Ideology
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Snapshot,
April 30, 2013
Ahead of Iran's presidential election in June, President Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Khamenei are squabbling over the succession. Ahmadinejad wants Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, his chief of staff, to run but Khamenei disapproves. Regardless of who wins, the real loser will be Iranian democracy.
Anti-Americanism might have ebbed momentarily thanks to U.S. withdrawal from Iraq and support for the Arab Spring. But hostility is once again mounting in the Arab world. In Amaney Jamal's new book, she tries to determine why.
Snapshot,
March 25, 2013
Last week, Lebanon's prime minister resigned under intimidation from Hezbollah. The party is trying to fortify its position in Lebanon, since it can no longer count on its Syrian ally, Bashar al-Assad. But Hezbollah ought to know by now that it will not be able to rule Lebanon alone or with an iron fist.
Snapshot,
March 19, 2013
The Vatican is banking on Pope Francis to revive the Catholic Church in Latin America or, at the very least, help slow its decline. But those hopes are unfounded. Catholics in Latin America are leaving the church in record numbers because they find other religions more self-empowering, more modern, and less hierarchical. The fact of a Latin American pope won't change all that.
Essay,
Mar/Apr
2013
The election of the hawkish Shinzo Abe as Japan's prime minister has the world worrying that Tokyo is about to part with its pacifist strategy of the last 70 years. But Japan's new leaders are pragmatic, and so long as the United States does not waver in its commitment to the country's defense, they are unlikely chart a new course.
Snapshot,
February 27, 2013
As Pope Benedict XVI steps down, observers have criticized his tenure as lacking diplomatic focus. In fact, thanks to his efforts, the Holy See was able to establish full diplomatic relations with several new countries, including Russia, and improve its ties with many more, not least Saudi Arabia.
Essay,
Mar/Apr
2013
U.S. Treasury official Harry Dexter White is best known as one of the leading architects of the Bretton Woods system that shaped the global economy after World War II. But he was also a spy for the Soviet Union, providing secret information and giving advice on economic issues. Why did he do it? Newly uncovered documents show that this champion of postwar global capitalism was actually a passionate believer in the success of the Soviet experiment with socialism.
Snapshot,
January 23, 2013
The surprisingly strong performance of Yair Lapid in Israel's election, coupled with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's losses, have led many to conclude that Israeli voters have shifted to the center. But Lapid's party is conservative where it counts—on security issues—and the voters who left Netanyahu largely went even further to the right.
Snapshot,
January 16, 2013
The clear favorite in Tuesday's election, Benjamin Netanyahu is cruising into another term as prime minister, and Israel's moderates and liberals have barely put up a fight. To be sure, demographic and political trends are stacked against the left, but it can recover if it actually offers a vocal opposition.
Snapshot,
January 2, 2013
When Victor Hugo wrote the original Les Misérables, he aimed to reconcile France's Catholic and revolutionary traditions. But Tom Hooper's film adaptation of the musical version focuses on the redemptive power of religion, not of revolution, illustrating the modern world's pessimism about revolutionary change.
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