Current affairs

BANGKOK - A friend recently asked a seemingly naïve question: "What is money? How do I know I can trust that it is worth what it says it is worth?" We learn in introductory economics that money is a medium of exchange. But why do we accept that?

Watching President Obama's interview on Al-Arabiya this week was striking in multiple respects, not the least of which, of course, was that an American president actually did an interview with an Arab network with a largely Muslim viewing audience -- and did it in the f

The recent appointment of George Mitchell as special envoy to the Middle East is
no doubt a positive sign of President Obama's commitment to the region,
signalling that there will be immediate and direct American involvement in the

According to James Wolcott in last month's London Review of Books, Norman Mailer exerted telepathic powers over the future, while the Beats hot-wired 'the American psyche (at the risk of frying their own circuits).

Hisman Melhem, Washington Bureau Chief for Al Arabiya, was trying to chase down an interview with former U.S. Senator and new presidential envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell.

PARIS - Hollywood history is often nonsensical, but filmmakers usually have the good sense not to whitewash killers and sadists. Steven Soderbergh's new film about Che Guevara, however, does that, and more.

In appointing former Senator George Mitchell as Special Envoy for the Middle East, President Barack Obama made clear his determination to pursue Arab-Israeli peace. Mitchell, an Arab American, was former Majority Leader of the U.S.

For decades the prices of gold and oil have closely paralleled one another. In 2003 an ounce of gold would have bought you 12 barrels of oil. Today that ounce will buy you about 20 barrels, even though the nominal price of oil is up about 50% from what it was in 2003.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy is not a happy man. All evidence indicates that his ascendancy as the world's leading peacemaker and problem-solver is over.

Of course, I agree with my passionate friend, Bernard-Henri Levy, who

LONDON - I spent the New Year in Sydney, watching the fireworks above the iconic bridge welcome in 2009. The explosions over Gaza that night were not intended to entertain, but rather to break Hamas and discredit it in the eyes of Palestinians.

Now that Israel has unilaterally declared an end to the hostilities it appears
that Hamas, which has been badly crippled, will eventually sign on to the
ceasefire. Having achieved its war objectives, Israel must demonstrate that the

NEW YORK - Today's world hunger crisis is unprecedentedly severe and requires urgent measures. Nearly one billion people are trapped in chronic hunger - perhaps 100 million more than two years ago.

LONDON - Testifying recently before a United States congressional committee, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said that the recent financial meltdown had shattered his "intellectual structure." I am keen to understand what he meant.

COPENHAGEN- As Barack Obama prepares for his inauguration, it is worth contemplating a passage from his book Dreams from My Father. It reveals a lot about the way we view the world's problems.

It has been 94 years since the right leg of the great actress Sarah Bernhardt was sawed off by a Bordeaux surgeon. Still preserved in formaldehyde, it remains an object of great - if somewhat morbid - curiosity despite the passage of time.

With Guantánamo Bay losing its patriotic luster and purpose, US authorities are willing to offload some of the carceral baggage to recipient states. In truth, they have been in the business of doing so for years.

MELBOURNE - Louise Brown, the first person to be conceived outside a human body, turned 30 last year. The birth of a "test-tube baby," as the headlines described in vitro fertilization was highly controversial at the time.