Alexander Solzhenitsyn, author of "The Gulag Archipelago", a dissident intellectual and fierce critic of the former Soviet Union who was imprisoned and later deported, died at the age of 89. Russia's contemporary intelligentsia - they should follow the example of Solzhenitsyn, Sakharov and the other dissident intellectuals from the Soviet period - are not just lying, but in some ways crazy (see the article).
The bishop of democracy
That's because another factor behind the recent success of the Latin American left is the fresh vigor of democracy in a region where dictatorship was once common.
The year of living dangerously
Central banks' 'no bank left behind' policy has not yet led to the kind of inflation we saw in the 1970s. Why not take risks when you know that central banks will only intervene in falling, not rising, markets.
United we fall
A third is the fact that the Church of England, alone in the Communion, is an established church, whose practices and values are intertwined with the state and nation it serves. The establishment today brings fewer material benefits to the Church of England than, for example, Lutherans enjoy in much of Scandinavia.
Take a leaf out of his book
Of course, the consensus of the Japanese workplace is sometimes just a veneer and decisions are still made from on high. If Japan's leaders decide that their country needs more people like Mr. needs Shima - and it sure does - then maybe they'll think about all the ways they can prevent him from becoming a reality.
On the American economy, Russia's policy on Zimbabwe, the credit crunch, organic milk, political behaviour
As a matter of principle, we do not believe in punishing or isolating sovereign states. SIR – In your review of my book, “The Credit Crunch,” it was stated that “it is not clear” that I understand free trade, because I had written: “Free trade today is no longer driven by comparative advantage, but rather through the ability to maximize profits through cost savings” (“The usual suspects,” July 12).
The hand that feeds them
In fact, it was scientists, especially physicists, who were at the core of the Soviet intelligentsia as a social phenomenon. The fact that Andrei Sakharov was one of Russia's top nuclear physicists, the father of the first Soviet.
The devil and the deep blue sea
Democrats have tried to portray themselves not as enemies of drilling but as the scourge of big oil companies. Mr Obama similarly wants to levy a "windfall tax" on oil company profits and use the proceeds to give all taxpayers a $1,000 "energy rebate".
A mystery unravelled
A report published last month boasted that, as of July 2007, there was enough smallpox vaccine in stock to treat everyone in the country. But not all, and the stockpile cannot protect against biological agents that authorities have not seen or expect.
The driver’s tale
The trouble with Friedman
The sweet spot
Suburban cowboys
To keep his promise not to take money from lobbyists, Mr. Obama must run a campaign independent of the state Democratic Party. Obama, who supports affirmative action with reservations, may well end up on the wrong side of the argument.
Beer and snowballs
Obama fatigue
Mr McCain also keeps saying that Mr Obama would rather lose a war than win a political campaign. It also sends a clear message to voters: mr. McCain is tied for first in the country, Mr. Obama is first with Obama.
The next leftist on the block
It is not yet clear where Mr. Lugo will fit on the spectrum of leftist Latin American presidents. Mr. Lugo said he wants to renegotiate the treaty, but recently he has seemed more conciliatory.
The autocrat of Caracas
Because the opposition boycotted the last legislative election, Mr Chavez's supporters dominate the National Assembly. Mr Chavez says anyone who disagrees with the new laws should appeal to the supreme court.
Needle match
Paying for the forest
More to worry about than Musharraf
Mr Zardari is no friend of Mr Musharraf or the military: he has blamed the ISI for his wife's murder. He is currently barred from standing for election as he was convicted of crimes including kidnapping after Musharraf's coup.
Swifter, higher, weaker
State-controlled media have reported many closures of small and medium-sized businesses in coastal areas. Officials are relieved that growth in the consumer price index has slowed from a 12-year high of 8.7% in February.
Five-ring circus
Round two
Peace in our time, maybe
If the peace process with the MILF collapses now, cooperation against Abu Sayyaf could end. It is also possible that many of the MILF's 12,000 fighters could abandon their ceasefire (some exchanged mortar shells with troops this week).
Shall we do lunch?
Thy kingdom gone
Sheikh Hasina’s happy day
A future of division, factionalism, stagnation and patronage
In the Western Cape, the provincial secretary of the ANC was stabbed in the neck at a party meeting. If this scramble for office and its spoils turns uglier, the ANC's popularity could plummet.
Another president booted out
Nigeria, the regional giant and a close ally of the United States, has refused to recognize the new leaders. It remains to be seen how far the rest of the world is willing to go to change what has happened.
The blame game
Independent analysts regard any implication of equivalence as ludicrous, but the arguments, and the pain, are sure to continue.
Gang warfare, in the courts
Regardless of the eventual fate of Mr. Friedmann personally, the battle between him and his opponents reveals a deep and increasingly bitter rift within Israel's political and intellectual elite over the country's constitutional arrangement and especially over the separation of powers. However, he claims that this has been dragging on for years anyway, precisely because the Supreme Court too often gets involved in politics and gets dirty in controversies that it should not be involved in.
Who would be best for the Arabs?
Mr Obama's much-quoted speech to the US-Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington in June, in which he endorsed a "united" Jerusalem as Israel's capital (a position his campaign later softened) and the tour of his subsequent in five countries in the region last month, only reinforced such suspicions. A spokesman for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist party that seized control of the Gaza Strip last year, said the policies of Mr. Obama and his rival, John McCain, appeared equally hostile.
Old soldiers march into the unknown
She befriended the common people, who are more rural and, especially in Catholic "old Bavaria," the southern and eastern heartland of the state, more. Thanks in part to Bavaria's economic success, the CSU's traditional demographic base of often rural Bavarians is losing importance.
A dangerous flirtation
The thin green line
Amidst the melodrama - including the "emergency" over the arrival of migrants on ships from North Africa and the deportation of gypsies - there is a nagging question. Among Mr. Berlusconi's first acts in government were to close the office of the high commissioner against corruption and pass a law that means he himself will not have to answer to bribery allegations.
Bang bang, who’s dead?
The heating up of Georgia's conflicts coincided with Kosovo's declaration of independence, which is recognized by much of the West, and US pressure for the expansion of NATO to Georgia and Ukraine. This step was stopped, mainly by Germany; Georgia was promised eventual NATO membership, but no firm plan.
After the storm
Many suspect that the government's shift toward economic populism — it recently unveiled a $12 billion investment package for the impoverished and largely Kurdish southeastern provinces as the central bank struggles to keep inflation in the single digits — may be an electoral tactic. However, the main concern of the business community is not that the government will be overconfident.
Passing the baton
The Home Office has promised a security plan by the end of the year; the mayor's office says there will be one. If this trend continues, it will be deeply disappointing, as the only real justification for games is their legacy.
Flying cars
The high price of togetherness
It is difficult for them afterwards to keep saying that their interlocutors are not only wrong, but also bad and dishonest. Gene Robinson, the gay American bishop whose 2003 consecration triggered the current crisis, was kept out of the Lambeth conference; his presence would have led to a larger boycott.
Anyone for Schadenfreude?
Of banks and men
Cheap or green?
Expensive energy, fueled by high oil prices, is already causing headaches, with MPs grumbling about windfall taxes on utility firms and talismanic promises to reduce fuel poverty (defined as living in a household that spends more than 10% of its income on heating) in shreds. Meanwhile, Malcolm Wicks, the energy minister, said on August 3 that "we will not sacrifice fuel poverty on the altar of climate change".
Choose a number
A bowl of thin alphabet soup
One goal of the Russian plan may be to push Western countries to take the SCO more seriously. It would have a seat at the table at the planned conference, ranking alongside international bodies such as NATO.
Win today’s wars first
But it points out that the military is being supported at the expense of the Navy and Air Force, which argue that the threat from China requires more spending on advanced aircraft, ships and space assets. His strategy is to deploy “substantial but not infinite” resources to maintain an edge over China.
Make love—and war
Frank Appel, the boss of Deutsche Post World Net, DHL's parent, is confident that an agreement with UPS can be reached before 2009. Mr Appel says he must stem DHL's huge losses in its US express service now to avoid many more job losses in the future.
Ports in a storm
Miracle postponed
Three-quarters of Alitalia's 20,000 workers would be transferred to the new company and the rest would stay with the old one. Many in his party must now bitterly regret the missed opportunity – the French airline would, after all, have bought Alitalia, debts and all.
The dial-high club
Detroit’s race against time
GM ended the quarter with $21 billion in cash, which sounds like a lot — but the firm eats $1 billion a month. The company insists its cash position is "stronger than planned," but that's hard to reconcile with a forecast by Edmunds.com, a popular site for car buyers, that its unit sales will shrink by nearly a third this year.
Hello again, I’m Vista
High seas, high prices
Shipping costs will fall, but labor costs will rise and there will be fewer economies of scale. But given the impact on the global economy, higher shipping costs may be the least of their worries.
A question of character
For Mr. Hirokane, the artist and author of the books, Mr. Shima's adventures are a way to both inform and entertain. When confronted, Mr. Hirokane, wide-eyed, can only stammer that Mr. Shima's actions were probably allowed in Japan at the time.
Mission creep at the Fed
Bernanke's interventions, like his creative use of the Fed's balance sheet, have taken some of the burden of economic stabilization off interest rates. Among Roosevelt's actions during the Depression was an overhaul of the Fed's governance, making it more responsive to Washington.
Hire the A-Team
Fuel for thought
However, the peak didn't occur until mid-July (thanks to worries about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) and spreads are still just a few basis points below that high. The risk, as Dresdner's Willem Sels points out, is a Phase II of the crisis, with bad debt problems migrating from subprime mortgages to credit cards, auto loans and leveraged loans issued by private equity groups.
Damoclean days
Hall of shame
Confessions of a risk manager
That mini-liquidity crisis would repeat itself on a very large scale in the summer of 2007. Since they were held in the trading book, many avoided the rigorous credit process applied to bank book assets, which could have identified some of the weaknesses.
Home truths
Mr. Buiter's point is that there is no wealth effect from falling house prices, because while there are winners and losers, the average consumer is no worse off. Too often there is too much emphasis on the losers from falling house prices and too little on the winners.
Correction: Meinl Bank
Clarification: XL Capital Assurance
Win some, lose some
Furthermore, if the infected individual is her, and not him, the drugs tend to accumulate in the vaginal tissues. But if one lesson came out of the encounter, it's that you need every weapon you can lay your hands on.
Sticky fingers
Glowing after dark
Not just killing and cannibalism
Ms Thompson relates what little is known about her, and on the basis of her own experiences she imagines, beyond the dangers and discomforts, the attraction that must have existed on both sides, particularly the kindness and forbearance of the Maori, which she even met in her husband's village. Unlike Charlotte, Mrs. Thompson returns home and anxiously brings Seven and by then two sons to her parents' house.
Factory for unhappy people
A walk on the wild sides
Chained ghosts
In this sense he is right in his reassuring assertion that “the truth, though it may seem disbelieved at first, will always emerge in the end.” But in another sense he is wrong. Even if the Russian archives revealed everything they contained about the American names so tantalizingly presented in his book, other questions would remain unanswered.
Into the woods
Eyeing the storm
Travel books
- How the States Got Their Shapes by Mark Stein
- Friends Like These: How Far Would You Go to Get the Old Gang Back Together?
- Ich bin dann malweg: Meine Reise auf dem Jakobsweg by Hape Kerkeling
- Blood River: A Journey to Africa's Broken Heart by Tim Butcher
- The Discovery of France by Graham Robb
- Wild Swimming: 150 Hidden Dips in the Rivers, Lakes and Waterfalls of Britain by Daniel Start
Wild Swimming: 150 Hidden Dives in Britain's Rivers, Lakes and Waterfalls by Daniel Start by Daniel Start.
Correction: Food in rich countries
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Although supporters in the West threw Mr Solzhenitsyn in with the rest of the intelligentsia, he stood monumentally alone. He cared about the fate of peasants and the general citizenry, Russians in the mass.
Overview
Output, prices and jobs
Trade, exchange rates, budget balances and interest rates
Inflation expectations
