Empire and Myopia  

There are some who think that because the United States has global interests and a heart of gold, it is entitled to act just as it pleases, economically and militarily, anywhere it pleases-not a bad first approximation to the classical …



Why Free-Trade Economists Fail to Persuade  

Free Trade Today by Jagdish Bhagwati Princeton University Press, 2002, 128 pp., $24.95 Free Trade Under Fire by Douglas Irwin Princeton University Press, 2002 248 pp $27.95 In 1985, the first few environmental organizations were beginning to look critically at …



Can There Be a Decent Left?  

Leftist opposition to the war in Afghanistan faded in November and December of last year, not only because of the success of the war but also because of the enthusiasm with which so many Afghans greeted that success. The pictures …





‘It Is Not Over Yet’  

Victor Serge: The Course is Set on Hope by Susan Weissman Verso, 2001, 364 pp., $35 In the months after the Nazi invasion of France, while hoping for an exit visa but expecting Stalin’s henchmen, Victor Serge managed to write …





Winners Take All  

Crossing the Great Divide: Worker Risk and Opportunity in the New Economy by Vicki Smith Cornell University/ILR Press, 2001, 240 pp., $29.95 Recession’s harsh light having awakened us from our dreams of a new economy, we’re now looking bleary-eyed at …







The Arab World After Sept. 11  

A week or so after the collapse of the World Trade Center Towers and the attack on the Pentagon, I had this conversation with a friend who shall remain unnamed. “They could not have been Arabs,” he said. “Of course …



Back Road Reckoning  

August 30, 1999, should have been a day of celebration for the people of East Timor. In a referendum in which more than 98 percent of the eligible voters cast their ballots, 78 percent voted for independence from Indonesia, throwing …





Bearing Witness  

It was around the 15th of April 1994 that we started to spend the night in sorghum fields and in the woods. People were being pursued during the day, killed or tortured. When I saw this, I put my little …