INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS: HIGHLIGHTS AND EXCLUSIVES, DECEMBER 24, 2007 ISSUE
To book guests, contact Brenda Velez at 212-445-4078—Brenda.Velez@Newsweek.com—or LaVenia LaVelle at 212-445-4859—LaVenia.LaVelle@Newsweek.com. Articles are posted at www.Newsweek.com.
COVER: The Good News. (All overseas editions). Special Correspondent Barrett Sheridan and Senior Writer Dan Gross examine how, even with little cheer in the global economic news since the subprime-mortgage meltdown started last spring, if you look beyond temporal market fluctations to how the real global economy is doing, things have never been better. For the past four years, the world has grown at a 5.2 percent annual rate—a full 2 percentage points higher than in the ‘80s and ‘90s—thanks in large part to booming emerging markets. While the United States and many parts of Europe are lagging, most of the rest of the planet is soaring. Ironically, financial instability today seems to be a phenomenon largely confined to the developed world. Emerging nations have been paying back debt, taming inflation, strengthening their institutions, diversifying their economies and generally behaving like responsible global citizens. Newsweek looks at the factors causing the global growth, such as competition from China and the commodities demand. Emerging nations are no longer just extracting resources and supplying cheap labor, but growing their own massive middle classes, breeding world-beating companies and becoming players on the global financial stage.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/78113
The Roots of Fear. Science Columnist Sharon Begley writes about the power of fear to sway voters that has become part of the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign. Half a century of research has shown that fear is one of the most politically-powerful emotions a candidate can tap, especially when the fears have a basis in reality. Candidates who exploit voters’ fears and anxieties grab attention in a way that other appeals, such as those to experience, competence, vision or even anger do not. Through surveys of voters and other new science, a new generation of political psychologists and campaign strategists is refining the understanding of the power of fear.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/78178
The Two Shades of Gloom. Joanna Bourke, author of “Fear: A Cultural History,” writes in an essay that in America and Europe, gloom rather than joy has accompanied the growth of wealth and affluence. “Europeans express fear—a response to an identifiable and objective threat like global warming, pollution and military conflict. Americans wallow in anxiety—a more generalized, inchoate reaction to anticipated or subjective threats. While Europeans strive to identify specific dangers they can rally against, American anxieties are more amorphous.” Bourke writes about the historical differences in the way America and Europe handle fear and threats.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/78114
Is He Still a ‘Conviction Politician?’ London Bureau Chief Stryker McGuire reports on the travails of British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who was once riding high in the polls, but lately the wheels have all but come off. To a certain extent, Brown has been undone by events beyond his control that have nearly paralyzed the government in recent months. But the bigger issue is that Brown has failed to make clear why he wants to be prime minister, McGuire reports.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/78110
Let Them Eat Cake. Paris Bureau Chief Chris Dickey reports on food inflation in Europe. When the average price of a baguette topped ¤1 for the first time last month, the price seemed to epitomize the rising cost of living and the shortage of cash in consumers’ pockets. Food inflation used to be seen as a problem mainly for developing countries; in the past year, as food inflation spiraled, there’ve been riots from China to Mexico. Now the bite is being felt in the heart of Europe.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/78115
The ‘Body Contractors.’ Baghdad Bureau Chief Babak Dehghanpisheh reports that while there is no question that violence across Iraq has declined, the problem—and the reason no one from U.S. commander Gen. David Patraeus on down is declaring victory yet—is that those statistics do not tell the whole story. Body hunters, Baghdad residents and local gunman all say that militias are making more of an effort to disguise their grisly handiwork—burying bodies in shallow graves, dumping them in city sewers. In the past two months, more than half a dozen mass graves have been found in Iraq. Robert Lamburne, director of forensic services at the British Embassy, has spoken to dozens of Iraqi policemen and examined bodies—relatively fresh—from one of several graves uncovered recently. His judgment: “There’s less killing, but there’s more concealment.”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/78156
Interviews: Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto. Special Diplomatic Correspondent Lally Weymouth interviews Musharraf and his leading opposition politician, Benazir Bhutto. Musharraf blames the Western media for many of his problems. Bhutto says she hopes to put Pakistan on the road to democracy and to contain extremism. She also warns that Musharraf may try to rig the elections in favor of the ruling party.
http://www.newsweek.com/id/78073
Airlines in the Brace Position. Hong Kong Bureau Chief George Wehrfritz reports on the looming worldwide pilot crisis. In a report issued in late November, the Geneva-based International Air Transport Association (IATA) announced that the industry would need some 17,000 new pilots annually over the next two decades to keep up with demand. Asian airlines alone would require 6,000 additional pilots per year thru 2020. “It’s time to ring the warning bell,” said IATA director-general and CEO recently. “We must rethink pilot training and qualifications to further improve safety and increase training capacity.”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/78116
WORLD VIEW: The Power of Personality. Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria writes about the debate over what matters most when making judgments about foreign policy—experience and expertise on the one hand, or personal identity on the other. “And I find myself coming down on the side of identity,” he writes, adding that he agrees with Barack Obama over Hillary Clinton.
Even with all of his own formal training on foreign policy and degrees and research projects, Zakaria writes that his advantage comes from understanding “what it means not to be an American.” “I couldn’t do my job well without the expertise. But any insights I have are thoroughly informed by the perspective and judgment that I’ve gained from being first a foreigner, then a foreign student, then an aspiring immigrant and now an American.”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/78157
THE LAST WORD: Khalid Mishaal, leader of Hamas. Mishaal talks about being left out of the Annapolis peace summit despite the presence of so many Arab countries in attendance. “Obviously it didn’t make me happy. But their attendance only happened because of American pressure. They didn’t go willingly. And this is not the way to build a genuine peace. America’s foreign policy is based on pulling some states close and excluding others—like Hamas—trying to isolate them, send them to the corner. This doesn’t build peace. Those who can build peace are those who hold power on the ground.”
http://www.newsweek.com/id/78117
# # #
