Feed
donate Summary for Blätter 12/2008
William Greider
A historic moment
William Greider, long-time editor of "Washington Post" and "Rolling Stone", discusses the historic importance of November 4. He shows that there will indeed be change – particularly with respect to American everyday life.
Katrina vanden Heuvel
The first 100 days
Katrina vanden Heuvel, chief editor of the leftist weekly "The Nation", outlines a programme for the first 100 days of the Obama administration, suggesting that the new president should seize the time for courageous and progressive policies.
William Pfaff
The heritage of Bush¹s foreign policy
William Pfaff, columnist for "International Herald Tribune" and "Blätter", analyses the new administration¹s opportunities with respect to American foreign policy. He focuses on two major policy problems created by the Bush administration – Russia and Iraq.
Norman Birnbaum
Class prevails over race
Norman Birnbaum, Professor em. at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., retraces Obama¹s virtuosoly designed electoral campaign. He argues that this campaign will set new standards for the future.
Albert Scharenberg
Black President
Albert Scharenberg, editor at "Blätter" and Lecturer at the John F. Kennedy Institute at Freie Universität Berlin, analyses the impact of the first African-American President on U.S. race relations and discusses the strategic opportunities for the Democratic Party.
Gerd Rosenkranz
The myths of the nuclear industry
Recent protests in Germany have clearly demonstrated the return of the antinuclear movement. However, a possible "renaissance of nuclear power" is still attractive – at least to the atomic industry. Gerd Rosenkranz, long-time journalist ("Der Spiegel", "die tageszeitung") currently working for the German Environmental Aid Association (DUH), exposes the lies of the industry – which still puts aside any debate about risks.
Katajun Amirpur
Jews in Iran: A home in diaspora?
Considering anti-Semitic statements made by Iranian president Mahmud Ahmadinejad, the fact that many Iranian Jews see the country as their homeland may surprise. Katajun Amirpur, scholar of Islamic studies at the University of Bonn, analyses the long history of Iranian Jews and shows how they currently live with both: discrimination and coexistance.
Dieter Senghaas
Ways out of poverty
According to the recently published FAO Foodreport, about a billion people around the globe are starving – with rising tendency. The central policy question thus is: How can underdeveloped countries initiate a "catch-up development"? Dieter Senghaas, Professor em. for International Relations and Society in Bremen, outlines possible consclusions from 500 years of developmental history.
Franz-Josef Hutter and Carsten Kimmle
The unredeemed promise
60 years Universal Declaration of Human Rights
With the promulgation of the "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" on December 10, 1948, the global community laid the foundation for modern international law. Franz-Josef Hutter and Carsten Kimmle point out its fundamentally new and central characteristics – indivisibility and universality – and outline the struggle over human rights during the last six decades.
Tobias Kröll
Neoliberal ideology as "cultural capital"
To the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, the ideology of economic liberalism is just conservative thinking under disguise of economic reason – which ultimately becomes a self-fullfilling prophecy. Tobias Kröll analyses how neoliberalism turnes into "cultural capital" and how neoliberal "reform policies" can come across as an "indispensable" answer to alleged necessities.
Published 2008-12-01
Original in
Contributed by Blätter
© Blätter
© Eurozine
Focal points click for more 
Social media 
