Cuando se acaba de leer La cultura-mundo, de Gilles Lipovetsky y Jean Serroy (Anagrama 2010, traducción de Promoteo-Moya), la desazón es terrible. Y lo es no por lo que se cuenta, ya sabido, sino por la constatación documental y fehaciente de los males que acucian hoy a la cultura. No a la cultura...

No one can completely understand the motivations of the North Koreans, but it is entirely possible that their recent revelation of their uranium enrichment centrifuges and Pyongyang’s shelling of a South Korean island Tuesday are designed to remind the world that they deserve respect in negotiations...

“We did the Cole and we wanted the United States to react. And if they reacted, they are going to invade Afghanistan and that’s what we want … . Then we will start holy war against the Americans, exactly like the Soviets.” — Mohammed Atef, military commander of Al Qaeda, in November of 2000 You...

Ah, the airport, where modern folk heroes are made. The airport, where that inspired flight attendant did what everyone who’s ever been in the spam-in-a-can crush of a flying aluminum tube – where we collectively pretend that a clutch of peanuts is a meal and a seat cushion is a “flotation...

Thailand extradited Viktor Bout, an accused Russian arms trafficker, to the United States on Tuesday, drawing Russia’s anger after the government here abandoned the diplomatic balancing act it had conducted for more than two years between Washington and Moscow. Two motorcades — one apparently...

The U.S. military has begun to work closely with Mexico’s armed forces, sharing information and training soldiers in an expanding effort to help that country battle its violent drug cartels, according to U.S. and Mexican officials. U.S. military officials have been hesitant to discuss publicly...

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office sharply rejected international criticism of Israel’s most recently announced building plans in East Jerusalem, saying in a statement: “Jerusalem is not a settlement: Jerusalem is the capital of the State of Israel.” The comments came on the heels...

They were on the move beneath an unyielding sun, and for a while their approaching shapes seemed just another part of the desert, their tattered clothes bleached like the thorny scrub around them. These weary Bushmen — four men, three women and an infant — were nearing the end of a two-day journey,...

Five oil and gas service companies and a prominent freight-forwarding company agreed to pay $236.5 million in criminal and civil penalties in one of the largest corporate bribery cases ever to focus on a single industry, federal authorities said Thursday. Most of the bribes were paid to circumvent...

A federal appellate judge expressed deep skepticism Monday about a Justice Department lawsuit challenging Arizona’s new immigration law, leaving uncertain the Obama administration’s chances of stopping the law from taking effect. Judge John T. Noonan Jr. grilled administration lawyers...