Dear Reader,
The cover package in this week’s issue of TNR looks at the state of authoritarian regimes around the world, in light of the extraordinary and unexpected uprisings in Cairo, Tunis, and Tripoli. Do these revolutions have implications, we wondered, for the future of despotism beyond the Middle East? So, we asked three writers to reflect on the current circumstances in China, Venezuela, and Russia. Writing from China, William Dobson looks at the sense of fear that has been percolating in the Communist Party because of the Middle East revolts. Francisco Toro writes about the generation of dissidents who have fled Venezuela over the last decade, and the need to build a new resistance movement if there is going to be any hope for change. And Leon Aron explains why the odds of something like Tahrir Square happening in Russia are low.
Elsewhere in the issue, Eli Lake has assembled a fascinating history of American contact with the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups in the Middle East. If you want to understand what our diplomatic relationship with Islamists has been like in recent years and where that relationship might be headed, you shouldn’t miss this piece.
Plus: Jesse Zwick has written an amusing article about Orrin Hatch’s vain attempts to court the Tea Party in Utah. John Judis explains how the demise of unions in Wisconsin and other states could destroy American liberalism. Nicole Krauss explains what the end of bookstores will mean for our culture. Adam Kirsch reviews Cynthia Ozick’s new book. Brad Plumer chronicles Rick Santorum’s attempt to reinvent himself as a thoughtful intellectual. Alan Wolfe reviews David Brooks’s book on brain research. And Leon Wieseltier argues that President Obama must do more to help the brave protestors of the Middle East.
Subscribe today and get exclusive access days before the issue hits newsstands.
Richard Just
Editor
The cover package in this week’s issue of TNR looks at the state of authoritarian regimes around the world, in light of the extraordinary and unexpected uprisings in Cairo, Tunis, and Tripoli. Do these revolutions have implications, we wondered, for the future of despotism beyond the Middle East? So, we asked three writers to reflect on the current circumstances in China, Venezuela, and Russia. Writing from China, William Dobson looks at the sense of fear that has been percolating in the Communist Party because of the Middle East revolts. Francisco Toro writes about the generation of dissidents who have fled Venezuela over the last decade, and the need to build a new resistance movement if there is going to be any hope for change. And Leon Aron explains why the odds of something like Tahrir Square happening in Russia are low.
Elsewhere in the issue, Eli Lake has assembled a fascinating history of American contact with the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamist groups in the Middle East. If you want to understand what our diplomatic relationship with Islamists has been like in recent years and where that relationship might be headed, you shouldn’t miss this piece.
Plus: Jesse Zwick has written an amusing article about Orrin Hatch’s vain attempts to court the Tea Party in Utah. John Judis explains how the demise of unions in Wisconsin and other states could destroy American liberalism. Nicole Krauss explains what the end of bookstores will mean for our culture. Adam Kirsch reviews Cynthia Ozick’s new book. Brad Plumer chronicles Rick Santorum’s attempt to reinvent himself as a thoughtful intellectual. Alan Wolfe reviews David Brooks’s book on brain research. And Leon Wieseltier argues that President Obama must do more to help the brave protestors of the Middle East.
Subscribe today and get exclusive access days before the issue hits newsstands.
Richard Just
Editor