CRESCENTS AND CROSSROADS

This week on http://www.openDemocracy.net, boundaries melt, worlds open,
hearts harden. Reinhard Hesse maps a Turkish-German love affair in cinema
and politics, Jo Wilding and Anita Sharma witness the flowering of
children and women in Iraq, and Johanna Mendelson Forman from the United
Nations Foundation learns lessons from Aristide's second fall in Haiti

Plus: Serving 45 years for a non-violent crime, Michael Santos watches
his fourth presidential election from Colorado, on the wrong side of the
prison walls

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THE WEEK'S TOP FIVE

THE NATION-BUILDING TRAP: HAITI AFTER ARISTIDE
Twice elected, twice ejected, Haiti's president Jean-Bertrand Aristide
blames the United States for his latest overthrow. Why did the
international community help Haiti in 1994 but ignore it this time, asks
JOHANNA MENDELSON FORMAN
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed3600/haiti_1779.jsp

TURKISH HONEY UNDER A GERMAN MOON
REINHARD HESSE, at the Berlin Film Festival, sees one of Europe's most
intimate relationships growing branches in the lovers' hearts
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed3600/hesse_1784.jsp

WOMEN IN IRAQ: BETWEEN FEAR AND FREEDOM
The condition of Iraq's women is a litmus test of the country's movement
towards civil rights and democratic governance. ANITA SHARMA on their
difficult journey
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed3600/sharma_1776.jsp

THE TRIAL OF SADDAM HUSSEIN
What kind of justice does the world owe the former Iraqi dictator?
Neither an international nor an Iraqi but a moral solution, argues
DOUGLAS MURRAY
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed3600/murray_1778.jsp

THE LAND OF THE UNFREE: AMERICA FROM INSIDE
MICHAEL SANTOS, incarcerated in America since 1987, on what it's like to
witness the US elections from a prison cell
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed3600/santos_1777.jsp

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COLUMNS

BREAD & CIRCUSES: FIVE MINUTES WITH SOCRATES
"A man who is all brain and no heart never truly lives." DOMINIC HILTON
teaches the Greek sage a lesson in living philosophy
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed3600/breadcircus_1780.jsp

OUR ELECTION YEAR: KERRYSLANDERING
John Kerry: an effete, elitist, leftist, European snob, loved by commies
(and Coldplay), loathed by patriots. TODD GITLIN listens to the
Republican war drums
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed3600/gitlin_1782.jsp

GLOBAL SECURITY: INTO THE AFGHAN FIRE
As the United States prepares a big offensive in Afghanistan and Pakistan,
PAUL ROGERS on how the "war on terror" never sleeps
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed3600/rogers_1781.jsp

WORLD DIARY: COFFEE & WMD
Evil beans, Axial demands, Iranian stories, Middle East shifts. DOMINIC
HILTON dives for pearls
http://www.opendemocracy.net/email/ed3600/diary_1783.jsp

GLOBOLOG (coming Friday): Caspar Henderson on genetic modification and
the politics of power

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