New StatesmanBritain's award-winning current affairs magazineA united Europe is the most effective way to deal with Russia- August 14, 2008 Europe has considerable soft power. Using it intelligently is the best way to defend Russias bullied former satellitesWhat, in relations with the west, is Russia's problem It has a permanent seat on the UN Security Council, membership of the G8, the world's second-largest nuclear arsenal, vast oil and gas reserves - hardly the makings of a global underdog. Yet it sees itself as a perpetual victim. As viewed from the Kremlin, Georgia's president, Mikhail Saakashvili, is the stooge of an...http://www.newstatesman.com/politics/2008/08/russia-georgia-europe-nato Gabfest special- August 14, 2008 Boycott et al were far from stumped for things to say during the rained-off cricketRain stopped play all day at the Oval during Test Match Special (Saturday, Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, continuous), giving Boycott a platform to whinge unbridled. "I started my career in a Yorkshire team that was expected to win, not just hoping to win. And if you got out playing silly shots you'd have Brian Close waiting for you at the top of the stairs to give you a bunch ...http://www.newstatesman.com/radio/2008/08/quirke-aggers-ainsley-boycott Democracy versus the people- August 14, 2008 A new account of Haiti's recent history shows how the genuinely radical politics of Lavalas and its leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, proved too threatening to the country's wealthy elite and their foreign backers.Damming the Flood: Haiti, Aristide and the Politics of Containment Peter Hallward, Verso, 480pp, 16.99 Noam Chomsky once noted that "it is only when the threat of popular participation is overcome that democratic forms can be safely contemplated". He thereby pointed at the...http://www.newstatesman.com/books/2008/08/haiti-aristide-lavalas Shazia's week- August 14, 2008 I was up on stage showing my granny knickers to two hundred and fifty peopleI am at the Edinburgh Festival, where I have been complaining since I arrived about the terrible weather but today it saved my dignity. I was told by my manager that I would be on MacAulay and Co, Fred MacAulay's radio show on BBC Radio Scotland, on Monday morning. Two days earlier I'd received a phone call from the producer of the show saying: "You must turn up to ...http://www.newstatesman.com/life-and-society/2008/08/knickers-hundred-fred-fifty Efrim Menuck- August 14, 2008 Menuck is a member of the Canadian band A Silver Mt Zion, acclaimed for its mix of rock, folk and avant-garde styles. The bands most recent album is Thirteen Blues for Thirteen Moons (Constellation Records). 1 Does art make a difference Art alone doesnt make any difference at all so much of it is still just paupers painting portraits of kings and queens, or lousy careerists romanticising whatever malaise currently fascinates the comfortable classes. Meanwhile, the public square is...http://www.newstatesman.com/music/2008/08/band-thirteen-mix-menuck-rock The factions square up- August 14, 2008 There is, as ever within Labour, a third way, and this one seeks a return to the party's true values under its present leaderThe battle lines are now drawn and the fight for the soul of the Labour Party has begun in earnest. In some ways this is a blessed relief. David Miliband's pre-holiday intervention in the Guardian lanced a disfiguring conspiratorial boil that had been festering for far too long. The candidate of the "anyone but Miliband" campaign has yet to emerge, but already there is...http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/08/labour-party-miliband-brown Hancock's two and a half hours- August 14, 2008 A talented Russian creates suspense, but doesn't know what to do with itThe Banishment (12A) dir: Andrey ZvyagintsevAndrey Zvyagintsev's second feature, The Banishment, begins with what will become a recurring image - a car approaching from the distance at great haste. Admirers of this director's gripping debut, The Return, which featured its own long and traumatic car journey, will have an inkling that the vehicle is not being driven by a kissogram girl who's late for a birthday bash. Sure...http://www.newstatesman.com/film/2008/08/zvyagintsev-banishment-alex 'Youth violence is not about race'- August 14, 2008 We are failing miserably to provide Britain's teenage boys with meaningful occupations, worthy role models or hope for the future. David Lammy, minister for skills, on the crisis we must resolveI had not wept in an advice surgery until a few weeks ago, when a distraught mother and father came to see me after learning that their teenage daughter had been subjected to the most brutal assault I have ever heard about. A group of young men had subjected this girl to a violent sexual attack, first...http://www.newstatesman.com/uk-politics/2008/08/young-boys-society-culture This England- August 14, 2008 Each printed entry will receive a 5 book token. Entries on a POSTCARD, please, to This England, NS, address here: http:www.newstatesman.comnscontactus.htmPut a (short) sock in it Committee members at Frinton Golf Club, in Frinton, Essex, have relaxed a rule which said men had to wear knee-length socks with shorts. Now men can wear short socks. Officials said the rule change had divided opinion among the 600 members. But growing numbers of junior members objected to knee-length socks. And some...http://www.newstatesman.com/society/2008/08/england-club-please Superpower swoop- August 14, 2008 What Russia and America are really doing in Georgia and who set the trap Vladimir Putin and his thuggish FSB pals or Dick Cheney and his equally unflappable neocon friendsGeorgia's decision to seize large parts of Tskhinvali, the capital of the breakaway region of South Ossetia, on the evening of 7 August was a disastrous political miscalculation, even in an era that is increasingly defined by spectacularly poor judgement. Within three days of the assault, Russian forces had responded by in...http://www.newstatesman.com/europe/2008/08/georgia-russia-ukraine-cheney |