In The News

The Power of Negative Thinking

Barbara Ehrenreich September 29, 2008
Author and advocate for the working class Barbara Ehrenreich sees in the current United States financial crisis not only the well-reported roots of corporate greed and "its crafty sibling, speculation," but also an overall shift in American society that has made "delusional optimism" part of mainstream thinking. Permeating throughout all facets of American culture, exuberant...

A Muslim Creationism Debate: Taking on Darwin in Turkey

Daniel Steinvorth September 26, 2008
Fundamentalist Muslims join forces with fundamentalist Christians in protesting the work of British naturalist Charles Darwin, who offered the theory on natural selection as a mechanism to evolution. Darwin theorized that offspring inherit traits from their parents, some traits allow for better survival rates and over time species adapt to changes in the environment – all well documented by...

American Exception: US Court Is Now Guiding Fewer Nations

Adam Liptak September 23, 2008
American legal influence is waning as foreign courts pay less attention to US court decisions, suggests Adam Liptak in an article for the New York Times. One reason is that Supreme Court justices are wary about citing decisions from foreign courts. As a result, the US loses one of its great bully pulpits, notes one scholar. Intense debate is underway among legal scholars about whether the US...

Texas Execution Plan Defies Hague Order

Suzanne Goldenberg August 5, 2008
The International Court of Justice, as the principal legal body of the United Nations, is expected to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by member states. But the state of Texas in the US insists the court does not have jurisdiction over the case of José Medellín, charged with the 1993 brutal rape and murder of two teenagers and since convicted and...

Obama and the Illusion of Leadership

Jeremy Seabrook July 28, 2008
Europe is enthralled by Barack Obama, the Democratic presumptive nominee for US president. But columnist Jeremy Seabrook offers the reminder that real leadership requires more than charisma, humbleness or intelligence – and entails delivery of services and policy that improve communities and the world. A crowd of more than 200,000 turning out for Obama’s speech in Berlin demonstrates how global...

Too Big to Fail?

Peter S. Goodman July 24, 2008
The US has long been wary about moral hazard in financing – the fact that any expectation of rescues can increase risk-taking behavior. In the past, US capitalists urged stern measures, expecting companies and countries to pursue risks and accept losses if their ventures failed. As an economic recession looms, the US government increasingly engages in its own interventions, including a measure to...

A Message From Obama for Those Infuriating Europeans

Philip Stephens July 21, 2008
As Barack Obama travels to Europe, he suggests that he will invigorate relations between the US and the continent, which have almost come to a standstill during the Bush administration. Europeans are less pleased, however, about Obama’s suggestions that Europe needs to contribute more to the alliance that’s essential for global security. Some critics contend that Europeans prefer talk to action,...