The Economist (US) back issues from January 2009:
Hanging them high; The Caribbean.(The death penalty in the Caribbean)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Don't bother to reform, just execute ON DECEMBER 19th, as the small island state of St Kitts and Nevis prepared to celebrate Christmas and the annual Carnival, bells rang out from the prison in the heart of the capital, Basseterre. Charles Laplace was hanged that morning for ...
The tenacity of hope; Bangladesh's election.(An unexpectedly good election in Bangladesh)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Against all the evidence of past experience, Bangladesh's voters enjoy a moment of optimism after a pretty clean election and a decisive result IT WENT better than anyone dared hope. On December 29th Bangladesh held its first general election for seven years. It was ...
Go for big chests and slim waists; Horse racing in China.
Jan 03, 2009 ... Not exactly gambling, but the lucky could still win something OPPORTUNITIES are sparse for China's small-time speculators. So it was with a certain ebullience that 7,000 residents of Wuhan recently gathered at the Orient Lucky City racecourse to indulge in what the central ...
Don't bring me your huddled masses; Japanese immigration.(A multicultural Japan?)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Yet some people are beginning to imagine a more multicultural Japan INFLAMMATORY remarks by Japan's speak-from-the-hip conservative politicians--among them the prime minister for now, Taro Aso--embroil them in endless controversy with neighbours over Japan's wartime past. In ...
A good vote in the angry valley; India, Pakistan and Kashmir.(An election in Kashmir)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Tough love for Omar Abdullah But India shouldn't believe that many Kashmiris were won over to its rule AS AN illustration of the strength of India's democracy, it was well-timed. On December 28th Jammu & Kashmir, India's only Muslim-majority state, declared the ...
Shadow movement; Turkmenistan.(Turkmenistan votes)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Glimmers of light in a murky state ALTHOUGH Turkmenistan's eccentric and autocratic president-for-life, Saparmurat Niyazov, was short in physical stature, he has continued to cast a long shadow since his death two years ago. Only very gradually has his successor, Gurbanguly ...
The lantern on the stern; America and the Middle East.(Innocent Abroad: An Intimate History of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East)(Book review)
Jan 03, 2009 ... What Barack Obama can learn from Bill Clinton's failed peacemaking IF ONLY men could learn from history. Alas, experience is a "lantern on the stern, which shines only on the waves behind us". It is fitting that Martin Indyk, one of America's most seasoned diplomats in the ...
Reading Lolita again; Memoir of Iran.(Things I've Been Silent About: Memories)(Book review)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Spurred to excel AZAR NAFISI'S new book is both prequel and sequel to her earlier memoir, "Reading Lolita in Tehran". Her latest work, "Things I've Been Silent About", reveals some inconvenient truths about Ms Nafisi's upbringing that she chose to keep private while her parents ...
Greying globe; Demographics.
Jan 03, 2009 ... EVERY age has its big demographic scares. In 1798, when the world's population was about 1 billion, Thomas Malthus published his "Essay on the Principle of Population", predicting that, thanks to mankind's enthusiastic procreation habits, by the middle of the 19th century there would no ...
Prickly charmers; Hedgehogs.(The Hedgehog's Dilemma: A Tale of Obsession, Nostalgia, and the World's Most Charming Mammal)(Brief article)(Book review)
Jan 03, 2009 ... ARISTOTLE believed hedgehogs could predict the weather. Arthur Schopenhauer, a philosopher, used them to illustrate the challenges of human intimacy. Beatrix Potter's Mrs Tiggy-Winkle has enchanted children and adults alike since 1905, while Sonic, her modern-day counterpart, is one of the ...
Headless story; Oliver Cromwell.(Cromwell's Head)(Book review)
Jan 03, 2009 ... BEHEADED posthumously, as punishment for his part in the execution of Charles I in 1649, Oliver Cromwell's fate after death matches his grippingly controversial life. Was it really his body that was buried in Westminster Abbey in 1658, with jarring pomp and ceremony? Was the same corpse ...
Scholar of stitching; The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Jan 03, 2009 ... Kid in a candy store The Metropolitan's new director gives his first interview "I FEEL like Dorothy in 'The Wizard of Oz'; picked up by a whirlwind and dropped down in a land where everything is much more brightly coloured," says Thomas Campbell, who on January 1st ...
Will he, won't he? Election speculation.(A familiar dilemma for Gordon Brown)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Bring it on? An all-too-familiar dilemma for Gordon Brown FOR a man scarred by his calamitous flirtation with a snap election in 2007--souring opinion polls forced a humiliating retreat--Gordon Brown seems surprisingly willing to thrust his fingers back into the ...
A surprising conversion; High-speed rail.(The politics of high-speed rail)
Jan 03, 2009 ... The politics if not the economics are turning in favour ONCE it was a wistful dream of technophiles, railway buffs and fringe pressure groups. But in recent months the idea of a British high-speed rail network, similar to those pioneered in Japan and France, has begun to attract ...
The unkindest cut; Crime statistics.(Competing figures on knife crime)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Knife crime is a problem. So is political meddling with numbers CRIME--who commits it and who suffers the consequences; whether it is rising or falling--is an obsession of the British electorate. Voters regularly place it at or near the top of their concerns, along with health, ...
Shopped out; Retailing gloom.(Retailers' darkest hour)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Amid hectic shopping more famous names on the high street face ruin IN THE city centre, Poundland is heaving with post-Christmas bargain hunters snapping up everything from underwear to shampoo, some of it for even less than the promised [pounds sterling]1 ($1.46). Elsewhere in ...
Deployment days; Kosovo and Serbia.(EULEX gets going in Kosovo)
Jan 03, 2009 ... The row over Kosovo's independence may be dwarfed by economic concerns FOR months the European Union's biggest civilian mission, known as EULEX, was in limbo. Planned to consist of 1,900 policemen, judges and others, it was due to replace the United Nations after Kosovo ...
Conversion rate; Christians in Kosovo.(A tale of converts in Kosovo)
Jan 03, 2009 ... The cross, not the crescent A surprising story of Muslim converts to Christianity A CHRISTMAS tree dominates the centre of Pristina. Nearby a huge Catholic cathedral is being built. Farther off stand statues of two Albanian heroes: Mother Teresa of Calcutta, a ...
Uncle Volodya's flagging Christmas spirit; Russia.(Hard economic times ahead for Russia)
Jan 03, 2009 ... The Russian government is beginning to run out of the goodies that it has traditionally used to buy popular acquiescence JUST over a year ago Vladimir Putin sprang a surprise on his country: Dmitry Medvedev, a former lawyer and confidant of his, was his preferred choice of ...
Longer dole queues; Spain's unemployment.(Rising joblessness in Spain)
Jan 03, 2009 ... The social consequences of fast-rising job losses THE "Fat One", Spain's record-breaking El Gordo lottery, made it an especially cheery Christmas in Soria. The [euro]2.1 billion ($3 billion) prize draw was worth an average of [euro]2,500 for each of the city's inhabitants. As a ...
Television diplomacy; Turkey and the Kurds.(Turkey's new Kurdish television channel)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Hopes that a new channel may herald fresh reforms ROJIN is a feisty, beautiful Kurdish bard who belts out nationalist ballads. As a result, private Kurdish television channels that showed her were long penalised or even taken off the air. But now she will be a regular on ...
From heroic to farcical; Ukraine's government.(A weak coalition fights on in Ukraine)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Yuletide Yulia speaks out As Ukraine's politicians bicker, the economy slides IN-FIGHTING has been a chronic condition of Ukrainian politics for years. The benevolent idea, often from outside, is that it is all part of the democratic process. The grumpier view of many ...
Ill winds; Cuba's economy.(Cuba's struggling economy)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Hurricanes have added to the woes of the downturn LESS than four months ago, Hurricanes Gustav and Ike slammed into western Cuba. They caused $10 billion-worth of damage: homes blown apart, power-lines flattened, the state-run food-supply network disrupted, farms laid waste. ...
Needed: a strategy; Banking in China.(Western banks adrift in China)
Jan 03, 2009 ... With Western finance in disrepute and local markets moribund, international banks are groping for a role in China IN THEIR darkest moments, global banks can find some solace in the thought that, regardless of how much they are to blame for the world's financial woes, they remain ...
Ready for a rally? Buttonwood.(Prospects of a stockmarket rebound)(Column)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Markets could decouple from the economy in 2009--in a pleasant way for equity investors SOOTHSAYING is not a very respectable profession. Like Cassandra, those whose forecasts are correct tend not to be believed. Most people are drawn into extrapolating from current trends and ...
A slice of Danish; Fixing finance.(Denmark's resilient mortgage market)
Jan 03, 2009 ... An ancient Scandinavian model may help modern mortgage markets COPENHAGEN'S winding streets and curved waterways are not obvious places to find the answers to one of finance's most pressing questions. Yet some argue that it was here, amid the devastation of the city's great fire ...
Follow the feeders; The Madoff scandal.(Aftermath of the Madoff affair)(Bernard Madoff)
Jan 03, 2009 ... The crucial roles played by credulous middlemen and clueless regulators A WEEK after Bernard Madoff's vast alleged Ponzi scheme came to light in mid-December, a thief made off with a $10,000 copper statue from his Florida estate. Since then, dozens of Madoff-related items have ...
Return to wealth; Bank strategy.(UBS plots its future)(UBS AG)
Jan 03, 2009 ... UBS has had a terrible crisis. That may help it have a better aftermath "FAIL fast, fail early" is a management mantra in many industries. Identify the projects that will not pay off quickly, and the costs of failure are capped. Banks have developed their own version of this ...
Unemployment rates.(Brief article)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Unemployment in many rich countries has already risen above the "structural" rates-ie, consistent with stable inflation-estimated by the OECD. So far, the countries worst affected by increasing joblessness are those suffering painful housing busts. Among the hardest hit is Spain. The ...
Overview.(Brief article)
Jan 03, 2009 ... The housing bust in America shows few signs of bottoming out. Sales of lived-in homes fell by 8.6% in November, according to the National Association of Realtors. At November's depressed pace, it would take 11.2 months to clear the stock of unsold houses-up from 10.3 months in October and ...
The future is another country; Higher education.(The global market in universities keeps all players on their toes)
Jan 03, 2009 ... A world of colleges without borders should benefit everyone, including students who stay at home JUST a few decades ago, students at universities outside their home countries formed a tiny elite. Some gained scholarships with famous names like Rhodes or Fulbright; others were ...
The Americans are coming; Internationalising American universities.(The United States could soon do better at attracting foreign students)
Jan 03, 2009 ... The next big shake-up of the global higher education business ALTHOUGH the United States takes a bigger share of the international student market than any other country, with 22% of the total, it underperforms in relation to its size. Just 3.5% of students on its campuses are ...
Managing the Facebookers; Business.
Jan 03, 2009 ... The balance of power between old-school managers and young talent is changing--a bit THEIR defenders say they are motivated, versatile workers who are just what companies need in these difficult times. To others, however, the members of "Generation Y"--those born in the 1980s ...
A sea of troubles; The oceans.
Jan 03, 2009 ... Man is assaulting the oceans. They will smite him if he does not take care NOT much is known about the sea, it is said; the surface of Mars is better mapped. But 2,000 holes have now been drilled in the bottom, 100,000 photographs have been taken, satellites monitor the five ...
After the dictator, the deluge; Guinea.(A coup in Guinea)(Lansana Conte)
Jan 03, 2009 ... From captain to coup-leader in the blink of an eye A coup prompts political turmoil after the death of a despot THE corrupt, dictatorial and long-ailing president of Guinea, Lansana Conte, was once asked about plans for his succession. "There is no question of ...
What can we do? Gaza and Hamas.(Hamas's calculations)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Hamas's hour of resistance The dilemma that springs from a defiant refusal to compromise IN THEIR oath of loyalty, members of Hamas declare that death in the cause of God is their supreme desire. But as the bombs of Israel's Operation Cast Lead, aimed at smashing ...
Proportional to what? The laws of war.(The rights and wrongs of killing civilians)(Viewpoint essay)
Jan 03, 2009 ... The rights and wrongs of killing civilians IN THE arithmetic of death, the latest fight between Israel and Hamas has been an unequal contest: more than 350 Palestinians killed in Israeli air strikes in the first four days, many of them civilians, against four Israelis killed by ...
Pummelling the Palestinians; Israel and Gaza.(Israel's assault on Hamas in the Gaza Strip)
Jan 03, 2009 ... If the Israeli onslaught on the Islamists of Hamas silences them for a while, it could alter the odds in Israel's coming general election "BY THE time we're finished," Israel's deputy chief of staff, General Dan Harel, told a group of mayors from towns close to the Gaza Strip ...
Scramble for the seabed.(Scramble for the seabed)(Essay)
Jan 03, 2009 ... He may turn out to be a friendHe may turn out to be a friend He may turn out to be a friendHe may turn out to be a friend He may turn out to be a friend The latest land-grab is under water and under way FOR nearly 30 years, legal control of the ...
The curse of carbon.(The curse of carbon)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Heading for the exitHeading for the exit Heading for the exit Heading for the exitHeading for the exit A meltdown tinged with acid EVEN if they do not live in the Maldives or Bangladesh, most people can appreciate the seriousness of rising sea ...
Grabbing it all.(Grabbing it all)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Ever smaller, ever rarerEver smaller, ever rarerEver smaller, ever rarer Ever smaller, ever rarerEver smaller, ever rarerEver smaller, ever rarer Turtles, dolphins, albatrosses not on show In most places fisheries policies have failed completely ...
An Icelandic success.(An Icelandic success)
Jan 03, 2009; ... The whole country's watchingThe whole country's watching The whole country's watchingThe whole country's watching The whole country's watching A model way to catch and keep fish ICELAND has not quite proved that fish can sing, but it has shown ...
Acknowledgments.
Jan 03, 2009 ... The author would like to thank the many people who helped him at the Directorate of Fisheries, Reykjavik, Iceland; European Marine Energy Centre, Orkney; Federation of Icelandic Fishing Vessel Owners, Reykjavik; International Centre for Island Technology, Heriot-Watt University, Orkney; ...
When 1, 2, 3… is not enough; More numbers.(Arguing over what counts as a number)
Jan 03, 2009 ... Arguments over what counts as a number EVERY now and then mathematics has been convulsed by a row, not over where numbers come from--but over what should be allowed to count as one. Two millennia ago, inspired by such discoveries as the relationship between musical pitch and the ...
Subject: Wall Street; Barack Obama's BlackBerry.
Jan 03, 2009 ... Another look inside the president-elect's BlackBerry, soon to be confiscated on security grounds "FIRST the good news. While the recession is getting worse, the financial crisis that started it has been contained--for now. The government has had to bail out only one big ...
A turn in the South; Charleston.(Charleston transforms itself)
Jan 03, 2009 ... A blue-collar military town transforms itself into a white-collar security cluster UNTIL the government closed it in 1996, the navy base in Charleston was the region's economic engine. The navy was Charleston's largest employer, directly providing work for more than 22,000 ...
Hunting without guns; The Christmas bird count.
Jan 03, 2009 ... A splendid tradition in its 109th year DECORATING the tree, sending out new year wishes, counting birds? Thousands of Americans have adopted the annual holiday tradition of the Christmas bird count, now in its 109th year and run by the Audubon Society. From Canada to South ...
Huntington's clash; Lexington.(Samuel Huntington)(In memoriam)
Jan 03, 2009 ... One of America's great public intellectuals died on Christmas Eve IN THE early 1990s America's opinion-makers competed to outdo each other in triumphalism. Economists argued that the "Washington consensus" would spread peace and prosperity around the world. Politicians debated ...
Obamaville; Re-naming America.(Barack Obama leaves his mark)
Jan 03, 2009 ... The next president is already making his mark on America's cities DELMAR BOULEVARD is an arterial road running through some of the poorest and richest, and most racially divided, neighbourhoods of St Louis, Missouri. Some city aldermen are now trying to rename the street after ...
The people puzzle; Re-training America's workers.
Jan 03, 2009 ... Thousands of workers are losing their jobs. America now faces the hard task of getting them back to work MOIRA MCKAMEY is one of many Americans with more free time than she would like. In November DHL, an express delivery company, said that it would close its American domestic ...
A safety net in need of repair; Unemployment insurance.
Jan 03, 2009 ... The benefits awaiting America's unemployed are outdated and skimpy COMPARED with the systems in other industrialised countries, the American unemployment-insurance (UI) scheme pays lower benefits for less time and to a smaller share of the unemployed. In expansions this ...
Rising in the East; Research and development.
Jan 03, 2009 ... Asia is steadily eroding America's leadership in research spending TO SEE the geography of the technology industry, crack open an Apple iPhone. Although the firm that sells it is American, it provides none of the physical innards. The components are almost entirely Asian: the ...
No end to the nightmare; America's car industry.
Jan 03, 2009 ... Detroit has been given a brief reprieve, but the threat of bankruptcy still looms THE sense of relief in Detroit that greeted the $17.4 billion federal lifeline thrown by President Bush to General Motors (GM) and Chrysler just before Christmas is unlikely to last long. The terms ...
The other transition; Face value.
Jan 03, 2009 ... Leo Apotheker, SAP's new boss, is an unusual choice, installed in an unusual way CHANGES in leadership at big companies can be like those in Washington, DC. They bring in fresh perspectives and new people. At the same time, they are often drawn out, disruptive and damaging to ...
The Rypple effect; Performance management.
Jan 03, 2009 ... A novel way to satisfy feedback junkies ONE defining characteristic of the Net Generation is that it thrives on feedback. Just as they are used to checking their progress on leader boards when playing video games, so Net Geners want to keep close tabs on their performance at ...
Generation Y goes to work; Management.
Jan 03, 2009 ... Reality bites for young workers JESSICA BUCHSBAUM first noticed that something had changed in May 2008. The head of recruitment for a law firm in Florida, Ms Buchsbaum was used to interviewing young candidates for summer internships who seemed to think that the world owed them a ...
The World This Week.
Jan 03, 2009 ... Israeli aircraft attacked targets in the Gaza Strip linked to the Islamist Palestinian movement, Hamas. Some 350 people were killed; according to the UN dozens of these were civilians. Israel's government said it intended to force Hamas, which ended a six-month ceasefire on December 19th, ...
Misery in their midst; Housing in Argentina.(Argentina's fight over a shantytown)
Jan 10, 2009 ... A fight over an iconic shantytown NOT far from the Sheraton Hotel in the Retiro district of Buenos Aires there is another building jocularly known to locals by the same name, where beds are available for a more modest fee. This precarious rooming house marks the entrance to ...
Lula's last lap; Politics in Brazil.(The plans of Brazil's popular president)(Lula da Silva)
Jan 10, 2009 ... A freakishly popular president has only a year left before electioneering curtails his mandate. He will spend it reacting rather than reforming REPEATS are often disappointing. It is rare indeed to find a president in his second term with an approval rating of 80%, as Brazil's ...
Third term temptation; Politics in Colombia.(Colombia's Uribe, statesman or autocrat?)(Alvaro Uribe)
Jan 10, 2009 ... Alvaro Uribe pushes his luck THOSE among Alvaro Uribe's closest collaborators who harbour presidential ambitions waited patiently throughout 2008 for their boss to decide whether or not he will try to seek a third term himself in a presidential election due in 2010. He coyly ...
The cradle's costly revenge; Quebec's demography.(Quebec's baby boom)
Jan 10, 2009 ... A baby bump courtesy of the taxpayer AS A French-speaking outpost in a predominantly English-speaking continent, Quebec has always been sensitive about its demographic prospects. For a long time these were encouraging. The province was legendary for its families of 15 or more ...
Users and losers; Land reform in China.(Where China's rural land reform is more hype than substance)
Jan 10, 2009 ... Less a path-breaking land reform than a public-relations stunt ROUGHLY 30 years ago (the exact date is disputed), a group of farmers in the eastern province of Anhui secretly decided to parcel out their village land to individual households. The event became celebrated as the ...
Dodging the dossier; India and Pakistan.(The worsening row between India and Pakistan)
Jan 10, 2009 ... Exasperated with Pakistan, India tries international diplomacy--for now EVER since the attack on Mumbai in November that left over 170 people dead, India has thundered against Pakistan's complicity in the atrocity. But this has produced neither a full Pakistani admission of ...
So far so good; Indonesia's economy and the election.(Indonesia's surprisingly resilient economy)
Jan 10, 2009 ... The president has quite a good crisis WITH only three months until parliamentary elections, Indonesia's six-month-old campaign has moved up a gear. For once, thanks to the global economic slump, it as much about substance as about style and personalities. And, unlikely as it ...
The Tigers' last stand; Sri Lanka.(Sri Lanka's Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)
Jan 10, 2009 ... A long-awaited military breakthrough comes at a high cost FOR the third time in as many months, Sri Lanka's prime minister, Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, this week avoided revealing to parliament the number of casualties in the bloodiest military operation ever staged against the ...