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NEWSWEEK: International Editions: Highlights and Exclusives, July 21, 2008 Issue

COVER: The U.S. Doesn't Need A War President (All overseas editions). In this second annual "What You Need To Know Now" special report, Newsweek International Editor Fareed Zakaria opens with an essay about whether the next U.S. president should be a war president. "We are in a struggle against Islamic extremism, but it is more like the cold war than a hot war — a long, mostly peacetime challenge in which a leader must be willing to use military power but also know when not to do so," Zakaria writes. He calls Dwight Eisenhower the wisest American president during the cold war, and his greatest virtues were those of balance, judgment and restraint. "In a sense, the warriors are pessimists," he writes. "In the old days they were scared that communists would destroy America. Today they rail that Al Qaeda and Iran threaten our way of life. In fact, America is an extremely powerful country, with a unique and extraordinary set of strengths. The only way that position can truly be eroded is by its own actions and overreactions — by unwise and imprudent leadership. A good way to start correcting the errors of the past would be to recognize that we are not at war."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/143747

The Stories We Tell Ourselves. Newsweek Editor Jon Meacham writes about presidents and historical memory. He asks the two U.S. presidential candidates which presidents they think of as inspirational figures. Republican John McCain says Lincoln, TR and Ronald Reagan; he says he doesn't want to be like Herbert Hoover. Democratic candidate Barack Obama shares McCain's love of Lincoln. He cites Hoover, Buchanan and Andrew Johnson as examples to avoid.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/143866

True or False? Candidates Think Flip-Flopping Is the Only Way to Win Elections. Editor-at-Large Evan Thomas writes that the 2008 election was supposed to be different. John McCain and Barack Obama were the refreshing outsiders, the antipoliticians who fulfilled the public's desire for change. It may be inevitable that presidential candidates become less free-spirited as they enter the general election. Candidates who speak their mind often regret it. A casual bit of frankness can be hung around a candidate's neck like a badge of shame, Thomas writes. Answer: True.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/143863

True or False? Candidates Should Never Flip-Flop. Senior Writer and Political Correspondent Jonathan Darman writes that before true believers start getting glum about Obama and McCain flip-flopping on some issues, it is worth remembering that flip-flopping has a noble history in this country. Lincoln, Lyndon B. Johnson and Bobby Kennedy all switched positions on significant issues. Those were conversions of courage, but changing one's mind in politics is more often lambasted than lionized. The muddle of our modern political coalitions has made it virtually impossible for ambitious politicians not to change their position on some issue as they rise from local to national prominence. Answer: False.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/143864

True or False? Global Warming Is a Cause of This Year's Extreme Weather. Senior Editor and Columnist Sharon Begley writes that whenever someplace is hit with extreme weather, scientists trip over themselves to absolve global warming. This pretense has worn thin. The frequency of downpours and heat waves, as well as the power of hurricanes, has increased so dramatically that "100-year storms" are striking some areas once every 15 years, and other once rare events keep returning like a bad penny. As a result, some climatologists now say global warming is to blame. Answer: True.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/143787

Who Was More Important: Lincoln or Darwin? Senior Writer Malcolm Jones poses the question about who was more influential: Abraham Lincoln or Charles Darwin? They were both revolutionaries-two men who upended realities that prevailed when they were born. So, considering the joint magnitude of their contributions, it is hard not to wonder: who was the greater man?

http://www.newsweek.com/id/143742

With Fear and Trembling. London Reporter William Underhill reports on the upcoming Anglican Conference in England, where the talk will be of irreconcilable differences. For a powerful conservative faction of Anglicans- including many who have refused to attend the conference-the hierarchy has ducked the question of homosexuality for too long. Either it's acceptable or it's an affront to the Bible's teachings. So while schism won't be on the official agenda at the Lambeth Conference, it will be on the mind of every bishop who attends.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/145806

South Korea's One-Term Trap. Special Correspondent B.J. Lee reports that South Korea's new president, Lee Myung-bak, only in office five months, is already being tagged a lame duck. His power base has collapsed amid massive demonstrations that have hobbled the country. But his fall from grace is a common story for South Korea. Indeed, the track record for South Korean presidents is so poor that the young democracy has produced no elder statesmen whose reputations outlive their service. The problem rests not with the men but the institution they occupy.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/145807

INTERVIEW: Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's former deputy prime minister turned opposition leader. Ibrahim talks about the new allegations of sexual misconduct that have surfaced. "The sodomy allegation may have been prompted because the police chief and the attorney general are privy to my initial complaints against them [from 1999]. The former volunteer in my office who made these latest sodomy allegations has been part of Najib's apparatus, and we have evidence to that effect."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/145814

Following the Herd in China. Special Correspondent Duncan Hewitt reports that the economic downturn in China is unique in terms of its sheer size and scope. How China handles the fallout from this megabubble could have consequences which reach far beyond its retail investment community. Most of the people buying these shares are the middle class and wealthier consumers that China — and the rest of the world — was counting on to boost domestic consumption and rebalance the world economy. Now, with some households seeing as much as 50 percent of their wealth destroyed via market losses, there are early signs that they're being more cautious about spending.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/145812

WORLD VIEW: The Plot Against Turkey. Mustafa Akyol, the deputy editor of the Turkish Daily News, writes about the long-simmering constitutional crisis that is boiling over in Turkey. Over the past several weeks, Turkish authorities have arrested two dozen members of a covert ultranationalist group named Ergenekon for allegedly plotting to provoke a military coup by staging political assassinations and whipping up social turmoil. The charges, if proved, point to a brazen conspiracy to undo the liberal reforms implemented by the AKP in recent years as part of its effort to move Turkey toward entry into the European Union.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/145817

THE LAST WORD: Henrique Meirelles, head of Brazil's Central Bank. The former BankBoston executive talked about Brazil's low inflation rate. "From the beginning we adopted a very severe disinflation program, so inflationary expectations were under control before the recent cycle of commodity price increases got underway. Since the first quarter [of 2008], the Brazilian Central Bank also made it clear that it wouldn't hesitate to tighten monetary policy if necessary."

http://www.newsweek.com/id/145815

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