The Economist (US) back issues from November 2007:
Sweating the sands; Canada.(Alberta raises oil royalties)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Alberta raises oil royalties--but by less than meets the eye WHEN Ed Stelmach, an unassuming farmer from rural Alberta, became the surprise choice of the province's ruling Conservatives to replace the abrasive Ralph Klein as provincial premier, political pundits found it hard to ...
The penguins' onward march; Argentina's presidential election.(Nestor and Cristina Kirchner)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The shift from Nestor to Cristina Kirchner offers a chance for change--even if this may prove to be largely cosmetic THE polling stations were still open on October 28th when a pair of giant inflatable penguins, one male, one female, were set up in the plaza outside the hotel ...
Free kicks and kickbacks; The World Cup.(Brazil's football World Cup)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Football comes home to Brazil after 64 years FOR Brazil, a country with a seemingly endless supply of footballers with magnetic feet, winning the World Cup is often fairly straightforward. Hosting it may prove harder. But this week FIFA, the sport's governing body, confirmed ...
Making socialism official; Venezuela.(Venezuela's constitutional reform)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Demonstrating against the six-hour day Hugo Chavez's new constitution THE Catholic church calls it "morally unacceptable". Many lawyers and human-rights organisations say it violates fundamental freedoms. Even some of the government's allies have spoken of ...
One dam thing after another; The Three Gorges.(Trouble at the Three Gorges dam)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Reservoir of ill-will Sceptics about the world's biggest hydroelectric dam are being vindicated PEASANTS in the village of Miaohe on the north bank of the Yangzi River say nothing like it had occurred in their lifetimes, nor those of their parents and grandparents ....
In ruddy health; Australia's opposition.(Australia's opposition and the election)(Kevin Rudd)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Halfway through the election campaign, Labor is still favourite to win IN THE campaign for Australia's federal election on November 24th, Kevin Rudd, leader of the main opposition Labor Party, has so far flummoxed the conservative coalition government, under John Howard, at ...
Monks march again; Myanmar.(Protest in Myanmar)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Faint glimmers of hope as the UN's envoy returns THREE days before the United Nations' special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, was due to return to the country, Buddhist monks in the central town of Pakokku staged a small march, around 100-strong, on October 31st. They did no ...
Sun, sex and Stalinism; Holidays in North Korea.
Nov 03, 2007 ... All of Kim's horses and all of Kim's men Tourists bring back tales of life in Kim Jong Il's grim themepark GLOBAL capitalism has worked many wonders, but where in the free world can one see 10,000 children dancing in synchronisation, dressed as eggs? Such weirdness ...
The indestructible Mr Thaksin; Thailand's election.(Thaksin Shinawatra)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The Thai junta is struggling to thwart Thaksin Shinawatra's electoral hopes. But being robbed of victory may be a blessing in disguise LIKE Arnold Schwarzenegger battling the indestructible, shape-shifting cyborg in "Terminator 2", the generals who staged Thailand's coup in ...
The fly's a spy - Unmanned aircraft.
Nov 03, 2007 ... Smile, please; Microdrone at work A new type of flying machine is watching you JUST below a half-opened garage door a tiny device can be seen at the feet of someone lurking in the shadows. It looks like a blue dragonfly. Then its miniature wings begin to flap as it ...
Hail to the chiefs; Britain and America.(Book review)
Nov 03, 2007 ... An entertaining book on why the much-loathed Anglo-Saxons have kept on winning--and messing up CLEVER, malevolent and with spare time on his hands, Osama bin Laden is supposed to read a lot. If the CIA wants to demoralise and to distract him, it might make sure he gets a copy of ...
Blowing cool, blowing hot; Foreign policy.(Book review)
Nov 03, 2007 ... . . OPINION polls in the United States show that most people believe the invasion of Iraq to have been a mistake, an ill-conceived idea poorly executed. So far, however, they have been relatively patient, a stoicism that may not last into the election year. Foreign policy and ...
Good grief; The life of Charles Schulz.(Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography)
Nov 03, 2007 ... A cartoonist's revenge IT WAS always the same old trick. Lucy, smiling innocently, would hold a football for Charlie Brown to kick. For nearly 50 years, she would convince her hapless, moon-faced friend to ignore precedent and trust her. "I'm a changed person," she would say ....
The brains behind the bombs; Jihadism.(Architect of Global Jihad: The Life of Al Qaeda Strategist Abu Mus'ab al-Suri)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The blond professor IF THE internet is jihad's open university, used for spreading ideological and military knowledge, then one of its most formidable professors is Mustafa bin Abd al-Qadir Setmariam Nasar, better known by his nom de guerre, Abu Musab al-Suri. The Syrian-born ...
Inventing the dots; Espionage.(Curveball: Spies, Lies, and the Con Man Who Caused a War)(Book review)
Nov 03, 2007 ... THIS is a book you can imagine Alec Leamas, the miserable spook hero of "The Spy Who Came In From the Cold", enjoying on the number 11 bus back to his dingy Hammersmith flat. "What do you think spies are: priests, saints, martyrs?" Leamas famously snarled. "They're a squalid procession of ...
Saint Catherine's first journey; The Renaissance in Siena.(Sienese Renaissance art)
Nov 03, 2007 ... An exhibition of Sienese art at London's National Gallery RENAISSANCE Siena was Tuscany's second city, envious of the fame of Florence and keen to show how cultured it was--a relationship much like that enjoyed by Manchester and London in the 19th century or Chicago and New York ...
Undercounted and over here; Foreign workers.(Shaky numbers and political consensus on immigration)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Politicians have started to agree on immigration. If only the numbers did too IT IS a tricky topic for right-wing political parties in most developed countries. Raising the issue of immigration at once provokes accusations of racism; but ignoring it goes down poorly with core ...
Trust me; Bagehot.(Gordon Brown and the state)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Gordon Brown's ideas about the state are more complicated than his critics allow "BRITZ", a controversially well-meaning television drama broadcast this week on Channel 4, tried to show how the government's anti-terrorism legislation might combine with foreign-policy grievances ...
A fine line; Liberty v security.(The House of Lords upholds anti-terrorist "control orders")
Nov 03, 2007 ... The law lords uphold control orders to detain terrorist suspects, within limits FOR Lord Hoffmann, one of Britain's most respected law lords, it should have been a no-brainer. "Such is the revulsion against detention without charge or trial, such is this country's attachment to ...
Learning to sup with a long spoon; Saudi state visit.(Why heads of state should talk to each other)(King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia visits United Kingdom)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Singing from different hymn sheets King Abdullah heads a flawed state. All the more reason to invite him FOR all the talk of security breaches and boycotts, the first Saudi Arabian state visit to Britain in 20 years passed off as these things usually do--with mutual ...
Handle with care; The English question.(The Tories flirt with English nationalism)(Conservative Party of United Kingdom)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The Tories flirt with a growing English nationalism SOMEWHERE among the stiff upper lips and a fondness for queuing, a sense of fair play is to be found in any shortlist of the traits readily associated with the English. No wonder, then, that they are animated by the "West ...
Moving on; Transport.(A coherent policy at last)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Untangling the spaghetti The government has decided what its transport policy is for AT THE time, cynics dismissed it as the latest in an endless succession of consultations, reports, five or ten-year plans and other such wheel-spinning from a government that had ...
Indecent proposals; Prostitution and advertising.(The problems of touting sex for sale)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Market penetration A spat over classified ads exposes Britain's uneasy stance on prostitution JOSTLING for position among advertisements for plumbers and old bicycles, there is one page at the back of most local newspapers that stands out. Small (classified) ads ...
A Tesco in every town; Competition in retailing.(Two supermarkets good, four supermarkets better)(competitions in supermarket chains and small convenience stores)
Nov 03, 2007 ... More than a game Britain's small shopkeepers rue the day they called for a probe of retailing BE CAREFUL what you wish for. Two years ago, after vigorous campaigning and a judicial review, small shopkeepers forced competition authorities to look at the conduct of the ...
Can you manage? Spotlight on business journals.(Brief article)
Nov 03, 2007 ... "What's in the journals" and other management resources are atwww.economist.com/management Keeping abreast of the latest management thinking is not easy. Let us help IS MANAGEMENT an art or a science? That question may never be answered satisfactorily but some ...
Historic verdicts; The Madrid bomb trials.(After the Madrid bombing verdicts)(Madrid, Spain's train bombings)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The trauma of March 2004 Spain's political debate may at last be moving from the past to the future TERRORIST attacks are meant to spread confusion. The train bombings that left 191 dead in Madrid on March 11th 2004 certainly did that. They also helped to change the ...
Past recalled; Commemoration in Germany.(Memorialising the war and its aftermath)(German war victims)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Remember, remember Quarrels over a plan to commemorate German expellees from the east SOME 12m ethnic Germans were expelled from their homes in eastern Europe after the second world war; tens of thousands died. Those who settled in Germany have long wanted a central ...
Dreams and reality; Turkey's Kurds.(The impact of northern Iraq)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Excitement stirs in Diyarbakir The effects of northern Iraq on Turkey's Kurds are more complex than they seem STANDING by the stream that separates the hamlet of Ovakoy from northern Iraq, Hisyar Ozalp, a young Kurdish lawyer, gestures towards a cluster of pink ...
The soup thickens; Denmark's election.(Ahead of Denmark's November 13th vote)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Prime minister in search of re-election A new centrist party may complicate coalition-building after November 13th TO THE casual eye, Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Denmark's prime minister, ought to be a shoo-in at the snap election he has called for November 13th. For six ...
Parliamentary battles; France's constitution.(Plans to rebalance France's Fifth Republic)
Nov 03, 2007 ... French constitutional reforms stir more argument than European Union ones THE last time the European Union drew up a constitutional treaty, in 2004, the French derailed it by voting no in a referendum. With the ink barely dry on the new Lisbon treaty, a "simplified" version, it ...
Paying the piper; Ireland's prime minister.(A big pay rise for Ireland's Bertie Ahern)(Brief article)
Nov 03, 2007 ... A row over top politicians' pay comes at an awkward time FEW countries pay their top politicians as well as Ireland. When Bertie Ahern recently accepted a 14% pay rise, it was the 26th of his ten-year tenure as taoiseach (prime minister). Since 1997, the taoiseach's salary, ...
Justice for some; Romania's rule of law.(Corruption worries in Romania)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Corruption scandals hit the headlines, but not the guilty EVERY man has his price; a minister's is just higher. Fixing a public tender in Romania may require a few euros. And some sausages. And maybe some plum brandy. Tapes from the prosecutor's office, leaked and then broadcast ...
Britain's costly disdain; Charlemagne.(Britain's damaging loss of interest in Brussels)(Great Britain)
Nov 03, 2007 ... A salutary tale of lost interest and influence in Europe's corridors of power IN SOVIET times, one escape for freedom-loving types was "internal emigration". This involved a retreat to a country dacha or secluded library, there to write or grow vegetables and be isolated from ...
The odd couple; Germany's government.(Tensions inside the grand coalition)(Christian Democratic Union's Angela Merkel, Social Democratic Party's Kurt Beck)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The grand coalition's junior partner, the Social Democrats, improve their prospects--at the expense of the government's KURT BECK has been chairman of the Social Democratic Party (SPD), the junior partner in Germany's grand coalition government, since May 2006. But only now has ...
A brittle Western ally in the Horn of Africa - Ethiopia.(Ethiopia's struggle to progress)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Not far enough from famine While things are getting better in much of Africa, Ethiopia risks getting left behind AS AMERICA surveys the map of eastern Africa, it finds little to take comfort from. Somalia is in anarchy, riven by competing warlords and a haven for ...
Kings of the wild frontier; Buttonwood.(Investors stampede into emerging markets)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Why emerging markets are flavour of the moment FOR anyone with memories of the economic crises of the past 25 years, recent talk of emerging markets as the new safe havens of the financial world might seem, at best, a little fanciful. At worst, it might seem the height of ...
Kahn do; The IMF.(The IMF gets a new boss)(Dominique Strauss-Kahn )
Nov 03, 2007 ... Dominique Strauss-Kahn takes over at the IMF AT MOST job interviews, questioning the worth of the prospective employer is risky. But when Dominique Strauss-Kahn applied for the top post at the IMF, he told the board that the fund's biggest challenges were relevance and ...
Money v mosquito; Economics focus.(An ambitious plan to subsidise malaria treatment)(artemisinin combination therapies)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Will an ambitious plan to subsidise anti-malarial pills work? FOR centuries, the Chinese have prized African rhinoceros horn as a remedy for impotence. Africans are now just as keen on an Asian medicine: artemisinin, a highly effective malaria remedy derived from a Chinese ...
Rate expectations; Japan's economy.(Interest rates stay on hold in Japan)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The Bank of Japan wants to raise interest rates. The economy won't let it PITY Toshihiko Fukui, the governor of the Bank of Japan (BoJ). He has signalled with semaphoric precision that he wants to tighten monetary policy. After six years of keeping interest rates at zero while ...
Loss leaders; Investment banks.(Investment banks on both sides of the Atlantic suffer)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The costs of the credit crunch mount. There may be more pain to come "THIS time it's different" are the four most expensive words in the English language, runs a saying among bankers. So it has proved at Merrill Lynch, an American investment bank which is ruing a stampede into ...
Another notch down; The Federal Reserve.(The Fed cuts rates again)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The Fed cuts interest rates again FAINT-HEARTED or far-sighted? On October 31st the Federal Reserve gave financial markets what they had wanted and expected: a quarter-point cut in the federal funds rate, to 4.5%. Despite some internal misgivings and one outright dissenting ...
Super-spiked; Oil.(Hopes for cheaper oil)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The price should fall--eventually BACK in 2005, in an apparent flight of fancy, analysts at Goldman Sachs predicted a "super-spike" in the oil price to $105 a barrel. On October 31st, the prediction came as close as it ever has to fulfilment, when the price of West Texas ...
A man's world? Learning and inequality.(Closing the gender gap in education)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Together we can beat the boys Good news: the education gap between men and women is narrowing FEW things have been more true, and more universally believed, than that women get the rough end of life in poor countries. They bear the burden of child-rearing and a ...
The icy road to Bali; The UN and climate change.(The UN's plan to highlight the effects of climate change on the southern hemisphere)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Call me Mr Ban: I'm here to listen The UN's quiet new boss is hoping that his eco-tour of the southern hemisphere will concentrate minds on the planet's travails BAN KI-MOON has hardly been a limelight-stealer during his 10 months as secretary-general of the United ...
The new wars of religion - The new wars of religion; Faith and politics.
Nov 03, 2007 ... Faith will unsettle politics everywhere this century; it will do so least when it is separated from the state A RELIGIOUS fanatic feels persecuted, goes overseas to fight for his God and then returns home to attempt a bloody act of terrorism. Next week as Britons celebrate the ...
No more than a B-; Taxes in America.(The Democrats' tax plans)
Nov 03, 2007 ... With one exception, the Democrats' first stab at tax reform is disappointing "THE mother of all tax reforms" was how Charles Rangel, the Democrats' top tax-writer in Congress, described his new plans for revamping America's tax code. "The mother of all tax hikes" was the ...
Rise of the machines; Robots.
Nov 03, 2007 ... Robots are great, but what happens when they start spying on you? EVER since Karol Capek, a Czech playwright, used the term in the early 1920s to describe artificial people, robots have usually appeared in popular culture with human characteristics and made by big companies. ...
Tax and mend; Scotland.(Fiscal autonomy for Scotland)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Giving the Scottish Parliament the power to tax as well as spend would please both the Scots and the English SINCE May, when the Scots gave more of their votes to a party bent on independence than to any other, all ears have been waiting for the sound of the United Kingdom being ...
The rise of the buppies; South Africa.(South Africa's new black middle class)
Nov 03, 2007 ... On the way up, in Maponya's mall The economic and political consequences of the black middle class THIRTEEN years after the first democratic elections, signs of the growing affluence among South Africa's black majority--once largely deprived of wealth and ...
Failed state,failed leader; Somalia.(Somalia's prime minister goes)(Ali Mohamed Gedi)
Nov 03, 2007 ... A country still dangerously adrift THE prime minister of Somalia, Ali Mohamed Gedi, has bowed out after a year of rivalry with the country's president, Abdullahi Yusuf--in the interest, he says, of national unity. In his resignation speech, Mr Gedi said he had survived five ...
Neo-imperialism at the point of a boot; Africa and football.(English football scores big in Africa)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The English premiership sweeps all before it IN THE back room of a Somali mosque, a conservative Muslim cleric explains the finer points of a religious state. There is no qat (the local narcotic) on hand, as there often is in the homes of secular Somali politicians. But this man ...
Darfur bleeds as talks fail; Sudan.(A failed peace conference over Darfur)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The rebels mess up a badly arranged peace conference APPEARANCES, at least, were impressive. In the vast marble conference centre of Sirte, in northern Libya, the Great Leader of the Revolution, as Muammar Qaddafi is officially known, seemed to have assembled the whole world to ...
Al-Qaeda in retreat, for now; Iraq.(The Americans say al-Qaeda is on the wane in Baghdad)
Nov 03, 2007 ... An American general is cautiously hopeful REMEMBERING their president's "mission accomplished" banner in the summer of 2003, American generals are very wary of declaring success in their campaign to beat the Iraqi insurgency. More often they claim slow and spotty progress, ...
Could the president be ousted? Kenya.(Kenya's coming elections)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Opinion polls suggest that Kenya's voters could produce a rare shock AMONG the candidates standing for the parliamentary seat of Makutano Junction, a small town on a road out of Nairobi, the capital, are Hope Baraka, a young single mother, and Harrison Matata, the rich ...
R.B. Kitaj.(R.B. Kitaj, painter of the human condition)(Ronald Brooks Kitaj)(Obituary)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Ronald Brooks Kitaj, painter of the human condition, died on October 21st, aged 74 WHEN he was very young, Ronald Kitaj ran away to sea. He joined the SS Corona bound for Cuba and Mexico, a fresh-faced Cleveland boy who carried his sketchbooks with him and knew, already, that ...
In God's name.(In God's name)(Nigeria; religion)
Nov 03, 2007; ... Religion will play a big role in this century's politics. John Micklethwait asks how we should deal with it THE four-hour journey through the bush from Kano to Jos in northern Nigeria features many of the staples of African life: checkpoints with greedy soldiers, huge potholes, ...
O come all ye faithful.(O come all ye faithful)(churches)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Home-cell battery God is definitely not dead, but He now comes in many more varieties MENTION a "megachurch" and most people think of a gleaming building in the American suburbs. In fact, many of the biggest churches are outside the United States. In Guatemala, ...
- The power of private prayer.(The power of private prayer)(Islam in Europe)
Nov 03, 2007 ... A heretical thought about religion in Europe EVEN in these dark days for the Bush presidency, there is one topic that can make American conservatives smile--religion in Europe. The White House might be going to hell (or at least to Hillary Clinton), but Europe faces a worse ...
The new wars of religion.(The new wars of religion)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Oliver's army An old menace has returned, but in very different forms EARLIER this year Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, speaking to his country's parliament, posed two questions: "Who are our enemies?" and "Why do they hate us?" He described an axis of evil, ...
Bridging the divide.(Bridging the divide)(Vishwa Hindu Parishad, Praveen Togadia)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Bridge-building Ram The world's most religious country is still battling with its demons ON THE face of it, Praveen Togadia is just the sort of Indian the modernising Jawaharlal Nehru might have been proud of. Urbane and sophisticated, he is a cancer surgeon, with ...
Holy depressing.(Holy depressing)(Gaza Strip; Palestinians and Jews)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Religious politics at its worst SHEIKH Yazid Khader and Rabbi Yaacov Medan both live in the occupied West Bank. Both are devoutly religious men who feel they have been betrayed by secularists. The sheikh, a local Hamas leader, has just emerged from another bout of Fatah custody ...
The lesson from America.(The lesson from America)
Nov 03, 2007 ... My place ... The superpower has mastered the politics of religion at home, but not abroad WRITING of Calvin Coolidge, H.L. Mencken once observed that he might be dull and smell of boiled cabbage but at least "the president of the United States doesn't believe that the ...
Back to the Ottomans.(Back to the Ottomans)(Muslim women's rights)
Nov 03, 2007 ... The prime minister, his wife and a headscarf Why Turkey matters so much to Islam FOR many Westerners, Hidayet Tuksal is a confusing figure. Headscarfed and imposing, she grew up in a strict Muslim household in Ankara. At university in the 1980s, she focused on the ...
Stop in the name...(Stop in the name...)(religion and politics)
Nov 03, 2007 ... You say you want an evolution Religion and modernity have a love-hate relationship WILLIAM BUCKLEY, the grand old man of the American right, once argued that a conservative's duty was to stand athwart history shouting "Stop!" So far this special report has argued that ...
How to cheat without cheating; Drugs and sport.(Drugs, sport and placebos)
Nov 03, 2007 ... Athletes and the placebo effect THE murky world of doping in sport may be about to get murkier still. Having spent decades trying to detect the use of performance-enhancing drugs, officials may soon be confronted with the paradoxical problem of detecting their non-use. ...