2010_8_30 postal_cover61404-postal.qxd 8/10/2010 5:44 PM Page 1 August 30, 2010 49145 $3.95 ReconsideRed A Greatness Stunted by $3.95 Hate 35 JASON STEORTS 0 74851 08155 6 www.nationalreview.com base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 8/6/2010 3:18 PM Page 1 toc_QXP-1127940144.qxp 8/11/2010 1:36 PM Page 1 Contents AUGUST 30, 2010 | VOLUME LXII, NO. 16 | www.nationalreview.com ON THE COVER Page 43 The Greatly Ghastly Rand In Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand looked out and showed us Reihan Salam & Scott Winship on the world of men as she sees American Competitiveness . p. 26 them. And she sees them viciously. Jason Lee Steorts BOOKS, ARTS COVER: MARK WILSON/GETTY & MANNERS ARTICLES 41 A COMPLICATED REBEL Ronald Radosh reviews Radical: 16 COPS, AND ROBBERS by Daniel Foster A Portrait of Saul Alinsky, The public requires protection from public-safety unions. by Nicholas von Hoffman. 20 PRIME MINISTER CAMERON AT 100 DAYS by John O’Sullivan 43 THE GREATLY GHASTLY RAND In the Tory–Lib Dem coalition, the junior partner is running the firm. Jason Lee Steorts revisits Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. 22 THE MANY MEANINGS OF ‘EUROPEANIZE’ by Duncan Currie There are lessons to learn and not to learn from the Old Country. 48 PETRONOIA Iain Murray reviews Oil: Money, Politics, and Power in the 21st 24 ‘BARACK AND I’ by Jay Nordlinger Century, by Tom Bower. What’s in a first name? 49 ON THIN ICE Mario Loyola reviews Skating on FEATURES Stilts: Why We Aren’t Stopping Tomorrow’s Terrorism, 26 THE LEANER WELFARE STATE by Reihan Salam & Scott Winship by Stewart A. Baker. New ‘citizen benefits’ could help restore American competitiveness. 51 CITY DESK: CANCERLAND Richard Brookhiser probes our 30 OUR REAL GULF DISASTER by Lou Dolinar relationship with cancer. The conventional wisdom was wrong, wrong, wrong. 32 THE ROAD TO CHARIKAR by J. D. Johannes SECTIONS Afghans have noticed that we are not the Soviet Union. 2 Letters to the Editor 35 ELEVENTH-HOUR COUNTERINSURGENCY by Bing West 4 The Week We must quickly prepare the Kabul government to win its own war. 39 The Bent Pin . Florence King 40 The Long View . Rob Long 37 FATAL CONCEIT by Justin Logan & Christopher Preble 42 Poetry . Lawrence Dugan What’s wrong with nation building. 52 Athwart . James Lileks NATIONAL RevIeW (ISSN: 0028-0038) is published bi-weekly, except for the first issue in January, by NATIONAL RevIeW, Inc., at 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. Periodicals postage paid at New York, N.Y., and additional mailing offices. © National Review, Inc., 2010. Address all editorial mail, manuscripts, letters to the editor, etc., to editorial Dept., NATIONAL RevIeW, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016. Address all subscription mail orders, changes of address, undeliverable copies, etc., to NATIONAL RevIeW, Circulation Dept., P. O. Box 433015, Palm Coast, Fla. 32143-3015; phone, 386-246-0118, Monday–Friday, 8:00 A.M. to 10:30 P.M. eastern time. Adjustment requests should be accompanied by a current mailing label or facsimile. Direct classified advertising inquiries to: Classifieds Dept., NATIONAL RevIeW, 215 Lexington Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10016 or call 212-679- 7330. POSTMASTeR: Send address changes to NATIONAL RevIeW, Circulation Dept., P. O. Box 433015, Palm Coast, Fla. 32143-3015. Printed in the U.S.A. RATeS: $59.00 a year (24 issues). Add $21.50 for Canada and other foreign subscriptions, per year. (All payments in U.S. currency.) The editors cannot be responsible for unsolicited manuscripts or artwork unless return postage or, better, a stamped self-addressed envelope is enclosed. Opinions expressed in signed articles do not necessarily represent the views of the editors. letters--ready_QXP-1127940387.qxp 8/11/2010 1:36 PM Page 2 Letters AUGUST 30 ISSUE; PRINTED AUGUST 12 Oppression Is Oppression EDITOR Richard Lowry In the August 16 edition of NR, Claire Berlinski called for the banning of the burqa in order to solve the problem of “gender apartheid and the subjugation and Senior Editors Richard Brookhiser / Jay Nordlinger abuse of women throughout the Muslim world.” How can removing a symptom Ramesh Ponnuru / David Pryce-Jones cure the disease? Managing Editor Jason Lee Steorts Literary Editor Michael Potemra Executive Editor Christopher McEvoy National Correspondent John J. Miller Ivan M. Lang Art Director Luba Kolomytseva Glendale, Wis. Deputy Managing Editors Fred Schwarz / Kevin D. Williamson Associate Editors Helen Rittelmeyer / Robert VerBruggen As a sympathetic reader of your generally fine journal, it pains me to write in Research Director Katherine Connell complaint about Claire Berlinski’s argument in “Ban the Burqa.” She abandons Research Manager Dorothy McCartney Executive Secretary Frances Bronson the core conservative principle of religious liberty in the name of a politically Assistant to the Editor Christeleny Frangos expedient but ill-conceived reaction to a current political moment. Contributing Editors On what grounds does Berlinski say we should ban the burqa? Ostensibly, Robert H. Bork / John Derbyshire Ross Douthat / Rod Dreher / David Frum because women who remain uncovered will become increasingly harassed by Roman Genn / Jim Geraghty / Jonah Goldberg Florence King / Lawrence Kudlow / Mark R. Levin Muslim men. But do we ban miniskirts because a few men might respond boor- Yuval Levin / Rob Long / Jim Manzi ishly, and, even fewer, aggressively? No. And why? Because to do so is co ercive Andrew C. McCarthy / Kate O’Beirne David B. Rivkin Jr. and reduces the liberty of the woman in question. NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE I thought conservatives were not only for religious liberty but against govern - Editor-at-Large Kathryn Jean Lopez AtIONAl evIew Managing Editor Edward John Craig mental social engineering. Apparently not at N R . Deputy Managing Editor Duncan Currie Berlinski may assume that the burqa reduces the liberty of Muslim women, Staff Reporter Stephen Spruiell News Editor Daniel Foster but what of those who choose to wear it as an expression of their faith? She Web Developer Nathan Goulding broaches but eschews this very topic. If it is wrong for Muslim men to coerce Technical Services Russell Jenkins Muslim women, why is it fine for the government to do so? EDITORS- AT- L A RG E Berlinski advances the wrong solution to an identified problem. If europe is Linda Bridges / John O’Sullivan worried about the dominance of Muslim immigrants, its governments should Contributors Hadley Arkes / Baloo / Tom Bethell rethink their politically correct ideologies and start reducing the number of visas James Bowman / Priscilla L. Buckley Eliot A. Cohen / Brian Crozier to their countries. they can debate in the public sphere and try to show why sec- Dinesh D’Souza / M. Stanton Evans ularism, Christianity, or some other belief system is better. But coercion by the Chester E. Finn Jr. / Neal B. Freeman James Gardner / David Gelernter government is simply not the answer. George Gilder / Jeffrey Hart AtIONAl evIew Kevin A. Hassett / Charles R. Kesler N R should be resistant to governmental restrictions on reli- James Jackson Kilpatrick / David Klinghoffer gious expression. with a few twists of words and some backing by the leftists Anthony Lejeune / D. Keith Mano Michael Novak / Alan Reynolds who control our social-science departments, one could easily advocate govern- William A. Rusher / Tracy Lee Simmons mental intervention in other practices or communities. Beware the law of unin- Terry Teachout / Taki Theodoracopulos Vin Weber tended consequences. Chief Financial Officer James X. Kilbridge Accounting Manager Galina Veygman Accountant Zofia Baraniak Will Antonin Treasurer Rose Flynn DeMaio Via e-mail Business Services Alex Batey / Amy Tyler Circulation Director Erik Zenhausern Circulation Manager Jason Ng ClAIRe BeRlINSkI ReplIeS: I thank Mr. lang and Mr. Antonin for contributing WORLD WIDE WEB www.nationalreview.com to this discussion. to Mr. lang: I didn’t argue that banning the burqa would MAIN NUMBER 212-679-7330 SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES 386-246-0118 solve the problem of gender apartheid in the Islamic world. to Mr. Antonin: I WASHINGTON OFFICE 202-543-9226 did not write that it was “fine” for the government to coerce Muslim women. I ADVERTISING SALES 212-679-7330 Executive Publisher Scott F. Budd wrote that it was an outrage against religious freedom and religious expression. Advertising Director Jim Fowler Advertising Manager Kevin Longstreet I moreover said that it was discriminatory, persecutory, and incompatible with ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Paul Olivett the enlightenment traditions of the west. I fully appreciate your arguments and PUBLISHER find them compelling. But the arguments in favor of banning the thing seem to Jack Fowler me, on balance and from experience, more compelling still. there are no good CHAIRMANEMERITUS solutions to this problem. there are only less bad ones. Thomas L. Rhodes FOUNDER William F. Buckley Jr. Letters may be sub mitted by e-mail to [email protected]. 2 | www.nationalreview.com AUGUST 3 0 , 2 0 1 0 base_milliken-mar 22.qxd 8/9/2010 10:55 AM Page 1 © bacilloz/Shutterstock. Discover New Insights into the Early Middle Ages We often think of the era between A.D. 300 and 1000 as a time The Early Middle Ages when Europe vanished into ignorance and shadow. 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