While Brazilian Finance Minister Guido Mantega’s statement that the world is the midst of an “international currency war” might be somewhat premature, there is no denying the fact countries today — Japan, Taiwan and South Korea among them — are intervening in currency markets to give their own export competitiveness a shot in the arm, and that these actions, like ... Read More
Apparently, Obama’s BP Oil Spill performance has been a total disaster. Just check the news. He’s weak, aloof, unemotive, Maureen Down explains. “Mr. President, take command,” David Gergen urges on CNN. James Carville exhorts: “This president needs to tell BP, “I’m your daddy.” And Peggy Noonan, writes, simply, for WSJ: “I don’t see how you politically survive this.” Count me among ... Read More
Apart from being an excellent excuse to boost web traffic with pictures of bikini-clad women (cf. The Huffington Post), you may not have seen Lebanese journalist Hanin Ghaddar’s very interesting article last week in Foreign Policy comparing American and Lebanese reactions to the Rima Fakih story. In America: Not many people — let along beauty pageant winners — have been accused ... Read More
The New York Times Magazine has a fantastic article about the puzzle of the paucity of valor awards–those medals given for high acts of courage. Only six Medals of Honor have been awarded in Iraq or Afghanistan: a fraction of previous wars either absolute or percentage terms. In the Pentagon’s defense, the article quotes one spokeswoman: Addressing the drastic drop ... Read More
Sam Barr’s most recent post makes the rather shocking claim that Rand Paul, the Republican nominee for the U.S. Senate seat in Kentucky being vacated by the retiring Jim Bunning, is a racist, or at least that he is not a non-racist. Sam deduces this from the fact that Mr. Paul is not a “consistent libertarian,” that he “picks and ... Read More
In his recent essay “The Failure of the American Jewish Establishment,” Peter Beinart laments the disconnect young liberal American Jews feel from Israel and the American organizations that support it (i.e. AIPAC). He argues that Zionist organizations have moved rightward with the Israeli government and have largely shut out liberal dissent: “…by defending virtually anything any Israeli government does, they ... Read More
In his essay “What Makes A Life Significant,” William James gives voice to the “manly virtues” that Wagley, in her “Defense of Manliness,” seems to want to defend. I say “seems” because, like Sam, I’m not exactly sure what her article is advocating for. If it’s anything like what James wanted when he called for a life of “precipitousness, so ... Read More
Sometimes the only way to properly criticize someone with ridiculous views is to quote them at length, and then, channeling Seth and Amy from “Saturday Night Live,” say with as much surprise and disdain as one can muster, “Really?!” I found myself saying “Really?!” a lot this morning when I read Rachel Wagley’s “defense of manliness” in the Harvard Crimson. ... Read More
HPR staff writer Eli Martin has a piece in today’s Crimson criticizing European “Islamophobia.” I don’t want to baldly disagree with Eli that “outright discrimination toward Muslims in Europe is becoming a reality.” But I do want to complicate things a bit. Eli implies that burqa bans and the like could only be products of Geert Wilders-esque prejudice, neglecting a ... Read More
Goldman Sachs has been making headlines (again) after charges were filed by the SEC alleging that the company sold a financial product whose components were decided on in part by Paulson & Co., a company who made bets in a hedge fund that the product would see losses, without disclosing this to investors and thereby creating a conflict of interest. ... Read More
Such a headline is perhaps not so surprising coming from elements of the Republican Party’s religious right, see Larry Craig. The uneasy balance of openly and forcefully opposing gay marriage while still attempting to be accepting of gay Republicans like the Log Cabin Republicans has made it difficult for many leaders. The fact remains that being exposed as a gay ... Read More
