Obama Trapped Behind Wall of Mideast Containment

Why the Obama administration's efforts to achieve a Middle East peace between the Israelis and Palestinians are inextricably linked to its efforts to bring Iran to heel.

Ira Chernus

Russian Journalists Still Under Threat

Three years after the assassination of Russian journalist Anna Politikovskaya, impunity reigns.

Adam Federman

An ACORN Amendment for Pfizer

Representative Betty McCollum's "ACORN Act" would prevent the government from doing business with corporations that have been found guilty of felonies.

Jeremy Scahill

Do They Take Us for Shmucks?

The best arguments for the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency come from the politicians and lobbyists who oppose it.

Greg Kaufmann

US-UN Ties Still Strained

Barely a week after Barack Obama plunged into the UN for three unprecedented days, our reconciliation with the organization is already showing fault lines.

Barbara Crossette

Iran and the Pipelineistan Opera

The story under the Iranian nuclear story: how Iranian natural gas will reach Europe.

Pepe Escobar

Dick Gephardt’s Spectacular Sellout

As a politician, he was a champion of progressive reform. Now he lobbies for its enemies.

Sebastian Jones

The Coalfield Uprising

Appalachian activists are gaining ground in a campaign to ban mountaintop removal mining.

Jeff Biggers

An Open Letter to President Obama

Mr. President, don't derail your presidency by bungling Afghanistan.

William R. Polk

Copenhagen: Obama Better Go Back

If Obama can go to Copenhagen to support Chicago's Olympic bid, he can go back for the UN climate change summit.

Naomi Klein

Nation Note

Introducing our new art critic, Barry Schwabsky.

the Editors

Noted.

Activism against Afghanistan escalation, the death of Texas liberal Don Yarborough, a bailout for students

the Editors

Chávez Talks to ‘The Nation’

Hugo Chávez on Barack Obama, the Honduran crisis, and domestic successes and challenges.

the Editors

Rethinking Government

Effective government is the precondition of freedom. And Obama needs to tell us that.

Drew Westen

Israel vs. Human Rights

Israel's latest strategy for responding to allegations of human rights abuses: kill the messenger.

Philip Weiss and Adam Horowitz

Against Escalation

Obama faces a presidency-defining choice: will he escalate in Afghanistan, or plot a new course?

the Editors

A War of Absurdity

There is no indication that any of the contending forces in Afghanistan, including the Taliban, are interested in bringing Al Qaeda back.

Robert Scheer

Are You Happy?

What a stupid question.

Katha Pollitt

Same as It Ever Was: Talking Head in Pittsburgh

Why the sudden disclosure of a secret uranium enrichment facility in Iran?

Alexander Cockburn

Thoughts of a UN Delegate as Qaddafi’s Speech, Slotted for Fifteen Minutes, Approaches An Hour and a Half

This Muammar is truly loony.

Calvin Trillin

Drunk and Disorderly

Jean Rhys wrote about women who tangled with class and sexuality on their own terms.

Phoebe Connelly

Suspended Sentences

Eliot Weinberger's enigmatic essays save him from becoming a prisoner of his polemical style.

Scott Saul

The First Counter-revolutionary

Thomas Hobbes sensed the revolutionary impulses of early modern Europe and transformed them into a defense of the most hidebound form of rule.

Corey Robin

Letters

The Gates Foundation in Africa

Seattle

Our Readers, Raj Patel, Eric Holt-Gimenez and Annie Shattuck

Puzzle No. 3187

ACROSS

 1 Certain crops could be so formulaic. (3,3,5)

Frank W. Lewis