November 2003

"In the long course of history, having people who understand your thought is much greater security than another submarine."
-- J. William Fulbright

November 2003

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Think Tank Solutions Letters BUY THIS ISSUE

Reasonable Doubts

by Larry Krotz

As the International Criminal court gets ready to open for business, two camps have formed: the optimists, who believe the court is a long-awaited triumph, and the skeptics, who see the devil in the details…[more]

Field Notes

Up in the Mustafa Hotel

kabul — My Afghan driver, friend, and confidant, Aktar Gul, tells me that his nation today is like two pictures…[more]

Method

The Memorizer

by Craig Taylor

How to memorize a hundred decks of playing cards in five hours or less…[more]

Field Notes

Sex and the Holy See

by Jeannie Marshall

vatican city—For an institution run by celibate men, the Vatican certainly has a lot to say about the sex lives…[more]

Feature

The Briefcase Wars

by Bill Cameron

Will a conflict hatched in Washington bring down a government in London? A look at some of the unintended consequences of toppling Saddam…[more]

Language

Lingua Franchise

by Charles Foran

Mat saleh calling it English killer language. Wah. For chiak kantang, salary-men it a bit the different, lah? …[more]

Books

Dallaire’s Inferno

by Stephan Lewis

The Rwandan genocide retold…[more]

Ranting

Reader Rage

by Douglas Bell

Newspapers can drive you crazy…[more]

Field Notes

Why the Poles are in Iraq

by David Warszawski

warsaw—The Polish army has a problem. At the moment, there are about 2,500 Polish troops serving in Iraq. They…[more]

Fiction

Choynski

by David Bezmozgis

The young palliative-care doctor, a nice Jewish guy in glasses, prodded around my grandmother’s stomach and…[more]

Field Notes

The last great city dump

by Cooper Langford

yellowknife—It’s the last stop on the highway that cuts through the taiga landscape and whaleback granite…[more]

Feature

Homecoming King

by Joan Bryden

The boy from Shawinigan can finally go home…[more]

Field Notes

Orchestral manoevres in the dark

by Hadani Ditmars

baghdad—Much of life here these days feels like an elaborate dress rehearsal. Everywhere, people seem to long…[more]

Detail

Small Worlds

by Saira Wasim

Pakistani artist Saira Wasim tackles the big picture in her tiny paintings…[more]

A brief history of search engines

by Jeet Heer

“Is Google God?” the New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman asked recently. Like most of us, Friedman is impressed with the…[more]

Feature

The Genius Django

by Deborah Kirshner

At a gypsy-jazz festival in tiny Samois-sur-Seine fifty years Django Reinhardt’s death, his music is kept alive by the romance of a few…[more]

Feature

Is the West Rearming Russia?

by Paul Webster

Ottawa and the G-8 countries have pledged $20 billion to help Russia clean up its nuclear weaponry. Is that just allowing the Russians to build more?…[more]