Pressroom

Newsweek Media Lead Sheet

2008-05-11T17:20:56Z

MEDIA LEAD SHEET/MAY 19, 2008 ISSUE (on newsstands Monday, May 12, 2008). To book correspondents, contact Brenda Velez at 212-445-4078-Brenda.Velez@Newsweek.com, Grace Huh at 212-445-5831-Grace.Huh@Newsweek.com-or Jan Angilella at 212-445-5638-Jan.Angilella@Newsweek.com. Articles are posted on www.Newsweek.com.

COVER: "The O Team" (p. 20). Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe examines Barack Obama's campaign team, looking at the presidential candidate's leadership and management style and how they're all getting ready for the coming mud war with John McCain and the Republicans. Obama's advisers insist that the race will be about the big issues because there are stark contrasts between the candidates over Iraq and the economy. They're also ready for attacks from another "527" group, like the Swift Boat veterans who went after John Kerry in 2004. Kerry failed to quickly strike back. The Obama team says it will not make the same mistake. "You fight back aggressively and play jujitsu," says David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136477

JONATHAN ALTER: "Now On to Florigan!" (p. 29). Senior Editor and Columnist Jonathan Alter writes that one of the hidden factors pushing superdelegates away from Hillary Clinton is "Florigan" or "Michida" -"or whatever we should call these scofflaw states that moved up their primaries in defiance of party rules. Out of desperation, Hillary is putting all her chips on the injustice done to Floridians and Michiganders, even though she said early in the process that their votes 'shouldn't count.' Never mind the hypocrisy here." The problem for Hillary, Alter writes, is that party officials in the other 48 states "don't give a rat's patootie about seating Florida and Michigan. In fact, they're angry at those states for jumping the line, then whining about it."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136477

INTERVIEW: "After 60 Years, No Peace Yet" (p. 32). Special Diplomatic Correspondent Lally Weymouth, on the 60th anniversary of Israel, interviews Israeli President Shimon Peres, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, who reflect on the history and future of Israel.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136437 - Peres interview w/ video

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136105 - Olmert interview

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136439- Fayyad interview

INTERNATIONAL: "A Curse From the Heavens" (p. 36). Beijing Bureau Chief Melinda Liu opens this photo essay from Burma, which is still reeling from the deadliest natural disaster in the country's history. Liu writes that the one thing keeping many Burmese going is the hope that the cyclone that hit the densely populated Irrawaddy Delta on May 2 just might signal the end of Burma's military junta, one of the most corrupt and oppressive dictatorships on earth.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136365

CRIME: "'These Guys Had To Be Taken Down'" (p. 40). Special Correspondents Jamie Reno and Dirk Johnson report on the drug raid at San Diego State University that netted four pounds of cocaine, 350 Ecstasy pills, 50 pounds of marijuana, 30 vials of hash oil, $60,000 in cash and two guns, one of them taped to a bed frame. Among those arrested were 95 San Diego State students. The raid, which included crackdowns on several fraternities, came a year to the day after the overdose death of Jenny Poliakoff, a 19-year-old student at San Diego State. That tragedy triggered the undercover operation.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136441

DRUGS: "Old Herb, New Controversy" (p. 41). Senior Writer Brian Braiker reports on the popularity of the drug salvia, also known as "Magic Mint" or "Sally-D." It is legal, for the time being, in most states. But with the proliferation of online companies that advertise and sell salvia-derived products, it has caught on among young people looking for a new high. In small doses, salvia contains no known toxicities. But when its extract is smoked in larger batches, it can yield frightening results.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136317

HEALTH: "War on Wounds" (p. 44). Correspondent Anne Underwood reports on the growing demand for regenerative medicine, mostly because of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The medicine is a grab bag of techniques that share the same end-to repair human bodies by helping them regenerate living tissue, rather than relying on artificial parts. The military's need is enormous. Thanks to improved medical care, 90 percent of soldiers who are injured in Iraq and Afghanistan are surviving.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136309

SOCIETY: "O Father, Where Art Thou?" (p. 45). Associate Editor Joshua Alston reviews a new book that tries to change the image of the absent black father from childrens' lives. In "The Beautiful Struggle" by Ta-Nehisi Coates, he writes that while his father was a free spirit and fathered seven children with four different women, he was a source of security and stability in a neighborhood subject to rampant, random violence. Coates and other authors are in a position to change the stereotype that black men are irresponsible and indifferent to fatherhood.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136335

BUSINESS: "Penthouse Gets Pious" (p. 47). Los Angeles Correspondent Jennifer Ordoñez reports on how the proliferation of online porn has forced standard fare adult magazines like Playboy and Penthouse to diversify their businesses. Last December, Penthouse acquired social network behemoth Various, Inc. The company's subsidiaries now include a number of online dating sites, with a combined 250 million members since they were founded, and 1.2 million current subscribers who pay for content.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136306

TELEVISION: "America's Next Top Mormon" (p. 52). Editorial Assistant Sally Atkinson reports on the influx of Mormons on reality-TV shows. They've won "The Biggest Loser," "The Rebel Billionaire," and "Survivor." And they're closing in on the biggest reality-TV prize of all: "American Idol." With all its conniving, backstabbing and sexuality, reality TV may seem like a strange place for Mormons to congregate. That cultural disconnect is obviously part of the attraction for viewers and casting directors alike. But for Mormon contestants themselves, the motivation is more complex. Some are testing the limits of their buttoned-down religion.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135758

MEMOIR: "Unable to Forget" (p. 55). Senior Editor Jerry Adler reports on a new book "The Woman Who Can't Forget," the memoir of a 42-year-old California woman named Jill Price. She can recall almost every day of her life since childhood. Price has no special aptitude for memorizing lists of words or numbers, or for facts or stories or languages. She was an average student. What Price does remember-obsessively, uncontrollably and with remarkable accuracy-is stuff that happened to her.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136334

TIP SHEET: "Summer Camp for Losers" (p. 56). Special Correspondent Tara Weingarten reports on the benefits of families going to weight-loss camps. Since many families put on weight together, it makes sense to lose it together. Program options include high-end camps, as well as less expensive outpatient services. Most of these offer a combination of fun activities mixed with group therapy, parenting classes and medical checkups. Experts say these types of programs, where kids and parents make a commitment to losing weight together, tend to have lasting results.

http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/tipsheet/default.aspx

# # #

International Editions: Highlights and Exclusives May 19 issue

2008-05-11T17:19:06Z

To book guests, contact Brenda Velez at 212-445-4078-Brenda.Velez@Newsweek.com-or Grace Huh at 212-445-5831-Grace.Huh@Newsweek.com. Articles are posted on www.Newsweek.com.

INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS: HIGHLIGHTS AND EXCLUSIVES, MAY 19, 2008

COVER: How To Stop The Food Riots. (Atlantic and Latin America editions). Senior Editor Rana Foroohar opens this special report on the world food crisis with a primer on the incredibly political nature of food. As food prices spiral out of control, the worry is that millions more of the world's poorest will also be lost to its ravages. Over the past few months, there have been food-related riots in 22 countries. Fuel prices have risen farther and faster than agricultural commodities over the past few years, and the $1 trillion subprime mess dwarfs the food crisis in terms of economic impact. But you don't eat oil or stocks. Those who would try to predict where the current situation is headed would do well to consider food crises of the past. This cover package illustrates that agriculture, one of the world's most distorted industries, is in desperate need of an overhaul.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136360

It's the Stupid Politics. Hong Kong Bureau Chief George Wehrfritz and European Economics Editor Stefan Theil report there are two big factors contributing to today's global food crisis. One is the grossly distorted system of global trade in agriculture. The other factor is underinvestment in agriculture in the developing world, which leaders rationalize on the mistaken assumption that imported food would forever remain cheap. "They simply did not make [agricultural investments] a priority," says Lennart Bage, president of the U.N.-affiliated International Fund for Agricultural Development. "They've been lulled into a false sense of complacency."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136355

How To Feed The World. Eight leaders in the fight against hunger, including British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, World Bank Group President Robert Zoellick and Executive director of the United Nations World Food Program Josette Sheeran, offer food crisis action plans and long term ideas for how to end famine and bolster farming.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136360

Rich But Hungry. London Reporter William Underhill reports that cost-conscious consumers in weakening economies are well aware of the doubling of the cost of wheat that makes their bread sometimes 30 percent more expensive. In the 15-nation euro zone, annual food-price inflation is running at 6.5 percent, the highest figure since recordkeeping began in 1997. It's reckoned that a record 28 million Americans will need food stamps this year, up 1.5 million on last year, and everywhere, politicians are struggling to supply answers to a problem that looks set to worsen.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136357

Beakers To the Rescue. Special Correspondent Mac Margolis reports on the burgeoning industry of genetically manipulated crops. According to industry analysts, biotech crops have already expanded from practically nothing a decade ago to 282 million hectacres in 23 countries in 2007. The market for GM seeds has more than doubled since 2001, from $3 billion to $7 billion. Enthusiasts say once the products are unleashed onto the marketplace, farmers will be able to grow more nutritious food at lower costs using less water and pesticides, and even in the most punishing weather.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136358

COVER: The Winds of Regime Change? (Asia edition) Beijing Bureau Chief Melinda Liu reports that while some in Myanmar are still in shock from the deadliest natural disaster in their country's history, others seem almost optimistic: they think the May 2 killer cyclone just might signal the end of Burma's

military junta, one of the most corrupt and oppressive dictatorships on earth. Many citizens in this superstitious country seem to believe that the storm represented nothing less than divine retribution-cosmic payback for the violent sacrilege committed by the junta last September, when the military put a quick and bloody end to the "Saffron Revolution." Now many Burmese see the monster cyclone as proof that Sr. Gen. Tan Shwe and his junta have lost the "mandate of heaven"-the supernatural right to govern.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136365

War Is the Answer. Special Correspondent Jeremy Kahn reports that in the past year, Sri Lankan government officials seemed tantalizingly close to the end of the 25-year long conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The remarkable progress achieved already is challenging the conventional wisdom about civil wars from Yugoslavia to Iraq: that there is no military solution.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/30166

The Hunt for Mr. Europe. Denis MacShane, a Labour M.P. and a former British minister for Europe, writes in an essay that whoever is chosen by the European Union's 27 government leaders to become president of Europe will define the EU for a generation to come. "The EU has a chance to have someone who can speak for Europe and pick up the phone when America or India or Brazil calls... If EU leaders flunk this test, Europe's global status, and with that the EU's standing with European citizens, will decline still further," MacShane writes.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136365

The Closing of the Church Door. Special Correspondent Mike Elkin reports Spain is loosening the binds between the Roman Catholic Church and state. Amid growing religious apathy nationwide, Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in 2006 eliminated the church's exemption from paying the value-added tax. Now he is moving ahead with distinctly secular projects, including introducing sexual-education classes in school and providing government funding for a free, over-the-counter morning-after contraception pill.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136356

GLOBAL INVESTOR: What's in a (Foreign) Name? Columnist Daniel Gross writes that naming rights are becoming a sought-after U.S. export. "Appeal to the vanity of status-hungry rich people or CEOs, and they'll pay top dollar to have their names associated with yours," Gross writes. "As the geography of global wealth rapidly shifts-with rich American institutions becoming suddenly poorer and impressive pockets of wealth bulging around the globe-naming rights have quickly evolved into what might be considered a new category of export."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136303

WORLD VIEW: An Underwater Threat. Daniel Blumenthal, a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, writes that, "for many years, America's security umbrella over the region has allowed Asia's great powers, including China, to focus on economic growth rather than military competition. Now China's rapid buildup could spark a costly regional competition that could potentially slow Asia's economic growth, as funds are diverted to military spending and investors are scared away."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136366

THE LAST WORD: Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. Special Diplomatic Correspondent Lally Weymouth spoke with Olmert, who addressed the investigation into charges that he accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal campaign contributions when he was mayor of Jerusalem. He also spoke about the possibility of resigning. "I don't really see that this will bring any better outcome for this country at this point. Not that a person is indispensable or irreplaceable. I don't believe in this. We are all human beings and there are many great guys in this country that can one day become prime ministers. But, given the circumstances right now, I think it will not do good that I step down at this point. I have to think about it."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136105

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Newsweek cover: The O Team

2008-05-11T17:15:53Z

http://www.newsweek.com/id/136440

Contact: Jan Angilella FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

at 212-445-5638 Sunday, May 11, 2008

Jan.Angilella@Newsweek.com

COVER: THE O TEAM

OBAMA HAS SHOWN HE CAN RUN A CAMPAIGN. HE'D BETTER GET READY FOR A WAR

OBAMA TOLD CAMPAIGN AIDES THERE WAS TO BE NO DRAMA:

'WE'RE GOING TO RISE OR FALL TOGETHER'

----

ADVISERS INSIST RACE WILL BE ABOUT BIG ISSUES, BUT ARE READY FOR MUD WAR

MCCAIN CAMPAIGN PORING OVER OBAMA RECORD; WANT TO BRAND HIM

AS 'SUPERDUPER LIBERAL'

New York-A senior member of Barack Obama's campaign staff tells Newsweek he's only seen the presidential candidate yell twice in four years. Obama was explicit from the beginning: there was to be "no drama," he told his aides. "I don't want elbowing or finger pointing. We're going to rise or fall together," according to a report in the current issue of Newsweek. Obama wanted steady, calm, focused leadership; he wanted to keep out the grandstanders and make sure the quiet dissenters spoke up.

In the May 19 Newsweek cover story, "The O Team" (on newsstands Monday, May 12), Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe and Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas look at Obama's management and leadership style and examine how it will translate if he's the nominee against Republican John McCain in the fall, when the campaign could turn negative.

Obama's advisers insist that the race will be about the big issues because there are stark contrasts between the candidates on Iraq and the economy. But if McCain feels he can't win on those issues-if the war remains unpopular and the Bush downturn goes on-he will be sorely tempted to run down his opponent, Newsweek reports. The McCain campaign is now poring over Obama's record, looking for weaknesses that can be exposed without race-baiting or hitting below the belt. They want to brand Obama as a "superduper liberal who is out of the mainstream," says one McCain adviser who did not wish to be identified discussing internal campaign strategy.

But Team Obama has been consistently able to outstrategize the opposition, and it does have a plan for the coming mud war. In conversations with Newsweek, Obama's aides have signaled

their intention to put Sen. McCain on the spot. They note that McCain himself has been the victim of a smear. In the South Carolina primary in 2000, GOP operatives spread the rumor that McCain had fathered an illegitimate black child. Recently, when a reporter asked McCain, "Does it bother you at all that you might actually benefit from latent prejudice in the country?" he answered: "That would bother me a lot. That would bother me a great deal." And last week his wife Cindy told NBC News, "My husband is absolutely opposed to any negative campaigning at all." So if McCain's camp does try to exploit Obama's ties to the fiery Reverend Jeremiah Wright, the Obama-ites can question his sincerity-is he really the "Straight Talk" candidate? And if McCain can't stop others from the sort of innuendo and code that Republicans have learned to frighten voters, Obama can cast doubt on McCain's credentials as a commander in chief.

McCain himself has said that he will not "referee" between various independent groups who always want to have their say in presidential campaigns. (The model is the notorious Swift Boat Veterans for Truth who unfairly but effectively questioned John Kerry's war record in 2004.) Charlie Black, McCain's top strategist, told Newsweek that McCain was powerless to stop the "527s," named after the provision of the tax code that covers political expenditures by nonprofits, from running attack ads on their own. "Look, there's nothing we can do about the 527s," says Black.

The last Democratic presidential candidate, John Kerry, dithered and failed to quickly strike back when he was attacked by the Swift Boat veterans. The Obama team says it will not make the same mistake. "You fight back aggressively and play jujitsu," says David Plouffe, Obama's campaign manager.

Another McCain adviser, who asked for anonymity discussing campaign strategy, bluntly warned, "It's going to be Swift Boat times five on both sides ... The candidates will both do their best publicly to mute it. But in a close race, I don't see how to shut that down." Indeed, the two most experienced attack artists are already gearing up. Floyd Brown, who produced the infamous "Willie Horton" commercial that used race and fear of crime to drive voters away from Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis in 1988, produced an ad before the North Carolina primary accusing Obama of being soft on crime. He told Newsweek that Obama is "extremely vulnerable" to questioning about his ties to Chicago fixer Tony Rezko, who has been indicted for political corruption. Another target is former Weather Underground member Bill Ayers, whose association with Obama will remind voters of bomb-throwing student radicals of the 1960s. "There's plenty of stuff out there. I'm kinda like in a candy store in this election," says Brown.

# # # (Read cover at www.Newsweek.com)

Media Lead Sheet -May 12 issue (on newsstands Monday, May 5)

2008-05-05T15:02:04Z

MEDIA LEAD SHEET/MAY 12, 2008 ISSUE (on newsstands Monday, May 5, 2008). To book correspondents, contact Brenda Velez at 212-445-4078-Brenda.Velez@Newsweek.com, Grace Huh at 212-445-5831-Grace.Huh@Newsweek.com-or Jan Angilella at 212-445-5638-Jan.Angilella@Newsweek.com. Articles are posted on www.Newsweek.com.

COVER: "The Post-American World" (p. 24). Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria, in an excerpt from his forthcoming book, "The Post-American World," writes that in America "we are still debating the nature and extent of anti-Americanism. One side says that the problem is real and worrying and that we must woo the world back. The other says this is the inevitable price of power and that many of these countries are envious-and vaguely French-so we can safely ignore their griping. But while we argue over why they hate us, 'they' have moved on, and are now far more interested in other, more dynamic parts of the globe. The world has shifted from anti-Americanism to post-Americanism." In the excerpt, Zakaria explores not the decline of America but "the rise of the rest-the rest of the world."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135380

POLITICS: "Obama's New Gospel" (p. 32). Washington Correspondent Eve Conant and Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe report on the efforts of Barack Obama's campaign to get the word out to religious voters that the candidate is serious about their concerns and that his relationship with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr. is over. Voters in Indiana want to know if Obama believes Wright's more controversial statements and what is the status of their relationship.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135384

POLITICS: "A Turbulent Pastor" (p. 34). White House Correspondent Holly Bailey reports on Pastor John Hagee, the San Antonio televangelist who has offended Roman Catholics and other groups, and his endorsement of John McCain. McCain and his aides draw a sharp distinction between his relationship to Hagee and Obama's ties to the Rev. Wright. McCain's aides attribute the Hagee controversy to poor vetting. But even some Republicans (not affiliated with the campaign) privately wonder how the pastor's extreme views slipped through without notice.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135385

TRAGEDY: "She Thought She Could Do Better" (p. 40). Washington Correspondent Eve Conant reports on the apparent suicide of "the D.C. Madam" Deborah Jeane Palfrey. During the course of numerous conversations with Newsweek over the last year, Palfrey portrayed herself as a self-made woman looking for the American Dream and as a feminist who wanted to "empower" woman. She made available to Newsweek a half-finished 95-page memoir she described as "my little literary undertaking." Her story-about her "little cottage industry"-provides a revealing insight into the motives and lifestyles of high-end prostitutes.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135387

JUSTICE: "Look Past Polygamy" (p. 42). Los Angeles Bureau Chief Andrew Murr reports that for decades, the lessons of the disastrous 1953 raid on the polygamous community of Short Creek, Arizona, home to the roughly 500 men, women and children of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, had exerted great influence on law enforcement's attitudes toward FLDS. And now

all are watching to see what will happen in Eldorado, Texas, following last month's raid on the Yearning for Zion Ranch.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135386

TECHNOLOGY: "The Art of Mayhem and Murder" (p. 43). General Editor N'Gai Croal reviews Grand Theft Auto IV, after playing it 10 hours or so. He writes that it's a "much slower burn" than its predecessors, which introduced you much sooner to the mayhem "that has twisted its critics' knickers." Croal writes that for the first several hours it's all about the relationships your alter ego Niko Bellic has, before you even see a gun.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135372

PROJECT GREEN: "A Chain That Pigs Would Die For" (p. 45). General Editor Anna Kuchment reports on Chipotle Mexican Grill CEO Steve Ells's success with his mission to serve humanely raised, sustainably grown food at his restaurants, including meat and dairy products that are free of antibiotics and hormones. Since launching what it calls Food With Integrity, Chipotle has been serving sour cream and cheese free of the hormone rBGH, organic beans, and naturally raised pork, chicken and meat. Last month it announced it would buy locally grown produce whenever possible.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135376

"Natural Response" (p. 48). Midwest Bureau Chief Keith Naughton reports that with food prices rising, sales of organic food are starting to wane. The healthy-food craze mushroomed this decade, growing 150 percent since 2001 to reach $19 billion in sales last year. But now with gas near $4 a gallon, the $7 gallon of organic milk doesn't look as good. After years of 20 percent annual sales growth, consumers are curtailing their consumption of organics, according to market researcher the Hartman Group.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135377

"Empty-Net Syndrome" (p. 49). Special Correspondent Paul Tolme reports that for the first time, federal and state fisheries officials have closed the salmon harvest season in California and in most of Oregon. The reason: Only 90,000 fish returned last fall to the Sacramento River chinook run, down 90 percent from just a few years ago. Experts blame water diversions for agriculture and communities, pollution, dams that have cut off salmon from their upstream spawning grounds and unfavorable ocean conditions that diminished food sources in the Pacific.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135378

TELEVISION: "Legend or Loser: Does 'Seinfeld' Still Hold Up After 10 Years?" (p. 58). Nope. Arts and Entertainment Editor Marc Peyser writes that when "Seinfeld" went off the air 10 years ago, it was widely considered to be a classic, and many fans call it the best sitcom ever. "Was it either? Or neither," he writes. "As someone who doesn't dip into its bottomless rerun pool very much, I was surprised when I sat down with the show again by how poorly 'Seinfeld' holds up. What once seemed smart ... feels like shtik. The pacing-no show had ever packed in so many scenes, some of them lasting a few seconds-now seems formulaic and forced."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135368

"Yep." (p. 59). Senior Editor David Noonan counters Peyser, and writes that the show is still funny, mostly because of the supporting cast of characters that play off the four leads, such as Newman, George's parents and Jerry's parents. "Although it's about four friends in New York in the '90s, 'Seinfeld's' best jokes have almost nothing to do with all that, another reason it endures. The contamination of Jerry's car by a parking valet's lethal BO, Kramer's finding the old Merv Griffin set and turning his apartment into a talk show, the invention of the Mansiere."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135368/page/2

TIP SHEET: "Cutting Back Your Hours" (p. 60). Chicago Correspondent Karen Springen reports that today more than 25 million Americans work part time and employers are making it easier to work fewer hours: 36 percent now give employees the chance to work part time, according to a survey. Springen offers some guidance on how to work part time successfully: know how to land the job, set ground rules up front and be flexible.

http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/tipsheet/default.aspx

# # #

Newsweek Cover: "The Post-American World"

2008-05-05T14:58:51Z

COVER: BOOK EXCERPT - 'THE POST-AMERICAN WORLD'

By FAREED ZAKARIA

IN EVERY ASPECT OF LIFE, PATTERNS OF THE PAST ARE BEING SCRAMBLED, 'AND -FOR THE FIRST IN LIVING MEMORY-THE UNITED STATES DOES NOT SEEM TO BE LEADING THE CHARGE'

----

'THIS IS SOMETHING MUCH BROADER THAN THE MUCH-BALLYHOOED RISE OF CHINA OR EVEN ASIA. IT IS THE RISE OF THE REST-THE REST OF THE WORLD'

New York-Americans are glum at the moment, but the facts on the ground-unemployment numbers, foreclosure rates, deaths from terror attacks-are simply not dire enough to explain the present atmosphere of malaise, writes Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria in his forthcoming book, "The Post-American World," which is excerpted on the cover of the current issue of Newsweek. "American anxiety springs from something much deeper, a sense that large and disruptive forces are coursing through the world," Zakaria writes. "In almost every industry, in every aspect of life, it feels like the patterns of the past are being scrambled ... And-for the first time in living memory-the United States does not seem to be leading the charge. Americans see that a new world is coming into being, but fear it is one being shaped in distant lands and by foreign people."

He writes, "In America, we are still debating the nature and extent of anti-Americanism. One side says that the problem is real and worrying and that we must woo the world back. The other says this is the inevitable price of power and that many of these countries are envious-and vaguely French-so we can safely ignore their griping. But while we argue over why they hate us, 'they' have moved on, and are now far more interested in other, more dynamic parts of the globe. The world has shifted from anti-Americanism to post-Americanism."

Over the last two decades, lands outside of the industrialized West have been growing at rates that were once unthinkable, Zakaria writes in the excerpt in the May 12 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, May 5). "While there have been booms and busts, the overall trend has been unambiguously upward ... This is something much broader than the much-ballyhooed rise of China or even Asia. It is the rise of the rest-the rest of the world," he writes.

<[lb]>

"We are living through the third great power shift in modern history. The first was the rise of the Western world, around the 15th century. It produced the world as we know it now-science and technology, commerce and capitalism, the industrial and agricultural revolutions. It also led to the prolonged political dominance of the nations of the Western world. The second shift, which took place in the closing years of the 19th century, was the rise of the United States. Once it industrialized, it soon became the most powerful nation in the world, stronger than any likely combination of other nations.

"For the last 20 years, America's superpower status in every realm has been largely unchallenged-something that's never happened before in history, at least since the Roman Empire dominated the known world 2,000 years ago. During this Pax Americana, the global economy has accelerated dramatically. And that expansion is the driver behind the third great power shift of the modern age-the rise of the rest.

"At the military and political level, we still live in a unipolar world. But along every other dimension-industrial, financial, social, cultural-the distribution of power is shifting, moving away from American dominance. In terms of war and peace, economics and business, ideas and art, this will produce a landscape that is quite different from the one we have lived in until now-one defined and directed from many places and by many peoples."

# # # (Read excerpt at www.Newsweek.com)

INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS: HIGHLIGHTS AND EXCLUSIVES, May 12, 2008

2008-05-05T14:51:15Z

To book guests, contact Brenda Velez at 212-445-4078—Brenda.Velez@Newsweek.com—or Grace Huh at 212-445-5831—Grace.Huh@Newsweek.com. Articles are posted on www.Newsweek.com.

INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS: HIGHLIGHTS AND EXCLUSIVES, MAY 12, 2008

COVER: The Post-American World (All overseas editions). In an excerpt from his forthcoming book, “The Post-American World,” Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria writes that there are many reasons for Americans to be pessimistic these days. American anxiety springs from “a sense that large and disruptive forces are coursing through the world. In almost every industry, in every aspect of life, it feels like the patterns of the past are being scrambled,” he writes. “Americans see that a new world is coming into being, but fear it is one being shaped in distant lands and by foreign people.” Zakaria adds that Americans are still debating the nature and extent of anti-Americanism. One side says that the problem is real and worrying and that we must woo the world back. The other says this is the inevitable price of power and that many countries are envious, so we can safely ignore their griping. “But while we argue over why they hate us, ‘they’ have moved on, and are now far more interested in other, more dynamic parts of the globe. The world has shifted from anti-Americanism to post-Americanism,” he writes.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135380

The Victim of Success. London Reporter William Underhill reports that although a recent study by the European Union ranked London’s inner city as the richest patch of Europe, measured by incomes, seven of England’s 20 poorest local authorities are located in London. Another study from the bankers UBS this year found that London had outstripped Moscow to become the world’s most expensive city. Result: “A Tale of Two Cities,” according to the Conservative Party-backed Centre for Social Justice, in which the divide between rich and poor grows and the middle-class gets squeezed out of town.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135294

The Return of The Old Caudillo. Special Correspondent Mac Margolis reports that although Latin America is finally thriving economically, populist rhetoric is getting louder and stronger. The assortment of caudillo firebrands, self-styled socialists now presiding over a large patch of Latin America, lack any discernible doctrine that would fuel a common agenda. But what distinguishes these rulers is something far more familiar and potentially troublesome: populism. With the old split between social liberals and free-market champions that once ran through the hemisphere largely faded, a divide between democrats and authoritarian populists, the famous caudillos, has reemerged, says Susan Kaufman Purcell, director of the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135304

This Nation Is an Island. Tokyo Bureau Chief Christian Caryl and Special Correspondent Akiko Kashiwagi report that resistance toward foreign investors encapsulates growing Japanese anxiety about their economy in an increasingly competitive global environment. Recently some of the buried legacy of isolationism—manifested in a stubborn resistance to foreign investment and a reluctance to capitalize on the opportunities of globalization—has been coming back to the surface. “In the old days, foreign investors had no choice but to invest in Japan, and Japan could afford to respond to their calls [for change] gradually,” says Kengo Nishiyama, strategist at Nomura Securities. “Today it has competitors in emerging countries; unless Japan moves fast, its relative attractiveness could fade.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135288

GLOBAL INVESTOR: More Than a Bear Rally. Ruchir Sharma, head of emerging markets at Morgan Stanley Investment Management, writes that the latest GDP growth numbers show the United States may be able to avoid an outright recession, just as Japan dodged an extended period of negative growth for much of the 1990s. “Japanese policymakers took aggressive steps on both the fiscal and monetary fronts to cushion the economy from a deflationary shock, and strong export growth helped the economy expand at an average 1.5 percent,” Sharma writes. “Similarly, helped by exports, the U.S. economy could expand at an average 1 to 1.5 percent over the next few quarters … That’s subpar growth, but still a far cry from the Armageddon scenario that many deemed plausible just a few weeks ago.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135293

SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW: Endless Summer. Senior Editor and Movie Critic David Ansen opens this summer movie preview with an essay about the lack of good movie endings. Movies are expert at starting with a bang, he writes, but by the final reel, “inspiration is often replaced by rote—or the smell of fear, as the corporate suits strong-arm their filmmakers to come up with a socko finale that desperately tries to please everyone but ultimately satisfies no one.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/132858

WORLD VIEW: Reaching Out to Pyongyang. Morton Abramowitz, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation, and Stephen Bosworth, dean of the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, write that what North Korea wants more than anything is “political compensation,” a relationship with Washington, in which the United States would stop making threats, drop all sanctions and start treating North Korea as a friendly country. “As Pyongyang sees it, such moves would finally allow it to join the global economic community—key to its survival,” they write. “Until then, North Korea will hold on to its nuclear weapons as an insurance policy against a U.S. attack and, more important, the threat that Washington will simply ignore North Korea and allow it to starve in the dark.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135290

THE LAST WORD: Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Erdogan talks about the accusation that he and 70 AKP party members are seeking to undermine Turkey’s secular state, and the country’s role in facilitating recent negotiations between Israel and Syria. “For 40 years Turkey had no diplomatic relations with Syria. When [the AKP] came to power we decided to normalize these relations. Our policy is to win friends, and not to make enemies,” Erdogan says. “It’s important for us to try to gain some ground—if we can help achieve peace in the Middle East, that will have a major positive impact on the region.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/135291

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INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS: HIGHLIGHTS AND EXCLUSIVES, MAY 5 ISSUE

2008-04-27T16:52:09Z

To book guests, contact Brenda Velez at 212-445-4078—Brenda.Velez@Newsweek.com—or Grace Huh at 212-445-5831—Grace.Huh@Newsweek.com. Articles are posted on www.Newsweek.com.

INTERNATIONAL EDITIONS: HIGHLIGHTS AND EXCLUSIVES, MAY 5, 2008

COVER: Turning Green. Special Correspondent Barrett Sheridan and Hong Kong Bureau Chief George Wehrfritz report on the rising global interest in environmental issues and look at what the world’s leaders are doing about it. In a Pew Global Attitudes Project, all but three of 47 nations surveyed said that the environment had swelled in importance between 2002 and 2007. Between 45 and 66 percent of Western Europeans named environmental issues as a top threat last year, as did 70 percent of Chinese. People in India, Brazil and other large developing nations also felt strongly. Chalk it up to the blizzard of doomsday predictions from scientists or Al Gore’s PR blitz—either way, it equates to a rising global demand for environmentally sound leaders, and a public that will give them unprecedented support for tackling the thorny problems facing the planet.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134262

Just the Tree of Us. Senior Editor Jerry Adler reports on where the three U.S. presidential candidates stand on the environment and why some environmental advocacy groups, such as the League of Conservation Voters, which influences mainstream environmental groups, are still undecided on which candidate to endorse.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/130624

A Leadership Reality Check. Editor-At-Large Evan Thomas and Washington Correspondent Pat Wingert report that to truly tackle the greenhouse effect, will require the one thing from voters that few politicians dare to ask for and fewer achieve: massive public sacrifice. Accomplishing this would require the rhetorical skill of Barack Obama, the tenacity of Hillary Clinton and the courage of John McCain—all combined in one leader.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/130629

Iceland Has Power to Burn. Senior Editor and Columnist Daniel Gross writes about what the island nation can teach the world. Gross writes that while “many American states have set goals of obtaining 10 or 15 percent of their energy from renewables at some point in the distant future, and the European Union has pledged to reach 20 percent by 2020.” Iceland is already at about 80 percent.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/130626

Iceland’s Green Man. Gross interviews Iceland’s Prime Minister Geir Haarde about how the island nation took the lead in alternative energy. “We are blessed with a lot of clean and renewable energy. For us, it’s always been natural to use the natural warm water that comes out of the ground. We have done that for centuries to heat pools to bathe in, and for the past 70 years to heat our houses.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134260

10 Fixes for the Planet. Reporter Anne Underwood asked dozens of thinkers for their solutions to the world’s environmental woes. The ideas include using LED light bulbs, driving 300-mpg cars, using enormous kites to help pull ships and having manufacturers produce products that are fully recyclable.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/130625

Sounds Good, But… Senior Editor Sharon Begley writes about the errors that have plagued efforts to help improve the planet, from not recycling properly, to the pitfalls of hybrid cars to, “perhaps the greatest folly… the push for ethanol to replace gasoline,” she writes.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/130628

Sense and Sensibility. General Editor Anna Kuchment reports on New York Fashion Week’s “Future-Fashion,” a show organized by the New York-based nonprofit Earth Pledge, which inspired many top designers to work with sustainable fabrics such as sasawashi (a Japanese fabric made from paper and herbs), peace silk (a process that lets silkworms live out their full life cycle) and hemp. Several top designers have since pledged to incorporate organic fabrics into their lines.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/130627

The French Revolution. Paris Bureau Chief Christopher Dickey reports on the success of small and highly professional French combat units that have coordinated with military forces from different countries in varying alliances—the kind of fighting Western armies are called on to do more and more. The French do it well and it is key to their growing—perhaps pivotal—role in NATO that has changed dramatically since the end of the cold war.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134269

Tibet Through Chinese Eyes. Kishore Mahbubani, dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, writes in an essay that the Chinese view on the protests over Tibet and the Olympic torch is different from that of western leaders. The reality is that virtually all of the Chinese believe that the Western protests have had little to do with human rights, Tibet or Darfur. “Instead, the Chinese think, the West’s real motivation is to deny China the triumph it deserves for its enormous successes.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134272

Raúl Castro's Big Cuban Gamble. Jorge Castañeda, a former foreign minister of Mexico and Global Distinguished Professor at New York University, writes that Raúl Castro is gambling with the changes he’s made in the everyday lives of ordinary Cubans. “He is betting that he can…satisfy Cuban citizens with these gestures, improve their living standards somewhat by freeing up agricultural production and allowing wages to rise in the ‘foreign’ sector of the economy, while keeping the lid on political dissent, exile and a slew of imponderables, including, crucially, Hugo Chávez and his increasingly precarious position in Venezuela.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134261

Liberate Us From the Liberators. Africa Bureau Chief Scott Johnson and National Security Correspondent John Barry report on the chaos that has engulfed Zimbabwe since the March 29 general elections. A region that has witnessed unprecedented growth and political stability is now consumed by an all-too-familiar problem—how to persuade a Big Man to go. Robert Mugabe is not likely to leave gracefully. A leader in the bush war that overthrew white minority rule in 1980, he helped make the new nation of Zimbabwe a model for the rest of the continent. But he failed his country the same way so many other African liberation leaders failed theirs—by seeing himself as indispensable.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134375

WORLD VIEW: McCain vs. McCain. Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria writes that in March, Sen. John McCain proposed in a speech that the U.S. expel Russia from the G8, the group of advanced industrial countries, and should expand the G8 by taking in India and Brazil but pointedly excluded China. McCain’s proposals “would reverse a decades-old bipartisan American policy of integrating these two countries in the global order, a policy that began under Richard Nixon (with Beijing) and continued under Ronald Reagan (with Moscow),” Zakaria writes. He writes that he admires McCain and agrees with much of what else he said in that speech. “But in recent years, McCain has turned into a foreign-policy schizophrenic, alternating between neoconservative posturing and realist common sense.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134317

THE LAST WORD: Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani. In his first interview with a foreign publication since taking office, Pakistan’s newly-elected prime minister talks about his plans for the country and his priorities. “Political stability leads to economic stability. My priority will be to control the law-and-order situation in the country, so we have to discourage this extremism and terrorism. That’s what is affecting our economy.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134275

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Media Lead Sheet- May 5 Issue

2008-04-27T15:31:01Z

MEDIA LEAD SHEET/MAY 5, 2008 ISSUE (on newsstands Monday, April 28). To book correspondents, contact Brenda Velez at 212-445-4078—Brenda.Velez@Newsweek.com, Grace Huh at 212-445-5831—Grace.Huh@Newsweek.com—or Jan Angilella at 212-445-5638—Jan.Angilella@Newsweek.com. Articles are posted on www.Newsweek.com.

COVER: “Obama’s Bubba Gap” (p. 28). Editor-At-Large Evan Thomas, White House Correspondent Holly Bailey and Senior White House Correspondent Richard Wolffe report on why Obama’s opponents are tapping into Americans’ fears of an “other” and painting Obama as an out-of-touch elitist, while the working man worries about layoffs at the plant. Americans do not like to talk about class, and they want to believe racism is a thing of the past. But there has long been a dark side to democratic politics, a willingness to play on prejudice, to get men and women to vote their fears and not their hopes. Those prejudices fade and seem to die down, but they never quite go away. They remain embers for cunning political operatives to fan into flames. In a new Newsweek Poll, 19 percent of American voters say that the country is not ready to elect an African-American president. The poll also shows that more than half the voters said they think “most” (12 percent) or “some” (41 percent) of the voters will “have reservations about voting for a black candidate that they are not willing to express.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134398

“Hope vs. Fear” (p. 36). Senior Editor and Columnist Jonathan Alter writes that a President Barack Hussein Obama would pose a shock to the country’s system. “Opposition to him is not so much old-fashioned racism as fear of the ‘other,’ with the subtext not just our tortured racial history, but tangled views of class and patriotism,” Alter writes. “Fortunately for him, different strains of the American character often work to ease our anxieties: openness, optimism, hope.” Alter adds that the big question this year is whether voters are sick of fear campaigns.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134321

“McCain’s Hidden Advantage” (p. 37). Contributing Editor Ellis Cose writes that the surprise in the Pennsylvania Democratic primary was that recent events had virtually no effect on the result. “Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton could have stayed home for the past month and a half and the outcome would have been essentially the same. Women and older voters, for the most part, would have come out for Clinton; blacks, young people and the highly educated elite would have backed Obama.” writes Cose. “This is good news for Obama—at least in the short term…But what is good for Obama now might be fatal later. Demographics don’t necessarily favor him, or any Democrat, in the general election.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134323

“An Unfamiliar Narrative” (p. 38). Associate Editor Raina Kelley writes that “the idea that the black candidate is successfully being portrayed as an elitist by the two white candidates is priceless, and may be the truest indicator of how far African-Americans have come since the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 40 years ago,” she writes. “If Obama seems alien, it may not be simply because he’s the African-American presidential front runner, but because he’s an African-American politician who doesn’t flaunt his scars. As he says again and again in speeches, only in this country would his story be possible.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134324

THE MONEY CULTURE: “The Age of Grand Dilution” (p. 24). Senior Editor and Columnist Daniel Gross writes that the steps financial institutions are taking bear a heavy cost: dilution. “Most Americans experience dilution at bars, when unscrupulous bartenders cut top-shelf alcohol with excessive amounts of tonic or juice in mixed drinks,” Gross writes. “In recent months we’ve been feeling it in our wallets, as inflation (up 4 percent in the year that ended in March) has eroded wages. Now it’s Wall Street’s turn.”

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134310

“The Natural No More” (p. 39). Senior Writer and Political Correspondent Jonathan Darman writes that for months, it’s been a great mystery how Bill Clinton, the most gifted politician of a generation, could become an unceasing gaffe machine. “The problem is that second-banana Bill Clinton, stripped of his leader’s charisma, is sometimes hard to like. The Clinton tragedy is not, as some would have it, that the former president lets his base desires compromise his enormous talents. Rather, it’s that a man of such talents would waste so much time proclaiming himself the victim,” he writes.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134320

NATION: “Brownsville’s Bad Lie” (p. 40). Los Angeles Bureau Chief Andrew Murr reports on why an alliance of concerned citizens from Brownsville, Texas plan to fight the government over the fence slated for the U.S. and Mexico border. They decry “the wall,” as a waste of money and argue that it will crimp the economy and trample landowners’ rights. Chief among their concerns is the possibility that the fence will despoil the environment. In early April, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff waived three dozen laws that he said interfered with his ability to build the fence. Among them: the Endangered Species Act, the Clean Air Act and the Safe Drinking Water Act.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134319

INTERNATIONAL: “Liberate Us From The Liberators” (p. 44). Africa Bureau Chief Scott Johnson and National Security Correspondent John Barry report on Zimbabwe’s political dilemma and it’s apparent meltdown since its March 29 presidential election. Government officials still insist they need to recount results from the general elections, and every few days they release a revised total from one disputed constituency or another. Opposition supporters and much of the outside world, however, recognize this as a sham—“If [Zimbabweans] had voted for Mugabe, we would have the results” by now, Jendayi Frazer, the U.S. assistant secretary of State for African affairs, said last week—and with each passing day resentments are hardening and the economy has ground to a halt.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134375

SHARON BEGLEY: “Heat Your Vegetables” (p. 48). Senior Editor Sharon Begley writes about how climate change is impacting harvests around the world. “The international panel of scientists that analyzes climate change concluded last year that the mid- and high latitudes will enjoy higher crop yields when average temperatures rise 1 to 3 degrees above today’s, something we’re on track for by 2020…However, details such as how vanishing glaciers will affect rivers that provide irrigation water to India and China are only now being factored in, and the results are enough to make you hoard 20-pound bags of rice,” Begley writes.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134313

HISTORY: “The Women the President Loved” (p. 57). Senior Editor Julia Baird reviews historian Joseph E. Persico’s new book, “Franklin and Lucy: President Roosevelt, Mrs. Rutherfurd, and the Other Remarkable Women in His Life.” “What is most interesting about this tale is what these two giants of American history managed to achieve together, despite their shortcomings—and that they somehow negotiated a marriage where they sought succor and sustenance from others, but still believed in each other,” Baird writes.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/134307

TIP SHEET: “Mother’s Day” (p. 58). Newsweek gathered an assortment of great gift ideas, just in time for Mother’s Day, and asked online toy retailer eBeanstalk.com to poll moms about what they want. The results included French macaroons from lepicerie.com; floral garden clogs from capeclogs.com; peony and rose bouquets, and a Flip Video Ultra camcorder.

http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/tipsheet/

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