Roundup: Media's Take

William Cook: City of ghosts ... Is Berlin finally a fitting place for Jews to visit?

[William Cook is a British journalist.] From a distance, we must have looked like just another bus load of British tourists, trudging from site to site on a guided tour of Berlin. But if you'd come a little closer you would have realised we weren't ordinary sightseers, because this particular coach trip was made up entirely of British Jews. Most of our party were Orthodox, many of them were wearing skull caps, and nothing stands out from the crowd quite like a yarmulke in Berlin.

Editorial in the Independent: How should we teach British history?

[Tristram Hunt is a writer, broadcaster, and lecturer in history at London university.] The shadow Schools Secretary has attacked how history is taught, saying lessons should make pupils proud of our past. Is he right? Tristram Hunt Writer, broadcaster, and lecturer in history at London university, Hunt, 34, first attracted notice while working for the Labour Party in 1997. He presented the BBC's series on the English civil war. How do we tea

Pankaj Mishra: In search of monsters to destroy

[Pankaj Mishra is an Indian author and writer of literary and political essays.] We are winning in Iraq, John McCain declared in the presidential debate last week, "and we will come home with victory and with honour." This may sound like some perfunctory keep-the-pecker-up stuff from a former military man. But the Republican candidate, who believes that the "surge" has succeeded in Iraq, also possesses the fanatical conviction that heavier bombing and more ground

Michael White: Should we extradite Holocaust deniers?

[Michael White has been writing for the Guardian for over 30 years, as a reporter, foreign correspondent and columnist.] What should we do about Dr Fredrick Töben, detained at Heathrow this week under a fast-track EU arrest warrant issued by the district court in Mannheim? Dr who? I know, it's been a busy week, and I hadn't heard of him either until he popped up to be remanded in custody by Westminster magistrates. By the time you read this he may be on a plane to Germ

Jim Castagnera: The Importance of Character

[Jim Castagnera is the Associate Provost/Associate Counsel at Rider University. A collection of his columns is available at www.lulu.com.] I have expressed more than once in this space my reluctance to vote for Barack Obama, because of his inexperience. John McCain’s selection of Sarah Palin as his running mate complicates the choice for me, since McCain, age 72 and a cancer survivor, might not make it through even a first term. The carpi

Robert McFarlane: Obama Was Willing to Lose in Iraq

A profoundly important point is being missed in the campaign debate over which candidate was right on Iraq. In 2006, when conditions on the ground were trending downward and a decision was required either to continue the struggle or to cut our losses, Barack Obama stated that the proposed deployment of more forces, the "surge," was doomed to failure and instead called for a phased withdrawal of all forces within a defined period. In short, Sen. Obama was willing to lose. I

Alan Wolfe: Why The Economic Crisis Won't Transform America

[In an effort to start making sense of what is an indisputably confusing situation, we asked some of the most thoughtful people we know the question: How will America change as a result of the economic downturn? Here's Alan Wolfe, who is a professor of political science and director of the Boisi Center for Religion and American Public Life at Boston College, as well as a contributing editor at The New Republic.] The cultural and political effects of the Great Depression lasted much

Steve Fraser: Wall Street's Comeback as the Place Americans Love to Hate

[Steve Fraser is the co-director of the American Empire Project at Metropolitan Books and the author, most recently, of Wall Street: America's Dream Palace (Yale University Press).] Wall Street sits at the eye of a political hurricane. Its enemies converge from every point on the compass. What a stunning turn of events. For well more than half a century Wall Street has enjoyed a remarkable political immunity, but matters were not always like that. Now, with history marchin

Genworth Financial Wealth Management: When will the markets recover?

There is an old expression, “May you be cursed to live in interesting times.” With massive Federal bailouts and the collapse of some of the most prominent names in the financial industry, these are certainly interesting times. In consideration, we have departed from our traditional economic statistics review in favor of a discussion about what has happened in the markets and what to potentially expect going forward.There is no denying that, while the recent financial turmoil h

David Martin: Swiftboating George Washington

Back page of the January 3, 1789, edition of the Philadelphia Weekly Gazette: We, the delaware boat veterans, take as our solemn duty before our Creator to make known the truth concerning the Presidential candidate who calls himself George Washington. We beseech the public to read our account. General Washington hath permitted certain myths and misconceptions to arise surrounding his alleged role in the crossing of the Delaware River on December 25, 1776. As pious and p

Michael Falcone: A Truman History Lesson

There was a moment on Wednesday during Senator John McCain’s speech at the Harry S. Truman Library in Missouri when history and the campaign seemed to collide. Mr. McCain, the Republican nominee, who is running to be the 44th president of the United States, briefly acknowledged the 33rd occupant of that office. He called Harry Truman, a Democrat, “that humble, good man from Independence, Missouri” who brought a “spirit of can-do patriotism” to the presidency. Mr. McCain

David Leonhardt: When Trust Vanishes, Worry

... Why are we talking about the Depression, anyway? Almost no economist thinks that even a terrible downturn would look like the Depression. The government has already responded more aggressively than it did in Herbert Hoover’s day. So a Depression-like contraction — a 30 percent drop in economic activity — is highly unlikely. The country is also far richer today, which means that a much smaller portion of the population is living on the edge of despair. No matter what happens, you

Ben Hoyle: Salman Rushdie unrepentant about Satanic Verses

[Ben Hoyle is Arts Reporter at the Telegraph.] Twenty years after the publication of the book that almost cost him his life, Sir Salman Rushdie is still glad that he wrote The Satanic Verses. In the second of a series of interviews with leading cultural figures filmed exclusively for The Times, he tells Clive James that he “wouldn’t not have wanted” to be the writer asking the big questions about religion and civilisation posed by the book. His remarks ar

Editorial in the Telegraph: Our debt to the Gurkhas

The High Court decision in favour of Gurkha veterans who have been denied the right to settle in the United Kingdom is to be warmly welcomed. It means that about 2,000 of these brave and decent men who have fought for this country will be entitled to settle here with their families should they wish. That they were forced to go to court at all was a disgrace. Some had been barred from entry and others already here were being threatened with deportation. The Government m

Dean Baker: Why Bail? The Banks Have a Gun Pointed at Their Head and Are Threatening to Pull

[Dean Baker is co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington, DC. ] If you have a real story, you don't have to make up phony stories. That's pretty straightforward. I've heard lots of phony stories. Much of the country's political and economic leadership has been running around raising the prospect of the Great Depression and a breakdown in the banking system (I actually had taken the latter seriously). These stories are absolutely not true.

Ross Douthat: Groundhog Day ... The GOP’s future looks a lot like the Democratic Party’s past

[Ross Douthat is an Atlantic senior editor.] One of the more pressing questions facing today’s staggering, flailing Republican Party, oddly enough, is which Democratic Party it most resembles: the party of 2004 or the party of 1980? For a GOP torn between retrenchment and renewal, between trying to hold the Reagan coalition together and blowing it up and starting over, the answer makes all the difference in the world. The Democrats of 2004 were mired in gloom, convince

Yevgeny Gavrilenkov: When History Repeats Itself

[Yevgeny Gavrilenkov is managing director and chief economist at Troika Dialog.] Despite plans to support financial markets by providing as much liquidity as needed to calm them, the U.S. market has remained stagnant for a third consecutive month, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average fluctuating at around 11,000. The situation is largely the same in Britain and other major markets, and the general trend since the start of the year has been downhill. Almost every week

Gerard Baker: Congress repeats 1930s errors with bailout vote

[Gerard Baker is US Editor at the Times.] In the 1930s, the US Congress did more than its fair share in helping to turn a financial crisis into a global depression. Yesterday it looked as though it was auditioning to assume that role again. Back then, Congress’s vote for protectionist legislation, the infamous Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act, which erected trade walls around America, almost brought to a halt the free movement of goods and services vital to the efficient functi

Martin Mass: Bailout marks Karl Marx's comeback

[Martin Masse is publisher of the libertarian webzine Le Québécois Libre and a former advisor to Industry minister Maxime Bernier.] In his Communist Manifesto, published in 1848, Karl Marx proposed 10 measures to be implemented after the proletariat takes power, with the aim of centralizing all instruments of production in the hands of the state. Proposal Number Five was to bring about the “centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state ca

Myrna Blyth: McCain, unfortunately, is hurting himself by citing history

[Myrna Blyth, long-time editor of Ladies Home Journal and founding editor of More, is author of Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness — and Liberalism — to the Women of America. Blyth is also an NRO contributor.] I was touched when John McCain during the debate on Friday recalled the two letters that Dwight David Eisenhower wrote on the eve of D-Day. I liked it when he mentioned George Schultz and called him. “a great Secretary of State.” And, of course, when he