The $3 Trillion War

Joseph Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes published an excerpt on Vanity Fair:

After wildly lowballing the cost of the Iraq conflict at a mere $50 to $60 billion, the Bush administration has been concealing the full economic toll. The spending on military operations is merely the tip of a vast fiscal iceberg. In an excerpt from their new book, the authors calculate the grim bottom line.

John Perkins on Nationalization of Panama Canal

The "Economic Hit Man” John Perkins Recounts US Efforts to Block Nationalization of Panama Canal on democracynow.org:

Panamanian President Martin Torrijos was in Washington earlier this week to discuss a pending free trade agreement with the United States, where he drew praise from President Bush on winning national approval for the $5.2 billion expansion plan for the Panama Canal. But three decades ago the moves to nationalize the Panama Canal by President Torrijos’s father, General Omar Torrijos, met with enormous resistance in this country.

Authors@Google: Kelly McMasters

Apr 2008


(54 min)

Kelly McMasters, the writer, presents her new book "Welcome to Shirley: A Memoir from an Atomic Town":

it tells the story of growing up in Shirley, NY and the realization that the neighboring Brookhaven National Laboratory was polluting the land and drinking water on Long Island. Through well researched evidence, Kelly links cancer clusters around Shirley to the nuclear site, and weaves a touching story of friendship and loss in her hometown.

She also teaches writing at mediabistro.com and the undergraduate writing program and Journalism Graduate School at Columbia University.

Jeffrey Sachs explains how to save the world

in Telegraph today.

Ideas in the air

(Picture: Barry Blitt)

Malcolm Gladwell writes in the New Yorker ("Annels of innovation: In the air", 12 May 2008) about innovation: "Who says big ideas are rare? The history of science is full of ideas that several people had at the same time."

Michael Oren: America and the Middle East

Speech in University of California
Mar 2008

(57 min)

Authors@Google: Michael Oren
Feb 2008

(58 min)

Michael Oren is a renowned scholar on the Middle East

whose previous books have received much acclaim including "Six Days of War" which won the Los Angeles Times Book Award and also made the New York Times bestseller list. In addition to his many historical books he is also known for his fiction.

Mr. Oren, Senior Fellow at the Shalem Center in Jeruslame, specializes in the diplomatic and military history of the Middle East. He has written extensively for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The New Republic, of which he is a contributing editor.

Michael Oren speaks on his newest book "Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East 1776 to the Present"

Many European countries have long explored and documented their historic relationship with the Middle East, but Oren found such an account lacking in the American canon. His most recent book "Power, Faith and Fantasy" attempts to rectify this oversight by beginning with a look at the 18th century and then leads the reader up into the increasing complex present day.

Michael Wood: The Story of India (BBC) (Part 4)

Episode 4
Ages of Gold


(60 min)

In the episode of the BBC documentary The Story of India:

Michael Wood seeks out the achievements of the country’s golden age, discovering how India discovered zero, calculated the circumference of the Earth and wrote the world’s first sex guide, the Kama Sutra. In the south, he visits the giant temple of Tanjore and sees traditional bronze casters, working as their ancestors did 1,000 years ago.