What We're Reading

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 Canadian Oil Boom," by Robert Kunzig in National Geographic. Many people have said that the oil sands of Alberta, Canada, are too expensive to exploit. But now, squeezing oil from sand is looking like it might be worth it.

 

Elizabeth Dickinson

During the year-and-a-half since Mexico's war on drugs began, gun shops have popped up en masse on the U.S. side of the border. As Joel Millman of the Wall Street Journal reports today, an Arizona gun shop became the first such outpost to face legal investigation for selling arms to the drug cartels. It's a step toward the kind of U.S.-Mexico cooperation that Shannon O'Neill recently called for on FP's The Argument.  

Rebecca Frankel

I was thrilled to see Roger Cohen's op-ed, "Iran, the Jews and Germany," in today's NY Times. "Life [in Iran] is more difficult for [Jews] than for Muslims," writes Cohen, "but to suggest they inhabit a totalitarian hell is self-serving nonsense." Present-day Iran is not Nazi Germany and Ahmadinejad, while no friend to Jews, is not Adolf Hitler. It is worth noting, as Cohen does, that Iran has a history of taking care of its Jews.

Joshua Keating

The Irregulars: Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington. Ever wonder what the author of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" did during World War II? He was in Washington, spying on the U.S. Government for the British along with future James Bond author Ian Flemming. No, really.

Andrew Polk

The Telegraph's Bruno Waterfield offers an excellent run down of the tensions that plagued the EU's emergency summit over the weekend. Dubbing this split, the "New 'Iron Curtain,'" Waterfield gives insight into the economic dynamics dividing the western and eastern blocs and explains how they are bubbling over into social and political realms.

Greg Shtraks 

With the 50th anniversary of the Dalai Lama's exile to India approaching next week, there's plenty to read on Tibet's struggle for autonomy. Check out The Dragon in the Land of Snow: History of Modern Tibet since 1947 by Tsering Shakya, the new report from the International Campaign for Tibet about the effects of the Qinghai-Lhasa railroad on the country's economy and environment, and Newsweek's profile of the Karmapa Lama.

DAVID BOILY/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

Elizabeth Allen

Making Sense of Darfur, a blog by the Social Science Research Council. Given the ICC's pending indictment of the Sudanese President Omer Al-Bashir, this blog has offered a wealth of information and debate about a number of issues, from regional politics to land issues to debating the idea of genocidal intent.

Preeti Aroon

"Escape from North Korea," by Tom O'Neill in National Geographic. Follow three North Korean defectors as they take the nail-biting journey on the "Asian underground railroad" through China, Laos, and Thailand to South Korea. But their troubles aren't over once they reach Seoul, for establishing a new life in a new country presents its own challenges.

Elizabeth Dickinson

I am a hardcore addict of the Wall Street Journal's Real Time Economics blog, and all the more so since Washington became stimulus central. This morning I appreciated hearing the news that the Federal Reserve extended international swap lines, as well as the news that a Capitol Hill economist doesn't think the stimulus package will be enough. Other highlights include their excellent daily summaries of the best economics commentary (including the global implications of recession).

Rebecca Frankel

"The DNA of Politics." In this issue of City Journal, James Q. Wilson examines the old conundrum of individuality -- nature vs. nurture. But what about our ideological leanings, do we actually inherit a political gene? "For a century or more, we have understood that intelligence is largely inherited," says Wilson. "Almost everything has some genetic basis. And that includes politics."

Blake Hounshell

FATA -- A Most Dangerous Place. Pakistan expert Shuja Nawaz argues that defeating al Qaeda and the Taliban doesn't have to be complicated and doesn't necessarily require a huge, overly bureaucratic master plan. Sometimes, simply asking villagers "What do you want?" and then making it happen -- be it a well, a school, or new books -- can work wonders.

Joshua Keating

Letter from China: "The Promised Land" in the New Yorker. China's expanding commerical activity in Africa is a well-told story, but the expanding African presence in China is less well-known. Evan Osnos has a fascinating depiction of Guangzhou's growing Nigerian community.

Andrew Polk

The Economist offers a briefing on the recent trend of "financial nationalization." The magazine pays particular attention to the disconnect between the short-term reflex of investors to bring their money home and the more dangerous long-term reduction in international capital flows that may well be brought on by misguided regulation.

DON EMMERT/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

Elizabeth Allen

"Lessons from Zimbabwe," by Mahmood Mamdani in the London Review of Books. In this refreshing and all too timely exploration of post-colonial Zimbabwean politics, Mamdani worries that Western commentators are often too preoccupied with Robert Mugabe's character to sufficiently understand the local, national, and international dynamics that helped bring Zimbabwe to the brink of political death.

Preeti Aroon

Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slavery, by Siddharth Kara. Women and children are being raped and brutalized every day as sex slaves. Kara, a former investment banker, provides a rare business analysis of the industry, complete with demand curves, with the aim of attacking the economics of the sex-trafficking industry and eradicating it.

Elizabeth Dickinson

Gaza is a crisis in all senses of the word -- moral above all others. The New Republic has brought some clarity to the debate over proportionality and responsibility in light of over 900 civilian casualties, numbers still mounting. TNR's op-eds on the Israeli-Palestinian crisis (here and here) proved handy during my talk with UN Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, Kyung-wha Kang.

Rebecca Frankel

"Dictatorship for Dummies." Aside from this Wall Street Journal op-ed's great lead-in line -- "Learn how to quash dissent Chávez-style" --this piece reviews how and why, with "popular discontent" and oil prices on the rise, Venezuela's president has yet to meet his "Waterloo."

Blake Hounshell

Watchmen. I'm not normally a comic book (excuse me, graphic novel) reader, but the upcoming film based on Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons’s original "masterpiece" has me intrigued. Plus, now seems like the perfect time for some doomsday reading. I just hope the movie version finds a scarier bogeyman than Reagan-era arch-villain Moammar al-Qaddafi.

Joshua Keating

The Bin Ladens: An Arabian Family in the American Century. Steve Coll's great book is as much about the making of modern Saudi Arabia as it is an origin story for Mohammed bin Laden's most infamous son.

David Kenner

The Financial Times features a piece on a U.S. businessman, backed by an investment company which contains former CIA and State department officials on its board, has leased 400,000 hectares of land in southern Sudan. Philippe Heilberg says that he plans to take advantage of rising food prices to develop the land for agricultural purposes.

Greg Shtraks

In his Atlantic article, "The Founders' Great Mistake" law professor Garret Epps, discusses the evolution of the executive branch and finds that "while Bush may have been a particularly bad driver, the presidency itself is an unreliable vehicle." Epps blames the Founding Fathers for being too nebulous and for leaving the door to interpretating the limits of the president’s powers wide open.

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

Mission: Black List #1. Saddam Hussein was captured five years ago this Saturday, Dec. 13. Leading up to that day in 2003, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Eric Maddox spent months chasing down leads and interrogating detainees to determine Saddam’s hiding spot. In his book, Maddox provides a behind-the-scenes, moment-by-moment account of the capture of the man known as "Black List #1." (Full disclosure: I haven’t actually read the book, but it's next on my list.)

Jerome Chen

"Obama’s Poetic Predecessor." Barack Obama is known to whip up eloquent speeches that rival even those Abraham Lincoln once delivered. But how is the president-elect when it comes to verse? The Atlantic's David Barber points us to a few examples of Obama and Lincoln's oeuvres so we can decide for ourselves.

Elizabeth Dickinson

"Be Nice to the Countries that Lend You Money." James Fallows of The Atlantic interviews the banker who manages some of the United States’s China debt. This piece offers fascinating insight into the way that Asian lending nations view American debtors, why they are willing to keep lending, and where the relationship will go in coming years. Of course, the title says it all: the United States will need to be nice if it wants to keep the credit lines open.

Rebecca Frankel

"In the Land of Cholera: Africans Finally Turn Against Comrade Bob." The Wall Street Journal discusses why, when little else has changed in Zimbabwe (where human rights workers are routinely abused, soldiers abuse their power and the "economy continues to sink and inflation to rise -- to the current insanity of 231 million percent"), all it's taking for African leaders to only now come together to push Mugabe out of power, is the rampant spreading of this intestinal disease.

David Kenner

"A Balanced Strategy." Robert Gates defines "balance" as the most important principle behind the Pentagon’s new National Defense Strategy. In this essay for Foreign Affairs, Gates worries that the Pentagon bureaucracy is predisposed to conventional warfare, at the expense of developing the capacity to fight "today’s wars," which requires promoting better governance and addressing the grievances that can lead to terrorism.