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The Left and Israel: a tortured path
The attitudes of the political left, including left-wing Jews, to Israel have varied greatly across the state's six decades. Loyalties acquired before or independent of Israel's foundation - to the Soviet Union, or to the idea of revolution - have often played a part in shaping them, says Colin Shindler
China's elite: a language deficit
Beijing is concerned by Washington's more assertive regional policy in Asia. But here as elsewhere its inability to talk to the rest of the world in a natural way blunts its capacity to respond, says Kerry Brown
Taiwan's election, and the need for nuance
Taiwan's presidential election saw the incumbent Ma Ying-jeou win another four-year term in office. But the interpretation of this outcome by Washington and Beijing misses an important dimension of Taiwan's political reality. Their flawed understanding could have damaging consequences over the next four years, say LC Russell Hsiao & Hsin-Huang Michael Hsiao
Bosnia: blood, honey, and war's legacy
A film portrayal of the horrors of systematic rape during Bosnia's war of 1992-95 highlights the victims' suffering and bravery. But the romantic thread of Angelina Jolie's work fails to convince, says Peter Lippman
Hungary: democracy through twilight
The sweeping reform programme of Viktor Orbán's Hungarian government is provoking alarm among its domestic critics and European partners alike. But its economic policies as well as its political ambitions deserve to put under the microscope, says Anton Pelinka
György Schöpflin takes another view
What is energy for?
So familiar has the social economy of energy become in modern societies, so routine its extraordinardinary wastefulness, so toxic its effects, that the capacity for a better way can be missed. By questioning the how, why and what of energy use, says Rebecca Willis, new possibilities - of living, travelling, eating, working and buying - can open
Baltasar Garzón, the politics of justice
The effort by Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón to investigate killings of civilians during the era of General Franco’s dictatorship has made him a legal target. The process raises profound legal and moral issues, says Pia Navazo
Wednesday 8th February
Intellectuals are excited that this winter’s protests are a sign Russia could finally be turning into a democratic state. Andrei Konchalovsky urges them to look back into the country’s past and see how far Russians still must travel to become normal Europeans. The protesters must show caution, he argues, or risk the kind of bloodshed that has accompanied other attempts to modernise the country. Tuesday 7th February
