No one performs Shakespeare in the theaters of Pyongyang. Instead, he is enacted in the corridors of power.
Kim the Third
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World Beat
The Twilight of Leadership
We don’t have many Nelson Mandelas left, and we don’t really like the more pedestrian politicians that we’ve been saddled with.
Korea’s Domestic Cold War
South Korea’s conservative government is rolling back free speech protections and going after progressive activists and political parties.
Running Off to War
As in the 1940s in Palestine, some opposition recruits have gone to Syria motivated by extremist ideologies and with the intention to commit acts of terrorism. But most have more prosaic reasons for fighting.
The Undead and Us
Zombies speak to our perennial anxieties about war, pandemics, and globalization.
The Audacity of Pope
Here are three ways Pope Francis could seriously rock the boat.
NSA and TMI
To: John Brennan, Langley HQ From: Operative 650, undisclosed location Re: Memo XP1476 Greetings from the tropics! I apologize for not writing to you earlier. As you probably know, if you have my file in front of you, I wrote to your predecessors with various modest...
The World Without U.S.
In his 2007 bestseller, The World Without Us, journalist Alan Weisman describes a planet that regenerates itself after the disappearance of human beings. Skyscrapers crumble and bridges collapse into rivers, but the primeval forests take over and the buffalo return to...
The Jellification of Politics
The world will not end with bang or a whimper. It will end with the silent slither of jellyfish. Literally. And figuratively. On the literal level, jellyfish are indeed taking over. As a result of global warming, overfishing, and fertilizer runoff, these surprisingly...
Syria: What’s Next?
World BeatIt started as a peaceful revolt. It descended into a civil war that has so far claimed over 100,000 casualties and ejected nearly one-third of the population from their homes. Even worse, it has broadened into a regional conflict in which neighboring...