for retaliatory strikes elsewhere–one for each incident. “The Iraqi ‘AAA’ [anti-aircraft fire] is like a sine wave in the last 30 days, up and down for no clear reason,” says the official. Some days bring no action. “The aircraft aren’t up there looking for a fight,” says Adm. Barry M. Costello. “It’s mostly recon [reconnaissance].”
Aboard the carrier USS Constellation in the Persian Gulf, Marine Lt. Col. Gary Thomas, just back from dropping 2,000-pound smart bombs on Iraqi surface-to-air-missile (SAM) sites, says his four-hour mission in an F-18 was not “full-fledged” combat. “The rules of engagement are very strict–they don’t just say, ‘You’re cleared to bomb’,” he says. “And collateral damage is a great concern.” But Thomas says his missions are intensifying: “The number of surface-to-air events has gone up dramatically.”
So far, no close calls. But even before the recent downing of a drone (pilotless aircraft), U.S. planes were at risk. “There’s no doubt they [the Iraqis] would love to bag a trophy” by bringing down a plane with a pilot aboard, Thomas says.
To prepare the battlefield, target selection has expanded in recent months from SAM sites and AAA batteries to so-called nodes in the Iraqi air-defense system, especially the communication links. Capt. John W. Miller, commanding officer of the Constellation, told NEWSWEEK: “We’re degrading their command-and-control down south.” When asked if this was an “exhibition season” war, Miller replied: “It’s the regular season, though not the playoffs.”
–Jonathan Alter
CENTRAL ASIA: Dictators Return
Bad–and bizarre–are words that only begin to describe Turkmenistan’s president, Saparmurat Niyazov. The self-anointed Turkmenbashi–Father of the Turkmen people–has declared himself president for life. He’s banned everything from cable TV to the circus; he has even renamed months of the year after himself and his mother. So it wasn’t the biggest surprise when gunmen tried–and failed–to assassinate the dictator in November. But the backlash has gone far beyond personal eccentricities. Ever inspired by the country’s Soviet past, Niyazov has launched a nationwide witch hunt replete with televised repentances of alleged conspirators, dozens of suspect arrests, blink-of-the- eye trials, and inhumanely long jail sentences.
Condemnations of his tactics have been scant, least of all from the country’s neighbors. These days, Niyazov’s Turkmenistan is looking less and less like the black sheep of Central Asia and more like its role model. In Kazakhstan, President Nursultan Nazarbayev did little to help democracy last year when he sent his two strongest political opponents–and founders of the short-lived opposition party Democratic Choice of Kazakhstan–to prison camps on the freezing Kazakh steppe. Across the border in Kyrgyzstan, President Askar Akayev–once considered one of Central Asia’s most courageous reformers–has hamstrung press freedoms. Phone taps of journalists are a regular occurrence, and several opposition newspapers have been summarily shut down. Under the regime of Uzbekistan’s surly chief, Islam Karimov, reports of widespread torture continue unabated. Independence may have lifted Moscow’s iron fist, but homegrown dictators appear happy to pick up the slack.
Perhaps most dismaying is the fact that this latest wave of repression has crested well after the Central Asian republics attracted world attention and hundreds of millions of dollars in new assistance for their willingness to allow U.S. bases in the region. Rather than discouraging such strong-arm tactics–which, if not unusual in the area, at least used to be covered up better–the money seems to have given local dictators free rein. “This is unprecedented in the post-Soviet era,” says Lev Ponomarev, executive director of the All-Russia Movement for Human Rights. " [The West] was given military bases in Central Asia and now there is little talk about political prisoners.” The silence keeps growing louder.
–Eve Conant
SAUDI ARABIA: Close Ties
With mounting criticism from Congress over its record in the war on terror, Saudi Arabia is beefing up its forces–in D.C. NEWSWEEK has learned that to strengthen ties with the White House, the Saudis have retained the high-powered law firm of former Texas GOP congressman Tom Loeffler. Loeffler, whose firm will be paid about $720,000 a year, is one of President George W. Bush’s top political moneymen. He headed up fund-raising for Bush’s first gubernatorial campaign and served as finance co-chair for his presidential race. Loeffler also is tight with Dick Cheney. “You couldn’t find anybody closer to this White House,” said one D.C. consultant. A Saudi official says Loeffler will be used mostly to lobby on trade issues, but will branch out to matters such as terrorism financing when needed. The retention of Loeffler comes on top of another move that critics charge is designed to influence the White House: a $500,000 gift by Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal to help fund the newly created George Herbert Walker Bush Scholarship Fund at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. Alwaleed’s offer of $10 million to aid 9-11 victims was refused by Rudy Guiliani. But Andover says the elite school won’t reject the prince’s money. And a Bush spokesperson says the former president–like his son, an Andover graduate–“felt it had been given in good faith.”
–Michael Isikoff
SOUTH AMERICA: The Next Colombia?
Call it the Colombianization of Ecuador. The violence and lawlessness that have long reigned on the Colombian side of their shared border are now plaguing many of the 134,000 residents in Ecuador’s Sucumbios province. Once a magnet for ecotourists, the territory of late has been receiving foreign visitors of a very different order: drug-dealing Colombian guerrillas and right-wing militiamen fleeing a U.S.-backed aerial fumigation campaign that began targeting Colombia’s nearby coca farms two years ago. More than 170 people have been murdered in tit-for-tat killings in just the past 24 months, and last year the province’s highest elected official narrowly survived an ambush by two Colombian hit men.
The country of 12 million has been spared the ravages of its northern neighbor’s internal conflicts for most of the past 30 years. But Ecuador’s immunity to the Colombian disease may be running out. Ecuadoran troops have discovered 20 field camps operated by leftist guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) over the past three years. And in August, a homegrown militant group claimed credit for bombing a McDonald’s in the port city of Guayaquil.
The violence now becomes the problem of Ecuador’s president-elect, former Army colonel Lucio Gutierrez. He’s promised to confront the Colombian spillover and has already set clear limits on how far he will go. Taking into account his countrymen’s jitters over greater U.S. involvement in Bogota’s antiguerrilla offensive, Gutierrez has said he would oppose any attempt by Washington to use Ecuador as a platform for U.S.-sponsored counterinsurgency operations. Yet even this popular policy may not be enough to restore Ecuador’s safe name.
–Steven Ambrus
ROYALS: Charles Stays Put
When the London papers discovered last week that the British Foreign Office and royal advisers had nixed a planned trip by Prince Charles to the United States in March, the tabloids had a field day. bush bars anti-war charles from making visit to states claimed the News of the World, having convinced itself that the president’s and Charles’s views on Iraq were behind the abrupt cancellation.
If only. The fact is that the decision was made on the British side of the pond, and for some pretty banal reasons. First, Charles’s aides were not at all keen to have a U.S. visit give the world’s media an excuse to resurrect his butler’s embarrassing revelations from late last year (e.g., servants squeezing toothpaste onto Charles’s brush for him or holding the royal specimen bottle when his doctors required a urine sample).
Second, though Charles does, according to knowledgeable sources, share the ethical reservations expressed in public by the Archbishop of Canterbury about going to war against Iraq, he has not–and would not–broadcast them in public. The Foreign Office simply believed that a winter-spring visit by a royal controversial for many things (war views aside) didn’t make any sense with a war underway or in the cards. As to any White House involvement, a U.S. diplomatic source says, “That’s crap. Frankly, I don’t think any of this was an issue for the U.S. government.”
What the schedule change does show is that when it comes to traveling to the United States, the curse of Diana still hangs over Charles. Once his marriage began to publicly fall apart in the early 1990s, he avoided what his courtiers, cringing, used to call “Diana territory.” For several years after her death in 1997, he put off visiting America while repairing his image as, among other things, the only living parent of two sons. Then, in 2001, his plans for an October trip to New York and Washington were scuttled by the 9-11 attacks. With the latest cancellation, Charles’s diary-keepers are now busy once again looking for the right time for him to set foot back in Diana country.
–Stryker Mcguire
TRENDS: Leasing Nature’s Good Life
Hurricanes, droughts, tornadoes–Mother Nature is a force beyond our control. And if you can never own it, Americans have at least found a way to lease it. Share Harvest’s Rent Mother Nature program is a goofy–but increasingly popular–way for Americans to explore where they get their food. “Years ago, nobody cared,” says RMN’s Robert MacArthur, 77. “Now people are concerned about how food is grown.” It works like this: for $49.95 dairy lovers can lease a cow. They get a certificate, two progress reports and the harvest–in this case, three 8-ounce Brie wheels. (Actually, only a fraction of the cheese is from the selected cow’s milk.) Leasing a bucket on a maple tree in New York’s Adirondacks costs $34.95, and for that, pancake fans get 25 ounces of syrup. According to the catalog, “lively newsletters will tell about the activities of the sugaring crew.” (See rentmothernature.com.) A “maple action photo” of the bucket at work costs an extra $5. There are 24 options, and the company plans to add four more. RMN helps fund family farmers who struggle to compete with big agribusiness. But, in an odd turn, corporations that want to give more than fruit baskets have signed up. Perhaps green now trumps greed?
–Bret Begun
HEALTH: A New Danger Sign
For years, “high cholesterol” has sounded like a death knell. But if Paul Ridker is right, the real risk factor for heart disease and stroke is something else–C-reactive protein, which rises as the arteries become inflamed. Ridker, a cardiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, talked to NEWSWEEK’s Mary Carmichael about how his research is changing medicine:
What does CRP do in the body? The immune system works in two ways–antibodies and inflammation. CRP is part of the inflammatory response.
Has anyone studied it before? In 1931, researchers discovered something they called “replication factor.” It was DNA. They also happened to discover CRP, but except for a flicker of interest in 1950, nobody thought about it again until the last five years.
You found that people with low cholesterol weren’t necessarily safe from heart attacks and strokes. They may be at very high risk. Half of heart attacks occur among apparently healthy men and women. In our study, people with low cholesterol and high CRP had more cardiovascular events over eight years than people with high LDL and low CRP.
If CRP isn’t linked to cholesterol levels, what is it linked to? Half of it is genetic. The other half is linked to smoking, diet, obesity. The idea is that our genetic set of adaptive responses from millions of years ago–strong inflammatory responses and the ability to fight starvation–is maladaptive now that infections aren’t a major issue and we don’t have to walk 25 miles a day to get a meal. So we have an epidemic of coronary disease, diabetes and obesity. CRP tracks with that.
EXHIBITS: Message Art
London’s Victoria & Albert Museum is tackling a subject that has gained surprising new currency recently: propaganda. In “Propaganda Posters,” 100 posters–out of a private collection of 3,000 donated to the V&A– portray the history of the 20th century through slogans and iconic imagery. Naturally, the focus of the show is on war and the ways propaganda has been used to defeat the “enemy” at hand.
Take Norman Rockwell’s posters. As part of America’s World War II effort, he painted a series inspired by “the four essential human freedoms” extolled in one of President Roosevelt’s 1941 speeches. A wholesome couple stands behind two children sleeping peacefully in a poster titled “Freedom From Fear.” A Soviet poster depicts something straight out of a Marvel comic–a green monster dressed in a Nazi uniform towers over a ravaged female body. Rebel propaganda gets a say as well, from posters supporting blacks against white rule in South Africa to those advocating international opposition to Pinochet’s military regime in Chile. The exhibit is a vivid reminder of the passions that fueled the great causes of the 20th century, whether for good or ill, and that still burn in the 21st.
–Liat Radcliffe
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-29” author: “Lawrence Cheeks”
Fighting Over the Spoils
In the heavyweight prizefight over Iraq’s future, the winner of round one seems to be Secretary of State Colin Powell. For months the Bush administration has been deeply split over how to move from a U.S. military occupation to a new government run by Iraqis. One of the biggest rifts is over what the role of Iraqi exiles–led by the London-based Iraqi National Congress–will be in the newly liberated Baghdad. While some Pentagon officials support a prominent role for the INC and its controversial leader, Ahmed Chalabi, Powell’s State Department and the CIA favor a government led by Iraqis currently living in Iraq.
At least for now, Powell has won the support of the White House. On March 12, President Bush formally signed off on a plan to create an interim authority that would balance the role of Iraqi insiders and exiles. Given the sheer number of Iraqis living inside the country, compared with the relatively small numbers of exiles, administration officials say that “balance” means the exiles will be outnumbered. And NEWSWEEK has learned that Bush assured British Prime Minister Tony Blair at Camp David last month that the so-called Iraqi Interim Authority would be dominated by internal Iraqis. Bush and Blair will plan more details of Iraq’s political future at their summit in Northern Ireland this week.
Still, the fight between State and Defense continues over when and how the interim Iraqi government takes power–and State concedes that it cannot control events on the ground. Once the shooting ends, the Pentagon will be in control of Iraq as well as the initial U.S. civilian administration, led by former general Jay Garner. Garner’s team, known as the Office of Reconstruction and Humanitarian Assistance, will work with Iraqis, aid groups and the United Nations to deliver basic services before handing power to the new Iraqi authority.
Some Pentagon officials are waging a rear-guard action over Garner’s group. State has put forward Arab specialists and former ambassadors such as Barbara Bodine as part of the Garner team; Defense has tapped advisers who include one of Chalabi’s nephews, Salem Chalabi, a London lawyer. While some in the Pentagon have close ties to the exiles and hope to place them in early positions of power, the State Department and CIA are in contact with Iraqis on the ground, including tribal leaders and bureaucrats, who have the potential to stay on as permanent leaders. As one senior State official said: “There is a question of whose Iraqis are going to take over. Is it going to be the technocrats you can identify–the people in the regime worth rehabilitating–or is it going to be people from the pubs of London?” One senior White House official said much of the debate boiled down to the rival “egos” at State and Defense. And that’s one battle that’s not likely to end soon.
RUSSIA: Enemy of My Enemy
Last week a respected Moscow-based current affairs Web site posted an interesting claim: that two retired Russian generals have been working as consultants for the Iraqi military. The article included photos of the duo, Vladislav Achalov and Igor Maltsev, allegedly receiving military decorations from the Iraqi Minister of Defense in an awards ceremony in Baghdad just one week before the start of the war. When asked what he and his colleague were doing there, Achalov coyly responded, “If they give you an award, it must be for something,” adding, “We sure didn’t go there to drink coffee.”
So what were the generals up to? The Web site speculated that the two consultants, frequent visitors to Baghdad, helped the Iraqis plan their unexpectedly effective defense against Coalition forces. Maltsev once headed the Soviet general staff and spent his entire military career in air defense. Achalov, a former Soviet deputy minister of Defense who fought in Afghanistan, is said to be an expert in irregular warfare. More important, though, the two commanders share a pathological hatred of America and are suspected to be acting with other senior military to undermine Vladimir Putin’s cozy relationship with Washington. If the Bush administration comes to believe the Russians were in cahoots with Saddam, the hardliners’ goal may well come true.
THE SAUDIS
A Missing Diplomat?
It looked like a successful strike against Al Qaeda in Europe. Just as the war in Iraq was starting last month, German police smashed a suspected terrorist cell in Berlin, raiding apartments, arresting a half-dozen young Arab men and seizing bomb-making equipment, flight-simulator software and chemicals. But the investigation has since taken an unexpected turn. According to U.S. and German officials, fresh evidence suggests the accused terrorists had a highly placed friend who may have been assisting them in their terrorist plots, a top diplomat who served as chief of the Islamic-affairs branch at the Saudi Embassy in Berlin.
The accusations against Saudi diplomat Muhammad J. Fakihi have created fresh tensions between Germany and Saudi Arabia in the war on terrorism. According to sources, Fakihi is believed to have met frequently with the alleged terrorist cell’s leader, Ihsan Garnoaui, a 32-year-old Tunisian operative who allegedly spent five years at Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan. Fakihi and Garnoaui allegedly congregated with the cell at Berlin’s Al-Nur Mosque–a notorious haven for Islamic extremists. After the arrests, sources confirm, the Germans confronted the Saudis over Fakihi’s activities and threatened to declare him persona non grata. “We don’t do that unless the evidence is very grave,” a German official said. Four days after the March 19 arrests, Fakihi left the country and was supposed to have returned to Riyadh, for a “vacation,” the Saudi Embassy said. But, NEWSWEEK has learned, he never showed up. Now his current status is unclear.
Saudi officials want him for questioning, but they say they don’t know where he is. “There is close cooperation between the Saudi and German authorities on this matter and we intend to get to the bottom of it,” said one Saudi official.
U.S. officials say they are reviewing the evidence in the case. “It’s a matter of concern,” said one U.S. intelligence official. In fact, Fakihi was already on the U.S. radar screen. His business card had been found in the apartment of Mounir el-Motassadeq, the Moroccan associate of Muhammad Atta and other members of the Hamburg cell, who was recently convicted of being an accessory to the 9-11 terror attacks.
ALZHEIMER’S
No Cure, But Hope
William Bayse, a former NASA engineer, had an awesome memory–at least until he started showing signs of Alzheimer’s six years ago. By last spring, Bayse, then 64, barely responded to his four children. Then he got into a trial for an experimental pill–the first of a possible new class of Alzheimer’s drugs–which he was told to take with his regular pills for dementia. “In four months he was joking with the kids,” says his ex-wife Harriette. (He regressed after six good months.)
That drug, memantine, moved a step closer to market last week, when The New England Journal of Medicine published a major study showing that it helped slow (but not halt) cognitive and functional declines in 126 patients with moderate to severe Alzheimer’s, versus 126 on placebo. “It’s the first treatment for advanced stages of the disease,” says lead author Barry Reisberg, professor of psychiatry at New York University. The drug helped patients continue basic activities like dressing and bathing themselves.
In a second study, presented last week at the American Academy of Neurology, memantine combined with a standard Alzheimer’s drug (Aricept) actually improved patients’ cognitive abilities somewhat–at least for the six-month trial. Benefits were starting to diminish by the end.
Is memantine a cure? No. But it could be patients’ best hope so far. Expect it to reach the market in mid-2004.
QATAR
A Friend’s Finances
The emirate of Qatar is one of America’s most critical allies in the war against Iraq. And Washington’s most important contact in Qatar is Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani; in March, Hamad was greeted at the White House by President Bush and Condoleezza Rice.
But Hamad may have recently run afoul of another American battle: a campaign against money laundering. After the British island of Jersey tightened its anti-money-laundering laws, a bank informed authorities three years ago of its suspicion that three trusts controlled by Hamad might contain criminal proceeds. Jersey’s attorney general opened a criminal investigation into whether more than $150 million held in the trusts could be kickbacks that Hamad obtained from companies seeking to do business with the Qatari government. In December 2001 a judge authorized investigators to cross-examine Hamad, noting that Hamad “accepts that he received substantial commissions” but “denies that these commissions were in the nature of bribes.” No cross-examination took place because Jersey authorities last year folded their criminal investigation, aware that Hamad’s position might make him immune to prosecution. Hamad’s lawyers went to court to stop information about the investigation’s being made public. But at the request of the Jersey Evening Post, the judge unsealed key rulings. A lawyer for Hamad said he maintains “his innocence of any wrongdoing.”
THEATER
Translating Titters
Tony Blair isn’t the only Brit giving a boost to Anglo-American relations these days. Two of his barmier countrymen, Sean Foley and Hamish McColl, have taken their West End hit, “The Play What I Wrote,” to New York’s Lyceum Theater. But has their peculiarly British brand of humor weathered the Atlantic crossing? Their comedy is as English as Marmite, and they lay it on pretty thick. Descended from a long line of music-hall and Monty Python-esque comics, they mug, pratfall and pun shamelessly. Bug-eyed McColl heartily enjoys his own jokes; crew-cutted Foley is surely a disciple of Monty Python’s Ministry of Silly Walks. And their aide-de-camp, the diminutive actor Toby Jones, almost steals the show. There’s even a play within the play about the French Revolution (sample line: “My people are revolting–I Camembert it!”).
But the unexpected treat for Broadway audiences–as it was for those in London–is the mystery star who turns up each evening as the 18th-century Count de Toblerone (“He’s sweet.” “And nutty”). So far, Nathan Lane, Liam Neeson and Roger Moore have each had a go in New York, wearing the required guest attire of a wig and hoop skirt. (What’s British comedy without drag?) So back to the question: does British comedy translate these days? Well, there’s a postmodern gloss to these shenanigans, a self-conscious irony in gags as old as Stonehenge that might not take with everyone. But there’s also an innocent charm to the show, and heaven knows everyone–even Americans and tourists in Times Square–can use a good laugh these days.
GLOBAL BUZZ
IMPLAUSIBLE DENIABILITY: When asked to comment on NEWSWEEK INTERNATIONAL’s story concerning Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s role as a board director of ABB–the Zurich-based energy company that sold two light-water nuclear reactors to North Korea in 2000–Pentagon spokeswoman Victoria Clarke responded, “There was no vote on this issue and Secretary Rumsfeld does not recall [the sale of the reactors] being brought before the board at any time.” ABB has declined repeated requests to make board-meeting minutes available, but there is little doubt within ABB that its board members knew about the deal. In fact, ABB CEO Goran Lindahl visited North Korea himself in November 1999 to announce ABB’s “wide-ranging, long-term cooperation agreement” with the communist regime and announced the opening of an ABB office in Pyongyang. Board meetings attended by Rumsfeld were held before and after Lindahl’s visit to Pyongyang. ABB’s U.S. spokesman, Ronald Kurtz, notes that he would “find it hard to imagine how anyone on the board did not know about this deal–because of its political complexity.” And in the event that Rumsfeld simply nodded off to sleep every time the topic came up, ABB celebrated the deal with a January 2000 press release headlined: ABB TO DELIVER SYSTEMS, EQUIPMENT TO NORTH KOREAN NUCLEAR PLANTS. $200 MILLION IN ORDERS AWARDED UNDER MULTI-GOVERNMENT FRAMEWORK AGREEMENT. Surely even a board member totally uninterested in nukes–let alone Rumsfeld–would have read that.
THE FIFTH BEATLE? No matter that Beatles records were once banned as “ideological diversionism,” Cuba seems now to have gone Lennonist as well as Leninist. A park in Havana is dedicated to John Lennon (at its opening, Fidel Castro declared, “I, too, am a dreamer”), the former Beatle was recently accorded “revolutionary” status by the government and among the latest group of New York-based VIPs slated for a whirlwind three-night stay in Havana culminating with dinner (at about $6,500 a head) with Fidel Castro on April 11 is none other than Lennon widow Yoko Ono.
PULLING NO PUNCHES FOR PERVEZ: “Islam does not need a reformation, but most Islamic countries do,” says Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan’s former prime minister. Bhutto, who lives in exile in Dubai, reserves her harshest words for her nemesis, Pakistan’s President Pervez Musharraf. “He has passed five different laws to prevent me from entering Parliament. Yet he has allowed Mullah [Mohammed] Omar’s teacher and mujahedin who fought with the Taliban to be members of Parliament,” she says. Bhutto also thinks Osama bin Laden might be benefiting from Musharraf’s rule. “[Bin Laden] has many sympathizers in Pakistan and among Musharraf’s military,” she says. “It would not be helpful for Musharraf to arrest him in Pakistan.” According to her, Musharraf is playing a “very dangerous game,” which he will “be consumed by” in the end. Of course, that’s a fear she’s no doubt happy to stoke.
JERRY HALEVA You’d think now would be the ideal time to grab gigs impersonating Saddam Hussein. But Jerry Haleva–who has played the Iraqi despot in films like 1991’s “Hot Shots!” and last year’s “Live From Baghdad”–has decided to bench his act. NEWSWEEK’s Steve Friess asked Hollywood’s favorite Saddam double about his decision:
Why now?
In no way do I want my parody to trivialize the situation we’re in. It becomes much less funny.
You work with the AmericanIsrael Public Affairs Committee?
Yes, only in America could a nice Jewish boy get paid to make fun of Saddam.
When did you first notice the resemblance?
A picture appeared in the L.A. Times of Saddam in 1989. The sergeant-at-arms of the California Senate, where I worked, posted it with a caption, “Now we know what Haleva does on weekends.” The comments became more frequent. Ad Age ran my picture. That led to my role in “Hot Shots!”
Which Saddam is the real one?
I don’t know, but when I saw that tape with those horrible glasses, I thought, “I can do Saddam better than this guy.”
No problems going out in public?
Well, I was in D.C. when I noticed two Russian cabbies were giggling. One said, “I’m very sorry, but my friend and I think you look like somebody who is not very nice.” And I said, “It’s OK; I play him in movies.” His eyes widened and he said, “You’ve played Joseph Stalin?”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-15” author: “Catherine Vines”
Cha-Ching Cheney
The stock market may be suffering, but Operation Iraqi Freedom has sure been good for business at Halliburton, the Houston oil-services company famous for its former CEO, Dick Cheney. And the vice president hasn’t entirely severed his financial ties to the big Defense contractor. Even while Halliburton is scoring Army contracts that could top $2 billion, Cheney is still receiving annual compensation from the company he led from 1995 to August 2000, NEWSWEEK has learned.
When Cheney stepped down from Halliburton to run for vice president, he sold his company stock and gave profits from his stock options to charity. But he still had more compensation coming. Rather than taking it in a lump-sum payment of about $800,000, Cheney opted for “deferred compensation,” Wendy Hall of Halliburton tells NEWSWEEK. Cheney chose annual payments of “less than $180,000” from 2001 to 2005, says Hall, which offers a tax benefit. Cheney, through spokeswoman Cathie Martin, contends he has no financial ties to Halliburton because of an insurance policy he took out for the value of his deferred compensation, which means he will get paid even if the company goes under. “He has no financial interest in the success of the company,” says Martin, who adds that Cheney has no say in awarding Defense contracts. Indeed, NEWSWEEK learned last week that Halliburton is not a finalist for a $600 million reconstruction contract in Iraq.
But some Washington players are questioning the vice president’s ethics. Cheney should “sever all financial ties to Halliburton,” says Larry Noble of the capital’s nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics. “I don’t think this passes the smell test.” Congressman Henry Waxman, a California Democrat, complained to the Army last week about the contract Halliburton’s Kellogg, Brown & Root unit received in early March to fight Iraqi oil fires. The Army secretly awarded Halliburton the contract, which analysts say could be worth up to $1 billion, without receiving other bids. Waxman told NEWSWEEK that Cheney’s ties to Halliburton “raise a red flag.”
Cheney and Halliburton have a long history. While Defense secretary in the first Bush administration, Cheney awarded KBR the Army’s first private contract to manage troop tent cities. During the Clinton years Halliburton lost that contract after KBR came under fire for allegedly overcharging the government. But after Cheney was elected, KBR was again awarded the contract and has rung up $1.15 billion so far on the 10-year deal. The Army says it chose KBR for the fires because it was in Kuwait and could work fast. For Cheney, the political flames may just be getting started.
MIDDLE EAST
Finally, a Dealmaker?
Is a Middle East peace deal within reach? Last month’s selection of Abu Mazen as the first Palestinian prime minister has reinvigorated an effort led by the European Union, Russia, the United States and the United Nations to bring Palestinians and Israelis back to the bargaining table. Their so-called road map seeks to establish a provisional Palestinian state by the year-end and a full-fledged state by 2005. The key–Abu Mazen, deputy chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization and close aide to Yasir Arafat for the past 40 years. A nationalist and opponent of Zionism–he once wrote a paper disputing the scale –of the Holocaust–he’s nevertheless considered a potential peacemaker by his Israeli counterparts. Officials in Jerusalem say they’re pleased by his initial conciliatory gestures, including plans to induce Islamic Jihad and Hamas leaders to declare a ceasefire. “He is a pleasant surprise,” says one Sharon adviser. But many are skeptical that Abu Mazen can break the 30-month deadlock. Sharon, who’s vowed not to dismantle West Bank settlements and has offered Palestinians a state on only 40 percent of West Bank land, is unlikely to make the concessions the road map requires, experts say.
MILITARY
High Tech, Low Effect
The war in Iraq is undoubtedly the first major conflict of the Information Age. But that doesn’t mean that technology has entirely dominated the fighting. To be sure, U.S. precision bombing has lived up to its name, and battlefield commanders are armed with far more real-time data than ever before. Yet despite the hail of bombs falling on Baghdad, Saddam Hussein has continued to broadcast on Iraqi television, leading some to wonder why the Pentagon hasn’t used its much-heralded “E-bomb” to shut down his signal.
As NEWSWEEK and other publications reported a few weeks ago, the E-bomb emits a high-energy pulse that is supposed to cause lights to blink out, computers to freeze and phones to go silent. It hasn’t been dropped on Baghdad, however, because there is no E-bomb–at least operationally. Back in the spring of 2001, the Defense Department tested a device that succeeded in disabling electrical circuits by shooting out a microwave beam. But the so-called bomb was so big it’d take a truck, not a cruise missile, to haul it. And the beam’s range was so limited “you’d have to back the truck up against the target,” according to a source familiar with the program. The bottom line: “You might as well cut the [electrical] wires.” The Defense Department, to be fair, has always stressed the R&D nature of the E-bomb. In the avalanche of prewar hype, though, it’s small wonder that caveat was lost.
REFORM: Serbian Sweep
When reformist Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was assassinated on March 12, shock and despair permeated Belgrade. To many it seemed that despite the fall of Slobodan Milosevic in October 2000, the country was still controlled by his regime’s cronies, former paramilitary commanders and criminal overlords. But Djindjic, the so-called Serbian Kennedy, may be accomplishing more in his death than he could have hoped while alive–a long-awaited crackdown on the country’s most unruly elements.
Within hours of the prime minister’s death, police arrested one of Milosevic’s most malicious followers, Franko Simatovic, the founder of the JSO (a shadowy division of Milosevic’s secret service), on suspicion of being involved. Thousands of Slobo cronies have been arrested since. And the government has announced that it will entirely disband the JSO.
Experts in the region say that even Djindjic’s judicial reforms may finally see the light of day, given the popular outcry that has greeted his death. There were many reasons that Djindjic couldn’t finish off the “old system on all levels,” says Antonela Riha of B-92 Radio, a cherished voice of freedom during the Slobo days. “But this time, both people in the government and the citizens are too mad to allow [the corruption] to continue. This has to be the cutoff.”
TURKEY
A House Of Cards
Turkey didn’t just sour its political relations with Washington when it failed to approve U.S. troop deployments on its soil. It also broke a golden rule of business–never snub your major creditor. The result: Turkey now faces a major crisis of investor confidence. The United States had offered Ankara a compensation package worth $24 billion as a sweetener for its cooperation in the war, but is now putting only $1 billion on the table. Says Andrew Jeffreys, CEO of the Oxford Business Group, a regional analyst: “Turkish finance is always a high-wire act–and now they have no safety net.”
In the last fortnight the Turkish lira has dropped from 1.63 million to the dollar to as low as 1.73 million. Yields on domestic debt have risen from 63 percent to 75 percent. (The announcement of the new U.S. aid package brought them back down to 67 percent at the end of last week.) At those levels, even with the new package, Turkey will have to scramble to meet IMF targets of 20 percent annual inflation and raising government income by 5 percent. Failure to do so will hinder the disbursement of a vital $16 billion IMF package brokered last year. But the real ticking time bomb is the mountain of Turkish government debt. A staggering 87 percent of government income–$94.5 billion this year alone–goes to debt servicing, the bulk of it on the volatile and insanely expensive domestic debt market. Without the original U.S. deal, “Turkey’s economy is a real house of cards,” says an EU diplomat specializing in the Turkish economy. “There’s zero margin for error.” Turkey’s business elite are deeply worried that a new economic melt-down could knock the country off its pro-Western, EU-bound course altogether. “If we don’t come to our senses, Turkey will step back 50 years,” Tuncay Ozilhan, head of Turkey’s Industrialists’ and Businessmen’s Association, warned the government last week. The U.S.-led war on Iraq may yet achieve its stated goal of spreading democracy and prosperity in the region. But so far, in Turkey, it looks to have just the opposite effect.
MEDICINE
Super Drug?
If a salesman told you a single drug could cure headaches, obesity, sore muscles and even body odor, all for the low, low price of $300, you’d probably think he was selling snake oil. But many scientists now say there’s a drug that does all that and more–Botox. The poison that erases wrinkles may be an effective therapy for many of life’s other bodily indignities. Doctors are administering it for a wide range of ailments it isn’t approved for (yet). “People said using Botox off-label would be a waste of time,” says New York ear, nose and throat doctor Andrew Blitzer. “But a lot more patients are going to benefit.”
The most promising new use for Botox is as a headache treatment. It’s unclear how Botulinum toxin soothes an aching brain–it may inhibit the nerves that transmit pain–but large studies confirm that people get fewer headaches after being Botoxed. Blitzer cites a patient whose migraines kept her from work four days a month, despite conventional drug treatments. He injected Botox into her forehead, and she hasn’t had a migraine since. The drug also works for other chronic nonsinus headaches–doctors simply inject it under the skin, near the pain.
Because Botox weakens muscles, it may also be useful for treating disorders stemming from involuntary muscle clenching, like stroke-induced paralysis, incontinence caused by a spastic bladder and soreness and cramps. A few doctors have injected it into gastric muscle to make obese patients’ stomachs empty more slowly. The effect mirrors that of bypass surgery: patients feel full longer and eat less. Botox may even paralyze sweat glands, which offers hope for people with hyperhydrosis, or excessive, pathological sweating. As trials get underway for these unorthodox treatments, doctors are trying to convince insurers of their efficacy–and safety. Though the long-term effects of off-label Botox use are unknown, the toxin affects only the injected area, and it wears off after a few months. If it’s safe, it may really be a wonder drug.
MUSIC Get Your Rave On
The Raveonettes are surprising candidates to be the Next Big Thing in the United States. For one, they’re a Danish duo. Second, they play grunge-ish garage rock. Lastly, the vocals on the Raveonettes’ debut release, “Whip It On,” are not always in harmony–at least as Simon and Garfunkel would define the term–giving the songs an air of haunting mystery. “It’s music noir, kinda Hitchcockesque,” says guitarist-songwriter Sune Wagner. But despite all that, Wagner and bassist Sharin Foo are among the most eagerly awaited new acts across the Atlantic.
Unlike the rise of so many once unsung singers, this duo’s climb to the top has been pretty quick. The Raveonettes were discovered only last May. An endorsement by Rolling Stone magazine started the buzz going, and Columbia Records signed the pair in October. Weeks later they released the EP “Whip It On” in the United States as a teaser for their first full-blown album, “Chain Gang of Love,” which comes out in late summer in Britain and America. Whereas “Whip It On” is simplistic in its sound, written using only three guitar chords and extremely basic melodies, the Raveonettes seem to be branching out on “Chain Gang.” They’re even using four chords on some of the tracks, and are sounding a little like a maturing Nirvana. “We got sophisticated this time,” Foo says, chuckling.
FILM
Suicide on Celluloid
Not every-one is thrilled about the year’s hot celluloid trend–literary suicide. Nicole Kidman has been picking up awards for her portrayal of writer Virginia Woolf in “The Hours.” And Gwyneth Paltrow is wrapping up “Ted and Sylvia,” tentatively set for release this fall, where she plays poet Sylvia Plath, who gassed herself at the age of 30.
But Frieda Hughes, daughter of Plath and fellow poet Ted Hughes, was so upset about the prospect of her parents’ lives on film that she composed an angry 48-line poem for the March edition of Tatler: “Now they want to make a film/For anybody lacking the ability/To imagine the body, head in oven/Orphaning children.” She says that BBC producers kept pestering her to consult in the making of the film. “Why would I want to be involved in moments of my childhood which I never want to return to? I want nothing to do with this film,” Hughes told The Sunday Times recently.
Virginia Nicholson, the great-niece of Woolf and a writer herself, is equally un-happy with the depiction of Woolf’s suicide by drowning in 1941. “What are we trying to achieve here?” Nicholson said recently. “Maybe in terms of fiction this is OK, but we are talking about real people, so it is very difficult.” Film critic Alexander Walker says that during times of uncertainty, moviegoers are naturally drawn to sentimental depictions of strong characters struggling through difficult times. But Hughes and Nicholson seem to feel that silence is what’s golden.
WILL FERRELL
Comedian Will Ferrell made a name for himself spoofing President George W. Bush on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live,” but now he’s playing a raucous thirtysomething fraternity guy in the hilarious new movie “Old School.” NEWSWEEK’s Bret Begun quizzed Ferrell about his new role:
You have quite an extended streaking scene. You do any gluteal workouts in preparation?
I did nothing. When you have certain physical gifts, I think you should share them. I’ve gotten a lot of mileage out of this body.
How many takes did you do?
We were out there a good couple of hours. The street they chose to do it on had these storefronts. All of them were closed for the night except this 24-hour fitness place, and all the treadmills were up against the window. People started pointing, waving, saying, “Oh, that’s that guy from ‘Saturday Night Live’!” I’m in a robe until the final moment. Then I drop the robe and I hear “OH, MY GOD!” through the plate glass. By the third take, no one was on the treadmills.
When you decided to pursue acting, did your parents want a refund on their tuition money?
They’ve always been super- supportive. My dad’s a musician and an entertainer.
How did playing George W. Bush help you play a fraternity guy?
When I played Bush, I just imagined a fraternity guy trying to be president. I had to develop more interpersonal skills to play the frat guy.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-28” author: “Megan Calligan”
As a young man, Barzan al-Tikriti was “excessively violent and lazy,” say U.S. officials. As chief spy for his half-brother Saddam Hussein in the early 1980s, Barzan’s name was synonymous with cruelty: intelligence reports say he drank beer while watching prisoners being tortured. Later, Barzan allegedly became the Tikriti clan’s chief money washer. The Bush administration hopes his capture last week, along that of former Iraqi finance minister Hikmat Mizban Al-Azzawi, will lead to millions of dollars in Iraqi wealth stolen by Saddam–which the U.S. hopes to spend on rebuilding Iraq.
After serving as head of Iraqi intelligence in the mid-1980s, Barzan became Iraq’s ambassador to U.N. agencies based in Geneva. While there, he worked with European business contacts to set up a network of companies and bank accounts through which plundered Iraqi government and oil money was laundered, U.S. investigators believe. During the first Gulf War, then President George H.W. Bush launched a hunt for Saddam’s hidden treasure. But after freezing more than $1 billion in Western bank accounts, the U.S. gave up the search after the 1991 war ended.
Administration officials suspect large sums of illicit Iraqi money have moved through Syria, which for years helped Saddam’s government evade U.N. sanctions by operating a black market in Iraqi oil. International oil traders have also talked of illicit kickbacks paid to secret bank accounts in Jordan. U.S. officials note that Amman allowed Iraq’s biggest financial institution, the Rafidain Bank, to continue operating despite sanctions.
Investigators believe Barzan, Saddam and other family members still have large sums squirreled away. A December 2001 report by private detectives Kroll Associates U.K. alleged that millions in Al-Tikriti assets were being handled by Iraqi and Iranian businessmen in Switzerland (though a Kroll spokeswoman said that an allegation in the document that an Iraqi family in Switzerland controlled a $41.6 billion Saddam family “pension fund portfolio” was “a typo”–the figure should have been $1.6 billion). U.S. officials say that some Swiss-based financiers identified in the report are under American scrutiny. Among them are the Bakhtiar brothers, two Iranian-born traders who reportedly were treated by Saddam as “adopted sons.” One brother, Bahman Bakhtiar, confirmed meeting Saddam during the 1970s, but told NEWSWEEK his family stopped all business dealings in Iraq in 1990. An anti-Saddam group called “Indict” has asked Swiss authorities to charge Barzan with war crimes. Officials in Bern declined to investigate, but did cancel Barzan’s Swiss visa last October.
–Mark Hosenball
Haiti: That Vodou That You Do
Perhaps the beleaguered Haitian government is praying for whatever help it can get. Earlier this month, Port-au-Prince officially declared vodou a religion for the first time. Its priests (houngans) and priestesses (mambos) can now perform marriages, baptisms and other rites. “People say Haitians are 70 percent Catholic, 30 percent Protestant and 100 percent vodouist,” announced Minister of Culture Lilas Desquiron. “Vodou is the basis of all Haitian culture.”
Haiti’s historical relationship with vodou (often incorrectly spelled voodoo) has long been sensationalized, misunderstood and even denied. Throughout Haitian history, the powerful Roman Catholic Church has campaigned against vodou and most of the country’s governments have either tried to exploit its darker aspects or drive it to extinction. “Papa Doc” Duvalier, Haiti’s most notorious dictator, banned the practice but dressed in the likeness of Baron Samedi, the guardian of the graveyard, in order to terrify his subjects. As a result, Haitian vodouists have long felt compelled to disguise their beliefs.
Last week, as tens of thousands of Haitians throughout the country participated in the pilgrimage of Calvaire Miracle (Cavalry Miracle), they finally had something to cheer about. Now, says houngan Max Beauvoir from Port-au-Prince, the millions who practice vodou at the country’s 50,000 temples will feel more free to “come out into the open.” Beauvoir hopes that vodou might even “play a larger role in reconstructing” Haiti. After all, even though Haiti has neither an economy worth speaking of nor a functioning democracy, the world’s first independent black republic finally has a religion it can proudly call its own.
–Jane Regan
Art: Plundering the Precious
Among the scenes of chaos and looting that greeted the toppling of Saddam Hussein’s regime in Iraq, one story stood out–the ransacking of the National Museum in Baghdad. The theft sparked outrage around the world–much of it directed at U.S. troops for not safeguarding the museum–as well as offers to help recover the missing treasures. NEWSWEEK’s Malcolm Beith spoke to Philippe de Montebello, director of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, about the pillaging and the potential for recovery:
How did you feel when you heard of the looting?
My initial reactions were of total helplessness, despair and anger.
What are the most important pieces taken so far?
There seem to be conflicting reports. It would seem now that a number of vitrines that were photographed as empty were empty before the looters got there, that perhaps some of this material was put out of harm’s way in bank vaults. Clearly a great deal has been lost and taken, but how much, I don’t know. There are reports that professional criminal gangs were involved.
Do we really believe that three dozen multibillionaire recluses are building chateaux somewhere in South America waiting to fill them with this stuff and were prescient enough to order it in advance?
It’s science fiction.
Can such stolen works even find a market?
There is no market. The value is cultural and spiritual. They talk about the billions of dollars. What billions? None of the museums are buying, and if none of the major collectors are buying, we’re talking about arrowflints–we’re not talking about billions.
You have proposed an amnesty for the looters.
That is the only way. Nobody likes to compensate a thief, but are we thinking about punishment here or saving the heritage of mankind?
Has such a deal ever been brokered before?
I don’t know. Fortunately, there haven’t been too many cases like this.
What about Afghanistan?
Kabul was very different. There was great loss as well, but you didn’t have as much looting as you had calculated destruction.
Do you think anything will be done to prevent this in the future?
I am both a realist and a student of history. Mankind has never learned from history.
U.S.-Cuba: Cold War Heats Up
Cuba’s Fidel Castro looked to have won one last week. In Geneva, at the annual meeting of the 53-member U.N. Human Rights Commission, Havana escaped an amendment demanding the release of 75 Cuban dissidents who were arrested last month and sentenced to lengthy prison terms on dubious charges of collaborating with Washington. Instead the regime received a slap on the wrist, a resolution calling on Havana to allow a special investigator to visit the island.
In response, the Bush administration is reportedly considering a number of steps aimed at punishing Havana; among the measures under discussion are the suspension of direct charter flights between U.S. cities and Cuba and new restrictions on the transfer of cash payments to friends and family members still living on the island. But a less noted and equally important outcome of the Geneva vote is a growing discontent among some Cuban-American congressmen with Secretary of State Colin Powell and his diplomatic corps. These Republican lawmakers say that Washington should have lobbied harder within the U.N. human rights panel for the dissidents’ release. “The defeat of the amendment demonstrated a profound lack of interest, seriousness and rigor on the part of the U.S. State Department and its bureaucrats,” said Florida Congressman Lincoln Diaz-Balart in a written statement. No matter the new battles on the global stage, the cold war still boils on both sides of the Florida Straits.
–Joseph Contreras
PSYOP: Hip-Hop Hussein?
British and American intelligence agencies are falling over themselves to avoid taking credit for a rap-song parody lampooning Saddam Hussein that has been broadcast into Iraq by a clandestine radio station. The singer rhymes out a message in both English and Arabic to the tune of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise.” “If you don’t like me, I kill you. I am Saddam,” he raps. “Smoking weed and getting high/I know the devil is by my side… My days are finished and I will die/All I need is chili fries.”
The rap has apparently been broadcast since early April. It was overheard and translated by the BBC, which reported that the CIA was behind the spoof. But officials familiar with U.S. intelligence operations told NEWSWEEK that the CIA was not involved. Some U.S. sources suggested the rap was perhaps the work of Britain’s own secret intelligence, M.I.6, which is renowned for psychological warfare. A British government spokeswoman said, “We don’t talk about intelligence matters.”
Saddam is perfectly capable of spoofing himself. U.S. officials note that during a referendum campaign last year the Iraqi dictator used Whitney Houston’s “I Will Always Love You” as his theme song: “If I –should stay/I would only be in your way/So I’ll go… We both know I’m not what you need.”
–Suzanne Smalley and Mark Hosenball
Design: The German Way
In Germany, where gloom and anger over America’s willingness to wage war still simmers, a handful of artists are telling their compatriots to lighten up. Not that these fashion designers, painters and photographers are any less opposed to the idea of the United States’ wielding its military muscle around the world. They just believe that the peace movement’s message–preachy and self-righteous–is none too fashionable and a little stale.
Take the Hamburg artists’ cooperative Elternhaus, Maegde und Knechte. The group released a collection of limited-edition clothing items with quirky antiwar slogans. Designed as “art you can wear,” the clothes include a T shirt imprinted with the art nouveau Axis of Evil: iran iraq ikea. (The shirts were pulled from the shelves last week after its makers, surprised by the all the media attention, realized Ikea’s lawyers might not like the company identified as a potential target for B-52s.) “One of the things we’re trying to show is that you can have a sense of humor, be intelligent and still be opposed to war,” says painter Tetjus Tugel, cofounder of the Hamburg co-op.
The audience–mostly young cosmopolitans turned off by the peaceniks’ no-style grubby image–seems to appreciate the lighter tone. Berlin photographer Daniel Josefsohn’s offbeat jab at America’s high-tech Star Wars military–with two models dressed in boxers and storm-trooper helmets–received enough recognition to be included in a contemporary German photography exhibit at the National Library in Prague. Painter turned fashion designer Kirstin Palz, who now hawks Coalition combat jackets embroidered with silk antiwar imagery, says that for these urbanites, the style of the art is just as important as the message. Whether Washington will appreciate the humor is, of course, another story.
–Stefan Theil
Fine Arts: Bridge Between Two Cultures
When Japan vacated Korea in 1945, the fading empire left behind a number of its precious artworks. For the first time a rare assortment of those forgotten pieces–which had been sitting in Seoul for nearly 60 years–is on display in Tokyo. The Japanese Modern Art Collection from the National Museum of Korea contains 70 works from the 197 pieces originally collected by Yi Un, the last prince of Korea’s Choson dynasty. During the occupation, Japan forced Yi to buy modern Japanese art for a palace in Seoul, while demanding he push Korea’s homegrown work aside. The order was meant to underscore how “Korea [was] the past and Japan the present,” says the exhibition’s catalog.
Largely made up of wartime paintings and crafts, the show fills in gaps in the careers of some of Japan’s most renowned and beloved artists, like folk painter Kiyotaka Kaburaki. A hidden gem from Nampu Katayama, “Trout Net,” shows a school of fish caught amid gorgeous gold and white waves. Other decorative paintings feature beautiful women in kimonos, a once popular style now long out of vogue.
Though a thorny reminder of post-colonial tensions, Yi’s collection symbolizes how far the relationship between the two nations has come. The exhibit received a “surprisingly warm reception” when it debuted in Seoul last year, says Junichi Takeuchi, the director of the University Arts Museum in Tokyo. Yes, there were speed bumps on the way–like its postponement after South Korea accused Japan of glossing over the military occupation in school textbooks in 2001. But viewers will find it both esthetically and historically compelling, proof of the transcendent power of art over even history’s darkest chapters.
–Kay Itoi
Michael Chabon
Pulitzer prize- winning novelist Michael Chabon recently edited the new short-story anthology “McSweeney’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales.” NEWSWEEK’s Susannah Meadows spoke to Chabon about his own “thrilling” tale.
I don’t usually think of short stories as “thrilling.” What got you interested in stories with scary, exciting plots, surprise endings and so forth?
I had this decisive experience of reading for one of the annual short-story prize collections, and stupidly not getting around to it until three days before I had to have them all read. So I read all of these short stories in one big gulp.
And you wanted to shoot yourself.
Completely. I had already been having this growing sense of dissatisfaction with my own work, and sort of knowing why but not exactly. This really crystallized it for me. I sense a kind of malaise with the traditional short story.
In other words, the conventional literary short story is boring.
I’m not saying that I’m sick to death of short stories with epiphanies. I went back to my old anthologies and looked at the classic short stories from Edgar Allan Poe forward. What I saw was horror and ghost stories and science fiction, and it started me thinking, “Well, what about all that? Why aren’t we doing this anymore?” This is good stuff. It was good then. It’s still good. Things certainly haven’t gotten any less weird, horrifying, strange or fantastic.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-07” author: “Rebecca Hutton”
Since when have countries like Brazil and Russia become a safe investment bet? Since October of last year–that’s when global investors, frustrated with tanking stocks and low yields on U.S. and European bonds, began pouring money into emerging-market bonds at the rate of $83 million a week, up –from $11 million per week last year, hitting a record $218 million in the second week of April. Despite their track record of major meltdowns, Brazil, Mexico and Russia continue to attract money, and returns on emerging-market debt are up 21 percent since October.
It seems investors can’t figure out where else to make money these days. They fear the U.S. market won’t recover as fast as hoped, and that Germany and Japan will continue to limp along. In the short term, poorer nations are more insulated from war fallout than the developed world, and oil prices haven’t fallen enough to seriously hurt oil exporters (which have received more than 50 percent of the recent money going to emerging markets). A new government in Brazil is sounding the right notes, and investors seem to have more confidence in Russia.
Emerging markets have been stabilized by the changing profile of investors, who are increasingly global pension funds and insurance companies rather than smaller hedge funds or locals. Nonetheless, analysts are becoming concerned about a correction. Argentina, Russia and Nigeria have upcoming elections, which can increase volatility as well as change the economic outlook. And if a flood of Iraqi oil forces prices much lower, growth in key countries like Russia may be checked. “We are growing a bit uncomfortable with how much and how fast our market has run,” wrote Merrill Lynch emerging-market strategist Tulio P. Vera in a recent report.
–Rana Foroohar
Espionage: Code Name: Parlor Maid
An accused Chinese double agent who was having long-term sexual affairs with two veteran FBI counterintelligence agents was a key source for a special Justice Department campaign-finance task force, NEWSWEEK has learned. Set up six years ago to investigate an alleged Chinese plot to influence U.S. lawmakers, the task force has since disbanded: it was never able to prove the Chinese government was behind millions of dollars in suspect campaign contributions to former president Bill Clinton and members of Congress during the 1990s. But last week’s arrest of Los Angeles businesswoman Katrina Leung–an accused spy whose code name was Parlor Maid–has prompted an intense FBI review to determine if she compromised highly sensitive counterintelligence investigations, including the campaign-finance probe.
Leung, sources say, was the task force’s chief source on prime target Ted Sioeng, a suspected Chinese “agent of influence” whose family and businesses contributed $250,000 to the Democratic Party in 1996 and an additional $100,000 to a California GOP Senate candidate. Leung and Sioeng (who sat next to Al Gore at his Buddhist-temple fund-raiser that year in Los Angeles) were “close friends,” one source says.
Task-force prosecutors hoped to use Leung to lure Sioeng back into the United States in the spring of 1997. But the ruse failed–apparently because Sioeng got suspicious–and the case collapsed. Now FBI officials want to know if Leung sabotaged the probe and was actually protecting Sioeng.
If so, it was only one of many embarrassments flowing from the Leung affair. She is already being touted as the “Mata Hari” of Chinese espionage. A highly compensated FBI “asset” (she had been paid $1.7 million for services and expenses since 1983), Leung stands accused of purloining classified documents from the briefcase of her bureau “handler,” former L.A. agent J. J. Smith, with whom she was having a long-term affair, and turning them over to the Chinese.
Leung was simultaneously having sexual relations with another FBI agent, William Cleveland, who resigned last week as a top security official at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Sources tell NEWSWEEK that the FBI first suspected Leung in 1991 when she tipped off her Chinese handler (code-named Mao) to a sensitive FBI “security survey” of U.S. diplomatic missions in China. But Smith vouched for her, and the FBI kept Leung on the payroll. “I’m absolutely astounded they kept her as a source,” said ex-agent I. C. Smith, who headed the 1991 survey. “This strikes me as a monumental management failure.” Lawyers for Smith and Leung say they will contest the charges and argue that her real loyalties were to the United States, not China, making her in effect a triple agent.
–Michael Isikoff
Middle East: Arafat Aims at Abu Mazen
With the war winding down in Iraq, Palestinians are hoping Britain and the United States will now turn to forcing a peace initiative on Israel. But Yasir Arafat may not be helping matters. The Palestinian leader has been thwarting efforts by newly named Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas to appoint a cabinet, Palestinian officials tell NEWSWEEK. Israelis say that’s a sign Arafat hasn’t relinquished authority–a precondition set by both Washington and Tel Aviv. As long as he monopolizes power, say officials in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s government, Israel is not ready to engage.
Abbas (better known by his moniker, Abu Mazen) has tapped a few technocrats to replace cronies and party hacks who served under Arafat. He’d particularly like to be rid of Hani al-Hassan, the Palestinian in charge of security agencies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Officials close to Abbas say al-Hassan has blocked key security reforms and worked hand in hand with Tanzim, the Arafat-aligned militia behind much of the violence against Israel in the past 30 months. But Arafat sees al-Hassan as a loyalist and wants him in. “Arafat doesn’t trust Abu Mazen and he doesn’t like sharing power. So every new appointment becomes a battle,” says one PLO insider. After a series of run-ins with the Palestinian leader, Abbas told friends last week he was ready to quit. If he follows through, some people believe the real winner would be Sharon, who’s worried a new peace plan would force him to make real concessions to the Palestinians. The Israeli leader seems to prefer detours on the road to the bargaining table. Arafat seems ready to oblige him.
–Dan Ephron,with Arian Campo-Flores, Kevin Peraino and MarkHosenball
Iraq: C’est Vrai?
The French government insists that it has strictly enforced a tight embargo imposed on Saddam Hussein’s regime by the United Nations in 1990. But Saddam never lost his taste for French weapons or luxury goods. And evidence found by U.S. troops on the ground in Iraq suggests that–despite U.N. sanctions–the dictator continued to receive an abundant supply of both until very recently.
Lt. Greg Holmes, a tactical intelligence officer with the Third Infantry Division, told NEWSWEEK that U.S. forces discovered 51 Roland 2 missiles, made by a partnership of French and German arms manufacturers, in two military –compounds at Baghdad International Airport. One of the missiles he examined was labeled 05-11 knd 2002, which he took to mean that the missile was manufactured last year. The charred remains of a more modern Roland 3 launcher was found just down the road from the arms cache. According to a mortar specialist with the same unit, radios used by many Iraqi military trucks brandished made in France labels and looked brand-new. RPG night sights stamped with the number 2002 and French labels also turned up. And a new Nissan pickup truck driven by a surrendering Iraqi officer was manufactured in France as well.
U.S. soldiers who moved into one of Saddam’s sumptuous palaces found a treasure house of less-deadly French goodies. Sets of Baath Party-logo silverware were marked made in France on the back. And the palace was littered with the French cigarette brands Gauloise and Gitane. There were even packages of white French underwear.
Political conservatives on Capitol Hill are already fuming at this new evidence of possible French perfidy, though French officials deny wrongdoing. A French Embassy spokeswoman insists that the Roland 2 missile was an old model that the manufacturer stopped making years ago, though she admits the Roland 3 is a newer model. She says the Chirac government’s position is that new goods from France found in Iraq were probably illegal deliveries that Saddam purchased on a marcheparallel, or black market.
–With Arian Campo-Flores and Kevin Peraino in Iraq and Mark Hosenball in Washington
Science: DNA’s Second Draft
James Watson is having a heck of a month. On April 2, he celebrated the 50th anniversary of the Nature article in which he and Francis Crick revealed the structure of DNA to the world. Then, 16 labs joined this week to release the full results of his other opus, the Human Genome Project. Wait a minute, you say, didn’t they already do that? Sort of. The sequence announced Monday is far more complete, with only 300 gaps, compared with 30,000 in the June 2000 version. With most of the holes filled in, scientists are expected to lay out a plan for forthcoming research at a two-day symposium, starring none other than Watson, the HGP’s chief proponent. The proposed studies, according to a paper in this week’s Nature, will focus on how genes interact with proteins, influence behavior and vary between populations. The hope is that the research will usher in new medical treatments and a better understanding of the species. The paper concludes with a quote advising scientists to “make big plans; aim high in hope and work.” Hey, it worked for Watson.
–Mary Carmichael
Campaigning: Animals vs. Animosity
By now, the American campaign to win the hearts and minds of the Arab Street is past cliche. What about first working on the Yankee Street and its often distorted view of the Arab world? Kentucky native Michael Kirtley has a suggestion: camels across America.
Dismayed by the rift between the United States and the Middle East after September 11, Kirtley wants to remind folks of their “common humanity.” Hence the Friendship Caravan: a traveling cultural exhibit of performers, academics, Arabian horses and, of course, camels. He envisions this “nonpolitical” and diverse troupe trekking across the United States after the fighting in Iraq ends, stopping for photo ops with politicians and discussions with the locals. To drum up support, Kirtley held a reception at Bahrain’s Washington embassy last month. “It’s a fresh idea,” says Shaikh Khalifa Bin Ali Al-Khalifa, Bahrain’s ambassador to the United States. “I [just] do my little part.”
Can a few camels mend the clash of civilizations? “Americans care more about animals than anything else,” says Timothy Mitchell, director of the Center for Near Eastern Studies at New York University. “But the caravan will probably do more for the image of camels than the image of Arabs.”
Some are concerned that parading camels through the heartland may reinforce stereotypes. Jean Abinader, managing director of the Arab American Institute, disagrees. Sure, the caravan is the brainchild of a “white guy,” but, he says, it can still personalize the experience of Arabs and Muslims for the American public. “They are going to touch it, they’re going to smell it,” says Abinader. “It has a lot more staying power than a newspaper ad.” If all goes well, the caravan will set out from Los Angeles, then head east to New York. Humps today, hearts tomorrow.
–Michael Hastings
High Tech: Arabic for Anyone
Recently an American Special Operator appeared in a desolate Iraqi town and approached a group of local children. He lifted a device about the size of a Palm PDA to his lips. “Do you know where the command bunker is?” he asked. A computer chip recognized the English, converted it to Arabic and spat the words out of speakers. Soon he knew what enemy soldiers in the area were wearing, where they had hidden their weapons and in which direction they had gone. Much has been made of U.S. precision-guided bombing, but technology has also enhanced human interaction in Iraq. The Phraselator, which has facilitated intelligence gathering and medical treatment, too, may become standard for all GIs. The military has placed about 100 of the experimental translators, able to store up to 30,000 phrases–including “Stop or I’ll shoot!” “Where does it hurt?” and “Can you show me that on this map?”–in the field. The device can be programmed to speak Urdu, Arabic, even Chinese. Right now it works only one way: those answering must respond using hand signals. But the Pentagon already has a two-way version in development. Let the conversation begin.
–Adam Piore
Cinema: The Passions of History
Even before its release, Atom Egoyan’s new film, “Ararat,” revived a controversy with a long and bitter history: a massacre of Armenians by Turks in 1915. After its premiere at Cannes last year, Egoyan and the film’s distributor, Miramax, were flooded with threatening e-mails from Turks who maintain the massacre never happened.
Egoyan, an Armenian-Canadian director, is no stranger to disputes over his work. His 1994 film “Exotica” was about a father’s obsession with a stripper who resembled his dead teenage daughter. The Oscar-nominated “The Sweet Hereafter” explored a small town’s loss of innocence after a devastating school bus crash.
“Ararat” hits on another sensitive topic: who determines our historical narratives? The Ottoman Army murdered the inhabitants of the ancient Armenian capital, Van, and sent the survivors on a forced march that left more than a million dead. Today the Turks dispute that number, saying the casualty count was closer to 500,000 and that the dead were victims of war. In 1987 the European Parliament passed legislation declaring the act a genocide.
“Ararat” gets at the past through the present. One of the film’s characters is a fictional director whose mother died at Van. His project, a personal movie about the massacre, is painted as the ham-handed creation of a director with a black-and-white view of history. It’s a clever trick: by distancing “Ararat” from the emotive event itself, Egoyan succeeds where his character is meant to fail. His film pushes this fraught debate beyond its opponents’ simplistic view of the past, bringing sensitivity and nuance to a painful subject.
–Tara Pepper
Courteney Cox
This fall, in addition to starring in the final season of “Friends”–really, truly, this is absolutely it, supposedly–Courteney Cox will executive-produce a reality show called “Mix It Up,” a home-design program for the WE: Women’s Entertainment TV channel. NEWSWEEK’s Marc Peyser figured he had better talk to her while she still had some free time.
Can we really believe next year is the end of “Friends”?
You can really believe it. It’s time.
Wasn’t it time this year?
We all thought that when we came to work, but time goes fast and all of a sudden you’re thinking, wow, I can’t imagine it being over and we’re not going to be together. I’m sure we’ll have that feeling next year, but we’ve all made a pact and said this is definitely it.
And you didn’t have a pact last year?
We didn’t talk about it. We just thought it was going to be over, but we didn’t sit down and say, how do you feel, how do you feel? We just assumed it was going to be the last year. This time, we know it is.
How are you going to juggle all these shows?
I’m happier when I’m busy. Someday, hopefully, I’ll be a mom, a producer–and I clearly want to act.
A mom?
Yeah, that’s a definite.
Soon?
I would not wait. I think people can do it all.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-23” author: “Arthur Johnson”
The foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany last week congratulated themselves for persuading Iran’s ruling ayatollahs to “suspend” a suspected uranium-enrichment program and allow international inspection of dubious nuclear sites. But in Washington, even moderate Bush advisers question whether Iranian ministers and clerics who agreed to the deal have the power to deliver Tehran’s end of the bargain.
U.S. officials say some of the latest intelligence coming out of Iran is so alarming that even State Department diplomats who have favored talking with –the ayatollahs now wonder who in Tehran can be trusted. Some U.S. officials fear the Iranian government has now splintered into three major factions: a reformist, or “moderate” faction, personified by the elected president, Mohammed Khatami; a hard-line faction, led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the supreme religious leader, and an ultra-hard-line faction of no-name spooks and extremist clerics who secretly pursue radical policies, such as the clandestine support of terrorists, in a way that gives public hard-liners “deniability.” British and U.S. officials also say that some recent intelligence from secret agents indicates that Iran may have released from custody–or even “expelled”–several top Qaeda leaders arrested over the past year, including Qaeda military chief Saif Al-Adel and Osama bin Laden’s son Saad. But doubts hang over the status of the Qaeda big shots: their release has not been confirmed by electronic intercepts, and CIA analysts believe some are still in Iranian custody. The lack of reliable intel has deepened paralysis over Iran policy inside the Bush administration. Although the Pentagon and State Department, normally enemies, now appear to embrace the same skeptical attitude toward Iran, antagonisms remain so intense that the rival bureaucracies still accuse each other of trying to open secret channels to Tehran behind the other’s back.
Even the parties to the nuclear agreement last week admit the Iranians have a long way to go to prove they deserve Western trust. “The irony is that the case against Iran is far more compelling” than prewar evidence suggesting Saddam Hussein had an active nuclear-weapons program, said one Western diplomat. The diplomat says the rest of the world believes that Washington cried wolf over Saddam’s WMD and is now reluctant to credit similar U.S. warnings about Iran.
–Mark Hosenball and Babak Dehghanpisheh
Gifts: Lost in Translation
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is always up on the news. So when it came time to exchange gifts during President George W. Bush’s visit to Japan, Koizumi may have recalled a recent incident in which Bush accidentally dropped his Scottish terrier Barney headfirst onto an airport tarmac. Last week in Tokyo, when Bush gave the Japanese leader custom-made cowboy boots, Koizumi reciprocated with a dog: the robot kind. Made by the creator of Pokemon, the electronic animal–called Dog.com–is equipped with multiple personalities. It walks, sits and wags its tail. It can respond to voice commands and reacts when scratched in different places.
Aboard Air Force One from Tokyo to Manila, Bush and his staff tried to bond with his new pet–only to discover that the dog understands only Japanese, says a Bush aide. Like members of Congress, he says, the dog “responds to different commands, but none that we gave.”
–Tamara Lipper
Tech: Buying’s Back!
Could the three-year tech slump finally be over? There are recent indications that it might just be. This summer, top tech consultancy International Data Corp. announced that it expected IT spending to grow 4 percent annually over the next four years. And last week, Gartner, another well-respected technology consulting group, issued one of the most bullish prognoses in some time, calling for a “big turn” in 2004. According to Gartner, global tech spending, which is expected to rise less than 3 percent this year, should grow 5.4 percent next year and then around 5 percent each year through 2007. It’s still a far cry from the double-digit surge of the late ’90s–but a step in the right direction nonetheless. The leading companies are no longer concentrating solely on cost cutting, says Gartner, and once again, they’re buying technological equipment that boosts productivity. “We’re seeing companies put together projects that are more visionary and growth oriented,” says Gartner procurement-strategy analyst Andy Kyte.
Of course, there are naysayers, even within the industry. In a recent Goldman Sachs survey of 100 top IT managers in the United States, nearly half did not foresee an uptick in spending until the second half of 2004, or even later. But as the U.S. economy gradually pulls itself out of a recession and the global economy takes a turn for the better, news like Gartner’s offers a glimmer of optimism that just might cause the most reluctant of IT managers to throw their caution to the wind–and open up their wallets again like the rest of their peers.
–Karen Lowry Miller
Science: Fab Fungi
Holy shiitake! That–in short, unscientific terms–is the reaction of researchers hunting for potential new medicines in mushrooms. Tests in lab dishes indicate that fabulous fungi with names like lion’s mane and turkey tail harbor novel antiviral and antibacterial compounds. Even the United States’ National Institutes of Health is interested, funding the screening of mushrooms for agents to fight SARS and West Nile virus. “It’s completely irrational that we haven’t looked here before,” says Dr. Andrew Weil, the United States’ leading proponent of integrative medicine. “The greatest success of the pharmaceutical industry in the 20th century–antibiotics–came from molds, which are closely related.” No new drugs have emerged yet from the research. But use of supplements is, excuse us, mushrooming, with sales of general immune boosters like maitake, shiitake, reishi and cordyceps up as much as 300 percent since last year. Better yet, says Weil, try a blend like Host Defense from New Chapter. With flu season at hand, it couldn’t hurt.
–Anne Underwood
Russia: From Boom to Bust?
Mikhail Khodorkovsky, CEO of Russia’s giant Yukos Oil Co., has attracted the wrath of the law of late. Prosecutors have been circling Yukos, detaining top billionaire stockholders, raiding offices and, in the process, casting a pall over a company that has become a darling of foreign investors–and a symbol of Russia’s comeback in international financial markets. And on Saturday, they arrested Khodorkovsky himself, charging the billionaire with fraud and tax evasion in excess of $1 billion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin says law enforcement is acting on its own. But few believe him. After all, the same ritual of dramatic arrests, lengthy questionings and televised office searches has played out with previous out-of-favor oligarchs. And no one denies that Khodorkovsky made himself a tempting target. As word of his arrest flashed through Moscow, Kremlinologists offered two explanations for the take-down. One holds that top law- enforcement officers are squeezing Yukos in hopes of grabbing a stake in its revenues. Another focuses on Khodorkovsky’s political activities–unabashedly funding liberal opposition parties in the run-up to December’s parliamentary elections and the presidential ballot in March. Putin, the thinking goes, is exacting his revenge and teaching other oligarchs a lesson. “It is very personal,” says political analyst Andrei Piontkovsky.
Whatever the motivation, the consequences could be huge, not just for Russia as a democracy but for its standing in world energy and financial markets. ExxonMobil is reportedly considering a merger with Yukos, worth as much as $25 billion. Would such a deal go ahead with the company in dire straits? ExxonMobil would not comment. “It is not a fatal blow,” says a Yukos company insider. “But, yes, it could be a serious obstacle.”
More important is the potentially chilling effect on Russia’s investment climate. The Russian stock market has been hitting new highs in recent weeks. Investors are flocking and talk of a new boom is in the air. Russian stocks fell across the board last week when authorities raided Yukos’s offices. If the government’s prosecution of the company raises questions about the sweeping industrial privatizations that are the basis of the country’s economic recovery, the costs for the country could be high indeed.
Putin’s calculation seems to be that foreign investors value stability above all, and that so long as the Yukos affair is seen as an isolated case–as he says it is–the economic fallout will be minimal. Meanwhile, there’s no mistaking the political advantage Putin is reaping at home. The country’s wealthy oligarchs are roundly hated, and bashing them is good election politics. As part of its Yukos investigation, the government last week also raided the offices of the opposition Yabloko party, half of whose budget comes from Khodorkovsky. Agents seized not just records but also $700,000 in cash–possibly putting the party out of contention in its race to win the 5 percent vote it needs to stand in Parliament. Yabloko’s head, Grigory Yavlinsky, was bitter about Saturday’s events–and not optimistic about what they portend for Russian democracy. “They are using repressive methods for political ends,” he says. “Just the way Stalin did.”
–Frank Brown and Michael Meyer
Art: Coming to America
New York’s Asia Society recently launched an ambitious exhibit of Iranian art–but none of the 75 works comes from Iran. The pieces that make up “Hunt for Paradise: Court Arts of Iran, 1501- 1576,” are originally from Iran, but none is on loan from the Islamic republic.
Surprisingly, this is through no fault of Iran, which was willing. An American trade embargo allows for little to be brought into the United States from the country other than carpets less than 100 years old and pistachios. And after President Bush’s Axis of Evil speech and the invasion of Iraq, the museum didn’t even try to persuade the State Department to let it import works from the Islamic republic. “We didn’t count on the political winds’ changing,” says museum director Vishakha Desai. “We didn’t have a chance.”
So how’d they pull it off? Since Iranian art has been popular among royals and private collectors since the 17th century, there were plenty of pieces outside Iran. Not that it was easy persuading foreign collectors to lend to a museum in a city that was a recent target of terrorist attacks. But by pitching in on the restoration of certain pieces and filling in gaps with items from the Metropolitan, the museum proved that one can put together an insightful Iranian exhibit without borrowing from Iran itself. The pieces it secured–carpets, textiles, manuscripts and ceramics–are exquisite. And ambitious viewers can still have a look at Iranian loans. The exhibit travels to Milan in March; Italy has diplomatic relations with Iran.
–Elise Soukup
Photography: Old Pictures, But Surprisingly New
We know what you’re thinking: not another photobook of the Beatles or President Kennedy. After all, are there any images of either John that we haven’t seen before? Surprisingly, there are. Two new books outthis fall should satisfy any self-respecting Camelot or Fab Four junkie. “John Fitzgerald Kennedy: A Life in Pictures” celebrates the charismatic and glamorous president, while Scottish photojournalist Harry Benson’s “Once There Was a Way” documents his time spent on the road with the Beatles from “Ed Sullivan” to one of their final concerts in 1966. The books share exclusive offerings that are intimate and exquisite. OK, we’ll buy these. But no more!
–Nicki Gostin
Theater: Jackman’s ‘Oz’ Fest
Hugh Jackman turned heads as the hunk in “Swordfish” and a whole lot more as Wolverine in the “X-Men” movies. Now he’s wowing Broadway in “The Boy From Oz.” Jackman plays the undisguisedly gay disco-era darling Peter Allen, the Australian singer-songwriter who was discovered by Judy Garland and then later wed her daughter Liza Minnelli before dying of AIDS in 1992. Jackman slips inside the Hawaiian-shirted, booty-shaking skin of his fellow Aussie with carefree flair and high-voltage charm. He’s a better dancer than Allen, and can belt his songs out of the park. Jackman’s exuberant performance is a gallant gesture to his countryman, whose outback-to-riches saga made him an Australian legend. Judging from the audience response–when Jackman takes off his shirt in Act II, he’s greeted with applause, whistles and a lascivious purring sound rare to Broadway–an even bigger Oz legend is in the making.
–David Ansen
Diane Johnson
In 1997, Diane Johnson’s “Le Divorce,” a comedic novel set in Paris about an American woman dumped by her French husband, became an international best seller. Now it’s a Hollywood flick, starring Kate Hudson and Naomi Wattsand directed by James Ivory. NEWSWEEK’s Dana Thomas spoke to Johnson about watching her words bemoviefied:
Did you have any say on the script?
Once in a while they would ask me about a line, but otherwise I didn’t have much of a role, which suited me fine. I’m not really a director manquee. Directing seems like hard and boring work.
What about the casting?
Winona Ryder was talked up for Roxie, and then she shoplifted and was gone. After that, every time I mentioned someone, the idea was dismissed. “Gwyneth Paltrow”? “Passe.” I brought up another actress and they said, “Weight problem.”
What was it like to see your tale projected on the big screen?
Ismail Merchant and James Ivory work intimately on location in small spaces. So it’s quite amazing when you see the full force of a Hollywood movie on the big screen. We went to the premiere in L.A., which was very Hollywood, with stretch limos and paparazzi.
Grist for a new novel?
Oh, no. Hollywood novels are far too hard to write.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-02” author: “Robert Waddle”
Savagery in Istanbul
Who bombed the synagogues in Istanbul? Despite initial claims of responsibility from an obscure Turkish Islamic fundamentalist group known as the Islamic Great Eastern Raiders’ Front, or IBDA-C, Turkish security sources are pointing the finger at an outside organization such as Al Qaeda. The IBDA-C is a tiny group whose leaders are mostly in jail–in its heyday in the early 1990s it was known for firebombing liquor shops and for a botched assassination of a prominent Jewish businessman. It’s unlikely, Turkish security sources tell NEWSWEEK, that the group has the sophistication to mount a coordinated attack like last Saturday’s, which killed 24 and injured more than 300, including six Jews killed and 60 wounded.
There were warnings of a possible Qaeda strike on Jewish targets in Istanbul as early as a fortnight before the attacks. Several threats were phoned in to members of the Jewish community, while recent public statements by Al Qaeda warned of attacks against U.S., Israeli and Jewish installations, specifically naming Turkey as one of the targets. Turkish authorities increased the already tight security around Istanbul’s synagogues. The Jewish community canceled most high-profile gatherings like weddings and bar mitzvahs.
Still, the precautions didn’t stop the attackers, who used car bombs for the first time in the long history of terrorism in Turkey–an important clue that the attack could have been the work of an outside group. Another clue is that there’s never been much homegrown anti-Semitism in Turkey, which has enjoyed generally excellent relations with its Jewish community ever since the Ottomans invited Jews to Istanbul after they were expelled from Spain in 1492. Turkey is one of the very few Muslim countries with a significant Jewish minority who are prominent in public life.
Ordinary Turks are horrified. Residents of Galata, the historic and bohemian neighborhood that was the scene of one of the bombings, organized a spontaneous demonstration to show solidarity with their Jewish neighbors. “We want to show that we’re not with those people who carried out this attack,” says Gulen Guler, a teacher who lives around the corner from the Neve Shalom Synagogue.
The blasts may damage Turkey’s vital tourism industry, but Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan promised George W. Bush that they won’t shake Turkey’s longstanding friendships with America and Israel. If anything, the bombings confirm that fundamentalists regard secular, pro-Western Turkey as a legitimate bull’s-eye. In a perverse way, that confirms what Republican Turkey has always wanted–to stand shoulder to shoulder with the West against the forces of radical, obscurantist Islam.
Clinton II
Some dreams never die, including one clung to by loyal Clintonistas: that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton will be the Democrats’ presidential nominee next year. Is there a chance she would get into the race? “That depends on what you mean by ‘get into the race’,” one of her closest friends and advisers explained to NEWSWEEK.
The scenario, as sketched by this hard-boiled insider, calls for Clinton to make an entrance as healer and unifier at the end of the primary season in May or –June in the unlikely–but not impossible–event that none of the existing contenders has amassed a majority of the convention delegates. Under party rules, delegates are bound to vote at the convention for the candidate under whose banner they were elected in the primaries–but only on the first ballot. Party and elected officials–the so-called superdelegates–are free to shift allegiance, and could form an instant core of Clinton support.
In the meantime, Sen. Clinton isn’t ducking the campaign limelight. She was the headliner hostess at last Saturday’s Jefferson-Jackson Day Dinner in Iowa, where the first-in-the-nation caucuses will be held next January. Clinton logged lots of time at the podium, introducing each of the contenders. “It was set up to make her the star,” groused one campaign manager. She would have been anyway, another Clinton insider said. “She has the star power and they don’t. Here’s the way things stack up now,” he said. “The Republicans in the White House want Howard Dean to win the nomination. The Democrats in Washington want Dick Gephardt or John Kerry or even Wes Clark to win the nomination. And the media? The media is hoping and praying Hillary ends up with the nomination. Why? Because she’s a great story. Always has been and always will be.”
TECHNOLOGY
Busted Up
Last week more than 220 armed agents of Germany’s Federal Crime Office, tax authorities and local police joined in a nationwide blitz against a suspected software-piracy ring. Raiding more than 70 sites, the feds confiscated a bounty of expensive watches, computers and 10 flashy cars. Police arrested or detained 10 people on charges of commercial fraud and copyright violation, froze their bank accounts and started to seize assets overseas. They hauled away 16 million worth of fake software in hundreds of boxes filled with CD-ROMs, primarily for Microsoft Office and Windows. (Microsoft declined to comment.)
Sources close to the investigation tell NEWSWEEK that the alleged ring is believed to have pushed some $200 million in software products last year, a chunk of the $934 million in illegal business software believed to have been sold in Germany. The bust, in fact, may be the greatest single catch of illegal software resellers in Europe. Another major coup may lie in the detailed info expected to be revealed about the functioning of these operations, which cost software companies $13.1 billion a year worldwide.
NEWSWEEK sources say many ring members escaped detection for 13 years because they also ran legitimate companies and lived modestly in small towns. The alleged kingpin is a ranking chess player who, sources say, kept the group a few moves ahead of the police. One con: holding bogus contests for students, then using the names of contestants to get steep student discounts on CDs. With a hair dryer, a copy machine, a printer and shrink-wrap, one person could repackage 200 of these in a day and sell them for more than double the discounted price.
Vatican Watch: The Wagers of Sin
Gamblers looking to the Vatican these days may be surprised to find temptation rather than redemption. Concern for Pope John Paul II’s health has fueled a boomlet in online gambling and a cottage industry for Vatican pundits, all marking up shortlists of candidates to be the next head of the Roman Catholic Church.
Speculation on who’s most “papabile” revolves around the 135-member-strong College of Cardinals. Bookmakers say the bets range from small wagers like 10 to 12 all the way up to #8364300. A clear favorite is 69-year-old Italian Dionigi Tettamanzi, the archbishop of Genoa. Seventy-one-year-old Nigerian Francis Arinze, who, if elected, would be the first black pope, is a solid 6-1 contender. But Vatican watchers say the holy men from Latin America are also safe bets, like Cuban Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino (4-1) and Colombian Cardinal Dario Castrillon Hoyos (10-1). If you’re looking for a long shot, Australian Cardinal Edward Cassidy gets a consistent 66-1. According to Paddy Power, who runs a gambling site, many of the bets are coming from the clergy itself. “I suspect some of them have had a wager and will be praying for the right results,” he says. The Vatican condemns the gambling, and referred NEWSWEEK to the church ruling of 1591, when Pope Gregory XIV banned “all wagering on papal election or when [a] cardinal would be named and who.”
Merge to The Music
Britney Spears has strutted her stuff on stage with Aerosmith before, but now the superstars’ respective record labels are planning a duet of their own. Last week BMG and Sony announced a deal that would meld the world’s second and fifth largest music companies into the dominant industry player. Two other global music giants, Time Warner and EMI, also have merger plans on the table, and if both deals go through, 75 percent of the music industry will be run by only three companies.
That’s not necessarily music to the ears of European and U.S. antitrust regulators. The European Union scuppered EMI’s planned merger with Warner in 2000, and with BMG just a year later. This time, however, conditions have become more dire. The global music market has been shrinking drastically; sales of top-10 albums in the United States fell 17 percent in 2002, on top of a 33 percent drop the year before. Labels have been hit by massive layoffs and underperforming acts earlier this year haven’t helped. Analysts say at least one merger is likely to go through, and wouldn’t be surprised if both do.
Fellini’s Hidden Talent
Who knew he could draw, too? On the 10th anniversary of Federico Fellini’s death, Italy has sent a collection of the beloved filmmaker’s rarely seen illustrations to New York’s Guggenheim Museum as the centerpiece of a film retrospective. The sketches, warm and whimsical, reveal the lively wit and compassionate humor that were to become the hallmarks of such films as “La Dolce Vita” and “Amarcord.”
Fellini began drawing cartoons in his hometown of Rimini, where as a poor teenager he exchanged caricatures of film stars for tickets to the local cinema. In 1944 he established a photography and caricature shop in Rome; among those who sought out his work was director Roberto Rossellini, who later influenced Fellini’s films. Eight years later Fellini ventured into filmmaking with sketches for his own first film, “The White Sheik.”
Throughout his life Fellini continued to draw. On panels throughout “Fellini!” (which runs through Jan. 14), he explains his artistic process: “I’ve best been able to conceptualize the characters for my films by drawing them. As I draw, they take on a life of their own. In my films I make them moving pictures, having found actors to give them life.” Then he turned around and celebrated those performers through caricatures: Anita Ekberg, Anna Magnani, his wife and collaborator Giulietta Masina and comedian Toto are all immortalized here.
Fellini’s famous women are depicted as voluptuous muses. Many are featured in hilarious erotic drawings amid humongous breasts and penises. Some drawings reflect an aging artist’s fear of losing potency; others are self-portraits that reveal inner struggles: “Why am I here? What is my life?” reads one wall panel. Fellini added, “From my very first film, I refused to display the expression ‘The End.’ That… meant the party was over.” Thanks to this show, Fellini’s celebration goes on.
Singing in Harmony?
What do you get when you cross an African liberation anthem with an 83-year-old Afrikaans poem? The answer, as South Africa’s government discovered, is a song no one wants to sing. The Department of Arts and Culture recently said it plans to continue its campaign to make all South Africans proficient at singing their national anthem. The reason: hardly anyone knows all the words to a song composed of four verses, each in a different language.
Instead of creating harmony, the Zulu, Sotho, Afrikaans and English lyrics seem more attuned to the country’s struggling reconciliation policies. The anthem was an outgrowth of a 1994 deal that led to black rule and also guaranteed that Afrikaans would enjoy equal status with English; the new African National Congress could hardly concede lesser status to African tongues, so it imposed 11 official languages. According to research from the University of Cape Town, efforts to promote multilingual education since then have largely failed. Only 30 percent of the country speaks English fluently. Researchers say the result has been a widening social gap–those who can compete in the global marketplace and those who can’t. Or those who can sing along and those who can only move their lips.
Film: A Giant of Design
It’s not easy to bring architecture to life on screen. But when filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn took his camera to the awesome Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, in his award-winning documentary, “My Architect: A Son’s Journey,” he knew just what to do. The Salk’s beauty lies not just in the design of its dual buildings but in the plaza in between that overlooks the Pacific. To animate that empty but magical space, Kahn put on Rollerblades–and we see him glide and weave across the plaza toward the endless horizon. It’s part of his search for his father, Louis Kahn–the Salk’s great architect and a man Nathaniel barely got to know–and he keeps finding not just the grandeur of his father’s buildings but also their humanity.
So why should anyone who’s not a design buff rush to this movie? Because the backstory of Louis Kahn is as powerful as any screenwriter could devise. The film opens with Kahn’s obituary–he died alone in the men’s room of Penn Station, New York. Though he had a wife and daughter back home in Philadelphia, he led a clandestine life and, unbeknownst to most of his circle, he had two children out of wedlock, by two colleagues. Kahn’s magisterial buildings have the power of ancient monuments, and the undercurrents of his private life are as old as time. In this moving, surprisingly sympathetic portrait, his son weaves the public and the personal together as gracefully as a skater gliding toward infinity.
TOM JONES
Tom Jones has a new CD, “Reloaded,” and that’s reason enough to interview the legendary crooner about blues, pop and his greatest hits. He talked to NEWSWEEK’s Lorraine Ali about his latest moment in the spotlight.
NEWSWEEK: “Reloaded” is a mix of greatest hits and new songs?
JONES: I’ve done duets with young bands that were hits in Europe. We thought we’d put some of those tracks on this CD. The songs represent different eras, but the most important is “It’s Not Unusual.” That started it all in 1965. Without that hit, I’d still be looking for one.
Why were you included in the PBS television blues series?
Well, I grew up listening to rock, which came from the blues. The recordings were just better-produced and weren’t called “race records.” My foundation, my style, is really the blues. But once I did “It’s Not Unusual” and “What’s New, Pussycat?” people knew me as a pop singer.
Do you like today’s dancing-singing pop sensations?
I can’t say I’m a fan. They’re all about keeping their dance moves up to snuff, and I prefer basic music. Though some people might say Tom Jones is a Vegas act, I’m less Vegas than a lot of new acts. All they need is dancing girls onstage. I just have my band, and that’s it. No dancing girls.
Except for those in the audience, and they’re often screaming.
Yes, I must say it happens.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-07” author: “Brian Vang”
Military Might…?
Wu Bangguo, China’s second-ranking politician and chairman of its National People’s Congress, walked away from North Korea a winner. In just two days in Pyongyang, he had managed to stave off catastrophe for a little while longer, negotiating the continuation of six-party talks to settle the crisis over Kim Jong Il’s nuclear program. Even though Pyongyang’s demands are yet to be hammered out, the announcement of pending talks from Kim’s regime was greeted with optimism from Seoul to Washington. Once again, a negotiated solution is looking likely.
Thank Chinese diplomatic efforts. Though, in this instance, the world may be more indebted to China’s military might–or it might not. Both Washington and Pyongyang have been looking to Beijing in recent weeks for a clear indication of how it would react if U.S. forces were to attack North Korea. Instead, they’ve received mixed messages. Consider an article in the October issue of Naval and Merchant Ships, a magazine published by China’s defense industry. It outlines “possible U.S. invasion strategies in a Second Korean War” and identifies three likely amphibious landing sites on North Korea’s western coast. The scenarios presume a U.S. attack in response to a nuclear threat, with the objective of regime change in Pyongyang. Between the lines, the essay’s two-pronged message is telling. North Korean strongman Kim would read it and conclude that the old “lips and teeth” relationship his father enjoyed with Chairman Mao is dead, so he’d best not expect hordes of Chinese “volunteers” by his side should war engulf the peninsula. To Bush administration hard-liners, the essay points out that China’s neutrality is not guaranteed, either. Unilateral action by U.S. forces, it suggests, might compel China to take North Korea’s side, triggering a broader war nobody in Washington has the stomach to even contemplate.
By taking a tough–if noncommittal–line with both parties, Beijing seems to have won the day. It is still pressing Washington not to bully Pyongyang and fears the demise of its neighbor. But it’s equally clear that Beijing will not tolerate Kim’s bomb program. “They seriously don’t want an emerging nuclear power on their border,” says Shunji Taoka, senior defense writer for the Asahi Shimbun newspaper in Tokyo. “But they don’t want North Korea to collapse, either.” With a new round of talks on the horizon, Beijing seems to have planned this one to perfection–and got what it wanted.
GLOBAL BUZZ
The Out With The Old (Problems), In With The New Edition
Expect a month of diplomatic derring-do, presidential power playing and friendships rekindled. Oh, and instability in Israel–economic, this time.
China (UP) Beijing’s on a diplomatic roll. As a leader on North Korea and with East Asian support for resisting U.S. currency-nagging, expect it to keep on rolling.
Russia (NEUTRAL) Tight Dec. parliamentary elections and Yukos affair mean volatile politics and markets. But Prez Putin will restore calm–in time for his 2004 re-election.
Iran-U.S. (UP) Can they be buddies? U.S. needs Iranian help on restless Shiites; some in Tehran want U.S. friendship–just stop the Hizbullah and nukes whining!
Israel (DOWN) With a budget due on Dec. 31, Finance Minister Bibi Netanyahu has cornered P.M. Sharon by cutting spending. Strikes and economic strife will follow.
WASHINGTON
D.C.’s Exit Strategies
If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen” seems to be the mantra du jour in Washington. In public, Bush team members say they’re too busy to think about their future; in private, the jockeying for potential positions during a second Bush term is well underway. Take national-security adviser Condoleezza Rice: once a surefire contender to move to the State Department, Rice’s associates now insist she’s keen to step out of the limelight. Possible replacements: Robert Blackwill, Rice’s strategic adviser, and Paul Wolfowitz, the deputy Defense secretary.
Meanwhile, at State, the working assumption among Colin Powell’s aides has long been that he would not serve in a second Bush term. Powell’s friends say that he has accomplished his mission of public service to a president who came to power with little foreign-policy experience. Paul Bremer, the chief civilian administrator of Iraq, is the current front runner for Powell’s job.
Even the Pentagon looks to be shaking things up. Officials want a successor who will cement Donald Rumsfeld’s changes. Candidates include James Roche, the current Air Force secretary, and Stephen Hadley, Rice’s deputy at the White House, who served at the Pentagon in the last Bush administration. Both would be considerably calmer voices than Rummy’s.
Despite all the whispers, administration officials insist that Bush–who could yet persuade any of his exhausted senior staffers to stick with him–isn’t thinking about personnel decisions just yet. One says, “Every time I raise this with folks in the White House they burst out laughing and say they have difficulty looking more than a week ahead.”
MUSIC
Recording Wrangle
Few recording industries have been hit harder by file-sharing and Internet piracy than South Korea’s. In the past three years album sales have fallen 50 percent, thanks to kids downloading to their MP3s and copying hit songs from their friends. McDonald’s is currently at the center of a file-sharing brawl with 25-year-old Korean rapper Joosuc. After signing up to join McDonald’s “I’m Lovin’ It” ad campaign in September, Joosuc recorded an original song, put together a CD compilation for the multinational and sat back to reap the royalties. But in late September McDonald’s posted the songs from the CD on its Web site without the artist’s permission, says Joosuc’s label, Master Plan. The result: free of charge, fans downloaded the track “Back Again,” scuttling Master Plan’s intentions to release it as the promotional focal point for Joosuc’s own solo CD release later in the month.
Master Plan has no intention of letting McDonald’s off easily. “We told them again and again, ‘Don’t let the song out’, " says managing director Kim Sang Kyoo. He says that though McDonald’s took down the music from its Web site as soon as Master Plan complained, the Big Mac has ignored requests to discuss restitution. (It also declined NEWSWEEK’s requests for comment.) “If they don’t react, we will look into legal options,” says Kim. Some at Master Plan have even suggested a hip-hop boycott of McDonald’s. Of course, they probably couldn’t count on the fans who’d rather thank McDonald’s for the free track.
SCIENCE
Hostility to The Heart
Want to avoid heart disease? Be competitive, but not impatient or hostile, recommends a recent study by the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute. The research, which took 15 years to complete, is the first to examine the effects of “Type A” personality characteristics–like a short temper and a competitive drive–on the long-term risk of developing high blood pressure, otherwise known as hypertension. To arrive at their conclusions, researchers observed 3,308 American men and women from 1985 to 2000, giving them periodic forms to evaluate their moods and physical examinations.
What they found is striking. While many have long suspected that Type A behavior could be bad for your health, the results prove that it is–depending on the behavior. The most hostile and impatient subjects showed an 84 percent greater risk of developing hypertension than those who did not possess those characteristics. But those who displayed other common Type A traits–like competitiveness or anxiety showed no greater incidence of hypertension.
For people in countries like the United States and China, where hypertension is especially prevalent, this news could be a wake-up call to relax. “Heart disease starts early,” says Catherine Loria, Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults project officer at the NHLBI. “The earlier you start to do something about it, the greater you’ll reduce your risk.” Given that hypertension is a major risk factor in heart and kidney disease–and the chief cause of strokes–we’d all do well to listen.
BOOKS
What’s in A Word?
At the official launch of the Oxford English Dictionary in 1928, British Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin announced that “our histories, our novels, our poems, our plays–are all in this one book… It is the greatest enterprise of its kind in history.” Now a new account by Simon Winchester, “The Meaning of Everything: The Story of the Oxford English Dictionary,” traces the drawn-out process by which the dictionary was created. When Scotsman James Murray took on the task in 1879, volunteers signed up to send in quotations. Many were lost in transition; slips with words beginning with “H,” for instance, turned up in Florence after a U.S. businessman left them in a villa in Tuscany. “Pa” quotes were found in a stable in Ireland, where housemaids burned them daily in the fire. But under Murray’s leadership, the quotes were systematically gathered from as far afield as the British Isles, the United States and India, and–over a period of 50 years–compiled into the OED.
In his new book, Winchester lends an exquisite touch for characterization to some of the most intriguing contributors. Fitzedward Hall, a New Yorker fluent in Hindustani, Bengali, Sanskrit and Persian–as well as French, Italian and modern Greek–lived as a recluse in rural Britain after his father sent him to India to track down his brother, who had run away from home. But Winchester never forgets that his book is about language; he traces the development of English through 1,500 years of invasions, migrations and cultural upheaval. In fact, Baldwin’s description of the OED could almost be applied to “The Meaning of Everything.” It’s not quite the greatest enterprise in history. But it may be one of the most illuminating, enjoyable reads.
MOVIES
A Different Kind of Skin Flick
The Human Stain,” director Robert Benton and screenwriter Nicholas Meyer’s ambitious, respectful adaptation of Philip Roth’s masterly novel, bites off far more than it can chew, but when was the last time a Hollywood movie had too much on its mind? Race, self-invention, the public vs. the private, political correctness run amok, late-in-life love; these are just a few of the themes.
Coleman Silk (Anthony Hopkins) is a classics professor fired from his job for innocently using the racially offensive word “spooks” in class. Silk’s rise and fall would not be out of place in a Greek tragedy, though his story is quintessentially American. He’s a man who has lived with a great secret (which I am about to give away, so be warned). He’s a black man who’s chosen to “pass” as a Jew, rejecting the “we” of racial identity for the “I” of personal fulfillment. It proves a fateful choice, for both good and ill. In the course of this tale he will lose his job, his wife and his family. He’ll also, at 71, undergo a late, Viagra-assisted flowering of love with a battle-scarred 34-year-old (Nicole Kidman) whose own journey is almost as bizarre as his own.
Roth’s novel doesn’t naturally lend itself to movie form. Benton’s film is ungainly and overstuffed–not to mention miscast. Though the brooding, charismatic Hopkins mesmerizes, he’s not convincingly American or racially ambiguous, and he doesn’t mesh with Wentworth Miller, who plays Silk as a young man. Kidman again demonstrates her versatility and gutsiness, but her beauty is a distraction. I felt I was watching a movie star slumming. Still, for all its shortcomings, “The Human Stain” is an honorable, sometimes moving attempt, better at evoking the poignancy of Silk’s autumnal affair than exploring the moral ambiguities of his deception. No surprise there: love and lust tend to be more movie-friendly subjects than meditations on the divided American soul.
Q&A: Johnny Hallyday
Johnny Hallyday is just one of the many French things Americans simply don’t get. For four decades, the man known as the “French Elvis” has been France’s leading rocker, but he’s harder to export than tripe sausage. NEWSWEEK’s Chris Dickey recently caught up with him at his new Paris nightclub, Amnesia:
Some people say the French just don’t have rock in their blood.
That’s not true. I don’t believe that. In the 1960s, there were a lot of rock-and-roll groups happening in France. It was the music of the moment.
Do you ever get too old for rock and roll?
Well, I don’t believe so. Little Richard is more than 70. And Paul McCartney is my age.
How old are you, Johnny?
Sixty.
What’s the perfect age for a man?
I believe between 40 and 50.
And the perfect age for a woman? [His wife, Laeticia, is 29].
Between 30 and 40. But I know a lot of very, very nice women of 50.
Who’s got more soul, the Americans or the French?
The music I like and love and am doing comes from the United States. All our idols came from the United States, like Muddy Waters, Elvis Presley, Gene Vincent, Eddie Cochrane. It was my school, where I learned.
How do you think the French feel about the Americans?
I believe French people like Americans more than America likes French people.
Definitely.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-24” author: “Howard Nolen”
Betrayed by Bin Laden
Mullah Saraju Din sits on the bare floor of a freezing, broken-down hotel room in the town of Bara in Pakistan’s Khyber Agency, not far from the Afghanistan border, lamenting his movement’s past mistakes. “We sacrificed our pure Islamic government for the sake of one unimportant man: Osama bin Laden,” he says. Din, 35, is one of an increasing number of young Taliban fighters who blame the destruction of Mullah Mohammed Omar’s radical Islamist government on bin Laden’s refusal to give himself up, which led to the Taliban’s collapse in November 2001. “Osama should have left the country when he saw that America’s sword was hanging over our heads,” says the former Taliban provincial intelligence official, who is clandestinely raising funds, recruiting fighters and rallying Afghans in Pakistan for a guerrilla war against the United States and Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s regime. “Thousands of Afghan lives were sacrificed for his safety.” These Taliban troops vow they’ve learned a lesson. “We don’t need the help of Osama, his Qaeda or any other foreigners,” says 32-year-old Mullah Mohammad Niaz, a Taliban commander, as he sits huddled in a blanket in a leaky mud hut near the Pakistani frontier town of Kohat. “We will not allow these outsiders to steal our Islamic movement again.”
Din, Niaz and others like them say that while Mullah Omar was close to bin Laden, lower-ranking Taliban like themselves resented the stranglehold that bin Laden, Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence agency had on the Taliban’s regime. But the fighters say that now even Mullah Omar has broken ranks with bin Laden. According to Din, senior Taliban leaders, including Mullah Omar, have been angered by bin Laden’s refusal to acknowledge the Taliban’s continued resistance against the United States and Karzai in his recent taped messages. Last month Mullah Omar delivered his first message since his regime’s collapse, calling on Afghans to “abandon the ranks of America” and “immediately start a jihad.” This time the Taliban aims to control its own destiny. “We have plenty of hidden weapons,” says Niaz, “and our wealth is our faith.” These leaders admit that Qaeda terrorist experts are still training young Taliban fighters and recruits in small, clandestine camps scattered along the rugged frontier with Pakistan. But they say they are not taking orders from Al Qaeda, and they’ve insisted that Al Qaeda exclusively train Taliban fighters and not those of rival groups such as the one headed by warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. “We will fight alone,” vows Niaz.
–Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau
Alliances
A Faltering Friendship
The solid relationship between the U.S. and Britain seems to be fraying, thanks to Iraq. The most recent fault line emerged when U.N. nuclear inspectors concluded last week that U.S. and British claims about Iraq’s nuclear program were based on forged documents, which supposedly outlined how Iraqi agents had tried to purchase uranium from officials in Niger. According to a Bush administration official, the British promoted the uranium story but U.S. intelligence was skeptical.
The British government, however, never named Niger as the potential supplier for Iraq’s nuclear program. Instead the British were careful to say in September that Iraq had sought “significant quantities of uranium from Africa.” Africa, not Niger. It was the Bush administration that singled out Niger in De–cember, when it listed dozens of omissions in Iraq’s U.N. weapons declaration. The Brits stand by their analysis.
But the transatlantic blame game is not a one-way street. British officials have also questioned the suggestion by Secretary of State Colin Powell last month that there are links between Saddam Hussein and Al Qaeda. And, privately, British officials agree with their French counterparts that there has been a “rush to war” led by the United States. For now, the only constant in this once steady relationship is Prime Minister Tony Blair’s backing of President George W. Bush.
–Richard Wolffe, Mark Hosenball and Tamara Lipper
Royals
Princely Problems
When we last left the beleaguered Prince Charles, his former valet and current [Pound sterling]100,000-a-year personal assistant, Michael Fawcett, was unmasked as the man whose chores included squeezing toothpaste onto the royal brush. Now “Charlesgate”–as royal biographer Anthony Holden calls it–has gotten worse. The immediate cause of concern is a feverishly anticipated report, due out this Thursday, of an internal inquiry into the alleged practice by Charles’s employees of selling off royal gifts. (For years Fawcett reportedly sold gifts valued at more than [Pound sterling]100,000 annually and pocketed a commission.) The investigation, conducted by Charles’s private secretary, Sir Michael Peat, also probes claims by a former valet, George Smith, that a male member of Charles’s staff raped Smith on two occasions. According to royal-family correspondent Richard Kay of the Daily Mail, Peat’s report won’t name names, but it will delve into sordid and damaging allegations of “gay rape” at the palace. Whatever the report does or doesn’t say, it will likely fuel charges that a so-called gay mafia inside St. James’s Palace is covering up not just palace shenanigans but perhaps even serious crimes. The Peat report may only be the beginning of Charles’s woes. If the report appears to be a “whitewash,” says Holden, “there are many more lurid revelations in the pipeline about the prince’s life which may well become public and which he would be unlikely to survive as heir to the throne.” Senior courtiers seem to be worried about what tales Fawcett could tell–they were said to be urging Charles to dump Fawcett before the report hit the fan.
–Stryker Mcguire
Weapons
Preventing Proliferation
Pop quiz: which country has the most weapons of mass destruction and is blocking U.S. investigators from visiting key nuclear and biological sites? Iraq? Wrong: you are the weakest link, goodbye. Try Russia. After more than 10 years and $6.4 billion of U.S. aid to dismantle its stockpiles, Russia still sits on the world’s most dangerous and poorly guarded arsenal of WMD, which includes 40,000 tons of chemical weapons and 600 tons of weapons-grade nuclear material.
U.S. taxpayer dollars have done little to allay fears that these weapons could fall into the wrong hands. American officials warned Congress last week that due to a combination of official obstruction, red tape and Russian financial tricks, the United States has been unable to help protect substantial portions of Russia’s nuclear warheads and fuel. U.S. officials say they have been barred access to 73 percent of buildings that house Russia’s weapons-usable material. In addition, announced Joseph Christoff, director of international affairs and trade at the General Accounting Office, “many Russian biological sites that store dangerous biological pathogens remain off-limits.” The Russians have cited state-security concerns as their reason for limiting access to the sites.
–Even more troubling is that as the threat of proliferation continues to grow, the debate over Iraq is distracting attention from future projects, such as a G8 initiative pledging $20 billion over the next decade to dismantle and secure former Soviet weapons. Given that U.S. efforts have failed to fully secure Russia’s stockpiles, some activists have taken on the task of exposing the dangers themselves. Joined by a Moscow legislator and a television crew last year, Russian major-turned-whistleblower Maxim Shingarkin walked past sleeping guards into a plant where 3,000 tons of radioactive spent nuclear fuel are stored. “There were no alarms and no barbed wire,” says Shingarkin. “If we had been terrorists we could have blown it up. Easy.” Hardly the reassuring words anyone wants to hear these days.
–Eve Conant and Nadezhda Titova
Dynasty
Outdoing Daddy
Bill Minutaglio was a reporter for The Dallas Morning News when he started writing about then Texas governor George W. Bush in the mid-1990s. He went on to write the acclaimed 1999 biography “First Son: George W. Bush and the Bush Family Dynasty.” On the eve of a likely military conflict with Iraq, the author talked to NEWSWEEK’s Joseph Contreras about the president, his father and their ongoing relationship with Saddam Hussein:
Is Bush the younger trying to take care of business that his dad left unfinished?
George W. Bush is driven in large part by wanting to surpass his father. It’s something he’ll never admit or agree with, but it’s quite a lengthy shadow that [his father] has cast and which his son has been struggling since birth to climb out from under. In some small part he’s driven by wanting to succeed in an area where some people have suggested his father has not succeeded, and that’s banishing Saddam.
Why the desire to outdo his father?
A large portion of his life has been very literally defined by his father and the great level of expectations. He bears the same name as his father, he went to the same school, the same college, the same fraternity, the same lines of work. And at each of these points in time when George W. was following his dad, he just simply had never been as successful.
How does the president respond to such suggestions?
He’d just simply say, “That’s hogwash, don’t put me on a couch.” To him it smacks of what he calls psychobabble.
Is he trying to avenge Saddam’s alleged 1993 plot to assassinate his father?
I don’t think he’s walking around saying, “I want to take American men and women to war just to avenge personal assaults on the House of Bush,” in the Michael Corleone sense of being the avenging angel for his family. I think he’s smarter than that; he’s above that kind of thinking.
Publicity
Is All Good
Let’s face it: pop and religious virtue don’t always go hand in hand. So it’s no wonder that 23-year-old Indonesian popstress Inul Daratista has been stirring up a storm of controversy in the world’s most populous Muslim nation with her new hip-swinging, booty-shakin’ dances. During her meteoric takeoff since early this year as the new queen of dangdut, Indonesia’s popular Arabic-Indian-influenced folk music, Daratista’s daring dancing has earned rebukes from the country’s two biggest Muslim organizations, Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah. She has even been reprimanded under a fatwa on pornography by the National Council of Ulemas.
Of course, in the pop world, there’s no such thing as bad publicity. “Everyone is more attracted to her now because she is banned,” says Arswendo Atmowiloto, a columnist for Jakarta’s Tempo newspaper. So, although the bans might keep on coming, it seems the hits will, too. And while the zealots will continue to condemn her, politicians are expected to be cozying up to the sultry temptress in coming months as they gear up for the 2004 general election, since every political party knows that nothing attracts a provincial crowd of potential voters in Indonesia better than a hot dangdut performance. Perhaps that explains why Taufik Kiemas, the husband of President Megawati Sukarnoputri, was spotted last month giving the lovely Daratista a friendly bear hug backstage at the TV Tujuh station. No doubt the “First Gentleman” was just seeking political support for his wife.
–Peter Janssen
Comics
Colorful Critiques
When Stephen Francis first arrived in South Africa from New Jersey in 1989, apartheid was crumbling. He ended up staying with his mother-in-law–who, like most white South Africans, employed a black maid who addressed her boss as “madam.” As an American, Francis found the love-hate relationship of his mother-in-law and her maid strange but extremely amusing. So, as the two ladies of the house bickered over ironing and wages, Francis–along with his South African buddy Rico Schacherl–doodled their own interpretations of the scenes. Ten years on, “Madam & Eve”–as their comic is now known–is syndicated in 12 newspapers, and read by 4 million South Africans a day on both sides of the racial divide. “It speaks to everybody,” says Schacherl.
The hero of the strip is Eve Sisulu, the wily “domestic maintenance assistant” of the Anderson household, who likes to take naps on top of her ironing board. Then there’s Gwen Anderson, a typical high-strung “madam,” who’s still trying to work out the difference between the washing machine and the dishwasher. And, of course, always trying to stiff Eve out of wages. After a decade of being in the same comic strip, says Francis, it’s obvious how fond Gwen and Eve are of each other–even though they won’t admit it. It’s equally obvious how fond South Africans are of the strip. The comical pair have all the marks of cultural icons–the words “Madam & Eve” even show up in newspaper headlines about race relations and wages. With a spinoff TV show going into its third season, and compilations of the comic strip on the best-seller list every year, clearly South Africans can’t get enough of the dynamic duo. And it won’t be long before the rest of the world can laugh along. Monthly compilations of the cartoon strip are in the process of being translated into French, Norwegian and Danish. As Schacherl says, “Madam & Eve” speaks to everybody.
–Henk Rossouw
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-07” author: “John Walters”
A Defector’s Secret
Hussein Kamel, the highest-ranking Iraqi official ever to defect, told the CIA, British intelligence officers and U.N. inspectors in 1995 that, after the gulf war, Iraq destroyed all its chemical and biological weapon stocks and the missiles to deliver them.
Kamel had direct knowledge of what he claimed: for 10 years he had run Iraq’s nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programs. Kamel hoped his revelations would trigger Saddam’s overthrow, but when he realized the United States would not support his dream of becoming Iraq’s ruler, he chose to return to Iraq–where he was killed. Kamel’s WMD revelations were hushed up by U.N. inspectors, sources say, for two reasons: the inspectors hoped to bluff Saddam into disclosing still more, and Iraq has never shown the documentation to support Kamel’s story. Still, his tale raises questions about whether the WMD stockpiles attributed to Iraq still exist.
Kamel said Iraq had not abandoned its WMD ambitions. The stocks had been destroyed, but Iraq had retained the design and engineering details of these weapons. Kamel talked of hidden blueprints, computer disks, microfiches and even missile-warhead molds. Why preserve this technical material? Said Kamel: “It is the first step to return to production” after inspections wound down.
Kamel was interrogated in separate sessions by the CIA, by Britain’s M.I.6 and by a trio from the U.N., led by the inspection team’s head, Rolf Ekeus. NEWSWEEK has obtained the notes of Kamel’s U.N. debrief, and verified that the document is authentic. NEWSWEEK has also learned that Kamel told the same story to the CIA and M.I.6. (The CIA did not respond to a request for comment.)
The notes of the U.N. interrogation show that Kamel was a gold mine of information. He laid out the main personnel, sites and progress of each WMD program. Kamel was a manager–not a scientist or engineer–and, sources say, some of his technical assertions were later found to be faulty. (A military aide who defected with Kamel was apparently a more reliable source of technical data. This aide backed Kamel’s assertions about the destruction of WMD stocks.) But, overall, Kamel’s information was “almost embarrassing, it was so extensive,” Ekeus recalled–including the fact that Ekeus’s own Arabic translator, a Syrian, was, according to Kamel, an Iraqi agent who had been reporting to Kamel himself.
TRAFFIC
Clearing the Roads
The streets of London are rocking–or at least rolling–again. Last week the traffic-clogged metropolis began demanding a £5 ($8) congestion charge from all daytime motorists entering the busiest areas of the city. The result: a drop of nearly 25 percent in traffic.
The decongestant scheme employs some 700 cameras. Any driver who enters the zone–a patch of around eight square miles–between 7 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. has until 10 p.m. that same day to pay the charge. (You can pay by telephone, over the Internet or in certain shops. Season passes are also available.) The cameras check the registration plate of every car against the payment records, and failure to cough up the cash lands one an £80 fine. The extra revenue from the charge and fines, estimated at up to £150 million a year, will go toward the improvement of public transport.
The idea is catching on. In Britain alone, at least 30 other towns and cities are contemplating the tactic. Similar setups are already in operation in Singapore and Norway. But although all flowed smoothly last week, questions remain. Will the decrease in traffic hurt local businesses? Will traffic jams start up outside the zone? For now, all that’s certain is that the 15,000-plus Londoners who’ve already been fined will be the unhappiest new straphangers come Monday.
ELECTION ‘04: Democratic Doves Cry
Until recently, U.S. Democrats have been oblivious to the antiwar bug. The presumptive ‘04 presidential front runners–Sens. Joe Lieberman, John Kerry and John Edwards and Rep. Dick Gephardt–voted for a congressional resolution essentially giving the Bush administration a blank check to go to war when it saw fit. But among Democrat voters, there is intense skepticism about a war and Bush’s motives for waging it. The result: a nascent Democratic race with some real friction and a dovish tilt. Strong emotions were on display last weekend at the party’s national meeting in Washington. Gephardt, Lieberman and Edwards ignored scattered boos, catcalls and barely respectful silences as they gingerly reiterated their support for war without U.N. backing, if it comes to that.
So far, the boat rising fastest on the antiwar tide belongs to Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont. Dean is no pacifist–and has a gun-rights record to prove it. But by Christmas it became apparent that he also had a powerful claim. Dean was the only candidate (there were a mere five at the time) who hadn’t supported the war resolution. Now opposition to “unilateral war” is the centerpiece of a campaign that has developed some early grass-roots momentum. But as the first to see a growing market niche, today Dean is fighting for shelf space on the left with a host of late-starting candidates whose common theme is peace-mongering. The new contenders–like the Rev. Al Sharpton–have won spirited applause for their antiwar sound bites. And even more peace-and-caution candidates are on the way.
CHINA
Bobos in Shangri-La
Just when China’s new affluents have begun to enjoy their xiaozi, or bourgeois, lifestyle (a downtown apartment, flashy automobiles and Starbucks mochaccinos), along comes a book from America to stir up their latte lifestyles. In recent months young Chinese have been snapping up copies of the newly translated version of 2000’s “Bobos in Paradise,” by American author David Brooks. The book’s thesis–that the bohemian spirit of the 1960s has come together with the acquisitive impulses of the 1980s to create the hybrid bourgeois-bohemian, a.k.a. the Bobo–has sparked debate all around China. “All my friends are talking about the Bobos,” one Beijing book shopper told the official Xinhua News Agency. Clubs have been formed offering lectures and discussions on the Bobo lifestyle, and Bobo magazines are appearing on newsstands. Chinese Bobos are being targeted by everyone from real-estate agents to mobile-phone companies. A local businessman opened the DIY@Bobo Bar in Beijing, which is fitted with computers so customers can check their e-mail while sitting on rustic Chinese furniture hand-picked by the owner from peasant villages. Web sites keep springing up to help people determine if they are “Bobo qualified,” and if so, how to act appropriately.
As the “pleased and surprised” Brooks waits to see whether he’ll get his fair share of author royalties out of the phenomenon, (“I mean, that’s a billion copies,” he told news-week), Beijing is breeding its fair share of Bobo-bashers. Miao Wei of Lifeweek magazine says the average Chinese person has a strong disdain for the nouveau riche. Miao wonders how many Chinese today earn enough to be considered a Bobo. And, he argues, those who do are more bourgeois than bohemian. “We have people with a lot of money, but there’s no social consciousness,” he says. “Rich people don’t care about the environment, unemployment, rural problems or mine disasters.” True, but market research shows that people will care about anything–including their demographic rubric–as long as it’s trendy.
TERRORISM
Hiding in Full View
Sami Al-Arian is no stranger to the spotlight. In March 2000 the University of South Florida engineering professor and Muslim activist pressed the then presidential candidate George W. Bush on the Justice Department’s use of “secret evidence” to deport accused terrorists. When Bush brought up that issue in a debate, Al-Arian was thrilled–and began registering local Muslims for the Republican Party and praising Bush at local mosques. Al-Arian would later brag that his efforts played a big role in the 2000 election.
Al-Arian’s politics took on a darker cast last week when he was arrested on charges of being a top leader of one of the world’s most violent terrorist organizations: Palestine Islamic Jihad. Al-Arian brushed the charges aside, insisting they were the product of Israeli propaganda.
Al-Arian certainly didn’t act like a sponsor of suicide bombings. He repeatedly lobbied Congress on civil liberties issues and made thousands of dollars in campaign contributions to influential members of Congress . In June 2001 Al-Arian was invited to a White House briefing for 150 Muslim-American activists. A law enforcement official told NEWSWEEK the Secret Service had already flagged him as a potential terrorist. But White House aides, apparently reluctant to create an incident, let him through anyway. Such a public profile may have had its advantages. “It was the perfect cover,” said Steven Emerson, a terrorism analyst who has followed Al-Arian for years.
Agents began monitoring Al-Arian’s phone calls as early as 1994. He was overheard routinely consulting with terrorist leaders in the Middle East, authorities allege, speaking in code about moving hundreds of thousands of dollars abroad and seeking money for the families of “martyrs” who blew up Israeli civilians. After one grisly double suicide bombing in 1995, Al-Arian wrote a fund-raising letter to a benefactor in Kuwait: “I call upon you to try to extend true support to the jihad effort in Palestine so that operations such as these can continue.”
Some Muslim leaders who had stood by Al-Arian for years are shaken. “If these charges are true, then he’s betrayed me–and a whole lot of others in the Muslim community,” said Khaled Saffuri, chairman of the Islamic Institute.
FILM: Directing Dane
After directing the biggest box-office hit in Danish history, no-frills filmmaker Susanne Bier decided to break from a string of successful romantic comedies with the wrenching drama “Open Hearts,” the story of a relationship shattered by a car accident. The film generated quite a bit of buzz at the recent Sundance Film Festival. NEWSWEEK’s Charles Ferro found out what life looks like through Bier’s new gaze:
Is Hollywood courting you?
Hollywood could be fun, but in America the director’s job seems to carry less integrity than in Denmark. Once I was considering an interesting manuscript and was part of a video-link conference to discuss the idea. It was stressful.
Is there a big difference between European and American cinema?
I find it very striking–[American films] deal with the fate of the individual character, but also with the relationship between society and the character. There’s this prejudice that we’re much more advanced in Europe, but I find they are more advanced, because they’re very daring and make strong statements about life and society.
What about European directors who have made the jump across the Atlantic?
Most European directors have made better films at home than in America, not due to lack of talent, but I suppose because it’s difficult to maneuver in that system.
So you won’t try Hollywood?
I won’t go into anything halfheartedly.
ART
Prescient Paintings
For the half century after his death in 1950, German artist Max Beckmann was overshadowed by showier Parisian peers like Matisse and Picasso. But he’s finally getting his fair share of praise: an exhibit at London’s Tate Modern gallery, which travels to New York’s Museum of Modern Art in June, has sparked a reappraisal of his work.
As was the case for many other artists who fought in World War I, what Beckmann saw haunted his canvases, shaping a style–full of fragmented spaces and graphic depictions–that slipped through the cracks of modern art’s categorizations. He was determined not only to portray the realism of the violence, but also the shock waves of terror that follow such devastation. After being forced out of Germany by Hitler for his “degenerate art” in 1937, Beckmann’s colors gradually became brighter. In exile in Amsterdam, Paris and finally New York, his symbolism became more hopeful. But progressing through this exhibit the viewer is continually drawn back to the political upheaval of his earlier works, which in today’s world come across as acutely prescient.
FASHION
Feeling the Squeeze
The corset, that icon of over-the-top femininity, is squeezing its way back into the wardrobes of women seeking a quick fix for a less than perfect figure. And not just as underwear. Body-conscious women are lacing up for formal occasions, to go out clubbing–even pairing up corsets with jeans for an expedition to the mall. Designers like Versace, Ungaro, Dolce & Gabbana and Ralph Lauren have seized on the trend, turning out corset dresses and tops in rich brocades, satin and lace. “Once a customer gets inside one,” says Steven Ho, an executive at Barneys, “she instantly has a very defined, very regal and very flattering shape.”
Achieving the new silhouette, though, comes at a price. Corsets, which can take up to 18 hours to make, range from $200 to $1,400. Lined with carbon-steel bones, they combine deft engineering with the unyielding pressure of a boa constrictor to haul in the waistline, flatten the stomach, straighten the spine and give even the leanest gamine the cleavage of the St. Pauli girl.
Fans claim that a well-fitted corset top is no more uncomfortable than a pair of stilettos–and some wear both. Owning one can also provide a respite from the tyranny of rigid dieting and rigorous workouts. Of course, unlike pounds, corsets do come off.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-09” author: “James Kjellman”
U.S. military planning has hit a roadblock. Turkish leaders, having failed to persuade their Parliament to OK the deployment of 62,000 U.S. ground troops for a northern front against Iraq, have now said the fallback U.S. request–use of Turkey’s airspace for missile strikes against Iraq–will also have to be approved by Parliament. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has made it clear he won’t consider that unless Turkey is promised a say in a post-Saddam Iraq, and the same $26 billion that the administration was offering for the ground deployments remains on the table. But senior administration officials have said the offer has been retracted.
Airspace rights are crucial. NEWSWEEK has learned that the United States asked for 11 air corridors over Turkey. The United States also requested use of Hakkari air base as a pit stop for KC-135 tankers, plus the right to run air strikes out of the U.S. base at Incirlik. An air campaign out of Turkey is so crucial that President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney both phoned Erdogan last week to press the request, and Bush wrote him a personal letter. But Erdogan has decided that there will be no deal without parliamentary approval. Sources say he suggested that it might be a week or more before he put the issue to Parliament.
U.S. military sources say that about 70 F-16s were slated to fly strikes from Turkish air bases. Their primary mission: provide air cover for the lightly armed forces now set to go into northern Iraq to secure the vital oilfields around Kirkuk and Mosul. When Turkey rejected the initial U.S. plan to launch a tank division south from Turkey, U.S. commander Gen. Tommy Franks’s fallback plan–insert light forces by air–assumed intensive air cover to provide the firepower those forces would lack. Without Turkish bases, one source said, that air cover would have to be provided by long-range bombers.
–Owen Matthews, Sami Kohen and John Barry
Japan: Casualty of War?
Japan’s sickly economy is highly vulnerable to a shock, analysts say. And with sabers rattling in the Gulf and in North Korea, the odds of it receiving one have ratcheted steadily upwards. As the Nikkei average touched a 20-year low early last week, it looked as if the great Japanese banking meltdown–anticipated every March as the banks close their books–might actually happen this year. Financial authorities stepped in as they always do, staving off a collapse–for now. But a weakening U.S. dollar continues to threaten Japan’s crucial export earnings. A drawn-out conflict in Iraq could be the final straw. Japan is “skating on thin ice,” says Bert Ely, a top U.S. banking consultant. High oil prices and a U.S. recession could trigger bank failures–and massive capital flight out of Japan and regional economic turmoil, say some analysts. And forget U.S. support for a cheap yen, which many suggest Japan sought last week when it sent a top financial envoy to meet with U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan. Currency traders reckon the United States would prefer a stable-to-moderately declining dollar for now. After all, the United States has its own exports to worry about.
–Kenneth Klee
Terrorism: A Qaeda Cash Cow
When Pakistani agents arrested Khalid Shaikh Mohammed earlier this month, they could hardly believe their luck. Not only had they finally nabbed one of the most-sought-after Qaeda fugitives, but the apartment itself was filled with incriminating computer files and documents. The authorities also arrested another man in the apartment, a 34-year-old Saudi –named Mustafa Ahmed al-Hawsawi, who is believed to be one of the 9-11 plot’s key “paymasters.” Officials say Mohammed and al-Hawsawi are both under intense interrogation, possibly at the U.S. air base in Baghram, Afghanistan. If they talk, the men could provide answers to key questions about the September 11 plot. Few people know more about the cash end of the business than al-Hawsawi, who authorities believe provided the hijackers with money and credit cards in the critical months before 9-11. Investigators say that on June 23, 2001, al-Hawsawi and another man, Fayez Banihammad, opened accounts at a bank in Dubai. Al-Hawsawi requested two Visa debit cards linked to his account. Two days later Banihammad flew to Orlando, Florida. He would later become one of the hijackers who crashed into the World Trade Center.
Al-Hawsawi stayed behind in Dubai, where most of the hijackers stopped before moving on to the United States. Weeks later another Visa card was issued on al-Hawsawi’s account, in the name of Abdulrahman A.A. Al-Ghamdi. Investigators now believe this was an alias used by Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. The account was flush with cash.
According to internal FBI reports obtained by NEWSWEEK, two weeks after al-Hawsawi opened the account, he–or someone using his mobile-phone number–wired $15,000 to Germany. The person who went to collect the money was Ramzi bin al-Shibh, an alleged top 9-11 plotter who was captured last September. Within days, officials say, bin al-Shibh wired $14,000 to Zacarias Moussaoui, who was then enrolled in a U.S. flight school.
In the days before the attacks, the frugal hijackers began sending the money they hadn’t spent back to al-Hawsawi, about $26,000 in all. Lead hijacker Muhammad Atta also sent a FedEx package to al-Hawsawi in Dubai. In fact, investigators first became aware of al-Hawsawi’s existence when they found the torn-up FedEx receipt in the hotel room where Atta spent his last night. Later the FBI retrieved a Dubai surveillance tape of al-Hawsawi picking up the package. Hours before the attacks, authorities say, al-Hawsawi transferred $42,000 onto his Visa card, boarded a flight to Karachi, Pakistan, and disappeared. Investigators had hoped the arrests would lead to a quick unraveling of the rest of the terrorist network. But so far, neither man has given up much useful information.
–Michael Isikoff, Mark Hosenball and Ron Moreau
Research: Censoring Science
The editors of 32 prestigious American scientific journals–including Science and Nature–recently agreed to a policy of self-censorship to keep sensitive discoveries out of the hands of terrorists, prompting critics to argue that this will impair scientific progress. One such dissenter, Barry Bloom, dean of Harvard’s School of Public Health, also thinks that such a regulated research environment would have “very little impact” in improving U.S. security. NEWSWEEK’s Ken Shulman asked Bloom to explain his sourness on secrecy:
Is censorship antithetical to the culture of science?
There has always been a culture, both in nuclear and biological research, that says the misuse of science is unacceptable. Our best hope to prevent the misuse of science is to create a culture where there is freedom to inquire and publish freely.
Many scientists worked on the Manhattan Project, which produced the first atomic bomb. And that project was cloaked in utmost secrecy.
There is a vital need to classify any research on the application of science towards the production of anything resembling weapons of mass destruction. The kind of information about how to construct a nuclear bomb or a bug to kill people, however, is not the type of research that would be published in Science or Nature. And universities like Harvard and MIT do not do classified research.
How can the research environment be made secure without compromising it?
It’s harder to build a firewall between research and potentially harmful applications in biology than it is in nuclear research. Biological agents are out there. The genetic code is almost universal now. You can take the most harmless of organisms and engineer it into a deadly weapon. My fear is that by restricting access to research, we’re going to discourage the brightest people from entering the field. I don’t mean to minimize the risk. But who else is going to be able to develop antidotes and vaccines but researchers with unrestricted access to knowledge?
Britain: Bad News, Bears
Talk about a bad hair day for the Canadian black bear. After 20 years of searching, the British Army admitted last week that it has failed to find an artificial substitute for the traditional bearskin headdresses most famously worn by the guards at Buckingham Palace. The news is bound to cause a stir: in recent years, rights groups like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has stepped up their cries against the cruelty allegedly associated with wearing such hats and bombarded the palace with letters of objection. Even current Miss Great Britain Yana Booth recently protested in a letter to the queen that the caps were “the world’s cruelest crowns.”
But according to Britain’s Ministry of Defense, there is no adequate alternative to the pelt of the Canadian black bear. The MOD’s research shows that the bear’s fur is the only substance that can survive the round-the-clock and -calendar onslaught of British weather. (Synthetic fibers? Not up to snuff. False fur? It collects rain like a trough.) So, much to the dismay of PETA and the bears themselves, some 100 skins from culled specimens a year will continue to go to the guard. Until science finds a new cloth for the guards’ caps–which may be never–all those opposed will just have to grin and… well, you know.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-22” author: “Lisa Moore”
Best Friends Forever?
Russia has become the focus of the Bush administration’s hard-knuckle diplomacy inside the U.N. Security Council, according to senior State Department officials. With little more than two weeks to go before a vote on the latest resolution against Iraq, the United States and its allies remain far short of the nine votes they need to win their go-ahead for war. (Even a vote, thought to be a safe bet, that would have allowed the transport of U.S. troops through Turkey stalled in the Turkish Parliament last weekend; a new vote was scheduled this week.) So it was no coincidence that President Vladimir Putin’s chief of staff, Aleksandr Voloshin, visited Washington last week as the diplomatic traffic between the White House and the Kremlin intensified.
Though Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov threatens to veto a U.S. attack, the man to watch, in judging Moscow’s intentions, is Voloshin. According to sources, the Bush administration’s new game plan is to win Russia’s abstention on a new U.N. resolution, rather than trying to get its outright support. “In terms of the council dynamics, if Russia doesn’t veto, then it’s very hard for the French to do so,” explains one senior administration official. “Russia is more about averting the vetoes, although it would be great to have a positive vote by Russia, and that could lead to a lot more positive votes.”
To date, the administration has placed its talks with Russian officials in the context of the broader relationship with the United States–a less-than-subtle attempt to tell Moscow that the entire range of U.S.-Russian relations would be hurt by its lack of full support at the United Nations. So far, those tactics have failed to win anything more than a neutral reaction from the Kremlin. But the administration now sees reason to hope that Russia can be peeled away from other Security Council holdouts. Russian officials have lately been distancing themselves from Saddam Hussein. Russia also seems increasingly wary of siding with France when the larger share of its business interests lies with the Unit-ed States. While Washington has consistently refused to make any promises about Russia’s oil interests in Iraq, it has been talking up new joint petroleum ventures in Central Asia. And last week the administration also formally designated three Chechen separatist groups as terrorists, underscoring what Secretary of State Colin Powell called “the commonality of interests” between the United States and Russia. We will soon see how far that goes.
Wanted?
In recent years, those most responsible for the bloodshed under former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet have finally started to see the inside of courtrooms. Last week a Chilean judge indicted five senior members of Pinochet’s secret police on charges of plotting the murder of Chilean Army Gen. Carlos Prats in 1974 in Buenos Aires. But one man the Argentine courts allege was involved still appears to be untouchable: former Chilean Army officer Armando Fernandez Larios, who lives in Miami.
Fernandez pleaded guilty to charges of lying to U.S. investigators probing the 1976 killing of another Pinochet foe. Upon his release from prison, Fernandez received a pledge that he would never be deported to Chile. Now senior officials of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service are debating whether to start deportation proceedings against Fernandez. It seems the INS was never asked about the provision against deportation, and its lawyers believe Fernandez is fair game under a 1996 ruling that struck down such promises. And even if the INS decides to leave him alone, Fernandez is in a bind. The relatives of a Chilean government economist who was executed soon after Pinochet seized power in 1973 have filed a civil suit in the United States charging Fernandez with the murder. Fernandez’s attorney, Steven Davis, says his client had nothing to do with the killing. The suit will be tried in federal court next June.
Taxes
Don’t Even Think of It
Thinking about cheating on your taxes? If you’re a Russian citizen, you may get a house visit from the tax police. The new Instruction No. 525 allows police to contact colleagues and family members of any individual they believe may be planning to commit a crime and ask them to talk their loved one out of it. And just how will they read the mind of the secretive plotter? See Instruction No. 426, which allows the tax police to use lie detectors on suspected evaders. A suspect would have to agree to take the test, but it’s hard to say no to police who are best known for forcing the muzzles of their Kalashnikov rifles into the foreheads of tax offenders. Russians are shocked at the totalitarian new regulations, says private tax lawyer Maxim Maximovsky, “but they have a genetic fear of the government. People are too scared to complain.” In fact, they’d better not even think about complaining about the new rules if they want to keep the tax police off their backs.
Health
Up in Smoke
After two weeks of debate, nearly all the 171 nations at the World Health Organization conference in Geneva last week had agreed on a way to help put an end to the 4 million tobacco-related deaths that occur worldwide annually. But the United States, home to the world’s most powerful tobacco lobby, is one of two nations (Germany is the other) to “give explicit statements that they will have difficulty coming onboard,” says Derek Yach, a WHO official. The United States opposes a treaty ban on tobacco advertising. But most public-health advocates dismiss this logic, pointing to a disclaimer that allows countries to ignore elements of the treaty that violate their own constitutions. “The Bush administration has done everything that they can to weaken the tobacco treaty,” says Matt Myers, president of the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids.
Saudi Arabia
Blacklist Battles
In a move expected to infuriate religious conservatives and human-rights advocates alike, the Bush administration has decided to reject the recommendation of a special government commission to place Saudi Arabia on a U.S. blacklist of countries that violate religious freedom. NEWSWEEK has learned that Secretary of State Colin Powell is expected to shortly release an annual list of “countries of particular concern”–a formal branding of nations the U.S. government concludes engage in “systemic, ongoing and egregious” violations of the rights of religious minorities. The Saudis won’t be on it–despite the conclusion by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom that the Islamic nation is probably the world’s worst oppressor of religious rights. “I’m appalled and disappointed,” says Felice D. Gaer, the commission chair, about the decision. “But I’m not surprised.”
This year’s battle over the religious blacklist was being closely watched because members of Congress and an array of religious-conservative groups–who have close ties to the White House–have become increasingly agitated over the Saudi issue. One commissioner, Richard Land of the Southern Baptist Convention, weighed in with White House aides, describing it as a high-priority item for evangelical Christians. Land tells NEWSWEEK he was greatly influenced by a briefing the commission got last fall in which human-rights groups and religious dissidents described how the Saudi religious police raided the homes of foreign workers practicing Christianity and threw them into overcrowded prisons with squalid conditions. “It’s unthinkable to me that our government is not pressing the Saudis on this,” says Land. But senior administration officials, including some at the White House, concluded that publicly chastising the Saudis would be counterproductive–and might interfere with broader U.S. interests in the region. That stand appeared to pay off last week: after months of resistance, Saudi Arabia agreed to allow the United States to use its air bases in the event of war with Iraq.
North Korea
Crossing The Line
The Bush Administration refuses to call it a “red line,” but that’s the message it’s sending to North Korea as the Stalinist state inches closer to reviving its nuclear site at Yongbyon. The red line in question is the reprocessing that could turn the North’s 8,000 spent fuel rods into enough weapons-grade plutonium to produce six nukes. In Asia last week, Secretary of State Colin Powell told Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul to pass on a message to Kim Jong Il: don’t start your reprocessing plant. “I think they’ve all been in touch with North Korea about the danger of moving forward,” Powell told reporters.
Some administration officials say they refuse to call it a red line because it would look as if Washington were threatening military strikes. Others admit there is a far simpler explanation: while the message is clear, the policy response is not. “What exactly do you want us to do?” asks one exasperated administration official.
Word games have been common when handling North Korea. The administration refused to call the situation a crisis, then refused the notion of bilateral talks–at least to begin with. (“We’ll have to talk to them,” Powell admitted, “but a multilateral forum is the best way.”) Korea analysts expect the North to edge closer to the brink as soon as war begins in Iraq. This could mean a missile test close to South Korea or Japan, or a plume of smoke rising from the reprocessing plant. Either way, the North looks determined to cross any number of red lines.
Art
Caricaturing Carnaval
Time was when charisma and charm counted for more in Brazil’s famous Carnaval than corporate sponsorship. Then along came satellite television and 10-ton computerized floats. The frenetic pre-Lenten merrymaking, which will dominate life in Brazil this week, has morphed into a Broadway-like spectacle produced by slick professionals. “But you can’t turn back the clock,” shrugs caricaturist Lan, one of several artists who maintain the tradition of depicting Carnaval in cartoon form. The Italian-born Lan, whose real name is Lanfranco Aldo Riccardo Vaselli Cortelini Rossi Rosini, is known for the exuberance of his work and for his monumental muses in nanoskirts, whose relentless curves mock both garments and gravity. Now its Brazil’s turn to honor Lan. Later this year his work will be on exhibit at the Museum of Beaux Arts in Rio, his adopted home for half a century. And Portela, his favorite samba “school,” paid him tribute by reserving the top berth on a float at this year’s pageant. It seems only fitting that Carnaval’s most devoted caricaturist has finally become a Carnaval character himself.
Photography
Picture Perfect
It’s not the whole truth, but a good part of the reason William Henry Fox Talbot became one of the fathers of photography was that he could not draw well. Talbot (1800-1877) grew up at a time when people sketched picturesque spots on their travels. This upper-class Englishman became so frustrated on his honeymoon at his lack of artistic skill, so the story goes, that he threw himself into developing a process whereby waterfalls and mountain vistas might be recorded mechanically. The result, a decade or so later, was the positive-negative process that Talbot called “photogenic drawing”–and we call photography.
If Talbot lacked the dexterity necessary to produce a decent drawing, he certainly possessed an artist’s eye. That’s the first thing that strikes you at the wonderfully comprehensive show of his work on display from March 30 to June 15 at San Diego’s Museum of Photographic Arts (there is also a superb catalog of the show, “First Photographs,” published by powerHouse). A lot of Talbot’s images–men playing chess, glassware and seashells, the way light breaks up when it strikes a haystack–were meant to merely demonstrate the camera’s capabilities. In fact, they do much more. Talbot showed us as well as any photographer ever has that a camera, with its eye always lusting after light, can uncover wonders that a painter might scorn.
Toys
Real War Games
Five GI’s tentatively enter a bullet-riddled residence. Before making it in, one falls to the ground, wounded by an unseen enemy. His scarred comrade watches and grasps a box of iodine pills. A scene from Iraq? Afghanistan? Nope–FAO Schwarz. Welcome to the world of toys.
War is hell, but it’s vividly displayed to American kids in a series of G.I. Joe dioramas at the Fifth Avenue store in New York. G.I. Joe’s overall sales are up 46 percent from last year, and spokeswoman Audrey DeSimone credits a renewed focus on marketing to kids. Toy company Model Power sported a similar display last week at New York’s International Toy Fair. Outside its showroom was a model of what looked like a bombed-out shelter–labeled HUSSEIN HILTON. “It gets people in here,” says a salesman.
At 21st Century Toys, CEO James Allen is a bit more diplomatic. He doesn’t sell war toys, he says. He sells military toys. He will, however, show you models of toys that will be used in the event of, er, military involvement in Iraq. Some people buy the distinction. “The French and Germans are protesting the war,” he says. “But guess what? They buy my products.”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-07” author: “Kris Gonzalez”
Roh Let the Dogs Out
Roh Moo Hyun rode into South Korea’s presidency in late 2002 on a pledge to clean up politics, and he kick-started a probe into illegal campaign financing. Now that probe threatens his own presidency. And it is the country’s prosecutors who are emerging as Korea’s new heroes.
Last week’s events were just the latest setback for the president. A Roh golfing buddy, Kang Geum Won, the chairman of the Changshin Textile Co., was arrested for allegedly embezzling some $4 million from his company’s kitty and evading $1 million in corporate taxes. Luckily for Roh, he’s not the only one in the spotlight. Opposition lawmakers have been targeted, too, and last Friday prosecutors sought arrest warrants for two members of the opposition on charges of accepting bribes.
Gone are the days when South Korea’s national prosecutors were famous only for being easily manipulated. “Young prosecutors don’t care who they help or hurt, and if someone tries to influence them from above, it backfires,” says one midcareer prosecutor. “They are like loose cannons.” Perhaps, but the public is on their side. Consider senior prosecutor Ahn Dae Hee. He has been dubbed “Cool Ahn” by supporters, and even has his own fan club. Roh could only wish for the same.
MIDDLE EAST
New Day, New Deal?
Shalom. Salaam. Peace in the Middle East? Well, at least between two Israeli and Palestinian negotiators, Yossi Beilin and Yasir Abed Rabbo, who brought their “virtual” Geneva accord to Washington last week. In some quarters they were received more as pariahs than peacemakers. Some Israeli officials called them traitors, and U.S. Jewish groups lobbied Bush administration officials to keep their distance. Secretary of State Colin Powell was gracious when he met with the two, but studiously neutral about the plan, which calls for a permanent settlement by 2005. (Some administration officials criticize it for not calling on the Palestinians to end terror.) Powell “was very, very curious about the initiative,” claimed Beilin. (A State Department spokesman said Powell has not read the document.) Assistant Secretary of State William Burns called the initiative “fascinating,” Beilin added. But the State spokesman said Burns was referring to the concept of the shadow peace plan, not the substance of the agreement. Bush coolly accepted the meeting, saying, “We appreciate people discussing peace.” Some White House officials, though, would have preferred the meeting never happened.
INTELLIGENCE
Cheney Charges
A memo written by a top Washington lobbyist for the controversial Iraqi National Congress raises new questions about the role Vice President Dick Cheney’s office played in the run-up to the war in Iraq. The memo, obtained by NEWSWEEK, suggests that the INC last year was directly feeding intelligence reports about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and purported ties to terrorism to one of Cheney’s top foreign-policy aides. Cheney staffers later pushed INC info–including defectors’ claims about weapons of mass destruction and terror ties–to bolster the case that Saddam’s government posed a direct threat to America. But the CIA and other U.S. intelligence agencies have strongly questioned the reliability of defectors supplied by the INC.
For months, Cheney’s office has denied that the veep bypassed U.S. intelligence agencies to get intel reports from the INC. But a June 2002 memo written by INC lobbyist Entifadh Qunbar to a U.S. Senate committee lists John Hannah, a senior national- security aide on Cheney’s staff, as one of two “U.S. governmental recipients” for reports generated by an intelligence program being run by the INC and which was then being funded by the State Department. Under the program, “Defectors, reports and raw intelligence are cultivated and analyzed”; the info was then reported to, among others, “appropriate governmental, nongovernmental and international agencies.” The memo not only describes Cheney aide Hannah as a “principal point of contact” for the program, it even provides his direct White House telephone number. The only other U.S. official named as directly receiving the INC intel is William Luti, a former military adviser to ex House Speaker Newt Gingrich who, after working on Cheney’s staff early in the Bush administration, shifted to the Pentagon, where he oversaw a secretive Iraq war-planning unit called the Office of Special Plans.
Hannah did not respond to a request for comment. But another Cheney aide insisted that the memo was misleading, and flatly denied that the vice president received “raw” intelligence from the INC. Hannah discussed only Iraqi political issues with INC representatives, not intelligence, the aide said. Francis Brooke, another D.C. lobbyist for the INC, said he often orally discussed Iraqi issues–including claims about Iraqi weapons of mass destruction and Saddam’s terrorist connections–with Hannah, Luti and Cheney’s chief of staff Lewis (Scooter) Libby. But he insisted he talked with them only about INC intelligence matters that had already been reported in the media. A Pentagon official also denied that Luti got INC intel reports directly, suggesting the author of the memo was just “dropping names” to drum up support for the INC on Capitol Hill.
MEDIA
Who’s the Most Biased? A Surprising Answer.
It’s not surprising that a German NGO would conclude that American TV covered the Iraq war with a heavy bias in favor of George W. Bush and the allies. But in a report due out next month, Bonn-based Medien Tenor compares coverage from a half-dozen nations, and finds that Germany’s newscasts were the most biased of all. (The study also looked at British, Czech and South African TV, plus Qatar-based Al-Jazeera.) Medien Tenor slams German TV for describing Bush, Tony Blair and Saddam Hussein in equally negative terms, making no distinction between dictatorship and democracy, and showing little beyond Baghdad bombs and civilian casualties. Study author Roland Schatz describes the newscasts collectively as a one-sided “infotainment of gruesomeness.”
The Germans can claim to be responding to public opinion. The percentage of citizens who consider America Germany’s best friend has dropped from 50 in 1998 to only 11 percent today. But, says Robert von Rimscha, senior editor at the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel, leading journalists and intellectuals have hijacked the Iraq debate to help in “defining a European identity based on opposition to America.” For many Germans, staunch pacifism and identification with innocent civilians is also an easy way to take the moral high ground. Never have so many Germans said they feel “proud to be German again.” In such an environment, it’s next to impossible for Berlin to change course and help on Iraq, even if it wanted to. The legacy of this divide could be with us long after the headlines quiet down.
MOVIES
The Face Behind the Painting
Until recently the lay public knew little about the life of 17th-century Flemish painter Johannes Vermeer. But that was before the runaway success of Tracy Chevalier’s 2001 historical novel, “Girl With a Pearl Earring.” The book has sold more than 2 million copies, and painted the artist with a saucy, alluring brush. That sexy image is set to be further reinforced by Colin Firth’s portrayal of Vermeer in the new film of the same title.
Closely following Chevalier’s plot, the film is spun from the mystery behind one of Vermeer’s most enigmatic paintings–that of a beautiful young woman wearing a pearl earring. The fetching subject of the masterpiece, it turns out, is 17-year-old Griet, a grieving maiden forced by a family tragedy to become a maid in Vermeer’s chaotic household. The artist becomes enraptured with Griet (played by “Lost in Translation’s” Scarlett Johannson) when she shows an acute understanding of art. But when Vermeer’s jealous wife discovers the commissioned painting of Griet wearing her mistress’s pearl earring, the reckless master’s home life is turned upside down.
Director Peter Webber’s debut feature is entertaining, albeit slightly disturbing–the cinematography immediately takes you inside a vibrant 17th-century Holland. Johannson’s nuanced turn brings alive a young girl’s first fits of passion. But that’s just it: Johannson’s too-innocent-looking face and Webber’s deliberate underscoring of the erotic in the master-maid relationship–with several highly sexed (minus the sex) overtones–leave a somewhat pedophilic pit in your stomach. There’s a heart-pounding paint-grinding scene and a disturbing interlude where Firth pierces the young girl’s ear. What’s left for the viewer is a powerful impression of the passion behind a canvas.
BOOKS
Not Fond Memories
One thing you can say about literary giant Margaret Atwood: the woman has certainly paid her dues. There was, for instance, the talk show in which her interview followed a representative of the Colostomy Association. Discussion of her literary contributions followed a string of tips on the proper use of colostomy bags. The humiliation didn’t stop there. The now famous Booker Prize-winning author once hawked her first novel in the men’s underwear section of a department store.
For artists, it is often the case that the seeds to literary gems can be found in the most unpleasant experiences. Thus the new book: “Mortification–Writers’ Stories of Their Public Shame.” The collection, edited by poet Robin Robertson, features tales of humiliation and debasement from mainstays like Atwood to Roddy Doyle and Irvine Welsh. Best-selling author Louis de Bernieres tells how he once got stuck on a panel with an S&M prostitute; writer Chuck Palahniuk explains why a bookstore owner placed a bag of frozen peas on his shoulder. “Literature offers endless opportunities for embarrassment,” writes novelist and poet Simon Armitage in his chapter. Alas, both reader and writer know the feeling.
Q&A: Jason Priestley
A year after his near-lethal auto-racing accident, Jason Priestley has gotten back in the game, playing a gigolo-detective in the campy drag movie “Die Mommie Die!” NEWSWEEK’s Sean Smith caught up with the 34-year-old former “Beverly Hills 90210” hunk after a bracing round of celebrity golf.
How’s your recovery?
My back is really good, and my brain started working again, so I’m happy about that. This was concussion No. 14 for me, and I got scrambled pretty good. But I’ve never been the brightest bulb in the box [laughs].
You’ve been quite the daredevil over the years. A boat collision in April 2002–
Hey, those guys drove into me. Come on!
You totaled your Porsche in ‘99.
That one was my fault [laughs].
Bungee jumping, ice hockey–point is, we’re not getting any younger.
As you’re very kind to mention [laughs]. Am I moving away from it? I’m not sure. I’ve been racing cars since I was 21 years old, and I miss it. When you’re at the edge of your abilities and really pushing yourself, that’s living life. I love that. But I won’t race at that level again.
In “Die Mommie Die!” you play a detective who sleeps with a drag queen, her daughter and her son. Is there anyone he won’t shag?
He’s sort of omnisexual, but he’s doing it for the right reasons.
Such as?
You know, the quest for truth.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-13” author: “Daniel Ray”
The Putin Strategy
The big question in this Sunday’s parliamentary elections is not whether supporters of Russian President Vladimir Putin will dominate their opponents, but what Putin will do with the victory. To push through his ambitious second-term agenda, Putin needs a strong election showing from United Russia, the party handcrafted by the Kremlin over the past four years to give him an easy legislative ride. With GDP growing around 6 percent this year, Putin pledges to make sure ordinary citizens share in the country’s growing prosperity. Teachers, police and soldiers will see a pay increase, he says. There will be improvements in basic infrastructure, such as heat and running water in dirt-poor provinces. In the budget next year, Putin plans to spike an unpopular 5 percent sales tax and to create a so-called stabilization fund from windfall oil revenues.
Putin’s first post-Dec. 7 moves, though, will likely include some ministerial housecleaning. As the top-ranking Yeltsin holdover, Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov heads the list of those predicted to go. Putin wants his own man in the spot, someone like Sergei Ivanov, a friend and fellow former KGB officer currently in charge of Russia’s ragtag military. Another leading candidate is Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, a liberal economist favored by the business community.
Putin also wants to make the Russian civil service more efficient. In doing so he would be going after the very power base that’s set to deliver him the new Duma. His United Russia party draws much of its strength from “administrative resources,” a euphemism for those millions of people on the government payroll who are expected to vote as they are told. Still, if Putin uses Russia’s $89 billion budget to pay more money to fewer, more competent bureaucrats, he’ll be on the road to creating an effective federal government, and one that is far less frightening to foreign investors.
Perhaps the biggest plays in Putin’s second-term game book involve Russia’s main moneymaker, the energy industry. Tapping public disdain for the country’s billionaire oilmen, Putin has told the oligarchs to pitch in. If the Kremlin and the new Duma turn that populist rhetoric into tax laws aimed at the oligarchs, Putin will have a powerful weapon to use on their holdings.
Another major play involves Russia’s largest company, Gazprom, which supplies Europe with one quarter of its natural gas. Foreign investors have been pushing Moscow to open up Gazprom more fully to investment for years. Putin is hinting he’ll do it, says Charles Ryan, head of the UFG investment bank.
There may also be darker items on Putin’s agenda. Some suspect that the mother of them all is to amend the Russian Constitution so that, come 2008, Putin could serve a third or even fourth term. Would he have 301 of the 450 votes required? If Putin delivers on his promises, more than a few Russians might wish he does.
Banking
Cleaning House
The writing was on the wall for a week. On Nov. 23, Japan’s Financial Services minister Heizo Takenaka warned that his agency stood ready “to prevent turmoil” should one of Japan’s wobbly regional lenders falter. Five days later the FSA moved to bail out Ashikaga Bank in the second such rescue since May.
As NEWSWEEK went to press details of the government’s action were sketchy. Yet one thing was certain: Takenaka’s get-tough campaign to solve Japan’s bad-loan crisis, which began with stricter audits on megabanks last year, has expanded to include regional lenders across the country. “Weaker [regional] banks have tended to ignore stricter accounting treatment,” says Hironari Nozaki, a senior analyst at HSBC Securities in Tokyo. “Hidden problems are getting bigger day by day.”
Ashikaga Bank, the top lender in rural Tochigi prefecture, reportedly is prepared to notify the FSA that its capital-adequacy ratio had dropped below 4 percent, the minimum level required by law. On Nov. 24, ratings agency Standard & Poor’s described the bank as “behind its peers” in reducing nonperforming loans and “extremely fragile.” Following a pattern set when Resona Bank, Japan’s fifth largest lender, failed last May, the FSA is expected to inject public funds, name new management and order aggressive write-downs of bad loans on Ashikaga’s books.
Last week Japan’s megabanks announced midterm results showing that, as a group, they’re on track to post a profit for the first time since 2000 when the fiscal year ends next March. Experts credit the FSA’s tougher accounting rules. In a draft bill circulated among ruling-party lawmakers last week, the agency suggested using public funds to help strong regional banks merge with weaker siblings, a signal that more failures are on the horizon. Soon the worst of Japan’s banks could face one of two fates: being taken over by the government or gobbled up by a competitor.
Global Buzz
The Bluff And Bluster Edition
Tensions seem to be brewing everywhere, across both oceans and on islands Taiwan and Cyprus. Things generally, though, aren’t as bleak as they look.
Global trade
Washington is likely to soften its position on steel tariffs, while limits on Chinese imports have so far been limited in scope. Look to deeds, not words.
Taiwan
Facing a tough re-election campaign and lackluster economy, Prez Chen Shui-bian will increasingly seek to rattle Beijing’s cage. Tensions tick upward.
Cyprus
Despite pro-Europe sentiment, Turkish Cypriots fear richer Greeks will dominate any unified state. Elections this month won’t bring a reform mandate.
Libya
American oil giants are eager to go where Repsol and Total have already gone. Washington is likely to renew sanctions for only 90 days, not a year.
Northern Ireland
Taking the Hard Line
Talk about a hollow victory. The political middle fell out of Northern Ireland last week. In elections to the fledgling Northern Ireland Assembly, born out of the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, the Republican Party Sinn Fein and the loyalist Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) rolled over the two mainstream parties, the Ulster Unionists and the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). The DUP stands staunchly against the peace agreement. Its leader, the 77-year-old firebrand preacher Rev. Ian Paisley, refuses even to meet with Gerry Adams, the leader of Sinn Fein, long seen as the Irish Republican Army’s political arm. The resulting deadlock has turned back the clock in this little corner of Britain.
How far back remains to be seen. More than 3,000 people have been killed since “the troubles” began three decades ago. But since the mid-1990s there has been much less bloodshed and the economy has improved. All the while, however, disaffection slowly chewed away at support for the agreement.
Adams has links to the IRA, but says he renounced violence a long time ago. In 1998 he shared the Nobel Peace Prize with John Hume, the ailing former SDLP leader whom, according to press reports, the IRA once considered targeting for assassination. As for Paisley, he also says he renounces violence. (One night in 1981 he appeared on a hillside with 500 men brandishing firearms licenses; “I’ll go to the grave with the convictions I have,” he once told an interviewer.) Adams and Paisley have a lot to argue about. The best Northern Ireland can hope for is that those feuds don’t restart the cycle of violence.
TECHNOLOGY
Seeing Eye To Eye
Strange cylindrical structures will appear in London and Vienna this spring. At first sight they may appear to be wraparound IMAX screens, but as you draw closer you might notice that the people on the screen are staring back at you. You wave. Someone waves back. Then you notice that people on both sides of the screen are talking to each other as though they were in the same town square.
Call it videoconferencing for the masses. The 360-degree outdoor screen is three meters high and seven meters in diameter, and uses high-definition television rear-projection cameras to give a life-size image. When you talk to people, you’re looking them in the eye. Cameras snap your image through mechanical shutters that open and close too quickly to see. Inventor Andreas Traint, research director of Austrian firm Tholos, which makes the kiosks, took his inspiration from the zoetrope, a 19th-century device that used this “persistent image” effect to created the illusion of motion.
Whereas the Internet allowed people to seek out others of like mind, the Tholos kiosks might bring together disparate people who just happen to wander by a screen. First, the kiosks have to catch on. Tholos plans to build 14 more in European cities by 2008 and some in North America by 2010. The company is raising private and public funds to pay for the kiosks, at $2 million a pop, and plans to recoup the investment by flashing advertisements on the screen. One obvious hurdle is language: Londoners and Viennese may find themselves at a loss for words. And newfangled technologies are often ignored if they serve no obvious purpose. “People like a nudge in the right direction,” says Steve Spittle, a media lecturer at the University of Portsmouth. On the other hand, novelty does have its appeal.
Health
Chewing The Fat
One of the great virtues of “The Trans Fat Solution,” a new cookbook/health primer, is that you can read the entire thing in less time than it takes to make the Walnut-Cardamom Coffee Cake. Trans fatty acids are a tricky topic and so many health books confuse more than they enlighten, using jargon instead of straightforward explanation. But this is not one of those books. Author Kim Severson, a food writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, has made trans fatty foods understandable in just three short chapters.
Trans fats–the synthetic molecules that appear in more than 40 percent of foods on grocery shelves as “partially hydrogenated” oils or “vegetable shortening”–are a guilty pleasure for both cooks and consumers. They show up in fresh foods, making croissants flaky and pie crusts crumbly. But they’re also what’s keeping that decade-old Twinkie at the back of your pantry soft–and they’re one of the many reasons health-conscious eaters should throw that Twinkie in the trash. Trans fats have been linked to high cholesterol, clogged arteries, heart attacks, stroke and diabetes. They may be even unhealthier than the saturated animal fats they’re often intended to replace. Like “natural” saturated fats, manmade trans fats raise “bad” LDL cholesterol–and they also lower “good” HDL.
Severson’s book makes the evils of trans fats undeniably clear, but it’s not for hard-core science geeks. She notes that “some doctors believe” in controversial theories–a link between trans fats and cancer, for instance–without citing data. (And how many doctors is “some,” anyway?) Still, it’s got to be the purest, simplest explanation of trans fats on the market–just the thing for a world already fraught with dietary confusion.
Business
A Card in a Compact Disc
What’s your business card done for you lately? Probably little more than clutter someone’s desk en route to the recycle bin. A CD business card might help kick that client list up a notch. In Palm Desert, Calif., Stephen Anderson makes elaborately packaged, full-size CDs for stockbrokers, personal-fitness trainers, plastic surgeons and “anybody who has a story.” Andy Carr’s CityScape Shapes in Coram, N.Y., produces minidiscs the size and shape of regular business cards. “You have your whole spiel on there,” he says. Slide one into your computer and up pops Flash animation, photos, links to your Web site and whatever else you can cram onto a 50- to 100-megabyte disc. “It’s like carrying a salesman in your pocket.”
Both firms report increased sales of their cards, which come in any form–rectangular, elliptical, the shape of houses, cars or guitars–and are becoming ubiquitous at trade shows. General consensus in the biz world: why spring for color brochures at $5 a pop when CD cards average about a buck each? For much more cash–$3,000–New York’s HYLife Productions can squeeze up to eight minutes of video on its cards. Worked great for talent-management group BerryFine Productions, which used footage from a Manhattan client’s play to land a Durham, N.C., gig. Vassar College, in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., ordered a batch from Carr to elicit donations before the class of 1979’s upcoming 25-year reunion. The disc gives alums photos from their college days set to disco. Too bad the music didn’t get an upgrade, too.
CHINA
Canon of Corruption
Little more than a decade ago, Lu Tianming, a struggling TV scriptwriter, made a choice that could have landed him in jail: to write books exposing high-level corruption in China. His first novel, “The Heavens Above,” told the fictional story of crooked government officials. It was a smash hit, selling 125,000 copies and becoming a 17-part television series watched by hundreds of thousands of nightly viewers.
Lu has struck a nerve in mainstream China–an audience with a seemingly insatiable appetite for anti-corruption themes. His second and third novels moved even closer to reality. “Pure as Snow,” which sold 185,000 copies, was inspired by real-life whistle-blower Yu Xinhua in Heilongjiang province. At the time, Lu recalls, she claimed that many corrupt cadres remained at large–including the then provincial Secretary Tian Fengshan, who later became China’s powerful Land and Resources minister in Beijing.
For his latest work of fiction, the most successful to date, Lu set out to interview some real-life officials. He sent nine names of provincial secretaries to a senior leader, requesting meetings with them. The cadre wordlessly scratched out one name, then helped Lu interview the other eight. As for the mysterious deleted name, it belonged to Tian Fengshan, who last month was abruptly relieved of his ministerial duties. Under questioning, Tian reportedly confessed to taking bribes when he was Heilongjiang provincial secretary.
Q&A: Sting
The artist formerly known as Gordon Sumner has just published a memoir, “Broken Music,” in which he reflects on his childhood and adolescence in an attempt to understand “the child I was, and the man I became.” NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin managed to trap the onetime lead singer of The Police in a Sting operation.
Why did you decide to write an autobiography?
Well, I was 50 when I decided. I thought that was a good sort of round number and I probably had enough perspective on the early part of my life to at least try and make sense of it. There have been biographies written by people who’d never met me, gleaned from various sources and not terribly true.
How did you make sure your hair didn’t dry out from all the peroxide over the years?
[Laughs] Is this a serious interview or are you just winding me up?
I’m not trying to make fun of you. I seriously want to know about your hair.
I think my hair is fine.
But wasn’t it really brittle from all the peroxide?
Doesn’t seem so. I’m looking at it now.
In your book you write of your love of literature.
I’ve read a lot of books. I was an English teacher; it’s not as if literature is a stranger to me. Have you read my book?
I did.
You did?
I enjoyed it. Clearly, you’re smarter than the average pop star.
Doesn’t take much, though, does it?
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-26” author: “Dorothea Morris”
The Rise of Nasrallah
Israel sometimes has a way of emboldening its enemies and enervating its peace partners. Hassan Nasrallah was the benefactor last week. The leader of Lebanon’s Islamic Hizbullah group strutted triumphantly around Beirut’s airport Thursday, greeting captives he’d forced Israel to free in a prisoner swap. Hours later, thousands of supporters cheered when he vowed to abduct more Israelis to leverage another prisoner release. This could become an even more serious concern for Israelis, as Nasrallah’s stature has been growing in recent years. “There’s a pattern of people wanting to emulate Hizbullah,” says Rami Khouri, editor of Lebanon’s Daily Star.
It’s no wonder Nasrallah has become a rising star in the Arab world. Hizbullah’s eviction of Israeli troops from Lebanon in May 2000 through guerrilla warfare inspired Palestinians to launch their uprising later that year. Last week Palestinians recalled how their own former prime minister Mahmoud Abbas had pleaded for a prisoner release for months in talks with Israeli leader Ariel Sharon. He managed to win freedom for only about 100 detainees, while nearly 450 prisoners were repatriated under Nasrallah’s deal. After the Hizbullah swap Thursday, the head of the Palestinian group Hamas announced that his organization would also begin abducting Israelis.
It will take more than just abductions to copy Hizbullah’s success, however. Nasrallah’s status in Lebanon has as much to do with the social services his group provides needy Shiites as it does with his defiance of Israel. “Hizbullah has built a shadow social system and a shadow judicial system in Lebanon,” says Nizar Hamzeh, a political scientist at the American University in Beirut. Lebanese communities where Shiites are a majority are now more likely to settle disputes in Hizbullah-appointed tribunals than in state courts, says Hamzeh.
Perhaps most important, Nasrallah has managed to project himself beyond Lebanon to the rest of the Arab world through the cable-television station Al-Manar, which has ties to Hizbullah. “The whole region was watching Al-Manar when the prisoners were being released,” says Hamzeh. Ibrahim Mousawi, who runs Al-Manar’s 30-minute English-language news show, says that millions tune in from as far away as Australia and Japan. Nasrallah’s appeal? He has a reputation for personal probity, unlike many Arab leaders, and for effectiveness: Nasrallah has wrung more concessions from Israel lately than any Arab government. “He is an icon in the Arab world these days,” says Mousawi. That’s not good news for the peace process, which Nasrallah disdains, nor for Israel.
HALLIBURTON
Factoring In a Risk
Halliburton, the big contracting company that Dick Cheney used to run, is now warning investors that its Cheney connection is what Wall Street calls a “risk factor.” No, the company’s not talking about the multibillion-dollar asbestos liability that it got stuck with thanks to the Cheney-orchestrated takeover of Dresser Industries. Rather, Halliburton says, the Cheney connection has caused “intense scrutiny” of its operations. “Since [Cheney’s] nomination as vice president,” the company said in a recent SEC filing, “Halliburton has been and continues to be the focus of allegations, some of which appear to be made for political reasons by political adversaries of the Vice President and the current Bush administration. We expect that this focus and these allegations will continue and possibly intensify as the 2004 elections draw nearer.” The one-paragraph Cheney item is buried in 26 pages of risk factors that range from subsidiaries’ bankruptcy proceedings to contract disputes over an oilfield off the coast of Brazil. Cheney’s office referred all comment to Halliburton, which said this is the first time it’s included a Cheney-risk item in its SEC filings. “Management made the decision to include these statements because of the politically-charged environment in which we now operate,” company spokesman Wendy Hall said in an e-mail. “Times have changed since the vice president left the company and we understand it is an election year.”
CHINA The Train Stops Here
Former Chinese prime minister Zhu Rongji’s pet project–a $1.2 billion high-speed magnetic levitation train running from Shanghai to Beijing–has ground to a halt before it ever departed. Last week Chinese leaders announced that the proposed line, to be built using German technology, has been shelved indefinitely. What’s more, one project insider says that plans for shorter lines, like a proposed run from Shanghai to Nanjing, are also dead.
Why the derailment? The changeover in China’s top leadership last spring was a key factor, say German sources; since President Hu Jintao officially took office in March 2003, the Maglev train has not been featured in conversations with visiting German officials. “The Germans want to talk about it, but the Chinese don’t,” says the insider. “Science and technology do not seem to be as high of a priority for the new leadership. They have more [pressing] problems to solve.” Behind closed doors at a meeting with various German stakeholders before he stepped down, even Zhu seemed aware that the new leadership was not likely to be as enthusiastic as he was about the technology. As observers point out, the one existing Maglev line–from Pudong airport, just 30 kilometers outside Shanghai–ends after traveling less than half of the distance to the city center. Construction stopped dead with Zhu’s term.
Historically, Chinese leaders have spared no expense on megaprojects, from the Great Wall to Mao Zedong’s Great Hall of the People. But such grand undertakings are far less popular at a time when the state has withdrawn much of the social safety net once provided to citizens. By axing a project so closely associated with the previous generation of leaders, the new regime is showing that it can make its own decisions–and take heed of the people’s needs, too.
SCIENCE
Wondrous Weeds
Most weeds are noxious, unwanted plants awaiting a whacking. But a Danish biotech company has adapted one, the thale-cress plant, to help save lives. Scientists at Aresa Biodetection in Copenhagen have genetically modified the plant so that it changes from its normal green hue to red when its roots touch nitrogen dioxide, a gas that seeps out of buried land mines and unexploded ordnance. Many of these explosives can remain active for over 50 years, emitting nitrogen dioxide all the while.
Don’t laugh at the idea of a demining plant: this invention could well take root. After all, demining groups need all the help they can get–an estimated 50 million unexploded land mines are scattered in 70 countries, and each year, they maim up to 20,000 people. Getting rid of the mines is tedious, painstaking work: a good de-miner will clear just two square meters in a day.
The color-changing weed won’t be a silver bullet. For one, a path will still need to be cleared through a minefield so that thale-cress seeds can be scattered over the land. (The seeds take three to six weeks to grow.) And removing the mines from the ground will still take time and hard work. But the superweed, expected to be used regularly within two years, does present a cost-effective alternative to the most common detection methods currently available–humans with metal detectors and mine-sniffing dogs. And since these plants have been engineered so they can’t reproduce, there’s no danger of their overrunning fields, either.
FINANCES
Save It, Sweetie
Budgets are useless. Nobody sticks to them (and the credit-card industry is eternally grateful). It’s refreshing to find a personal-finance book acknowledging that, along with other reality checks about how people handle money. Fess up: do you practice “money laundering,” those little tricks to secretly siphon off a bit of spending money from your family budget?
In his new book “Love & Money: A Life Guide for Financial Success,” Jeff Opdyke, a Wall Street Journal columnist, offers a one-way-mirror view of how couples talk, don’t talk and argue about money. (He includes all the headbutting in his own marriage, too.)
The examples show how we all bring baggage about money to a relationship–and that emotions, as well as logical “shoulds,” have to be part of any solution. Financial planning is really a reflection of what you want out of life, says Opdyke. Avoiding such talks can put a strain on many couples, especially if they don’t agree on the importance of long-term saving. “Talk is cheap,” he writes. “It’s the silence that’s expensive.”
So if budgets don’t work, what does? He suggests a detailed “spending plan,” and it’s not just semantics. Hint: credit-card companies would prefer budgets.
THEATER
Satirical Specialists
San Francisco theater troupe the Riot Group won plaudits for its sharp satire “Pugilist Specialist” at the 2003 Edinburgh Festival. In recent weeks audiences in London have flocked to the show, and the group begins a four-month U.K. tour on Feb. 11. Its popularity is no surprise; revolving around a U.S. plot to assassinate an unnamed Middle Eastern leader, the play is particularly timely–and brilliant, too.
Although it explores the war on terror, the play can hardly be taken as a peacenik polemic. Still, some antiwar sentiment seeps through. For instance, feisty, career-oriented Lt. Jessica Stein (played by Stephanie Viola) is so devoted to propagating the old-fashioned values of the U.S. Constitution that she fails to realize the purpose of war has changed.
Dark humor and lightning banter keep “Pugilist Specialist” from collapsing under its heavy subject matter. And playwright Adriano Shaplin’s florid, poetic monologues allow the tension to escalate gradually during the play, before finally driving home the point that the very existence of an enemy is more important today than the successful execution of battle plans. The only question left unanswered by the play is whether it will succeed in its September U.S. debut in New York. Shaplin admits he’s nervous. He shouldn’t be.
Music: Keeping Up With Ms. Jones
It’s not easy being jazz’s biggest crossover star in decades. Now Norah Jones must maintain the mystique that made her debut, “Come Away With Me,” a welcome pop antidote, and continue catering to the almost 17 million listeners who bought the disc. The 24-year-old singer-pianist, who got her start in tiny Manhattan clubs, was clearly freaked out when she won eight Grammys and beat out Bruce Springsteen for best album last year. “I never, ever thought the music I made would become popular music,” she stammered, adding that it would be impossible to follow up her 2003 success. Even then Jones knew to cut herself some slack.
On “Feels Like Home,” Jones tries to steer clear of the seamless melodies and soft-sanded edges that made her last album such a draw for casual listeners. Jesse Harris, who wrote most of “Come Away With Me,” now plays on only two songs. Instead, Jones and her boyfriend/bassist, Lee Alexander, wrote half of “Home,” and relied on material from other bandmates and friends, as well as covers of Tom Waits and Duke Ellington (with lyrics by Jones), for the rest. The result is choppy, jumping from smoky piano ballads to lazy blues-rock to an awkward bluegrass duet with Dolly Parton. The simple lyrics verge on jazz-bar generic: sunrises, the warm glow of wine, swimming with fish. “Home” sounds more like an amateur’s debut than a top-of-the-pops follow-up–and maybe that’s the point: to tone down and make a “little” album. You can take the girl out of the coffeehouse, but…
Jones would have shot herself in the foot if it weren’t for her hypnotic trademark voice. Her creamy-cool tone and laid-back delivery transform mediocre material into enjoyable and sometimes even compelling music. “Feels Like Home” feels like Jones’s retreat from places that aren’t homelike–like the Grammy stage. It may cost her half the fans who bought her debut. Still, that’ll leave her eight or so million more than she ever expected.
Q&A: CARRIE FISHER
Carrie Fisher’s new novel, “The Best Awful,” is a sequel to “Postcards From the Edge,” a wild, sad and funny fictionalization of her own stay in a mental ward. She spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Jeff Giles.
You went from being an icon for “Star Wars” to being an icon for manic-depression. Strange trip.
I am actually photographed in the “Abnormal Psychology” textbook.
A lot of unusual people must feel drawn to you.
I did a speech in Texas, where there’s not a lot of tolerance for mental illness. And they lump everything together. I did a speech at a luncheon for, um, mental illness, chemical dependence and retardation–that’s a lump for them. I said, “I was up for six days and I was convinced that everything on TV was about me. CNN was on, and [Gianni Versace’s killer, Andrew] Cunanan, Versace and the police were on–and I was all three.” That’s what I said. And I recommended that when people get psychotic they not watch CNN.
In the novel, our heroine has a baby with a Hollywood power player–and then learns he’s gay. People will assume that you’re writing about your ex, Bryan Lourd. It’s a very loving portrait. You even say that the sex was good. Straight women already like gay men more. Why make matters worse by saying that they’re great in bed, too?
[Laughs] I didn’t say they are. I haven’t gone through the whole community! Let me do that for my next book.
EU + No Constitution? No worries. Poland needs billions in EU financing, and as budget talks get underway, will make concessions accordingly. Money talks. Iran - Victorious conservatives may offer help in the war on terror. But forget about real reform: they’re hoping to buy popular support by getting sanctions lifted. Philippines + Front-runner and former actor Fernando Poe Jr. knows he’ll need to ease international fears. Expect him to appoint a crack economics team, a dire need. Serbia - If democrats don’t stabilize the government soon, radicals could take power. Not cooperating with the West on war criminals would further cripple Serbia.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-30” author: “Harold Boltz”
Despite promises to open their doors to migrants back in 2000, the European Union’s current members are now slamming some of those doors shut. Germany and Austria are considering seven-year total employment bans on migrants from the 10 central and eastern European countries that will join the EU come May 1; Belgium and Austria are proposing the same measures for two years. Even liberal Denmark, the Netherlands and Sweden are considering labor controls, albeit looser ones. Last week British Prime Minister Tony Blair announced that his government might have to take action to prevent what it calls “benefits tourism” by immigrants. The EU’s governments “have gotten into some kind of panic,” says Joanne van Selm, a European-immigration expert at the Migration Policy Institute in Washington. Ever-closer union, indeed.
The fear of an immigration invasion has been fed recently by media scare stories. Migration experts insist those fears are overblown. “Migration is the grease in the economy,” says Prof. Tito Boeri of Bocconi University in Milan, arguing that jobs will not be lost to the newcomers. “[Migrants] go where they are needed most.” Nor are immigrants likely to move to live off host governments. Britain’s welfare system is “not that luxurious that you’ll move halfway round the world just to get housing benefits,” says University of Liverpool migration expert Andrew Geddes.
The real fear is that the new labor controls “confound” the EU’s vision of a dynamic labor market, says Geddes. Skilled professionals may now change their minds about where they want to live. Instead of Denmark, for instance, software engineers from Poland might choose Ireland, which is still promising open markets and becoming what Geddes calls “Immigration Country.” (Last year the Irish government distributed some 50,000 work permits, up from just 6,000 in 1998.)
The new controls might even reverse the flow of job seekers, and jobs. “If [EU members] don’t allow people to come from east to west, then jobs will go from west to east,” says van Selm. Not exactly the way Old Europe expected its dream of a mobile work force to end, now is it?
The Buzz on the Bomb
In Moscow, political soothsayers had been contemplating it for months–a dramatic terrorist attack in the run-up to Russia’s March presidential election. Their ghastly predictions came true last Friday when a massive bomb blast ripped through a packed subway car, killing at least 39, wounding 134 more. At the scene, there was little doubt who was to blame. “The Chechens have committed another terrorist act,” said a young rescue worker. “We’re in a war, aren’t we?”
In Russia, though, things are rarely that simple, especially during election season. Leading politicians wasted no time in using the bombing as leverage to push their own agendas and score easy political points. President Vladimir Putin loyalist and nationalist Dmitry Rogozin, the head of the up-and-coming Homeland party, immediately called for a state of emergency and an increase in the government’s already considerable power to jail suspects for months without trial. Meanwhile, liberal candidate Irina Khakamada damned the government for its “ineffectiveness.” And with no one claiming responsibility for the bombing and a 10-year history of murky blasts with political overtones, Moscow’s many conspiracy theorists threw in their two cents, too. Populist presidential candidate Sergei Glazyev blamed unnamed “rich and influential” forces. Some even pointed the finger at a certain former KGB colonel: President Putin. “For the Russian special services who are now in power and their leader [Putin], it is always profitable when bombs are going off and people are dying,” said Alexander Litvinenko, author of a book alleging Putin’s involvement in the two 1999 Moscow apartment bombings that helped catapult him from obscurity to power.
Interestingly, while the Metro bombing made international headlines, a bomb of another kind found itself buried in the back pages of most newspapers last week. The day before the tragedy, a Duma committee agreed to consider a constitutional change that would increase the president’s term to seven years. Putin duly swatted the trial balloon down, casting himself as a defender of the Constitution–a familiar routine that started in 2001 when the Senate speaker called for freeing Putin from his two-term limit. But these days, Putin’s got the votes to pull it off, and as anxiety over terrorism ratchets up, his allies are calling for drastic changes to meet the threat. “Russia doesn’t hold negotiations with terrorists–it destroys them,” declared Putin on television hours after the bombing. The president has a lock next month on a second four-year term. If his people in Parliament manage to change the Constitution later this month, he’ll likely get a few more years to destroy terrorists, too.
China: The Other Super Bowl Scandal
And you thought the flap about Super Bowl XXXVIII’s halftime show was over Janet Jackson’s so-called wardrobe malfunction. Turns out that while jaws were dropping over Jackson’s right breast, exposed by duet partner Justin Timberlake at the end of their act, the National Football League was already dealing with another offensive halftime image–the famous, and politically sensitive, still shot of a man blocking a procession of tanks during the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. The image had just aired as part of an ad encouraging Americans to vote. None-too-pleased officials at China’s state-run sports channel CCTV5 were on the phone with the NFL almost immediately, according to Pete Abitante, the NFL’s senior director of international public affairs.
Super Bowl XXXVIII, the first to be broadcast live in China, was the NFL’s opportunity to showcase football in a land where Yao Ming is king, and basketball and soccer dominate broadcasts. With a recent advertising and promotional push, the NFL hoped to get a piece of the enticing China sports market. But CCTV5, which has an estimated viewership of 600 million, also has a deep aversion to controversial images. (In fact, the channel switched to broadcasting old NFL footage shortly after the culprit ad aired.) The NFL is penitent. “We understood the material could have been perceived as offensive,” says Abitante, who also questioned what exactly an image of Tiananmen Square had to do with persuading U.S. voters to head to the polls. Still, it’s unclear whether the league will suffer any long-lasting damage (whether it should be worrying about offending Beijing is another question). The ratings from the broadcast aren’t in yet, and many experts question how much potential football has in China.
Health: The Next Epidemic
By the time RHDV had cut its swath through China, 140 million had died. In Italy the disease killed 64 million, then it spread as far as Czechoslovakia, Spain and Germany. The Australians brought the pathogen home willingly for tests on a nearby island; it escaped to the mainland and killed 30 million. Today it is endemic on four continents–and in the spring of 2000 it surfaced in Iowa. Twenty-seven died.
If you don’t know the story of RHDV, it’s probably because you’re not a rabbit. (That’s what the R stands for.) While the decimation of animal populations can make headlines, they’re generally not on the front page. But with new diseases now cropping up nearly every year, a team of researchers decided to look again at the RHDV outbreaks. What they found, reported in this week’s Science, may help those seeking to contain the next big human epidemic. Before its sudden spread, RHDV–like many human pathogens–was a mild, under-the-radar virus. In computer models of large, freely mixing populations it stayed that way. But when it found its way into small populations that occasionally exchanged members, it evolved into a virulent monster. If the same holds for humans, virus hunters should concentrate on sparsely peopled villages in Asia and Africa, precisely where SARS and Ebola arose. And they should get ready for a fight: “There is no moderate virulence,” says biologist Peter Hudson.
Trash: Turned to Treasure
Even without the time travel, it’s a stretch to say that “Back to the Future, Part II” was even a little realistic. Case in point: shouldn’t we have flying cars by now? But one of the movie’s other snazzy technologies–“Mr. Fusion,” the trash bin cum energy source–is ready for reality. Like Mr. Fusion, Startech Environmental’s new Plasma Converter can turn trash, even hazardous waste, into power in the form of a hydrogen-rich gas. One converter is already running in Japan, and founder Joe Longo says he has bids out in “Europe, Latin America, the Pacific Rim”–pretty much everywhere. Even the environmentally unfriendly Americans are giving Startech a look: last month Longo floated a proposal to the “garbage nerds” of the New York Citywide Recycling Advisory Board. (That’s co-chair Kendall Christiansen’s phrase, not ours.) Changing World Technologies is also touting a machine that turns organic waste into oil. Changing world, indeed.
Two More Reps, Ma!
Doctors once worried that weight lifting could damage a kid’s growth plates. But recent studies show that when it’s done in moderation, possible benefits include increased bone density and reduced risk of diabetes. Recently the U.S. National School Fitness Foundation began placing child-size weight machinery in nearly 80 elementary schools across the country. Many U.S. gyms are also catching on to the trend, dropping their membership age from 18 to 14. Dr. Jordan Metzl, medical director of the Manhattan-based Sports Medicine Institute for Young Athletes, says, “Training makes sports safer by getting kids’ bodies prepared.”
Nonathletes could actually be the ones to benefit most. With obesity on the rise, experts say weight training is also a way to motivate heavier kids who are less at ease on the playing field. Still, experts say weight training shouldn’t take the place of cardiovascular activities; the American College of Sports Medicine suggests lifting no more than three nonconsecutive days a week. Overdoing it can injure growth plates and cause muscle sprains.
Photography: A Disappearing World China’s leaders aren’t known for thinking small-scale, and the vast Three Gorges Dam is a venture studded with superlatives. It has required the world’s most ambitious population resettlement to date (2 million people transplanted from the banks of the Yangzte River) in order to make way for the largest man-made lake on earth. Thirty-nine billion cubic meters of water flooded an area stretching for more than 650 kilometers when the project’s most important stage was completed last June. In a new exhibit at London’s Photofusion Gallery, “The Vanishing: Altered Landscapes and Displaced Lives on the Yangtze River,” photographer Ian Teh reveals the lives trapped in the grip of this overwhelming vision. His project documents the region’s increasing desolation over three years of dam construction as 13 cities, 400 towns and more than 1,000 villages are destroyed to prevent shipping accidents in the future, as well as to ensure that their uprooted inhabitants cannot return.
The stark insecurity of life during the death throes of this Yangtze River civilization is palpable in Teh’s work, some of which has previously appeared in NEWSWEEK. Faces are mostly shaky, blurred by movement and confusion, or sometimes simply invisible in the shadows, while lights from a new city twinkle in the distance. In Badong in April 2002, families who had not found anywhere to move hid in the remains of their destroyed homes; relief and resignation mingle in the expressions of the last inhabitants of a tenement block to be resettled in Wanzhou in August 2003. Teh’s final, mesmerizing images, which capture the gorges’ last spring, are a testimony to loss on a colossal scale. Dotted with 1,200 historic sites including temples and burial grounds, some 6,000 years old, this was a landscape so ancient and breathtaking it should have been preserved forever.
Isabella Rossellini
Isabella Rossellini has been famous since she was born 52 years ago to Ingrid Bergman and director Roberto Rossellini. Aside from being a model and a silver-screen star, she’s dated David Lynch, Gary Oldman, married Martin Scorsese, had two kids and launched her own perfume line. She’s now starring in the New York play “The Stendahl Syndrome,” but still found time to humor NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin:
When you started modeling, did they tell you to fix your teeth? Yes. But they’re not that bad. I’ve got one chipped front tooth.
How did it get chipped? My brother threw a telephone. We were 10 or 11. We did play rough.
What’s your favorite movie your parents did? Probably “Stromboli.”
Your mother was Swedish and your father was Italian. Do you prefer herring or fettuccine? Fettuccine.
Your twin sister is a professor at Columbia University. Do you ever feel dumb compared to her? Oh, yes. I am.
Your daughter is a model. Did you encourage or discourage her? Oh, I encouraged her. I loved being a model. It’s so great. It’s all about clothes and fun stuff.
When your parents got together, they were the scandal of the day. Do you have sympathy for celebrities like Jennifer Lopez? Yes, it’s terrible. It’s the price to pay for freedom of the press.
Do you ever get tired of talking about your life? [Laughs] Yes, I do.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-22” author: “Leslie Ray”
Pakistani security officials assert that the 11 are members of Jundullah (Army of God), one of many terrorist cells that have emerged since Musharraf began waging war on the country’s major jihadi elements last year. According to officials, some 20 cells, largely splinters of recently banned militant outfits like Jaish-I-Mohammed, now operate in Karachi.
Worryingly, officials believe these cells are attracting urban middle-class professionals, who have become disillusioned with Musharraf’s pro-American tilt and his efforts to stop the infiltration of militants into the Indian-controlled parts of Kashmir. “As the external avenues for waging jihad are being closed, the militant Muslim youth are turning inwards and targeting the military or the state,” says Rifaat Hussain, a leading defense analyst.
Authorities worry that these new recruits could be even harder to stop than more-established jihadis. “Most of these cells have just four or five members, making them much more effective,” says Karachi Police Chief Tariq Jamil. Also, he adds, the fact that they are middle-class professionals makes it “much more difficult to track them down.” And some of the groups are beginning to coordinate their operations. “If we cannot target Washington, we can at least target their local allies,” one militant told NEWSWEEK. Clearly the jihad isn’t over yet. –Zahid Hussain
PHILIPPINES The Weakest Link? In May 2003, President George W. Bush declared the Philippines a “non- NATO ally”–the first Asian country to be so honored. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo was considered one of Bush’s staunchest supporters in the war on terror, and it appeared that a beautiful friendship was in the making.
That didn’t last long. Arroyo last week bowed to the demands of Iraqi militants holding Filipino truckdriver Angelo de la Cruz, and began withdrawing her country’s 51-man humanitarian contingent from Iraq. Visibly irritated, the Bush administration said the pullout sent the “wrong message.” Suddenly, the Philippines is “the weak link in the international campaign against terrorism,” says one Filipino diplomat and security expert.
Although the move earned Arroyo valuable political points at home, now she must take steps to get back in Bush’s good books. Her best option, say senior Filipino Army sources, would be to reaffirm her commitment to the war on terror by more aggressively pursuing Jemaah Islamiah, the terrorist group linked to Al Qaeda. But doing so won’t be easy. NEWSWEEK has learned that a recent planned assault on JI was called off because its fighters were camped with the Moro Islamic Liberation Front–which is currently negotiating a peace deal with Manila. Arroyo, who has promised to work for peace with the MILF, is unlikely to take any action that might upset the delicate talks and cost her public support. Local priorities could trump international commitments again. And that’s hardly going to win Washington’s affection. –Marites Vitug
EUROPE: Banish the Boredom The European Parliament convenes this week in Brussels, as Europeans prepare to stifle a giant yawn. To most, the Parliament remains an ineffective, scam-ridden talking shop. Only 44 percent of eligible voters turned up for last month’s election to fill the parliamentary seats, down 19 points since 1979. But the irony is that the vote may show that the legislature is finally beginning to matter. Says Nigel Gardner, a Brussels-based lobbyist, “Whenever the Parliament has gained new powers, the next election has brought an even lower turnout,” a trend that has continued for 25 years.
The Parliament’s legislative scope is much broader than it’s ever been. MEPs now share in decision making that directly affects the day-to-day lives of all Europeans. These issues range from workers’ rights to food safety. And in the next term, parliamentarians should have a chance to rule on plans to trim the EU’s supersize agricultural budget and on Turkey’s admission to the Union.
The strongest evidence that the Parliament is a force to be reckoned with? Some 4,500 lobbyists in Brussels are now registered with the Parliament. Stories about fiscally irresponsible bureaucrats may be “easy for the media to write,” sniffs former Dutch MEP Lousewies van de Laan. But citizens of member states should remember that “European decision making is very complicated.” And getting more relevant all the time. –William Underhill
BRANDS: Simply Irresistible The rise of anti-Americanism has sparked real fears about the future of all things “Made in the U.S.A.” A survey conducted earlier this year by New York-based market-research firm NOP World found that consumers around the world said they were abandoning U.S. brands like Coca-Cola, McDonald’s and Nike at a steady rate. Last year Web sites calling for U.S. boycotts proliferated, and American products suffered drops in sales.
But now the hard numbers tell a very different story, indicating that even anti-Americanism isn’t squelching tastes for U.S. brands. Coke reported strong first-quarter profit growth in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. McDonald’s last week announced that its second-quarter global sales rose by 7.8 percent (the company’s highest since 1987), and Nike saw global revenues go up by 15 percent. The consumer backlash has “simply not happened,” says John Quelch of Harvard Business School.
Why not? For one, U.S. businesses are using clever tactics to court new customers in regions where Uncle Sam is most despised. In the Middle East, for instance, McDonald’s uses Arabian-style bread to lure new eaters. Many U.S. firms are also hiring locally, a considerable step toward improving community standing. And finally, throughout much of the world, there’s still that irresistible appeal of all things American. No matter how “hated” the United States may be, says Russ Roberts, a professor of economics at George Mason University, “our culture, ideas and products still have a magnetic attraction.” –Karin Bennett and Adam Piore
RUSSIA: Last Moments Paul Klebnikov, editor of the Russian edition of Forbes, often worked late. On July 9 at about 9:30 p.m., he wrote an e-mail to one of his writers, took his backpack and said goodbye to the night-duty officer, Gennady Kovalev. About 10 minutes later Kovalev came into our office. “Sasha, some man is calling, saying Paul was shot!”
Outside, Paul was lying on his back, his pack still on his shoulders. Next to him was a small puddle of blood with a bullet in it. He was obviously wounded in the stomach; his shirt was bloody there. There was a small spot of blood near his right temple. It looked like a scratch; there was no hole. Blood was coming out of his ear.
A stocky medical attendant tried to put on a bandage. Paul looked very tired. But his eyes were bright, even calm. “Do you know what happened?” I asked. “Somebody was shooting,” he said. “Do you know who?” “No.”
Switching to Russian, Paul asked for oxygen. The medical attendant turned away. “Another ambulance will come.” It did in about a minute. We helped put Paul on a stretcher and asked which hospital they were going to. “We don’t know yet; we have sent a request.” While waiting, Paul got an IV. He started to look desperate, shaking his head. He tried to lift himself. The female doctor held Paul on the stretcher and kept saying, “Hold on, Pavlik.”
After about 15 or 20 minutes they found out which hospital they should go to. I told my colleague Misha Fishman to go in the ambulance. As it took off, Paul started losing consciousness. The doctor and Misha shouted and snapped their fingers in front of his eyes. The doctor said that he was “leaving” and started to push on Paul’s chest. At the hospital, he was transferred to a gurney and rolled away. Misha ran through the corridor to the elevator. “You can’t go,” he was told.
About seven people got in. Only medical personnel. The elevator got stuck right away. Somebody on staff–one of those who didn’t get in–started pushing buttons, then quit. “That’s it, that’s fate,” someone said. A hospital worker started trying to open another door near the elevator. Misha thought that he might be able to reach Paul through it. He tried to put the leg of a chair in the door to pry it open. This lasted about 10 minutes. Then a man with a tool in his hand arrived, walking slowly. The policemen shouted, “Hurry up!” It took him about a minute and a half to open the elevator.
Misha asked a woman who came out: how is he? She said distinctly, “He is already dead.” Fifteen minutes later a doctor came and made a speech that Paul had died on the operating table, that he had nine wounds, one of them in the head. When Misha tried to disagree, he responded, “You have your version and I have mine.” –Alexander Gordeyev Gordeyev is editor-in-chief of NEWSWEEK RUSSIA.
ROMANCE: A Novel Idea Brad Pitt stares longingly into your eyes, his heart beating in perfect sync with yours. “Oh, [insert your name here],” he whispers passionately. “I’ve felt this way for a long time.” If the feeling’s mutual, Mike Pocock wants you to check out his publishing company, Book by You, which invites average Joes to play Fabio in personalized romance novels. “These are wonderful gifts,” says Pocock. “People are tired of being given chocolates or even diamonds, if you can believe it.” Diamonds, these books are not. But if it’s camp value you’re after, titles like “Vampire Kisses” and “Medieval Passion” are gems.
For $29.95, Pocock plugs your name and your beloved’s into the 140 to 180 pages of one of five bodice rippers. Further detail is supplied from a questionnaire you can fill out on bookbyyou.com. A book starring the Clintons might go like this: " ‘We’ve already wasted so many nights,’ Bill admitted, gathering Hillary in his strong arms. Hillary gazed back, and in a whisper replied, ‘What is but one night in the history of England, my lord…’ Bill finished the sentence, ‘… but another night stolen from our bed’.” Watch out, “My Life.” –Elise Soukup
BOOKS Cash In on Conspiracy No political thriller is complete without a wild conspiracy theory. Author Kim Jin Myung serves up one that would please Michael Moore in a book that has taken South Korea by storm. His new novel, “The Third Scenario,” plops President George W. Bush in the middle of a secret plan to start a war between North and South Korea. The novel focuses on a scheme, hatched at Camp David, to provoke the Stalinist state into attacking the South in order to provide a bonanza for the president’s cronies in the U.S. defense industry. Luckily, the plan is foiled by a group of patriotic South Korean spies who had bugged the meeting, ingeniously sticking tiny listening devices on fluttering moths.
This isn’t the first time the author has capitalized on public opinion to sell a book. Today it’s the growing anger among South Koreans at the United States; in the early ’90s, Kim wrote a best-selling novel that drew on heightened public animosity toward Japan. (The story: Seoul nukes Japan after a failed invasion attempt.) The formula for his work–one part political screed, two parts airport-lounge fiction–seems to be working. Despite the patchy writing, “The Third Scenario’s” anti-American theme helped it sell 1.6 million copies in its first three weeks. The “fourth scenario,” of course, involves giving his agent a raise. –B. J. Lee
EXHIBITS Mummy Vision Nesperenub, a 2,800-year-old Egyptian priest, is certainly an odd candidate for a CT scan. After all, his last breath came under the reign of Pharaoh Takelot II in 818 B.C. But that didn’t stop archeologists from admitting “Nes” to London’s National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery recently. The visit produced 1,500 cross-sectional pictures along his 1.5-meter frame, all entered into a supercomputer to make a three-dimensional virtual mummy. This month Egypt enthusiasts can take a look for themselves at the British Museum’s latest exhibit, “Mummy: The Inside Story” (through January 2005).
What they’ll see is a record of the enigmatic religious practices of ancient Egypt, as well as a detailed picture of the process of mummification. Armed with a pair of 3-D goggles, the viewer watches as a scalpel peels off the layers of bandages, eventually finding the inside of Nes’s empty skull. Visible inside is the hole from the brain tumor that caused his death at the age of 40. Across his torso lies a metal plate inscribed with the healing Eye of Horus to cover the incision made to extract his internal organs for preservation. On his chest: a stone scarab to protect his heart from revealing shameful secrets to the gods.
The biggest surprise from the unwrapping, however, was a “mistake,” says curator John Taylor. A cheap clay bowl rests like a skullcap on his head. The theory, says Taylor, is that the embalmers placed the bowl under Nes’s head to catch the dripping molten resin–and forgot about it, leaving the body to dry. Malpractice on the Nile, perhaps? –Emily Flynn
Q&A: Jay-Z We were afraid Jay-Z’s retirement had been a bad idea when we heard he was selling his shoes. Turns out he’s auctioning a pair of his own S. Carter Reeboks to benefit a scholarship fund. Not to worry. But we’ll let him tell NEWSWEEK’s Allison Samuels how he’s living.
How’s retirement? Are you sure you’re done?
Yep. Rap in many ways is a young man’s game, and I know that. I never wanted to wear out my welcome. In fact, my plan in the beginning really was to make only one album in the first place.
In your latest video, “99 Problems,” you get shot and killed. You’ve never had that type of video violence before. Did it have a particular meaning?
Yeah–it meant the end of Jay-Z and the birth of Shawn Carter. I always wanted a separation between myself as a rapper and a businessman.
Why the Shawn Carter Scholarship Fund?
I realize that everybody can’t be a basketball player or a rapper, despite what most young kids might think. I tell them that even if you become a rapper, it’s really only 5 percent of us that really make money and last.
You and Beyonce try to keep it low-key. What’s it like to be dogged by reporters?
It’s funny, really. Just yesterday I had them chase me through Beverly Hills when I was going to get breakfast. I’m not sure who they thought was with me.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-14” author: “Ellsworth Saavedra”
Yet the stock market quickly fell 112 points. Why? For one, the government levied a new transaction tax on trades. It also showed an equal passion for spending more–both on worthwhile health and education investments and on inefficient subsidy programs–while failing to cut the deficit. “There is no clear direction in the budget,” says economist V. Narayana, because “it’s weighed down by the baggage of coalition politics.” Sources in the government say that Singh’s hands were tied by Congress’s leftist partners, and that he hopes to tackle more controversial issues in next year’s budget. But given his fragile coalition, it may take much longer for Singh to untie this knot. –Sudip Mazumdar
ISRAEL Paying for Pullout While the International Court of Justice told Israel last week to tear down the wall it’s building in the West Bank, calling it “tantamount to [the] annexation” of Palestinian land, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is more caught up with the minutia of dismantling something else: settlements in Gaza and a sliver of the West Bank. Faced with opposition to his plan from his right-wing Likud Party, he was scheduled to meet Labor Party leader Shimon Peres on Sunday to discuss the formation of a national-unity government–a drastic measure that may be the plan’s only hope.
Even if the plan goes ahead, though, Sharon faces the equally pressing question of how to pay for it. The scheme calls for relocating about 8,500 settlers. Families are expecting to get at least $300,000 each for the homes and other property they leave behind. Government officials say Army installations must also be relocated. The perimeter fence around Gaza, where at least eight Palestinians died in fighting last week, needs renovating. The final price tag could easily top $1 billion, according to economists.
In the past, Israel has counted on Washington’s largesse. But officials in Jerusalem say the Bush administration has already ruled out an extra aid package. Iraq’s rehabilitation is draining American resources, and Israel already gets nearly $3 billion in annual U.S. assistance. Then there’s the matter of appearances. “To Americans, the very legality of these settlements is questionable,” says Sever Plocker, the economic editor of Israel’s mass-circulation newspaper Yediot Ahronot. “So they can’t have it look like they’re now putting money in the pockets of settlers.”
At least not directly. Plocker says Washington appears ready to help finance the construction of new Army bases outside Gaza, the way it did when Israel handed back Sinai to Egypt 22 years ago. Though only a fraction of the total cost, the infusion would free up other money to pay off the settlers. And, he says, the evacuation could end up saving Israel money. “The settlers have received all kinds of financial incentives over the years. The cost of securing their homes has been high. In the long run, we could come out ahead,” Plocker says. –Dan Ephron
ITALY In the Hot Seat The government is looking more and more like the sinking Titanic,” warned Italy’s opposition leader Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio last week. “All the while, the prime minister irresponsibly dances on the deck.” While obviously biased, he has a point. Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has managed to dodge several threats to his government in recent weeks–including embarrassing losses in regional elections and an internal revolt that forced him to dump his Finance minister. (He called an emergency meeting for Sunday to shore up his four-party coalition.) But merely surviving may not be enough.
The more pressing question is what to do about Italy’s ailing economy, fast on the way to replacing Germany’s as the sick man of Europe. Berlusconi’s first choice to take over the Finance portfolio, EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti, turned him down. After the prime minister took the job himself, Italy’s investment rating was downgraded, a first in the post-euro era. And Berlusconi was blasted by critics for granting himself control over state-run companies. In combination with his own holdings, that move effectively puts him in control of the Italian media.
For now, say analysts, the best thing the P.M. can do is back away and eliminate the perception that he’s accumulating too much power. He also needs to press harder for pension reforms, a last hope for economic recovery. Still, with 9 percent inflation and a deficit of 106 percent, Il Cavaliere may have a hard time staying afloat. –Barbie Nadeau
HEALTH A Flu Flies The Coop The bird-flu epidemic last year forced Asia to take drastic measures, including culling 100 million chickens and other avian livestock. Alas, the bug is back, and in more places than previously thought. Last week the Chinese Agriculture Ministry found that ducks being raised on farms still harbored the deadly A(H5N1) virus. Scientists, writing in the journal Nature, also found the bug in wild birds. “The jury is still out, but it looks like it’s here for the long haul,” says Dr. Richard Webby of St. Jude Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee. With the virus firmly entrenched in Asian birds, it may be only a matter of time before it mutates and replicates its way to humans–with deadly effect. Scientists are racing to figure out how this virus works before that happens. “We are running after biology,” says Joseph Domenech, Chief of Animal Health Service at the United Nations. Sprouting wings might be a good idea. –Karin Bennett
BUSINESS Brain Drain The threat of terror is driving foreign professionals away from the United States, according to an annual survey of corporate-relocation practices. The survey, conducted jointly by GMAC Global Relocation Services, the National Foreign Trade Council and the Society for Human Resource Management, polled 134 companies, mainly U.S. multinationals. For the first time in the 11-year history of the report, America was listed as one of the toughest places to transfer employees, right up there with China. “A lot of companies are just throwing up their hands and saying, ‘Forget it,’ " says Bill Sheridan, senior director at the NFTC in New York.
Relocation experts say U.S. authorities are scrutinizing documents much more carefully, taking months to process visa applications and requiring candidates to appear for interviews at their local consulates. Sheridan notes that sectors like information technology and financial services, which employ many highly skilled international workers, are being hit particularly hard. Meanwhile, European countries like Britain and Germany are making it easier for highly skilled foreign workers and their families to migrate. America’s loss may well become their gain. –Rana Foroohar
RUSSIA Murder in Moscow On the streets of Moscow late Friday night, American journalist Paul Klebnikov was fatally shot after leaving his office at Forbes magazine. In April, Klebnikov, 41, had overseen the launch of the magazine’s new Russian edition, serving as editor in chief. Minutes before he died, Klebnikov spoke to the editor of NEWSWEEK’s Russian edition, Alexander Gordeev, whose publication shares office space with Forbes. (Both magazines are published by Axel Springer of Germany.) Gordeev asked him who could have ordered the hit. “I don’t know,” Klebnikov replied, bleeding from four gunshot wounds. Klebnikov then asked for oxygen, taking his last breaths in an ambulance on the way to a local hospital.
The mysterious death of a journalist has become an all-too-familiar scene in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia, and sadly the culprits are rarely caught. Despite a promise by Russia’s top prosecutor to personally lead the search for Klebnikov’s killers, the track record is discouraging: in the 10 cases over the past four years in which journalists were murdered, not one has been solved. “It’s been getting worse and worse since 2000, when Putin came to power,” says Oleg Panfilov, director of Moscow’s Center for Journalism in Extreme Situations. The majority of beatings and killings happen in Russia’s provinces, off the radar of the foreign press corps and largely ignored by Moscow media. More subtle violence to Russian press freedom gets even less attention, like last week’s apparent cancellation of the only live political news show left on national television.
The motives for the Klebnikov murder remain unclear, but Forbes Russia’s publisher, Leonid Bershidsky, says there is “no doubt” it was work-related. “Paul investigated a lot of scandals and made a lot of enemies,” says Bershidsky, while noting Klebnikov had not been working on anything sensitive recently. Throughout his career, Klebnikov had written hundreds of stories detailing the nexus of organized crime and politics in Russia, including a 2000 book on the alleged crimes of billionaire oligarch Boris Berezovsky. –Frank Brown
MUSIC A Name for Herself After years of performing in the shadows of her father, Brazilian bossa nova legend Joo Gilberto, Bebel Gilberto is finally carving her own niche. For her new album, called simply “Bebel Gilberto,” the 38-year-old jazz singer teamed up with producer Marius De Vries of Bjork fame to add an electronic edge to her basic jazz sound. Gilberto displays a sense of adventure on many tracks, while still preserving the tropical classicism Gilberto fans have come to love. She shifts between atmospheres with confidence throughout the album: on a slightly risque track called “Baby,” she coos terms of endearment with a sexy, but somehow motherly, tone; on “Aganju,” her voice dances among drums that vibrate with an African physicality; and the pacific “O Caminho” lulls the listener into a meditative state of bliss. Almost every track features innovative sound production, too, from shimmering synthesizers to powerful–yet discreet–basslines, further proving Gilberto’s desire to stretch the boundaries of an established genre.
Gilberto got a little help on the album from some family friends–collaborators include bossa nova heroes Daniel Jobim and Caetano Veloso, among others–but her gusto indicates she’s finally relaxed and confident in her own ability. Bebel Gilberto has often said she’s proud to be a Gilberto. Now, she can really be proud to be Bebel. –Mehammed Mack
MUSIC ‘Homo-Hop’ Has a Say Hip-hop is having its coming-out party. From July 16 to 18 in New York City, the Peace Out East festival will feature more than 40 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) artists. Peace Out started in Oakland, California, in 2001, but its trek east is significant. “New York is the birthplace of hip-hop and the modern LGBT rights movement,” says co-organizer Dutchboy. “The time is right to showcase the pioneering work of ‘homo-hop’ artists.”
Given hip-hop’s intolerance of alternative lifestyles, the artists are aware of how contradictory the idea sounds. People “think it’s gonna be this flamboyant, whiny guy getting on the microphone or some drag queen,” says Tori Fixx, an artist from Minnesota. “You’re going to be shocked, educated–yet you will never be alienated.” These rappers are familiar with what that feels like. As Oakland’s Tim’m West raps, “Found myself, found hip-hop, but he was locked up in a closet/Trying to hide from spittin’ real topics.” The festival is as much about activism as the acts. “I can be really powerful and have a voice when I’m behind a mike,” says Wisconsin M.C. God-Des. As more gay rappers find their voice, it’s becoming clear that rap, too, can be loud, proud and out. –Devon Thomas
KABBALAH The World On a String Madonna is showing hers off on tour this summer. Demi Moore and Britney Spears have them. Maybe you’re thinking of getting a kabbalah bracelet. The red strings, said to be imbued with the protection of the Hebrew matriarch Rachel, are prayed over to guard wearers against the evil eye.
So how does one qualify as a kabbalist? “If a person decides they’re going to wear the red string, then more power to them,” says Rabbi Michael Berg, codirector of the Kabbalah Centre,which has 50 locations worldwide. “It does raise awareness. Some people will take it to the next level, some people won’t.” Kabbalah–“to receive” in Hebrew–is not a religion, Berg says, but a practice that helps people get closer to God through simple practices.
The primary text for kabbalistic wisdom is the Zohar, a 22-volume book that Berg says he was the first to translate completely from Aramaic to English. But before tackling it, says Berg, take these steps: make a decision to “want more joy and more fulfillment,” give to others and try to restrict your negative reactions to their actions. He also recommends taking kabbalah courses. Beyond that, the path toward the light, or the journey that takes kabbalists closer to the Creator (and human fulfillment), is an individual one–like most spiritual quests. Except this one includes a celebrity accessory. –Lisa Helem
Q&A: VINCE VAUGHN Vince Vaughn has played charming sleazeballs in movies like “Swingers” and “Old School.” Now he gets to be the hero in “DodgeBall,” the hit comedy inspired by the American playground game. He spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin.
Is there a rule that you have to costar with Will Ferrell, Owen Wilson or Ben Stiller every year?
People have been asking that lately. It’s nothing that was really planned. It just kind of happened.
What was it like kissing costar Christine Taylor in front of Ben–her husband?
As far as I was concerned, between action and cut she was my baby.
Does that mean you slipped her the tongue?
We didn’t go that far.
Did you wear a cup for the movie?
We did not at first, and then we started thinking that it was a good idea. During a boot-camp scrimmage, a cup was definitely advised.
Did you actually train?
We had two weeks of dodgeball boot camp where we had throwing drills, catching drills, and then we would scrimmage, and all of us got so sore, because it’s actually quite a spastic game. You run and stop so much your muscles are sore, and the ball’s not really heavy so you try to throw it as hard as you can. I actually hurt my rotator cuff. It was humiliating.
Are you going to campaign to get dodgeball into the Olympics?
It’s a shame that it’s not. I think this movie is my campaign.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-20” author: “Lisa Salazar”
There is method to the offer, which many critics condemned as madness. Saudi authorities think one of their most potent weapons against Al Qaeda could be the Qur’an. Sheik Safar al-Hawali, once one of the monarchy’s most radical religious critics, says the amnesty “gladdens the hearts of believers” and cited verses of Islamic Scripture to support the regime’s position.
The hope is that fundamentalists can be defeated with fundamentalism. Prince Turki al-Faisal, the former Saudi intelligence chief and current ambassador to London, calls this strategy “the philosophical counterpunch.” Al-Faisal cites the success of Egypt, which crushed Islamic militants in the 1990s and hasn’t had a terrorist attack for almost seven years. “There were actually philosophical discussions in Egypt between the terrorists and various sheiks and religious scholars who were brought to the jails and managed to convince them,” Al-Faisal told NEWSWEEK earlier this year. “We are taking the same approach.”
Nobody expects the Qaeda leadership in Saudi Arabia to turn themselves in. But the Saudi government hopes its recent success in killing some of the group’s top figures will help persuade Qaeda sympathizers to give up the fight. “We’re trying to bring in the young guys,” says Saudi security consultant Nawaf Obaid. “They’re kind of leaderless right now. So it’s a well-thought-out moment to take this position.”
Still, it’s a risky strategy. Past efforts to co-opt Saudi extremists in the 1980s and 1990s helped create public sympathy for Al Qaeda. And in a survey last year, Obaid found that almost 50 percent of the Saudi public agrees with the philosophical teachings of Osama bin Laden. –Christopher Dickey
SOUTH KOREA: Seoul Tries to Play Both Sides The June 22 execution of South Korean interpreter Kim Sun Il in Iraq has prompted a flood of grief and anger back home. Protesters in Seoul have been voicing their fury at Washington–which they blame for the tragedy–and President Roh Moo Hyun’s decision to deploy 3,000 South Korean troops to Iraq in August. Roh has made it clear that he intends to go ahead with the deployment. But analysts expect him to try to win some wiggle room at home, perhaps by distancing himself yet further from Washington’s traditionally hard line on North Korea.
Roh will have to tread carefully, however. The United States has begun to show some flexibility toward North Korea, offering to drop its demand for the “complete, verifiable and irreversible dismantling” of the Hermit Kingdom’s nuclear program. Although Seoul was pleased with the offer, it may agitate for more concessions. (It views North Korean energy as the key to resolving the conflict, and has embraced Pyongyang’s request for 2 million kilowatts of electricity each year.) But pushing Washington to bend more than it has already could be risky. South Korean troops are not crucial to security in Iraq, and a frustrated Bush administration could easily turn its back on Roh and revert to tough talk on North Korea. Which would leave the South Korean leader without any support at all. –B. J. Lee
RUSSIA: Is Might Not Right? Russian president Vladimir Putin has based his strategy for bringing stability to the volatile Caucasus region on installing hard-line, pro-Kremlin leaders in local government. But after about 200 rebel fighters from Chechnya went on a rampage last week in the neighboring republic of Ingushetia, more observers now suggest that Putin’s policy is in fact the root of the problem.
More than 70,000 Russian troops are stationed in the region, and pro-Kremlin security and military officials fill the ranks of the civilian administration. Community leaders are excluded where they are needed most, which leaves uniformed types who lack the diplomatic skills necessary to end the near-decadelong conflict. “There is no flexible thinking,” says analyst Shamil Benno of the Moscow-based Fund for the Support of Democracy and Social Progress. “These men were trained to follow orders from Moscow and that’s it.” Amnesty International has been even harsher in its condemnation, blaming the FSB–the KGB’s successor–in which Ingushetia’s President Murat Zyazikov once served as a general–for 34 political disappearances in Ingushetia over the past six months. The FSB’s tactics are spreading “a wave of fear and terror” in the region, says Amnesty’s Mariana Katzarova.
Putin has shown little inclination to change course. The Kremlin has anointed Chechnya’s colorless top cop, Alu Alukhanov, as its candidate to replace the ravaged republic’s recently assassinated president. If Alukhanov is elected in August, few expect him to show either the sort of political savvy that might win over the locals or the subtle skills necessary to deal with Chechen rebels. Far more likely is escalating violence–and no sign of the stability that Putin has long promised. –Frank Brown
TERROR: Swapping Stories A captured Qaeda commander who was a principal source for Bush administration claims that Osama bin Laden collaborated with Saddam Hussein’s regime has changed his story. U.S. intelligence officials say that Ibn al-Shaykh al-Libi, a onetime member of bin Laden’s inner circle, was a crucial source for one of the more dramatic assertions made by President George W. Bush and his top aides: that Iraq had provided training in “poisons and deadly gases” for Al Qaeda. Recently, sources say, U.S. interrogators went back to al-Libi with new evidence that cast doubt on his claims. Al-Libi “subsequently recounted a different story,” said one U.S. official. Some officials now suspect that al-Libi, facing aggressive interrogation techniques, had previously said what U.S. officials wanted to hear. In any case, the cloud over his story explains why administration officials have made no mention of the “poisons and gases” claim for some time and did not more forcefully challenge the recent findings of the 9-11 Commission that Al Qaeda and Iraq had not forged a “collaborative relationship.”
The debate, however, is far from over. Pentagon officials are culling through captured Iraqi documents they say will provide hard evidence of multiple contacts between Iraqi officials and Qaeda members over a decade. Current plans call for a massive “document dump” before the November election. But officials acknowledge ultimate proof may prove elusive. “It all depends on what your definition of a relationship is,” said one. –Michael Isikoff
GOOGLE: Read the Footnotes If you’re lucky enough to be a current shareholder of Google, the company estimates that its initial public stock offering will produce a 5.5-for-1 windfall. That estimate–which the company wouldn’t discuss–is in a footnote buried in a fat filing that Google made with regulators last week. Google estimates that its value as a private company was $16.27 a share during the first three months of this year, compared with a “deemed value” of $88.13 a share if Google were a publicly traded company. Which it will be after the IPO is completed. Google’s existing shares would be worth an estimated $23.3 billion, rather than the $4.3 billion at which Google valued itself as a private company. Google’s two big venture-capital investors would see their holdings valued at $2.1 billion each, a $1.7 billion increase.
These numbers explain why some shareholders (especially the VCs) are so hot to take the company public. This isn’t about Google setting off a new boom in tech IPOs. The game here is for people to create windfall gains for themselves before the IPO market tanks again. Is going public in the company’s long-term interest? Google’s two founders (indicated gain: $2.8 billion each) seem dubious–and rightly so. But as the numbers show, going public is in current shareholders’ short-term interest. And on Wall Street, short term is what it’s all about. –Allan Sloan
WI-FI: How to Stay Safer The world’s going Wi-Fi, but there’s a downside to adopting this wireless networking technology willy-nilly–security can be a headache. According to a new report from RSA Security, more than one third of businesses in four major European cities–London, Paris, Frankfurt and Milan–aren’t putting in place basic security measures to protect their Wi-Fi networks. As a result, some networks are currently sitting ducks for hackers–who can snatch everything from passwords to company data from a firm’s parking lot.
Wi-Fi networks do come equipped with a basic security protocol called wired equivalent privacy, which encrypts data. The problem, however, is that it provides only minimal protection. Fortunately, more help may be on the way: a next-generation Wi-Fi security standard–802.11i in geekspeak–boasts harder-to-crack encryption that’s already being used by the U.S. government. The new standard is expected to appear in wireless products later this year, and not a moment too soon: according to RSA Security, wireless networks in London have grown by 770 percent since 2001. –Kathryn Williams
THEATER Under the Hot Lights A play about terrorist suspects in detention is hardly the usual crowd-pleasing fare in London’s theaters. But this month two new productions about the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay have been packing them in. “Guantanamo: Honor Bound to Defend Freedom” takes a documentary approach, telling the story of four real-life British men who were detained at the camp in Cuba. (Two of these detainees are still there; their stories are based on letters and interviews with their families and lawyers.) The script highlights the injustices faced by “enemy combatants” held without legal protection, and attacks the camp’s very existence. But U.S. and British policies aren’t the play’s only target: it also condemns the complacency of ordinary citizens.
In “The Private Room,” American playwright Mark Lee focuses on a female U.S. Army reservist who goes from the trading floors of Wall Street to an interrogation room in Cuba. Lee draws a connection between moral pitfalls in New York City–where the reservist is forced into unethical trading–and Guantanamo, where she not only uses her sexuality to more effectively interrogate prisoners, but also becomes emotionally attached to one detainee. Lee’s play is perhaps best suited for an American audience, but he’ll have to settle for a British one for now. Given the American theater’s tendency to focus more on issues like race and gender, he says, “we realized no American theater was going to take this on.” Still, U.S. cable giant HBO has requested a copy of the script–which means Lee’s play could make it into American living rooms soon. –Sarah Sennott
GAMES: A New Board Monopoly has spawned yet another spinoff, this time with a political agenda. Posted on the Web site of the Center for American Progress (CAP), a Washington, D.C.-based progressive think tank, Contractopoly riffs on allegations of shady connections between U.S. business and politics in postwar Iraq. While visitors to americanprogress.org can’t actually deal in play money, they can take a virtual tour of a game board on which properties have been replaced by U.S. companies.
Contractopoly makes cronyism the object of the game. Its scenarios are both fun and informative: for instance, when game pieces–among them a cowboy hat (for President George W. Bush), a weapon of mass destruction and a mushroom cloud–land on “General Electric,” the company chosen to receive an undisclosed amount to supply the U.S. Army in Iraq with electric generators, the player learns that former CEO Jack Welch is a close friend of Bush’s. Instead of going to jail, players go to corporate-ethics school, and rather than collect railroads, they accumulate key pieces of Iraqi infrastructure.
Since launching the spoof on June 15, the CAP has received a high volume of requests to create a real Contractopoly board game. Unfortunately, it has no immediate plans to do so. Apparently–unlike the parties on its Contractopoly board–the CAP isn’t in it just for the money. –Kathryn Williams
BOOKS: Intro to Gangsta Lit Like the music that inspired them, American hip-hop novels are finding passionate fans both on the mean streets and among those who just visit them in their daydreams. In the past year and a half Triple Crown Publications, founded by drug dealer turned publisher Vickie Stringer, has put out 14 titles and sold 300,000 trade paperbacks. New York editors who once rejected Stringer are rushing out hip-hop novels of their own. “Hip-hop fiction is doing for 15- to 25-year-old African-Americans what ‘Harry Potter’ did for kids,” says Matt Campbell, a buyer for Waldenbooks, “getting a new audience excited about books.”
Stringer’s journey to publishing mini-mogul may have been fast, but it wasn’t easy. Five years ago Stringer, then 30, emerged from a five-year stint in prison with the manuscript of her first novel, called “Let That Be the Reason.” Mainstream publishers wouldn’t touch it. So Stringer printed 1,500 copies and took to the road, hawking her novel in beauty parlors and barbershops, as well as to street book vendors.
The book became an underground hit, and bookstores began to stock it. Soon other would-be authors were sending Stringer manuscripts, and Triple Crown was born. Although some booksellers complain that Triple Crown titles like “Gangsta” glorify drugs and violence, mainstream publishers now say hip-hop fiction is just the kind of hot new genre they’ve been looking for. St. Martin’s Press has snapped up three Triple Crown authors, and Atria Books has signed Stringer to a two-book deal. –Peg Tyre and Karen Springen
Q&A: Mena Suvari
Mena Suvari is the thinking man’s sex kitten. After steaming up multiplexes in “American Beauty” and “American Pie,” she’s now bringing her sweet sultriness to HBO’s “Six Feet Under.” She talked to NEWSWEEK’s Marc Peyser.
Where are you?
I’m at the salon, getting my hair done. I have an audition later, so I’m working this call in between my color and toner. That is so bad. I’m so Hollywood.
Wait, you still have to audition?
It’s horrible. I can’t stand it. But one thing I’ve learned is to not take things personally. One time I lost a role because the other girl had a lisp. That just appealed to the director.
You didn’t have to audition for “Six Feet,” did you?
No. I was actually out of town when I got a call that [executive producer] Alan Ball was interested. Two weeks later I was working.
You’re playing a performance artist?
Yeah. She’s very challenging. I’d never experienced anyone like that before.
Why? Does she smear chocolate all over herself or something?
No, she’s just very strong-willed and wild, but she’s also very sexy. She becomes friends with Claire and dot, dot, dot.
Those sound like very frisky dots.
I can’t say too much about what happens.
Now that you’ve been married for four years, have people gotten over the fact that your husband is 17 years older than you?
I would think so. I’m 25. I’m middle-aged.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-16” author: “Rita Kwong”
The answer: HIV/AIDS. Lomborg’s committee agreed that plans to combat HIV/AIDS–which infects 5.3 million people annually and killed about 3 million last year–make the most financial sense. The panel agreed with a paper presented by health economist Anne Mills of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which claimed that spending $60 billion to promote condom use and distribute antiretroviral drugs, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, would produce a benefit of $3 trillion in saved health-care costs and human productivity.
The HIV/ AIDS plan trumped ones to deal with malnutrition, remove free-trade barriers and control malaria. But perhaps the most noted casualties were the proposals to combat global warming by raising taxes on carbon emissions and following the Kyoto Protocol, which fell to the bottom of the list. Critics of the consensus had claimed the event was actually a setup to bolster Lomborg’s argument that reversing climate change should not be a high priority. Lomborg insists the panel made up its own mind. Panelist Vernon Smith, of George Mason University in Virginia, agrees: “The environment is very important, but it’s too early to be concerned with climate change. Action now is not essential as it is with AIDS, malaria and hunger.”
While the group was guided mostly by numbers, several panelists admitted they had to take into account other factors like political feasibility, particularly because statistics for the cost and benefits of, say, curbing governmental corruption, were speculative at best. But jurist Bruno Frey of the University of Zurich hopes the novel approach will be taken for what it is–an interesting idea. “Our impact is unlikely to be too great. We cannot change the world in a week.” At least they’re starting to think about it, though. –Steve Friess
THE CLOUDS ON THE HORIZON EDITION Leaders will have trouble asserting themselves in Manila and Baghdad; Cairo has the opposite problem. The silver lining? In Buenos Aires.
Egypt Rehabilitating violent Islamists while cracking down on the relatively peaceful Muslim Brotherhood. Not a good way to build credibility with the masses.
Philippines Charges of vote fraud and an angry opposition will continue to dog the re-elected Arroyo. She’d better assert herself quickly, or lose her shaky mandate.
Iraq Regions will increasingly ignore the post-June 30 interim government except when it suits them. The most likely outcome: de facto fragmentation.
Argentina Kirchner’s signaling movement on debt negotiations. Potential concessions–like shortened maturities–should get disgruntled creditors listening again.
CAMBODIA What Price Justice? An agreement made last year to set up a joint U.N.-Cambodian war-crimes tribunal looked set to bring the Khmer Rouge to justice at long last. But now the process is in danger of collapsing. Worried about excessive costs–like the $1 million proposed for “office supplies”–Western donors are balking at the United Nations’ $63 million three-year budget, which is nevertheless a fraction of the cost of similar tribunals in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone.
As diplomats from donor countries haggle with U.N. officials, concern is growing that a tribunal on the cheap could fail to meet international standards of justice. Another worry: Phnom Penh and the United Nations–long at each other’s throats over the details of the tribunal–could use the budget impasse as an excuse to walk away. Not only would this let the Khmer Rouge off the hook for an estimated 1.7 million deaths in the late ’70s; it would seriously hamper efforts to attack the country’s culture of impunity and promote judicial reform. Both are looking like $63 million long shots. –Joe Cochrane
OIL High-Price Winners With prices near $40 a barrel, oil companies are showing record profits. But in the long run, other U.S. industries may stand to gain more. Here are the ones best positioned:
Nuclear: The NuStart consortium has applied for federal funds to plan the first new U.S. plants since the ’70s. Says NuStart member Carl Crawford, “We’re nuts not to be building.”
Wind and solar: The U.S. Senate granted new tax credits for wind, solar and geothermal energy in May. America is now “on a threshold for major investment in renewables,” says alternative-energy expert V. John White.
Hybrids: Toyota’s Prius sold out even before oil hit $40; sales of Honda’s Civic Hybrid are up 11 percent from last spring. Auto analyst Bob Kurilko says the size of the “drift” to hybrids will be revealed this summer.
Home: A drop in summer driving will lift things that cater to homebodies, like e-commerce. London market researcher Jan Randolph says oil prices may “be the tipping point” that gets the bulk of shoppers online. –Michael Hastings and Liat Radcliffe
EU Cost of Translation The newly expanded EU is cracking down on its own verbosity. On May 26 Brussels announced that it would require its bureaucrats to hold the majority of their documents to a maximum of 15 pages, lest the translation backlog of some 60,000 pages grow to 300,000 or more over the next three years. Europe’s reluctance to accept English as the language of business is proving costly and continues to trip up its competitiveness drive. Translation makes the average cost of obtaining a European patent up to four times that in the United States or Japan. Those costs, and potential problems caused by mistranslations, drive many inventors to file patents in America instead.
The problem is that countries like Spain have balked at standardizing patents in one of three languages–English, French or German. EU officials stress that their new plan is about cutting words, not languages, and hope the new document-length resolutions will help reduce the need for as many as 1,600 new translators by 2010. Europe as a whole, though, still needs to learn to speak in just one or two voices. –Rana Foroohar
INVESTIGATIONS Immaterial Witness He’s been home for more than a week now, grateful to be putting his life back together. But Brandon Mayfield, the Portland, Oregon, lawyer wrongly jailed for 14 days as a “material witness” in the Madrid bombings, is still mad as hell. Mad at the FBI, for insisting his fingerprint had been found on a plastic bag used by the terrorists–even though Mayfield hadn’t traveled abroad in a decade and the Spanish authorities doubted the print match. Madder still at the Justice Department, for using the material-witness law to round him up on flimsy evidence and then bolstering the shaky case against him by painting him as a Muslim extremist. “They were telling the judge and the world that they’ve got a fingerprint that’s a 100 percent match,” Mayfield told NEWSWEEK. “What are the implications of that, legally? It’s a death sentence.”
Spanish authorities ended the ordeal when they announced that the print belonged to Ouhnane Daoud, an Algerian living in Spain. Mayfield was released May 20, and the FBI publicly apologized. (The bureau blamed the mistake on the poor quality of a digital copy that Spain provided.)
For Mayfield, that may be enough. Or maybe not. He’s still mulling over the possibility of suing the government–giving his accusers a chance to be “material witnesses” themselves. –Andrew Murr with Michael Isikoff
TECHNOLOGY An Eye on Your E-Mail Forget the old excuse “I didn’t get your e-mail.” A new service from Florida-based Rampell Software lets people know for sure whether you did or not. For a $50 annual fee (sign up at didtheyreadit.com), you can find out whether your love interest or potential employer saw your urgent missive–without their being any the wiser. You can set the application to automatically notify you by e-mail when your message is opened. Or go to the Web site to see a detailed report, including when and where the recipient opened your e-mail, how many times he or she looked at it and for how long.
Although this isn’t the first service that tells you when your e-mail has been read–the similarly named HaveTheyReadItYet.com has been around for more than two years–DidTheyReadIt’s extra intelligence is changing the playing field, and has privacy advocates concerned. “It violates people’s understanding of what the rules of the game are, how e-mail works and how their e-mail is protected,” says Jay Stanley, spokesman for the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty program. “You should know when you’re being observed by others and when you’re not, and in what ways you’re being observed.” Rampell Software says its intentions are only good–it wants to give people the peace of mind of knowing their e-mails got through–and notes that more than 2,000 registered at the site on its first day live. Seems some of us don’t really mind if others are looking over our shoulders–as long as we can do the same to them. –Jonathan Adams
TELEVISION Joey’s New Friends Not only couch-potato Americans have been wondering what they’ll do now that “Friends” has ended. NBC, the network that relied so heavily on the hit show for 10 years, faces a huge hole in its lineup. But if NBC execs are nervous, they aren’t acting like it. They recently took the unusual step of showing the entire pilot of “Joey”–an upcoming spinoff featuring “friend” Joey Tribbiani (played by Matt LeBlanc)–to hundreds of advertising buyers at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Maybe it was because LeBlanc (sporting a goatee) was in the audience or maybe it had something to do with seeing Drea de Matteo of “Sopranos” fame projected onto a 30-foot screen, but “Joey” looks terrific. The pilot sends Joey to Los Angeles–of course, he forgets to change planes in Dallas–to break into Hollywood. De Matteo plays his buxom sister Gina, who’s also the overprotective mother of an improbably brilliant son (Paulo Costanzo). You can already guess where the jokes are–dumb-Joey gags, boob humor. Still, you expect familiarity from a spinoff, and “Joey” manages to be funny and sweet with only a few well-placed “Friends” references. (“Chandler and I are not a gay couple!” Joey says.) Maybe LeBlanc–and NBC–will have the last laugh after all. –Marc Peyser
Books: Weathering History If you thought the last Ice Age occurred thousands of years ago, think again. In fact, the so-called Little Ice Age–which resulted in a frozen Baltic Sea, and Alpine villages’ being engulfed by glaciers–ended in 1860. This is just one of many intriguing factoids that pepper archeologist Brian Fagan’s new book, “The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization.” Fagan argues that modern weather phenomena–El Nino, for instance–are best understood when examined as part of the relationship between human civilization and climatic shifts over the past 15,000 years. To dissect our ability to adapt to changing climates, for instance, he traces the history of seed-sowing in southwest Asia: a harsh drought, triggered by the halting of the Gulf Stream in the Atlantic Ocean, forced hunter-gatherers to experiment with harvesting. More ominously, Fagan also documents the degree to which civilization has adversely affected climate through the ages. Before dismissing global warming as hogwash, we might want to take note of his insights. After all, history does tend to repeat itself. –Sarah Sennott
Q&A: Kate Hudson
Effervescent new mom Kate Hudson plays, well, the effervescent new mom to three orphaned kids in the upcoming movie “Raising Helen.” She talked to NEWSWEEK’s Jac Chebatoris from New Orleans, where she’s making her first movie since giving birth to her son, Ryder, in January:
You’re filming a thriller for a change–how’s that going?
Oh, it’s so much fun. It’s really great. I’ve been doing a lot of, you know, being dragged around, tied and gagged–it’s excellent.
How much fun is it to read all about your dramatic weight loss after you dared to put on some pounds being pregnant? Does that affect you at all?
No. I had a baby! I just got pregnant and was like, “I’m going to have a good time being pregnant.” My body belongs to my baby and if it told me to eat all day, every day, which it did, I was going to eat all day every day!
Do you ever freak out when you and your mom [Goldie Hawn] smile at each other and realize you look so much alike?
No, we’re so used to it at this point.
Does she love or hate the nickname Glamma?
That was just a joke. She’s really Gogo–it’s her nickname from when she was a little girl, and Pa’s [Kurt Russell’s] nickname was Gogi. That was a big thing in the family when they first met–oh, my God, it was Gogo and Gogi. As far as hating it, my mother doesn’t hate anything.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-07” author: “Amanda Kingsley”
The Clinton Factor
As John Kerry toyed last month with the idea of delaying his official nomination, one voice broke though the babble of advisers and aides: Bill Clinton’s. The former president told Kerry not to wait until after the Democrats’ convention in Boston–a ploy that was supposed to help the senator spend and raise unlimited cash through August. Clinton’s intervention was typical of the advice offered in the regular late-night phone calls between the ex-president and the presidential candidate. Clinton’s friends and Kerry’s aides tell NEWSWEEK that the former president hopes to tune up the message of a senator who lacks Clinton’s political perfect pitch.
While Clinton focuses on Kerry’s message, the candidate himself is engrossed in the final shortlist of veep picks. Kerry sources say the choice is narrowing to Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and former House Democratic leader Dick Gephardt, and that the candidate remains personally uncomfortable with Sen. John Edwards. Some say Kerry could still choose a wild card like Bill Cohen, the GOP senator who became Clinton’s Defense secretary.
Brushing off fears among Dems that Clinton might overshadow Kerry, the campaign has embraced the ex-president’s book tour. “He’ll mention John Kerry’s name at every stop, like he’s been doing,” said one Kerry aide. “It’s basically cost-free campaigning for us.” Beyond the book tour, campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill envisages Clinton raising funds and rallying the base.
It’s a far cry from the pyschodrama of four years ago, when Al Gore wrestled with Clinton’s presence and was lampooned by George W. Bush for calling on Clinton’s help in the final days of the election. Nostalgia for the Clinton era may have also be working for Kerry–at least according to Hillary. “People are more and more remembering the positive aspects of the 1990s,” she told NEWSWEEK. “It can only benefit John Kerry, who is talking about the issues that elected my husband president.” Kerry hasn’t forgotten what he last week described as Clinton’s “terrible mistake.” He just prefers to talk about the mistakes of the president he’s running against.
INDONESIA
The Ugly Elections
With Indonesia’s July 5 elections fast approaching, the presidential race is getting downright ugly. Former general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who leads incumbent Megawati Sukarnoputri by about 30 points in the polls, has been the primary target: one recent text-message rumor made its way across the predominantly Muslim nation warning voters that Yudhoyono, a devout Muslim, had converted to Christianity; another claimed that he wants to impose Islamic law in Indonesia–a policy that voters overwhelmingly disapprove. (Neither allegation is true, insists Yudhoyono.) Last week it got worse. Indonesia’s national police submitted the cases of 15 suspects in a 1996 attack by military-backed mobs on the headquarters of a leading opposition party to the attorney general’s office for prosecution. Yudhoyono wasn’t implicated, but the fact that he headed the Jakarta command when the incident occurred prompted his campaign team to denounce the move as an attempt by Megawati to smear the challenger.
That may be so, but other contenders are being tarred, too. Earlier this month several Muslim clerics in East Java issued a decree forbidding Muslims to vote for Megawati, claiming that the idea of a female president was un-Islamic. Another candidate, former armed-forces chief Wiranto, claims that his opponents were behind a recent arrest warrant for his alleged role in war crimes on East Timor in 1999.
All this negative campaigning hardly implies that Indonesia–a country relatively new to the concept of free and fair elections–is headed down the wrong path. Analysts say that voters are unlikely to be swayed by the mudslinging alone. While the politicians are busy getting down and dirty, their constituents will be looking for real answers to the nation’s problems.
France: ‘Sarko’ Strikes Back
When French President Jacques Chirac called on rival Nicolas Sarkozy to run the Ministry of Finance in April, political insiders applauded the sly merits of the “gift.” Offer “Sarko” a job wrapped in the prestige of a high cabinet post, and he couldn’t refuse. Watch him unwrap the gift to find an unwinnable battle with the unions over privatization. See Sarkozy’s presidential ambitions for 2007, declared much to Chirac’s annoyance, go down the drain.
So much for Chirac’s gift-wrapping. As targeted power outages hit Paris last week, it was Sarkozy who negotiated to get the lights back on. Chirac, on the other hand, was literally in the dark. The outages, which affected the Eiffel Tower, train lines and even the president’s home, were orchestrated by France’s far-left union, the Confederation Generale du Travail, in response to ongoing parliamentary plans to privatize the country’s energy sector. Sarkozy, who has long shown an affinity for the masses, reacted deftly, promising unionists that he would slow the pace of change and allow the electrical workers to retain their civil-service status.
If Sarko keeps his word–and negotiates a draw with the union–it would be a big win for a government that has struggled to impose reforms. Come the fall, it might also give Sarko the extra juice to seize power of the coalition that elected Chirac. Any more gifts, Monsieur President?
Russia: Back to the Future
In Moscow these days, religious difference is nothing to celebrate. Protestants complain that they can’t get permission to build churches, which forces them to worship in apartments and, in some instances, even forests. Roman Catholics, heavily reliant on foreign clergy because of a ban on Soviet-era seminaries across Russia, report that some longtime priests can now get only one-month visas. And last week a Moscow court banned the Jehovah’s Witnesses from practicing in the city, judging the group a threat to society. The ruling hit Moscow’s 11,000 members hard. They will now have to either practice in secret, leave town or, worse, forsake their faith. But it’s equally ominous for the nation’s other religious minorities. “This is dangerous for Russia, dangerous for everybody,” says Vasily Kalin, a Jehovah’s Witness leader. Religious-freedom advocates fear that the Russian government wants to make the nation–where the 80 million-strong Russian Orthodox Church is the dominant faith–a one-church state. The Jehovah’s Witness decision, they argue, may serve as an excuse for bureaucrats outside the capital to crack down on non-Orthodox across the country. Thirteen years after the fall of the Soviet Union, it seems that the old tradition of worshiping in secret may reclaim its place in Russia’s future.
TECHNOLOGY
Hello, Phone Worms
We’re all used to viruses’ infecting our PCs. Now we might have to worry about their infiltrating our mobile phones, too. Last week the first known phone worm hit mobiles around the globe. Fortunately, the worm is harmless–it claims to be a security file, and if the user installs it, the file simply displays the word “Caribe” on the screen. The worm was written by underground Czech and Slovakian virus programmers in order to prove how vulnerable our phones are, experts say. But more-dangerous worms are bound to follow soon–for instance, a virus that could leap on its own from computers to phones, or one that could trig-ger every Nokia phone to simultaneously call the fire department. “In theory this is possible,” says Denis Zenkin, a spokesman at Kaspersky Labs in Moscow. “But thank God, we haven’t seen one yet.”
The question is whether we’re prepared for the day we do. Companies like Kaspersky now offer virus protection for phones, similar to products that have long been used on personal computers. And mobile phones are tougher targets than PCs, as there are fewer opportunities to contaminate them. But as virus writers get more creative, that’s bound to change–which means it may still pay to keep that old rotary phone handy.
Health: Fertility Forecast
It’s a question almost every woman worries about: how long will that biological clock keep ticking? Thanks to new research, women can now find out how many fertile years they have ahead of them. As a woman ages, the number of eggs remaining in her ovaries declines from several million at birth to about 1,000 at the onset of menopause–causing the ovaries to shrink. A simple transvaginal ultrasound is all it takes to measure the ovaries and predict a woman’s reproductive life span.
The discovery should come as a welcome relief to the growing number of women who put off having a child into their late 30s and 40s. The timing of menopause varies widely among women–it typically occurs between the ages of 42 and 58. Since fertility declines for 10 years before menopause, a woman in her early 30s doesn’t know whether she has a decade or more fertile years left or she’s already running short of time. “We now have the potential to be able to tell a woman how fast her biological clock is ticking,” says Hamish Wallace, head researcher at the University of Edinburgh’s Department of Reproductive Sciences, who developed the test.
The scan is already available at select clinics in Britain and the United States, and is likely to hit the mainstream market in a matter of months.
MOVIES
A Secret ‘Garden’
Although seldom in the spotlight, Tel Aviv’s “Electricity Garden”–a shady residential area frequented by male prostitutes and their gay clientele–takes center stage in Ruthie Shatz and Adi Barash’s new documentary, “Gan” (“The Garden”). The film follows two gay teenagers–Nino, a Palestinian illegal immigrant, and Dudu, an Arab-Israeli–who live on the streets, meet with clients, get beaten up by police and execute drug deals.
Welcome in neither Israel nor the occupied territories, the boys live a transient lifestyle. Yet they praise their no man’s land for its “freedom.” That freedom is relative, of course: though gay Arabs are reviled in Israel as “security threats,” they are often forced into spying on Palestinians because many will do anything to avoid being outed. Though derided by Palestinian officials as “collaborators,” they are similarly pressured into spying for Palestinian security forces. Israeli activist Shaul Gonen described their plight to the BBC: “Nobody wants to help them, everybody wants to use them… It is indescribable how bad life is for these people.”
Indescribable, perhaps, but the documentary does a convincing job of portraying the netherworld these youngsters inhabit.“Someone has to speak for them,” says Shatz. “These kids have nobody.” The Tel Aviv district attorney’s office has now received a copy of the film, and Shatz is proud to announce that the government will be having a screening. “Maybe now it will reach someone’s conscience,” she says.
ART: Spice It Up With Sound
An art exhibit that appeals to your ears as well as your eyes? That’s the gist of a new show called “Shhh…” at London’s Victoria & Albert Museum. The curators invited 10 artists and musicians to provide an audio accompaniment to the permanent collection of sculpture, furniture and fashion. When museumgoers enter each room, infrared sensors trigger the matching track on their MP3 players–providing a creative new audio tour. In the Raphael gallery, the melodic voice of the Cocteau Twins’ Elizabeth Fraser echoes in one’s headset, accentuating the cavernous heights of the chapel-like room. In the Victorian bathroom, David Byrne of Talking Heads fame went for a more literal approach, flushing toilets and playing with the faucets. And as one waltzes through the gilded, ostentatious Norfolk House Music Room, British rapper Roots Manuva serves up a political message, railing against privilege with lyrics about the “young waiting for their inheritance checks.” Even if some of the recordings are just distracting–in the Chinese Room, for instance, a 6-year-old girl describes her favorite pieces while the listener searches in vain for them among all the ornamental boxes, sculptures and vases–the show is a hit, offering a fresh, mood-altering take on an old museum’s familiar collection.
MUSIC: Bilingual Brillliance
It should come as no surprise that most of Lila Downs’s albums carry bilingual titles. Born to a Scottish-American cinematographer and a Mexican singer, Downs divided her childhood between southern Mexico, Los Angeles and Minneapolis. Her fourth album, “One Blood” (Una Sangre), mirrors that life, mixing up blues guitar licks and hip-hop vocals in Spanish and English while also creating distinctive renditions of Mexican folk standards like “La Bamba.”
Blessed with a three-octave range, 36-year-old Downs is an artist who wears her feminist politics on her sleeve. On “One Blood” she sings about the Irish-born labor organizer Mary Harris (Mother) Jones, a murdered Mexican human-rights lawyer named Digna Ochoa and the morally ambiguous historical figure of La Malinche, the much-reviled indigenous mistress of the 16th-century Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes, whom Downs sees as a victim. But Downs has a fun side, too, evident on songs like “Viborita,” a pulsating, African-flavored number about a sea serpent. Aside from a rather plodding rendition of “La Cucaracha,” the album is a vibrant, eclectic and sometimes haunting collection that could be Downs’s ticket out of the “world music” ghetto where she has spent most of her career.
Q&A: LARS ULRICH
Lars Ulrich of Metallica has been assaulting drums for more than two decades. This summer a new documentary called “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster” follows his legendary heavy-metal band over the tumultuous past few years. NEWSWEEK’s Charles Ferro talked to 41-year-old Ulrich in his hometown of Copenhagen, where the band kicked off its European tour:
You guys bare your souls in the movie. Don’t you feel a bit naked?
Sure. [But] I’m Danish, so I like being naked.
Are you satisfied with the way music-distribution technology has developed since the Napster lawsuits?
I think it’s exciting. We’ve been doing a thing for the past couple of months to make our concerts available the next day online. Five minutes ago I was listening to music on my iPod.
Where’s home–Denmark or America?
I dunno, man, I still struggle with that. Home is where my family is, and that can be anywhere. Home is [where] you seek sanctuary. Home is driving my kids to school. Home is making music with those guys. It’s more of an attitude.
You’re married with two kids. How has this changed you?
When you turn the 40 corner, you start to think in different terms–what your kids mean, what the future means–[you have] different perceptions of mortality. My eyes are more open than they used to be. I’m learning to be more in the moment and extract more out of it.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-22” author: “Angel Mcmurray”
A Bleak Beginning
India’s shocking election upset last month, in which the Congress party defeated Atal Behari Vajpayee’s Bharatiya Janata Party-led coalition, prompted fears about the fate of India’s economy. But the real concern is fast becoming Kashmir, and the diminishing chances of reaching a peaceful resolution in the border dispute between India and Pakistan. With bilateral talks set to resume this week, both countries are plagued by self-doubt, wondering which way the road to peace will twist next.
Several key factors indicate it might well hit a dead end. For one, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may not have the personal stake in peace–nor the rapport with Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf–that his predecessor had. And whether Singh wants to take a flexible approach or not, many on the other side of the table believe that when it comes to this explosive issue, he won’t even be in charge. “India’s relations with Pakistan are not determined by the government, but by the [hard-line] establishment,” says a senior Pakistani Foreign Ministry official. Now that India’s Hindu nationalists are out of power, they will be quick to criticize any deal as selling out Indian security–a job made easier by the fact that Singh is a Sikh and Congress party leader Sonia Gandhi is foreign-born. Singh’s ability to compromise will be severely limited.
Worryingly, Musharraf’s situation is not all that different. Although he has pledged to cut off aid for Islamic militants and halt infiltration across the Line of Control established in 1971, he is under increasing pressure from the military and right-wing political groups to take a tougher stance. If talks don’t yield positive results for Islamabad in the next few months, such demands will likely build, possibly forcing him to relax restrictions on the funding and training of Kashmir jihadi groups. If that happens, the 780-kilometer electrified fence currently being erected by the Indian Army along most of the Line of Control might not look like such a bad idea at all.
BRITAIN Turning a Corner? The day before last Thursday’s local British elections, Prime Minister Tony Blair warned that public anger over Iraq would cast a “shadow” over his Labour Party’s showing. He was right. Labour limped in at third place–the worst-ever overall performance in local elections by a governing party. At 10 Downing Street, senior aides desperately sifted through the wreckage, looking for a glimmer of good news. They found it in, of all places, Iraq.
The it-can’t-get any-worse days in Iraq have passed, the theory goes, and positive developments in Baghdad are coming down the pipe. The Blair camp believes that with bad news from Iraq out of the headlines, Labour will be able to press ahead with its popular domestic agenda. And, says a senior Blair aide, the government may be blessed with a more accommodating electorate in the next general election, which will likely take place in 2005. Private focus-group polling has shown that the war, by acting as a lightning rod for public disaffection with the Blair government, “gave people permission to admit that [public services under Labour] have gotten better,” says the aide. Furthermore, according to private polling there are signs that Blair’s investments in education and health are paying off. Of course, there’s still very little to celebrate, and nobody in the government underestimates the ability of Iraq to return to haunt Blair. “One car bomb in Baghdad, and we’re back on a slippery slope,” says a senior Foreign Office official. –Stryker McGuire and Emily Flynn
RUSSIA Dimming Prospects Is the Russian energy sector losing its glow? Oil giants Yukos and Sibneft, once the darlings of foreign investors, have stumbled after a host of recent scandals. The latest oily smudge involves Gazprom, Russia’s largest energy company. It, too, is a mess, according to Hermitage Capital Management, a minority shareholder. In a lengthy report, Hermitage details mismanagement that it says cost the company some $2.1 billion last year. Skeptics downplayed the importance of the report, seeing it as a bid to boost Hermitage’s chances for a spot on the Gazprom board of directors in advance of an upcoming shareholders’ meeting. Still, the allegations sound familiar. Gazprom declined to comment, but two years ago President Vladimir Putin installed a trusted boss to put a stop to just these sorts of abuses.
For foreign investors, the weightier implication is that the next bonanza in Russia’s oil industry may never materialize. Putin has promised to dismantle Gazprom’s infamous “ring fence,” which forces foreigners to pay a higher price for shares. That would bring in badly needed foreign equity–and touch off a veritable gold rush into Russia’s hitherto closed natural-gas industry, even larger and more lucrative than oil. But the whiff of wrongdoing, true or not, casts a pall over those rosy prospects. Meanwhile the Kremlin has taken steps to consolidate state control of the energy sector. And British Petroleum, the biggest foreign player in Russian oil, is currently under investigation for allowing its foreign employees to see oil-reserve figures, by law state secrets. For international oilmen, it looks like the lights are flickering in Russia. –Frank Brown
INSURANCE Calculating the Threat Given a string of recent attacks, one would think Europe’s corporate titans would be in the market for terrorism insurance. Not so. Major reinsurers set up a European terror-risk firm called SRIR after 9/11, but closed it last year for lack of business. Extremus, a terror insurer backed by the German government, reported 2003 earnings 75 percent below its expectations of 615 million euro. “There is lots of interest,” says Ashraf Sharkawy, spokesperson for the insurance company Allianz. “But when it comes to closing deals and signing contracts, everyone says, ‘It won’t happen in my backyard’.”
There are exceptions. The demand for policies is so high in Brussels, Dublin and Athens that the leading providers of terrorism insurance–Lloyds, AIG and Bermuda–say it’s hard to find new policies for clients in these cities. Why? Athens is an evident terror target as host to the Summer Olympics, and Brussels is the headquarters of the European Union and NATO. But Dubliners’ fear is a little mysterious. “You have to think of Istanbul,” says terror expert Bruce Hoffman at the RAND Corp. in Washington. “In that sense, everything is a target. Everyone is vulnerable.” If the Irish aren’t going to trust in their luck, maybe other companies elsewhere shouldn’t, either. –Sarah Sennott
INTERNET: SPAM KINGDOM China may be known for its tight Internet controls, but that hasn’t stopped it from becoming a haven for spam sites. Although spammers themselves are mostly U.S.-based, 78 percent of the dubious sites advertised in their junk e-mails in May were hosted in China, according to the Israeli-American antispam group Commtouch. Why the Middle Kingdom? After being driven out of countries like Costa Rica, the Netherlands and Taiwan a few years ago, spammers set up shop in China, says the British antispam outfit Spamhaus. Whereas Web site hosts and governments in those countries went after junk sites aggressively, in China the spammers have had free rein.
Those days may soon be over. Beijing recently invited Spamhaus to set up a Chinese-language Web site to help tackle the problem, and antispam laws are in the works. But even if China shakes off the spammers, don’t expect a cleaner inbox. Experts say the junk e-mailers will likely just move on to another tolerant country–like Russia. –Jonathan Adams
INTEL: SPYING ON THEIR OWN Ever since the 1970s, when U.S. Army intelligence agents were caught snooping on antiwar protesters, military intel agencies have operated under tight restrictions inside the United States. But without a single public hearing or debate, NEWSWEEK has learned, Defense officials recently slipped a provision into a bill before Congress that could vastly expand the Pentagon’s ability to gather intelligence inside the country, including covertly recruiting U.S. citizens as informants. The new provision, approved last month by the Senate intelligence committee, would eliminate one big restriction: that military intelligence agencies comply with the Privacy Act, a law that requires government officials seeking information from a U.S. resident to disclose who they are and why they want the information. The CIA has always been exempt–although it isn’t supposed to operate inside the United States. The new provision would extend the same exemption to Pentagon agencies, such as the Defense Intelligence Agency, so that they can help track terrorists. DIA officials say they mainly want the provision so they can more easily question U.S. businessmen and college students who travel abroad. Among those pushing for the provision, sources say, were officials at NORTHCOM, the new Colorado-based command set up by Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to oversee “homeland defense.” –Michael Isikoff
ART: MODERN CLASSICS Dashi Namdakov makes for an unlikely favorite of the Russian elite. The 37-year-old ethnic Mongolian sculptor grew up in an idyllic Siberian hamlet on the Russian-Chinese border. He belongs to the Buryat clan, which is descended from the medieval marauder Genghis Khan. The clan is Buddhist, though some members are shamanists whose ancient faith includes animal worship and divination. Namdakov draws on this eclectic background–and an episode during his childhood, when he was cured of a serious illness by a shaman–to reproduce his own visions in metal, primarily bronze. “Mysterious images haunt me at night,” he confides. He has sold two of his works to billionaire oligarch Roman Abramovich. President Vladimir Putin owns a couple of Namdakov originals and considers him one of his favor-ite artists; he even escorted visiting German Chancellor Gerhard Schroder to the sculptor’s Moscow studio on a recent state visit.
Namdakov’s world of celestial creatures, spirits and mythical animals is currently on view at New York’s Tibet House and travels to Germany, Switzerland and Austria this summer. Some critics argue that his pieces hark back to shamans, nomads, warriors, goddesses and animals from a bygone age, which the sculptor does not deny. “Maybe these works existed before,” he says, acknowledging his influences: the ancient arts of Iran, India, Egypt, Japan, Scythia and Babylon. Still, Namdakov’s use of distortion modernizes these classical symbols: by re-creating them as asymmetri-cal, mostly elongated figurines, he brings out a Picassoesque beauty that is anything but traditional. –Vibhuti Patel
EXHIBITS Kissed by A Frog Think you know frogs? Think again. In its new crowd-pleaser of a show, “Frogs: A Chorus of Colors,” the American Museum of Natural History in New York highlights a range of freaky amphibians, from the waxy monkey frog, which climbs trees, to the Vietnamese moss frog, which looks remarkably like a clump of moss. (Just try to find all 14 in the live display!) Can’t make it to New York? You can watch the show’s stars–75 live dart poison frogs, ranging in color from golden orange to bright blue–via Webcam, at amnh.org. Or shop for cool frog books, videos and CDs at the online store. The show runs through Oct. 3. –Anne Underwood
OLYMPICS Learning The Lore With the summer Games headed for their ancient home in Athens, various resources are springing up to help fans with their Olympic history. The Perseus Project’s online exhibit, at perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics, offers a tour of ancient Olympia and stories of Herculean athletes. Browsers can learn about Milo of Kroton, a wrestler who could clasp a pomegranate so tightly in his hand that no one he challenged could take it from him–yet his muscular fingers never damaged the fruit. Children will enjoy scanning the Amateur Athletic Foundation of Los Angeles’s Web site, aafla.org, which has Olympic puzzles, maps and mascots. For a lavish look into Greek sports and art, there’s a new book, “Ancient Greek Athletics,” by Stephen G. Miller. Among Miller’s medal-worthy trivia: men used to compete wearing nothing but olive oil and some strategically placed leather. And you thought spandex was skimpy. –Aubrey Oman
Q&A: ALANIS MORISSETTE Alanis Morissette is back with her fourth album (“So-Called Chaos”) and a new title: ordained minister. She talked to NEWSWEEK’s Lorraine Ali.
You cut all your hair off.
Yeah, I’m a lot more comfortable with my sexuality now. For a long time I wanted to be a feminist who flies in the face of convention. I kept my hair long and overcompensated by dressing up to here [brings her hand to her chin]. Now I like to wear sexy things as much as baggy clothes.
And you have more girl clothes.
Yeah, honey, fur and diamonds.
You still make heavy, personal songs.
People do ask why I’m so autobiographical, and isn’t it scary. My answer is that I have a low tolerance for pain. If I had a high tolerance, I probably wouldn’t be writing the songs I’m writing. The more I feel repressed or restrained, the more anxious I become. But if it’s just out there on the table, it’s like, “OK, what’s for lunch?”
You’ve been doing stand-up comedy?
Oh, God! I recently hosted one night at the Improv in L.A. I don’t publicize it, ‘cause I don’t really want people coming in and pointing–“Hey, it’s her!”
And you’re an ordained minister?
Yeah, you can do it, too–on the Internet. One of my best friends got married and asked me to marry them. Cool, right? I was so nervous. It was at the Universal Life Church. Had it been a Catholic wedding, I probably would have tweaked it.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-09” author: “Alejandro Wilcox”
Nearly two months after the Madrid bombings, the investigation has yielded an interesting twist. A “perfectly formed” fingerprint–found shortly after the attacks in a stolen white van that contained detonators, a stick of dynamite and an audiotape with verses from the Qur’an–has been identified, according to U.S. authorities, as that of 37-year-old Brandon Mayfield, a family and immigration lawyer in Portland, Oregon. Mayfield had been fingerprinted years earlier, when he served in the U.S. Army.
Although Mayfield denied any connection–he insisted his passport had expired last October and he hadn’t been out of the country in years–he was detained as a “material witness” in a grand-jury investigation while the FBI tries to build its case.
“This is nuclear,” said one U.S. law-enforcement official after learning of the development. A top U.S. counterterrorism official told NEWSWEEK that the fingerprint was an “absolutely incontrovertible match.” (Spanish authorities said they weren’t quite as sure.) Federal officials, who acknowledged that their probe was just beginning, said that they doubt Mayfield had been innocently swept up in a case of international intrigue. Mayfield converted to Islam 16 years ago and, together with his Egyptian wife, was active in a local mosque whose members had vigorously protested government antiterror policies. He had also volunteered to provide legal help for Jeffrey Battle, one of the ringleaders of the Portland Seven–a group of local jihadists who had flown off to Asia after September 11 in an unsuccessful effort to fight for the Taliban. “If that print had matched with some little old lady in Peoria, that would be one thing,” said one U.S. official. “But what are the odds it would be somebody with this background?”
GEORGIA
Playing the Telephone Game
Chalk up a victory for classic cold-war-style telephone diplomacy. Weeks of tension between Aslan Abashidze and Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili ended at 1:30 a.m. last Thursday when the rebel leader flew out of Adjaria, marking the end of his decadelong control of Georgia’s richest yet most volatile region. But it wasn’t Saakashvili’s threat of attack that did the trick. First, there was a flurry of transatlantic phone calls, as Washington worked to ease Moscow’s fears of an implosion on its border. Then on Wednesday night at 10 p.m., local time, U.S. Ambassador Richard Miles got Abashidze on the line. “Mr. Ivanov is coming to see you,” said the ambassador in Russian. Ninety minutes later, Russian Security Council chief Igor Ivanov was inside Abashidze’s palatial residence, offering his host safe haven in Moscow. Within two hours Abashidze was in the air, and locals swarmed the streets in celebration.
A new tactic of tag-team diplomacy seems to be emerging in the region. But the coming months will show whether this back channel is really open for business. At the NATO summit in June, Georgia and Azerbaijan will both be offered a two-year track to membership. Moscow is wary of such a military presence on its doorstep. “We’ll fight,” one top Defense Ministry official recently told a visiting European–not militarily, of course, but with tough diplomacy. Indeed, Moscow last week insisted on hammering out a treaty barring Georgia from hosting any foreign military bases. Georgia has refused, ensuring that tensions between the two will almost certainly rise, despite the recent cooperation.
ISRAEL
Barrier to Prosperity
Despite losing a Likud Party vote on his plan to withdraw from the Gaza Strip, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says he intends to push ahead with the initiative. Even if successful, though, he may leave Gaza in the lurch.
For several years, a British energy company, British Gas, has been quietly drilling in the Mediterranean. The company concluded that the Palestinians have a potential moneymaker off the Gaza coast–a medium-size natural-gas reserve of about 30 billion cubic meters. British Gas reps argue that the Palestinian Authority would earn about $50 million a year from the project and save an additional $30 million annually in energy costs. That kind of money–if it doesn’t go to Yasir Arafat’s cronies–could greatly help the overcrowded, poverty-stricken sliver of land get on its feet.
Enter Sharon: British Gas will invest the required $350 million needed to construct a pipeline only if it can market the gas to Israel, and the PM fears the money Israel would pay Palestinians for their resource (Israel plans to convert nearly all its power stations to natural gas over the next 20 years) would end up financing terrorist attacks against the Jewish state. Instead, Sharon is leaning toward importing gas from Egypt. Without an agreement, Gaza’s gas will stay untapped.
KOREA
Roh’s Rebound
This week South Korea’s Constitutional Court is expected to reverse the impeachment of President Roh Moo Hyun. If it does, the victory will be more than sweet. Roh’s term has been dogged by corruption scandals since nearly day one. Squabbling with the opposition left the South Korean president practically impotent–and pegged as a lame duck just a year into his presidency. Yet ever since the National Assembly impeached him for violating election law in March, public opinion has shifted dramatically in his favor. Koreans have poured into the streets to protest the ruling and the opposition’s seemingly underhanded tactics. Recent parliamentary elections resulted in a landslide for the pro-Roh Uri Party, giving it a slim majority. Riding the victory, Roh should emerge from this week with a stronger mandate than he’s had at any time since his Inauguration. “When Roh returns, he will see much smaller hurdles in pursuing his policies,” says Hahm Sung Deuk at Korea University. “He will be practically starting his second term.”
What will he do with that clout? With the Bush administration humbled by events in Iraq, he will have a stronger hand in pushing for a more conciliatory attitude toward North Korea. He may also step up efforts to reform the chaebol, South Korea’s powerful family-run conglomerates. And his opponents should beware, too: there’s talk of reforming the conservative newspapers that drummed up enthusiasm for his impeachment. Their miscalculation could be costly.
OIL
Unreliable Sources
Oil prices topped the $40-a-barrel plateau last week for reasons that are two parts sound economics, one part crazy politics. Consumption, particularly in China, has shot up much faster than suppliers expected. Caught unaware, they let world oil inventories fall to the lowest levels in three decades. Econ 101 tells us that when demand outpaces supply, sellers will jack up prices. The crazy part is that with no supply cushion, political shocks get translated into price hikes immediately.
And oil is increasingly coming from states prone to shocks. Think Iraq, but also Venezuela, Nigeria and other new oil frontiers. Reliance on shaky states raises the “country risk premium,” which has doubled in the past two years or so to about 6 percent of the total price of oil today, says Jan Randolph, chief economist for the World Markets Research Centre in London. The recent attacks on oil-company employees in Saudi Arabia–once considered the most reliable supplier–frightened the markets, which are now likely to keep the risk premium high. “We don’t see prices falling below $30 until 2005,” says Randolph.
IRAQ
Costs and Benefits
Threats to foreign workers in Iraq are rising but so are the rewards, and contractors are lining up for jobs there. In London two weeks ago, a forum billed as “speed dating” for businesses seeking Iraq contracts drew 500 suitors. The day that meeting ended, a similar event began in Seoul, drawing another 500 companies, these from Taiwan, South Korea and Japan. The United States requires prime contractors to subcontract 10 percent of their deals to the kind of small businesses that have been flocking to these events. Attendance at four Washington conferences on rebuilding Iraq has risen from 150 in August 2003 to 500 in February 2004–and more than 600 are signed up for the next one in June. Similar events have been held in Singapore, Chicago, Rome, Amman and Kuwait, which drew 1,400 companies from 48 countries in late January.
Businesses figure a foothold in Iraq will be invaluable. The World Bank says the $33 billion allotted worldwide to rebuilding will rise to $55 billion by 2007. Richard Bowman, sales engineer for a British manufacturer of power generators, is hiring a chief for Iraq operations. “The demand for generators is so high,” he says, “that people are willing to pay pretty much anything.” That’s incentive enough for many people.
BOOKS
More Than Just Bricks
Say you loved “Lost in Translation” and want to take a closer look at the up-to-the-minute design hinted at in the movie. Where do you start? Maybe with “The Phaidon Atlas of Contemporary Architecture.” From the Pee Wee Restaurant in Darwin, Australia, to a winery in Santa Cruz, Chile, this compendium of cool showcases 1,052 projects built within the past five years, organized by region and complete with locator maps. They range from billion-dollar airports and skyscrapers (Kuala Lumpur International Airport, the Dongbu Financial Centre in Seoul) to a dizzying array of houses, offices, museums, schools, churches, shops and even a private underground swimming pool (in Austria). Many of them are wildly curved, angled or cantilevered, and they’re built of every material from steel to sticks. The most modest of structures are here, too, like the Kahere Elia Poultry Farming School in the African country of Guinea, built of earth blocks for $104,000 by the Finnish architects Heikkinen-Komonen.
So how did the book’s editors figure out what on earth to include? Three years ago they started sending out hundreds of letters and e-mails, seeking nominations. At least 150 experts weighed in; the first list contained more than 4,000 possibilities. Then a panel began to winnow them down. The criterion: “They had to be buildings you’d go out of your way to visit,” says Phaidon’s editorial director Karen Stein. Indeed they are–just don’t try to tuck this guidebook into your tote bag as you pack: at more than eight kilos it’s strictly for armchair dreaming.
ARCHEOLOGY
Another Buddha?
For 15 centuries, before they were dynamited by the Taliban in April 2001 for being “idolatrous,” two giant Buddha statues dominated the valley of Bamiyan, high in the Hindu Kush mountains of Afghanistan. Now all that is left of the two 50-meter statues is empty niches carved into the mountainside and fragments of stone and clay spilling down the hillside. But an archeological detective story may revive Bamiyan. Teams of Japanese and French archeologists have launched a search for a third, lost Buddha statue that may be buried somewhere in the Bamiyan Valley.
The evidence for the Buddha’s existence? The account of Hsuan-tsang, a Chinese monk who traveled to Bamiyan in the seventh century, when the valley was a thriving Silk Road trade hub and an important center of Buddhist worship from which the religion spread to India and China. Hsuan-tsang describes in detail elaborate complexes of cave monasteries, a royal city and the two standing Buddhas–as well as a giant reclining Buddha that he claims is 300 meters long.
Excavations in the 1960s proved Hsuan-tsang’s observations of several other monuments to be accurate. This summer, archeologists will start excavations–the first in war-torn Afghanistan in more than two decades–to discover whether Hsuan-tsang is also right about the third Buddha.
So the race is on, with two rival teams, one backed by the Japanese Ministry of Culture and the other by the Delegation Archeologique Francaise en Afghanistan. “It’s probably badly damaged,” says Prof. Kosaku Maeda of Wako University, part of the Japanese team. But “if we find it, it will be of enormous symbolic significance.”
Q&A: JANICE DICKINSON
Janice Dickinson isn’t content just to boss around the contestants on the U.S. reality TV show “America’s Next Top Model.” She’s got a new book coming out called “Everything About Me Is Fake… And I’m Perfect.” The 51-year-old outspoken former model took it easy on NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin.
A model who can write. Who knew?
This is book two of the trilogy. I’m “The Lord of the Rings” of supermodels.
You claim to be the first supermodel. What about Twiggy?
I was the first to do editorial, runway, TV commercials, spokesperson and catalogs. Those are five separate categories. Twiggy didn’t do runway. I’m here to bring back the era of the supermodel, which is o-v-e-r.
Are there any models you like?
Tyra, Naomi, Cindy, Alek Wek. I love Giselle but she can’t speak. I think she should get her nose fixed, too.
Do you think the definition of a supermodel also includes sleeping with a rock star?
Hell, no. The Rolling Stones, the Beatles–they sought me out. I was on the cover of every magazine. It was finally my turn to pick and choose.
Is there anyone you didn’t sleep with that you wish you had?
This book is not about who I slept with. It’s about perfection addiction. I’m chronically punctual. I wish that I wasn’t. I’m learning how to exhale. The best is yet to come–no pun intended.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “Sara Taylor”
After 9/11, the U.S. Congress gave the Bush administration $40 billion worth of emergency antiterror funding. The money was supposed to finance post-attack cleanup, the global hunt for terrorists and improvements in homeland security. The funding bills instructed the administration to “consult” Congress about specific projects on which the money would be spent. But following allegations that the administration diverted funds from the antiterror war to make secret preparations for war in Iraq, Democrats accused the administration of ignoring the legal requirement to keep legislators informed.
The administration did send occasional progress reports to Congress disclosing that the emergency money was being spent for “increased situational awareness” and “increased worldwide posture.” But it was only last week that the Pentagon produced a list of 21 projects, worth $178.4 million, which it admits were funded with antiterror money before Congress approved a war resolution on Iraq. Most of the plans involved improving military facilities in Kuwait and Qatar–key staging areas for the Iraq war. A Pentagon spokeswoman says “these projects were not intended for any particular threat or mission” and claimed they would be helpful in supporting antiterror operations in “Afghanistan, the Horn of Africa and other areas of the Middle East.”
NORTH KOREA
A Disaster in the North
The explosion was too powerful for even the Hermit Kingdom to hide. The blast, which occurred midday last Thursday at a railway station in Ryongchon about 12 miles from the North Korea-China border, devastated an area about a kilometer in radius, according to South Korean officials who have seen U.S. satellite images. Early reports from Pyongyang indicated several hundred had died. But after learning that 1,800 homes were completely destroyed and another 6,350 were damaged, Red Cross officials fear the death toll will rise considerably in the days to come.
Although what caused this massive explosion remains uncertain, the wider fallout from the disaster is not. North Korea’s railways are a vital lifeline for oil and food aid that comes in from neighboring China, and the country’s fragile economy probably can’t withstand too great a shock. “It will take a long time for the North to rebuild the railroad,” says Oh Seung Yong at Seoul’s Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. “The explosion could deal a serious blow to the North Korean economy.” That probably explains why, in a rare move, Pyongyang has called on the United Nations for international help. But the most readily available aid may come from the North’s own backyard. After the liberal Uri Party’s big win in elections on April 15, Seoul looks ready to take bolder actions to engage Pyongyang. “South Korea will want to push ahead with its Sunshine Policy toward the North,” says Oh. “The train accident could be a good excuse.” If the North were open to the overture, it might offer a faint silver lining to an otherwise tragic story.
TERRORISM
Threats on the Horizon
Saudi Arabia was rocked last week as a car-bomb attack in Riyadh left six dead and more than 140 injured. Shortly after the blast, the Qaeda-linked al-Haramain Brigades claimed responsibility. Worryingly, counterterror officials say evidence from the Riyadh bombing and recently foiled plots in Britain and Jordan indicate that Qaeda affiliates–or local Islamic terror cells seeking to imitate the terrorist network–are intent on conducting new and spectacular attacks by planting bombs in large vehicles like trucks, possibly using explosives mixed with special chemicals to make them more deadly. And while U.S. intelligence agencies currently have no specific intelligence about forthcoming attacks inside the United States, officials still believe Qaeda affiliates are intent on attacking U.S. targets at home or abroad.
Israel: A Human Shield
It began as another day of stone-throwing at Biddo, a West Bank village that has seen repeated clashes between Israeli troops and demonstrators protesting the Israeli security fence. As he stood watching the protests, Mohammed Badwan, 13, was apparently grabbed by Israeli officers and tied by one arm to a screen covering the windshield of their armored vehicle. A photographer snapped a picture of the incident, which brought condemnation from human-rights groups. “He was a shield for them,” the boy’s father, Saeed Badwan, told reporters. “When I saw him on the hood of the jeep, my whole mind went crazy… It’s a picture you can’t even imagine. He was shivering from fear.” Israeli police promised an investigation. “I know there was violent rioting, serious rock-throwing. It’s unclear what happened,” said spokesman Gil Kleiman. “As a general rule, we do not expose civilians to physical damage willingly.”
INDONESIA
The Generals’ Election
President Megawati Sukarnoputri’s waning popularity is giving Indonesia’s retired generals another shot at power. Having performed abysmally in a recent parliamentary vote, Megawati will now face two tough former military men in the presidential election on July 5. Of most concern to Indonesia watchers is the return of retired general Wiranto. Nominated last week as the candidate for the powerful Golkar Party, Wiranto will be a formidable opponent, despite the fact that he’s a convicted war criminal.
The biggest threat to Megawati, however, is a former member of her own cabinet, the enormously popular ex-general Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. Recent opinion polls suggest SBY, as Yudhoyono is fondly known, could take home 40 percent of the presidential vote, with Megawati garnering barely half that. As a result, this presidential race is shaping up to be a showdown between the generals, with Megawati likely to be on the sidelines–where, say her critics, she’s spent most of her presidency anyway. “The resurgence of military figures on the Indonesian stage is not the result of a military effort. It is the result of a civilian failure,” says Jeffrey Winters, an Indonesia watcher at Northwestern University. “Indonesians are shopping for leadership.” Something Megawati has had in short supply.
U.S. AFFAIRS
Kerry Bets
Europe’s money managers are starting to handicap the U.S. presidential race. Economists are combing John Kerry speeches for concrete policy proposals; traders watch to see if oil- or defense-company stocks move in tandem with Kerry’s popularity ratings. “All at once everyone is talking about [him],” says Royal Bank of Scotland global strategist Kit Juckes.
Antipathy to President George W. Bush runs so high that any setbacks to his re-election effort could give a temporary emotional lift to European stocks and the dollar, says Commerzbank economist Patrick Franke. But like many analysts, Franke is more interested in hearing about Kerry’s economic plans. Economist Francesco Garzarelli of Goldman Sachs in London–who recently asked clients in a note: “Kerry Trades, Anyone?”–speculates that a Kerry win and an ensuing promise of defense-spending caps and budget-deficit reduction would be good for U.S. government bonds. At the same time, stock markets could react negatively to Kerry, as he might impose tougher regulation on businesses. Alas, a “Kerry Trade” could one day mean a conservative bet on bonds.
HONG KONG: Peak Prices
In Hong Kong, luxury real estate is trading at prices not seen in years. Patsy Ho, daughter of casino magnate Stanley Ho, recently sold a house on tony Victoria Peak for $10 million, or $1 million more than she had paid six months earlier. In March, a house next to a mansion owned by the family of Hong Kong Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa sold for $58 million. On June 8 the public auction of a 25,000-square-foot Chinese-style mansion with breathtaking views of the Happy Valley Racecourse and Victoria Harbor is also expected to fetch more than $50 million.
As peak prices go, so goes Hong Kong. Simon Lo, a consultant at Colliers International real estate, says local tycoons who make their money on the mainland are rolling in cash. With interest rates low and the dollar so weak, he says, rich locals see Hong Kong property as the best investment bet around. Now luxury prices are spilling over to the market for midpriced apartments, suggesting that confidence is rising beyond the tycoon class. This contrasts with stagnating property prices in the rival city-state of Singapore, which is a gateway to the wrong part of Asia (the Southeast part, not the China part). All these signs are more than welcome in Hong Kong, long rumored to be losing its luster as a lead city in Asia.
Art: Masterpiece of a Map
Ever ask an art expert a question, then find yourself praying for him to shut up as he drones on and on? Next time pick up the new “Atlas of World Art” and satisfy your thirst for knowledge without the bloviating. The atlas shows not just where well-known artists hailed from, but also tracks the development of art in every region of the world. Topics range temporally from cave drawings to the 21st-century avant-garde. Despite the broad range, editor John Onians, director of the World Art Research Program at the University of East Anglia in Britain, concisely pulls together a wealth of specific knowledge from art historians, archeologists and even anthropologists. Between the copious maps and illustrations, essays tackle subjects like the impact of technology and nationalism on 20th-century art. There are plenty of surprises for the reader accustomed to a Eurocentric canon–such as the rich, abstract modern art of Central Asia and the intricate ceramic ear ornaments fashionable in Japan circa 5000 B.C. The end result: a fascinating, unique window on human history through the prism of artistic accomplishment. A warning, though: it’s no easier closing this atlas than shutting up an art historian.
Anniversaries: Here’s to Tintin
Few reporters are celebrated enough to be honored on their 75th birthday. But Tintin was no run-of-the-mill hack; created in 1929 by Belgian cartoonist Georges Remi under the pen name Herge, the reporter with the cowlick has long been adored by children around the world. A variety of exhibitions are planned across Europe to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the character and his companions–the easily infuriated Captain Haddock, Snowy the faithful fox terrier and the endearingly irritating Professor Calculus. Remi’s hometown of Brussels is hosting “Tintin in the City,” a collection of drawings and strips. A permanent exhibition at the Loire Valley’s Chateau de Cheverny–supposedly Remi’s inspiration for Captain Haddock’s ancestral home–allows fans to wander through rooms that re-create the redheaded boy’s exploits with life-size pictures and other fun props. At London’s National Maritime Museum exhibit “The Adventures of Tintin at Sea,” visitors can learn about the nautical jaunts of the boy wonder. And the National Museum for Ethnol-ogy in Leiden, the Netherlands, has based its show “To the Incas With Tintin” on the comic books “The Seven Crystal Balls” and “Prisoners of the Sun,” which chronicled Tintin’s time in Peru. “To the Incas” displays a mixture of original drawings, sketches from the comics and relevant Inca artifacts. Tintin has been nearly everywhere and done almost everything. Now there’s even more incentive for his fans to follow in his footsteps.
Books: Rats, Each One of Us
Every big-city dweller has a rat story. Robert Sullivan, who spent a year observing rats in a Manhattan alley, has turned his into a book, “Rats: Observations on the History & Habitat of the City’s Most Unwanted Inhabitants.” Why? “There’s a sublime quality to even the most horrific things,” says Sullivan. “Not that I don’t get the heebie-jeebies too. I do.” If you can get over the gross-out factor, you’re in for a good read. Sullivan uses his observations on vermin to examine New York’s urban history. He also believes rats mirror humans. “I observe these rats, and they come out of their hole, they go to the same place each day to feed and then they go back to their hole for bed,” he says. “Then I turn around and look at Wall Street, and I see all of these people coming out of holes in the ground, going to breakfast, going into their buildings and then going home.” To study rats, Sullivan argues, is to learn about ourselves. Perhaps. But they’re still creepy.
Movies: Filming Old Fidel
Finally, someone who talks more than Oliver Stone. In his new film, “Looking for Fidel,” Stone interviews Castro about human rights, political prisoners and the fate of Cuba after he dies. It’s not surprising to see Stone ponder Castro’s own conspiracy theories, including one where he links Bush’s 2000 election victory to the Mafia. But, shamelessly and apparently sympathetically, he also sits silently through most every piece of garbage Castro offers. This isn’t a documentary. It’s a photo album with subtitles.
Q&A: Helen Mirren
After big-screen hits like “Gosford Park” and “Calendar Girls,” 58-year-old British actress Helen Mirren recently returned to her old role on ITV’s “Prime Suspect.” NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin interrogated her:
Do you identify with your character, Jane Tennison?
No. Obviously there are similarities between us, we’re both… [laughs] well, I was going to say we’re both single. [But] I’m married. What am I talking about?
You used to appear nude in a lot of movies, right?
What do you mean used to?
Where do you live now?
London, [and] a little bit in New York and Los Angeles.
When you’re in America, what do you miss most about England?
If I’m in Los Angeles, I miss people in the streets and the facility with which people will drop into other people’s houses. They don’t have the pop-in.
Do you miss any foods?
Jellied eels. I love them.
You’re a dame. Did you meet the queen?
No, I met Charles. It was fantastic. One of the most seminal, influential movies of my life was Disney’s “Cinderella.” I’ll never forget that image of the palace with those huge windows and curtains that go on forever. I always wanted to be in a room with those kind of drapes and you know what? They had those drapes [at] Buckingham Palace. They had the curtains that went up like 40 feet in the air. It was unbelievable.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-04” author: “Willie Johnson”
Curb Euro Enthusiasm
Europe was strutting again last week as several major eurozone economies posted first-quarter growth rates that beat all expectations. An “upturn is firmly underway,” French Finance Minister Nicolas Sarkozy proudly declared, after France announced its best quarter in two years on Wednesday. On Friday new data emerged showing that the eurozone as a whole grew 0.6 percent in the first three months of this year. Even Germany’s most recent 0.4 percent growth looks pretty good for a nation mired for the past three years in recession. Suddenly, analysts across Europe were talking recovery.
A true recovery takes time, however. It also takes strength, and when compared with other major economies, Europe’s performance is still anemic. Consider a recent OECD report, which noted that the gap in growth rates between the United States and Europe remains wide. Certainly last week’s numbers indicate a modest narrowing of that gap: Citigroup, for example, is forecasting eurozone growth of 1.4 percent in 2004 and 2 percent next year, compared with 5 percent and 4.1 percent, respectively, for the American economy. But the United States is still chugging along twice as fast as its transatlantic counterpart.
The key question for Europe is whether its economy is healthy enough to create jobs. Unfortunately, the answer is a resounding no. At the current forecast rates, eurozone unemployment will remain stuck at 8.8 percent for the next couple of years, says Citigroup economist Richard Reid. What’s more, tax reform and efforts to create greater hiring flexibility have fallen by the wayside. Instead, politicians across Europe have been grandstanding and speaking loftily of creating national corporate champions–for example, France with its pharmaceuticals and Germany with its banks.
All this spells trouble–as do rising oil prices and inevitable interest-rate hikes. Warning against “exaggerated enthusiasm” over the Continent’s rebound, Morgan Stanley managing director Eric Chaney reminded his clients last week that “Europe will remain a region of slow growth.” That, nos amis, is nothing to gloat about.
SCANDAL: VIVID VIDEO
Even as the Pentagon seeks to quell the furor over abuses at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, the U.S. Justice Department is trying to make sure a similar scandal doesn’t erupt closer to home. At issue: more than 300 hours of secret videotapes from a U.S. prison facility in Brooklyn, New York, where many Arab and Muslim detainees were incarcerated in the months after 9/11. On the tapes, according to a report by federal investigators, prison guards slam inmates into walls, twist their arms and wrists and subject them to humiliating strip searches. In some cases, male prisoners were forced to stand naked in the presence of female guards; in others, guards “laughed, exchanged suggestive looks and made funny noises.”
The existence of the tapes was first disclosed late last year in a blistering report on conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn by the Justice Department’s inspector general. But the tapes got little attention at the time, in part because only a handful of blurry stills from the videos were released. Now attorneys in two lawsuits filed against top Justice officials on behalf of former inmates say that they plan to push for full release of the videos, arguing that the visual evidence can make the case far more powerfully than allegations from prisoners. Spokesman Dan Dunne says the Bureau of Prisons has “taken these findings very seriously.”
ISRAEL
Hizbullah Connection?
Is the latest round of violence in the Gaza Strip the work of Hizbullah? Israeli security officials think so. Even though the Lebanese militant group has never operated openly in the Palestinian territories, Israeli officials say that two Palestinian ambushes last week that killed 13 soldiers bear Hizbullah’s fingerprints. The attacks–one with a roadside bomb and another using an RPG antitank missile–were more sophisticated than past Palestinian operations. Both weapons were hallmarks of Hizbullah’s 18-year-long war against Israel in south Lebanon, which ended in 2000. And the assaults were filmed by militants and broadcast later on Arab television stations to boost the morale of fighters, a practice patented by the Lebanese group.
Some Israeli intelligence officials believe Hizbullah is taking advantage of a leadership vacuum in the West Bank and Gaza, and is now directing or funding up to 90 percent of the Palestinian attacks on Israelis. But concrete evidence of Hizbullah involvement has yet to surface, and many Israelis remain skeptical. “I’m not convinced,” says Guy Bechor, a Middle East expert at the Interdisciplinary College in Herzliya. Bechor says Hizbullah engages in attacks against Israel in order to get credit in the Arab world–operating quietly just isn’t its style. And the Shiites of Hizbullah have never been overly fond of the Sunni Palestinians, Bechor says. Then again, that was the conventional wisdom on the Shiites and Sunnis in Iraq–until they recently started joint-venture attacks against U.S. forces.
JAPAN: A Ruffled Mane
As news broke late last week over Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro (Lionheart) Koizumi’s involvement in a growing pension-fund scandal, he personally decided to move up the date for a trip to North Korea. The scandal bubbled up three weeks ago as lawmakers debated reforming the pension system. It prompted one of Koizumi’s top lieutenants to resign, as critics called him out for not paying into the fund himself. Opposition leader Naoto Kan also quit when the public learned he, too, had dodged payments. Last Friday Koizumi himself admitted that during the 1960s and 1980s he hadn’t paid all his dues; that same day he announced he would head to Pyongyang on May 22 to settle a dispute over abducted Japanese nationals. During his 2002 visit, Koizumi persuaded dictator Kim Jong Il to release five Japanese citizens who had been kidnapped more than 20 years ago. The move won him high approval ratings at home; he’s undoubtedly hoping for similar dividends this time. The strategy is risky, though: Kim is wily, and Koizumi may come away with less than he expects. Secondly, the opposition party’s new leader, Ichiro Ozawa, is a rough-and-tumble politico who will do his best to keep the P.M.’s nonpayment on the front page. The Lionheart’s mane may yet be ruffled.
CURRENCY
Cash-Flow Problems
Early data on mainland Chinese currency deposits in Hong Kong suggest that Beijing’s fears that the renminbi would be sold off may not be valid. Hong Kong banking giant HSBC says that through April, only 15 percent of its renminbi holdings were straight deposits–the rest were converted from Hong Kong dollars. Experts believe the pattern is similar at the other financial institutions in the territory that were authorized to accept renminbi at the end of February.
Beijing’s hope was that the new rules would bring some of China’s unaccounted renminbi back into its banking system. Instead, Hong Kong residents seem to be using the new rules to accumulate renminbi, betting that it will eventually be allowed to strengthen against the U.S. dollar. “What is outside the system is still outside, and even worse, now we have speculation,” says Qu Hongbin, senior China economist at HSBC’s brokerage. What’s more, it’s a dicey bet–bad debts in China are believed to be many times the official $422 billion estimate, which could render the financial system technically insolvent.
AGRICULTURE: CORN ROW
One of the best arguments greens have had against genetically modified corn, which produces its own insecticide, is that the bugs will develop a resistance. To avoid this, farmers plant patches of GM corn alongside patches of ordinary corn in the hope that insects raised in one will mate with insects raised in the other, diluting their genetic resistance. Last week scientists at the University of Arizona’s Department of Entomology found that this strategy may have a fatal flaw: GM corn can contaminate ordinary corn growing up to 31 meters away. GM corn contains a gene transplanted from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), a toxin-producing bacterium, which travels through pollen in the air to contaminate ordinary corn. Farmers must now “think more carefully about preventing mating between corn while promoting mating between insects,” says Bruce Tabashnik, coauthor of the study. One solution may be to plant the ordinary crops upwind from the Bt crops. Either way, the results are sure to feed the already fierce debate over GM crops.
BOOKS
Da ‘Code’ For Kids
Harry Potter” author J. K. Rowling is “happily writing,” says Scholastic Book Group president Barbara Marcus. But sorry, kids: there won’t be a new installment this year. Instead, Harryheads can turn to “Chasing Vermeer,” a mystery that critics are calling a “Da Vinci Code” for tweens. ( “It’s darn clever,” says Joe Monti, a buyer for Barnes & Noble.) The tale, about a sixth-grade girl and boy searching for a stolen Vermeer painting, is by former art-history major and teacher Blue Balliett, a first-time author. So it came as a surprise when five U.S. publishers bid on the book. “If somebody had told me that [would happen] when I was picking salami or old gum off my classroom floor, I would have said, ‘No way’,” Balliett says. She’s already writing a sequel, a mystery surrounding a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Chicago’s Hyde Park. Will she go for seven, like Rowling? “One at a time!” she says.
MUSIC
Magnetic Attraction
There aren’t that many bands anymore that feel it only right to craft albums–cohesive, thematic musical efforts. So when you find one that’s full of witty, melancholic pop, you want to ask the band: doesn’t everyone else lack integrity? “I’m not a stickler for integrity. I’m a bubblegum purist, if anything,” says the Magnetic Fields’ Stephin Merritt, whose new album, “i,” has 14 tracks all starting with that letter–“I Die,” “I Don’t Believe You,” “I Don’t Really Love You Anymore” and so on. “I’m making records in the tradition of ’70s pop groups like Queen, who were expected to make albums to show off how many things they can do,” says Merritt. “Queen does rockabilly. Queen does operetta. Queen does heavy metal. Variety is key. I think, good riddance to the album. A lot of people make singles who shouldn’t be making albums. Those people have their own integrity. If I looked as good as Beyonce in the outfits she wears, I would wear them.”
Humility from someone who names an album “i”? It is lowercase, Merritt notes. And, consciously or not, he revels in jokey narcissism. In a 20-minute interview with NEWSWEEK, he divulged that his pants are 28-28s (small), a size he has trouble finding at major U.S. retailers, so he buys exclusively from R.M. Williams, which Merritt calls “the Australian equivalent of Levi’s.” (“It ends up being really expensive to buy cheap pants,” he says.) He used to intentionally mismatch Marimekko patterns but now wears all brown. Well, variety’s not that important.
Q&A: ROLAND EMMERICH
In Roland Emmerich’s latest disaster epic, “The Day After Tomorrow,” global warming causes the entire Northern Hemisphere to freeze over. The big-budget German director warmed up to NEWSWEEK’s Alison Brooks:
How much of a political statement is this film?
I’m not really a political person. I look to entertain and tell a good story. I’m from Germany, where films carry a message or a moral. But I was never like that–I always rebelled against that in film school.
Did you meet any resistance to this project at Fox?
They really liked it! I was surprised, because Fox is owned by Rupert Murdoch, who is not the most left-wing fellow. But when I showed it to him, he told me he thought it was great.
Have you always been an environmentalist?
Yes. As a German, it’s a big part of my consciousness. I vote for the Green Party, but in Germany, even the conservative parties are concerned about the environment.
So much has happened since 1996, when you made “Independence Day.”
Oh, yes! I could never make a film like that today.
Were you spooked by the visual parallels between that film and the September 11 attacks?
Yes, I really was. Very much. On September 11, my friends called me and said, “It’s just like in your movie!” I don’t feel very good about that. I would really hate to think that those images inspired anyone.
EXHIBITS: Rediscovering the Silk Road
Stretching from the shores of the Mediterranean, linking China and the West via present-day Iraq, Iran, India and Tibet, the ancient Silk Road was an elaborate network of trade routes–and a rich melting pot of civilizations–that flourished between A.D. 300 and 1000. But until the 20th century most of its intriguing history lay buried in the region’s harsh deserts, mountain caves and inaccessible ruins. “The Silk Road: Trade, Travel, War and Faith,” which runs through September at London’s British Library, unveils rarely seen Central Asian manuscripts, paintings, textiles and artifacts now scattered across museums in China, Japan, Germany and France. But the show’s greatest strength lies in the poignant details of everyday life it uncovers: a monk’s shopping list from the ninth century includes shoes, blankets, a silver cup and useful words in local tongues to ease his purchases. An etiquette book–essential when dealing with foreign manners–contains a form letter a guest could write to his host, apologizing for getting too drunk at a dinner party. It is through these personal artifacts that the exhibit most vividly brings the nearly unknown era to life.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-22” author: “Eldon Treuter”
American intelligence analysts aren’t sure what to make of an apparent terrorist attack last week in the diplomatic quarter of the Syrian capital, Damascus. Some anti-Syrian hard-liners in Congress suggest that Syrian security forces staged the attack so President Bashar Assad could show the White House he was curbing terrorism. (According to reports, two or three assailants died in the attack.) Under a new law, President George W. Bush is supposed to impose economic sanctions on Syria soon unless he is convinced that Damascus is serious about shutting down Syria-based terrorist groups.
The Assad government, desperate to avoid U.S. sanctions, has been trying to convince Washington that it is indeed taking on the militants. (The prevailing theory in D.C. is that the Syrians may have tried to mount a crackdown against local jihadis, who then struck back.) U.S. officials say the Syrians made a recent appeal to CIA Director George Tenet, whose agency got considerable help from Syria while investigating Qaeda cells after 9/11. But sources say Tenet couldn’t promise the forestalling of sanctions. Syria’s commitment against terrorism was called into question by authorities in Jordan, who recently released detailed evidence about a major bombing plot against Jordanian and U.S. targets in Amman; the plotters allegedly got critical support from cohorts in Syria. –Mark Hosenball
GLOBAL BUZZ THE REPORT CARD FROM REFORM SCHOOL EDITION
Reform may fare best in places where it looks least likely. Georgia’s Western-backed leader, on the other hand, is acting more like a hard-liner by the day.
India + Exit polls have the BJP looking weak and the markets jittery. Sure, the coalition will bicker, but all sides agree on key reforms. They’ll pass–so will the jitters.
Brazil + Lula’s under fierce pressure to start spending. But he’s also desperate to win over swing voters in fall local elections. He’ll hold the fiscal reins tight.
Israel + Desperate for allies, P.M. Sharon has given Finance Minister Netanyahu the room to push through vital banking reforms. They’ll outlast the political turmoil.
Georgia - Prez Saakashvili is a fresh face, but inexperienced. His hotheaded posturing may be dooming hopes for a peaceful settlement with breakaway Adjaria region.
THAILAND Tough Times for Thaksin
Thai officials are talking tough about the bloodbath in the southern half of the country last week, in which they say 107 Islamic militants were killed in attacks on police and Army posts in several towns. (Some locals claim that several of the dead were innocent civilians.) Thai intelligence sources say they were tipped off about the predawn raids by some 200 attackers several hours beforehand, but could not get as many troops as they would have liked in place. “If they were able to confirm it earlier, nobody would have gotten away,” says one source.
Officials insist the attacks are not the work of foreign terrorists. They say the attackers were local Muslim separatists, financed by drug smugglers. The latter have been crippled by Bangkok’s anti-drug crackdown and would presumably welcome any help in disrupting government activities in the area.
Even if that scenario is true, the government’s heavy-handed tactics may have created a terrorist problem where none existed. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has been trying to enforce security in the south while pumping money into the region. But now, officials admit, a terrorist attack could well hit Bangkok as payback for last week’s killings. Says one intelligence source: “We know that [terrorists] are there now… and they’re waiting.” –Joe Cochrane
RUSSIA Power Grab
Most Moscow businessmen are convinced the Kremlin means to take over Yukos after the oil giant had its worst week since the October jailing of CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky. Yukos’ assets have been frozen, its credit rating has been slashed and Western banks holding $1 billion in Yukos debt warn of a possible default. The question is just how the Kremlin will finesse the transfer without it looking like renationalization–something foreign investors dread. If Yukos’ biggest shareholders are convicted of tax evasion and fraud, it’s fairly simple, says one Moscow oil insider. First, levy huge penalties that match the roughly $14 billion value of the company. Then, to pay those fines, sell–most likely to a domestic oil producer loyal to the Kremlin. Sibneft’s Roman Abramovich is a leading candidate. Another possibility is Surgutneftegas’ Vladimir Bogdanov, who last week toured Yukos’ richest oilfield–a key asset that might be sold to pay the tax man or bankers.
The endgame, of course, is the 2008 presidential election. Whoever gets a piece of the Yukos pie will be expected to kick back some of that money to one of the Kremlin’s competing factions–no question about it. –Frank Brown
ECONOMY So Long, Cheap Money
Money is about to get expensive again. The British and Australian central banks have already raised their key interest rates, and the U.S. Federal Reserve has hinted it will follow. The question: who will get hit hardest?
The first to be flattened will be U.S., British and Australian bond and property markets. Emerging markets are next, since foreign investors tend to leave when returns improve at home. Bond markets in Brazil and Turkey look particularly vulnerable.
The good news: the upheaval is likely to be gentler than it was after Fed hikes in 1994. Rising rates have already been priced in to many assets, and mortgage rates are so low that minor upward moves may not dampen property markets by much. Falling barriers to rising capital flows have produced what some analysts call “synchronized” markets, in which recession and reflation is a global (not just national) cycle. So if expensive money does cause more misery than expected, at least we’ll all have company. –Jonathan Adams
BRITAIN Fighting on Two Fronts
In a public scolding unprecedented for a British prime minister, 52 former senior British diplomats last week called for a “fundamental reassessment” of Tony Blair’s handling of Iraq and the Middle East peace process. Now the prime minister may be in jeopardy of losing the support of his military, too. The aftermath of the U.S.-led war has been “an unholy mess,” says one retired senior British officer. “[And] it would be very hard to find a single retired officer of senior rank who supported the invasion of Iraq in the first place.”
Demands from Washington are likely to worsen Blair’s relationship with serving generals as well. The White House wants more British troops in Iraq–2,000 is the rumored figure–to replace the departing Spanish. If the Poles cut their forces, too, as they’re hinting they may, Washington will likely urge British troops to take over command of the holy Shiite city of Najaf, home to rabble-rousing imam Moqtada al-Sadr. Blair, sources say, is facing adamant opposition from Britain’s military chiefs, who have publicly declared the U.S. approach to pacifying Iraq a cause of “friction.” In private, the criticism has been far stronger: at a closed-door session in London in November, top British generals warned their U.S. counterparts that the U.S. and British approaches to counterinsurgency were so different that their forces were “not interoperable.” British commanders are now deeply reluctant to see their soldiers’ lives risked in the hornets’ nest that they believe the U.S. approach has stirred up in Najaf.
Blair’s political standing is still relatively secure, mostly because his likely successor as Labour leader, Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown, shows no inclination to challenge him before next year. But even Blair’s most loyal supporters accept that the sky–which was once the limit–could fall. –Stryker McGuire and John Barry
FLAGS Color Clash
Chad and Romania are at war–over their flag. Ever since Romania dropped the communist insignia from its blue, yellow and red tricolor in 1989–thereby replicating Chad’s post-1959 flag almost identically (the shades of blue are unnoticeably different)–both sides have refused to budge. The issue has now been handed over to the United Nations, which may soon find itself dealing with another flag debate. The new design for Iraq’s flag, unveiled last Tuesday, used a blue similar to Israel’s, angering many Iraqis. But mostly they were annoyed at having been left out of the decision-making process. Late in the week a darker tone of blue was inserted. This should at least cool the debate–until yet another new flag is chosen in the summer by the new government. –Andrew Ehrenkranz
THEATER Rockin’ the Playhouse
Elvis Presley’s swaggering on-screen charisma made “Jailhouse Rock” a sizzling, if cheesy, film, and inspired legions of impersonators. Now there’s a new Elvis onstage, in “Jailhouse Rock: The Musical,” which recently debuted in London. Although the musical doesn’t really stray from the film’s somewhat formulaic plot (white boy from wrong side of the tracks kills fiance of his love interest, a rich young socialite, and winds up in jail), it has earned decent reviews. And night after night, it’s had audiences dancing in the aisles with electric renditions of classics like “Blue Suede Shoes,” “Suspicious Minds” and “Tutti Frutti.” (The show doesn’t include its title track, as the production couldn’t obtain the rights.) But amid all the rockin’ and rollin’, there’s one crucial thing missing: the King himself. Mario Kombou does his best to capture the demi-god, but appears apprehensive of re-creating Elvis’s raunchy sexuality–there’s just no oomph in his hips, thrusts or grunts. Perhaps it’s too much to ask of any actor to portray one of the greatest performers who ever lived.
Thankfully, though, Kombou does find his voice, allowing the music to speak for itself and become the musical’s saving grace. A musical lives and dies by its songs; so does a legend. Elvis has long left the building, but he still shakes, rattles and rolls. –Tara Pepper
CLONING Copycats, Soon Dogs
Can’t spend enough on your pet? There’s a new way to unload a fortune. For $50,000, Genetic Savings & Clone, a California-based company, will offer cat owners a genetic replica of their pet later this year. (Dog cloning won’t be available until 2005 at the earliest.) The company, which claims that five paying customers have signed on to receive cloned kittens in November, caused a stir two years ago. Its first clone, a lab cat named CC (for carbon copy), didn’t resemble its DNA donor. That, company officials now say, happened because the donor, a calico, had a genetic quirk blocking duplication. For all noncalico cats, says CEO Lou Hawthorne, owners can expect clones to look like “an identical twin” of their pet. They’ll also be “very similar in temperament and intelligence.” (And cheaper, eventually: as technology matures, the price is expected to drop to about $10,000 for cats and $12,000 for dogs. Gene banking is available for about $900 a year.) The company says its work is ethical, but critics disagree. Says Stephanie Shain of the Humane Society: “It’s irresponsible to duplicate an animal when we are euthanizing happy, healthy animals because there aren’t homes for them.” –Karen Breslau
DIETS The Good (Food) Book
What would Jesus eat? You can find out in the new “Maker’s Diet,” a “Biblically correct” health plan. “In the Bible, people didn’t eat the garbage we eat,” says American author Jordan Rubin. Instead they noshed on the Creator’s unrefined and unprocessed provisions: figs, goat’s milk, cold-water fish, grass-fed meat. Rubin’s 40-day plan, which cuts down on sugars and starches, allows red meat and saturated fats–but not pork or shellfish. Some of his culinary prescriptions, like wild Alaskan salmon with pecan pesto, sound delectable. Others, like a nightly tablespoon of Icelandic cod-liver oil, don’t.
But the book’s about more than eating your way to a Samson- or Delilah-like bod. There are also daily prayers (“You are the God that heals, my Great Physician”) and hygiene regimens (no antiperspirants or antibacterial soaps). Though skeptics might think Rubin’s capitalizing on the Christian-media craze currently taking hold in the United States, he says his timing’s “totally by the grace of God.” –Arian Campo-Flores
Q&A: PIERCE BROSNAN
Pierce (007) Brosnan is putting the tuxedo in mothballs for a while to play a divorce lawyer in the new film “Laws of Attraction.” He spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin from his limo.
So what’s up with the mustache?
I’m doing a movie in Mexico City called “The Matador.” I’m playing a hit man who’s having a nervous breakdown.
What does your wife think of it?
She can’t wait for it to come off.
You play a divorce lawyer in your new movie. Is there any profession you think is scummier?
[Laughs] Maybe chicken-sexing. You know, checking chickens to see if they’re male or female. Please, God, I’ll never need one.
When did you first realize that you were drop-dead gorgeous?
I’ve never realized it, actually. I’ve never gone around thinking such nonsense. I just kind of scrub up well. I’ve got a good pair of old legs which have held up. Shoulders out, chin up, and you do the best you can, really.
Does it bother you that your most famous role is always going to be James Bond?
It doesn’t bother me in the least.
Are you a better Bond than George Lazenby?
Forget about George. There’s only Connery.
Do the Bond films make you nostalgic for the better days of the British Empire?
No! The empire? Jesus, what did the empire ever do except mangle other cultures?
It gave us the queen.
The queen! Bless her cotton socks.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-23” author: “Salvatore Chandler”
Flu Fears Take Wing
Last year’s SARS outbreak terrified people around the world because of how easily the virus could jump from country to country in an age of frequent-flier travel. Now another virus is causing a flap thanks to its ability to spread via more old-fashioned means: wings.
Coming on top of two new reported cases of SARS, recent outbreaks of avian flu have much of Asia on edge. Though the virus so far has had only limited success at passing from animal to human, it is of the deadly H5N1 type. (An outbreak of the same virus in Hong Kong in 1997 killed six of 18 infected people and led to the culling of millions of chickens.) And this time, experts fear that migrating birds have transmitted the disease as far afield as Japan, South Korea and Vietnam. Cambodia, Indonesia and Thailand are investigating their own possible cases of bird flu. Although it could take weeks for the causes of these outbreaks to be established, many researchers are already pointing to a familiar target–China’s economic boom.
Southern China has long been considered the world’s flu epicenter. China also happens to be the world’s largest chicken producer, and with economic growth the poultry industry is booming: between 1990 and 1998, per capita annual poultry-meat consumption rose from 2.8 kilos to 10.6 kilos. To help meet demand, poultry production tripled over the same period. Such “intensive industrial farming of livestock” presents an “opportunity for emerging disease,” says Hans-Gerhard Wagner, a senior officer with the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization. The cramped and unhygienic conditions common in commercial farming can transform chickens and ducks into veritable flu-making factories.
Scientists worry that the growing number of Chinese chickens increases the chances of the birds’ swapping viruses with wild fowl, which can then migrate to other countries. They’re also worried about China’s determined silence. Beijing has denied any recent cases of avian flu and there is no firm proof that China is the root of these outbreaks. Yet the fact that all of the confirmed H5N1 cases are in countries within flying distance of Chinese migratory birds has raised suspicions among regional health experts. Without clearer information from Beijing, they say they’re flying blind. “We are not sure what is the actual situation in China,” says the World Health Organization’s Elizabeth Miranda. “If they don’t say anything, we don’t know anything.” Of course, that was the problem with SARS, too.
FORECAST 2004
Monkey Business?
It started as a holiday-season lark. In 1992 one of Asia’s biggest brokerages, CLSA of Hong Kong, put out a market forecast based on feng shui, or Chinese geomancy. It has since compiled such an uncannily good record that even European money types follow it closely, albeit a bit sheepishly. Senior analyst Kenny Lau says CLSA’s feng shui advisers have never gotten a major market move wrong. The feng shui forecast for the Year of the Monkey, which begins Feb. 4, is notably bold. This is the start of a 20-year luck cycle in the Chinese zodiac, and the feng shui masters see a historic shift in luck from West to East. Some horoscope highlights:
China: The coming two decades will be “exceptionally strong.” This year is “a period of coming out for the world’s most populous nation–and is positive for mainland equities.”
Gold: The only thing that might keep up with China is gold value. “Nothing can stop the gold price from rising… $500 an ounce is an easy target” by early 2005.
Technology: An “auspicious” year for investing and expanding into electronics, power, telecoms and technology. The oil sector will do well, too, with “nothing in the stars to suggest a decline in oil prices.” Russia will certainly “feel the luck.”
United States: Although the next 20 years won’t be as good as the last, the U.S. economy will at least rebound, as the monkey is gentler and “more nurturing” than last year’s sign, the goat.
Asia: Asian stock markets will “shine again.” The Korean and Japanese economies “will also improve [and], because of the indirect influence of the fire element, property in these countries will make good investments as prices rise faster than many expect.” (And we thought it would be due to reforms… )
South Asia: Expect a “flare-up between India and Pakistan, or escalating conflict in the Middle East,” because Tai Shui, the lunar god, is visiting southwest China.
IRAQ
Chalabi’s Influence
Never popular with the Iraqi people, the U.S.-appointed Governing Council was supposed to fade into history. Under an interim agreement signed in mid-November, the council is to have “no formal role” in selecting the new transitional assembly to which Iraqi administrator L. Paul Bremer will hand over sovereignty on June 30. But some council members are backing a new proposal that may let them retain some power and influence in postoccupation Iraq.
Ahmad Chalabi, a onetime favorite of the Pentagon’s, has proposed a plan that, if approved by Bremer’s Coalition Provisional Authority, will allow Chalabi and his fellow council members to approve a slate of candidates for the “caucuses” to be held in each of Iraq’s 18 provinces. Chalabi’s plan calls for the provincial caucuses to select candidates for the assembly from the approved list. Council members who support the proposal say the candidates would not be “clones” of the 25 Governing Council members, and that other Iraqi political parties should also be able to propose a slate of candidates. But most of those parties are small and weak. While dealing with the council’s power grab, Bremer must also find a way to satisfy the country’s leading Shiite cleric, Ayatollah Ali Sistani, who has demanded direct elections–understandably, given the country’s Shiite majority.
WAR ON TERROR
Tracking Down the 20th Hijacker
The young Saudi said he had arrived in Orlando, Florida, to meet a friend. But when pressed for details by an alert U.S. immigrations inspector, “his story fell apart,” says one law-enforcement official. The inspector put the Saudi on a flight out of the United States. That incident, in late August 2001, was fateful. The FBI has since concluded that the would-be visitor, who carries the common Saudi name of al-Qahtani, may well have been the elusive “20th hijacker” who was supposed to be aboard United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in the fields of Pennsylvania on the morning of 9/11.
The story of al-Qahtani is one of several new details of the 9/11 plot uncovered by the federal panel probing the terrorist attacks. Law-enforcement sources tell NEWSWEEK that the story has some surprises. At the time the inspector turned al-Qahtani away, there was no sign he was connected to terrorism. But after 9/11, agents began looking into other Mideasterners who had tried to enter the United States in the preceding months and soon focused on the Orlando incident. One item grabbed their attention: 9/11 ringleader Muhammad Atta was at the Orlando airport that same day and made a call on a pay phone to a Mideastern country–apparently concerned that his guest hadn’t gotten off the airplane. A surveillance camera captured Atta making the call. Months later, a Saudi by the same name (his first name has not been disclosed) was captured by U.S. troops in Afghanistan and flown to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where investigators later identified him as the man in Orlando. Investigators believe that while al-Qahtani was not the only Qaeda operative who tried and failed to join the 9/11 plot, he may have been the last.
ENVIRONMENT
A Shortage Of Shrubs
Medicinal plants are good for your health–too bad we’re running out of them. According to a report from London-based Plantlife International, as many as 20 percent of plants used for medicinal purposes–including American ginseng, an herb that’s especially popular in East Asia as a metabolism booster–could become extinct if harvesting trends continue.
A surge in demand over the past few years is at the root of the problem. The global market for natural remedies is growing, while the habitats for such plants are being eaten away by humans encroaching on nature. Eighty percent of the world’s population relies on plant-based medicine as their primary source of health care. And those who harvest such plants in developing countries could see their livelihoods vanish if stocks run out.
In search of a remedy, Plantlife International argues that a switch to sustainable harvesting–which would include boosting the number of plants cultivated for production–could be a long-term solution. But unless the natural-medicine industry adopts and enforces such measures soon, its prognosis could be grim indeed.
TOURISM
Another Adaptation
Lost in Translation,” Sofia Coppola’s offbeat comedy starring Bill Murray as a Hollywood actor shooting a whisky ad in Japan, has earned rave reviews and generated plenty of Oscar buzz. Now the Park Hyatt Tokyo, where the movie was filmed, is trying to cash in on its starring role. The hotel is offering a “Lost in Translation” package that gives tourists a chance to experience Murray’s adventures in Tokyo firsthand. The deal includes five nights in a luxury suite, a shiatsu massage (described by Murray in the film as “unspeakable pain”) and cocktails at the hotel’s American-themed bar, where Murray’s character, jet-lagged and unable to sleep, strikes up an unlikely friendship with Charlotte, a lonely wife played by Scarlett Johansson. Also included are stops at a nearby karaoke bar and other sites featured in the movie, and a one-hour lesson in Japanese etiquette. Yet the deal isn’t entirely true to the film–a visit from a pouty Japanese call girl is not included, says hotel spokesperson Karina Shima, who, like the majority of the Park Hyatt’s staff, hasn’t seen the film. (It’s not scheduled to premiere there until May.) It may be that omission–or the package’s $5,000 asking price–that has kept most fans away. “So far,” says Shima, “we’ve had a lot of interest, but no takers.”
PHOTOGRAPHY
Revisiting Mussolini
Even the most brutal of dictators can have a softer side. But chances are he’d be far too afraid to show it. That was the case with Benito Mussolini, according to a new book, “Il Duce Prohibito” (“The Forbidden Leader”). Emanuele Valerio Marino, curator of the Mussolini propaganda center in Rome, and historian Mimmo Franzicelli have collected more than 500 previously secret photographs that capture the sensitive side of Italy’s Fascist leader. During his lifetime, Mussolini refused to allow the publication of any photographs of himself that he thought would compromise his strongman persona.
It was a wise decision. In the 130 pages of black-and-white images exposed by this book, Mussolini is often shown in skimpy tennis whites or bare-chested, clearly sucking in a flabby midriff. In others he’s smiling, eyes wide, with a sometimes goofy, toothy grin. All the photographs, say the authors, were taken from some 2,000 pictures that Mussolini personally rejected, marking each print with a large no and his scrawling m. The photos are accompanied by detailed captions that give the reader an insight into the insecurity and paranoia that made Mussolini tick. For instance, he thought that any images of him with nuns or priests would bring bad luck. He also rejected all prints that showed even the slightest hint of a large cyst protruding from the back of his neck, for fear the public might question his health.
ARCHITECTURE
Celebrating a Grand Old Islamic Ruin
The story of medieval Spain was one of constant tussling between Muslims and Christians. Nothing illustrates that tale better than the life of the Alhambra Palace. Located in the city of Granada and shrouded in myths, it’s the grandest example of medieval Muslim architecture that survived the period. In “The Alhambra,” Islamic scholar Robert Irwin investigates its captivating past and its intriguing style. The tome offers a detailed floor plan, sketches, aerial photographs and room-by-room histories, which fill halls now thronged by tourists with the poets, scholars, plotters and assassins of ancient days.
In the book, Irwin describes how the stout walls and chunky pillars of the Renaissance palazzo built by 16th-century Spanish Emperor Charles V in the Alhambra’s grounds clash with its intricate, whimsical Muslim buildings, where courtyards spill over into gardens and the boundaries between interior and exterior, man and nature, are shaded. He draws our attention to the finer details on the palace walls that assist prayer and explain astronomy, mathematics and meditation. In the introduction, he even takes a crack at explaining the mystical and philosophical symbolism of the ruin. “The Alhambra is a stone book,” he writes. And on his pages he brings the majestic ruins to life.
Q&A: Nicole Kidman
Nicole Kidman’s back in the Oscar race this year, playing Ada in the critically acclaimed American Civil War love story “Cold Mountain.” She spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Jeff Giles about the movie and her mates Russell Crowe and Naomi Watts.
“Cold Mountain” will be an Oscar contender. How do you feel about competition generally?
Strangely enough, my heart is also in Russell’s movie [“Master and Commander”] because I know him so well. And I’ve got my girlfriend Naomi in “21 Grams.”
OK, stop. You’re only hurting your own chances.
I’m hopeless. I’ll go and sell everybody else’s thing. But that’s OK. It feeds the industry. My God, there’s so much animosity, and it’s so much better to have generosity. I know what it took for those people to make those movies.
“Cold Mountain” doesn’t have a conventionally happy ending, but it’s certainly romantic.
The ending says, “At least you found each other–that’s more than some people get.” There aren’t enough films about the belief in love. So many of us are so cynical. There’s something beautiful about saying, “Well, there can be great, mythic loves.”
Ada kisses [Jude Law’s] Inman once, then literally waits years for him. Is there a kiss worth waiting years for, or is that 19th-century goofiness?
There’s definitely a kiss worth waiting for. Definitely. [Laughs] I hope so!
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-17” author: “Ryan Young”
Already an ally of the United States and Israel, Turkey has stepped up cooperation in the war on terror ever since the Istanbul suicide bombings last November. Now it’s building ties with semi-rogue states in the Mideast like Syria and Iran, emerging as a critical diplomatic player in the region.
Last week Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan acted as a key intermediary between Israel, the United States and visiting Syrian President Bashar Assad. Israel had asked Erdogan to pass on the mes-sage that Jerusalem was ready to resume talks over the status of the Golan Heights, as well as over Syria’s alleged support for Palestinian and Lebanese terror groups. In response, Assad told Erdogan that he, too, was ready to talk, as long as the negotiations restarted where they left off in 2001. Assad went out of his way to charm and reassure, promising Erdogan that the hostile policies of his late father–who supported anti-Turkish terror groups–were a thing of the past. He also avoided any mention of the two thorns in Turkish-Syrian relations: the flow of water from the Euphrates River that rises in Turkey and is the lifeline of Syria’s agriculture, and the status of the disputed Turkish province of Hatay.
The reason for Assad’s charm offensive is simple. In this post-Soviet, post-Saddam era, Damascus has very few friends left in the region. Western diplomats in Ankara are optimistic that an improvement in Syria’s relations with the United States and Israel will follow its reaching out to Turkey. Assad has promised Erdogan that he will prepare a detailed position statement for the Turkish P.M. to take to Washington later this month. The document will explain that Syria “does not harbor terrorists” and has not allowed “resistance fighters” to cross from its territory into Iraq.
For its part, Turkey is “relishing its role as the grand old man of the region’s politics,” says a Western diplomat in Ankara. After clashing with Washington in the run-up to war in Iraq, Turkey is almost as eager as Syria to improve its standing with the United States. Acting as a regional peacemaker could also shore up relations with the European Union, which will decide this year on a start date for talks on Turkey’s accession to the EU. Next up: an Ankara visit by Iranian President Moham- med Khatami, tentatively scheduled for late January. Washington will likely have plenty of issues it wants the Turks to raise with the Middle East’s other rogue state, including its clandestine nuclear program and the future of Iraq. If Turkey plays its cards right, it could well become the bridge between West and East it’s always hankered to be.
SARS: The Second Coming
Few health experts thought that SARS had been wiped off the face of the earth. But most at least believed that China would be better equipped to deal with round two. How could Beijing do worse this time, after withholding information from World Health Organization officials, insisting that SARS posed no threat and banning doctors from talking publicly about the virus? Last week, though, as the second new case of SARS was confirmed in a 20-year-old waitress in Guangdong, Chinese authorities seemed to have learned nothing from their mistakes.
In a classic example of government heavy-handedness, Chinese authorities immediately set about the slaughter of China’s mongoose-like civet cats–believed to be the animal source of the SARS virus–in time for a Jan. 10 deadline. But authorities couldn’t decide how best to kill them. Drown them in disinfectant? Incinerate them in pressure cookers? Beat them with clubs? Local authorities all varied in their choices of slaughter, prompting concern from WHO officials, who feared that some of the techniques might actually put the executioners themselves at risk.
Similarly, after the first outbreak, Beijing vowed that SARS would usher in a new era of openness and official transparency. Yet last week Guangdong authorities temporarily detained the editor and several staff members of Southern Metropolitan Daily, the newspaper that broke the story of the first new SARS case in December 2003 and that is responsible for several other hard-hitting articles. This blatantly contradicted the current central-government line. After all, the state-controlled China Daily newspaper wrote in an editorial on the lessons of last year’s SARS crisis: “Transparency breeds confidence.” It certainly does. That’s precisely why the world can’t be confident that SARS is under control just yet.
Iraq: Contract Disputes
In a widely published memo signed by Deputy U.S. Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the Bush administration recently signaled it was going to penalize countries like France, Germany and Russia for their lack of support for the U.S.-led Coalition by cutting them out of postwar-reconstruction contracts. But some companies and government officials from countries that supported the Coalition complain that they, too, are being frozen out. According to a well-connected Washington businessman, a consortium of major British and Italian companies had a big prewar contract to modernize Iraq’s civil-aviation infrastructure, which was approved by the United Nations (and hence given the all-clear by the United States). Yet the consortium’s efforts to persuade the Bush administration to allow the contract to go ahead have been stonewalled by officials at the Pentagon and other U.S. government agencies.
U.S. officials acknowledge that Coalition partner Spain is also angry at not getting a fair share of postwar-reconstruction work. A source familiar with the views of British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government indicates that even America’s most loyal ally is disappointed that it has not received a bigger share of Iraq-reconstruction work.
U.S. diplomats have told their foreign counterparts to take up their complaints with the Pentagon. A spokesman for the U.S. Agency for International Development, which granted one of the first big Iraq contracts to U.S. engineering giant Bechtel, says that British companies are getting virtually as much subcontracting work as U.S. companies. A Pentagon official says only that in future reconstruction projects, companies from Coalition countries are going to have to vie with U.S. companies under a competitive-bidding process while the issuing of big new contracts is still at an early stage.
Last week, merchants and farmers staged a massive land rebellion in Roraima, a richly endowed frontier territory in northern Brazil. This row has pitted Indians against Indians, as dissident leaders of the Macuxi tribe have defied fellow tribesmen and thrown in with the big farmers, many of whom the Macuxi serve as farmhands. The rebels are bent on stopping the government from setting aside 16,700 square kilometers of land as an Indians-only reservation. Protesters blocked highways last week, took over the Indian affairs bureau, forced merchants to close their shops and took three missionaries hostage.
The Serra Raposa do Sol reservation, the traditional home of the Macuxi, has existed on paper since 1998, but has long been overrun by gold miners and land grabbers. Last month Brasilia finally acted, announcing plans to expel the invaders and formally demarcate the Macuxi’s ancient homeland. The protest was a last desperate stab by local politicians–prodded by a powerful group of rice farmers–to block the demarcation, or at least to wrest chunks of good farmland from Indian possession. The Macuxi, a tribe of farmers who straddle the worlds of town and tribe, were in a bind. Many went along with the pols, apparently convinced that their future lies not on the rez but with their current benefactors, the European descendants who run Roraima. Those white settlers have never swallowed the fact that so much of the state’s land (48 percent) is owned by so few people (25,000 Indians). Though they represent only 2 percent of Brazil’s population, Indians control 11 percent of Brazilian territory. Undaunted by last week’s events, Brasilia vows it will repay its “historic debt” to the Brazilian Indians–even if the Indians don’t all agree.
Science: An Irrepressible Idea
In the 1990s, U.S. courts were clogged with cases based on repressed memories of abuse the plaintiffs had suddenly “recovered.” Scientists scoffed, of course. In many cases, therapists had planted ideas in their patients’ minds. “There was an abundance of evidence that people could come to remember things they’d never experienced,” says University of Oregon psychologist Michael Anderson. And if people could in fact repress real memories, there was little physiological evidence of it.
Anderson thinks he now has some. In the latest issue of Science, he makes the controversial argument that subconscious memory repression really does exist–and that it’s merely the sum of conscious attempts to ignore particular memories. “If people push something out of mind systematically, later on when they want to recall it, they can’t,” he says, adding that the principle should apply to all situations–not just traumatic ones. Anderson hooked people up to an fMRI machine and asked them to try to forget a set of words. The scans showed a strange interaction between the prefrontal cortex and the hippocampus–a pattern specific to memory suppression. Sure enough, subjects couldn’t remember the words later. Asked if an fMRI could someday discriminate between real repressed memories and suggested ones, Anderson says, “We’re very far from that,” then hesitates. “Well, there might be–I’m just not gonna go there.” Fine, but what’s he repressing?
Environment: Motion of The Ocean
Bill Curry spends a lot of time staring at the sand. As curator of the Seafloor Samples Laboratory at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in Massachusetts, he studies ocean-floor sediment from thousands of years ago, tracking the paths of ocean currents. These, he hopes, could help determine the impact of global warming. By one theory, rising temperatures and falling salinity could suddenly slow the flow of North Atlantic currents, shifting the warm waters of the Gulf Stream away from Europe and plunging the continent into a series of brutally cold winters.
Like many theories of global warming, this one doesn’t yet have enough data to prove for sure whether it might occur. This year Curry will be leading the charge to collect more samples by building a powerful new instrument, a coring system a full 46 meters long. The device will allow U.S. scientists to look much farther back in time than they currently can.
The samples the new system brings up may or may not help predict Europe’s climatic future, but it’s worth a shot. And if the tales told in the sand are any indication, we’re going to need all the advance warning we can get.
Books: Wandering Into a War
Road trips are fun, right? Not when your destination is Sarajevo–and your charted course winds through a country ripped up by war. So goes the story in Bill Carter’s autobiography, “Fools Rush In,” his account of life as a volunteer relief worker for a loosely organized humanitarian group (called Serious Road Trip) that ferried medical supplies and food to civilians stuck in the former Yugoslavia during the mid-’90s.
Carter’s book reads like a novel, evoking a lost city inhabited by angels, bandits, punks and adrenaline fiends. The characters turn running across Sniper’s Alley into a game–that is, when they aren’t passing the time holding surreal art exhibitions as missiles explode around them. The author thankfully avoids the pitfalls of a do-gooder memoir–he’s not self-righteous or overly pious in his storytelling. In fact, he deflects much of the attention away from himself, clearly drawing from his experience as a documentary filmmaker to focus on the horrors all around him. (Among the most gruesome and tragic is the tale of a waitress who was brutally raped and beaten for months, and then forced to watch as her father was killed.) In the end, Carter reaches far beyond personal experience to find the story of a wounded city, and a war that pitted neighbor against neighbor in a nightmare of mindless hatred.
Campaign Bios: Reading Between the Candidates’ Lines
Dennis Kucinich would like you to know that in addition to opposing the war in Iraq, he is against using ghostwriters. Because he wrote “A Prayer for America” himself, he believes he’s better than the six other Democratic presidential candidates who collaborated with writers on their books. (Carol Moseley Braun doesn’t have one, and according to retired Gen. Wesley Clark’s publisher, he did his own writing.) Says Kucinich, “If a president has a ghostwriter, who’s the president?”
For the candidates, the books are a chance to speak directly to the voters–as well as position their earnest mugs in every bookstore. Though the prose is boilerplate, the books are often unintentionally revealing. Howard Dean is distinguished by being the only candidate who doesn’t acknowledge in his book that he got help with it. His ghostwriter, Ian Jackman, says he likes Dean, but admits that a mention would have been nice. The relentlessly upbeat John Edwards stunned his collaborator–John Auchard, an English professor and an old classmate of Edwards’s wife–by adding his name to the cover.
The prose often suffers in the hands of the politicians, who mark up the manuscript themselves. “He’s not as good a writer as he thinks he is,” says one collaborator of one candidate. Nervous advisers can pick the drafts clean of flavorful nuggets, says Sarah Crichton, who worked with the Liebermans. A staff member nixed Joe Lieberman’s admission that he thought Reagan was a charismatic speaker. John Kerry’s book was a team effort with his advisers–and it reads like one. Even his spokesperson says it’s only for people interested in the nitty-gritty of policy. Kucinich, maybe, should have held back a bit: “Spirit merges with matter to sanctify the universe. Matter transcends, to return to spirit.” Try putting that on a bumper sticker.
Who buys these things? In Richard Gephardt’s case, only 37 souls this year, according to Nielsen BookScan. Clark and Dean lead the pack, with Clark selling an estimated 17,578 to Dean’s 16,094 as of last week.
Ricky Gervais
After two seasons of co-writing, co-directing and starring in pretty much the funniest television show ever, there was only one thing to do: pull the plug. NEWSWEEK’s Susannah Meadows talked to the star of the unforgettable BBC series “The Office” about the importance of going out on top:
Please let there be more episodes. Do it for the children.
I’ve been let down myself by sitcoms that went bad after a few seasons. I’m never sorry to leave the party early.
There’s going to be an American version now. Won’t that ruin everything?
That’s like David Bowie worrying about people covering his songs. There are terrible versions of Charles Dickens on the telly, but they don’t say, “He’s going downhill, that Charles Dickens.” I’ve just compared myself to Charles Dickens and David Bowie. “He’s not only an arrogant man, but a verbose bore.”
How can you be so unvain? Isn’t it awful watching yourself?
Unfortunately, I am shaped like that.
No, no, I like your figure. I’m talking about Brent’s make-you-squirm personality. I know some actors don’t like portraying a twit. But the joy of that is I can say that’s not really like me. I’m stuck with the physicality, but I can assure you I don’t really dance like that. It’s the strangest man I’ve ever seen on television. Then I realize that’s me.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-05” author: “Cassandra Prochaska”
Reading the Fault Lines
By the end of last week, after a Dec. 26 earthquake in the mud-walled city of Bam had killed more than 30,000 people, Tehran was sounding prickly again. Although U.S. supplies and small relief teams had been allowed in immediately after the quake, the Iranian government rejected the sending of a high-level delegation headed by Sen. Elizabeth Dole. One top-level hard-liner accused Washington of exploiting the tragedy for political ends. The political loss, however, may be that of the ayatollahs.
Before the Bam tragedy, most political forecasters had predicted a poor turnout for Feb. 20 parliamentary elections. That looks set to change, says political analyst Davood Bavand, as the electorate has been re-energized by anger at the government’s handling of the crisis. Many Iranians are furious that officials–and buildings–were not more ready to handle the Bam quake, despite the fact that Iran suffers an earthquake nearly every year. The government’s inability to coordinate aid or prevent looting of food and medicine has added to the anger. Perhaps even more infuriating has been the hard-liners’ staunch refusal to seize the opportunity to improve relations with the United States. “We’ve said ‘Death to America’ for 25 years, and now they’re helping us when we need them,” says earthquake survivor Javad Alavi, whose nephew was found by an American rescue team. “They came here with their dogs, which [government officials] say is a dirty animal, to help us. Write it in your magazine that I love Americans and I love their dogs.”
One might think the mood would help liberal candidates, but many voters are fed up with President Mohammed Khatami, whom they mock as “Mr. Ashamed,” for his constant protestations that he’s ashamed not to have fulfilled his reform pledges. For their part, hard-liners have also lost credibility by giving in to international pressure and allowing spot inspections of Iran’s nuclear program. The only untainted candidates are several pro-democracy figures who have been banned from running by various conservative vetting committees. Some of those bans may need to be lifted. “The main problem for the Islamic Republic has become losing its legitimacy,” says Bavand. If conservatives don’t give voters the freedom to choose whom they want, they may find that they’re on shakier ground than they realize.
INTELLIGENCE Leaks, Links And Lies?
Critics of Bush Administration policy in Iraq have chastised the Pentagon for relying on questionable intelligence from exile groups, particularly the Iraqi National Congress, about WMD and Saddam Hussein’s Qaeda links. But now a different exile group, known for its close relationship with the CIA and Britain’s M.I.6–no friends of the INC–is the source of recent news leaks hyping similar claims. A Washington representative for Iyad Allawi, leader of the Iraqi National Accord, has confirmed that his group originated two leaks about alleged WMD deployments and evidence linking Saddam to –9/11 hijacker Muhammad Atta. (The CIA and M.I.6 say the stories are uncorroborated.)
In one report, published by London’s Sunday Telegraph, a former Iraqi air-defense officer claimed that crates containing WMD warheads were delivered to frontline Iraqi military units in 2002. The INA leader’s rep Nick Theros also confirmed that the Accord was the source of a document claiming that Atta had visited Baghdad to train with terrorist Abu Nidal. Theros says the Accord never vouched for the document’s authenticity. Officials close to the CIA and M.I.6 say that while the agencies believe the tales are unfounded, they still regard the INA as a reliable ally.
BRITAIN
Scandal in The Knight
Britain’s celebrity-studded New Year’s “honours list” was accompanied by controversy this year. But the names of those who received knighthoods were not the subject of debate; it was the process of awarding the so-called gongs that was stealing the show.
In mid-December, The Sunday Times of London disclosed minutes of meetings of the principal honors committee that vets candidates. The documents showed just how venal and political government ministers and senior civil servants could be in drawing up the list. For instance, Tim Henman, Britain’s best tennis player, was in line for an OBE to “add interest” to the list, not just for his sporting achievements. At the same time, Oxford University scientist Colin Blakemore was to be denied a gong because honoring his “controversial” work on vivisection would incense animal-rights groups.
The honors system is in trouble. Rejecting a gong has become increasingly fashionable. And leaked documents and personal confessions have established that hundreds of prominent Britons–among them Graham Greene, Roald Dahl and Philip Larkin–have turned down gongs in the past, too. Stung by this most recent controversy, Prime Minister Tony Blair’s government has now announced the appointment of a committee to review the honors system, which will be headed by the permanent secretary at the Department of Constitutional Affairs–Sir Hayden Phillips.
CHINA
Pushing to Help Chairman Mao Move Along
For 27 years, Mao Zedong’s corpse has rested peacefully in a mausoleum in the center of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, disturbed only by tourists and city residents who have passed by to pay their respects to the first leader of communist China. But now a group of prominent Chinese intellectuals wants the government to finally bury him–along with many of his ideas.
Over the years, Mao’s legacy–like his formaldehyde-soaked body–has remained largely intact. So it’s all the more surprising that in late November a group of academics, writers and dissidents posted an open letter on the Internet blaming him for a “rule of terror” and requesting that Mao’s body be shipped to his hometown in Hunan province. Signed by more than 50 people, including Wang Dan, a student leader of the 1989 Tiananmen protests, the petition outraged the Chinese government, which promptly decided to block it from appearing on Chinese Internet servers. The letter points out the wastefulness of the Mao Zedong Mausoleum Management Bureau, an agency set up by the authorities, whose sole charge is to keep the chairman’s body in its original state. That has meant at least several million yuan a year spent on fighting bacteria and oxygen, an even more trying task than defending Mao’s reputation. “Preservation is relative while decay is absolute,” declared the letter writers. That’s the kind of dissent that not even China’s most ardent Maoists could disagree with.
ENVIRONMENT
Holy Carp!
Gigantic Asian carp–about a meter long and 45 kilograms–are becoming a U.S. environmental issue. The fish have attacked people (the sound of marine motors makes them jump up to three meters) and are spreading out of control. Taken to America from China in the 1970s to control algae in catfish farms, Asian carp have become the dominant large fish in the Illinois River and have infested huge swaths of the Missouri and Mississippi. If they find their way into the Great Lakes, the carp–which eat the plankton all fish rely on–could destroy an ecosystem that reaches from Minnesota to New York and ruin a $4.5 billion fishing industry. The carp have made their way to within 80 kilometers of Lake Michigan, and the city of Chicago hopes to fend them off with an underwater electrical barrier. Legislation that would provide funds and tighten rules on importing alien species is pending.
BOOKS
Punctuation Points
Ok, we admit it, without spell check and the grammar toolbar on our PCs, we’d all be completely lost. So the timing couldn’t be better for the publication of “Eats, Shoots & Leaves,” a collection of historical tales, amusing anecdotes and interesting ponderings about how and why correct punctuation has become an endangered species. Author Lynn Truss fills each chapter with analyses of everything from the misuse of the apostrophe (“The apostrophe is the frantically multi-tasking female, dotting hither and yon, and succumbing to burnout from all the thankless effort”); to the debate over the Oxford comma (to use or not to use one before “and” in a list of items); to whether hyphens should be banished. Though her concept is timely–most of us could use a refresher course in punctuation–at times Truss’s lengthy ponderings try the reader’s patience. For one, she drones on ad nauseam about each subject–32 pages on the apostrophe, 35 pages on the comma. But taken in small doses at a time, “Eats, Shoots & Leaves” is insightful, and its anecdotes will make you chuckle. Consider the one from which its title springs: One day a panda walks into a cafe, eats a sandwich, shoots a gun into the air and starts to head out the door. When pressed for an explanation for his actions, the panda throws a badly punctuated book at the waiter and tells him to turn to the section about his species. The waiter turns to the page and reads: “Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves.”
‘04 You Look Marvelous in Dean
The point of campaign merchandise,” says David Rothschild, cofounder of Dem Store.com, “is to get a candidate’s name out there, not to get all fancy.” Fancy’s certainly not how you’d describe the tank tops and mugs on the site, official vendor for the Democratic presidential candidates. At georgewbushstore.com, however, the GOP faithful can indulge in political novelties well beyond the typical staples of buttons and bumper stickers. Sterling-silver “W” cuff links go for $68, a cowboy hat costs $85 and for $89 you can get a “W ‘04” belt buckle.
The Bush store is the brainchild of Ted Jackson, a Kentucky Republican operative who got his start in 1984 when, as a law-school student, he began making shirts and buttons for Ronald Reagan’s re-election campaign. Since then, his company, the Spalding Group, has licensed and sold campaign material for every major Republican nominee. While Bush-Cheney officials gave Jackson’s group the go-ahead, their campaign receives no proceeds–and has no say over what’s sold. (Same deal for the Dems.) Five different design lines, each aimed at different voters, are on offer. NASCAR dads might like the “Across America” line, which includes racing-theme T shirts; urban sophisticates are targeted with the understated “W the President” line, which features discreet black T shirts with the “W” initial on one sleeve. But does any of this translate into votes? “Anybody who is going to invest in a $90 belt buckle is probably already a true believer,” says University of Virginia political scientist Larry Sabato. “Selling fancy cuff links won’t change anybody’s mind.”
DESSERT
Oldies But Sweeties
Forget lavender mousse and pomegranate sorbet–what serious diners in America want for dessert these days is nostalgia on a plate. And top restaurants across the country are regressing fast. From the chocolate peanut-butter pudding cake at chef Michael Mina’s new Seablue at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, to the flaming baked Alaska at Morels in Los Angeles (left), to the British nursery treat Nutella that Alain Ducasse serves right out of the jar at Mix, his new place in New York, retro desserts have suddenly started to crop up everywhere. “People love what they ate as a kid,” says Mina. “I just make everything a little upscale so my customers aren’t embarrassed.”
Perhaps no one has taken things as far as Kerry Simon, chef at the eponymous Simon in Las Vegas. Winking at his world-class pedigree, Simon whips up his own perfect replicas of Hostess Twinkies. Vegas may be embracing the trend, but New York got it rolling. Cotton candy has been on the menu at the city’s famous Four Seasons for years.
Q&A: William H. Macy
Since his memorable turn as the car salesman who tries to have his wife kidnapped in “Fargo,” William H. Macy has been one of Hollywood’s (and TV’s) most respected character actors. He appears with Alec Baldwin in the new indie film “The Cooler,” which has gotten him great notices, great buzz and a call from NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin.
In “The Cooler,” you play a guy who brings bad luck to gamblers. You get cast a lot as a loser. Why?
[Twelve-second pause] I think I have a knack for letting people see what’s going on in those losers that I play. And I look funny, and it doesn’t hurt to get a laugh when you walk on.
You fake a rather noisy orgasm in the movie. How embarrassing was that?
[Nervous laugh] Um, extremely.
You sound embarrassed right now.
I know. I’m picturing the look on the Teamsters’ faces when I did it. They didn’t know whether to respect me or throw me off the set.
You also show your bottom a lot. Did you work out before the movie?
I tried to squeeze six months of exercise into six days. I tore out my rotator cuff. I may have to get surgery.
When you were growing up, did kids tease you about having red hair?
They did. I got Red, Rusty. It was particularly embarrassing when we got into gym. They would look at me in the shower and I would say, “Well, what did you expect? For me to be two-toned?”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-04” author: “Dorothy Sepe”
Searching for Jobs
The mystery of the jobless recovery has begun to spread. Economists have used this loaded phrase first to describe the United States, and now Russia, Mexico and India. To date, most analyses look only at the “jobless” half of the phenomenon, and say the answer lies in rising productivity–companies learning to do more with fewer workers. Goldman Sachs economist Jan Hatzius, however, argues that U.S. growth was much slower than the official 2003 GDP growth rate of 4.3 percent–and much more closely in line with the weak pace of job growth.
Hatzius relies on industrial production numbers, which he believes are a better indicator of labor-market strength than GDP. Last year industrial production was weak, implying 2.2 percent GDP growth, in line with flat job creation. More recently it has strengthened, producing a surprise March boom of 300,000 new jobs. Hatzius believes current government GDP calculations undercount service imports (which subtract from growth). For instance, the U.S. estimate for Indian software imports in 2002 (the most recent year available for such comparative import data) is one tenth the Indian estimate of $6.6 billion.
What’s more, says Hatzius, countries like Canada and Australia enjoy both job growth and rising productivity, undercutting the idea that surging productivity is at the root of the jobless recovery elsewhere. “The only economies that can’t generate jobs are those that can’t raise GDP,” he says. U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis director Steve Landefeld stands by the official GDP growth rate. Still, Hatzius has raised an intriguing possibility: that while nations puzzle over weak job growth, the real concern is growth itself.
POLITICS
Why Blair and Kerry May Be Wary
When British Prime Minister Tony Blair tried to meet Sen. John Kerry on his April visit to the States, the Democratic presidential candidate said he was just too busy. Both sides insisted they wanted to meet the other and blamed scheduling difficulties for the failure. But the cool response from the Kerry campaign is an unusual twist in what should be an easy relationship. Both leaders are liberals at home and internationalists abroad. Both were lawyers in their early careers. Blair, however, is so closely tied to George W. Bush and the war in Iraq these days that Kerry’s aides are treading warily. Some question how much help Blair could provide when their Democratic base loathes Bush and questions the war. Meanwhile, Blair is reported to have told his ministers to avoid showing support for Kerry by not traveling to the Democratic National Convention in Boston this summer–a favorite boondoggle for Labour Party bigwigs.
Both Kerry and Blair might be wise to be wary. Meddling in foreign elections can often backfire. Few in Blair’s party have forgotten how a Conservative P.M. –John Major–tried and failed to help the first President Bush win re-election in 1992. Major’s officials searched British records to dig for dirt on Clinton’s years at Oxford University, prompting one senior Labour politician to condemn the operation as “very disturbing” and “completely unacceptable.” His name: Tony Blair.
BURMA
On the Road Again
Is Burma on the road to democracy? A national convention of political groups, including the military, will assemble in May to draft a new Constitution that the ruling junta claims will pave the way for “free and fair elections.” There is growing expectation that pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent much of the past decade under house arrest, will even be allowed to attend. “I’m encouraged it’s going to happen,” says Razali Ismail, the U.N. special envoy to Burma. But some critics think the junta is simply pulling a fast one, pretending to play the democracy card in hopes of easing its international isolation and economic sanctions. “It’s just another game,” says Zin Lin, spokesman for Burma’s opposition government in exile.
In fact, many Burma watchers believe it may be an internal political game that’s playing out. They point to recent moves within the junta, like the shuffle of Gen. Khin Nyunt, the junta’s relatively moderate No. 3, to prime minister last year. Gen. Than Shwe, the junta supremo, is about as far from being a democrat as one can be, and reportedly refuses to allow his underlings even to mention Suu Kyi’s name in his presence. Some Burma watchers suspect Than Shwe appointed Khin Nyunt only to chart the “self-proclaimed road map to democracy” and negotiate with Suu Kyi so he could ultimately sabotage the entire process, discredit his No. 3 and secure more power for himself. Democracy? Don’t bet on it.
SPAIN
A Man for Women
Spain’s antiwar majority–some 90 percent of the population–was the largest constituency to be placated after an upset victory by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero’s Socialist Party in March 14 elections. The very next day he reiterated his pledge to withdraw Spain’s 1,300 troops from Iraq, barring a new U.N. resolution. The next voting bloc he aims to satisfy makes up about 50 percent of the country–Spanish women. Rodriguez Zapatero, who has pledged to “eradicate machismo” from Spanish society, is making gender equality a top priority. Half of his new cabinet ministers will be women–placing Spain in a tie with Sweden at the top of the global gender-parity table. And his first bill after Inauguration this month will target violence against women. (During his predecessor’s eight-year reign, there were 50,000 reports of spousal abuse and more than 500 women were killed in domestic violence.) Rodriguez Zapatero, a happily married father of two girls, also intends to legalize abortion in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. (Currently, a Spanish woman can legally abort only if she was raped, has a deformed fetus or if her physical or mental health is in danger.) Consider as well Rodriguez Zapatero’s female-friendly slate of key issues like affordable housing, education improvement and employment aid, and it quickly becomes apparent why 1 million more Spanish women than men voted for him last month. The war Rodriguez Zapatero seems to want to fight is closer to home.
AIDS
China’s Challenge
Beijing says it’s ready to tackle the country’s burgeoning AIDS problem the way it took on the SARS virus last year. On April 7 no-nonsense Vice Premier Wu Yi announced a wide-ranging battery of measures to combat the epidemic: needle-exchange and condom-distribution programs; free medicine, testing and counseling for sufferers, among other things. The plan is “very encouraging,” says Zhao Pengfei, the HIV/AIDS head at the World Health Organization in Beijing.
While international experts recognize the new measures are a huge step forward, they remain cautious. In particular, they say China needs to make more of an effort to change people’s lifestyles, through better HIV education and awareness programs. “You see posters in the subways but the message you take away is, ‘We should care about these poor people,’ instead of, ‘We should all be careful and use a condom’,” says Odilon Couzin, executive director of China AIDS Info. “There needs to be a change of mind-set. The message has to be that everyone is a potential victim.”
SPACE Rocket Racers
When the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated in February 2003, some people thought that the U.S. manned space program was a waste of taxpayers’ money, something best left to the private sector. Entrepreneur Burt Rutan hopes to meet that challenge. On April 1 his company was awarded a one-year license for manned suborbital flights by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration–the first such license granted to a private company. A week later Rutan sent his ship, SpaceShipOne, soaring 32 kilometers above the Mojave Desert–about a third of the way to space. The accomplishment makes Rutan the front runner in the race to grab the $10 million X Prize for the first team to send a manned, three-person-capacity craft to an altitude of 100 kilometers, return it safely, and then repeat the feat within two weeks. Hot on his heels are another U.S. team, two Canadian teams and a British team. “What Burt has just done has paved the way for the industry,” says Geoff Sheerin, who’s entered his ship, the Canadian Arrow, in the competition. “Even though we’re in a race with him, we applaud that effort.” Gentlemen, start your rockets.
TELEVISION
The Ugliest Shows
The American airwaves may have hit a new low with two new reality shows: MTV’s “I Want a Famous Face” and Fox’s “The Swan.” “Face” is disgusting in so many ways, it’s hard to know where to begin. The show stars people who don’t like their appearance and want to assume the identity of their favorite celebrity. A plus-size woman gets tucked, lifted and lipo’ed in hopes of looking like Kate Winslet. A professional Britney Spears impersonator goes in for Britney-size breasts. Most freakish of all, acne-scarred identical twins both want to look like Brad Pitt. The show sends horrendous messages about self-esteem and celebrity worship; MTV, which doesn’t pay for the medical work, argues it’s just monitoring a social phenomenon. The network calls “Famous Face” a documentary, not a reality show. But every time a doctor comes on screen, the producers play music that chimes “ta-da!” like an angel has entered the room. That’s hardly the work of a serious documentary.
As for “The Swan,” the concept is creepy even for Fox. Each week two self-described “ugly” women get plastic surgery. At the end of each episode, judges decide which one is most improved. Nasty? It gets worse. The winners go on to compete in a beauty pageant, where they’ll suffer the same shallow and judgmental treatment that drove them to plastic surgery in the first place. One of them will win. Everyone else goes back to being a loser.
Movies
A Helluva Concept
“Hellboy” should not be a box-office smash: almost every Hollywood studio passed on it, it’s based on a small comic with a cult following and it stars an actor best known as the beast in the TV show “Beauty and the Beast.” Yet this movie–about a demon with a bad-boy attitude and good-guy heart–may well develop into a sleeper hit. “Marketing was the hardest piece of the puzzle,” says Tom Sherak of Revolution Studios, which greenlighted the $64 million film. “The minute we’d say ‘Hellboy,’ it turned people off. We thought of changing the title.” They didn’t, thanks in part to director Guillermo del Toro, who worked for five years to get a loyal vision to the screen. “Some people take these stories and homogenize them,” he says. “You have to understand the personality of the comic medium and embrace it.” Del Toro did. When someone leaked an early script, a fan posted a Web review. He (or she) praised it but made suggestions for improvement. “I made those changes,” says del Toro. That attention to detail has the comic’s devotees raving; early response from critics has been strong. All of which could make “Hellboy” a Hollywood aberration: a superhero flick that doesn’t rely on a $40 million marketing blitz, but tells a story well and lets the audience become the ad. Super idea.
GAMING
Keeping It Current
Could Saddam Hussein’s sons, Uday and Qusay, have been captured rather than killed? A new online game called Kuma: War (kumawar.com) gives players the chance to find out. The game’s creators plan to develop new missions, accessible for a $9.99 monthly fee, based on events that have happened weeks earlier. For instance, a scenario inspired by the recent shootouts between Pakistani forces and Taliban and Qaeda operatives is in the works.
Gamers have long been able to fight history’s great wars; the new trend is to take on current events. Two more new games, The Road to Baghdad and Quest for Saddam, will re-create the Iraq war’s key battles from a U.S. perspective. Kuma: War is just the latest to put gamers in the thick of ongoing conflicts. “It’s the nearness in time to the event that’s new,” says Steve Butts, editor of the gaming Web site ign.com.
Although most of the recent games are made for warmongers, some actually target peaceniks. Take September 12, developed by the folks at newsgaming.com. In the game, one lobs bombs at terrorists in Arab dress in a generic town, but always hits civilians instead–generating weeping relatives and turning more civilians into terrorists. If only such conflicts were limited to computer simulations.
–Liat Radcliffe
Q&A: THE ROCK
The Rock (a.k.a. Dwayne Douglas Johnson) has successfully gone from chewing up opponents to chewing the scenery, most recently in “Walking Tall.” He spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin. Excerpts:
I don’t know how to address you. Rock, the Rock, Dwayne–how does it work?
[Laughs] Dwayne’s fine
When did you get the nickname?
When I began wrestling. Then I started thinking about other Rocks I’d heard of. I came up with Rock Hudson and I thought, “OK, nice little ring, nice little comparison.”
A wrestler who doesn’t mind being compared to Rock Hudson?
Not at all. I’m secure in my sexuality.
In the movie trailer you’ve got this two by four.
Four by four. It’s based on a true story about a guy who was cheated in a casino. He had a fence post; he just grabbed the first thing he could, and he used it in a frontier-justice kind of way.
Did you get any splinters?
It’s funny. With all the action, there’s nothing worse than a splinter. It hurts like hell. I cried louder than my 2-year-old daughter.
Is your acting getting better?
Um, I feel like it is. I’ve immersed myself into the craft and worked with really good coaches.
You spoke at the Democratic and the Republican conventions. Are we going to see Senator Rock? President Rock?
I’ll let Arnold take care of that.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-18” author: “Johnna Lowe”
Investigating Chalabi
For years, Ahmad Chalabi, head of the Iraqi National Congress, was mistrusted by the CIA and U.S. State Department. Today he’s in Baghdad, working closely with the Iraqi Governing Council. But some members of Congress are raising new questions about the onetime exile.
The U.S. General Accounting Office, Congress’s investigating arm, is opening a probe into the INC’s use of State Department money the group received in 2001 and 2002. Under a written agreement examined by NEWSWEEK, the INC had to abide by certain conditions for use of the funds. The grant terms would “strictly exclude” activities “associated with, or that could appear to be associated with, attempting to influence the policies of the U.S. Government or Congress, or propagandizing the American people.”
Even so, in 2002 the INC submitted to the Senate Appropriations Committee a list of 108 news stories that contained “ICP product”–information from the INC Information Collection Program financed by the State Department. The stories included allegations about Saddam’s WMD programs and his links to terrorism, as well as INC material supporting innuendo that linked Saddam to the 9/11 attacks. One journalist who dealt with the INC on a defector story told NEWSWEEK that INC contacts indicated the defector’s expenses were paid with U.S. government funds. Last week a Chalabi aide claimed that while the INC did use U.S. funds to pay some defectors’ expenses, no federal funds “were used… to facilitate meetings with U.S. journalists.”
In September 2002, after the State Department cut its financial support for the INC, the Pentagon struck a deal whereby the INC would continue to get the monthly $340,000 it said it needed for intelligence gathering–a sum the group is still receiving today. “Chalabi has always had to spend money to gain loyalty–to rent loyalty,” says Whitley Bruner, the former CIA agent who first recruited him in London in the spring of 1991. The Defense Department, says a former CIA official, is “getting rolled like everyone else.”
RUSSIA
Too Near to NATO?
Belgian F-16s begin patrols along Russian airspace this week as the three Baltic republics–Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia–join NATO. Come May 1 the trio will enter the EU, qualifying for its trade preferences. Adding to Moscow’s politico-military angst are reports that the Pentagon will reduce troops in Germany by half, possibly redeploying some of them to Poland, Romania and Bulgaria. U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell recently said the United States has no intention of “surrounding” Russia. But the Kremlin was not reassured.
The tensions between Russia and the Western allies could grow. The head of the Russian Senate’s foreign-affairs committee, Mikhail Margelov, has threatened a military buildup in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan–where the Pentagon is also considering establishing permanent bases. Back in Latvia, meanwhile, Moscow is stoking unrest among Russian speakers, who make up one third of the population and who have been holding street demonstrations to protest school reforms that would eliminate their language from the curriculum. “I get the sense from many Russian officials that the cold war isn’t over,” gripes one top European security official. He foresees future tiffs over everything from EU tariffs on Russian products to energy policy, and “bullying” behavior in general.
TAIWAN
Heading for a Breakup
The massive demonstrations held in Taipei last Saturday to protest President Chen Shui-bian’s election victory seemed a display of remarkable unity. More than 300,000 opposition supporters heard opposition leader Lien Chan denounce the results, which Lien claims were rigged and further swayed by an assassination attempt on Chen and his VP the day before the polls. Lien has demanded an immediate recount and an investigation into the shooting.
The protests, though, may signal the beginning of the end of the fragile opposition alliance between the Kuomintang and two splinter groups that favor reunification with China. Although some of the KMT’s most popular young leaders took the stage at the protest, one of them, Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou, warned that any protesters lingering past 6 p.m. would be dealt with by the police. Several KMT legislators chose not to attend the rally at all. “The political landscape has changed,” says Lo Chih-cheng, executive director of the Institute for National Policy Research in Taipei. In recent years KMT moderates like Ma have dropped all talk of reunifying with the mainland; the idea has scant support among the island’s ethnic Taiwanese majority. The splinter groups have not kept pace, and many observers see their fueling of the protests as a last-gasp effort to remain relevant. If Chen’s victory is upheld, KMT moderates like Ma–who has presidential ambitions himself–can hardly afford to cede the issue of Taiwanese identity to the incumbent. “If this movement fails, then the KMT will shift from being the Chinese Nationalist Party to the Taiwan Nationalist Party,” says political commentator Tim Ting. And the alliance, along with thoughts of reunification, will in all likelihood be dead.
ARGENTINA
Growing Rumbling in Kirchner’s Ranks
Argentine President Nestor Kirchner has seen his approval ratings rocket to more than 70 percent. One reason: his effort to salve the wounds of the “dirty war” that caused 30,000 deaths during the military dictatorship from 1976 and 1983. Kirchner’s tough stance on human rights, though, is generating increasing opposition. Last August, Kirchner strong-armed Argentina’s Congress into annulling two laws that had protected junta officers from prosecution for crimes committed during the dictatorship. He even offended his own Peronist Party when he announced that the Navy Mechanical School (ESMA)–a major center of torture and “disappearances” during military rule–would be converted into a human-rights museum.
Many Peronist officials are outraged that Kirchner did not invite them to an official ceremony at ESMA on the 28th anniversary of the coup last week. Five Peronist provincial governors took out ads in newspapers complaining of his “ideological discrimination.” The spat boiled over at a Peronist conclave on Friday. After presidential allies were booed by delegates, Kirchner supporters resigned their party posts. The president, however, continues to affect indifference. “I have more important things to worry about,” he told reporters.
TRADE
China vs. Uncle Sam
The United States has filed the first-ever complaint against China at the WTO. The charge: China imposes a 17 percent sales tax on semiconductors, but rebates cut the bill for domestic makers to just 3 percent. Why now? Sources close to the case note that overseas competition has become a touchy election subject for President George W. Bush. Silicon Valley lobbyists pushed the U.S. to lodge the complaint after 18 months of fruitless pressure on Beijing. While its China tax disadvantages are not great, as these burdens go, the U.S. chip industry is looking to ensure its future dominance of the $166 billion global market. It’s a “pre-emptive strike” against a big potential rival, says trade lawyer Kevin Haroff.
Will China back down? U.S. lobbyists say Beijing is just “testing the limits” of what it can get away with under WTO rules. They expect the tax complaint to be the focus of high- level talks in Washington on April 21. Watch the outcome, says one lobbyist: it’s “a bellwether” for how future U.S.-Chinese trade cases will be resolved.
TOURISM
Space Oddity
Another tourist is headed to space. Gregory Olsen, 58–a research scientist, philanthropist, CEO of Sensors Unlimited and grandfather–plans to visit the International Space Station for a cool $20 million. As it has for two other astronaut wanna-bes, Space Adventures of Arlington, Virginia, has brokered Olsen’s ride with the cash-strapped Russians on their Soyuz spacecraft. Blastoff could take place as early as next October.
Olsen plans to play tourist to the full, bringing along his company’s infrared cameras so he can watch atomic reactions in the atmosphere. But he’ll also play scientist, taking advantage of equipment already onboard to grow the specialized indium gallium arsenide crystals used in Sensors Unlimited products. “I want to be busy,” Olsen says. “There is a lot to do in space.” He’ll be busy here on earth before launch, too. He has to pass NASA’s review process for civilian astronauts, persuade station partners to admit his own scientific equipment and endure months of training in Russia. Let the countdown begin.
PERFORMANCE
Divine Comedy
Not many stand-up comics can count the Dalai Lama as one of their biggest fans. But 57-year-old Tibetan comedian Patsering is far from typical. In his show–which recently went to New York City and will tour the United States through May–Patsering pokes fun at different views of the Dalai Lama; raps in Tibetan; contorts his short, stocky frame to represent complex characters from the Tibetan alphabet, and faults God for the bad design of the human body. (“Why do we have two nostrils on our face?” he asks, in one of His Holiness’s favorite lines. “Shouldn’t we have one on our feet, so we won’t step in dung?”) Patsering, who was born in Tibet but grew up in India, was a soldier and monk before turning to comedy. Now, though his act is gaining fans abroad, he’s still proud to provide much-needed comic relief–via Voice of America broadcasts–to Tibetans living under Chinese control. Talk about a captive audience.
PHOTOGRAPHY
His Better Half
Fans of the late photographer Helmut Newton already know that June, his beloved wife, confidante and most trusted colleague, is also a talented photographer in her own right. A new book, simply titled “Mrs. Newton,” will convince the rest of us. It’s a sumptuous coffee- table tome, featuring photos of her hubby and other glitzy, artsy celebs like Nicole Kidman and David Hockney. Unsurprisingly, most of Newton’s photos are influenced by her husband’s bold, seductive style, but she adds a certain softness and a sense of whimsy. The book is also a wonderful read; Newton shares tales of her youth as a stage actress in Australia, as well as the story of how she got her break in photography. (Helmut, sick with the flu and unable to complete an assignment, taught his wife how to load a camera; so was born Alice Springs–a pseudonym she picked by randomly sticking a pin into a map of Australia.) Newton also recounts details of her glamorous and creative life with the “King of Kink,” while the photos of her husband at work offer a rare glimpse of a photographic legend in his element. In this book, “Alice” seems to be in hers, too.
FANTASY
Wizard Wars
Two years ago Anglican vicar G. P. Taylor sold his motorcycle so that he could self-publish his dark children’s fantasy, “Shadowmancer,” in the United Kingdom. Released on the same day as the latest “Harry Potter,” it became one of the U.K.’s fastest-selling books, beating “Potter” in paperback sales for 15 weeks over the summer. The story follows three kids’ fight to save the universe from an evil sorcerer. (Sound familiar?) But it goes where “Potter” didn’t, tapping into spiritual themes that credit God as the force of good. The formula worked for Amanda, 16: “After ‘Shadowmancer,’ ‘Harry Potter’ is like reading ‘Winnie-the-Pooh’,” she says. Now, with film negotiations in the works and a sequel, “Wormwood,” due in June, Taylor’s gearing up to challenge “Potter” in the United States next month with the release of his debut. Given that success with American readers could well translate into box-office magic, J. K. Rowling could soon have a rival in theaters as well as on the shelves.
MUSIC A Nerd Alert From Neptune Apparently the Neptunes, otherwise known as Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, weren’t satisfied producing pop hits for Justin, Britney and Beyonce, making their own hit album or winning producer-of-the-year Grammys. Now they’ve brought back N.E.R.D., their prog-rock side project with buddy Rob Walker. On “Fly or Die,” Williams sings about his elusive dream girl in his sexy-sensitive falsetto over quirky, synthesized pop; brags of back-seat love atop a Hendrix-style guitar, and sings all sensitive-like over jazzy piano and retro horn arrangements that would make Burt Bacharach proud. N.E.R.D.’s still plenty weird. But fortunate-ly for their fans, they’ve learned to funnel their bizarre tendencies into delightfully catchy arrangements.
Q&A: PAUL BETTANY
Actor Paul Bettany is one lucky Brit. Married to Jennifer Connelly, he’s starred in two hit films with Russell Crowe, currently portrays a defrocked priest in “The Reckoning” and will hit screens–and tennis balls–this summer as a contender in “Wimbledon.” He was even lucky enough to get grilled by NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin. Excerpts:
You married Jennifer Connelly. Ever look at her and think, “How did I manage to snag this gorgeous creature?”
No, that’s probably how she looks at me. She’s very plain. It’s all makeup.
Did you get seasick shooting “Master and Commander”?
No, I’m so sorry, it would have been a much better story if either Russell or myself did. But a third of the cast and crew did, so that’s enormously entertaining.
Did Russell Crowe ever get drunk and pick a fight with you?
I never once saw him get into a fight or have a row with somebody. I would love to find out where these stories come from, to be honest.
I read that you like to swear a lot.
I do swear a lot. It probably shows an enormous lack of vocabulary. I suppose I’ll never be truly chic. But you know, f— those people.
Why are English people so self-deprecating?
It’s more pleasant than someone singing their own praises.
What’s your next movie?
I’m giving up acting. I can’t be bothered at the moment. I genuinely can’t find anything I really want to do.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “Ralph Hines”
It’s All Part of the Plan
China’s bureaucrats are at their best mobilizing against a threat, whether it’s a virus, an “evil” cult or, now, an overheating economy. The country’s economy grew at 9.1 percent last year and for the first time in recent history, China experienced mild inflation. Fears have grown of a boom that will end in a bust. So Beijing is taking dramatic steps to cool things down. Authorities have made it harder for start-ups to squeeze into already crowded industries by raising safety, quality and environmental standards. The People’s Bank of China is curbing commercial bank loans to corrupt companies. Top leaders are calling for “efficient” rather than “fast” growth; in other words, provincial officials need to cut back on vanity projects. Morgan Stanley recently concluded that the braking measures are likely to work, because “when the leadership says ‘slow down,’ they mean it.”
That doesn’t mean that Beijing will achieve its official goal of bringing growth down to 7 percent in 2004. Or that it really wants to. Local officials will be hard-pressed to change course, says Beijing economist Yang Fan. The center still has little control over rich provinces like Zhejiang, where giddy officials continue to pour money into projects Beijing has tried to discourage, such as bridges and real estate. Chinese economists predict growth for the year will likely end up between 8 and 9 percent, which, they add, is what Beijing really hopes to achieve. Now that’s a clever technocracy.
GLOBAL BUZZ
The Let’s Make A Deal Edition
Back-room machinations aren’t always a bad thing, as Indonesia, Cyprus and Egypt are about to find out. For Brazil, though, they spell trouble.
Indonesia Ex-security chief Yudhoyono may get major-party backing for his presidential bid. A capable technocrat, he could shake up an otherwise uninspiring field.
Cyprus The EU has allayed Ankara’s concerns about a Cyprus deal, encouraging Turkish Cypriots to vote yes, too. Turkey’s EU bid looks viable once again.
Egypt A free-trade agreement with America is unlikely. But Cairo may ink a deal to send goods duty-free via Israel. Who says money can’t make friends?
Brazil A major corruption scandal has tarnished Lula’s administration, and loyalists are grumbling about stalled social reforms. The shine is wearing off.
UZBEKISTAN
Battling or Breeding?
A spate of suicide bombings, explosions and violent clashes rocked Uzbekistan last week, killing at least 47. But some fear the worst is yet to come. International critics say that strongman President Islam Karimov’s failure to fix his country’s dire economic system, to allow free media and to ease up on indiscriminate crackdowns is breeding terrorism rather than quelling it. And an unstable Uzbekistan–a key U.S. ally in the war on terror–could spell trouble for the entire region. “If –Uzbekistan went south, you would have no stability in Central Asia,” says Charles William Maynes, president of the Eurasia Foundation. “You would open up a new area for unrest.”
JAPAN
Photo Ops
Japan’s contribution to the Coalition in Iraq–some 550 troops–may be small, but as one of the country’s largest overseas deployments since WWII, it wields an outsize influence back in Tokyo. Now it’s set to become a political football. NEWSWEEK has learned that Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi may soon make a surprise visit to Iraq–and lawmakers from the opposition Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) are rushing to beat him to the punch. DPJ sources say the party is considering a fact-finding mission of its own, hoping to deny Koizumi an unchallenged photo-op ahead of July’s key parliamentary elections.
Iraq is emerging as a key campaign issue. Persistent suspicion over the deaths of two Japanese diplomats near Tikrit last November could hurt Koizumi should the government’s insistence that Iraqi insurgents gunned them down prove false. The DPJ, which opposed the deployment, suspects the diplomats were killed by U.S. friendly fire. And budding doubts about the deployment may be one of the few weapons they have against the popular Koizumi. “It’s a cover-up,” says one DPJ source. “We want to know the truth.” Perhaps they’ll find it in Iraq.
RUSSIA
Crackdown for Reform
One of Russia’s most popular Soviet holdovers is the subsidy. Russians love them; economic reformers, of course, hate them. They cost billions of dollars a year and distort the market. But no Russian leader has ever had the guts to take them away–until now. As of Jan. 1, 2005, President Vladimir Putin’s federal government will drop its support of subsidies and leave local governments to fund them. The Kremlin is also considering allowing the eviction of homeowners who have fallen more than six months behind on housing-maintenance fees, privatizing the subsidized electricity monopoly, and increasing real-estate-transaction taxes.
For Russia’s economic reformers, Putin’s gutsy moves are just what the doctor ordered. But reform will likely come at a price. Fearing mass protests, Russia’s Parliament gave initial approval last week to a new law that would prohibit public demonstrations near “sensitive” sites–any government building, school or major road, for example. Putin may have the stomach to implement economic reforms. But it seems he’s not quite ready to trust his own gut–or Russia’s fledgling democracy–enough to weather them.
PLANTS
Flourishing Ferns
Ferns supposedly had their heyday back when the dinosaurs roamed the earth. Then about 125 million years ago the flowering plants–the precursors to this spring’s crocuses and dandelions–burst onto the scene, banishing the ferns to an evolutionary cul-de-sac. Last week an international team led by Duke University biologists turned that story on its stamen. Using the fossil record, plant DNA data collected within the last 10 years and new statistical software, they came up with a revised estimate of when ferns were at their peak. The answer: 25 million years after the appearance of flowers. Now they think that flowering plants may have actually promoted the diversity of fern species by providing a range of new forest habitats to which they adapted.
The implications go far beyond repairing the humble reputation of ferns. The scientists think that what’s true for ferns may be true for other ancient plants, like mosses. If so, flowering plants may come to be seen as an evolutionary catalyst, rather than a bully that shoved other plants aside. For plants, at least, evolution may have been a lot nicer than we thought.
U.S. AFFAIRS
Saudi Millions
A federal investigation into the bank accounts of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington, D.C., has identified over $27 million in “suspicious” financial transactions–including hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments to Muslim charities, clerics and Saudi students that are being scrutinized for possible links to terrorist activity, according to government documents obtained by NEWSWEEK. The probe also has uncovered repeated wire transfers overseas by the Saudi ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan. The transactions prompted the Saudi Embassy’s longtime bank, the Riggs Bank of Washington, D.C., to drop the Saudis as a client last month after embassy officials were “unable to provide an explanation that was satisfying,” according to a source familiar with the discussions.
A Saudi spokesman vehemently denied that any of the embassy’s funds were used to support terrorism and insisted that Bandar on his own chose to pull the embassy’s accounts out of Riggs. Still, the probe has become one of the most sensitive financial inquiries now being conducted by the government and is being monitored by the White House. U.S. officials stress they have identified no evidence of any knowing Saudi aid to terrorist groups. But they also express frustration at their inability to penetrate a number of large and irregular transactions. “There’s a lot of money moving in a lot of directions–maybe not all that carefully,” said one senior law-enforcement official. “It’s awkward. Everyone wants to get to the bottom of it.”
MUSIC
Sorry, Ms. Jackson
On the kickoff track of the new “Damita Jo,” Janet Jackson’s eighth album, she whispers, “We’re vulnerable”–and who would know better what it’s like to stand exposed? Her Super Bowl debacle/accident/publicity stunt aside, she’s the ninth and youngest child of pop culture’s most scrutinized celebrity family. Jackson clearly wants to be seen for who she is–after all, the album title is her middle name–but beyond one song, she never comes close to revealing the person behind the superbleached smile. She’s all sweetness and light one minute, then down and dirty the next; there’s nothing in between. “Relax, it’s just sex,” she says in a song called “Sexhibition.” But sex isn’t exactly the problem here. What’s disturbing is the childlike tone she affects, juxtaposed with her X-rated lyrics. It’s downright creepy. As a singer, Jackson’s never been a match for her brother Michael: her voice is pleasant and passable, period. But she is an entertainer, and on this album, the only relief from her new naive porn-star persona comes when she heads for the dance floor. On “R&B Junkie,” she shouts, “I feel like bumpin’ to some old school!” You wish she would.
BOOKS
Chopra for Children
In the past two decades, prolific M.D. and spiritual guru Deepak Chopra has sold more than 20 million copies of his 40 books for grown-ups. Now he’s targeting kids 12 and older with “Fire in the Heart: A Spiritual Guide for Teens,” with a 100,000-copy first printing. That number may seem optimistic. But then, notes Ilene Cooper, children’s book editor for the American Library Association’s Booklist, “he’s got a whole chapter in here on how to make your wishes come true!”
Wishing aside, some wonder whether Chopra’s star power will register with his target audience. (“It’s the first time I’ve heard of him,” says Lizzy May, 12, an avid Chicago reader.) Lynn Stuertz, a children’s books buyer from Winnetka, Illinois, suspects the tome will be more popular with adults–as gifts for confirmations and bar mitzvahs. “A lot of my grown-up readers have already been telling me for years and years, ‘When are you going to do something like this that I can pass on to my teens?’ " Chopra says. He also doesn’t discount interest from his target audience. “I see a lot of teens who genuinely come to me and are seeking some kind of insight.” But will they spend their baby-sitting money for it?
ART
Images Of Islam
It’s a long-running stereotype that Islamic art, renowned for its delicate, abstract designs, is just the reflection of a religion, and a particularly prescriptive one at that. But a new exhibit, “Heaven on Earth: Art From Islamic Lands,” showing at London’s Somerset House, reveals a rich, unexpected tradition of secular art in Islamic cultures stretching from Spain and the Arab world to Persia and India, from the Middle Ages to the 19th century.
Wealthy rulers across these civilizations commissioned exquisitely crafted works, including textiles, metalwork, pottery and paintings, to adorn their courts, which they considered private spaces. Hoping to impress foreign dignitaries, merchants and local tribal leaders, many rulers insisted on the skilled artistry that pre-Islamic dynasties had enjoyed. For instance, the secular art for which Persia was famous during the second to fifth centuries continued to flourish under Islam in the centuries that followed. Consider the 13th-century pomander, or incense burner, in the form of a spirited lynx pawing the ground, or the silver dish showing a ninth-century prince deftly slaying a lion. Iran continued to lead the way into the 19th century, producing works like a lavish, shimmering portrait of Emperor Fath’Ali Shah, inspired by Francois Gerard’s 1805 portrait of Napoleon. Some other particularly striking pieces, like a rock-crystal lamp from 10th-century Mesopotamia, survived only because they were preserved by Western European churches. To convert the lamp into a reliquary in the 16th century, a pretty Italian enamelled base was added, muddying the separation of religion, culture, state and art even further. What the pieces in this exhibit do is reconstruct the diverse fragments of a dazzling culture, and give Islam’s rarely seen depictions of God’s creations well-deserved prominence.
Q&A: Ving Rhames
In the remake of “Dawn of the Dead,” Ving Rhames had to face down a scary bunch of zombies. And now the guy’s got NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin to deal with.
How hard is it to act opposite a zombie?
It’s not too difficult. It’s only responding to death, and we’ll all die at some point.
Was it harder than acting opposite Catherine Zeta-Jones in “Entrapment”?
I’ve got to be careful with that one, because some actresses could be sensitive and take it not in a joking way. Let me go to the next question.
When you first read the script for “Dawn of the Dead,” were you worried you would be killed off in the first 10 minutes?
Well, when I first read it I wasn’t worried about that, even though the stereotype is that the black man is killed in the first 10 minutes. I knew that if that was going to happen, I wouldn’t be doing the film. So when I read it I think it was understood that, hey, if I die in the first 10 minutes there’s no reason to hire Ving Rhames.
Your real name is Irving?
Yes. I was named after an old radio announcer named Irving R. Levine. God bless him. I don’t know who he is or why my mother named me after him.
You went to the “Fame” school. Did you kids really dance in the cafeteria at lunchtime?
Actually, we did. That is true.
You were in the “Mission: Impossible” movies. Can you explain the plot of that first one?
[Laughs] No, it’s impossible.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-06” author: “Carolyn Rice”
The European Union will get more than a slew of new member states on May 1. It will also get the makings of an epidemic of antibiotic-resistant tuberculosis. Of the more than 300,000 new cases of multidrug-resistant TB each year, four in five involve “superstrains” resistant to three or four main TB drugs, according to a report released last week by the World Health Organization. The problem is particularly acute in the Baltic states, where TB patients are 10 times more likely to be infected with drug-resistant strains. Western Europe is concerned. Last week the Royal Dutch Tuberculosis Foundation announced that six Dutch nationals had been infected with multidrug-resistant TB, the first such cases in the Netherlands. Using DNA testing, health officials traced the disease to an Eastern European woman living in the country.
Keeping drug-resistant TB out of Western Europe isn’t going to be easy. Most Western European countries officially require TB screening for anybody applying for a long-term visa from an area with high TB rates. But many EU members do not have the resources or manpower to screen everyone. And standard screening reveals only active forms of the disease, leaving huge numbers of infected people who could carry a latent form of TB with them as they cross the border. If preventive measures aren’t put in place, health authorities fear the disease could overwhelm European health systems.
Balkans: More of the Same?
In Belgrade, they called it an Albanian “Kristallnacht.” Thirty people were killed in Kosovo and hundreds wounded in melees that drove nearly 1,000 Kosovar Serbs from their homes last week. The violence began when several Albanian children were reportedly chased into a river by Serbs in northern Mitrovica. Before the day was out, angry Albanians had torched Serbian Orthodox churches and homes in an orgy of ethnic strife unseen since NATO took over in 1999.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica denounced the attacks as “ethnic cleansing,” and he was right. Serbs in the Kosovar capital of Pristina and half a dozen other towns were evacuated under U.N. protection. Why the sudden–albeit familiar–unrest? Many put it down to the growing frustration of Kosovo’s 90 percent Albanian majority, angered by the international community’s delay in recognizing Kosovo’s independence. And they were right, too. But here’s the irony: the vast majority of Albanians, though not forgiving Serbs for the past, have accepted them. What’s new here, according to reports from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is that last week’s violence appears to have been planned. By whom? That’s yet unclear. The chief of the former Kosovo Liberation Army, Hasim Thaci, was in Washington when the attacks began–and flew back home, perplexed and dismayed.
In Serbia, meanwhile, Serbian protesters burned two 17th-century mosques in retaliation. “We will not give Kosovo away,” chanted thousands in rallies reminiscent of the era of Slobodan Milosevic. This puts Kostunica in an awkward spot, unapologetic nationalist though he may be. He risks being swept away by a new generation of radicals. “Extremists are out of control,” says Vojin Dimitrijevic, director of the Belgrade Center for Human Rights. With presidential elections set for June, Tomislav Nikolic of the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party is now looking more likely than ever to sweep the vote. If that happens, says Dimitrijevic, “the only hope is that, once in office, he changes and becomes more moderate.”
Right. By the weekend, NATO forces in Kosovo had been fired upon–for the first time. If the international community does not act, and soon, to determine Kosovo’s status, last week may be but a taste of more to come.
Kerry: Back and Forth
It was a tough week for John Kerry. The Bush team savaged him as a weak-on-defense flip-flopper while GOP operatives scoured his long Senate record for ammo. One line of attack: his October 2003 vote against spending $87 billion on Iraq and Afghanistan. At the time, Kerry, who’d voted for the Iraq war resolution in October 2002, was trying to catch up to Howard Dean, the soaring antiwar candidate. Now the Massachusetts Democrat has played right into the hands of his critics. Last week Kerry told supporters, “I actually did vote for the $87 billion, before I voted against it.” The Bush campaign pounced. “You can’t make this stuff up,” says a high-ranking aide. “With that one statement he just confirmed everything we want to say about him, which is that he wants to be on every side of every issue.”
The Bush campaign had already been airing ads criticizing Kerry for voting against the Iraq supplemental appropriation bill, which included money for extra body armor and higher combat pay. In no time, it tacked on the new clip. But Kerry’s camp says the candidate has a more nuanced explanation. He had voted for a version of the bill that included an amendment to fund it by repealing some of the Bush tax cuts. He might have done better to listen to Hillary Rodham Clinton, who told friends that just before the final vote that she had advised Kerry to vote “aye,” or he’d pay a price down the road.
Oil: ‘Searching for a Cliff’
What’s up with oil? The price of a barrel hit a 13-year high of $38.18 last week. Doomsayers predict a future of $100 a barrel, and U.S. gas prices at $5 a gallon. More sober voices note that with Venezuela cutting production, China raising demand and U.S. oil stocks near historic lows, prices could spike higher. The International Energy Agency called current prices “shocking.”
There is, however, an equally strong case that oil and gas prices are “searching for a cliff to fall off,” says Denton Cinquergrana, the Oil Price Information Service markets editor. For 25 years, oil prices have regularly reached annual highs in early spring before falling sharply, and the decline is coming earlier and earlier. If the trend continues, the drop could come as soon as this week. United Energy analyst Walter Zimmerman says that if the spring-peak scenario holds, expect a 20 percent drop in gas prices over the next nine weeks. Another reason prices could fall is that so many traders bet heavily that they will rise, so once “this thing is topped out and the prices swing it’s going to get ugly,” says Cinquergrana. Markets hate violent price swings, in which someone always gets hurt. “Ever seen a big crowd squeeze through a small door?” asks Zimmerman. One U.S. energy official says what we’re likely to see are mere “price excursions.” Have a safe trip.
Campaign Finance: The Valuable Valley
As the U.S. presidential race gathers steam, politicians are looking to Silicon Valley for support. Like Wall Street and Hollywood, the Valley has become a key source of campaign cash, ideas and contacts. And like Hollywood, the Valley is home to its share of strong-willed moguls nursing their pet causes. Venture capitalist John Doerr wants education reform. John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco Systems and a major GOP donor, is close to George W. Bush, who during his term has adopted many of the trade and tax policies Chambers favors. Robert Klein, president of Klein Financial Corp., is the force behind a novel California ballot initiative supporting embryonic stem-cell research.
And as in Hollywood, Silicon Valley has its share of disillusioned big shots, too. Take Netscape cofounder Marc Andreessen, a seasoned political veteran. He says he’s not yet willing to open his checkbook this year because of the Dems’ persistent criticism of outsourcing. “It just boggles my mind,” says Andreessen, whose software helps companies process data offshore. “Whatever happened to free trade?” For now, he says, “I’ve stopped returning their calls.” Too bad for Team Kerry. Andreessen gave $350,000 to Democratic candidates in 2000.
Environment: Two Camps
The most bitter U.S. campaign this year may be for control of the Sierra Club, America’s largest environmental group. Immigration-control activists are fighting to take over the group during the club’s election period, which runs through late April. They believe that population growth–and the overtaxing of natural resources and urban sprawl that comes with it–is the United States’ greatest environmental threat. In the past few months anti-immigration hard-liners, including white-supremacist groups, have urged supporters to mail in the $25 Sierra Club membership fee to get a vote and help stack the board of directors. In a statement to club members, civil-rights lawyer Morris Dees pressed against the “greening of hate”; soon after, 13 past presidents signed a letter to the board expressing concern about the viability of the club. For their part, anti-immigration leaders–they call themselves “reform” candidates–are outraged at being associated with extremists. Three sued Sierra Club president Larry Fahn over election tactics, though they dropped their suit. “I’m being blamed for groups I don’t have anything to do with,” says reform board candidate Richard Lamm. “My family marched in Selma. They know damn well I’m not a racist.”
Westerns: Riding Into the Sunset
Despite a solid $19 million opening weekend in the United States for Viggo Mortensen’s “Hidalgo,” the last Old West drama to gross more than $100 million was Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven,” 12 years ago. And while other long-dead genres are enjoying a renaissance–“Chicago” revived the musical, “Pirates of the Caribbean” the swashbuckler–the Western seems out to pasture. Why? “Westerns are alive and well; they just don’t wear tall hats and chaps,” says Terry Press, head of marketing for DreamWorks. " ‘Gladiator’ is Western. So is ‘Star Wars.’ Any time there’s a singular hero who won’t be moved off his position, that’s ‘High Noon,’ and many, many movies are ‘Shane’.”
Like the cowboy himself, the Western was hurt by modernization. As special-effects technology exploded in the ’70s and ’80s, movies became more visual and less character-driven, and Westerns lost their lucrative teen audience. The movie business also became increasingly global. Today big-budget movies often make more money in other countries than they do in the United States, and the all-American Western doesn’t always translate. “In general, they’re not one of the top players in the international markets at all,” says Dick Cook, chairman of Disney Studios, which released “Hidalgo.” “But for every rule there’s an exception. If it’s a hit here, it tends to do well overseas.” Problem is, there are so few hits. But, says Cook, “if a story is compelling enough, there’s nothing that says a Western can’t be a giant hit.” The genre may be down, in other words, but it’s not out.
EU: Parlez-vous Maltese?
In less than two months, 10 new states will join the European Union. The number of member languages will jump from 11 to 20 and, with it, the demand for linguists at headquarters in Brussels. The EU would like to enlist 180 translators–20 for each additional language–but the Union’s found only 63 so far, despite the lure of a $48,000-a-year salary. Naturally, the smallest languages pose the biggest problems: the last hunt for Maltese interpreters failed to identify a single candidate. (Malta has about 400,000 people.) The workload’s daunting, too. Last year EU translators had 1.4 million pages to comb through; that figure is forecast to rise to 2.3 million by next year. And there are about 11,000 meetings annually that require simultaneous word-for-word interpretation. The EU wants 360 extra interpreters to handle those duties. Why not muddle along in the most-spoken tongues? National pride, says spokesman Erich Mamer. “The whole EU project is about respecting cultures of different countries. You are never going to force a Polish farmer to talk to the EU in English.”
Hollywood: Doing It Yourself
Jesus movies probably won’t be resurrected in Hollywood. Despite the phenomenal success of Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ”–the film is now on track to earn about $400 million in the United States–most industry sources consider it a singular cultural event that cannot be repeated. But it may change the film business anyway.
In general, a studio pays for a movie and gives a major star 25 percent of the film’s ticket sales. The studio keeps the rest, including all DVD revenue. Gibson flipped that model on its head, paying for (and therefore owning) his movie himself and giving Newmarket Film Group 10 percent of the gross. That decision could ultimately put as much as $300 million in his pocket. “It’s a huge risk,” says one agent. “If a star puts up $30 million of his own money, the movie’s got to make $50 million or $60 million before he makes his money back, and most actors aren’t going to put that percentage of their net worth at risk. Mel did, clearly, but I think he had a whole other set of motives.”
Still, Ken Kamins, talent manager for “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson and an expert in film finance, thinks other stars could follow suit. “If ‘Passion’ inspires discussion within the industry, it’s going to be about how films are marketed and distributed, and the extent to which artists of stature take more of an economic risk in an effort to own and control more of the upside,” he says. Note to Julia Roberts: have a little faith in yourself.
Q&A: Angelina Jolie
She’s a single mom to her toddler, Maddox, she tours the world as a U.N. rep and she’s just shot a new movie, yet Angelina Jolie found time to talk with NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin. Excerpts:
In “Taking Lives” you play an FBI profiler. You get cast a lot as a strong woman. Are you really a good actress or just a tough broad?
I’ve got stronger now that I’ve got a kid. I know what I’d kill for.
How many kids do you want to adopt?
My dream is to have one from every country, every different religion, every background, every different culture–well, not every different culture, but many different ones so I can put them together and watch them share.
You’ve talked about having close friends that you sleep with. What’s the vetting process?
Vetting process? Yeah, there are some guys in my office who want to become your close friend really badly.
I don’t have a lot of those friends. It may sound very provocative, but the reality is that, since my focus is to just be a parent, everything else about being a woman is separated. I can have fun with it as long as I don’t take it home.
More power to you. How would you suggest ordinary folks go about doing this?
You have to have a lot of discussions beforehand, so nobody gets hurt and there is not a secret wish for more. You have to be extremely honest in any relationship.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-31” author: “Irene Williams”
Listen Up, Everyone
There was outrage at the United Nations last week when a former member of Tony Blair’s cabinet claimed that British intelligence had conducted electronic surveillance on Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the lead-up to the Iraq war. But there wasn’t much surprise. Many diplomats already assumed that wiretapping was rampant. Former Australian diplomat Richard Butler says he held sensitive meetings in Central Park. Former chief Iraq weapons inspector Hans Blix believes he was tapped. Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, Mexico’s former U.N. ambassador, told NEWSWEEK, “If you are in a room and you begin a conversation that is delicate for any reason, you say ‘Let’s go outside’ or ‘Please do not continue’.”
The allegation comes right after British officials closed another wiretap controversy by absolving former intelligence officer Katharine Gun of breaking Britain’s Official Secrets Act–even though she admitted leaking a top-secret memo to a British newspaper. In the memo, the U.S. National Security Agency requested assistance spying on undecided U.N. Security Council members last March. Did spying have an impact on the war debate? Zinser, who was Mexico’s U.N. rep at the time, claims he and other missions came up with a preliminary compromise proposal on renewed inspections. The next morning, members were approached b y U.S. officials and told, “Don’t even try it.” The Chileans (a swing vote at the time) say they swept their U.N. office and found wiretaps. They decided to resolve the situation through “diplomatic” channels. But officials in Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs told NEWSWEEK they have been waiting more than two months for a response to diplomatic “expressions of concern” sent to Washington and London. It seems unlikely they will hear any direct admission of spying from George W. Bush or Blair–unless they install some wiretaps of their own.
Walled Off
Israel’s 700km security barrier in the West Bank is roiling emotions both at home and abroad. Two Palestinian men were killed by Israeli troops last week during an anti-wall demonstration in the town of Bidou. Meantime, hundreds of protesters squared off outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague as judges heard arguments about the legality of the barrier, which Palestinians assert is a land grab. Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, one of the few cabinet members to speak out against the placement of the barrier, talked to NEWSWEEK’s Dan Ephron:
Why are you critical of the wall?
I am for the fence but I am critical of the route. We made some mistakes in the way we routed the fence. It shouldn’t be invasive; it shouldn’t be aggressive; it shouldn’t hurt Palestinian farmers who want to reach their land and cannot get across the fence. [And] it shouldn’t cut off villages from schools.
Right-wing Israelis argue the Palestinians brought this on themselves.
They brought it on themselves in the collective sense, but [an olive farmer] is not responsible personally for suicide bombings.
What practical steps could emanate from a Hague decision against Israel?
This is a propaganda battle. A negative opinion would be used by the Arabs and their friends to ask the U.N. General Assembly for sanctions or boycotts against Israel, which the United States would prevent. But of course we’d like to avoid that situation altogether.
Isn’t there a precedent for this with South Africa?
This is what the Arabs would like to see. But the difference between us and South Africa is so obvious. It’s so obvious that it’s not a racist issue but a clash between two peoples over territory. You have these situations all over the world.
GLOBAL BUZZ
ROCKING THE BOAT AND THE VOTE EDITION
Electoral uncertainty roils politics in India and Mexico, while French politics could soothe feelings in Turkey. Iran’s had its vote–not for the better.
(NEUTRAL ARROW) India Don’t count Congress out. The BJP has the upper hand in April elections, but a few state alliances could tip the balance. Local issues will be key.
(UP ARROW) France-Turkey Relations with Ankara are cool. But Chirac will not block Turkey’s EU bid to counter his far-right opposition, and to please Britain and Germany.
(DOWN ARROW) Mexico Despite denials, First Lady Fox is intent on running for president. Her ambitions are splitting the ruling party–and may doom the passage of reforms.
(DOWN ARROW) Iran Conservatives dominate new parliament. But splits, between those eager for closer U.S. ties and those opposed, mean signals will stay fuzzy.
NORTH KOREA
No Nukes, Only Juche
Last week’s six-party talks on North Korea’s nukes concluded with an agreement to keep talking. One of the stickiest points remains Pyongyang’s denial that it has a nuclear program based on highly enriched uranium (HEU)–as opposed to a plutonium-based system, of which it has boasted. The Americans insist North Korean negotiators confessed to an HEU program during an October 2002 meeting in Pyongyang. What U.S officials took as a confession, however, may have merely been a case of uninformed North Korean diplomats.
NEWSWEEK has learned that some in the intelligence community doubt whether those particular North Korean negotiators really knew if Kim Jong Il actually had an HEU program or not. When confronted with the charge, the flustered officials responded a day later by saying, “Yeah, we have a program–you forced us to–and we have something even more powerful as well,” says a Western source familiar with the incident. U.S. officials assumed they’d been threatened with more WMD. But State Department experts ultimately concluded that the “more powerful weapon” was simply juche, the North Korean state ideology of “self-reliance.” For now, the ambiguity suits Pyongyang just fine.
RUSSIA
Good Guy or Bad?
How to read Russian President Vladimir Putin’s sacking of his entire cabinet last Tuesday? In doing so, he bucked up interest in the upcoming presidential election at a time when Kremlin strategists worry voter turnout will dip below the 50 percent needed for a valid result. Putin’s move also boosted the hopes of investors and Western governments that a new P.M. will jump-start critical economic reforms. To civil libertarians, on the other hand, the move smacked of yet more Kremlin heavy-handedness. Their position was bolstered later in the week by a report from the U.S. State Department, which accused Russian police of engaging in “torture, violence and other brutal or humiliating treatment.”
In being open to wide interpretation, the move is classic Putin. Ordinary Russians will re-elect him on March 14. Foreign businessmen like him, too, for the stability he has brought to Russia. “As an investor, you are not really interested in democracy,” says Christof Ruehl, the World Bank’s chief economist in Moscow; democrats in turn warn that businessmen aren’t safe without a stronger rule of law. Putin’s choice of a new P.M. should clarify matters. Selecting a crony from the security establishment, such as Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, will send one signal–a second term of further Kremlin power. Picking a more liberal economic reformer, such as Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin or a similar-minded dark horse, would send a more encouraging one. Good guy or bad? Only Putin knows.
INDIA
A World of Its Own
India is suddenly on Western radar screens, as U.S. presidential hopefuls bash the export of jobs to Bangalore. But the latest Globalization Index from A.T. Kearney and Foreign Policy magazine ranks India 61st out of 62 nations, down five places from 2003. Based on the idea that an open economy is a strong one, the survey suggests that fear of India is outrunning reality.
The problem, as with China, is sheer size: tens of millions of Indians are fully globalized, yet they represent just a fraction of the entire country. “Not all of India is Bangalore,” says Moises Naim, editor of Foreign Policy. Take the Internet rankings: the number of Indian Web surfers grew 136 percent to about 21 million, but they still represent such a small fraction (2 percent) of the population that India came in at No. 55. India also suffered from weak results in foreign direct investment, with a meager $4 billion (compared with, say, China’s $57 billion), and ranked close to the bottom in foreign travel and investment income. Those who fear India as the next Asian superpower may still be right; it just depends on what they mean by “next.”
ENVIRONMENT
Up in Smoke
ARTS
The New Old Louvre
The past decade has been tough on the Louvre. The late 1990s saw a rapid decline in public funding for renovation after a decade of excessive government spending. So France’s pre-eminent museum is turning to foreign investors–including, mon Dieu, Americans–to fund the rebuilding of the Tuileries Palace, the wing of the Louvre that was burned to the ground in 1871. The reconstructed wing, expected to be completed within 10 years, won’t come cheap, at roughly 300 million euros, and many of the art world’s major donors live in the United States. “I hope our American friends can help us with this project,” says Alain Boumier, president of the Academie du Second Empire, the committee responsible for the rebuilding. The new wing will provide space for the museum’s massive inventory and give the neglected Jardin des Tuileries a face-lift. To test it out, the committee will project a facade of the final design for three days. And the architecture will be historically accurate: although architects Roger Taillibert and Stephane Millet have not settled on the design yet, Boumier confirms that the new wing will mimic the old. That’ll give Mona Lisa something to smile about.
OBITS
Here Lies…
When Thomas Dahlberg passed away last fall, he was honored with a newspaper obituary befitting a CIA agent, two-star general and Pulitzer Prize finalist. But it turns out about the only accurate part of the piece was his name. The obituary had been written by Dahlberg himself. Shocking, but Dahlberg isn’t alone in lying to the grave: scores of Web sites (which we will not name out of conscience) now offer tips on writing your own obit. “Do you have the guts to find out what people really think of you… ‘after the fact’?” asks one Web site that offers to slide your self-written obit into a realistic-looking news-paper page. For a reasonable fee (as little as $16.95), news of your demise can be distributed to people like former in-laws who “you’d really rather stopped sending you Christmas cards.”
TESTS
Proving the Weird
Think you have supernatural powers? “The Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge” is for anyone who can “show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power.” According to James Randi, the magician/escape artist who organizes the event, hundreds inquire each year–but only about a half dozen take the test (register at Randi.org). No one’s won the cash, but given the success of “Pop Idol,” you don’t need talent for good TV: the challenge was made into a show in South Korea, and Randi’s headed to Germany this fall. Applicants in South Korea, writes Randi, included " ‘X-Ray eyes’ people, ‘magnetic’ people, spoon-benders, people who find lost animals, and even a man from Malaysia who lit up a fluorescent tube he held between his fingers.”
Randi’s not without detractors. While he insists he conducts fair, double-blind tests, Gary Schwartz, a University of Arizona professor and an expert on the paranormal, says Randi alters testing parameters. “The phenomena are very sensitive,” says Schwartz. “He doesn’t optimize conditions.” Mike Guska, who failed to prove he could find gold, agrees. He says taking the challenge in an office threw off his channeling ability. Guska wants to retake it. But, he says, “they’re going to have to come to me.”
MUSIC
Smart, Sarcastic Love
On her new solo album, Courtney Love is far more present than she has been in court. She’s back to her raw beginnings, screaming out pop-punk “melodies” over garagey, psychedelic guitar reverb. Her lyrics are smart, sarcastic, scathing and funny, especially when she sings about Julian Casablancas, the hipster heartthrob of the Strokes: “Remember when your phone went dead, well that was me on the other end.” Be afraid, Julian, be very afraid. Taking Love lightly has never been wise.
Q&A: Chris Noth
Chris Noth is best known for playing Mr. Big on “Sex and the City.” But he hopes someday he’ll be bigger than TV. NEWSWEEK’s Jennifer Barrett caught up with Noth as the HBO series came to its U.S. TV climax:
Does it bother you that a lot of people identify you as Mr. Big?
It’s bittersweet.
There could be worse characters to be identified with.
These days what gets you the great roles, in many respects, is celebrity-type status. But let me cross that out… I still believe that the work counts more than anything else. That will be my mantra, because it’s too depressing to think otherwise.
Let’s talk about “Sex.”
[Starts singing] It’s over. It’s over! [But] “Sex and the City” [was] five years of wearing Gucci suits, eating in some of the best restaurants, and I got to adore Sarah Jessica Parker. She got to break my heart; I got to break hers.
Will you break her heart again?
We get together in Paris.
Don’t give away the ending!
No, everyone knows I was in Paris [filming]. But so was Mikhail Baryshnikov [Parker’s love interest]. I’ll give you a tip. It’s going to be a threesome in the end. We’re just all going to get it on.
I don’t think HBO would go with that.
They don’t know what they want to go with. We have more endings than interpretations of the Vietnam War. I truthfully don’t know where they are going with it.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-30” author: “Elba Mcdonald”
Washington has far less power to effect change in the rest of the Middle East. Still, there is a “bubbling movement toward reform everywhere in the Arab world,” says a diplomat in the region. Saudi Arabia has approved the creation of its first private human-rights council, and may soon grant women the right to vote in municipal elections.
In Egypt in particular, President Hosni Mubarak is quietly loosening some of the harsh constraints by which he has ruled for 23 years. Mubarak “is under pressure to [liberalize],” says the diplomat–and his mid-April summit with George W. Bush in Crawford, Texas, is providing an additional fillip. Mubarak last month released hundreds of political prisoners, abolished hard labor for those dissenters still incarcerated and ended prison sentences for journalists. Newspapers now regularly ridicule Parliament and the prime minister, although complaints about Mubarak are still off-limits. “Egypt has a conflicted view of reform,” says the diplomat, “rejecting it publicly but working with the U.S. in private. They’re taking baby steps in the right direction.”
Any reform process is sure to be slow. Religious extremists oppose change, and even moderate Arab regimes are deeply frustrated by America’s perceived coddling of Israel. After meeting last week with Secretary of State Colin Powell, Jordanian Foreign Minister Marwan Muasher made clear the sentiment: “Reform is needed in the Arab world, we agree on that. But for it to work, we need ownership of the process, not a one-for-all blueprint from Washington.” The Bush administration, taking that view to heart, has decided not announce a broad reform agenda for the Middle East at G7 meeting in June, as originally planned. -Matthew Craft and Richard Ernsberger Jr.
MALAYSIA A Leader Takes the High Road Malaysia’s leading opposition party, the Parti-Islam se-Malaysia, has been playing the Islamic card heavily in the run-up to parliamentary elections this weekend. One of its senior officials has repeatedly promised voters that they will go to heaven if they vote PAS, which controls two northern states and 26 seats in Parliament. Hadi Awang, the party’s leader, demanded last week that the Constitution be revised so only a Muslim can be prime minister. Awang is now questioning why Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi didn’t lead prayers at his own mother’s funeral. How good a Muslim can he possibly be?
Interestingly, given how leaders in neighboring Indonesia were too timid last week to speak out against the release of alleged terrorist leader Abu Bakar Bashir, for fear of alienating the country’s Muslim majority, Abdullah has not risen to the bait. Senior advisers say his strategy is simply to ignore the PAS clerics. “[He’s] focused more on what he considers a modern, moderate, progressive Islam,” says political analyst Karim Raslan. “He’s dismissed PAS out of hand and moved on.” Abdullah may be setting an example for how to deal with the region’s relatively small Islamist movements. Most poll watchers are predicting that his ruling coalition will win 80 percent of the national vote, and may retake the Muslim majority state of Terengganu. -Joe Cochrane
RUSSIA A Reshuffled Deck Everyone from media pundits to savvy Western investors have been hoping that Vladimir Putin’s victory this week would signal the start of real reform in Russia. The cheers that greeted the firing of his previous government were renewed last week when he reappointed liberal Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, while dumping old hacks like Communications Minister Leonid Reiman, known for playing favorites in the lucrative mobile-phone sector. Overall, the cabinet shrank from 30 ministers to 17. Putin spoke of turning a “shady government” into an “effective and modern” one. Yet already the moves look like window-dressing. A day after the president’s big announcement, Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov revealed that Reiman, linked to Putin’s wife, Lyudmila, would in fact keep his old responsibilities but with a new title. Fradkov also reassured those lower down the food chain, saying, “It is not our goal in and of itself to reduce the number of bureaucrats.”
What’s going on? One theory is that Putin’s attack on the bureaucracy would be popular with voters in Sunday’s ballot. If so, though, why did Fradkov seem to contradict his boss? That gives rise to theory No. 2: those tens of thousands of civil servants are capable of boosting voter turnout above the 50 percent needed for a valid election. A third theory suggests Putin was only making the right noises to keep investors coming in. Take your pick. -Frank Brown
IRAQ Cheney’s Evidence Those skeptical of comments by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and other administration neocons linking Saddam Hussein to 9/11 will not be heartened by their provenance. One principal source was a slide show, classified “Top Secret/Codeword,” prepared by an obscure Pentagon policy unit nicknamed “Team B.” The office, originally composed of two analysts (one of whom, David Wurmser, now works as a Mideast adviser to Cheney), was assigned shortly after 9/11 to pore through raw intelligence reports looking for data CIA analysts might have missed, linking foreign governments to terrorist groups like Al Qaeda. After two months of research, Team B came up with an elaborate two-hour presentation, later shrank to 50 minutes, suggesting that Hizbullah and Al Qaeda jointly sponsored the 9/11 attacks with likely support from several governments, including Iran, Iraq and Saudi Arabia.
Officials close to the CIA say the agency was “underwhelmed” by the show, many of whose points–including that 9/11 hijacker Muhammad Atta had met in Prague with Iraqi agents–have been discredited. Cheney’s office says the VP did not see the slide show. -MARK HOSENBALL
EUROPE New Fat Busters Once again, European and American regulators are moving fast in opposite directions. First it was trust-busting and genetically modified foods, now it’s fast food. Last week the U.S. House of Representatives passed a “cheeseburger” bill, banning lawsuits against food companies for making customers fat. California Republican David Dreir summed up the official opinion by scolding Americans for “eating themselves to death and looking for someone else to blame.”
Meanwhile, Europe seems ever more ready to blame fast food for the fact that nearly 2 billion of the world’s 6 billion people are overweight. The Geneva-based World Health Organization has proposed a “fat tax” on junk food and limits on vending machines in schools. Britain’s Food Standard Agency last week proposed stricter rules on marketing fast food to kids. Many of the intiatives are due to take effect this summer, but fast-food companies aren’t waiting. Last week McDonald’s announced a healthier menu in Europe. And last month Coca-Cola started stocking healthier juices in many European schools. -Rana Foroohar
MONEY Yen Attacks Dollar! Japan is escalating its war on the falling dollar. After spending 20 trillion yen to slow the dollar’s decline in 2003, the Bank of Japan spent another 10 trillion yen in January and February alone, aiming to keep the yen from rising against the dollar and undermining Japan’s export-led recovery. The government authorized 21 trillion yen more to be used if necessary in March, and is now requesting an additional 40 trillion yen for currency purchases in the fiscal year, which begins in April. The message to speculators: Japan will respond to betting on the yen with weapons of mass intervention.
The yen-busting strategy seems to have worked: the currency is 10 percent weaker than it would have been without the bank’s intervention, by one estimate. In recent weeks it’s fallen sharply, returning to fall 2003 valuations of more than 110 to the dollar, while showing a bizarre tendency to jump a percentage point or two, then fall back just as quickly. Befuddled market watchers joke that the Bank of Japan has just one guy buying dollars at any given time, so “the minute he goes and has coffee, the yen begins to move immediately in the other direction,” says one London-based hedge-fund manager. The truth, of course, is that Japan is likely fighting this battle with an army of bankers, not just one. -Jonathan Adams
FILM Name That Tune, OK? The best songs make make you feel–tears, happiness, nostalgia. Few tunes, though, inspire passion like “Uskudar,” the Turkish name of a folk melody beloved throughout the Balkans. For decades Serbs, Serbian Roma, Bosnian Muslims, Greeks, Macedonians, Albanians and Turks have laid claim to the song as their own. A new documentary examines the roots of the anthem, finding in it an apt metaphor for a deeply divided region, where music is just another battlefield for competing ethnic claims. The film, “Whose Is This Song?” has been shown in Western Europe, India, Turkey, Lebanon and Bosnia; this month it airs on Serb TV.
Adela Peeva, the film’s Bulgarian director, takes the viewer on what should be an innocuous journey. Not so. In Bulgaria, an old man tells Peeva that anyone who suggests the song is Turkish should be killed. And in Serbia, she narrowly avoids a beating at the hands of a group of drunken men after she plays them a Muslim version from Bosnia. In the end, her findings are inconclusive; the song’s roots have been obscured by time. Sadly, though, the anthem’s story is a powerful reminder of how deeply mutual hatred and suspicion still pervade the region.
AFGHANISTAN The Very Picture of Propaganda One of the Taliban’s many oppressive idiosyncrasies was its prohibition of photographs or of any kind of reproductions of the human face and body. But now, in a desperate effort to enliven its drab propaganda against the U.S. military presence in Afghanistan and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, the guerrilla group is publishing at least three propaganda magazines that for the first time are replete with photos in full color. Azam, or Tenacity, which first appeared as a thin propaganda leaflet in the first months after the collapse of the Taliban regime in late 2001, has been joined by two other colorful monthly magazines: The Voice of Jihad and Jihad. Several thousand copies of the magazines, written in the Pashto language, are distributed monthly inside Afghanistan and among Afghans in Pakistan.
The magazines feature color pictures of the “infidel enemy” displaying un-Islamic behavior. One photo shows a U.S. soldier frisking a young Afghan woman. Another depicts GIs’ checking a group of young boys for weapons. Another photo shows Karzai holding what appears to be a glass of wine during a toast with former Chinese prime minister Zhu Rongji. (Islam prohibits Muslims from drinking alcohol.) But the pictures aren’t reserved just for infidels: a recent issue of Azam proudly offered a large color photograph and accompanying interview of Mullah Rozai Khan, a senior Taliban commander. -Sami Yousafzai and Ron Moreau
FADS Games People Play South Korea has long been considered the world’s online-gaming mecca. Seventy percent of households have the broadband connections needed to play, and a staggering 21 million people–more than 40 percent of the population–are registered for games like Counterstrike and Starcraft. A new craze, though, is rolling through the country: old-fashioned board games. One estimate counts some 600 board-game cafes in the Seoul area alone, up from about 150 just six months ago.
What’s driving the fad? It’s certainly affordable. For as little as $1.30 an hour, players can sit at a table and use any game in the cafe. Many establishments offer more than 100 choices, including classic games like Diplomacy. A simple theory is that South Koreans just like their games, online or off, and are looking for a new thrill. If that’s so, then the new cafes may soon be making more than just Monopoly money. -Mark Russell
MUSIC The Tyra Typhoon Tyra Banks has obviously forgotten she’s a supermodel. At an age–30!– when most models give up and marry a rock star, Banks has big plans. She’s trying to launch a singing career, and debuted her first video on her very own reality-television show, “America’s Top Model.” After watching the leggy contestants vie for a major modeling contract, viewers besieged the show’s Web site, replaying the “Shake Ya Body” video 155,000 times. “I want to be successful across the board,” Banks says. “I want an empire like Oprah’s. I may do it with a little more cleavage, but I plan to get there.”
While her singing debut–as backup for a rapping Kobe Bryant at the 2000 NBA All-Star Game–was less than auspicious, Banks is undaunted. She paid $30,000 to make the “Shake Ya Body” video herself, and hired top manager Benny Medina to promote it. She’s hoping the song will lead to a record deal. “I know I could fall on my face, but that’s life,” she says. “I’m not going to let that stop me.” Why should she? Few things have slowed the luscious supermodel before.
Q&A: Kelsey Grammer So this is it? After 11 seasons, the very last episode of “Frasier” airs on May 13? Kelsey Grammer told NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin about it, and he refused to say it wasn’t so. Excerpts:
Do you think you’re going to cry like a 12-year-old girl at the final episode?
Probably like my 2-year-old.
You’ve played the same guy for nearly a quarter of a century. Are you completely sick of him?
No, not at all. He’s a character that’s kind of like a muse. He’ll go anywhere for you.
Did you know you beat out James Arness from “Gunsmoke” as the longest-running TV character?
I think I tied him. If I’d done another year, I’d beat him. I doubt I’ll find another role that will last 21 years.
You’re getting, like, $10 million an episode. Am I close?
Somewhere in that range. There have been some surreal moments of understanding what I was getting for what I love doing.
So what are your plans?
We have a musical of “Scrooge” that we are going to do for NBC and there’s a possibility of some work in New York. Some Broadway.
You trained as a Shakespearean actor. Are you worried that if you play King Lear one day someone’s going to yell out from the audience, “Hey, where’s Niles?”
It would sadden me but it wouldn’t surprise me. I did “Macbeth” three years ago on Broadway and all they wrote was, “Is this Frasier I see before me?”
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-01” author: “Jesse Wright”
The obvious question: is this smart business or irrational exuberance? Experts say more the former. “The current boom is more soundly based than six years ago,” says Henry Gibbon, head of global M&A for Thomson. “There’s an appreciation for past mistakes.” While deals aren’t necessarily cheap, the underlying reasons for many of them make sense. Europe, which is leading the global M&A boom, is undergoing a new round of market liberalization in utilities, one key reason that the energy sector tops the list for M&A activity–electricity and gas mergers, rather than overblown oil deals, are moving the market. Likewise, many European banks are teaming up across borders in a much-needed consolidation of financial services, which will continue over the next few years.
One surprise: for all the talk about the Russians and Chinese, they still spent only $8.5 billion and $14.6 billion, respectively. That’s a tiny share of the global market, and less than either India ($24 billion) or Brazil ($30 billion). Meanwhile, Western firms are continuing to buy in those fast-growing markets. The Royal Bank of Scotland recently took a stake in a Chinese bank. U.S. and EU steel firms are beefing up acquisitions in China, India, Brazil and Eastern Europe. While we may not see another record quarter for some time, most experts believe the dealmaking will continue into next year, as Western companies go where the growth is.
Rana Faroohar
Last week nearly 20 rebel groups expressed interest in Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki’s 24-point conciliation plan to unite his splintered country. A sign of hope? Be prepared for a few more years of bloodshed:
Vietnam: The U.S. floats its first peace proposal to Hanoi in ‘68. No dice. The Paris peace accords seal the deal in ‘73, but the war itself doesn’t end until ‘75.
Lebanon: The war kicks off in ‘75, followed by a series of failed ceasefires in the ’80s and concluding with the Taif agreement in ‘89. There’s an amnesty in ‘91, but violence continues for another year.
Algeria: The civil war starts in ‘92, with the first peace proposal three years later. An amnesty for insurgents is offered in ‘99, but fighting continues until ‘02.
Last week’s foiled plot to flood New York train tunnels surfaced amid a flurry of videotaped messages from Osama bin Laden, his chief deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri and one of the suicide bombers in the July 2005 attacks on London. Experts say they are getting more media-savvy: a day or two before the release of one recent bin Laden message, his supporters issued Internet “teasers”–brief announcements heralding a new message. A tape commemorating the London bombings was slickly edited with lengthy English-language sound bites. One U.S. counterterrorism official says the use of promos and edited video packages with English speakers demonstrates increasing sophistication in Qaeda PR methods.
Mark Hosenball
Are the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals, meant to reduce poverty and disease, working? Not according to the authors of a new study in the British medical journal Lancet, who claim that a likely focus on the urban poor hurts indigenous peoples, who tend to have higher rates of disease. The study examines the health of the world’s 370 million aboriginals–who make up 5 percent of the population, but 14 percent of the poor. The danger is that target-chasing governments worried about U.N. goals aren’t allocating the funds needed to address specific indigenous problems like alcoholism and obesity. The result? “Demographic viability could be at stake,” says Carolyn Stephens, one of the authors. Translation: indigenous groups could be on their way to extinction.
The death of former Enron chief Ken Lay raised questions about what assets he still had–and whether anyone can get their hands on them. Prosecutors are likely to drop criminal proceedings–standard procedure when a defendant dies before sentencing–but civil lawsuits will proceed, and may illuminate where Lay’s fortune went. Good news: his estate may not be off limits.
Julie Scelfo
In “Nacho Libre,” comedian Jack Black trades his guitar for racist jokes and scatological scenes masquerading as humor. Sure, he’s a force of nature, but he risks following the path of Robin Williams, whose manic energy has been diverted into so many unfunny projects he’s become unfunny himself.
For complete story, visit Slate.com http://www.slate.com/id/2143748/
Technology: Keep It Quiet It may sound like an oxymoron: “A phone booth for the mobile world.” But that’s the slogan Salemi Industries of Woburn, Massachusetts, is using to push its “cell-phone booths” to libraries, stadiums, nightclubs and restaurants in response to complaints about blabbermouths and privacy concerns. The Cell Zone is priced between $2,400 and $3,500, and stands 2.3 meters tall. The cylindrical steel booths block 30 to 40 decibels of noise. AtlantaPhoneBooths.com and C.P. Booth of Ft. Wayne, Indiana, offer retro-style options (think Clark Kent’s changing station) with modern ventilation systems. But do public yappers really care about annoying others? “Some people are just going to be jerks,” says AtlantaPhoneBooth’s founder Steve Konsin, whose booths cost $4,500. “It’s important that you give people the option of being courteous.”
Jonathan Mummolo
Television: Brothers In Arms With “The Sopranos” nearing its end, the search is on for its successor. Can “Brotherhood,” which debuted July 9, measure up? The new Showtime drama orbits around two bad-boy polestars. Tommy Caffee (Jason Clarke) is a conniving state assemblyman in Providence, Rhode Island. His brother, Michael (Jason Isaacs), runs the neighborhood mob. You can already see the central conflict–a sibling rivalry on opposite sides of the law. Except it’s hard to tell who’s the bigger hood in “Brotherhood.” Michael may cut off a rival’s ear to make a point, but Tommy may well cut a backroom deal to build a garbage plant in his district if it means power and money for him. What they do have is family, which is the place where bad-guy shows always turn to sand off the rough edges. Tommy is, of course, a great dad and loving husband. Michael feels so bad about spending seven years on the lam without contacting his mother, he gives her a wad of (counterfeit) cash. True, “The Sopranos” covers much the same ground, and with more psychological depth. But “Brotherhood” may be the darker show.
Marc Peyser
Is Art a Good Investment? Last month super collector Ronald Lauder paid $135 million for a Gustav Klimt painting, while Sotheby’s and Christie’s posted gigantic numbers. But is fine art a good investment?
Fact: Two NYU professors, Michael Moses and Jiangping Mei, have tracked fine-art sales over the past half-century to create the Mei Moses index. Over the past 50 years, stocks (as represented by the S&P 500) returned 10.9 percent annually. Art on the index returned 10.5 percent. So, not a bad return.
Fiction: The great names are the best gamble. Actually, in recent years, old masters haven’t done so well, while American art from before 1950 has been soaring–up 25.2 percent in the past year alone. Of course, rarely do the artists ever see the money; values rise after death.
For complete story, visit Slate.com http://www.slate.com/id/2144185/?nav=tap3
As losses due to storms and floods mount, the insurance industry is “feeling the unmistakable impact of global warming,” Al Gore declares in his new movie, “An Inconvenient Truth.” Maybe. There’s another reason why losses keep rising–property is becoming more valuable. Example: a 1947 hurricane that struck Florida caused $775 million in damage, while a similar storm in ‘92 caused about $37 billion , or roughly 50 times more “damage.”
For complete story, visit Slate.com http://www.slate.com/id/2143989/
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-22” author: “Eddie Symons”
In some ways, though, Basayev was already yesterday’s man. For the past two years, Chechnya itself has been relatively quiet as rebels have been ruthlessly rounded up and imprisoned. The new threat is extremist violence flaring up elsewhere in the North Caucasus. Worryingly for Moscow, much of the violence seems motivated by radical Islamism, similar to what Basayev preached. At least two officials and a police chief were slain in neighboring Ingushetia last month, while in the republic of Dagestan, five separatists were killed in a shoot-out with police.
The authorities’ brutal reaction to the unrest has made the situation worse; anger is fueling the spread of grassroots Islam. “More and more young people in North Caucasus come to the mosques,” says Shafig Pshikhachev, mufti of Kabardino-Balkaria, scene of a violent Islamist uprising last November in which 24 Russian police and up to 90 rebels were killed. Several Ingush villages have converted to the radical Wahhabi sect of Islam, as have a swath of villages in western Dagestan. The human-rights group Memorial says a growing number of politically driven Islamic institutes in the region are funded by Saudi Arabia. Russia’s reprieve may be short-lived.
Owen Matthews and Anna Nemtsova
Memo to Kim Jong Il: If you’re going to risk international condemnation, the least you can do is make sure your missiles get off the ground. NEWSWEEK asked Yale security expert Minh Luong about what Pyongyang’s scientists are doing wrong:
Toughen up: Intercontinental missiles rely on gravity to get them to their final destination, so they need to have enough initial thrust to reach the mesosphere (about 80 kilometers up). The missiles also have to be strong enough to withstand the three tiers of booster rockets it takes to get them up so high. Kim’s missiles couldn’t even make it past the launch before they buckled–try a composite alloy with some titanium to boost their durability.
Solidify: Solid fuel is a must–it’s more complicated to manufacture but also more reliable. Liquid fuel, like the kind Kim used, could accidentally be ignited by a stray spark. Also, the nitric acid in liquid fuel can corrode the fuel-regulator mechanism, polymers, seals and other sensitive components of the missile.
Bulk up: A missile is only as strong as the weapon it’s packing, and Pyongyang’s can’t take the weight of big warheads. While even the lightest nuclear bombs weigh 90 to 180 kilos, the missiles launched by North Korea couldn’t handle much more than 45 kilos.
Zvika Krieger
Scandal of the Week
So much for a World Cup honeymoon: an ongoing match-fixing probe concluded last Friday, and four of champion Italy’s top teams have been kicked out of Europe’s premier division. Here’s what it’s going to cost them: Fiat-owned Juventus is stripped of recent championship titles; World Cup hero Buffon is likely to leave for England’s Arsenal, and TV and sponsorship losses could total $250 million. Fiorentina-owner billionaire Diego Della Valle could lose 10 percent of his net worth and is banned from the sport for five years. Silivo Berlusconi’s AC Milan gets to stay in Series A, but won’t have much competition.
Barbie Nadeau
Famed Iranian journalist Akbar Ganji plans to go on a hunger strike this week at the United Nations in New York to protest the regime in Tehran. He spoke to NEWSWEEK’s Maziar Bahari.
We chose three detainees from three different movements as the symbols of the political prisoners in Iran and have staged a hunger strike to defend them. They include Masoud Ossanloo from the labor movement, Akbar Moussavi Khoeini from the students’ movement and Ramin Jahanbegloo, an intellectual.
Not much. The nuclear program has become the butt of jokes among ordinary people. The reformists within the system are against it and have sent a letter to the supreme leader. Many conservatives within the government disagree with each other about the program.
We, Iranians, should be more afraid of the government’s nuclear program. They obtained all their equipment in the black market and there is no quality control on the facilities. I’m just afraid that something like Chernobyl can happen in Iran.
I can’t read the Americans’ minds. But I know that Iranian people want peace not war. Military invasion will not help the democratic movement in Iran. Actually it will do exactly the opposite. If they plan to attack our infrastructure that would not destroy the Islamic Republic, rather it will destroy Iran.
I think they will arrest me as soon as I arrive in the airport and put me in jail.
President George W. Bush’s top aides got $4,200 raises last year, according to a list of staff salaries just released by the White House. A look at some of the pay and perks for staffers:
$165,200: Annual salary of 17 senior aides, including chief of staff Josh Bolten, political guru Karl Rove, spokesman Tony Snow and counsel Harriet Miers. The VP’s salary: $212,000
$30,000: Annual salary for aides who catalog gifts and handle mail, the bottom of the scale
$8,000: Worth of four Kennedy Center tickets given to Bolten last year
$100,000: Salary of Stuart Baker, a policy chief at the Homeland Security department, as “Director for Lessons Learned.” A White House spokesman says the title refers to the administration’s study of its handling of Hurricane Katrina.
$2,073: Worth of a gun bought by Katherine Armstrong, owner of the ranch where Cheney accidentally shot a man. She chipped in with adviser Mark McKinnon and others to buy Rove a Beretta 687 Silver Pigeon II, a 20-gauge hunting shotgun.
According to her online profile, Anastasia, an attractive and petite blonde, likes car rides, walking through Nashville’s Centennial Park and “stalking small creatures.” Anastasia’s no psychopath; she’s a miniature schnauzer, whose owner posted her profile on Dogster.com.
As human social-network-ing sites like Friendster.com and MySpace.com have become increasingly popular, similar sites have popped up for pets. Dogster.com, the first of the sites, launched in 2004 and now boasts more than 180,000 members in 182 countries. Catster.com has 76,000 members. With fewer than 1,000, Hamsterster.com is tiny–but growing. Folks with a less conventional pet–like a chinchilla–can sign up for the more inclusive Petster.com, which has some 11,000 members.
Malak Hamwi
Conservative groups often promote abstinence in part by saying condoms don’t prevent certain diseases like human papillomavirus, or HPV . A study published last month in The New England Journal of Medicine, however, found that women whose partners consistently used a condom were 70% less likely to contract HPV. A vaccine against the strains of HPV responsible for 70% of cervical-cancer cases will be available soon.
THE DEBUNKER
Are Chinese proverbs the new power tie? Fortune 500 execs and other industry leaders are abusing Confucian sayings to show that they’re hip to today’s global economy. A word of wisdom: don’t.
“When the wind rises, some people build walls. Others build windmills,” advises Hollywood producer Lawrence Bender.
WHY NOT JUST SAY: When life hands you a lemon, make lemonade.
“When is the best time to plant a tree? A hundred years ago. When is the second best time to plant a tree? Yesterday,” according to one high- profile lawyer.
HOW ABOUT: There’s no time like the present.
“May you live in interesting times.”
OR NOT: This curse is likely the invention of a 1950s science-fiction writer named Eric Frank Russell.
“The character for crisis is the same as the one for opportunity.”
NOPE: The Chinese word for “crisis” requires two characters: one means “opportunity,” and the other “danger.”
From the streets of Cairo to your average college dorm, water pipes (a.k.a. hubble-bubble, hookahs, shishas, or nargilas) are usually considered a harmless pastime for young and old alike. That’s the wrong impression, according to a study by Sana S. Al-Mutairi from Kuwait University released this month. Al-Mutairi concluded that not only do hookah smokers ingest a high amount of cotinine and nicotine, but they are also more likely to exhibit chronic bronchitis symptoms than cigarette smokers. Last month the World Health Organization also linked water-pipe smoking with lung disease. The effects are made worse by the fact that smoking sessions tend to last longer than with cigarettes and that each puff contains 10 times more smoke than a cigarette drag.
Zvika Krieger
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-17” author: “Clement Nguyen”
Baghdad’s Central Morgue–which takes in about 80 bodies a day–has meanwhile become a battleground. It’s currently under the control of radical Shiite cleric Moq-tada al-Sadr; a NEWSWEEK reporter last week counted more than a dozen militiamen there–some of them dressed in the traditional black of al-Sadr’s Mahdi Army. Their job, said one morgue employee who asked not to be named for fear of retribution, is part propaganda: to ensure that no information comes out implicating the Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias in the killings.
This much was clear from NEWSWEEK’s visit: the majority of bodies delivered to the morgue are young Sunni men, suggesting the work of Shiite militias like the Mahdi Army. The method of killing has also raised eyebrows. Doctors say that, in recent weeks, many victims arrive at the morgue with their hands and feet bound and their eyes and mouths sealed shut with tape. Apparently they died slowly, with their jugulars or wrists slit. A Sunni doctor who asked not to be named for safety reasons called this “the Khomeini Guards method”–the way in which Iraqi soldiers were executed by Iranian soldiers in the Iran-Iraq war. Given the Mahdi Army’s close links with Tehran, morgue employees have little doubt about why Sadrist politicians and officials would want to bury such details. “The Iraqi Shiite government accuses the [Sunni] resistance groups of committing such acts,” says the doctor. “But all Iraqis know that [it’s] the Mahdi Army.”
The Ministry of Health officially denies any Mahdi Army involvement in running the morgue, though several employees cite occasions when the militia members on the premises have ordered them not to refrigerate certain unidentified bodies–those with beards, for instance, because they might be despised Sunni imams. Worse still, they also say that militia members have on occasion taken mobile phones from the clothes of the dead and called their relatives to inform them of the victim’s status. When the relatives came to identify the body, militia members followed the relatives from the morgue and subsequently killed them, too.
–Malcolm Beith with bureau reports
China’s white-hot economic growth has put the fear of Mao into Beijing’s leaders, who worry that the country’s bubble could burst. Here’s how they’ve tried to hit the brakes:
Red Rate Hike: This spring, the People’s Bank of China raised rates by 27 basis points to 5.85 percent. The CW says that raising interest rates prevents inflation and discourages lending, thereby slowing economic growth.
Thou Shall Not Lend: Beijing ordered banks to reduce lending by raising reserve requirements five times in three years. But new loans went up by 360 billion yuan ($45 billion) in June, bringing the year-to-date total to 2.14 trillion yuan ($268 billion), already 86 percent of the target. Experts say the government may soon hike rates an additional 54 basis points to cool excessive loan growth.
Yuan Way: After the yuan was removed from its peg to the U.S. dollar in July 2005, the currency was revalued by 2.1 percent and has risen approximately1.4 percent against the dollar in the past year. A rise in the yuan, which many argue is grosslyundervalued, could ease inflation and take the heat out of China’s scorching export industry.
No Slow: Despite the measures, China’s gross domestic product surged by 11 percent in the first half of this year, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics, to 9.14 trillion yuan ($1.15 trillion). Well above the 8 percent that officials predicted, it’s the nation’s fastest growth rate in a decade.
–Karla Bruning
Islamic banks are booming among Muslim customers, because their services comply with Sharia (Islamic law) injunctions against charging interest or investing in certain industries like gambling, tobacco or alcohol. But they’re doing a decent job drawing non-Muslims, too. According to research from Abdul Kadir Barkatullah, an Islamic scholar who advises banks throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia, about 20 percent of all enquiries into Qur’an-compliant banking come from people who aren’t Islamic. HSBC’s Islamic-banking division says that 40 percent of its clients in Malaysia are non-Muslims.
So what’s the draw? Bankers says it’s the ethical values this banking represents. Rules against charging interest appeal to other religious groups. And because Islamic investment portfolios must be carefully tracked to avoid these industries, they are effectively fenced off from conventional accounts, offering customers an added level of detail as to where exactly their money is.
–Silvia Spring
Science: Caveman DNA It is the holy grail of human paleontology, a window on a crucial moment in our evolution. Last week, scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany announced that they would attempt to sequence the Neanderthal genome–the complete DNA of the closest known relative to modern humans, a species that disappeared from the Earth about 30,000 years ago. It is the next best thing to having a living Neanderthal for comparison–and, in theory, if you know all the genes, you could create living Neanderthals.
What would they be like? They seem to have lacked modern humans’ capacity for abstract thought; although they spread overland from Africa through the Middle East to Europe, they apparently never crossed a body of water they couldn’t see across.
In fact, we will probably learn as much about Homo sapiens from the effort as we will about Neanderthals, says Svante Paabo, a Swedish-born anthropologist. Until now, the closest species with which humans could compare their DNA was the chimpanzee, whose genome is estimated to be 99 percent identical with ours. But that 1 percent still encompasses about 35 million individual chemical changes, accumulated over 5 million to 7 million years. Humans and Neanderthals, though, shared a common ancestor in Africa only about 400,000 years ago, and Paabo estimates that their DNA will be 99.96 percent identical.
–Jerry Adler
Think you’d like to be mates with Capt. Jack Sparrow? Think again. Most real-life pirates of the Caribbean were murderous bandits, and a slew of new books aims to separate historical fact from Hollywood fiction. To start, “If they didn’t like you, they killed you and threw you overboard,” says Gail Selinger, coauthor of “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Pirates.” The book includes everything from biographical highlights–like when 17th-century Capt. Francis L’Ollonais hacked out and ate a prisoner’s heart–to practical details, such as translations of common pirate-flag symbols. For less gore, younger audiences can check out “Pirateology: The Pirate Hunter’s Companion,” a fictitious journal chronicling an 18th-century captain’s pursuit of “vicious female pirate Arabella Drummond.” Pirates weren’t exactly heroes. “It was a bit like taking a prison population, putting them on a ship and seeing what happens,” says British maritime historian David Cordingly.
–Jonathan Mummolo
What to do when swimming is not enough, and water polo has lost its edge? Try underwater hockey, a game that players claim is as fast and furious as ice hockey, just much lower on oxygen. Since debuting in 1954 (it was called Octopush; that didn’t catch on), the submariner sport has finally gained a devoted following in more than 48 nations worldwide. The 2006 Underwater Hockey World Championships in Sheffield, England, in August will be the sport’s largest event to date.
How to play? Six players per team face off on the bottom of a 25m pool. Wearing diving masks, snorkels, fins and protective gear, players use a 30cm-long hockey stick, or “pusher,” to move a weighted lead puck into the opposing team’s 3m-long goal. Knowing when to surface for air (thus the snorkel) and dive is the crux of the game, leading players to dub it the ultimate anaerobic sport. The favorites in the tourney, which will be streamed on the Internet: Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Great Britain and France.
–Karla Bruning
With the world getting fatter, the blame usually falls on supersize fast food and lack of exercise. But a new study from the University of Alabama suggests other important factors. Nowadays we’re smoking less, so we eat more. We also sleep less, and lack of sleep sets off hormones that increase your appetite. Antidepressants and other medications promote weight gain. And one set of solutions inevitably leads to another set of problems.
America is truly the land of the lawsuit, and conventional wisdom is that frivolous medical malpractice suits are what’s driving up the costs of health care. But is that really the case?
Sue for a Reason: A study from Brigham Young Law School reviewed more than 1,400 malpractice cases and found that 90 percent had resulted in medical injury, which means they weren’t frivolous. In 60 percent of the cases, the injury resulted from physician wrongdoing. In a quarter of the cases, patients died.
And Doctors Do Make Mistakes: A classic Harvard study looked at more than 30,000 cases, and found that doctors were injuring one out of 25 patients. Of that, only 4 percent sued.
Pay Days? Juries and trial lawyers have been blamed for handing out big cash to victims. Not true, according to a Rand study that looked at the growth in malpractice awards between 1960 and 1999.
The study concludes: “Real average awards have grown by less than real income over the past 40 years.”
Equation: Miami Vice Lovers of the hit TV series “Miami Vice” will be disappointed by the new feature-film version, which is dark, ponderous and way over budget. Tubbs and Crockett just aren’t the same in ‘06.
The Original Show – 1980s Glam + $150 Million Budget = A Pretentious Snooze
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-19” author: “George Goss”
– Nisid Hajari, Managing Editor
Three things are clear regarding Venezuela’s campaign to land a seat on the United Nations Security Council. First and foremost, flamboyant President Hugo Chávez has lost: after dropping 34 out of 35 votes in a head-to-head match against Guatemala (only tying in one of the first straw polls), he will not be able to chair his country’s delegation in the Council chamber, where he recently declared George W. Bush a devil not so much in disguise. Even though Guatemala may not be elected either, the country has consistently won between 20 and 30 votes more than Venezuela and is unlikely to lose them now. Almost certainly, a compromise candidate–Uruguay, Panama, Costa Rica–will eventually be elected.
Second, Chávez will do all he can to stall that moment until after Dec. 3–the date of Venezuela’s presidential election. It won’t be easy, but isn’t impossible. In 1979, Cuba and Colombia dueled for more than 150 ballots until both finally declined in favor of Mexico. And Chávez has good reason to drag matters out. Although he leads by a comfortable margin in polls back home, the sole opposition candidate, Manuel Rosales, is closing the gap. In the past few months Chávez has jetted around the world, doling out oil and cash in return for the promise of votes. The last thing he wants is to be accused of having wasted tens of millions of dollars, if not more, in vain.
Lastly, but perhaps most important, this is Chávez’s first real defeat, domestically or abroad. He invested much of his personal reputation in his country’s bid, casting the vote as a referendum on his view of the world versus that of the Bush administration. Yet despite his recent antics in the U.N. chamber, or thanks to them, the Venezuelan leader was unable even to beat out even tiny Guatemala. Ultimately, Chávez may end up regretting that he tried.
Jorge Castañeda
GOOD NEWS BAD NEWS
THE GOOD NEWS: Burma has a new constitution in the works–and elections may be on the horizon. The junta appears ready to loosen its grip: Gen. Than Shwe says that what Burma needs now is a “disciplined and flourishing democracy.”
THE BAD NEWS: The new constitution will ensure that the military retains control of the government. David Steinberg, a Burma expert at Georgetown University, thinks it will stipulate that 25 percent of National Assembly seats be reserved for active-duty military members. Kyaw Yin Hlaing, a Burma watcher at the National University of Singapore, says the regime is slightly less repressive these days. Agitators aren’t arbitrarily beaten and thrown in prison, and the generals supposedly want to create a “more humane” intelligence service. But political opposition is still not tolerated.
– Richard Ernsberger Jr.
Allan Sloan: Bubble Trouble
Bubbles are building in the so-called alternative investments–hedge funds, private-equity funds, commodities and commercial real estate. Day after day, I hear of hedge funds’ growing power–we’re up to almost 9,000 funds with $1.225 trillion in assets, according to Hedge Fund Research, from about 3,600 with $456 billion at the start of 2000. To me, it feels like something bad’s about to happen. The more hedge funds there are chasing the same opportunities, the less profitable those opportunities become.
Another danger signal is that retail investors are being given a chance to run with the big hedge-fund dogs without meeting the Securities and Exchange Commission requirement of being a “qualified client” with a net worth of at least $1.5 million. It’s globalization. Funds of hedge funds are becoming a hot item on the London Stock Exchange. “It’s a way for someone with $20,000 or $30,000 to invest in a portfolio of hedge funds,” says Sabby Mionis, whose CMA Global Hedge went public in June. Players like Harris Associates and Goldman Sachs are in this game, and a company run by Tom Lee, a legendary U.S. private-equity investor, is seeking to join them. By my math, if these funds hit their targets, a third of what your money earns will go to fees and expenses. Seems expensive to me.
Intel: Prewar Position
The CIA won’t say so, but Britain initially opposed war in Iraq. A new book by Tyler Drumheller, chief of the CIA’s European ops before the Iraq war, describes how, the day after 9/11, a “powerful delegation from a very close European ally” visited CIA Director George Tenet at HQ. In his book, “On the Brink,” Drumheller says the head of the foreign team cautioned: “I hope we can all agree that we should … not be tempted to launch any attacks on Iraq.” In Drumheller’s account, Tenet replied: “Absolutely, we all agree on that.” Two former intel officials say that the foreign delegation was British, led by spy-agency head Richard Dearlove and David Manning, the national-security adviser. A British source, who, like the former intel officials, requested anonymity due to diplomatic sensitivities, acknowledged that a delegation led by Manning did visit Tenet on Sept. 12, 2001; the source confirmed it was Britain’s position at the time that the United States should not attack Iraq.
– Mark Hosenball
Looking for the 1986 debut of reggae band African Head Charge on Apple’s iTunes? You’d sooner find Microsoft Office. To that end, avid record collector Keith Abrahamsson has launched Anthology Recordings (anthologyrecordings .com), the first digital reissue label, as a marketplace for obscure sounds. Like labels such as the Numero Group, Anthology will sell handpicked rarities, but in MP3 format only. A market exists: Oliver Wang runs Soul Sides, an audio blog for rare funk, and boasts 40,000 visitors per month. – Joshua Alston
The killers’ new album, “Sam’s Town,” has been lambasted as pompous and pretentious. True, like many follow-ups to out-of-nowhere debut hits, such as the band’s “Hot Fuss,” their newest offering is bigger than its predecessor. But it may also be better. Despite the group’s newfound sense of importance, the songs surge with anthemic sweep, inviting comparison to U2 and Bruce Springsteen. Is “When You Were Young” a Springsteen classic? No, but it’s a darn good homage. Without sounding like smirking ironists or glib dilettantes, the Killers bring emotion and ingenuity to their new-wave sound. This is an ambitious, if not momentous, album.– From Slate.com
Baby aspirin–80mg, or one quarter of an adult tablet–may reduce the risk of heart attack, but a new study reveals that aspirin may harm the stomach and upper digestive tract. Using two databases of roughly 4 million patients combined, researchers found that daily low-dose aspirin doubles gastrointestinal risk factors. Do the benefits outweigh the dangers? NO: Aspirin caused 150 more cases of GI complications per 1,000 people in male patients in their 80s with a history of ulcers, far more than the number of heart-attack cases aspirin might prevent.
YES: Aspirin adds only a small risk of GI problems in female patients under 60, according to the study. For such women at risk of heart attacks–smokers, for instance–the benefits of aspirin might be worth the dangers. – From Slate.com
Reality Check Don’t believe the hype: adopting kids from Africa isn’t as easy as Angelina and Madonna make it look. The Material Girl’s newly embraced baby is only the 7th that Malawi has released into outside hands since 2001. Even Ethiopia, last year’s destination of choice for international adopters, accounted for only 441 of the 23,000 babies brought to the United States in 2005. – From Slate.com
Is the world ready for a Mideast Olympics? While there are no formal campaigns until after the 2014 Winter Games are announced next July, Doha, Qatar, is weighing a bid for the 2016 Summer Games. Speculation has only increased since Doha was awarded the 2006 Asian Games, taking place this December. If the city aces its job as host, after spending $2.8 billion on sports infrastructure, it could mount a credible campaign.
Working against Doha are factors it cannot control, like the consensus that 2016 is the Western Hemisphere’s “turn.” And with security the biggest and ever-escalating expense, it might be difficult to persuade International Olympic Committee delegates to put the Games so close to Iran. Even if Doha’s bid fails–and most first-time efforts do–it’s still a smart way to raise the area’s sporting profile. Dubai, in the United Arab Emirates, is another peaceful, wealthy port city with Olympic aspirations that has won sports cred with high-profile golf and tennis tournaments.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-01” author: “Richard Trotter”
No one imagines that Russia is going to resort to Venezuelan-style punitive taxes or expropriation to win back control of oil companies. But foreign majors are nevertheless feeling pressured to give Russian companies a bigger cut of their operations. And many top oil execs and politicians in Russia are starting to think that the country “doesn’t need any oil or gas investors,” says Vitaly Yermakov, director of Russian and Caspian Energy, a Moscow-based consultancy. In the short term, Russian oil companies may benefit if foreigners cave to Kremlin pressure. But in the long term, if investing in Russia becomes risky business instead of a safe haven, no one will.
Owen Matthews and Anna Nemtsova Letter From the Editor …
The three leaders interviewed in this week’s issue–Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai , Iraqi President Jalal Talabani , Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad– were all in New York last week for the U.N. General Assembly meeting. The stories they had to tell could not have reassured the Bush administration. As Fareed Zakaria notes, the frenzied condemnation of Ahmadinejad only raised his stature outside the United States. Speaking to NEWSWEEK’s Lally Weymouth , Talabani tried to focus attention on peaceful progress in Iraq–just as bombs killed dozens on the eve of Ramadan. Karzai’s tale is perhaps the most depressing: feted in New York, his writ covers an ever smaller slice of his own country, with the Taliban threatening to carve out a safe haven in the south. The first victory in the “war on terror” is in danger.
Hewlett Packard CEO Mark Hurd is hoping to keep his name off the growing list of corporate casualties in Silicon Valley’s worsening spy scandal. Last Friday Hurd announced the resignation of the company’s chairwoman, Patricia Dunn, who spearheaded the controversial investigation into boardroom leaks to the media. With other current and former HP staffers, he’ll testify next Thursday in front of the House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. For now, Hurd has the strong support of Wall Street. “Investors think Mark Hurd walks on water,” says tech analyst Rob Enderle of the Enderle Group.
ONLINE
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Selam, or “peace” in amharic, is one the most complete human ancestral skeletons ever found, with a skull, torso and partial limbs. More than 3 million years old, Selam is a child thought to have been about 3 at death. Scientists hope the rare find, from fossil-rich northeast Ethiopia, will shed light on our roots.
As many as 20 CIA officials and contractors could face legal charges in Germany for their alleged role in the abduction of Khaled el-Masri, a German national once wrongly suspected of involvement with 9/11 conspirators, German officials say. A Munich prosecutor confirmed to NEWSWEEK that he is conducting a probe into the people who carried out the abduction–an inquiry that could soon lead to arrest warrants.
The el-Masri case underscores continuing legal threats facing CIA officials overseas despite last week’s deal between White House and Senate negotiators on a bill that would authorize the agency to continue using aggressive interrogation techniques against terror suspects. The White House has insisted the new measure is needed to provide legal protection for CIA officials who have been accused of violating the Geneva Conventions. But the bill may do little to protect CIA officers involved in “extraordinary renditions”–a practice under which the agency has flown terror suspects to foreign countries where they have allegedly been harshly interrogated. El-Masri is among the highest-profile of these episodes. A former top German counterterror official said el-Masri was originally suspected of being the mysterious train passenger whose chance meeting with four 9/11 conspirators caused them to visit a Qaeda training camp in 1999. But the former German official said authorities now believe it was a case of mistaken identity, a “stupid mistake.”
The Bush administration has acknowledged using renditions for years as a counterterror tool, but denies that it outsources torture. Asked about the el-Masri allegations last week, a CIA official declined to comment.
A top aide and spokesperson to Shiite firebrand Moqtada al-Sadr, arrested last week by U.S. forces in Najaf, was found with high levels of explosives residue on his hands, indicating he had been working with bombmaking materials in the previous 24 hours. Says a senior U.S. military official who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the information, “There was enough there to know it wasn’t accidental.” The U.S. military referred to Salah al Obaidi in a Sept. 22 press release about the capture as a “known IED facilitator.” The arrest could heighten tensions between U.S. forces and Sadr’s Mahdi Army, blamed for much of the recent sectarian violence. Over the past two weeks, American soldiers have increased their presence in Sadr City. Indeed, one Sadr leader, Abdul Razzaq Al-Nidawi, told NEWSWEEK that “Sadr City is under siege.”
Michael Hastings BY THE NUMBERS
Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao toured central and sub-Saharan Africa this summer, aiming to turn the region’s economies toward the East. But according to a new World Bank trade and development report, that turning process was already well underway. 27% Proportion of African exports sent to Asia
18% Annual growth of African exports to Asia
48% Growth of African exports to China, 1999-2004
1.5 million
Estimated number of new African jobs created by exporting in 2006
Things were going so well for Marisa Acocella. Her cartoons were being published, and at the age of 43 she had become engaged for the first time, to restaurateur Silvano Marchetto. And then her world turned upside down with a diagnosis of breast cancer. So Acocella wrote (and drew) a graphic novel about her bout with cancer.
“Cancer Vixen” is hilarious, especially its portrayal of her overbearing Italian mother. But at the heart of the book is Acocella’s relationship with her husband, who owns trendy Manhattan eatery Da Silvano. “I always thought in a relationship a woman had to be perfect all the time … and breast cancer is definitely a major imperfection,” Acocella says. They were married less than a month after her diagnosis. She was terrified he would leave her–especially since Da Silvano is swarming with models. One actually dropped her business card into his lap and said, “I’m not sick. Call me if you want a healthy relationship.” He fed the card to a dog at the table. “The cancer was something that made my relationship with him much better,” Acocella says. “It validated it.” Niki Gostin
Soy may be an inexpensive meat substitute and a high-quality protein, but moderation still remains the key. New studies show that a soy-rich diet does have downsides. Thyroid Threat: Soy isoflavones, natural antioxidants, can inhibit thyroid hormone production, potentially causing hypothyroidism. While they aren’t a problem for adults, isoflavones can arrest mental development in infants, especially babies with inactive glands.
Estrogen Imposter: Soy isoflavones act like estrogen in the body. The effect is small but detectable. They can both reduce estrogen’s effects and increase estrogen activity. Some studies show that soy isoflavones stimulate breast cancer in mice and in cells grown in laboratories.
Heart Health: The American Heart Association no longer recommends including soy in a heart-healthy diet. In fact, in a recent study of male mice that were genetically susceptible to heart disease, the mice who were fed a soy-based diet experienced heart deterioration and failure, while the dairy-fed mice did not.
HBO’s “The Wire” is the best show on TV today. Why? Its tale of stratified life in a U.S. city has the scope and vision of great literature. Seriously.
“The Wire” echoes the social panorama of Charles Dickens, cutting from the top of Baltimore to its bottom, from political fund-raisers to homeless junkies. Thereal star is the city itself, along with four school boys, much like Dickens’ London tales. And those David Copperfields, too, languish in a failing school. While Oliver Twist joined a gang of pickpockets, “The Wire” boys face gangs of a tougher kind. Art imitating art never looked so good.
The French say their mature, accepting attitude toward alcohol prevents the kind of rowdy binges found elsewhere. A new government study suggests otherwise: 10-Percentage of French teens who admit to getting drunk at least 10 times last year
45-Percentage increase in that category since a 2003 survey
56-Percentage of French boys who had more than five drinks on a single occasion in the past 30 days
36-Percentage of French girls who reported having done the same thing
Reality Check
Contrary to the CW, heart disease isn’t linked to Type A personalities with a propensity toward stress, impatience and irritability, according to a new study in a Public Library of Science journal. After testing some 6,000 participants in the decade-long study, researchers found that cholesterol is about 40 percent hereditary and behavior traits are 10 to 20 percent hereditary, with no genetic link between cardiovascular disease and personality.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-12” author: “Debbie Morales”
How did relations get so bad? The two neighbors have been at loggerheads ever since the pro-U.S. Mikhail Saakashvili took power in Tbilisi in 2003. The Georgian president has moved his country rapidly toward NATO membership, and in apparent retaliation, Russia banned Georgian imports. And in recent months, Russian-backed separatists inside Georgia have stepped up operations, further heightening tensions.
Still, for all of last week’s saber rattling, it’s unlikely that war will break out. Instead, Russia has chosen to protest to the United Nations–where Saakashvili recently accused the Kremlin of a “gangster occupation” of two breakaway Georgian provinces, Abkhazia and South Ossetia. That could play into Georgia’s hands. If the United Nations becomes involved in resolving Georgia’s territorial conflicts, Moscow’s jealously guarded role as chief peacekeeper in the former Soviet Union will be eroded. Also, Tbilisi reckons it stands a better chance of ultimately recovering its wayward regions with the United Nations in charge. Still, provoking Russia is a dangerous tactic. There are powerful war parties in both Moscow and Tbilisi who are spoiling for a fight. If it comes, there’s little doubt that Georgia will come off worse against a Russian Army flush with oil money and confidence.
Thailand’s mili-tary seems to be settling in for the long haul. The post-coup junta has reportedly selected Surayud Chulanont, a former general and adviser to Thailand’s king, to become interim prime minister–passing over several civilian candidates. Pledges to restore civilian rule have also been dropped; military leaders retain the power to dismiss the interim P.M. And coup leader and Army Cmdr. Sonthi Boonyaratkalin is spearheading a new PR campaign intended to cast him as a champion of Thai democracy. The United States, for one, isn’t buying it. Last Thursday the Bush administration suspended $24 million in military assistance to Thailand, calling for “a rapid return to democracy.”
Argentina: Pains of the Past Argentina’s brutal past has come back with a vengeance. Two weeks ago a former police commissioner was sentenced to life imprisonment after being found guilty of the murder, torture and kidnapping of six people at the height of the junta’s “dirty war” against political dissidents in the 1970s. But on the eve of the sentencing a key prosecution witness named Jorge Julio López vanished, raising fears that he had been kidnapped by extremist sympathizers of the country’s security forces.
President Néstor Kirchner has embraced the demands of human-rights groups to track down former military and police officials who killed and “disappeared” up to 30,000 people. But officials worry that the apparent abduction of López could deter other victims from testifying in future trials. Those concerns deepened last week when several judges and prosecutors assigned to such cases received death threats.
BY THE NUMBERS
Think Americans are the only ones obsessed with shopping? Credit-happy U.S. consumers may currently owe $2.3 trillion, but Europeans are catching up fast.
1.9: Trillions of dollars worth of consumer debt currently outstanding in Britain
$5,977: Average debt carried by a Brit
$2,933: Average amount owed by an EU resident
52: Percentage increase in Turkish consumers’ unsecured debt since the 2001 economic crisis
Why aren’t European telecoms privately owned? France Telecom and Deutsche Telekom are state-controlled, while Britain’s BT and Spain’s Telefonica are public companies. Recent troubles at Telecom Italia, Europe’s fifth largest and only privately held major telecom operator, may shed some light on the difficulties of privatization.
On Sept. 15, chairman Marco Tronchetti Provera suddenly resigned over a row with the government, which claimed it was “kept in the dark” about his real intentions for the company’s future after he proposed a drastic strategic change– splitting the group’s fixed-line and mobile arms after merging them only two years earlier. What went wrong? Telecoms need huge investments, often beyond the reach of private shareholders, and Telecom Italia is an example of how “many Italian privatizations were made too quickly and badly, just to make cash,” says Giacomo Vaciago, an economist at Milan’s Catholic University. During the ’90s “Euro Rush,” Italy was pressured to cut its debt (124 percent of GDP in 1994) in order to join the euro zone, and the sale of Telecom Italia for $15 billion helped slash the red ink. Unlike Britain, which deliberated for seven years before selling BT, Italy unloaded Telecom Italia in a hurry because “we were forced to do it,” says Vaciago. No wonder the results are getting messy.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-27” author: “Maria Davis”
As the U.N. Security Council once again takes up Iran and its refusal to halt its uranium-enrichment program this week, Khomeini’s letter gives pause for thought. It may seem to bolster skeptics who claim Iran indeed seeks nuclear weapons. But it more clearly suggests a rift within Tehran’s leadership. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Rafsanjani of “selling out to the enemies, selfishness and lack of faith.” According to sources close to him, the letter is a sign of Rafsanjani’s frustration at being excluded from Iran’s nuclear negotiations–and with the direction of ongoing talks. His team (formerly in charge of the talks with the West) is thought to favor a softer line than Ahmadinejad, and thinks today’s leaders, too, need to face up to their weak position.
Indeed, the letter testifies to Khomeini’s essential pragmatism–a quality notably absent among current Iranian leaders. “What the Imam’s letter shows is that sometimes we need to make sacrifices to keep the Islamic system intact,” says a close Rafsanjani adviser who asked not to be named speaking on sensitive matters. “But in order to make sacrifices you need wise men in charge of decisions. Wisdom is what is lacking from the current team in charge of Iran’s nuclear negotiations.”
– Maziar Bahari
When India’s new foreign secretary, Shiv Shankar Menon, meets his Pakistani counterpart in New Delhi next month to revive a gasping peace process, he’s expected to present evidence that militants from the Pakistani-based Islamic group Lashkar-i-Taiba (LeT) were responsible for the Mumbai train bombings in July. Indian police have told local media that the attacks were masterminded by a radical leader in his early 50s named Azam Cheema, who inspired and trained a group of Pakistani militants and their accomplices in camps in and around Bahawalpur, Pakistan, where he’s said to live openly.
According to investigators, some of the conspirators traveled between India and Pakistan via Iran to avoid suspicion. They charge that two Indian Muslims, Asif Khan and Faisal Sheikh, both in their early 30s and alleged LeT operatives, played a crucial role in the attacks. By the end of June, nearly 30 men, including 11 Pakistanis, had formed the squads that would carry out the operation, according to press reports.
Intelligence sources say that there is no “direct evidence” implicating the Pakistan intelligence agency ISI to the Mumbai blasts. But, says B. Raman, a former top-ranking official of India’s external intelligence arm RAW: “This will be a test case for Pakistan’s commitment to cooperate with India in the investigation of terrorism-related cases.” Officials in Pakistan say they know nothing about Cheema or his alleged involvement in the bombings.
– Sudip Mazumdar
Any publicity is good publicity, right? Wrong. “Blood Diamond”–coming soon to a theater near you–has the diamond industry up in arms. The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a South African smuggler in pursuit of a rare stone in war-torn Sierra Leone, circa 1999. It draws attention to the awkward truth that local warlords have in the past used so-called conflict diamonds to fund some of Africa’s bloodiest civil wars, which is bad news for a business that depends heavily on sentiment to sell its product.
In retaliation, the World Diamond Council–which groups the industry’s largest players with powerful support from diamond giant De Beers has launched its own spin campaign. After seeing a leaked script, the WDC met with Warner Bros. to ask the studio to make clear in its marketing campaign, and possibly in the credits, that the situation in Sierra Leone had improved. And last month saw the launch of a Web site that details the council’s measures to halt the flow of conflict diamonds as well as the diamond industry’s beneficial effects on entire national economies. Around the world, an estimated 10 million people depend on the diamond trade for their livelihoods. A dip in sales–or, worse, a boycott–could cause serious damage to vulnerable populations, argues the council.
–William Underhill and Sean Smith
Even though the Dow has broken the record that it set on Jan. 10, 2000, the market is nowhere near its record high. That’s because the 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average isn’t the same thing as the U.S. stock market. Things are going well for large-capitalization stocks–the Dow’s up 11 percent for the year, double its 80-year average of 5.5 percent, as calculated by Ibbotson Associates. But it’s not a great year for the NASDAQ, which is up only 4 percent and is 54 percent below its 2000 high. As for perhaps the best measure of all, the Dow Jones Wilshire 5000, which includes all U.S. stocks, it’s down 9 percent.
– Allan Sloan
Letter From the Editor
The U.S. capital is no stranger to sordid sex scandals. And like the one that consumed the Republican Party last week, each one usually has to do with much more than sex. As Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas writes, the uproar caused by suggestive e-mails from Florida Rep. Mark Foley to underage House pages has hit home partly because the abuse of power and trust they reveal is much more readily comprehensible to voters than the average campaign-finance scandal. At a time when the majority party was already reeling from growing doubts about the war in Iraq, and as political columnist Howard Fineman notes, disenchantment among its evangelical base, disgust over the Foley affair could well be the crystallizing force that shifts power in America’s upcoming midterm elections.
– Nisid Hajari, Managing Editor
FACT OR FICTION
In their efforts to cut corporate costs during times of economic hardship, many CEOs are turning their employees upside down to shake out extra change. In return, they get low morale.
Nickel-and-diming at Credit Suisse is no different from the massive cuts at crisis-ridden Ford.
WRONG: Ford is fighting for its life and spreading the burden from assembly-line workers to shareholders. Telling employees to cut down on color photocopies at the highly profitable Credit Suisse won’t do much when hundreds of bankers still receive seven-figure bonuses.
Cutting corners is often self-defeating–it infuriates employees.
RIGHT: Mandating vacation time between Christmas and New Year to its staff of 10,500 might save Yahoo $21 million, roughly the combined earnings of its top three execs. Pinching the worker bees, and not the brass too, is not the best policy for employee retention.
Must everyone try to be funny these days? Even corporate America is getting ironic with a trio of chart-topping comedic videos on YouTube. Shot in a mock-doc style by IBM itself, actual company sales execs hawk million-dollar servers by cold-calling random names from the phone book. Humor, it seems, is a valuable asset. Fortune 500 companies dole out big bucks to comedy consultants who lead humor seminars and improv workshops–in the name of improved productivity. But how are funnier employees better for business? According to Tim Washer, a communications executive at IBM and former improv performer, funniness fosters team-building and, of course, thinking outside the proverbial box. What’s next–a sitcom, courtesy of IBM? Don’t laugh: “The Office” has already proved that cubicle drones are a fertile source of yuks.
Reality Check
Is screening embryos for potential diseases a good idea? More than 3 million children worldwide have been born through in-vitro fertilization, but nearly 500,000 embryos have been rejected in the United States alone. The practice originally targeted fatal diseases, but now includes low-risk illnesses like arthritis. Others, such as leukemia, have no clear genetic cause, and 42 percent of U.S. IVF clinics allow parents to select for gender.
If they keep putting out books to get you up to speed on what everybody else knows, eventually there won’t be any more Bluffers or Dummies. This fall’s biggest threat is “The Intellectual Devotional,” a secular equivalent of volumes with daily commentary on 365 passages of Scripture. It, too, is aimed at the insecure: the subtitle is “Revive Your Mind [since you’re dead above the neck], Complete Your Education [which you never got] and Roam Confidently With the Cultured Class [to which you don’t belong].” It’s directed particularly at codgers and codgers-to-be: “These readings,” says the introduction, “offer the kind of regular exercise the brain needs to stay fresh, especially as we age.” Philosophers may be as disappointed in the entry on Leibniz as writers and literary scholars will be in the one on Faulkner, but there can’t be many people who know about “Beowulf,” Elizabeth Cady Stanton and nociception (the perception of pain, dummy). You know what the Sistine Chapel is, but do you know why it’s called that? Well, I do. Now.
– David Gates
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-12” author: “Tiffany Blankenbaker”
The U.S. military in Iraq has completed several elements of contingency planning in case of civil war. The military’s approach revolves around three principles. The first is to stop massacres by physically separating communities, moving minorities out of harm’s way if necessary. The second is to stop the flow of paramilitary gangs across the country. And the third is to halt any incitement to violence on Iraqi TV and radio. If the country did someday meet the definition of civil war and the United States pulled out, military officials warn, the consequences would be disastrous. “All the neighboring powers would be drawn in,” said one senior military official who has examined the scenarios and is not authorized to speak on the record. “It would become a regional war.”
Last week Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko offered former archrival Viktor Yanukovych the post of prime minister.
THE BAD NEWS: “People from the old regime are rising like phoenixes,” says independent parliamentarian Serhiy Terekhin. Indeed, a legion of oligarchs is emerging from the shadows to back Yanukovych.
THE GOOD NEWS: The P.M. has pledged to support a move toward EU membership and to adhere to a strict IMF economic plan. Even more important are his links to Moscow. He could “smooth relations with Russia,” says Andrew Jeffreys of the Oxford Business Group.
BY THE NUMBERS
Honda, which announced it will launch a six-seater airplane by the end of the decade, is the latest of more than a dozen companies to enter the “very light jet” (VLJ) business. But the market may be too small to support them all.
2,037: The new HondaJet’s range in kilometers
4,536: Maximum takeoff weight in kilograms of a plane classified as a VLJ
1.4: Price in millions (US$) of the Eclipse 500, the first VLJ to be certified for sale by regulators
5,000: Number expected to be in use by 2010, as forecast by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration
Apart from the wars in Iraq and Lebanon, what’s on President George W. Bush’s mind as he takes a shortened vacation at his Texas ranch? Judging by his summer reading list, Bush is thinking about nuclear bombs, civil war and baseball. The president has just finished “Clemente,” by David Maraniss, the story of the gifted right-fielder who rose from a poor Puerto Rican family to become a Pittsburgh Pirates star. (Bush told NEWSWEEK he loved the last baseball book he read, “The Big Bam,” about Babe Ruth.) The president has also read “American Prometheus” by Kai Bird and Martin Sherwin, a biography of Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atom bomb who later became a pacifist and a victim of the anti-communist witch hunt.
Now Bush is reading another bio of his favorite president. “Lincoln,” by Richard Carwardine, looks at the newly formed Republican Party and the president’s evolving views of slavery. According to Publishers Weekly, the book’s best insight is into Lincoln’s religious views and his relationship with evangelicals.
China’s sulfur-dioxide emissions have become a serious environmental threat. Last year the world’s largest coal consumer was 42 percent above its self-imposed projected emissions target, according to the World Bank’s Environment and Social Development Unit in the East Asia and Pacific Region. “This is just outrageous, to be honest,” says Jostein Nygard, senior environmental specialist at the World Bank. From 2001 to 2005, China’s overall energy emissions increased 70 percent, largely due to a rise in coal consumption. THE SOLUTION: Retrofit pollution controls on existing plants and build future plants to meet cleaner standards, suggests Jeremy Carl of Stanford University’s Program on Energy and Sustainable Development. Nygard adds that the country needs to improve coal quality and efficiency, particularly in power plants, and enhance renewable energy sources like hydropower, solar energy and windmills. Improving non-coal-based energy sources is crucial, he says. “There is no other way,” Nygard says. “They are too dependent on coal as the main energy source.”
The off-screen saga of 1980’s “Superman II” is as memorable in Hollywood as the film itself. After a bitter feud with his producers, director Richard Donner, who piloted the 1978 “Superman” into movie history, was booted off the sequel halfway through shooting. The finished film, credited to director Richard Lester, was a smash hit. But ever since, fans have itched to see Donner’s version. Their wait is almost over. At the behest of Warner Brothers, the franchise’s longtime studio home, Donner is now piecing together the film he shot before the ax fell nearly 30 years ago; his cut of “Superman II” will be released on DVD in November. “I never thought it would see the light of day,” says Donner.
Donner says he plans to weed out the camp elements from Lester’s “Superman II” and restore part one’s tone of “verisimilitude.” He’s especially jazzed about resurrecting his planned opening for the film: a scene at the Daily Planet in which Lois Lane realizes who Clark Kent really is. About 70 percent of the Donner cut will be film he shot. How to tell what’s his? “The good stuff,” he says, “is mine.”
The honeymoon was over for Stephanie Olson as soon as the wedding planning ended. After eight months of preparations, looking back on the big day can still bring the 23-year-old close to tears. “You go back to work after your wedding and all you have left to look forward to are the thank-you notes,” she says.
Olson’s one of an increasing number of brides suffering from postwedding blues, says Carley Roney, editor of The Nest, an online community for newlyweds, where the topic has become one of the most popular on the site’s blogs and message boards. Lee Madden, a psychologist, says the issue frequently comes up during couples counseling six to 12 months after the wedding.
THE DEBUNKER: COFFEE is good for you. Forget the fact that caffeine’s a diuretic and causes rapid heart rate. New studies show our addiction to Starbucks has a number of healthy side effects.
HEADACHE HELPER: Caffeine relieves tension headaches by constricting dilated blood vessels, the source of that dull pain.
ANTIOXIDANT COCKTAIL: Coffee contains more antioxidants than green tea or red wine. These natural chemicals bind and neutralize cells that damage DNA, cause cancer and, gasp, Wrinkles.
DIABETES DOWN: Numerous studies have reported that drinking coffee reduces the risk of developing diabetes. Some have even concluded that the more you drink, the less your risk.
The U.S. Congress is trying its best to ban Internet gambling, highlighting the head-scratching hypocrisy of American society. Gambling is already everywhere–there are 476 casinos in 20 states, not to mention some type of legal gambling, such as lotteries and racetracks, in 48 states. It’s bad business: Internet bets last year totaled $11.9 billion versus the $82.2 billion for all gaming revenues in 2005.
Stars like brothers Luke and Owen Wilson in “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” and “You, Me and Dupree,” respectively, use models (a.k.a. butt doubles) to depict their not-so-hot buns. The price: about $500 a day.
[LUKE WILSON] + [IN NEED OF BUFFNESS] + [POT BELLY] = [A $500 BUTT DOUBLE]
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-03” author: “Jackie Martinez”
Is Russia trying to provoke a war on Georgia’s border? Last week saw the latest in a series of flare-ups as Georgian troops moved into the remote Kodori valley in the breakaway region of Abkhazia. The Georgians were chasing local tribal leader Emzar Kvitsiani, who had declared that he’d form a private army to resist Tbilisi’s authority. Georgia accuses Russia of encouraging Kvitsiani’s mini-rebellion; worse, claim the Georgians, Russia’s also helping separatists in another restive province, South Ossetia.
Why would Moscow want to set fire to the Caucasus, especially at a time when conflicts are intensifying from Afghanistan to Lebanon? According to Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania, Georgia’s been “enemy number one” to the Kremlin since its pro-Western Rose Revolution in 2003. This year, though, tensions have come to a head. Georgia’s President Mikhail Saakashvili recently accused Moscow of being behind a mysterious explosion on a gas line. In May, Russia banned imports of Georgian wine, severely hurting its economy. Now skirmishes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia have come close to rekindling wars against Georgia’s breakaway republics.
The Kremlin denies undermining its southern neighbor, claiming it wants only to be the guarantor of various ceasefire deals with Georgia’s rebel provinces. The danger is that future clashes could easily involve Russian troops, who are permanently stationed in both Abkhazia and Ossetia as peacekeepers. Any fire fights between Georgian and Russian troops could quickly escalate into something much more serious than a tribal revolt.
– Owen Matthews
U.S. Affairs: Pipeline Politics
An effort by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney to prod Alaska lawmakers to approve a controversial $20 billion natural-gas pipeline project has misfired amid charges from some legislators that the veep was seeking to benefit major energy interests. In a highly unusual intervention in a state dispute, Cheney recently wrote Alaskan legislative leaders urging them to “promptly” enact a bill that would allow three giant oil companies–British Petroleum, ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil–to build a massive pipeline. Under a proposed contract negotiated by Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski, the firms would get major tax breaks–an unpopular move at a time when all three are reporting soaring profits. Cheney contended the “needs of the nation” dictate that the pipeline be built, noting the project was endorsed by the Bush administration in May 2001–a reference to the proposals of the secret energy task force he headed.
– Michael Isikoff
Congo
This week marks the first free elections in the Demo-cratic Republic of the Congo since independence in 1960. The International Crisis Group calls it “the most promising moment” in Congo’s recent history, but warns that “there are huge dangers as well.” The tale of the tape:
Too Much Choice? Congo has 25. 7 million registered voters, many of them illiterate, who have to grapple with six-page ballot papers that present 33 presidential contenders and more than 9,700 candidates. Drawback: losing politicians and former warlords may be tempted to take advantage of a weak state and launch new insurgencies.
Bad History: The setting for Conrad’s “Heart of Darkness” also boasts a six-year civil war that ended in 2002, leaving more than 4 million dead, and more than 3 million displaced. Even now, 1,200 people a day die on average; half of them are children.
In Kofi We Trust: The poll is going ahead under the watch of the U.N. Mission in the DRC , which has 17,600 troops trying to keep the peace. It’s a $432 million initiative, and is considered the most complex U.N. electoral-assistance mission ever undertaken.
– Karen MacGregor
Fashion: Ayatollah Stylings
While fashion Week in New York and London doesn’t happen until September, Tehran isn’t waiting to strut its stuff. Last week, the nascent nuclear power held its first government-sanctioned fashion show since the Islamic revolution of 1979. “One of my dreams is to have a fashion show, not in Paris, but in Esfehan, the most beautiful city in Iran,” says 39-year-old Iranian designer Shadi Parand. “Two weeks ago that was impossible. But now that the government has done one, why not?”
It’s not quite Paris yet. Forget the skimpy outfits of haute couture: this 10-day event was meant to showcase the latest in Muslim fashions as a way to counter the creeping influence of Western style. The opaque overcoats and floor-length chadors that adorned most of the models left much to the imagination. The sponsors of the event–which included the Iranian police force and the Commerce Ministry –hoped to show that women can still dress stylishly by looking to the Qur’an rather than Vogue.
More important, says Shabnam Rezaei, editor in chief of culture magazine Persian Mirror, the fashion show was a bold move by hard-liners in Tehran to stem the growing agitation among Iran’s swelling youth population. Previous fashion shows had been held underground in private homes. “The show was a cultural morsel the government allowed,” says Rezaei says. “They realize that they have to loosen the noose a little bit or they will have a revolution on their hands.” Hey, maybe it is Paris.
– Zvika Krieger
Books: Gimme Shelter
Architects can save lives. Or so argue Cameron Sinclair and Kate Stohr, the co-editors of “Design Like You Give a Damn” ( Thames & Hudson. 336 pages ), a new book that illustrates how designers can solve humanitarian crises through socially conscious projects. The book profiles inventions like Peter Brewin and William Crawford’s “Concrete Canvas,” essentially a building in a bag that can be quickly set up as an emergency medical center or storage facility–perfect for organizations like Médecins Sans Frontières, whose Uganda office has expressed interest in the prototype. Designers can also lessen day-to-day burdens. In southern Africa, where women and children typically walk kilometers to collect water in 20-liter buckets that they carry on their heads, Pettie Petzer and Johan Joker developed the “Hippo Water Roller,” which consists of a metal handle that clips on to a rolling 88-liter container, so four times as much water can be easily hauled.
– Silvia Spring
Landmarks: World Wonders
When Philon of Byzantium compiled a list of man’s seven grandest creations, in the second century B.C., he probably wasn’t thinking too far ahead: only one of the “Seven Wonders of the World” exists today (the Egyptian Pyramids at Giza). Swiss adventurer Bernard Weber hopes to fix that by launching the New 7 Wonders Foundation, whose Web site, new7wonders.com, allows people from around the world to vote on a new list of landmarks. Twenty million have voted so far. Among the finalists: Machu Picchu, China’s Great Wall, the Taj Mahal–and the Statue of Liberty, the Eiffel Tower and Kremlin.
–Zvika Krieger
THE DEBUNKER
Ever since Weblogs became known as blogs, there’s been a steady drumbeat that the so-called pajamas media would soon make reporters and the MSM obsolete. A new survey from the Pew Internet Project dispels that notion.
Who Reads It: Turns out that most of the 12 million American bloggers write for themselves, and their biggest readers are Mom and Dad.
Not So Journalistic: Nearly 40 percent of bloggers describe their journals as personal diaries; 65 percent don’t consider their musings journalism at all; 78 percent are mostly inspired by personal experience.
Almost Pro: Eighty-four percent say blogging is a hobby. And the top 100 bloggers–those who get the most traffic–are almost all professional writers or journalists already.
Reality Check: Marijuana is often called the “gateway drug,” with authorities claiming that weed smokers will eventually end up on heroin. Not quite. A new study from the Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology suggests humans who smoke pot are no more likely to become addicted to heroin than those who do not. Ninety-seven million Americans have tried marijuana, compared with 3 million who’ve touched heroin. Three percent of pot dabblers is hardly a high rate of return.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-14” author: “Gladys Mills”
Under the leadership of Sadr, the Mahdi Army was considered a containable force, susceptible to political bargaining. But as Sadr has leaned toward moderation–his party now has 30 seats in the National Assembly–men fighting under his militia’s banner have become more aggressive. In interviews with NEWSWEEK, Mahdi Army members, Iraqi politicians and Western officials describe an organization in which local commanders are increasingly independent from Sadr, splintering into cells of fighters committed to civil war. There are at least four offshoot Mahdi leaders in Sadr City alone; some groups are taking orders from Iran. There’s similar fragmentation in the largely Shiite cities of Najaf and Basra. According to a U.S. military intel official in Najaf, Coalition forces have been attacked by individuals who get their inspiration from the Mahdi Army but are not official members–men with “an AK-47, an RPG and a Sadr poster,” says the official, requesting anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity. The situation is so volatile that, according to the U.S. officials, Sadr now fears for his own safety and position.
The United States is targeting militia-run death squads in the new Baghdad security operation. Meanwhile, a suicide bombing in Najaf last week brought renewed calls among some Shiite leaders for the Mahdi Army and other militias to take over more security operations. But it’s difficult for the United States to turn over control to an increasingly uncontrollable force.
The presumptive future president of France looks buff (we’re being kind here) in a bathing suit. Until last week, leading contenders Nicolas Sarkozy and Ségolène Royal had spent the Lebanese war at the beach, fawned over by paparazzi. Not the real president, Jacques Chirac, however. A month ago, his 39-year political career seemed to have been reduced to a bad joke. Race riots, mass job protests, murky corruption scandals–instead of a grand exit, Chirac looked to be shuffling off into the sunset.
No more. Thanks to his aggressive, attentive and hard-knuckled handling of the Israel-Lebanon conflict, he’s enjoying a robust comeback. His poll ratings are up 11 points lately. And if French troops lead the coming intervention in the Levant, he can probably expect another boost. This doesn’t mean Chirac will be seduced into another run for office. He’s clearly on the way out in 2007–but he wants to go gracefully, head high. A flag-waving foreign intervention might well salve glum France and its battered leader’s legacy–if it can stop the bleeding in Lebanon, too.
Tracy McNicoll
In 1854, Dr. John Snow’s map of the incidences of cholera in London showed a cluster of cases around a particular water pump–a source of the outbreak. It was proof that sometimes the answer to the question “Why?” can come from first solving a different puzzle: “Where?”
Now two research groups have published new “cancer atlases.” The American Cancer Society’s global report showed graphically that while the “risk of getting cancer is higher in the developed world … cancers in the developing world are more fatal.” Experts think higher incidence rates in rich countries spring partly from lifestyle choices, like physical inactivity, unhealthy diets and more-prolonged tobacco use.
Jonathan Mummolo
Japan may be the second wealthiest country in the world, but according to the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Global Development, it’s also the stingiest. This year’s Commitment to Development Index, just released by the CGD and Foreign Policy magazine, ranked Japan last–for the third year in a row. So what did Japan–the world’s largest aid donor just six years ago–do wrong? The CDI rankings of the world’s 21 richest countries judges how well they help improve lives in the developing world by looking at their policies not just in foreign aid but trade, investment, migration, environment, security and technology. Japan has high barriers on imported goods–its rice tariffs average 900 percent–and a low tolerance for immigration. Its foreign aid is the smallest as a share of income, and it has a poor environmental record. Still, Japan’s not the only one falling short. Says CDI’s David Roodman: “Even the best could do better.”
Allan Madrid
Wall Street is worried. The world’s biggest IPOs are moving to London and Hong Kong instead of New York. Some are quick to blame the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, but critics say cost is the bottom line. ^The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which regulates public companies and their accounting practices, is scaring big business away. WRONG: Cost is the real culprit. U.S. underwriting fees are the highest in the world, and IPO discounts are higher in the United States than Europe, which means worse pricing for the seller. ^ American and foreign companies are willing to pay top dollar for access to the U.S. investor base and prestigious New York stock exchanges. WRONG: A company doesn’t have to be listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ to snare U.S. investors. Savvy American investors and hedge funds trade shares all over the world. Moreover, overseas markets are increasingly stronger and more competitive.–From Slate.com
If Yahoo searches are anything to go by, there’s a new hottie on the rise. Channing Tatum, star of the upcoming dance movie “Step Up,” has developed a cult following–even though he has yet to open a movie (he’s had supporting roles in “Coach Carter” and “She’s the Man”). Coming from the pages of Abercrombie & Fitch, he’s the first male model turned actor to generate Hollywood heat since Ashton Kutcher. “Tons of crazy girls have said to me, ‘Channing Tatum is in your movie? Oh, my God, he’s so hot!’ " says “Step Up” director Anne Fletcher. “When you go onto MySpace, it’s insane how many people love this boy.” Tatum is also about to start filming a movie in which he plays a sergeant back from Iraq. “We just wrapped six days of boot camp. I smell like a horse,” he says.
Ramin Setoodeh
Reality Check: America loves imposing economic sanctions on governments it deems dangerous. The problem is, they don’t work. Witness the 45-year-old embargo against Cuba and a 57-year injunction on North Korea. Sanctions rarely help oust regimes, and only further isolate oppressed populations–who might someday stage a coup–from the influence and aid of the outside world. Washington might as well say, “More power to you, Ahmadinejad.”–From Slate.com
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-20” author: “Kelly Anderson”
For the first time in years, there’s reason to celebrate the food books of fall. Finest among them is Michel Richard’s Happy in the Kitchen (Artisan. $45). Richard’s Citronelle, in Washington, D.C., is quite simply one of the best restaurants in America. You can watch him through the kitchen window: busy, mischievous, always up to something. So’s the book, which reveals his methods in a charming, personal voice; a lifetime of wisdom in a big, beautiful package you’ll actually use.
Nigel Slater, one of England’s most endearing home cooks, chronicles his culinary year in The Kitchen Diaries (Gotham. $40). It’s so much more than what to make for dinner tonight, but it’s that as well. A superb example of the happy new trend of food memoirs is Madhur Jaffrey’s Climbing the Mango Trees (Knopf. $25), which traces the formation of this culinary icon through her childhood in India, complete with family recipes. Preparing the exquisite little plates of food beautifully photographed in Kaiseki (Kodansha. $45) by Kyoto restaurateur Yoshihiro Murata is almost beside the point; understanding, and salivating, is.
Seems like the Joy of Cooking (Simon & Schuster. $30) has had an attitude adjustment in its 75th-anniversary edition: the trendifying of the 1997 revise removed too many of its best-loved features (brunch, jellies and preserves, quick tuna casserole). Now they’re back. Whew! One Spice, Two Spice (Morrow. $34.95) is not just another Indian cookbook. Floyd Cardoz of New York’s Tabla restaurant is a dad as well as a classically trained chef, and he patiently shows his young sons–and us–confidence with Indian spices.
Some years ago I chided the chef Charlie Palmer for producing a cookbook too complicated for a home cook, so now I heartily applaud Charlie Palmer’s Practical Guide to the New American Kitchen (Melcher. $35), which rocks. Most cookbooks for kids are either too dopey or too dutiful, but Green Eggs and Ham Cookbook (Random House. $16.95) is not only true to the Dr. Seuss, um, oeuvre, but with Georgeanne Brennan’s healthy recipes, culinarily solid.
BY DOROTHY KALINS
4 HOURS IN . . . MUMBAI
Still known to many as Bombay–and to others as Bollywood–India’s film and financial capital is a great melting pot.
STROLL past the majestic stone dome, turrets and pointed arches of the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus–a UNESCO world-heritage site known by most locals as Victoria Terminus, or VT.
WATCH a few overs of cricket–India’s one universal religion–at the Oval Maidan (Veer Nariman and Mahatma Gandhi roads).
EAT a plate of sali boti (mutton with fried potatoes) at Britannia, beloved by the city’s Parsis. Don’t leave without trying the unbeatable caramel custard (Wakefield House, 11 Sprott Road, 16 Ballar Estate).
SAIL across the harbor to Elephanta Island and tour the remarkable 1,500-year-old rock-hewn temples in honor of Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction. Beware of tourist-bullying monkeys! (www.maharashtratourism.gov.in/mtdc).
–JASON OVERDORF
FAMILY: Carrying Kids Like Kangaroos
Modern baby carriers have been around since the ’70s, but lately they have been fine-tuned to improve comfort. The secret lies in the fabric: made from 3-D textile, a hybrid material composed of thin, netlike mesh, the new carriers really breathe, preventing babies–and parents–from getting too hot. Inspired by age-old baby-carrying methods, these modern high-tech versions are fashionable in appearance as well as function: more and more child-development experts are recognizing the benefits of keeping infants physically close to their caregivers. “[Baby carriers] play an important role in increasing parent-baby bonding,” says Eve Gallicot of Babybjorn, whose popular new Baby Air Carrier, made out of 3-D flexible mesh, is great for hot climates and shapes itself to the growing baby (€100; baby bjorn.com). They are also a sleek and practical alternative to today’s Humvee-size strollers. “They are great for shopping, taking the subway and the bus or just sitting at a café with your friends,” says Elodie Legendre of Red Castle. The company’s Sport carrier features a belt around the hips and a shoulder strap to let you carry the baby in front or to the side (€79; red castle.fr). So ditch the stroller–after carefully removing the baby, of course–and wear your pride and joy close to your heart.
–FLORENCE VILLEMINOT
GROOMING: Smoother Than Silk
Want to get rid of your five o’clock shadow before that big dinner meeting? Leave the grooming to the experts. Geo. F. Trumper has been a London icon for the past 130 years, offering traditional wet shaves with an open razor in a gentlemen’s-club atmosphere in two locations: Mayfair and St. James (shaves from $57; trumpers.com). Hotels are a good bet for a close shave, too. Set to open later this month, the new barbershop in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Hong Kong will bring you back to the haut monde of 1930s Shanghai, providing traditional shaves as well as grooming services such as pedicures (shaves $29; pedicure $86; mandarinoriental.com). The InterContinental Hotel in Prague provides shaves for busy business travelers ($18; icprague.com), and at Le Meridien New Delhi you can enjoy spa services along with your shave (from $17; lemeridien-newdelhi.com).
–MEGAN COKELY
GOURMET: Favored Fungus
About this time every year, foodies go mad and spend a small fortune on a large, ugly fungus: the Italian white truffle. Available only from mid-October to early December and found mainly in the woods of northern Italy, the winter truffle carries an intoxicating, earthy flavor. Posh restaurants the world over serve paper-thin shavings over pastas, risottos and salads. Enjoying the aromatic tuber at home has also become simpler, thanks to online distributors. Purveyors such as sabatinostore.com receive daily shipments from Italy and can overnight them to you ($145 per ounce, or about two to three servings) along with instructions on how to store and prepare them. Always shave the raw tuber, using a carrot peeler or mandoline, directly onto dishes. (Never cook truffles, as they are volatile and their aromatics break down quickly under heat.) Store them for up to four days in the refrigerator wrapped in a paper towel and placed on a plate of uncooked rice, which absorbs moisture. Clean the tuber with a dry soft toothbrush. And here’s the best part: early Greeks and Romans considered the truffle an aphrodisiac.
–TARA WEINGARTEN
DREAM HOME: RUGGED HIDEAWAY
Located on the Eastern Cape of South Africa, Carnarvon Estate contains 5,400 hectares of stunning fields, trees and mountain vistas. In addition to a boat slip and a pool, the property includes a church, a hunting lodge and the remains of Stone Age workshops where 150,000-year-old artifacts have been found ($6.3 million; sothebysrealty.com).
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-22” author: “Robert Garcia”
Amir showed up at Baghdad’s Ministry of Higher Education last Tuesday hoping for a ticket out of his lawless country. An instructor at the local Institute of Technology, he was applying for a fellowship abroad. But shortly after he arrived, dozens of masked gunmen burst into the compound, snatching him and more than 100 other hostages. Amir, who spoke to NEWSWEEK on the condition his real name not be used, says the kidnappers blindfolded and beat him, and then drove for an hour. The attackers then gave him a pop quiz to prove his loyalty: name the 12 Shiite imams. Amir is Sunni, but had memorized the list just in case. “Thanks be to the Almighty,” he recalled, “I answered them correctly.” A few hours later, Amir was dropped by the side of the road just outside of the Shiite slum of Sadr City, shaken, but grateful. He’d survived.
Not all of Iraq’s educators have been so lucky. Since 2003 more than 250 instructors have been killed, and some 2,000 have fled the country, according to the League of Iraqi College Professors. In some cases the attackers have been Islamic fundamentalists opposed to specific liberal teachings. In others, like last week’s assault on the Sunni-controlled ministry, the violence appears to have been sectarian.
Whatever the motivation, the string of brutal attacks has had a chilling effect on education in Iraq, a country with an illustrious intellectual tradition. Educators complain bitterly that their pleas for better protection have been ignored by Iraq’s weak central government. The Higher Education minister says he’s begged for 800 additional guards to protect schools, without success. “We don’t have enough forces yet to provide security to institutions,” explains Haneen Mahmoud, a Shiite member of Iraq’s Parliament.
For a country with such a rich past, the future is bleak indeed. Consider Ali Sami, a 12-year-old Baghdad resident, who says his mother wants him to become a doctor when he grows up. When one of his young friends was killed last month, Ali abandoned his mom’s dream. “I don’t want to be anything,” he says. “I want to stay alive.”
–Kevin Peraino, Salih Mehdi and Sarah Childress France: Best Seen and Heard The eye-catching Ségolène Royal, 53, won the Socialist Party nomination for president of France by a 60 percent landslide last week, and much has been made of the fact that she’s the first woman to be a serious contender for the country’s top job. But more important perhaps is that Royal represents the return of real populism.
The Parisian political elite has long applied the epithet “populist” to the rabble-rousing ultra-right-wing Jean-Marie Le Pen. More recently the populist tag has stuck to the slick center-right presidential contender, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy. Like much that Sarkozy does, however, his populism may be more show than substance. France’s “Top Cop” made a flashy show of deporting illegal immigrants allegedly responsible for Paris’ banlieues riots last year, for instance. But the unrest has continued.
Royal, on the other hand, made the Socialist Party more responsive to popular opinion. The method for choosing a candidate was moved from smoke-filled rooms to an open primary among party adherents. Then she exploited the Internet with her blog, Desires for the Future, to sign up large numbers of new, younger party members, while launching her “I’m listening” pitch to woo a French public largely ignored by the old elites.
So how will the clash of the populists–Ségo vs. Sarko–play out in the spring? For a change, it appears the people may be able to decide.
Neanderthals, the extinct cousins of Homo sapiens, were in the news again last week, as the audacious project to sequence DNA from a 38,000-year-old fossil bone showed its first results. Meanwhile, a team led by Bruce Lahn of the University of Chicago has been investigating a human gene called microcephalin. A statistical analysis of mutations in this gene indicates that its most common form (or allele) evolved as long as 1.1 million years ago, was carried for most of that time by a different hominid species and then was reintroduced into the human population some 37,000 years ago. That’s about the time that modern humans, coming from Africa, were replacing Neanderthals in Europe. Whatever that allele does, it must have conveyed a very strong evolutionary advantage, because from that single event of what geneticists politely call “introgression” it spread to 70 percent of the human population today. What might that advantage have been? The gene is known to control brain growth, and Lahn says the crucial factor could have been anything from changing head size to make childbirth less risky, to improving energy efficiency in the brain. But one obvious possibility is that, perhaps in combination with genes that humans already possessed, it made them smarter. “I don’t buy the stereotype that Neanderthals were dumb,” says Henry Harpending, a leading researcher on the genetics of intelligence.
The new “Joy of Cooking,” updated from the 1997 edition for its 75th anniversary, is a cry of despair from deep within America’s culinary soul. Irma Rombauer, the original book’s author, let past and present mingle tastefully at her table. The new edition nods to that spirit by combining 500 new recipes with 4,000 previously published ones. But after the last edition proved too gourmet for fans, the new “Joy” has been retrofitted with a vengeance. Patty melts and corn dogs are ladled across the page like cheap custard, right next to more refreshing recipes for sushi and flavored vodka. And some originals that should have stayed behind are back on the stove, too; a page of canned-soup concoctions may have been a novelty in 1931, but in 2006 they’re downright odious. “Joy” ’s “original glory” was precisely that–original. Unfortunately, there’s no re-creating it.
R.E.M.’s got a new hits album out, while U2 tells its story through a coffee-table book. Bono’s band is clearly seen as No. 1 these days, but back in the ’80s, who rocked harder?
U2’s political songs, like “Sunday Bloody Sunday” and “Pride,” packed a mean punch.
WRONG: U2’s messages were Bono’s and just his. R.E.M.’s “Fall on Me” is deeply political and personal–for anybody.
U2 was more ambitious in the studio. “We’re going to make big music,” Bono once said.
WRONG: Bigger isn’t better. While U2 churned out classics, R.E.M. explored new sounds.
Live, Bono leaped into audiences of devoted followers. Rock god?
WRONG: Eschewing ego trips, Michael Stipe connected emotionally with crowds. They’re still fans.
Movies that take liberties with well-known characters are always asking for trouble. “Fur,” subtitled “An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus,” offers fair warning. Taking the surface particulars of the famous photographer’s life, the film concocts a fictional beauty-and-the-beast metaphor to explain how Arbus (well played by Nicole Kidman) blossomed into a major artist. If the heroine had some other name, it might get recognized as a seductive and insinuating love story. It’s too bad that Diane Arbus had to be dragged into it. Taking liberties with a fictional character, on the other hand, “Casino Royale,” the 21st James Bond movie, takes us back to Bond’s roots as 007. It’s a radical–and welcome–reinvention. Daniel Craig’s muscular secret agent is a tough, brutal hombre who frankly doesn’t give a damn if his martini is shaken or stirred. He’s both the coldest and the most passionate Bond we’ve seen.
2006 is the year of the dog. But authorities in Beijing have imposed a 1 dog-per-household policy in order to curb rabies, which killed 318 people in September alone. 2,254 people have died from the disease this year, up 26 percent from last year. In 2005, 69,000 people sought treatment for rabies. Still, only 3 percent of dogs in China are vaccinated against the disease.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-15” author: “Phyllis Souers”
That doesn’t matter so much now. After this summer’s conflicts–during which militants used tunnels from Gaza to Israel to kill and capture Israeli soldiers–the idea has gained new currency. Nervous Israelis are increasingly eager to put as much distance as possible between the Jewish state and its perceived enemies. In recent weeks, U.S. and Palestinian diplomats have complained that Israel has stopped issuing visas to some longtime West Bank residents, splitting up Palestinian families. And last week Prime Minister Ehud Olmert announced he would bring hard-liner Avigdor Lieberman–a Russian immigrant who favors redrawing Israel’s borders to exclude some Arab Israeli villages–into his governing coalition. “I don’t believe in coexistence,” Lieberman told NEWSWEEK recently. Neither do a growing number of his countrymen; polls show strong support for Lieberman’s hawkish platform. Even Foghel now says he’s convinced the moat is “a good solution,” adding that Gaza residents might grow to like relaxing by their new waterway, and even fishing in it. “It will be something nice to look at,” he says.
It was a trying week for Mexico’s lame-duck President Vicente Fox. The man who took office six years ago pledging to secure a comprehensive immigration accord with Washington stood by helplessly as President George W. Bush signed legislation to erect new fencing along 1,126km of the U.S. border with Mexico. Fox’s faith in free trade has been called into question by allegations that Washington has levied illegal duties on Mexican steel exports. And with just over a month to go before Fox steps down on Dec. 1, a long-simmering political crisis in the state capital of Oaxaca boiled over on Friday when plainclothes policemen opened fire on left-wing protesters, killing an American freelance videojournalist and two others.
Opponents of Oaxaca Governor Ulises Ruiz are demanding his resignation, and Fox sent federal security forces to the troubled state. But on the eve of the bloodshed the Mexican president already sounded like a man ready to move on. “If I offended anyone I ask for their forgiveness,” Fox told a meeting of broadcasters in the resort city of Cancún.
For the past few years, global banking giants have been circling Taiwan, looking for a way in. Finally, one of them pounced. Last week Britain’s Standard Chartered confirmed it had gained a majority stake in Taiwan’s Hsinchu International Bank in what’s at least a $1.2 billion deal. It’s the first takeover of a Taiwanese bank by a foreign company, and gives Standard Chartered a foothold in Asia’s fourth largest banking market. Hot on its heels, HSBC and Citigroup are now also reported to be in talks with smaller, private banks in Taiwan. (Both companies declined to comment.)
So what’s the big attraction? In recent years, Taiwan’s banks have successfully reduced their bad loan ratios from more than 11 percent in 2002 to about 2.4 percent in late August. They’re also now at bargain prices, according to analysts. But there’s more to it than the banks themselves. Analysts say that Standard Chartered is trying to tap an often overlooked chunk of the Chinese banking market: some 1 million Taiwanese work or live in mainland China and the island has pumped at least $100 billion into the mainland’s booming economy since the late 1980s. Taiwanese banks can’t open branches in China, and vice versa–which leaves an opening for foreign players to provide a more efficient banking link. The road to riches, it would seem, goes through Taiwan.
Before you see Harry Potter on screen next summer, you’ll be able to see him naked onstage in London. Daniel Radcliffe, 17-year-old star of the “Potter” franchise, will make his West End debut next year in “Equus.” The role–a troubled young man with a religious-erotic obsession with horses–requires Radcliffe to be nude for one scene. “Part of me wants to shake up people’s perception of me, just shove me in a blender,” Radcliffe told NEWSWEEK. “It’s a really challenging play, and if I can pull it off–we don’t know if I can yet–I hope people will stop and think, ‘Maybe he can do something other than Harry’.”
Not that Harry’s been bad to him. The films have grossed more than $3.5 billion worldwide. Still, you can’t blame a young actor for wanting to reveal another part of himself, so to speak. What’s remarkable is that the studio, Warner Bros., didn’t freak out about it. “Well, I’m sure there were some people in Burbank who may have taken a breath, but I wasn’t worried,” says “Potter” producer David Heyman, who discovered Radcliffe seven years ago in the audience of a London theater. “I think it shows a young man who is pushing boundaries,” he says. “Besides, what’s the worst that can happen? Someone takes a picture of his willy?” Well, yeah. “So what,” he says. “We’ve all got one–or have seen one.”
Since he began playing Harry at the age of 10, Radcliffe has grown from a polite, almost shy boy into a chatty young man bursting with energy and ideas. “I definitely want to be an actor; I love it so much,” he says, “but I want to write as well. And I’d love to direct a short film, just to see what that’s like.”
DVDs
What makes us go soft for the tough guy? A new DVD collection, “Gangsters and Tough Guys” explores that X factor that makes bad boys look so awfully good without having to resort to the over-the-top graphic violence of “Bonnie and Clyde” or “The Godfather”: “The Petrified Forest” (1936): Outlaw Humphrey Bogart is the epitome of menace, desperation and tragedy–a leftover of the 19th-century Jesse ames.
“G Men” (1935): James Cagney may be a federal agent, but boy is he bad, with his tough talk, dancing gait, and readiness to wage war–with his fists or a firearm.
“A Slight Case of Murder” (1938): Edward G. Robinson shoots off a double-barrel with his snappy rhetoric and cocky ways.– From Slate.com
Reality Check
Did colonialism actually do some good? Researchers at Dartmouth College have found that conquered Pacific and Atlantic islanders display a 40 percent boost in income for every century under occupation, and a reduction in infant mortality of 2.6 deaths per 1,000 births. And those colonized after 1700 can boast incomes 64 percent higher per century, versus an 11 percent hike for pre-Enlightenment territories.– From Slate.com
Letter from the Editor… With ferocious political ads and bloody images from Baghdad filling their TV screens, Americans are coming to a realization much of the rest of the world had long ago: the United States is not winning, and cannot win, in any traditional sense of the word, in Iraq. As Fareed Zakaria writes in this week’s cover story, that does not mean U.S. troops should simply pull out of the country; if the current low-grade civil war is bloody, it would be dwarfed by the carnage that would likely ensue. But Washington must do more to encourage a political accommodation among Iraqi factions, and barring one, lay the groundwork for a smaller, cheaper and more sustainable long-term U.S. presence in the country. Empty talk about “victory” accomplishes nothing. It’s time to make some hard choices.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-26” author: “John Nagel”
Much is at stake in this week’s midterm elections in the United States, not least control of the Congress and perhaps the fate of the U.S. deployment in Iraq. One thing that’s also up for grabs is the soul of America’s vastly powerful evangelical movement . As Religion Editor Lisa Miller writes in this week’s cover story, this is hardly the monolithic group of obscurantists that one might imagine: in fact, the tension between pushing hot-button political issues and supporting a more tolerant Christian charity is coming to a head. And the ironies don’t end there. As Kishore Mahbubani notes, once-devout Asia may now be the world’s bastion of secularism, while Europe, according to Eric Kaufmann , is growing ever more religious. God apparently does work in mysterious ways.
Nisid Hajari, Managing Editor
Georgia: It Can’t Get Much Worse
Russia and Georgia are at it again. Earlier this year it was the wine wars. Moscow refused to buy any more of its neighbor’s most savory export, slamming poor Georgia’s treasury. Then came the recent flap over alleged Russian spies. When the government in Tbilisi arrested a few, the Kremlin severed trade ties, closed its borders and began expelling ethnic Georgians across Russia. Last week brought a new source of discord: energy. Moscow announced it would triple the price of gas sold to Tbilisi. “It will be a long, cold winter,” says Georgia’s ambassador to the United Nations, Irakli Alasania, with a shrug.
The shrug says it all. For all the Sturm und Drang , the mutterings of crisis and dark rumors of war, the good news in this bad relationship is that it can’t get much worse–and that may be good enough. Georgia’s Prime Minister Zurab Nogaideli told NEWSWEEK how he sent his foreign minister to Moscow last week in an effort to reduce tensions. “Surprise, surprise,” he said. “Moscow instead decided to put on a show of strength and charged us the highest price of all–$230 per metric ton,” twice what Armenia and Ukraine pay. So this is good news? Yes, the prime minister explained, “Russia has given its last warning. There are no more steps it can take to punish us.”
The warning, Nogaideli and his U.N. ambassador are quick to say, chiefly concerns Georgia’s determination to join NATO. Yet short of an invasion–which will not happen–what’s the Kremlin going to do? Having played its energy card, it has few weapons of persuasion left. Georgia will be forced even faster to diversify its economy, says Alasania. As for fuel, Tbilisi is lining up alternative supplies through Azerbaijan and Turkey. As Georgia sees it, today’s hardships will only strengthen the foundations of its future independence within the former Soviet sphere. Call it the price of freedom.
–Michael Meyer and Anna Nemtsova
Good News, Bad News
GOOD NEWS: The on-again, off-again six-party talks on North Korea’s nuclear-weapons program are now … on again. Kim Jong Il’s regime came back to the table after facing U.N. sanctions. Analysts are encouraged that U.S. Secretary of State Condi Rice is managing U.S. policy toward the North.
BAD NEWS: As Bruce Klingner of the Eurasia Group notes, there are even more contentious issues now than there were when the talks collapsed, chiefly the financial sanctions Washington has slapped on Pyongyang. Chances of a breakthrough seem remote.
Web: Friendly Takeover
Tapping into the closed Japanese market can be as difficult as learning the language. A decade ago, Rupert Murdoch’s attempt, with media mogul Masayoshi Son’s local Internet powerhouse Softbank, to buy broadcaster TV Asahi was so widely viewed as a foreign incursion that Murdoch sold his shares within a year.
A source close to his Internet subsidiary, MySpace–the world’s most popular online social network–says that the News Corp. chief will join with Softbank to roll out MySpace Japan. They will likely announce the 50-50 joint venture this week. (A MySpace spokesperson declined to comment.) Subscribers will be able to surf in Japanese while linking up with the site’s 75 million, mostly English-speaking users.
But unlike the U.K., France and Germany, which MySpace entered earlier this year, Japan already has a social-networking site–the invite-only Mixi, with 5 million members. MySpace Japan will be open to anyone. But analysts say that Mixi’s exclusivity fuels user loyalty–which will create an uphill battle for Murdoch’s venture. “Users will have to migrate en masse to make it worthwhile,” says Hiroshi Kamide, a KBC Securities analyst.
With MySpace’s U.S. growth inevitably slowing, Asia’s big populations and growing markets beckon. The same source says Murdoch’s MySpace move into China (an even trickier country for a site that promotes user-generated content, given issues surrounding government censorship) will likely come next year.
–Brad Stone
Israel: Hate on Parade
Jerusalem police are girding for potential conflict. The city’s annual Gay Pride Parade, scheduled for Friday, is drawing unusually violent protests from Jerusalem’s ultra-Orthodox community. Demonstrators already doused an Israeli officer with gasoline during a preparade riot last week. A police official told news- week that the department had raised its alert status to “high,” and was preparing for the possibility of knife attacks and razor blades hidden in fruit to be thrown at marchers.
Israelis pride themselves on the nation’s diversity. Yet the parade controversy is a stark reminder of the Jewish state’s simmering internal animosities. And the ill will isn’t just one-sided. A poll released last week by Israel’s Gesher organization revealed that 37 percent of those questioned said the most “hated” group in Israel is the ultra-Orthodox, the state’s fastest-growing settler community. Meanwhile, local authorities are preparing for the worst. The police plan to deploy some 8,000 troops on Friday–roughly as many patrolmen as expected marchers.
–Joanna Chen and Kevin Peraino
Movies: With the Chicks
It was in 2003, during the heated run-up to the war in Iraq, when Dixie Chicks lead singer Natalie Maines remarked that she was ashamed President Bush came from Texas. You see that moment in “Shut Up & Sing,” a startlingly intimate documentary by Barbara (“Harlan County”) Kopple and Cecilia Peck. “Shut Up & Sing” makes us flies on the wall as it follows the media furor. We’re backstage with their manager, Simon Renshaw. We’re in the conference room with the damage-control rep sent by their “very concerned” sponsor Lipton Tea. We’re with their families as band members Emily Robison and her sister, Martie Maguire, raise their kids, compose their music, deal with the bans by Cumulus Media and Clear Channel. In the midst of death threats and canceled concert dates, they forge on, creating their rousingly defiant album “Taking the Long Way” with producer Rick Rubin. Masterfully edited, the film combines footage the band made for its Web site and footage shot by Kopple and Peck over the last two years. The filmmakers are clearly in awe of the Chicks’ fighting spirit. If you think Maines’s original Bush remark was disrespectful, wait till you hear what she calls him here. Maines is not ready to make nice, and neither is this riveting documentary.
–David Ansen
Membership in the World Association for Infant Mental Health has doubled in a decade to 44 affiliate organizations around the globe, and graduate programs and journals for infant therapists are also on the rise. But is tot psychology really necessary?
The CW holds that most disorders appear in adulthood.
Fact: Brain research shows that disorders begin early in life and intervention during infancy is good preventative medicine. Toilet training problems may not be an illness, but a slew of disorders were recently added to a diagnostic manual for babies, including separation anxiety, social anxiety, food aversions and anorexia.
Fashion: Subzero Sizing
The average American woman is nine kilos heavier than 40 years ago. But “sizes have been creeping up [1.3cm] at a time so women can fit into smaller sizes and feel good about it,” says Jim Lovejoy of the SizeUSA survey. Now clothiers are even introducing a “subzero” category of negative sizes–not for anor-exics, as one might think, but to give skinny gals clothes that actually fit.
Reality Check
Think America is cleaner than Europe? 64 percent of staph strains in the United States are antibiotic-resistant, and staph infections kill 13,000 people each year in U.S. hospitals. Europeans, with their “search and destroy” approach involving protective gloves, masks and gowns when treating infected patients, have it under control. Consider the Netherlands, where a mere 1 percent of strains are antibiotic-resistant.
Rod Stewart
The singer has a new album called “Still the Same … Great Rock Classics of All Time.” He spoke with Nicki Gostin.
I am lazy. I’ve admitted that since 1971. I made my name as an interpreter of songs and I get great pleasure from it.
I don’t think people buy my records because I’ve got good hair! People love my voice–although it is a very good head of hair.
Yeah, one. I’d been nominated 15 times. I was actually enjoying not winning.
My friend Long John Baldry, who died last year, gave it to me. He was a wonderfully funny homosexual.
I don’t mind. I’ve got very effeminate ways, and my hair was like Dusty Springfield’s.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-16” author: “Wilda Wertheimer”
–Tony Emerson, Managing Editor
No part of iraq needs fixing more desperately than insurgency-ravaged Anbar province and its capital, Ramadi. And U.S. forces are increasingly sure it can’t be fixed without help from tribes who have always been more loyal to their sheiks than to a government of a region some consider crucial to the stability of Iraq.
Americans now think they’ve got a plan. After one well-known tribal leader was assassinated this summer, a group of 15 Ramadi sheiks banded together for survival’s sake. They called themselves Sawa–Arabic for “together”–and negotiated a deal with the Americans: in exchange for protection against Al Qaeda, they would bring local police ranks up to strength. They’ve lived up to that end of the bargain at least. Monthly police enlistments there have soared from the low double digits before the deal to the full Coalition quota of 400 a month. Elders of the Abu Soda tribe recently helped U.S. forces find IEDs that had been planted by their own tribesmen, and they have identified kidnappers and other local bad guys for the Americans to arrest.
Their effectiveness against Al Qaeda, however, is another question: while the Americans say attacks by local resistance fighters in Anbar have dropped by 40 percent, U.S. deaths there have continued at a rate of more than two dozen a month. Still, Sawa’s membership has risen to some 60 tribal leaders. Its founder, Sheik Abdel Sittar, does TV spots to encourage more police recruits. “All the honest people follow me,” he says. “The good people. Even some tribes that were with the insurgency follow us.” The sheik is now building a marble-lined council meeting hall (funded by Sawa) inside his compound.
Some lawmakers in Baghdad fear that Sawa could become one more sectarian militia, but U.S. forces liaison Lt. Col. Jim Lechner scoffs at such worries. “We would turn that off in a heartbeat,” he says. All it would take is a threat to withdraw police protection from the offending sheik’s neighborhood. Can Sawa restore law and order in Anbar? The Americans can only hope so. No one seems to have a better plan.
–Sarah Childress
One way to define “sustainable” development, the oddly hip jargon that now rolls off the tongues of Hollywood celebs, is simple. It means “for profit.” How else does an enterprise sustain itself? Though many chicly resist the profit label (so … corporate), the emerging market of social entrepreneurs embraces it, and they are now honored by the World Challenge Winner awards, sponsored by the BBC and Shell (NEWSWEEK is a panelist). This year’s winner is Thusitha Ranasinghe of Sri Lanka. In 1997, he founded a company called Maximus, which recycles elephant waste to make paper. One result: locals now see the elephants as a profit center, not a threat, and have stopped killing the endangered beasts. Winning the award–and the $20,000 grant–“means the world,” says Ranasinghe. “We’ve been recognized.”
Maximus is already reaping the rewards. Ranasinghe has received inquiries from potential customers as far away as South Africa. The runner-up, British expat Chris Page, founded Cards From Africa with Rwandan artist Gabriel Dusabe in 2004. They employ Rwandans to make greeting cards, and have seen sales triple to more than 500,000 cards annually. Third place went to Swapon Kumar Das, whose Bangladesh-based NGO Dalit neutralizes arsenic from water supplies. Given how hip this movement is getting, their next visitor could be Angelina Jolie.
What does it mean to be wealthy? A new United Nations study provides a sketch of what “rich” actually means–globally speaking.
500
Thousands of dollars required to rank among the wealthiest 1 percent of the world’s people.
37
Millions of people who have this level of wealth around the world.
88.3
Percentage of the world’s wealth held by the citizens of the 24 richest countries.
14.8
Percentage of the world’s population this represents.
Washington is buzzing about a potential battle of the heavyweights. Sources inside the Hillary Clinton camp who insist on anonymity for fear of being frozen out say it is “99 percent certain” she will get into the presidential race early next year. Barack Obama partisans, less afraid of retribution but no less anonymous, say their man is “about 80 percent likely” to run. He won’t make a final decision until the holidays.
Clinton partisans aren’t attacking Obama publicly yet, but they’ve begun speaking in code about how important it is to have a president who is experienced, well traveled and battle-tested. Sharper jabs are likely on the way. “You may hear some Hillary people saying things like, ‘Just a little while ago he was in Springfield worrying about license-tag fees’,” says a Hillary person saying just that, though not willing to do so publicly.
But Obama will be sure to find new backers. “After seven years of the ‘we kick a–, go it alone’ foreign policy, the American voter will be ready to try a leader who projects better on the world stage,” says Jeh Johnson, a corporate attorney and former general counsel of the Air Force under Clinton. “Barack’s multicultural heritage will represent that change.”
–Jonathan Alter
Michael crichton’s latest book, “Next,” tells the story of a man who’s half chimpanzee. It has an initial print run of 2 million– particularly impressive for a novel about biotechnology. But that’s Crichton’s trick: he addresses complex contemporary issues–genetics in Jurassic Park, sexual harassment in “Disclosure” for instance–into thrilling reads. Any half chimp can type out a novel about a complex subject. Making it readable is best left to Crichton.
from Slate.com
Conventional Wisdom holds that you should stick with a winning formula. But look around: the troubles of George Bush, General Motors and many others suggest the limits of staying the course.
Consider, in a smaller way, director Darren Aronofsky. His latest effort, “The Fountain,” follows the path of the films that propelled him to stardom. Sean Gullette’s paranoid mathematician in “Pi” and Ellen Burstyn’s speed-addled housewife in “Requiem for a Dream” tried to transcend human limits, to attain the unattainable. And in “The Fountain,” the hero (Hugh Jackman) battles 16th-century Mayan warriors and all manner of evils to save his lady (Rachel Weisz) from death.
Unfortunately, pushing the formula too far can lead to failure. The reason: what sets this hero apart from the protagonists of Aronofsky’s earlier films is that he actually succeeds. Beating the unbeatable is worse than bad metaphysics–it’s bad filmmaking.
from Slate.com
It’s been dubbed the new “Rolling Stone,” wielding the power to seal the fate of a new band at the click of a mouse. Pitchfork Media, the indie-music site of record reviews and features, posts album and song reviews earlier and faster than other publications. Pitchfork’s reviews are extremely provocative, generating massive responses from bloggers and bands. (These create Internet buzz for both the bands and the site.) For example, after bassist Bill Baird’s band Sound Team received a bad review, he put a sticker with his band’s name on a dummy, then stabbed the dummy with a pitchfork and threw it off of a cliff. He then posted a video of the whole episode on YouTube. The combination of blogs and stunts like this allows the online community to pass judgments on bands within no time. Pitchfork’s prose isn’t pretty, but it’s personal, intimate and very good for bands. After all, any publicity is good publicity, right?
from Slate.com
A month ago, 8-year-old Connor Schultz could read 45 words a minute. Today he’s up to 93. The reason? A 4-year-old longhaired dachshund named Ruby who, once a week, visits Connor’s school in Schenectady, New York, and sits with him while he reads aloud. She doesn’t judge or correct him, and Connor has an audience he feels comfortable reading to.
Ruby is one of 16,000 certified therapy dogs participating in reading-assistance programs at schools and libraries across America, as educators have begun tapping into the calming effect dogs have on us. “As word spreads and test scores improve, requests for visits from therapy dogs have been pouring in. “We get calls every day,” says Ursula Kemp, president of New Jersey’s Therapy Dogs International. And Utah-based Intermountain Therapy Animals has close to 1,300 dogs registered in its reading-assistance program.
–Matthew Phillips
Do the potential benefits of precautionary CT scans outweigh the risks? Consider mammograms: roughly 10 percent of annual tests are considered abnormal; 20 percent of women without breast cancer will have a biopsy after a decade of screening; and almost 33 percent will have additional testing because of a false-positive result. Which isn’t healthy at all.
from Slate.com
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-28” author: “Wilton Williams”
This threat has been obscured by the rising tension between Shiites and Sunnis. Crowds poured into central Beirut last week, seeking to topple the government. By demanding more power for the bloc allied with the Shiite forces of Hizbullah, the crowds threaten the 16-year-old agreement that ended the last civil war by dividing influence among Lebanon’s dueling sects. U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. John Bolton called the rallies “part of the Iran-Syria-inspired coup.”
That may be missing the hottest flashpoint. Entrenched in the pro-Hizbullah crowd last week were thousands of Christian supporters of Michel Aoun, an Army commander during the civil war who has made no secret of his presidential ambitions. Since returning to Lebanon last year after more than a decade in exile, Aoun has forged a political alliance with Hizbullah, with his eye on the presidency. He’s now widely seen as Hizbullah’s man in the Christian camp. Only Aoun doesn’t speak for all Christians. His chief rival is Samir Geagea, head of a militia that fought Aoun’s forces in 1990 and is now allied with the government. When a Christian cabinet minister was assassinated recently, Geagea’s backers accused Aoun of providing cover for the killers. “The tension is higher among the Christians because it’s a battle of life or death and a matter of leadership,” says a senior security official, who is not authorized to speak on the record about such issues. It may also prove to be the dividing line between mass protests, and civil war.
Letter from the Editor… This issue marks a turning point for NEWSWEEK International. After five stellar years as our managing editor, Nisid Hajari has moved on to become foreign editor of the domestic editions of NEWSWEEK. The magazine in your hands is the first produced by our new managing editor, Tony Emerson . A NEWSWEEK veteran who came to us as an intern 19 years ago, he’s worked as a researcher, writer and editor. Most recently, he’s been running our business section and special projects, such as the annual Issues series on big themes of the year ahead. We wish Nisid all the best in his new role. And now Tony and the rest of us here will work with renewed energy to produce the most intelligent, informative and interesting magazine for our readers.
Mexico’s new president, Felipe Calderón, confronts rising drug violence, a political crisis in Oaxaca fueled by poverty and Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who refuses to accept his loss to Calderón and vows to rally protests against any move he doesn’t like.
Drug wars and López Obrador are too intransigent to turn quickly. That leaves Oaxaca, controlled by the Institutional Revolutionary Party, which finished third in the vote. Calderón could work with the PRI to push tax and poverty reforms. That means a deal with a discredited PRI governor of Oaxaca, but it’s one way for Calderón to avoid stalling in his first 100 days.
The ceasefire last week was supposed to put an end to Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel. It didn’t. To the contrary, in interviews with NEWSWEEK, Palestinian rocket makers claim that the rocket fire is actually growing more powerful, precise and politically successful. Of the dozen or so militant groups in Gaza, almost all use these weapons. In the last six months they’ve made big improvements in their homemade Qassam rockets, which now pack more explosives and carry a second engine that has increased their range. The improved models are also more accurate, and can now strike consistently within 500 meters of a target, claims Abdullah Jaafar, a commander in Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Gaza. His group has already broken the ceasefire, sending two rockets into the town of Sderot. No one was injured, says Jaafar, but “it sent a message.”
Indeed. Israeli officials acknowledge there’s no way to eliminate the rocket threat, and have plans to build a $300 million antirocket system. But that is scheduled to take a year and a half to deploy.
Struggling General Motors had some good news lately, with its sales rising 6 percent in November and the debut last week of its curvaceous new Buick Enclave. But for besieged CEO Rick Wagoner, the best news had to have come Thursday, when Las Vegas billionaire Kirk Kerkorian cashed out his final 28 million shares of GM stock. In the course of a week, Kerkorian–whom analysts believed was gunning for Wagoner–went from GM’s largest individual shareholder to just another outsider the Detroit establishment ran off the road. Now GM has to keep moving forward–even without Kerkorian as back-seat driver, GM is farther down the road to recovery than its crosstown rivals, who are hemorrhaging billions while GM is merely losing millions. And analysts say Wagoner owes some thanks to Kerkorian for that. Sure, the two probably parted ways because Wagoner wouldn’t go along with Kerkorian’s ambitious plan to align GM with France’s Renault and Japan’s Nissan, creating a car colossus controlling a quarter of the world’s auto market. But Kerkorian also put some much-needed pressure on GM to get the lead out. Now that he’s gone, Wall Street worries GM will ease up. “Having somebody chasing after you often prompts you to run faster,” wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Jonathan Steinmetz in a note to investors that warned of the negative effect of GM’s losing its “change agent.”
A small number of jails in Texas and Arizona are undergoing makeovers, experimenting with pink cells and pink jumpsuits for prisoners. The reason for the redesigns? To pacify prisoners. “Pink is a nonaggressive color,” says Mike Rackley, the sheriff in charge of the Dallas County Detention Center in Buffalo, Missouri, where walls were recently repainted pink with little blue teddy bears.
The idea of soothing prisoners with pink surroundings is rosy enough, but will it work? Margaret Miele, a color psychologist at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology, says there is academic debate over the color pink’s calming abilities, and that even under the best circumstances, only very specific shades of pink are thought to diffuse aggression. Regardless, Rackley says it’s worth a shot: “I don’t know if it will work or not, but I’m willing to try anything.”
What made Paris Hilton who she is? A new book titled “House of Hilton,” by Jerry Oppenheimer, delves deep into the Hilton family history to find out. Unsurprisingly, the book doesn’t read like “The Great Gatsby,” but the stories are oddly similar. The Fitzgerald novel shares its Long Island setting with the childhood home of our heroine’s maternal grandmother, born Kathleen Dugan. “By coincidence,” Oppenheimer writes, “the protagonist, Jay Gatsby, had some of the same twisted values that possessed hotelier Conrad Hilton and career stage-mother Kathleen Dugan Avanzino Richards Catain Fenton throughout their lives.” So where did Paris get her values and ethics and morals? From a clan comprised of slatterns, satyrs, gold diggers, layabouts, social climbers, publicity fiends and narcissists. Further, Oppenheimer asserts that the Hiltons have ties to the two great families of modern American myth, the Kennedys and the Mafia–a nice touch.
You’d think a film version of “Fast Food Nation,” Eric Schlosser’s best seller about the junk-food industry, would be an easy hit. But Richard Linklater’s fictionalized version never really brings together its two reasons for existing: to make us think about the food we eat, and to tell the stories of some of the people who make it, market it and sell it.
“Candy” on the other hand, is a grim little fable of folie à deux . A story about Australian junkies in love, it’s impeccably acted–especially by the ever more impressive Heath Ledger. And you’ll find yourself immersed, however unwillingly, in your own private celebrity-gossip blog. Was it tough for Ledger to film the scenes in which awful things happen to the pregnant Cornish, given that his own wife, Michelle Williams, was expecting their daughter (Matilda, don’t you know?) at the time of filming? It feels unseemly to be pondering these questions as you watch Ledger and Cornish spiraling down the black hole of heroin addiction, but is it the viewer’s fault they’re attractive public figures with happening sex lives?
Why exercise when you can take a pill? According to a new study, drugs with resveratrol neutralized the bad consequences of fatty foods in mice, doubled their endurance and extended their lives by 15 percent. Within a week of the study, one American company’s demand for resveratrol multiplied by 2,400, despite the fact that no one knows if the drug will impact humans the same way.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-04” author: “Anthony Henderson”
It was built by the tsars as Russia’s window on the West. But come 2008, St. Petersburg will be a symbol of something else–the rise of a center of power and money to rival Moscow. That’s when a 300-meter tower built for the national gas giant Gazprom opposite the landmark Smolny Cathedral goes up. It’s the first of a host of Kremlin-connected companies moving all or part of their operations to the northern capital. Transnefteprodukt, Russia’s giant pipeline monopoly, will soon make the move, as will at least part of the Sovcomflot shipping company and the Vneshtorgbank foreign-trade bank.
Why St. Petersburg? One reason is that Gov. Valentina Matviyenko, a close Putin ally, has launched a drive to attract major Russian companies and seems willing to offer almost anything, from tax breaks to free buildings. The $2.5 billion corncob-shaped Gazprom tower, for instance, will be built at the city’s expense. In return, Gazprom’s oil subsidiary, Gazprom Neft, will shift its operations to St. Petersburg, which hopes to recoup the cost of the tower from the company’s taxes within five years, says a spokesperson for Mikhail Oseyevsky, dep-uty governor of St. Petersburg in charge of economic development.
But that’s not the whole story; in Russia, there’s no big business without big politics. Many of the companies moving are headed by top Kremlin bureaucrats, who have an eye to the end of Vladimir Putin’s final term of office in 2008. Gazprom, for one, is headed by two old Putin allies with strong St. Petersburg connections, Dmitry Medvedyev and Aleksei Miller. Putin himself, it has been widely rumored, may even take a top role in Gazprom after his retirement. Transnefteprodukt’s board includes Vladislav Surkov, deputy head of the presidential administration. The big idea? Building up St. Petersburg, home city to Putin and many of his Kremlin team, as an alter-native power center “is an insurance policy for when the next [Kremlin] team takes over,” says the head of one Gazprom-owned media company. “If they are pushed out of power in Moscow, they will have comfortable jobs waiting for them.”
Just weeks after Al-Jazeera’s debut in English, the French have released their own news channel en anglais . Named France 24–but dubbed “CNN à la Française” by the French press–President Jacques Chirac’s pet project finally made its debut this month in Paris, launching live from the Tuileries Gardens on Dec. 6. The idea first gathered momentum during the buildup to the Iraq war in 2003, when American stations like CNN and Fox dominated the international airwaves. The French hoped to carve out their niche as the competition.
It looks like their effort might be a case of too little, too late. While the media groups France Televisions and TF1 were scrambling to get France 24 up and running, Al-Jazeera English was already making its impact around the world. So far, the Arab network has proved to be far edgier–even though France 24 is founded in part on “the notion of contradiction,” according to Gérard Saint-Paul, the channel’s managing director for news and programming. Consider this example, though: while France 24 took its viewers to the Arab Street with a report on Egyptian Census takers, Al-Jazeera English managed a special report on the women of Hizbullah.
Like Al-Jazeera English, France 24 hopes to put the spotlight on the developing world. But the bottom line is this: Qatar-based Al-Jazeera English may always have the edge–it’s primed with gulf-grade funding, while France 24 receives €80 million a year. In addition, Al-Jazeera will always have the advantage of being based in the Arab world. “I think people in these places are tired of seeing their regions through the eyes of foreigners,” boasts Nigel Parsons, managing director of Al-Jazeera English.
Translation software is notoriously spotty. When NEWSWEEK plugged the phrase “This translation does not make sense” into one popular program, it produced a Russian phrase that, translated back, stated: “This transfer does not make the feeling.”
But a new technique developed by Google may prompt an industry sea change. Instead of preprogramming set rules of grammar and vocabulary, Google’s software, which launched earlier this year, teaches itself to translate by analyzing Web pages that already exist in multiple languages. The result, according to a study by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology, is output that is significantly more fluent. Though the study wasn’t designed as a product review, its results are striking: of 40 programs, Google’s ranked in the top three in every category.
Still, human translators probably won’t be out of work any time soon. Subjected to the NEWSWEEK test, translating to and from Korean, Google’s software announced: “This translation does not understand.”
It should be the start of peak ski season, but many European and North American mountains are still green. Is this a glimpse of the future of winter sports?
BY THE NUMBERS
4 - Number of years out of the last decade in which the Alps have seen record warmth
90 - Percentage of Alpine ski areas that typically get enough snow to operate at least 100 days per year
30 - Percentage able to do so if average annual temperatures rise 4 degrees
60 - Percentage of Germany’s ski resorts that would be at risk if temperatures rose only 1 degree
Saudi Arabia first warned Washington that a U.S. attack on Iraq could lead to chaos when Vice President Dick Cheney met with the then Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz on the eve of invasion, says a Saudi diplomat in Washington. Now Abdullah is king, and his aides fear Iraq will become a “Bosnia-like conflict” or a regional cold war, pitting Shiite Iran against Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states, says the diplomat, who demanded anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. He says Riyadh has made clear to Washington that if the United States withdraws and Iraq collapses, the Saudis would be “forced” to protect Sunnis from persecution, leading to the “de facto partition” of Iraq, with Iran controlling the other half.
It’s not clear how widely held this view is in Saudi circles. The resignation of Saudi Ambassador Prince Turki Al-Faisal last week raised speculation about a split over how to deal with the United States in Iraq. U.S. analysts say Saudi intervention would likely be financial, working with Sunni neighbors Jordan and Egypt to provide weapons and training. Not that they’re spoiling for war. “The Saudis are terrified and want us to stay there as long as possible, to keep the lid on the kettle,” says Wayne White, a former deputy director of the State Department’s Near Eastern intelligence office.
World AIDS Day rarely holds truly big surprises. This is a WHO event, after all. But the AIDS day that fell on Dec. 1 debunked one of the more widely held myths about the deadly epidemic.
Fiction: AIDS is by far most threatening in Africa, particularly sub-Saharan Africa, where 6.8 percent of the population carries HIV.
Fact: UNICEF officials focused this year not on Africa, or even Asia, another infamous AIDS hot zone. They focused on Eastern Europe, especially Ukraine. The size of Ukraine’s infected population has more than doubled since 2000–to some 400,000 cases. About 1.5percent of the population carries the virus–a relatively low rate compared with that of sub-Saharan Africa–but the speed of the disease’s advance, accelerated by rampant drug use and prostitution, is raising alarms. “If we don’t bring it under control soon, it will spiral out of control,” says Jeremy Hartley of UNICEF in Ukraine.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-04” author: “Jillian Brown”
If freed, Barghouti—a folk hero from both intifadas—would instantly become the Palestinians’ most popular politician. In head-to-head polls, he outpaces Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh by an impressive 24 points. Indeed, with Abbas continuing to flounder (he has 36 percent approval), Barghouti may be the only way to sap Hamas’s strength. Two weeks ago, former Israeli deputy Defense minister Ephraim Sneh met for two hours with the prisoner and told NEWSWEEK, “His place [is] not in jail.”
Still, the Israelis don’t want to throw Abbas under the bus just yet. In recent weeks, they have released 255 prisoners and spent $100 million to boost his popularity; last week the White House pledged $190 million of its own. What’s more, although she acknowledges that the issue comes up regularly at high-level meetings, Miri Eisin—a spokesperson for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert—says Barghouti’s freedom “is not on the table now.” That may be because Olmert (who has single-digit approval ratings) couldn’t weather the conservative backlash Barghouti’s release would provoke.
Even if the best hope for peace is a convict (serving five life sentences), Israel would still face the paradox that initially helped empower Hamas: “The more they say they want to strengthen Fatah, the more the people look down on [it],” Barghouti’s wife, Fadwa, told NEWSWEEK. —Kevin Peraino
McCain Mutiny What’s happening to John McCain? The straight-shooting Republican presidential candidate is now deemed to be on his last legs; his campaign is crumbling due to infighting and financial woes. And his support from Republicans and right-leaning independents keeps plunging. It’s now at just 16 percent.
McCain’s biggest asset actually may be the main reason behind his meltdown. Respected for his straightforward, independent-minded approach to dealing with both the establishment and the media, McCain has in the past presented himself as someone voters can trust. But that now means that no single constituency can really believe he’ll do what they want. His support for the war has won him points with the GOP base—but infuriated independents. He’s angered Republicans with his liberal stance on immigration, while reports of his courtship of the religious right have cost him independent support. McCain seems to be proving that too much truth can hurt; at this pace, his Straight Talk Express will soon grind to a halt. —Malcolm Beith
By The Numbers Is America ready for David Beckham? Nearly 40 percent of Americans now know who he is, and with his official debut set for Aug. 5, the Beckham brand appears to be living up to the pre-game hype. $25 Estimated increase, in millions, of L.A. Galaxy revenue since it signed Beckham in January 7,000 Additional number of season tickets sold by the Galaxy since Beckham joined the club 250,000 Number of Beckham Galaxy jerseys sold since his signing 10 to 1 Odds that Beckham will complete his four-year Galaxy contract, according to bookie William Hill
Earnest Online Social-networking sites often double as ego-boosting devices. So it was really only a matter of time before karaoke entered the fray. SingShot.com is a social network for people who think they can carry a tune—a karaoke sanctum where fanatics gush over one another’s songs, make friends and thank their fans. The site also tracks each song’s vitals—how many times it’s recorded, which members sang their own versions and how those renditions were rated. Who are these people dancing in front of their Webcams to “Baby Got Back”? Don’t they know anybody could be listening? They do—and that’s the point. Singers crave approval for their interpretations of Phil Collins’s songs, and they genuinely care about everyone’s opinions. That kind of earnestness seems to belong to a different decade, a time before Simon Cowell found fame picking apart aspiring belters on prime-time TV. All that sincerity draws you in. And the Web seems like the ideal venue for working through any issues one might have with karaoke. After all, the Internet’s made it easy for people to do all sorts of activities that are awkward in real life: networking, dating, even proposing. On SingShot, where you can scrap imperfect recordings with a click of the mouse, you can become a better performer without risking embarrassment. Not that it always works out that way.
All Work, No Play With video-games starting to eclipse movies in revenues and popularity, the educational-gaming movement has gone into overdrive. But when does a game stop being a game and turn into work? Consider the company Persuasive Games. One of its offerings, Food Import Folly, is an examination of the ins and outs of FDA import inspection. Then there’s Stone City, a game Persuasive wrote to train Cold Stone Creamery employees. You play a scoop jockey who has to fill customers’ orders.
The bad news, in sum, is that by taking the fun out of videogames, companies like Persuasive make them less alluring to people who love games and more alluring to people who don’t. Like your boss, for example.
Trusting Memories Some recovered memories of childhood sexual abuse may be as trustworthy as memories that persist from the time of abuse, reports the journal Psychological Science. Investigators checked out childhood sexual-abuse memories of 128 individuals by interviewing others abused by the same perpetrator, or people who learned about the victim’s abuse shortly after it occurred or when the abuser confessed. They found corroborating evidence for 37 percent of memories that had been recovered outside of therapy, nearly matching the 45 percent corroboration rate for continuous memories. Memories recovered in therapy, however, could not be corroborated. While not proving such memories are false, the finding suggests they should be treated cautiously. Elke Geraerts, the study’s author, believes suggestive therapy can create an expectation that traumatic memories will be unearthed. —William Lee Adams
Reality Check The effectiveness of dieting has long been subject to debate. And a new study by a group of UCLA researchers will only add fuel to the fire. Subjects who followed a doctor-prescribed diet initially lost an average of 31 pounds, but four years later had gained back 24. Even worse, 70 percent of subjects who had chosen their own diet plan gained weight in the long term.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-24” author: “Gregorio Snow”
Shame has always been a powerful force in China. Rooted in Confucian ethics, it often drives Chinese leaders to dispense tougher justice than is meted out for less-embarrassing crimes. Chinese see no glamour in guilt: the country has no Paris Hiltons or Martha Stewarts who use jail time to increase their celebrity. Chinese criminals, especially those who make international headlines, are considered traitors by the public for harming the country’s interests. The more powerful the miscreant, the greater the stigma. Simply being questioned for corruption has prompted some senior cadres to commit suicide, like a former police chief who killed himself in June.
Since China’s latest food- and product-safety scandals broke, shame has prompted party leaders to order SFDA officials to write “self-criticisms” and to crack down on a problem that’s plagued the country for years. There’s another dynamic at work. In centuries past, the emperor’s top responsibility was to feed his subjects. Failing that, he could not earn the “mandate of heaven” that justified his reign. A similar bargain was struck by the Communist Party under Deng Xiaoping: accept a sometimes brutal regime, and we’ll ensure your bellies get filled (you might even get rich along the way). Now, however, the rotten foundations of China’s new prosperity have been revealed, and threaten the “harmonious society” promoted by President Hu Jintao. Recognizing that another big consumer-safety scandal might provoke serious antigovernment protests, Chinese authorities have hastily announced stricter drug-approval guidelines and ordered food processors to clean up their act. Their nightmare is a food-poisoning outbreak during the run-up to next summer’s Olympics. Were that to happen, Chinese officials might just die of embarrassment. -Melinda Liu
Glorious Returns Parts of the mergers-and-aquisitions world today feel like the ’80s never ended. A bidding war has erupted over retailer Barneys, while a tower in London’s Canary Wharf just sold for $2 billion. Both were high-flying, Reagan-Thatcher era enterprises that crashed hard in the ’ 90s. But the ventures, once written off as folly, appear to have had greater strengths than originally assumed. Since Barneys re-emerged from bankruptcy in 1999, it has been lifted by the global boom in luxury shopping. Now the business could sell for close to $1 billion. Canary Wharf, whose failure forced Canada’s Reichmann family to retrench sharply, emerged from bankruptcy in 1993. Its value has soared exponentially with London’s re-emergence as a financial center.
Generations of successful operation meant that the brand equity associated with Barneys didn’t evaporate when the firm’s capital structure went bad. And the demise of Canary Wharf’s parent company didn’t alter the geography of London, which worked in its favor. For truly good business ideas, bankruptcy can be an operating room, not a mortuary. —Daniel Gross
By the Numbers Nissan’s building a $200 million plant in Russia. With car-sale revenues rising—they’re up 51 percent this year—Russia could match the world’s fastest-growing car markets.
44% The annual growth rate of auto production in China, where 4.3 million cars were manufactured in 2006
7% The annual growth rate of auto production in Eastern Europe, where 3.2 million cars were manufactured in 2006
14% The annual growth rate of auto production in India, where 1.3 million cars were manufactured in 2006
1% The annual growth rate of auto production in Russia, where just over a million cars were manufactured in 2006
Plotline in Disguise Before time began, there was the Cube.” The first line in the movie version of “The Transformers” provides the foundation of its nutcake cosmology. The Cube is sort of like the black monolith in “2001: A Space Odyssey.” It floats through deep space, covered in runic writing, and plays some enigmatic yet indispensable role in the creation and maintenance of life on the planet Cybertron.
That planet was once home to two alien races: the upstanding Autobots and the sneaky Decepticons. After centuries of warfare, these robots wander the galaxy, seeking the Cube to re-establish their world. The map to the Cube’s whereabouts exists only on the lens of a pair of antique glasses, which now belong to a kid who is attempting to sell them on eBay.
The story line appears to develop the way a grade-schooler, attempting to recap a movie plot, will backtrack, repeat himself, get lost in trivia, then skip forward to the final fight scene, while sputtering adorably about how cool the monster was. But that’s part of its charm—the movie has an affection for its own cheesiness and incoherence. Consider one late scene in which the Autobots gather to wrap up any remaining plot threads in a long conversation. Afterward, viewers still have no clue what’s happening—but they sure are having fun.
Eye On America Online dating services are entering America’s gay-marriage debate. The popular Web site eHarmony.com has a heterosexuals-only policy—and lately it’s been catching a lot of flak.
Enter Chemistry.com, which is now touting itself as a destination for rejects—eHarmony rejects, that is. Its campaign features an ad showing a man perusing the pages of a girlie magazine. After a few moments, he puts it down and says, “Nope, still gay.”
Unsurprisingly, eHarmony’s legal counsel has tried to get the ads altered or taken off the air. And eHarmony’s founder, Neil Clark Warren, argues that his site’s partner-matching algorithms have been derived through studying successful straight marriages; having done no studies on how to identify good gay matches, eHarmony declines to even take a stab at it. Warren also emphasizes that eHarmony’s goal is creating marriages, and since same-sex marriage is “largely illegal,” that’s an “issue for us.”
Q & A: Steve Carell Steve Carell is on a roll. He plays the hilariously annoying boss Michael Scott on the U.S. version of “The Office.” He starred in “The 40-Year-Old Virgin,” and now he’s in “Evan Almighty,” a retelling of Noah’s Ark. Carell spoke with NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin. W. C. Fields always said you should never work with animals or children. You did both in “Evan Almighty.” I say, never work with W. C. Fields. Actually, it was quite enjoyable. I thought the U.S. version of “The Office” would suck. Did you get a lot of that? Oh, yeah. The British one is iconic. It really couldn’t be replicated, so I tried to take the pressure off myself by not trying to be as good, frankly. You have two little kids at home. Are you the fun, crazy dad? I’m a fun dad, but I don’t know if I’m the fun, crazy dad. You seem like one of those comedians like Will Ferrell. No baggage, no bitterness, and no “My dad used to hit me.” You know what’s ironic? Will Ferrell’s dad used to hit me.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-26” author: “Kelly Stahl”
The United States and secular Pakistanis have long warned Musharraf of the risks posed by aggressive Islamists. But fearful of confrontation, he’s resisted any action. That’s despite the fact that radical mullahs in the border regions have been gradually exporting their Taliban-style culture and morality deeper and deeper into the country. The murder of “American spies” and suicide bombings have become increasingly common, as have attacks on “immodest” individuals in the cities.
With parliamentary and presidential elections scheduled for later this year, all this may come to a head. Violent Islamist street protests against Musharraf’s belated crackdown could materialize. A suicide bomber hit an Army convoy in North Waziristan on Wednesday, killing six soldiers, apparently in reaction to Musharraf’s latest moves. Then there was the attempt on his plane. Avoiding confrontation for so long may turn out to have been Musharraf’s riskiest gamble yet. —Ron Moreau and Zahid Hussain
Splintered Power Is Hamas really in control of the Gaza Strip, as conventional wisdom has it? The Islamists were widely thanked last week for pushing hard to secure the release of kidnapped BBC correspondent Alan Johnston from the hands of a criminal gang called the Army of Islam—reasserting some semblance of control. After all, Hamas’s embattled leaders are savvy enough to know that the news media are among the Palestinians’ most effective weapons against Israel. (When 13-year-old Fares Odeh was photographed hurling a stone at an Israeli tank during the second intifada, for instance, the image quickly became iconic.) Still, more than 30 Palestinian journalists were attacked in Gaza and the West Bank last month, the highest in the territories’ history, according to a new report by the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedom. Some of the attacks have been attributed to Israel, and others to tiny splinter groups, which have been multiplying in number. Unfortunately for Hamas, in chaotic Gaza, full control is something that is likely to remain out of reach. —Kevin Peraino
By the Numbers New research from Deloitte shows that major financial institutions are still rapidly beefing up offshore operations, guaranteeing that the debate over the impact of offshoring on global labor trends, particularly unemployment in the West, will continue to rage.
75 Percentage of major financial institutions with operations offshore in 2006, up from less than 10 percent in 2001
1,800 Percentage rise in the average number of staff each financial institution employs offshore since 2003
22 Number of countries where major financial institutions now have operations, up from just five in 2003
80 Percentage of offshore work that now involves a full range of processes, up from 12 percent in 2003.
‘Mannies’ For Hire As frazzled parents hire more help, “mannies,” or male nannies, are becoming America’s logical choice. While the number of male nannies is still very small, there are growing signs of acceptance. At Cambridge, Mass.-based Cultural Care Au Pair, men represented 8 percent of roughly 7,000 total applicants in 2006, up from 4 percent in 2001. Cliff Greenhouse, president of New York’s Pavillion Agency, sees an increasing demand for mannies. “I see it especially for the 40-year-old woman raising a kid on her own who wants a male role model around.” Joe Keeley turned his summer manny job in Edina, Minn., into a booming business by creating College Nannies & Tutors, which has 35 franchises in 12 states. At least 5 percent of his nannies, at any given time, are male. Harold Koplewicz, director of the NYU Child Study Center, employed a manny for two summers for his own three boys. His advice? “This is the most important interview you will do—an individual you are going to let in your home and have influence on your children.” In other words, just like hiring anyone to care for your kids. —Holly Peterson Peterson, a NEWSWEEK contributing editor, is the author of the forthcoming novel “The Manny.”
Disney’s New Magic In recent years, Disney has put great emphasis on making its theme parks relevant in the digital age. More than a retooled ride, Disneyland’s “Finding Nemo” Submarine Voyage is emblematic of the company’s efforts. The ride—previously an old-fashioned submarine ride featuring hokey fish dangling from wires—has resurfaced with video and audio effects that allow the animated sea creatures from the Pixar hit “Finding Nemo” to seemingly swim and talk in the water. Disney’s parks are more interactive now, too. You can take your Nintendo DS into the Magic Kingdom and download special content for the Pirates of the Caribbean videogame from wireless hotspots, or converse with the beasts from “Monsters, Inc.” Disney watchers estimate the price tag for revamping Nemo at about $100 million; the company doesn’t divulge the cost of new rides. But it appears to have been money well-spent. —David J. Jefferson
For a glimpse into what Wall Street is thinking, take a look at what it’s reading. Each year, JPMorgan produces a “must read” book list for its clients. PERI’s book report:
Reality Check The birth of a baby is more than just a life-changing event—it’s mind-altering, according to researchers at Emory University. In a series of trials, mice with offspring showed much stronger brain responses to the distress calls of infant mice (high-pitched noises at about 65 kilohertz) than their virgin counterparts. Male mice who had fathered multiple litters reacted quickly to distress calls, too, whereas their bachelor counterparts paid no heed at all.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-23” author: “Jeff Ivory”
But now the Dutch have turned to the right, making one wonder where Europe is headed. For years, authorities have been cracking down on the nation’s famed “coffee shops,” where the purchase and use of small amounts of marijuana is permitted. But two weeks ago the government also banned hallucinogenic mushrooms. Beyond that, while euthanasia is allowed (though tightly regulated), abortion, legal since 1984, is now coming under scrutiny. In February, a new, more socially conservative government led by Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende announced it would review abortion’s social consequences, raising the possibility of future restriction. The nation also has the dubious distinction of being at the forefront of anti-immigrant sentiment, particularly against Muslims. A month before 9/11 made such ideas fashionable elsewhere, populist politician Pim Fortuyn called for a “cold war” against Islam. The Dutch, among the staunchest supporters of European integration, were ahead of the curve yet again in 2005, when they overwhelmingly rejected a proposed European constitution.
Why the change in attitudes? Simon Kuper, a British journalist who spent his youth in the Netherlands and has written extensively on the country, says the Dutch public is more receptive than ever to law-and-order policies. The murders of Fortuyn in 2002 and Theo van Gogh, a controversial filmmaker in 2004, left the Dutch with a profound fear of chaos and disorder, and a negative self-image. “The Dutch always used to bang the drums about the alleged superiority of their liberal values,” says Kuper. “Now that they’re no longer happy with the state of their country, that habit has ceased—at least for the moment.” James Kennedy, professor of Dutch history at the University of Amsterdam, says the Dutch may have become neoconservatives in the original sense of the word: “Namely,” he says, “liberals mugged by reality.” Could the Dutch turn Europe into a continent of neocons? Now that would put the Netherlands ahead of the curve. —Thijs Niemantsverdriet
New Sharif In Town The Saudis took in Pakistan’s ex-prime minister Nawaz Sharif after he was ousted eight years ago. They welcomed him back last month, after a failed attempt to return to Islamabad. Now they are said to be pressing beleaguered President Pervez Musharraf to let Sharif go home, ahead of January’s elections. Speaking on condition of anonymity, highly placed Pakistani sources say Saudi King Abdullah urged Musharraf to let Sharif back out of respect for “the wishes of the Pakistani people” and a ruling by Pakistan’s Supreme Court. NEWSWEEK’s source says that Musharraf is refusing, but he may permit Sharif’s wife, Kulsoom, to return.
Why the Saudis changed their minds isn’t clear, but it may be another sign of Riyadh’s newly assertive diplomacy. Like recent attempts to mediate peace deals between Israel and the Palestinians, the Sharif case reflects Abdullah’s hopes to become a regional power broker and to offset Iran’s rising influence. —Fasih Ahmed
Europe Thinks Different If Europe continues to underwhelm in high-tech innovation, it’s not for lack of brains. Two Germans and a Frenchman won Nobel Prizes for chemistry and physics last month. The problem is turning that research into private-sector innovation and start-ups. Now, however, a change is underway. According to an OECD report released last week, European countries are shifting research on public projects (think the struggling Galileo satellite project or the Franco-German Internet search engine Quaero) to the private sector. Universities across the continent, from Germany’s Munich Tech to Sweden’s Chalmers University in Goteborg, are pushing ties to industry and promoting spinoffs, ? la America’s Stanford University. Already, these have helped give Europe a lead in environment and renewable-energy technology. L’Oreal and BMW have stepped up their funding for university science. SAP founder Hasso Plattner has funded a new software design center for Potsdam University. The German government’s Excellence Initiative–a contest for ?1.9 billion in university research funding–has helped spark competition in bureaucratic academia. “The mind-set has changed completely,” says David Audretsch, economist at the Max Planck Institute in Jena, Germany. How long until we see Europe’s first Genentech or Google? “Give it five years,” says Audretsch. “Things are finally falling into place.” —Stefan Theil
By the Numbers Emerging markets offer enticing opportunities for companies—and criminals too. A new survey of 5,428 companies in 40 countries suggests just how widespread the problem is.
2.4: Average amount, in millions of dollars, that the surveyed companies lost to fraud in the past two years
5.1: Average amount companies lost to fraud in the seven biggest emerging markets during that time
0.8: Average loss, in millions, due to asset theft reported by companies that responded to the survey
2.9: Average loss, in millions, due to asset theft for companies doing business in emerging markets
For A Home Away From The Big House What kind of house does a man who has spent 34 years in solitary confinement in a two-meter-by-three-meter cell at a Louisiana prison dream of? That’s what American artist Jackie Sumell asked imprisoned Black Panther and convicted murderer Herman Wallace. Three hundred letters, 20 prison visits and five years later, Wallace is still in jail and his house is still unbuilt, but an exhibit of Sumell’s plan for it has been touring Europe since 2006 and is now on view in New York. As much about politics as design, the show draws attention to what Summell claims is the injustice of Wallace’s conviction and the enduring racism of U.S. criminal law. Amnesty International describes Wallace’s current home as “cruel, inhuman and degrading,” but he retains a unique vision of the good life. Shag carpeting and mahogany furniture evoke the 1970s, the last time he was free to pick his own décor. He also has a unique approach to fire safety. Wood construction, Wallace notes in the exhibit, is a must “to set it a fire to give me a chance to make a clean escape upon attack.” Though Sumell is raising money to build the house in Wallace’s hometown of New Orleans, he won’t be moving in any time soon. A request to reopen his case—on the ground that a prison warden bribed a fellow inmate to testify against him—has been denied by a Louisiana court. —Zvika Krieger
Get Us Outta this Place! When Callie LeFevre’s study-abroad trip to Beirut last summer was cut short by Israeli fighter planes dropping bombs near her campus, the Princeton University junior got home via an emergency evacuation through Syria. The tricky logistics were handled by a company called International SOS, which now works with more than 120 colleges and universities. It’s one of a growing group of firms that specialize in extricating student travelers from dangerous situations. The number of U.S. students studying abroad is expected to rise from 206,000 last year to 1 million annually within a decade and many are headed to places where conflict, natural disaster and political strife are common. Faced with balancing students’ desires for adventure with their high expectations for safety, schools are increasingly turning to these private security and medical providers to protect students living in risky places abroad. Most colleges foot the bills, which start at about a dollar per day. —Roxana Popescu
Stax Comes Back Back in the day, Stax Records was the South’s answer to Motown. The Memphis soul label’s artists—a roster that included Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes—were less polished than their Detroit counterparts, but they introduced fans worldwide to an authentic slice of African-American culture. Now, 40 years after its touring revues spawned best-selling concert records like “Otis Live in Europe” and 30 years after it went belly up, Stax is alive again. Concord Records has resurrected the label with its first new release in decades, Angie Stone’s “The Art of Love and War.” Hayes, meanwhile, plans to release his first Stax album in ages next spring. “It sure feels good,” he told NEWSWEEK. Stax’s resurrection from the dead is a remarkable recovery, considering the label’s dilapidated studio was reduced to a pile of rubble in 1989. A Stax museum stands there now. Where will the storied label go from here? Isaac Hayes has the answer: “Up, man. Up.” —Lorraine Ali
Reality Check A gym-sculpted chest is the physical ideal which most men aspire to, but gynecomastia—enlarged breasts—is increasingly what they have instead. Nearly half of all men experience it during their lives, and breast reduction is the fifth most common surgical procedure among men in the United States. Hormonal fluctuations, heredity and disease are all causes of the condition, but the biggest culprit is weight gain. Given that 75 percent of Americans are forecast to be overweight by 2015, look for many men to reconsider their reflexive fondness for breasts. —Jessica Bennett
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-24” author: “Kathy Hannigan”
Are they profiteers or suckers? This phenomenon presents opportunities for Americans. In a long-running bull market, such as the one the U.S. is currently experiencing, profiting is all about finding a greater fool—a naive investor willing to pay a premium for a high-priced asset. Portfolio managers on Wall Street are salivating at the notion that China might roll cash into the S&P 500 Index.
But there are complications. When a government owns a company, it creates the potential for geopolitical mischief. And stock investors also have a say over how the corporations they own are run. One could imagine a day when the Chinese or Saudi government is a top shareholder in a blue-chip company. What’s more, foreign state-affiliated companies tend to cluster in industry sectors that have a bearing on national security: logistics, infrastructure, oil, airlines. Remember the outrage when the Chinese petroleum company Cnooc, controlled by the Chinese government, tried to buy Unocal in August 2005?
But the greatest impact is likely to be psychological. The sums of money deployed by the governments of formerly communist regimes remind Americans of two uncomfortable facts. Thanks in part to America’s trade deficit, the dollar isn’t nearly as strong as it used to be, turning the United States into a sort of global bargain basement. And the big hitters in the deal game are Chinese, Saudi Arabian, Russian and Indian, proving that while America is still the richest and most powerful nation on earth, it no longer has the field to itself. —Daniel Gross
Europe’s economy may be booming, but its big state projects are still extending a string of big failures. The latest is Galileo, the global satellite-navigation project designed to replace America’s GPS by 2010. Less than a month after private companies withdrew from the €3.6 billion project, most of the EU’s 27 member states refused last week to come up with the cash to cover the resulting funding shortfall. For the project to go ahead, the European Commission will have to cipher money from its existing budget and sacrifice other ventures.
Galileo has been undone by the same political infighting, defense-company price gouging and unclear objectives that have hampered both Airbus and Quaero, a €600 million attempt to create a European alternative to Google. Europe’s technological know-how can’t overcome politics. Instead of making big state-run attempts to match U.S. successes, Europe would be better off funding entrepreneurs with their own ideas. —Emily Flynn Vencat
A recent train accident in Turkey offered clues about alleged Iranian efforts to stir up trouble in the Mideast. The train was carrying two shipping containers of explosives and weapons like rocket-launcher pads, say U.S. officials. Three officials familiar with current intel, anonymous due to the topic, believe the equipment was headed to Hizbullah. Intel officials see mounting evidence that Iran is arming anti-U.S. forces: it has sent weapons to Shia militias in Iraq, and there’s some evidence that Iranian operatives have sent arms to Sunni insurgents and to resurgent Taliban forces in Afghanistan. -Mark Hosenball
Mel Brooks At 80, Mel Brooks is revered as America’s national ham, the class clown who amuses even the humorless. NEWSWEEK’s Steve Friess spoke to Brooks about the state of comedy today.
You broke a lot of molds with the use of vulgar epithets, farting and interracial relations in “Blazing Saddles” and others. Right now, you couldn’t say the N word. A lot of things I did were looked down at as not nice. But comedy is truth-telling. It doesn’t necessarily have to be nice. In fact, the funniest comedy is frequently not nice.
So what do you make of thedemise of talk-show host Don Imus for racially insensitive statements? Just being stupid and politically incorrect doesn’t work. You can be politically incorrect if you’re smart. We used the word “n——r” a lot in “Blazing Saddles,” but our true love was the black guy.
Who do you see as your heirs? I would say one of my grandchildren would be Sasha Baron Cohen. The nerviness. The boldness. The Brooksian boldness in that young man. I think he’s great.
Now You See It! If nanoscience is the field of stuff so tiny it can never be seen, does it matter if the scientist can see at all? At the University of Wisconsin’s nanoscience center, Andrew Greenberg is encouraging vision-impaired students to enter the field, building three-dimensional models that faithfully re-create nanoscale structures and surfaces. Technically, the models are just another way of representing the same data that sighted students use when they look at “pictures” of nanoscale objects. “There’s a lot in science that’s perceived as being visual, but vision is nothing essential to the concepts or even the raw data,” says Mark Riccobono of the National Federation of the Blind. “And new discoveries come when someone sees something—not necessarily in the literal sense—from a new perspective.” -Nick Summers
The Art Of War Iraqi-born artist Wafaa Bilal has taken installation art to a new level. Bilal turned a Chicago gallery into a 24-hour war zone, where Web users can log on and, er, shoot him. Viewers fight for control of the camera—affixed to a rifle-size paintball gun—and pull the trigger. Astonishing? Not as surprising as the fact that 40,000 people logged on to shoot Bilal in the first two and a half weeks.
Bilal hopes the project, entitled “Domestic Tension,” will pose questions. Would a person shoot a man if all it took was one noiseless click of the mouse? Those who play frequently may think about the consequences of starting a seemingly painless, videogame-style war with overwhelming force in a faraway country. But Bilal insists he isn’t trying to take the moral high ground. “This is an encounter instead of didactic art,” he explained over the phone, guns firing in the background. “I had no [BANG] control over how it would come out. The only hope is to engage in [BANG,BANG] conversation.” —Brian Braiker
Reality Check Working hard may not be the key to learning new languages. A new study by researchers at Edinburgh University shows that genes may play a role in determining the ability to learn “tonal” tongues like Chinese. “Tonal” language speakers tend to carry more recently evolved forms of two brain-development genes, ASPM and Microcephalin, which are believed to affect the organization of the cerebral cortex. In plain English, that means they may help process language.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-06” author: “Mike Meyer”
Part of the secret of much of Asia’s antiterror success lies in the behind-the-scenes role currently being played by the United States. Consider Indonesia, which has suffered five major terrorist attacks since 2000. Because the majority of the nation’s 230 million citizens are Muslim, U.S. support has come in the form of funding, training and equipping counterterrorism forces, and intelligence-sharing. Around 400 suspected JI members have been arrested and more than 70 convicted since 2002, and there hasn’t been a bombing since 2005. The Americans “haven’t been out in front,” says Conboy. “To do that would be counterproductive.” Detachment 88, a police counterterrorism unit funded by the U.S. State Department, has had a particularly great run, arresting the two alleged JI leaders. “It’s dealt the organization a serious blow at the senior level,” says Sidney Jones, regional director of the International Crisis Group. Shortly after the arrests, a video of two masked members of Detachment 88—brandishing machine guns while one of their captives cowered in a chair in front of them—was broadcast on Indonesian television. It was a familiar sight, but with a new twist and a clear message: when it comes to Southeast Asia’s war on terror, the tables are turning. —Joe Cochrane
Football: The Jury Is Out The English Premier League is the world’s richest football league, attracting star foreign players as well as wealthy foreign owners. It’s also one of the world’s least corrupt. But the baggage brought in by some of those foreign owners is starting to chip away at that reputation. Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich was a key suspect in an alleged IMF-Russia loan scandal; he denied all wrongdoing and was never found guilty of any crime, but as his spokesman said, the resurrection of the issue sullied his name. Now, ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s $162.6 million bid to buy Manchester City, formally lodged on June 21, could raise new questions about the league’s integrity. Facing charges of illegally helping his wife buy government-owned land at a bargain price, Thaksin has been ordered to appear before Thai judges by June 29. And the Premier League has demanded that he pass the standard “fit and proper person” test before completing the proposed takeover. But given that Thaksin is unlikely to return home to face the charges—which he denies—the football league will likely find itself in a difficult spot. —Malcolm Beith
By The Numbers Refugees are on the rise again, according to a new UNHCR report. But other research shows that some refugee trends are not quite what one might expect.
9.9 The number, in millions, of global refugees in 2006, up from 8.7 million in 2005
2 Estimated amount, in billions of U.S. dollars, poured into the Jordanian economy by Iraqi evacuees
734,000 Estimated number of refugees voluntarily repatriated in 2006, down by one third from 2005
2.5 Estimated amount, in billions of pounds sterling, that Eastern Europeans contribute to the British economy annually
Entertainment Disney’s New Magic In recent years, Disney has put great emphasis on making its theme parks relevant in the digital age. More than a retooled ride, Disneyland’s “Finding Nemo” Submarine Voyage is emblematic of the company’s efforts. The ride—previously an old-fashioned submarine ride featuring hokey fish dangling from wires—has resurfaced with video and audio effects that allow the animated sea creatures from the Pixar hit “Finding Nemo” to seemingly swim and talk in the water. Disney’s parks are more interactive now, too. You can take your Nintendo DS into the Magic Kingdom and download special content for the Pirates of the Caribbean videogame from wireless hotspots, or converse with the beasts from “Monsters, Inc.” Disney watchers estimate the price tag for revamping Nemo at about $100 million; the company doesn’t divulge the cost of new rides. But it appears to have been money well-spent. —David J. Jefferson
‘Mannies’ For Hire As frazzled parents hire more help, “mannies,” or male nannies, are becoming America’s logical choice. While the number of male nannies is still very small, there are growing signs of acceptance. At Cambridge, Mass.-based Cultural Care Au Pair, men represented 8 percent of roughly 7,000 total applicants in 2006, up from 4 percent in 2001. Cliff Greenhouse, president of New York’s Pavillion Agency, sees an increasing demand for mannies. “I see it especially for the 40-year-old woman raising a kid on her own who wants a male role model around.” Joe Keeley turned his summer manny job in Edina, Minn., into a booming business by creating College Nannies & Tutors, which has 35 franchises in 12 states. At least 5 percent of his nannies, at any given time, are male. Harold Koplewicz, director of the NYU Child Study Center, employed a manny for two summers for his own three boys. His advice? “This is the most important interview you will do—an individual you are going to let in your home and have influence on your children.” In other words, just like hiring anyone to care for your kids. —Holly Peterson
Biz Beat For a glimpse into what Wall Street is thinking, take a look at what it’s reading. Each year, JPMorgan produces a “must read” book list for its clients. PERI s book report:
Reality Check The birth of a baby is more than just a life-changing event—it’s mind-altering, according to researchers at Emory University. In a series of trials, mice with offspring showed much stronger brain responses to the distress calls of infant mice (high-pitched noises at about 65 kilohertz) than their virgin counterparts. Male mice who had fathered multiple litters reacted quickly to distress calls, too, whereas their bachelor counterparts paid no heed at all.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2022-12-11” author: “Ricky White”
Spokesmen for the Marines reject Gayl’s allegation that the Corps ignored the initial request. They say the Corps opted instead to order an up-armored version of the Humvee, the M1114. The reason: there was no large-scale production line for MRAPs at the time. Gayl counters that the Corps could have quickly ramped up MRAP production had it tried, and he points out that is exactly what it is doing now. Marine Commandant James Conway recently called sending MRAPs into theater—some 7,700 are now on rush order—his “highest moral imperative.” MRAPs “could reduce the casualties in vehicles due to IED attack by as much as 80 percent,” Conway told outgoing Joint Chiefs Chairman Peter Pace in a letter in March. —Michael Hirsh and John Barry
CENTRAL BANKS: Talk isn’t Cheap The conventional wisdom has it that when a central bank cuts or raises interest rates, markets move in response to the shift. But new research by the London School of Economics claims that what really moves markets isn’t the rate change itself—what’s most important is how central bankers speak about their plans for the future. On one occasion cited, the announcement of European Central Bank rate hikes immediately after its bimonthly meeting had minimal impact. But comments made by ECB president Jean-Claude Trichet 45 minutes later drove rates on three-month interest-rate futures from 3.08 percent to 2.98 percent in less than 20 minutes. The disparity between words and deeds is important and not so reassuring, particularly in Europe, where the openness of ECB meetings contrasts with the tight-lipped machinations of U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King. Unless, that is, one finds it comforting that a central banker’s use of a word like “vigilance” to a room full of reporters matters more than where he sets the rates. We’ll be all ears when the Fed next meets on June 27. —John D. Sparks
By the Numbers This year the world celebrates the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade. But a new report from the U.S. State Department shows that the abhorrent practice of trafficking in humans is alive and well.
MOVIES: Guiding Hand Unlike, say, “Pirates of the Caribbean,” the “Harry Potter” films have gotten better over time. The person who deserves most of the credit (aside from author J. K. Rowling) is someone you’ve probably never heard of. David Heyman bought the rights to the “Potter” series in 1997 and has been the principal producer ever since. The fifth, “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” opens July 11. The seventh and final book, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” lands on July 21. Heyman was the only bidder for the rights to Rowling’s book, and “I promised her that I would protect what she had created,” he says. Hiring a string of surprising directors—Alfonso Cuarón, Mike Newell, David Yates—has given the films critical cachet and kept them fresh. And he helped cast—and guide—the films’ three child stars, Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson. All have signed on to make the final two films—and not one has been involved in a scandal. And Heyman’s own life, post-“Potter”? “It’s a combination of sadness and excitement,” he says. “This world has become a huge part of millions of people’s lives. I think, afterward, there will be a little hole in our lives for a while.” -Sean Smith
Globalization Index Design for the extremely poor is gaining momentum. Although Western designers like Martin Fisher of KickStart and Amy Smith of MIT have been making low-cost products to combat developing-world problems for some years, the output is growing. Consider the Q Drum, a doughnut-shaped water container that can be rolled instead of carried, and the Big Boda, a cheap bicycle able to carry hundreds of pounds of cargo. Most important, many designers insist on selling products to the poor as investments. KickStart’s Super MoneyMaker Pump, for instance, allows farmers to easily irrigate large swaths of land. It costs $95, a small fortune in many poor countries, but it can generate $1,000 in new crops in its first year alone. Those kinds of returns could take struggling farmers a long step toward the middle class. -Barrett Sheridan
Reality Check Not only does chemotherapy affect the body’s physical state, it has long-term effects on the brain. But new studies from the American Society of Clinical Oncology suggest that “chemo brain,” a fogginess of thought caused by the treatment, could be managed. A new drug called Modafinil, originally designed to treat narcolepsy, improved memory, concentration and learning in a trial of 68 breast-cancer patients.
title: “Periscope” ShowToc: true date: “2023-01-26” author: “Debbie Rogers”
By the Numbers Excessive noise is not just annoying. New research supports earlier studies and shows just how harmful it really is.
210 Thousands of Europeans killed annually by noise-related cardiovascular stress
4 Hours of daily exposure to workplace noise sufficient to raise heart rates
60 Decibel level—as loud as a dishwasher—that can trigger stress-induced heart problems
2 Months’ retardation in a child’s reading skills caused by each five-decibel increase in nearby aircraft noise
Can ’ t Blame Quants With credit-related woes roiling the markets, the search for scapegoats is on. Both insiders and the financial media have jumped to blame the complex quantitative trading programs that make more than a third of all trades on major U.S. and European exchanges. In their view, blame lies not with the humans who made loans to the uncreditworthy or portfolios loaded with risky mortgage-backed securities, but with those dumb boxes that blithely kept trading, oblivious to consequences. As alibis go, it’s as predictable as it is misleading. While quants are great at sifting through huge piles of market data to spot trading opportunities, even the smartest of them still only do the bidding of their human creators (artificial intelligence is still a way off). So it’s unfair to blame them for doing their jobs. That said, quants have one other advantage: they can’t complain when their human masters try to pass the buck. –John Sparks
Celebrity Fans Earlier this month Sean Penn became the latest Hollywood star to drop in on Hugo Chávez. The Oscar-winning actor traveled to Venezuela as a freelance journalist and boarded a military jeep with Chávez for a tour of farm fields and a research lab. The Venezuelan leader praised Penn, a critic of the war in Iraq, as “a courageous man” who “has a fire burning inside.” Penn called Venezuela a “great country” but said he’d save his opinions for print.
Other glitzy guests have gushed over Chávez and his “21st-century socialism.” Actor Danny Glover, who sits on the board of Chávez’s cable news network, has called Chávez “remarkable” and recently accepted $18 million in Venezuelan petrodollars to help bankroll a film on Haitian revolutionary Toussaint Louverture. Singer Harry Belafonte, perhaps Chávez’s biggest star admirer, offered support during a 2006 visit, but has remained mum on Chávez’s blacklisting of critics. Memo to Harry: Chávez’s rubber-stamp National Assembly plans to grill local reporters who accepted State Department invitations to visit the United States. Will you be watching? –Joseph Contreras and Phil Gunson
Defying The Fatwa Islamist fury has not deterred audiences from queuing up in record numbers for “Khuda Kay Liye” (“In the Name of God”), a slick three-hour musical that has become the Pakistani film industry’s biggest blockbuster. Even Pakistan’s president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is among its fans.
“In the Name of God” opened in Karachi and Lahore last month, amid tight security and fatwas that forced writer and director Shoaib Mansooron an extended vacation outside the country. The film touches on marital rape, forced marriage and jihad, centering on two brothers, one who goes from jeans-wearing musician to jihad-fighting fanatic, and the other, arrested in Chicago after 9/11, who is tortured to paralysis by U.S. interrogators.
The big-screen polemic grossed a record $500,000 in its first three weeks, and is being credited with the revival of Pakistan’s film industry, even though it is not playing in North-West Frontier province (where fundamentalists hold sway), in restive Baluchistan or in Islamabad, the national capital, where the only cinema was burned down last year by Islamists. “It’s heroic for the population to want to see this film,” says Mir Ibrahim Rehman of GEO TV network, a Pakistani media conglomerate that helped produce the film. “We didn’t want to make a popcorn film. We wanted this film to prompt a dialogue and discussion.” Looks like they got the opening they wanted. –Fasih Ahmed
Hit Makeover ABC has canceled “Extreme Makeover,” the reality show on which ordinary people undergo massive plastic surgery. But the show has found new life in an unexpectedly serious outlet: the academic journal Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery. In its July issue, the journal reported the first known data on how reality TV affects real patients, and it’s scary stuff. The study surveyed people who’d undergone cosmetic surgery, and four out of five said they had been “directly influenced” by shows like “Extreme Makeover.” Such shows can be educational, but in many cases are focused on entertainment value. That may be the problem: many patients are taking entertainment as medical advice.
Reality Check Most people know that genes play an important role in our lives: they influence how our bodies react to nutrients and our predisposition to some cancers. But a new study says something more social—how we choose our friends—should be added to that list. Researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University say having friends who are troublemakers or shy isn’t just a choice, it’s actually influenced by our genetics. Remember that the next time a friend gets you into trouble.
