foreign policy from a foreign perspective

pankaj mishra, "where alaa al aswany is writing from." new york times magazine, 27 april 2008.

"really, americans need to keep more of a eye on what their government is doing in their name in places like egypt," [al aswany] said, "where it talks about democracy but supports dictatorships. the west is obsessed with terrorism, but if it supported democracy here, there would be no terrorism. they say, 'we want democracy in the middle east,' and then get scared when hamas or the muslim brotherhood wins. they don't understand that even if people in a democracy vote for the muslim brotherhood, they have the chance to see that these people in power are no good and then can vote them out. but if you have only dictatorship, there will be more terrorism."

i reminded him that this was the justification the bush administration used for the invasion of iraq. "ah, no," he retorted, "that was what we call 'moral cover.' in 1882 the british never said, 'we are going to occupy egypt and take its resources.' they said, 'we are here to protect the minorities.' you must cover your imperialism with something beautiful. no, what we want is to be left alone to build our own democracy. it is american support that maintains people like mubarak in power."

out with the old, in with the new

from new york times article, "lost in the new beijing: the old neighborhood" (27 July 2008) by nicolai ouroussoff:

it is a familiar pattern in american cities. the sad truth, as any architectural historian knows, is that poverty is often good for preservation; poor people lack the resources to tear down and rebuild houses every generation. once an affluent homeowner moves into a faded landmark, the first thing he or she does is bring in an army of restorers - or bulldozers. preservationists, who tend to have limited economic clout, strike a faustian bargain: better to save the basic architecture and let others worry about what goes on inside. breaking the pattern without aggressive government intervention seems almost impossible.