Simply Sparkling

Imagine getting a full-fledged peace proposal in your mailbox. This is what will happen in Israel on Sunday, when hundreds of thousands of copies of the so-called Geneva Accord (negotiated by former Israeli and Palestinian officials) will be sent by its sponsors to homes in Israel. The Palestinians will read it in the newspaper (because they don't have a developed mail system).

WaPo: "Former Israeli Security Chiefs Warn of Catastrophe"

How far this goes politically, I don't know, but it is a striking concept nonetheless.

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I was in France when the 1999 Kosovo War occurred, and took more than a slight interest in developments there (it could properly be said to have influenced my decision to pursue medical studies), which is why I'm interested in recent articles cropping up because of General Wesley Clark's bid for the democratic presidential nomination. The General was the U.S. Supreme Allied Commander in Europe at the time.

Recently, the New Yorker went in depth about his involvement in political and military manueverings there, hanging out a lot of dirty laundry in the process:

New Yorker: "Political Scene: The General's Battles"

But, Fred Kaplan of Slate defends him:

Slate: "Defending the General"

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This is the second article I've seen about female Muslim stand-up comedians in Europe challenging their society to debate:

NYT: Where East Meets West Wearily, She Makes Them Laugh

It begins:

SKIEN, Norway — A hush falls over the audience at the Ibsen House theater here when Shabana Rehman takes the stage to stand motionless in a black burka that conceals everything but her dark eyes. Then, as loud Norwegian folk music breaks the silence, she breaks into a frantic jig. The effect is hilarious but, the stand-up comedian hopes, instructive, too.

One of her jokes:

She describes a Muslim wedding with vows that begin, "Do your grandmother, father and brother take your uncle's son to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

It's nice to see that the debate over religious integration can be light-hearted -- if we can laugh together, than doesn't that mean we have found common ground?

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S. and I were shocked when we arrived in poverty-ridden Newark; almost the entire population is black. As you move down a main avenue into other neighborhoods, the land becomes richer and the skin becomes whiter. It's "soft" segregation of some sort. The Boston Globe talks about the racial achievement gap in education:

Boston Globe: "Left Behind"

The authors note:

At a conference a couple of years ago a distinguished educator asked, Why talk about race when social class is the real issue? We wish that were true. Of course, parental income, education, and place of residence all make a difference in school achievement. But our research confirms what other investigators have found: These factors account for only about one-third of the gap in racial achievement.

While calling for good teachers, they also discuss workable solutions:

Good schools scattered across the country show that the racial gap in academic skills and knowledge can be closed. The best inner-city public schools that we know are charter schools, which are free from many of the rules and regulations that so often frustrate fine principals and teachers. These schools greatly increase the amount of instructional time. Their principals have the authority and autonomy to manage their budgets, set salaries, staff the school with fabulous teachers and show the door to those who don't work out.

Let's correct this racial imbalance!

There is also a gender-based salary difference -- just as unfair, and disheartening to this woman, at the very least.

Spectator: "The Mystery of the Missing Links"

I enjoyed this article discussing the recent movement to attach an asterix to the teaching of Darwinian evolutionary theory (i.e. *it's not necessary true, and there are other equally valid theories...). It points out that the movement is lead by a group of scientists (from Seattle!) who promote the concept of Intelligent Design. It certainly reminds me that I have to do something about my ignorance on the subject (evolutionary theory, I mean), and that apparently the scientific jury is still out.

The Economist writes a broad and serious survey of America today in its Nov. 6th magazine. It's divided into topical articles, and some of what they say is surprising, running counter to commonly-held views:

American Exceptionalistm "A Nation Apart"
Special Model "From Sea to Shining Sea"
Traditionalists, Secularists, and Moderates "Us Versus Us"
Religion "Therapy of the Masses"
Patriotism "Home of the Brave"
Split Partisanship "Politics as Warfare"
Two-Faced Leader "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Bush"
*See especially the chart of Mr. Bush's job-approval rating by party.
Conclusion "The Last, Best Hope of Earth?"

If you don't have time to read all of them (!), I recommend the last two, the former offers a hammer head to the nail of Mr. Bush's politics, and the latter, a hopeful conclusion.

Excerpts:

There are two George Bushes. One is ideological, divisive, willing to tear up the rule book and push strongly conservative policies. This is the Bush loved by Republicans, loathed by Democrats (see chart 6). The other is more incremental and sometimes more bipartisan. Yet even this Bush, who might appeal to the middle, is also surprisingly audacious. His audacity causes wariness among voters who are not strongly inclined for or against him.

These two Bushes coexist uneasily. Neither is likely to dominate the other, because of the way the president runs his administration. Mr Bush has an MBA, and it shows. He sets overall goals but lets his lieutenants work out how to meet them and goes with the policy that best pleases him. Different policies, therefore, reflect different strands of Republicanism. Sometimes neo-conservatives have the president's ear; sometimes traditional realists do. Sometimes corporate barons seem uppermost; at other times, supply-siders. This fluidity makes for a dizzy, sometimes invigorating, often incoherent mixture.

Their conclusion:

In the end, though, American exceptionalism worries outsiders because it seems both to represent and encourage a more dangerous world. Doctrines of exceptionalism seem to fit with the notion that the post-cold-war world is a battleground of warring cultures and hostile ideologies, the "clash of civilisations". In such a world, the anti-exceptionalist tenets of the European Union--that countries should play down their differences--seem to offer a safe haven. Exceptionalists reply that the world's conflicts are there for all to see, and that American power is likely to promote not chaos, but safety.

No one knows which of these ideas will be more influential in the world in future.... But for America itself, the choice has already been made. America is a nation apart in both senses: different from others, and divided within itself.

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For fans of the Joy Luck Club, or the Kitchen God's Wife, Amy Tan is writing an autobiography called The Opposite of Fate, where she divulges that her grandmother committed suicide and her mother once tried to murder her:

Telegraph: "Life Stranger Than Fiction"

"It is not a conventional autobiography," says Tan when we meet at her loft apartment in SoHo, New York, "but more a collection of meditations on my life." Reading it, one discovers that she is living proof of the maxim that truth is stranger than fiction. Tan says she had contemplated turning certain aspects of her life into a novel but decided it wouldn't work. "It was just so ridiculous in many ways that it seemed improbable as fiction. It had to be written as autobiography."

Spengler, a single-name columnist for the Hong-Kong based Asia Times, analyzes American culture to explain the poverty of intelligence about the Middle East:

Asia Times: "Why America is Losing the Intelligence War"

Some of the more compelling excerpts are below. I think the situation is likely more complex than Spengler describes it, but I enjoy collective introspection:

In the intelligence war, Islamists have a distinct advantage. Among the ranks of Islamist radicals are thousands who have studied in the United States, speak serviceable English, and can move with ease in American society. How many field agents of American intelligence can move at ease in the Islamist milieu?

In terms of linguistic and cultural capacity, the US today commands what may be the lowest-quality clandestine service of any great power in history. Why don't more Americans learn foreign languages? Turn the question around: why do they forget the languages they already know? The children of immigrants almost invariably lose the native language of their ancestors.

Folk came to America precisely in order to shed their culture. More precisely, they fled the tragic destiny of their cultures.

America has little culture in the strict sense of the term. Culture - the transmittable experience of one's antecedents - is the stuff from which we weave the illusion of immortality. In the Old World one could not separate religion and culture. Myths of national origin, poetry and song, cuisine and geography fused into a shared experience of those who went before, with those who come after. Culture means existential continuity.

What America offers, by contrast, is redemption through a new beginning, as closely as anyone is likely to get to a realization of the original Christian project.

That is why Americans do not know foreign languages. Rare is the American who learns a foreign language truly well. Those who do so fall in love with the strangeness of a foreign culture. Such people are of no use for intelligence work, for who can be trusted to subvert a culture he loves?

My instincts tell me this is a political turning point:

NYT: "C.I.A. Report Suggests Iraqis Are Losing Faith in U.S. Efforts"

Among other notable remarks included in the article are:

"It says that this is an insurgency, and that it is gaining strength because Iraqis have no confidence that there is anyone on the horizon who is going to stick around in Iraq as a real alternative to the former regime," one American official said.

and

A second American official said the grim conclusions were based in part on a classified opinion poll conducted by the State Department's intelligence branch, which found that a majority of Iraqis now regard American troops as occupiers rather than liberators.

This may severely curtail American policy options.

Light-hearted questions a mischievious reporter plans on asking President Bush at his next news conference:

The New Yorker, Shouts & Murmurs

Friendly question: “Sir, although your supporters’ predictions that Iraqis would greet our troops with flowers haven’t been borne out, isn’t it possible that, given the problems with the water supply and the infrastructure in general, there is a serious shortage of flowers over there and that Iraqis might be greeting our troops with flowers if Iraqis had any flowers?”

It's tempting to put it all here!

A revealing article from NYT health columnist Jane Brody which describes how the content and manner in which Americans discuss health has changed in the last 25 years:

NYT: "Trans Fats to Safe Sex: How Health Advice Has Changed"

She ends:

Many more of us could enjoy a healthier old age if we all took an old joke more seriously: "If I had known I'd live so long, I would have taken better care of myself!" There's no better time to start than now.

Which the elder among us know all too well to be true.

A well-rounded article from the NYT for Americans about digestifs:

NYT: "Meet the Spirits that Lift the Spirits High"

Love the opening paragraph:

EATING lots of rich food, as people tend to do at this time of year, is fine as long as it ends well. And although this may come as a surprise, lying on the sofa in a food coma really isn't the goal....

Enjoy!

There's nothing like the first time!