Nicholas Lemann whitewashes urban life
There’s no more innovative force than the racial intersections that occur daily in cities
Google Maps finally does a better job hiding Tel Aviv
Israel’s many satellite image “parks” change their colors
The Times’ Roberta Smith explains Ryan Trecartin’s art
Roberta Smith at least makes a case for Trecartin’s merits, unlike Peter Schjeldahl
Is artist Ryan Trecartin any good? Who can tell?
New Yorker critic Peter Schjeldahl claims he’s great but doesn’t say why
‘Sheikh’: a spelling manifesto
Finally, one Middle East conflict that can be settled: it’s not pronounced like ‘chic’
John McCain demolishes the Bush-era torture apologists
Torture didn’t get us Osama bin Laden, but it cost us dearly
A Guatemalan’s final video before his murder
Everything in this video is untrue, except a fundamental truth about violence in Guatemalan politics
Malcolm Gladwell’s inexplicable indulgence of an anti-Semite
Was the L’Oréal founder and Nazi collaborator merely a pragmatist, as Gladwell contends?
Reading the Times on the architectural symbolism of Cairo
Much right and a few key things wrong about Tahrir Square in Cairo, the center of the revolution
Reading about Sarkozy and French nativists
French cultural insecurity eviscerates the universalism of the Rights of Man
Reading the New Yorker on Islam and economic growth
The middle class everywhere competes on skills; in Egypt connections matter most. That’s the problem
The Muslim Brotherhood had a monopoly. Can they compete?
Mubarak gave the Muslim Brotherhood an unnatural monopoly on opposition. Can they compete?
Reading Hani Shukrallah on what Egypt does now
The political revolution in Egypt needs a legal revolution equal to its values and moral force
Reading ‘How Democracy Became Halal’ op-ed in the Times
What a former CIA Middle East specialist gets wrong in his Times op-ed about the Egypt protests
Reading the Atlantic on Facebook in Tunisia
It is the apolitical nature of Facebook that makes it useful to political activists
Reading Slate on the Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia
In Tunisia it may be Jasmine but in Lebanon it wasn’t really Cedar
Reading Ian Buruma on the division of Belgium
In the New Yorker, Ian Buruma misses the historical origins of the divide in Belgium