Preeti Aroon:  "The marathon run turns 2,500 in Greece, and Boston," by the Associated Press's Jimmy Golen. The Boston Marathon finished earlier today, and this year marks the 2,500th anniversary of the Battle of Marathon that gave the 26.2-mile race its name. If the Athenians hadn't defeated the Persians, the Western world today might be speaking Farsi, suggests a classics professor in the article. The Greeks -- whose country is in economic shambles -- are celebrating the 2500th anniversary all year long, but the many runners who couldn't make it to Boston for the marathon due to the volcanic ash cloud, including elite Moroccan runner Abdellah Falil, have nothing to celebrate.

Elizabeth Dickinson: I am following the unexpected rise of Antanas Mockus, a former mayor of Bogota, who has become an underdog second-place in Colombia’s upcoming presidential elections. The unconventional and downright eccentric academic revolutionized politics in the city he governed earlier this decade; rather than governing from above, he worked toward behavioral change – instructing drivers to honk less, for example, and encouraging citizens to pay their taxes voluntarily. His unorthodox methods worked, and now he might have the chance to take them national. I met him about four years ago when he gave a talk here in the United States and found him both impressive and wholly unpolitical – perhaps exactly what a country so long in conflict is yearning for. A Semana profile of his Green Party’s “green revolution” offers a good starters guide.

Joshua Keating: I absolutely loved Burkhard Bilger's long piece (full version in print magazine only) on tugboat captain Latham Smith in the New Yorker. The story of how Latham built his tugboat and traveled the world on it, raising the family and fighting off pirates in the process, is simultaneously a compelling family saga, counterculture postcard from the '70s, and portrait of an industry going through globalization. (The Keatings were once a tugboating family on the Hudson River, but reading this piece, I think I'm definitely better cut out for web editing.) As an online bonus, check out this Super 8 footage of Allen Ginsberg and his partner Peter Orlovsky on the maiden voyage of Latham's tug. 

Britt Peterson: I’ve been following the New York Times’ coverage of the Long Island hate crime case, which just ended with a guilty verdict -- second-degree manslaughter as a hate crime. It’s a bizarre instance of the way “manslaughter” can be applied: a hate crime committed by someone who talked about going “Mexican hopping” and who stabbed his victim twice in the chest, once to the hilt, but who, the jury decided, did not intend to actually kill him; the accused had recanted a confession, saying he was lying to protect a friend. 

Andrew Swift:  I’ve been reading Power and the Past: Collective Memory and International Relations, edited by Eric Langenbacher and Yossi Shain. The book presents case studies of how historical, tragic events impact key international conflicts. It’s a subject that I’ve long felt desperately needs more attention -- how can we understand the present without knowing what came before? -- and happily I can say that this book is a great part of this field.

Preeti Aroon: Abby Sunderland’s blog: The 16-year-old Californian is sailing solo around the world, nonstop and unassisted, and last week sailed around Cape Horn (the tip of South America), becoming the youngest person to do so solo. Abby isn’t the only 16-year-old on the high seas. Last December in WWR, I mentioned circumnavigator Jessica Watson, who is now sailing east across the Indian Ocean in the home stretch toward her native Australia.

Elizabeth Dickinson: The murder of white supremacist Eugene Terre'Blanche in South Africa is a chilling one, showing just how raw the wounds of apartheid still are, as well as just how extreme positions still exist on both sides. I am reading the Mail and Guardian to sort through this, one of the country's best papers. Most interesting of all is an interview from last year with Terre'Blanche about his extremist goals. At least as ominous is this April Fools political cartoon from the paper that calls out ANC youth leader Malema for singing ‘Shoot the Boer' - the very song blamed (rightly or wrongly) for inciting violence against Terre'Blanche.

Blake Hounshell: Black Mass: The True Story of an Unholy Alliance Between the FBI and the Irish Mob. Two reporters, Dick Lehr and Gerard O’Neill, blew the lid off the FBI’s corrupt ties to Irish mobster Whitey Bolger for the Boston Globe and told the full story in this landmark 2000 book. Black Mass has very little to do with foreign policy, but it’s a killer story and makes for great reading.

Joshua Keating: Back in 2008, I couldn't wait for the presidential election to end. But John Heilemann and Mark Halperin's guilty-pleasure Game Change -- crack cocaine for political junkies -- is actually making my nostalgic for all those primary nights. Bring on the midterms!

Britt Peterson: Via Lorraine Adams, I’m reading a review-essay on one of my favorite blogs, 3 Quarks Daily, about the Dalit caste, or the untouchables, in India. Coupled with a useful historical account of the origins of India’s caste system, the piece describes a newly vocal group of Dalit authors who are challenging a long-hardened social order. The author, Namit Arora, describes his own childhood experiences with caste: “[The latrine-cleaners] brought their own utensils and placed them on the floor; my mother served them while they stood apart. When my mother turned away, they quietly picked up the food and left. To my young eyes this seemed like the natural order of things.”

Preeti Aroon: "The Healing," by Phil Zabriskie in the Washington Post Magazine. Paul was tortured in his native Cameroon, but managed to escape to the D.C. area. He received psychological help from Advocates for the Survivors of Torture and Trauma and was eventually granted asylum. But the pain hasn't ended, as we learn from his painful story.

Elizbeth Dickinson: An odd but intriguing piece from this issue of The Atlantic delves into how and why Brazilian rodeo-ers have become some of the best rough riders in town. Yet another reminder that a) Brazil is fast coming to dominate the cattle industry b) Brazil’s foreign policy is soft, powerful, and on the rise and c) Ain’t no party like a Sao Paolo party. 

Joshua Keating: Just started FP contributor Stephan Faris' excellent Forecast: the Surprising -- and Immediate -- Effects of Climate Change,  a worldwide look at the political and security implications of global warming. 

Christina Larson: Rajiv Chandrasekaran's account of the minutia and daily routine of fighting in Marja, Afghanistan. Chandrasekaran, who also reported extensively from Iraq for Washington Post, compares the ground reality in the two wars: "The battlefield privation here is unlike much of the combat in Iraq, which often involved day trips from large, well-appointed forward operating bases. Even when Marines there had to rough it, during the first and second campaigns for Fallujah, they didn't have to walk as far and they remained closer to logistics vehicles ... 'This isn't all that different from the way our fathers and grandfathers fought,' said Cpl. Blake Burkhart, 22, of Oviedo, Fla."

Annie Lowrey: Today brings two long profiles of major economic figures from the recession-era: Paul Krugman in the New Yorker and Timothy Geithner  in Vogue. The former (which Krugman cheekily linked to on his New York Times blog with the words “Me, me, me, me”) tracks Krugman’s evolution from economist obsessed with dumb and smart to policy thinker obsessed with left and right (and right and wrong). The 10,000-worder is enlivened with personal detail: Krugman in board shorts, Krugman with his cats, Krugman drinking a pina colada, Krugman not seeing much of Stiglitz these days. I’m not through with the second piece yet, but thus far, I’ll note, it does well to humanize Geithner, who too often seems like little more than a D.C. punching bag or admin fall guy.

Britt Peterson: I’m reading a great novel by Jane Gardam, Old Filth. It’s the story of an aging British lawyer, Edward Feathers, a.k.a. Old Filth (“Failed In London, Try Hong kong”), a true child of the empire, brought up by a Malaysian nurse, spending much of his life in Hong Kong, and washing up in Dorset at the end. Filth is a evolutionary throwback (another character calls him a “coelacanth”), a relic of a time when empire brought people together in bizarre ways and nationality meant both less and more than it does now: i.e., Filth doesn’t learn English until he’s 5; yet his father refers to England, in Malay, as “Home” with a capital H.

What the Foreign Policy staff are reading while trapped in the blizzard:

Preeti Aroon: “War in Iran: British Join Soviet Allies,” on page 39 of the Jan. 26, 1942, issue of Life magazine. Google Books let’s you browse old issues of Life, and it’s fun checking out the old photos and advertisements.

Rebecca Frankel: "Unrolled, Unbridled and Unabashed." While it's not likely to "steam up" your wintry day, this NY Times review by Edward Rothstein of the Museum of Sex's latest exhibit, "Rubbers: The Life, History & Struggle of the Condom," will certainly peak your interest. The details range from that of romantic legend to obscure tidbits about venereal disease. The inventor of the condom has never been confirmed but apparently, history's most infamous ladies man, Cassanova was an avid user of what he called he called "English frock coats" that appreciatively "[saved] the fair sex from anxiety." What a dream boat.

Blake Hounshell: The Greatest Trade Ever: The Behind-the-Scenes Story of How John Paulson Defied Wall Street and Made Financial History, by Gregory Zuckerman. John Paulson was never thought of as a titan of Wall Street before the subprime mortgage meltdown, but the hedge-fund manager used the crisis to score record-shattering returns of nearly 600% in 2008. In reviewing the book, Malcolm Gladwell concocted a dubious theory that successful businessmen are actually not huge risk takers, but Zuckerman’s reporting doesn’t support that theory: It was touch and go all the way, and there was a good chance the government or a consortium of bankers would wise up before Paulson could reap the rewards of his foresight. Highly recommended.

Joshua Keating: A Little War That Shook the World: Georgia, Russia, and the Future of the West, by Ronald Asmus. The newsiest bit of this book is the revelation that the Bush administration considered military action to counter the Russian invasion of Georgia in 2008. But more broadly, Asmus, a former deputy assistant secretary of state under the Clinton administration, argues that the West allowed the situation in the South Caucasus to deteriorate to the point where war was inevitable. While not letting Mikheil Saakashvili off the hook for the disastrous decision to attack South Ossetia on Aug. 7, Asmus convincingly explains why it seemed the prudent course of action at the time. It's a fascinating tick-tock though certainly not the last word on the subject. 

Christina Larson:  Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory by Peter Hessler recounts his 7,000 mile roadtrip through the Middle Kingdom. On a day when the capital of the free world has been shut down by snow, it's nice to imagine zipping across the backroads of rural China with Hessler, the author of Oracle Bones and longtime Beijing correspondent for The New Yorker. Moreover, in the midst of a blizzard of recent headlines about rising U.S.-China political tensions, it's nice to be taken into the lives of ordinary Chinese people whom Hessler meets, and to be reminded how much hope, serendipity and muddle still define the interior landscape of the rising superpower.

Annie Lowrey: In honor of Snowpocalypse 3...well, really, just because it is good, I'm in the midst of reading Moe Tkacik's 8,000-word critical review of the major financial crisis books in the new Baffler. The question remains whether Tkacik's brilliant article will recommend any of them.

Britt Peterson: As a huge fan of Scandinavian detective novels, I'm eagerly awaiting the next installment in the Stieg Larsson Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets' Nest. I'm told by globetrotter friends who've managed to get copies of the British translation that it's better than the somewhat preachy and disappointing second installment, while not quite as good as the gripping, morally complex, if a little bizarre and overstuffed first installment. Not surprisingly, the parts I love the best are the magazine-nerd scenes of daily editorial life at Mikael Blomkvist's muckraking journal, Millennium: decisions about when to pull and when to run pieces, staffing problems, difficult writers, confrontations with sources, etc. 

What are you reading?

Preeti Aroon: The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery. A precocious 12-year-old girl in Paris plans to commit suicide on her 13th birthday, and the concierge of her apartment building spends hours reading about philosophy, in the English translation of this popular French book highlighted in the FP article, “Summer Reading of Our Discontent,” and turned into a movie last summer.

Elizabeth Dickinson: Stratfor’s Annual Forecast for 2010 just came out last week, with a few interesting conclusions. Among the highlights are a resurgent Russia, a United States bogged down in Afghanistan, and a new conflict in Africa: “Angola and South Africa have both matured as independent powers. Now begins their cold war.”

Joshua Keating: I'm not exactly sure why human organ markets are a hot topic this week, but it's certainly always an interesting subject. In the Wall Street Journal, Marginal Revolution co-blogger Alex Tabarrok looks at innovative solutions some countries are implementing to make up for organ shortages, ranging from preferential treatment given to donors in Israel, to financial incentives for donation in Iran. I'm also trying to track down a friend with a fancier cable package than me so I can watch Dan Rather report on the international black market for kidneys tomorrow. 

David Kenner: I’m reading Jay Solomon’s Wall Street Journal article reporting that the Obama administration is increasingly starting to question the viability of the Iranian regime, as it is presently constructed -- and is increasingly crafting policy with an eye toward helping the country’s nascent opposition movement. Also, via the inimitable Leah Farrall , I came across this West Point report, claiming that 85 percent of al Qaeda’s victims are Muslims. Finally, I note with interest the reports that prominent Wall Street investors are heading to Damascus to look into finance opportunities in this long-isolated Arab state. The investors were apparently particularly impressed with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his deputy Prime Minister for economic affairs, Abdullah al-Dardari. 

Christina Larson: Ian Buruma's essay in The Globe and Mail on how nationalism -- not Communism -- is "China's new orthodoxy." Also, scrutinizing Vanity Fair data regarding Warren Beatty's, er, extreme productivity.

Annie Lowrey: I just read Ethan Watters' piece in the New York Times Magazine on the export of American ideas about mental illness to other parts of the world. Apparently, the American understanding of psychological afflictions doesn't just change how conditions like anorexia are treated in other countries -- it changes how people express the illness. I'm looking forward to reading the whole book the article is excerpted from, as I'm interested in how much this has to do with the global saturation of American books, movies, and, especially, television shows like House and E.R, as opposed to the global saturation of, say, U.S. medical texts and techniques. Fascinating stuff.

Britt Peterson: I’m laughing over David Thomson’s evisceration of a book about Hollywood scandals past, including the rumor that Frank Sinatra’s secret to bedroom endurance was Wheaties, on my former employer The New Republic’s sharp new reviews site, The Book. Meanwhile, in Hollywood scandals present, Global Voices (via the NYT) has a round-up of Chinese bloggers responding to Eurocentric themes in Avatar: “I believe if Edward Said is still alive, when he sees that Jake is saved by the princess of Na’vi, he would think: this damn screenwriter!” 

Want to know what Santa brought Foreign Policy editors this year? Judge for yourself whether we were naughty or nice.

Blake Hounshell: Want to understand our latest financial disaster? Go back and read When Genius Failed: The Rise and Fall of Long-Term Capital Management, Roger Lowenstein's painstakingly reported explication of the spectacular 1998 implosion of this most ambitious and arrogant of Greenwich hedge funds. You'll find many of the same characters who are still key players in the game today.

Britt Peterson: In the holiday light reading edition, I spent a good chunk of last night working my way through Kate Christensen's The Great Man, a caustic and hilarious take on ego, love, family, and the New York City art world. Back at work, I'm reading novelist James Salter's review of William Langewiesche's book on Chesley Sullenberger. Salter, a former Air Force pilot, apparently speaks from past experience when he writes, somewhat thrillingly, "Ditching is best done with power."

Rebecca Frankel: The Prince of the Marshes. I've only just begun this memoir of Rory Stewart's about his time in Iraq from 2003-2004 on assignment for the British foreign office, sent there to replace the governor of Maysan. I heard him speak earlier this year and his commentary on occupied territories (in that instance, Afghanistan) was captivating. Judging from what I've read so far Stewart has an aptitude for community immersion in war-torn countries.

David Kenner: Santa brought me Tom Ricks's The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 for Christmas, so I'm working my way through that. I'm just up to the point where Donald Rumsfeld gets the axe, and Gen. Petraeus assumes control of the war effort in Iraq. Also, I'm still reading Mohammed Shafi Agwani's The Lebanese Crisis, 1958: A Documentary Study, where Saeb Salaam and the United National Front are lauding Nasser and bashing Lebanese President Camille Chamoun.

Annie Lowrey: For the holidays, I bought someone else Harold McGee's delightful, exhaustive On Food and Cooking, which I promptly stole back to read. It is part history, part chemistry text, part cooking book, with details about everything from why some fishes taste good as sushi to what makes egg whites hold texture when whipped. I'm also doing some brushing up on Iran and revolutions, and am currently reading Ali Ansari's great article "The Revolution Will Be Mercantilized" in the National Interest.

Christina Larson: It's hard to escape lists this time of year. One of the most interesting comes from Gady Epstein, Beijing bureau chief of Forbes magazine, who predicts that while the world continually expects bold moves from China, 2010 will be Beijing's "year of incrementalism."

If you have any recommendations for articles or books we should read, throw them in the comments!

Preeti Aroon: Jessica Watson's blog:The 16-year-old Aussie is sailing solo around the world, nonstop and unassisted. She left Australia in October, headed northeast, crossed the equator last month, and is now headed south  toward Cape Horn, the tip of South America. When she’s not busy navigating her yacht, Ella’s Pink Lady, through squalls, she blogs, takes photos, and makes videos.

Elizabeth Dickinson: Peter Baker’s New York Times piece “How Obama Came to Plan for the ‘Surge’” is truly a first draft of history. Tracing back meeting by meeting, it becomes clear how the troop level decision on Afghanistan was debated, where the players stand, and how they agonized over each detail. Of course, what we don’t know but will certainly find out over the coming months is whether Obama’s team countered the many things they feared: an endless war with little to show, a resistant insurgency, a fiscal and psychological strain on the United States, and a repeat of the horrors that America remembers from Vietnam.

Blake Hounshell: War in a Time of Peace. Essential reading for those who want to understand the conflicts of the 1990s, David Halberstam’s 2002 work sheds light on the delicate line Democratic presidents must walk in dealing with their generals in an age of new conflicts and threats. I hope folks in the White House are reading it along with more historical studies like Gordon M. Goldstein’s Lessons in Disaster.

Joshua Keating: When I was preparing to interview fractal pioneer Benoit Mandelbrot for FP's Epiphanies, it quickly became clear to me that most of my knowledge of chaos theory came from the Jeff Goldblum character in Jurassic Park. I'm finally getting a chance to read all the way through James Gleick's Chaos: Making a New Science, which is a useful primer on the subject for the mathematically challenged and has some great history of the early days of chaos research, including the always fascinating Mandelbrot.  

Annie Lowrey: I’m nearing the very end of Stephen King’s Under the Dome – a long, excellent book. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to reading David Foster Wallace’s story in the New Yorker and Peter Baker’s exhaustive piece on the Afghanistan decision in the New York Times. 

Preeti Aroon

Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa, by Dambisa Moyo. Zambian-born economist Moyo argues that foreign aid to Africa should be cut off in five years. Her point -- that aid does more harm than good -- is convincing: Billions of aid dollars haven't produced much bang for the buck and have, in fact, promoted dependency and corruption. While the book could use some editing, I recommend it. Moyo gets bonus points for mentioning FP Editor in Chief Moisés Naím on page 107.

Elizabeth Dickinson

Long-time Africa journalist Alec Russell's forthcoming portrait of South Africa at a crossroads -- Bring Me My Machine Gun: The Battle for the Soul of South Africa from Mandela to Zuma -- traces that country's recent history since the end of apartheid. Despite the incredible challenges overcome, the task before an increasingly turbulent South Africa could prove even greater. 

Rebecca Frankel

"The Swastika and the Cedar," Vanity Fair. In his own words, Christopher Hitchens details his experience in Lebanon -- the rally, the swastika, and the brawl. 

Joshua Keating

Two amazing real-life heist stories: Wired's Joshua Davis scores the first jailhouse interview with the man behind a $100 million diamond heist in 2003 and hears a yarn involving Hasidic criminal masterminds, guys named "the monster" and "the king of keys," and a twist ending involving a salami sandwich. But that's nothing compared with this Spiegel story about two German identical twins who may have just pulled off the perfect crime. (Hat tip: Kottke for both.)

Christina Larson

Two dispatches from the far-flung reaches of the Google empire: In China, and nowhere else in the world, the search engine has begun to offer links to free music downloads. Meanwhile, armchair conservationists across the globe are using Google Earth to track and publicize environmental threats -- from forest fires in Brazil to illegal fisherman off the Canary Islands.

Annie Lowrey

I’m part of a little book club currently reading finance-fiction: The Great Gatsby, Bonfire of the Vanities, and American Psycho. Anyone have any other suggestions for the best novels on Wall Street and its excesses? Post in comments.

KHALED DESOUKI/AFP/Getty Images
 

Preeti Aroon

"The Outsider," by Phuong Ly in the Washington Post Magazine. Juan Gomez has a problem: He's a 20-year-old student at Georgetown University who has been living in the United States since he was 2, but he has no permanent legal right to live in the States. His family came from Colombia in 1990 with tourist visas and never left. Can any leeway be made for youth in Gomez's situation?

Elizabeth Dickinson

Only a poet like Breyten Breytenbach could take on this comparison: Barack Obama and Nelson Mandela. And after reading more in Breytenbach’s analysis for Harpers, "Obamandela," you'll wonder why you didn't think of it before. Both are transformative leaders, both command the speaking floor, and "The People" can relate to both men (though the two are often accused of aloofness). Has Breytenbach just debunked the formula for leading change? Believe it.

Rebecca Frankel

In the TimesOnline, Felipe Fernández-Armesto reviews Raymond Howgego's new volume of his Encyclopedia of Exploration, which "begins roughly at that moment of resurgent adventure, in 1850, and ends in 1940." Apparently, all the "good" stuff had already been discovered by this point but the book still "teem[s] with specimens of romantic life –- defiant utopians, dauntless dreamers, hapless visionaries, hopeless incompetents, insane idealists." Ah, wanderlust. Better to read about it here cause the book costs $245.00.

Joshua Keating

I was recently alerted (by my mom) to a veritable yuppie intifada brewing in my old neighborhood, Park Slope, Brooklyn. The local food co-op -- a bastion of totalitarian collectivism rigid enough to turn the most earnest liberal into an Ayn Rand devotee -- is considering a ban on Israeli products (they only sell four) provoking howls of self-righteousness from New Yorkers on both sides of the Israel-Palestine debate. The Forward has a good summary of the situation thus far, and the New York Post and Time Out New York add some color. I don't have strong feelings on whether these folks express their solidarity with Gaza by banning kosher marshmallows, but I do find the debate oddly fascinating.

Greg Shtraks

"What's Cooking?" Next time you're grilling that steak consider eating it raw. In their weekly science installment, The Economist explains why cooking may be humanity's "killer app" -- the underpinning evolutionary change that has made man such a unique animal.

MARTIN BUREAU/AFP/Getty Images

Preeti Aroon

"A Man With a Mission," by David Matthews in the Washington Post Magazine. Adrenaline-charged adventure fills this account of a freelance contractor who goes to Sudan for humanitarian work, and, most unconventionally, offers tactical advice to a militia.

Elizabeth Dickinson

Nigel Ashton's, King Hussein of Jordan: A Political Life. The life of one of the region's most astute leaders, who ruled the country from 1953-1999, is the kind story that resonates on all sides of the globe. Ashton, who was given exclusive rights to view the King's personal papers, exposes some of Hussein's most intimate connections -– from secret correspondence with Reagan on the Iran-contra affair to letters between he and President George H.W. Bush during the Gulf War.

Rebecca Frankel

"Robots at War: The New Battlefield." In The Wilson Quarterly, P. W. Singer examines the growing phenomenon of the U.S. military's use of robots. "When U.S. forces went into Iraq in 2003, they had zero robotic units on the ground....By the end of 2008, it was projected to reach as high as 12,000." But the business of war shouldn't be dealth with lightly. Can we trust a robot to do a man's job? (For another great read on this subject, see Steve Featherstone's 2007 Harper's piece, "The Coming Robot Army.")

Joshua Keating

1948: A History of the First Arab-Israeli War by Benny Morris. Morris's account of Israel's war for independence can be an excruciating read at times as all the parties involved make the crucial mistakes that will lead to so much suffering in decades to come.

David Kenner

"Bolivians Back New Constitution." Reuters reports that Bolivians approved a new constitution on Sunday, in a landmark victory for President Evo Morales. The new constitution gives more power to Bolivia's indigenous majority and grants the central government a greater role over the economy, including the distribution of revenues from Bolivia’s large natural gas deposits –- much to the chagrin of many mixed-race citizens in Bolivia’s gas-rich, eastern regions.

Andrew Polk

"Finding a Place for the Sons of Iraq." Greg Bruno from the Council on Foreign Relations examines the Anbar Awakening, its influence on the Iraq war, and the difficulty of integrating this volunteer security force into Iraq's official armed forces.

Greg Shtraks

In Forbes, Dmitry Sidorov discusses the assassination of human rights activist Stanislav Markelov who represented the family of Elza Kungaeva, (the young woman raped and murdered by Russian Colonel Yuri Budanov). Markelov along with 25 year-old journalist Anastacia Baburova, were shot dead on January 19. Novaya Gazeta, the last independent publication in Russia, has commentary on the murder (in Russian).

Photo: PETER MARTELL/AFP/Getty Images

Preeti Aroon

"Woman Blinded by Spurned Man Invokes Islamic Retribution" by Thomas Erdbrink in the Washington Post. In 2004, a rejected suitor dumped sulfuric acid on Ameneh Bahrami, blinding her and disfiguring her face. Bahrami, now 31, requested literal eye-for-an-eye retribution, and last month, her attacker was sentenced to five drops of the acid in each of his eyes, to be carried out whenever the judiciary decides.

Elizabeth Dickinson

"Hard Lessons: The Iraq Reconstruction Experience." Odd as it sounds, this 513-page report, leaked to The New York Times over the weekend, is a page turner. It meticulously traces the steps leading up the Iraq War, the invasion itself, and the massively under planned reconstruction. Details and characters emerge from the chaos to paint a clear picture of how things went wrong, and where they did go right. (Keep an eye on Passport for some juicy highlights.)

Rebecca Frankel

"Faith Equals Fertility." In the Winter edition of Intelligent Life, Anthony Gottleib looks at the global geographical phenomenon of the "huddling of the faithful" explained by the fact that most people assume the religion of their parents. Noting that religious communities are growing significantly in population when compared to their non-religious neighbors, Gottleib wonders if "one might half-seriously conclude that atheists and agnostics ought to focus on having more children, to help overcome their demographic disadvantage."

Joshua Keating

"We Agree: Get Froze," by Robin Hanson on his blog Overcoming Bias. If FP ever does a "Think Again" on cryonics -- or "freezing folks in liquid nitrogen when the rest of medicine gives up on them" -- econo-blogger Robin Hanson would be the guy to write it. As a bonus, check out his post on "whole brain emulations," which prompted a lengthy discussion of robots and inequality in the comment thread.

Kate Palmer

"Marching Through Georgia." Wendell Steavenson (The New Yorker, Dec. 15). An excellent postmortem on this summer's war between Georgia and Russia, framed around a profile of the colorful Georgian president, Mikheil Saakashvili. My favorite bit? "Waiting for his car by the side entrance, Saakashvili was ebullient. He flipped through a copy of Newsweek with his picture in it and showed off his new watch: 'Kenneth Cole. I got it in Miami.'… He said that he didn't want to stay for the dinner after Bush's reception. 'First, they don't feed you well at this thing,' he said, 'and then they sit you next to Mugabe.'"

MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP/Getty Images

Preeti Aroon

"Anti-Terror Law Requires God Be Acknowledged," by John Cheves in the Lexington Herald-Leader (it's not online, but a related AP story is here). In my home state of Kentucky, state law requires that annual reports from the state's Office of Homeland Security credit God for Kentucky's security. No joke: The Emergency Operations Center must post a plaque that begins, "The safety and security of the Commonwealth [of Kentucky] cannot be achieved apart from reliance upon Almighty God."

TONY KARUMBA/AFP/Getty Images

Jerome Chen

"The United States of Africa." Newsweek's Jason McLure interviews Jean Ping, chairman of the African Union Commission, an administrative branch of the African Union. Ping remains optimistic that promoting democracy in individual countries across Africa can eventually lead to some form of centralized governence of the continent. "We are 53 countries, and if your image of the continent is that of Zimbabwe or Somalia, it's not fair," he writes.

Elizabeth Dickinson

AIDS Accountability Country Scorecard Report. The world's richest countries tend to be strong advocates for treating and monitoring the HIV/AIDS epidemic in the developing world. But as this report by AIDS Accountability International finds, the same wealthy nations rarely meet their reporting standards at home. Released today on World AIDS Day, the report offers a frank assessment of how much we don't know about progress in the fight against this deadly disease.

Rebecca Frankel

"A Teflon Putin for Your Grandkids to Admire." In this Moscow Times op-ed, Yevgeny Kiselyov envisions an "entirely plausible" scenario in which Vladimir Putin -- who still has an 86 percent approval rating -- could be president until 2024. Even then, Putin "would still be younger than former U.S. President Ronald Reagan was when he left the White House." 

Blake Hounshell

"The Hugo Chávez Show" on Frontline. The best documentary show on TV strikes again with an in-depth look at the caudillo of Caracas and his weekly television spectacle, Aló Presidente. Believe it or not, this buffoon is in charge of one of the world’s most important oil suppliers.

Joshua Keating

The Power Vertical. The blogosphere has been badly in need of an obsessive Kremlinology blog. This new one by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty's Brian Whitmore and Robert Coalson is off to a promising start, offering exhaustive analysis of Russian politics. Check out Coalson's analysis of how the newly extended parliamentary terms will enhance the Kremlin's credibility by requiring it to stage-manage "elections" less often.

David Kenner

"Rockland Man Allegedly Posed As Agent to Board Plane." Boston's Logan Airport, the hub from which the 9/11 terrorists departed, still doesn't have its act together. The Boston Herald reports how a medical supply salesman, who told airport personnel he was an armed federal agent, got around security checkpoints by flashing an assistant harbormaster's badge. Logan security even brought him onto multiple planes and, on one occasion, let him into the cockpit.

Preeti Aroon

The Antelope's Strategy: Living in Rwanda After the Genocide. How would you feel if the men who killed your family moved back to your town? Jean Hatzfeld interviews Rwanda's genocide survivors and killers released from prison in the early 2000s in an exploration of the difficulty of reconciliation. (Note: The book will be out in March 2009; I'm reading a review copy.)

Jerome Chen

"The New York Times' Lonely War." In Vanity Fair's December issue, Seth Mnookin looks at one of the few U.S. media outlets to maintain a presence in Iraq -- the Times' Baghdad bureau. Remarking that "135 journalists have been killed there since 2003," the Iraq War, he says, "has been, by any measure, one of the most dangerous conflicts to cover in the history of modern journalism."

Elizabeth Dickinson

Closing Guantánamo is on the short list of top priorities for the incoming Obama administration. In Harper's "Justice after Bush: Prosecuting an Outlaw Administration," lawyer Scott Horton imagines Bush officials standing trial and suggests a Truth and Reconciliation Commission that would trade confessions for amnesty.

Rebecca Frankel

"All Options Are on the Table." Der Spiegel talks to Israeli Air Force Maj. Gen. Ido Nehushtan about his country's biggest military challenges and what Israel would be willing to do should Iran manage to develop nuclear weapons. "The Air Force is a very robust and flexible force," Nehushtan says. "We are ready to do whatever is demanded of us."

Blake Hounshell

Four active-duty officers -- Lt. Col. Robert A. Downey, Lt. Col Lee K. Grubbs, Cdr. Brian J. Malloy, and Lt. Col. Craig R. Wonson -- explain how a surge in Afghanistan might work for the Small Wars Journal (pdf). The bad news? It's going to require eight brigades, or up to 40,000 additional troops.

David Kenner

"Disney Set to Entertain Middle East." The Financial Times reports that Walt Disney is making its first film marketed towards the Middle East. Because of the large number of young people in the region, and the limited number of films made targeting an Arab audience, Disney is hoping to produce a family movie that "will play to families from North Africa to the Gulf states."

Photo: JOSE CENDON/AFP/Getty Images

Preeti Aroon

"One Man's Plan to Save a Natural Treasure" on CBS's 60 Minutes. A decade ago, wealthy American entrepreneur Greg Carr devoted himself to developing Mozambique's Gorongosa National Park. By repopulating it with animals that had nearly been decimated by years of war and poaching, he hopes to promote tourism and improve the lives of the impoverished people there.

Elizabeth Dickinson

Yesterday in Djibouti, the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and the opposition Alliance for the Reliberation of Somalia signed a two-page peace agreement. Key to the long overdue accord is the withdrawal of the unpopular Ethiopian forces now occupying the country. Sadly, one of the main leaders of the Islamic Courts (which ruled Somalia before the Ethiopian invasion in late 2006), has rejected the deal, vowing "the jihad will carry on."

Rebecca Frankel

While many writers are focused on Sarah Palin's très expensive wardrobe and rumors of her going rogue on the McCain campaign, The New Yorker's Jane Mayer reports on how Palin actually got the VP slot. Couple this new view into the Alaska governor's mansion with musings like those of Marc Ambinder and the breadth of Palin's political ambitions take new shape.   

Joshua Keating

"The Godfather of Bangalore" by Scott Carney in Wired. This story of the mafia don-turned-real estate mogul who helps global IT companies navigate the anarchic property market in India's cybercapital is one of those Wired articles that makes you feel as if the world is fast becoming a William Gibson novel.

David Kenner

"Iranian Strategy in Iraq: Policy and 'Other Means,'" put out by Joseph Felter and Brian Fishman at West Point's Combating Terrorism Center, relies on declassified intelligence reports from Iraqi detainees trained by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah. The Iraqi insurgents apparently preferred their Hezbollah trainers to the Iranians, because they "speak Arabic and treat [them] with respect," while something of a culture clash developed between the Iraqis and their Persian neighbors.