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INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS: HIGHLIGHTS AND EXCLUSIVES, DECEMBER 1, 2008 ISSUE

COVER: The Medvedev Doctrine  (Atlantic edition).  Moscow Bureau Chief Owen Matthews and Special Correspondent Anna Nemtsova examine Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's view of global diplomacy and Russia's role in the world. Earlier this month, in his first state-of-the-nation address, he delivered a more passionate commitment to liberal values than his predecessor, Vladimir Putin, had ever voiced. The upshot is that over the last several months, Medvedev has developed his own rather radical agenda: surprisingly liberal at home, and increasingly hawkish abroad. The Medvedev doctrine amounts to an ambitious plan for fixing Russia's broken society at home and restoring Russia's place in the world. At its broadest, it is a plan to redraw the world's security and financial infrastructure, on Russia's terms.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170303

COVER: Fragile China (Asia edition). Hong Kong Bureau Chief George Wehrfritz reports on how badly things are turning in China, where the global economic downturn now looks certain to end the country's 30-year growth boom. "With most industrialized countries now in recession and countries the world over hoping against hope that the planet's most buoyant major economy might somehow dampen the global downturn, it's a forecast that increasingly rings true. The reasoning: China, despite its deep pool of savings and $2 trillion in foreign reserves, is unprotected from the fall in global demand that began in earnest in mid-2008. Notwithstanding all the hoopla about the rise of China's billion consumers, the body blow that's now landing in the industrial heartland will debunk the notion that China has already begun transitioning toward a new growth model based less on exports and investment and more on household consumption."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170305

 He Called the Bust. Wehrfritz talks to Jim Walker, head of the research firm Asianomics, who warned two years ago that a global recession would end China's 30-year boom. "By late 2006, we were seeing significant downturns in residential investment [and] a drop-off in the way that it was financed, and we knew that problems were building. And the yield curve had inverted [making long-term debt cheaper than short-term debt]. Putting this together we [concluded] that we were headed into a recession, and that it was going to be a pretty nasty one."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170307

COVER: The Meaning of Michelle. (Latin America edition). National Correspondent Allison Samuels profiles Michelle Obama and writes about her impact on black women and beyond.  "When her husband raises his hand to take the oath of office, Michelle will become the world's most visible African-American woman," Samuels writes.  "The new First Lady will have the chance to knock down ugly stereotypes about black women and educate the world about American black culture more generally. But perhaps even more importantly-even apart from what her husband can do-Michelle has the power to change the way African-Americans see ourselves, our lives and our possibilities."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170383

The Rise of the Hindu Right. Special Correspondent Jason Overdorf  writes that upcoming elections in India could help usher an even more aggressive nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) back into power, a big step backward for India as a whole.  "The BJP hopes to capitalize on the bad economic conditions when voters head to the polls...this month. While nothing's guaranteed, many observers expect Congress to get trounced."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170301

Israel's Dissident. Jerusalem Bureau Chief Kevin Peraino reports on the potential reversal of fortune for Natan Sharansky, a former Soviet dissident turned Israeli politician who could get a key job in the government if Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party does well in the February election. Sharansky is a Likud ally and has an inside track to become foreign minister in a Netanyahu government. That would stand as a testament to Sharansky's ability to reinvent himself.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170304

Good to Be Grim. London Reporter William Underhill reports on how British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's Scottish roots and all of his stereotypical Scottish qualities are a blessing.  In times of crises, those qualities-especially an unsmiling air of moral purpose-now enhance his appeal. In the past two months, Brown's approval ratings have climbed 10 or more points to their highest levels since he moved to 10 Downing Street in June 2007. And his soft-spoken Scottish chancellor, Alistair Darling, twice voted the most boring politician in Britain-wins plaudits for his performance, giving credence to the idea that in a struggling economy grim is good.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170302

POINT OF VIEW: Growth in the Rearview Mirror. Ruchir Sharma, head of emerging markets at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, writes that "few of us stopped to question the magical boom that hit virtually every country in the world, beginning in 2003.  There was some skepticism about the housing-led growth spurt in the United States, but now it is increasingly apparent that the simultaneous acceleration from Brazil to India and even China was also rooted in a global credit bubble. This is a particularly painful realization for the developing world, which came to believe that the boom was testament to the power of globalization, increased urbanization and better macroeconomic policy management. While there is more than an element of truth in those arguments, it's hard to escape the conclusion that the growth leap was mainly due to easy access to cheap money."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170309

WORLD VIEW: A Path Out of the Woods. Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria writes about a crucial appointment in the Obama administration that isn't likely to get much attention- U.S. Ambassador to China.  "There is a consensus forming that Washington needs to spend its way out of this recession, to ensure that it doesn't turn into a depression. Economists of both the left and right agree that a massive fiscal stimulus is needed and that for now, we shouldn't be worrying about deficits. But in order to run up these deficits-which could total somewhere between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion, or between 7 and 11 percent of GDP-someone has to buy American debt. And the only country that has the cash to do so is China."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170357

THE LAST WORD: Olusegan Obasanjo, special envoy to help end the fighting in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Obasanjo says he confronted [rebel leader] Laurent Nkunda about the broken ceasefire.  "I confronted him about that and asked him, what is the world going to think of you? The ceasefire must be respected, and we must get the Congo army involved and MONUC [the U.N. peacekeeping force] must be the guarantor. By Tuesday he began to respect that, and now the ceasefire seems to be holding." He believes this one will be more enduring because the Congo army is on board and "with MONUC, things are looking better. We still have the problem of other militias, but for now at least [the major parties] agree on some things."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/170355
         
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