Coming as it did on the eve of a holiday weekend, Saddam Hussein’s execution has not yet received the full attention of the opinion press and the blogosphere. In the coming days, the trickle of commentary so far is certain to become a deluge. Still, what’s already been written is more than enough to occupy at least a good part of New Year’s day. So for those looking for a starting point for their reading, we offer a short roundup of commentary on the subject. Op-eds:Feared and Pitiless; Fearful and Pitied by John Burns, The New York TimesOnly Stupid, Sadistic [...]
In an early indication of the tussles to come in Lula’s second term, Brazil’s president has surprised even his own economic team by agreeing to an 8.6 percent hike in the monthly minimum wage to the equivalent of $176 for 2007 — while promising lower rises in subsequent years. Finance Minister Guido Mantega wanted a lower increase because public-sector pensions, a huge part of the budget, are linked to the minimum wage. Brazil’s social security deficit is now likely to widen, and room for tax cuts in 2007 will be even more limited. It may be that Lula wanted to [...]
In his Dec. 20 column, “Mideast Rules to Live By,” New York Times foreign affairs columnist Thomas Friedman referenced an interview with Al Jazeera Editor Ahmed Sheikh that was published in English exclusively in World Politics Review. Here’s the relevant excerpt: Rule 11: The most underestimated emotion in Arab politics is humiliation. The Israeli-Arab conflict, for instance, is not just about borders. Israel’s mere existence is a daily humiliation to Muslims, who can’t understand how, if they have the superior religion, Israel can be so powerful. Al Jazeera’s editor, Ahmed Sheikh, said it best when he recently told the Swiss [...]
