SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2007

Copyright © 2007 The New York Times

Une sélection hebdomadaire offerte par

An Early Start For 2008 Race

Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

The 2008 presidential race is already altering American politics, with a post-baby-boom candidate, Barack Obama, below, and leaders like Nancy Pelosi who see motherhood as a political asset. NEWS ANALYSIS

POLITICAL MEMO

New Generation Makes Push for the White House By JOHN M. BRODER WASHINGTON — The time has come, Senator Barack Obama says, for the baby boomers to look beyond themselves. In taking the first steps toward a presidential candidacy in mid-January, Mr. Obama, who was born in 1961 and considers himself a member of the post-boomer generation, said Americans hungered for “a different kind of politics,” one that moved beyond the tired ideological battles of the 1960s. Mr. Obama says he recognizes that the flashpoints of the 60s — war, racism, inequality, the relations between the sexes — still animate American politics and society and remain largely unresolved. And he acknowledges, as a child of a white Kansan mother and black Kenyan father, that his own prominence and prospects would have been impossible without the struggles of those who marched in Alabama and Washington in support of civil rights. But he argues that America faces new challenges that require a new political

Are Americans Ready to Cast A Vote for Mom?

paradigm. To make his point, Mr. Obama, a Democrat from Illinois in his first term in the Senate, announced the formation of his presidential exploratory committee in a video streamed on his Web site. He is tieless and relaxed and oh so cool. Mr. Obama calculates that Americans of all ages are sick of the feuding boomers and ready to turn to the generation that came of age after Vietnam, after the campus culture wars between hippies and conservatives, and after young people had given up on what überboomer Hillary Rodham Clinton (who made her own announcement on the Web a few days after Mr. Obama’s) called in a 1969 commencement address a search for “a more immediate, ecstatic and penetrating mode of living.” In his second book, “The Audacity of Hope,” Mr. Obama is critical of the style and the politics of the 60s, when the psyches of most of his potential rivals for the

By ROBIN TONER WASHINGTON — Some women were struck by the politics of maternity practiced by Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton in recent weeks, the imagery and stagecraft that highlighted their roles as mothers and/or grandmothers. For some, the issues were complicated: Is this a throwback, or a step forward? Is it politically smart? For a long time women seeking high office, particularly executive office, were advised not to emphasize their softer, domestic side, and to draw attention to their strength and qualifications. Focus groups often found voters questioning whether women were strong enough to lead. Breakthrough candidates like Senator Dianne Feinstein, the California Democrat who campaigned unsuccessfully for governor under the slogan “tough and caring’’ in 1990, worked hard to ease those doubts. Today, many political strategists say women no longer have to be so defensive. Voters have grown more accustomed to women in powerful positions. And women like Ms. Pelosi and Mrs. Clinton have

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Robert Grossman

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A Cleaner Way to Act Naughty in the Bedroom By BRENDAN I. KOERNER

Nathalie Mohadjer and Laurentius Schmeier

Eating in bed inspires less guilt when it is a neat experience. A new duvet cover has a built-in bib.

As sinful pleasures go, breakfast in bed ranks as one of the least wicked — slothful and slightly gluttonous, but not exactly worthy of ecclesiastical condemnation. Yet people routinely deny themselves this minor indulgence, often for one of two reasons: they either feel guilty about being so lazy, or they fret about food particles falling between their sheets. There’s no quick fix for the guilt-ridden, save for frequent reminders to relax and live a little. But neat people can now enjoy a worry-free breakfast in bed thanks to the Buon Appetito, a satin duvet cover outfitted with an elongated cotton bib. When the food arrives, the cover’s user pulls its upper flap over his torso and ties it around his neck. Crumbs are thus prevented from secreting themselves within the linens. The product’s designers, Olga

Bielawska and Astrid Schildkopf, came up with the idea in late 2005, while attending the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar in Weimar, Germany. “We had the idea to make a project about errors, about the everyday problems and little mishaps that happen,’’ Ms. Schildkopf said. She and Ms. Bielawska sat down and thought about the various accidents that occur in each room of a house. When the conversation turned to the bedroom, Ms. Schildkopf and Ms. Bielawska first thought of lewd mishaps, which are tough to remedy through product design. But they soon turned to another naughty activity. “Eating in bed is a thing you really should not do, because you get all the crumbs,’’ Ms. Schildkopf said. “We thought, ‘O.K., how can we play with that? How can we make a positive product that invites you to do something that you normally should not do?’ ’’ Inspired by the bibs used by infants and lobster connoisseurs alike, the designers tried sewing a narrow cotton flap onto a bedsheet. Ms. Schildkopf,

the designated tester, quickly discovered that the bib needed to be longer and more billowy, because toast crumbs can travel surprisingly far. She also played with the size of the straps that secure the cloth to a breakfaster’s neck; too big a hole for the neck would leave pajama tops exposed, but too small an aperture would make the bib uncomfortable. To imbue it with some culinary atmosphere, Ms. Schildkopf and Ms. Bielawska decided to make the bib out of red-and-white-checkered cotton, the traditional tablecloth material for Italian restaurants worldwide. Ms. Schildkopf and Ms. Bielawska founded a Weimar design studio called Miss Geschick & Lady Lapsus and later decided to industrialize production of the bib. If there is a drawback, it is that the bib isn’t detachable. Splatter yolk or syrup on it, and the whole duvet cover must go into the laundry. Very neat people might have to settle for toast-only breakfasts in bed.

CAHIER DU " MONDE " DATÉ SAMEDI 3 FÉVRIER 2007, NO 19293. NE PEUT ÊTRE VENDU SÉPARÉMENT

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Magical Thinking Many people believe their thoughts and actions can bring luck or influence events. 6 SPORTS

Soaring Snowmen Snowboards and kites have joined to create a new winter sport. 7

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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2007 O P I N I O N

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C O M M E N T A R Y NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Hang Up! Tehran Is Calling

Danziger New York Times Syndicate

EDITORIALS OF THE TIMES

Energy Rhetoric, and Reality For six years, President Bush has been talking about the need for alternative fuels and conservation to make the country less beholden to unreliable sources of foreign oil. Yet all he has to show for it is a growing dependence on foreign oil, a growing climate problemand anincreasingly cynicalpublic. Mr.Bush talked about it again last month, in his State of the Union speech, offering several impressively specific goals. But whether these new pledges turn out to be as empty as the old ones depends on his capacity for follow-through, and history is not encouraging. Mr. Bush was true to form on one subject. The White House had promised nothing on global warming, and he delivered nothing. He mentioned “global climate change’’ but showed no sense of urgency on the issue. Nor was there any sign that he had even heard the ever-louder entreaties from Congress — and from many of his friends in the business community — that he support a national program of mandatory reductions in greenhouse gases. At one point, he did suggest that his proposals for alternative fuels and more efficient automobiles could also help reduce greenhouse gases. But these gains would be marginal. Mr. Bush’s enthusiasms mainly involved energy independence. He called for replacing 132 billion liters of gasoline with renewable or alternative fuels by 2017, and for modest but steady improvements

in the efficiency of cars and light trucks, a category that includes S.U.V.’s. But he offered no specifics on where these 132 billion liters in alternative fuels are going to come from. Corn ethanol, a favorite of farm state politicians, cannot be expected to provide more than 57 billion liters without driving up food prices. Cellulosic ethanol, made from grasses and woody material, shows great promise. But there is no commercial refinery in operation today, and there is not expected to be one for several years. That leaves gasoline derived from coal, a method now being championed by governors and senators from coal-producing states. The technology is well established. But refining and then burning gasoline derived from coal would send nearly twice as much carbon dioxide into the atmosphere and would thus be a disaster for global warming. Trying to sequester the carbon dioxide underground during the refining process would be hugely expensive. Which raises the next question about the Bush plan: Where’s the money coming from? Despite growing interest among venture capitalists in environmentally friendly technologies, it seems unrealistic to depend on the private sector alone. Once again, we have heard this president make big promises about energy independence. Once again, we fear that very little will change.

Moment of Opportunity in Somalia Thanks to an unusual and probably fleeting set of events, Somalia has a chance to return to the community of law-abiding and legitimate states. For a country that dissolved years ago into chronic clan warfare and became a way station for international terrorists, that would be an enormous gain — and an enormous gain for the rest of the world. To make the most of this opportunity, Washington needs to move quickly, along with Arab and African leaders, to try to broker a political compromise between responsible leaders of the Islamic Courts Union, which was evicted from power in December by the Ethiopians, and the internationally endorsed transitional government installed in its place. International peacekeepers will also be needed to replace the Ethiopian force, which is already starting to head home. Ethiopia, Somalia’s longtime regional rival, needs to complete that withdrawal

quickly to avoid a violent nationalist backlash. If the transitional government is to survive, it will have to strike a deal with moderate Islamists. The person it needs to talk with is Sheik Sharif Ahmed, who is No. 2 in the movement and by most accounts a reasonable man. He is currently in Kenya after apparently getting an American guarantee that he would not be deported back to Somalia. The United Nations, which helped create the transitional government, should take charge of organizing a peacekeeping force. The Arab League (Somalia is a member) and the African Union (with headquarters in Ethiopia) need to persuade all sides to come and stay at the table. Unfortunately, none of these organizations are known for operating quickly. The Bush administration needs to press them all to seize this moment. This sudden chance to make peace is not likely to last for long.

: AIDE A LA LECTURE Pour aider à la lecture de l’anglais et familiariser nos lecteurs avec certaines expressions américaines, Le Monde publie ci-dessous la traduction de quelques mots et idiomes contenus dans les articles de ce supplément. Par Dominique Chevallier, agrégée d’anglais. LEXIQUE Dans l’article “Watching Iraq Lurch From Chaos, to Hope and Deep Into Despair,” page 3: TO LURCH: tituber LOOTING: pillage TO SOUR: s’aigrir WRECK: épave MOTH-EATEN: mangé aux mites TO TEAR (TORE, TORN): déchirer, se déchirer TO UNRAVEL: se défaire, s’effilocher TO RIP UP: déchirer violemment TO ROUGHOUSE: se bagarrer Dans l’article “King With No Throne Survives to Tell His Tale,” page 3: IMPEDIMENT: obstacle HAPLESS: malheureux CRONYISM: copinage

EXPRESSIONS Dans l’article “Trying to Spot the Next Market Darling,” page 5: THE SECOND COMING: il ne faut pas seulement y voir “le retour” de Disneyland, mais bien le “second avènement”, allusion biblique au retour du Christ. Dans l’article “A Love of Board Sports Is the Soul of a Business,” page 7: TO SELL OUT: la différence est bien marquée dans l’article entre “to sell” vendre, et to sell out: se vendre, trahir. A sellout signifie trahison, mais aussi qui se vend comme des petits pains, ou bien en rupture de stock.

RÉFÉRENCES Dans l’article “Do You Believe in Magic? The Power of Superstition,” page 6:

One of the most worrying parts of President Bush’s Iraq strategy doesn’t have anything to do with Iraq. It’s the way he’s ramping up a confrontation with Iran. Across a broad spectrum of policy levers, Mr. Bush is raising the pressure on Iran, increasing the risk that he will drag the U.S. into a third war in an Islamic country in six years. Instead of disengaging from war, he could end up starting another. We could have taken another route. In 2003, Iran sent the U.S. a detailed message offering to work together to capture terrorists, to stabilize Iraq, to resolve nuclear disputes, to withdraw military support for Hezbollah and Hamas, and to moderate its position on Israel, in exchange for the U.S. lifting sanctions and warming up to Iran. Some diplomats liked the idea, but administration hawks rejected it at once. Lawrence Wilkerson, a former chief of staff to Colin Powell, says that the State Department sent a cable to the Swiss ambassador in Tehran, who looks after U.S. interests in Iran, scolding him for even forwarding the package to Washington. Obviously, Iran’s offer might have led nowhere. But it’s plain where rejection of the offer has taken us: more Americans are dying in Iraq, and some experts worry about clashes with Iran itself. The Iraq Study Group proposed engagement with Iran, but instead Mr. Bush has been escalating the rhetoric and military pressure. “When you have such a buildup and have zero communications, and you have an arena like Iraq where you may step on each other’s toes, you could have rapid escalation,’’ warns Vali Nasr, an expert on the region at the Naval Postgraduate School. It doesn’t appear that Mr. Bush wants a war with Iran. His aim seems to be a show of force to deter Iran and reassure our allies in the region. But he is on a path that may easily lead to escalation.

It’s unfortunate that we are ratcheting up the military pressure, because the administration has quietly taken one very useful step against Iran: squeezing its access to international banking transactions. That has caused real economic pain and has added to the unpopularity of Iran’s hard-line president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Those banking sanctions, not military moves, are a reason Mr. Ahmadinejad has been rebuked by the country’s supreme leader. Unfortunately, both Mr. Bush and Mr. Ahmadinejad benefit from confrontation. Both are unpopular domestically but can use a crisis to distract from their policy failures. “The current strategy benefits Ahmadinejad,’’ says Professor Nasr. “It’s going to divert attention at the popular level from democracy.’’ Granted, Mr. Bush is right to be frustrated by Iran and the way it’s defying the international community with its nuclear program. Unfortunately, Mr. Bush’s military pressure may end up making Iraq bloodier than ever. Instead of being cowed, Iran may use its proxies in Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and elsewhere to kill more American officials and troops. Or even ordinary Americans here at home. Mr. Bush is absolutely right to denounce Iran’s leaders for stealing elections, suppressing their people and dabbling in terrorism. But we ourselves are partly to blame for the awful government in Tehran. By instigating a coup in 1953 and seeking special legal privileges for American troops in 1964, we empowered extremists like Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and allowed them to tap nationalist outrage. So it would be in keeping with tradition if Mr. Bush, by shortsightedly stoking a confrontation with Tehran, now inadvertently helped Iranian hard-liners crush Iran’s democracy movement.

THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Running On Empty Sorry to repeat myself, but I have the same reaction to this year’s energy proposals in the State of the Union that I had to last year’s. President Bush had the opportunity to launch America on a transformative new path for clean, efficient power. He had a chance for a “Nixon to China’’ moment. Instead, he gave us “Nixon to New Mexico’’ — right direction, but not nearly far enough. It seemed to me that the American people basically fired George Bush in the last election. We’re now just watching him clean out his desk. Both his energy proposals and his recent Iraq surge were about the best he could muster, given his status. The problem is that he is going to be cleaning out his desk for another two years, and Americans deserve better. I would love to see Democrats put that something better on Mr. Bush’s desk — regarding both energy and Iraq. “The stakes on Iraq and on climate change are way too large for us all to be just couch potatoes waiting for the messiah to come in 2009,’’ said Fred Krupp, president of Environmental Defense. “That is not an option. Yes, it would be entertaining, but we need leadership on these issues, and we need it now.” On energy — no, the president’s proposals were not worthless. His call to reform CAFE mileage standards for U.S. cars “shifts the debate from whether to compel American automakers to build more fuel-efficient vehicles to how much they should do so,’’ notes a strategy consultant, Peter Schwartz. And his call for a nearly fivefold mandatory increase in the production of ethanol and other alternative fuels for cars and trucks also changes the debate from whether to how much, and which fuels. But the devil will be in the details. Will liquefied coal be one of those alternatives — which could add

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Située à Ann Arbor, il

s’agit d’une des meilleures universités publiques des Etats-Unis, faisant partie des “New Ivies”, 25 établissements universitaires d’excellence, considérés comme aussi bons que ceux de la Ivy League. Ces dernières années, l’UM s’est retrouvée dans l’actualité du fait de deux procès intentés contre elle par des étudiants blancs s’estimant victimes de la discrimination positive. L’affaire est remontée jusqu’à la Cour Suprême, qui décréta que si accorder une préférence du fait de l’appartenance à une minorité n’était pas anticonstitutionnel, le système de points préférentiels accordés aux minorités dans le calcul nécessaire à l’admission, lui, l’était. Le problème n’est pas résolu aujourd’hui, puisqu’en novembre dernier, un référendum (proposition 2), semblable à la proposition 209 californienne, qui met fin à toute discrimination positive, a été voté par les citoyens du Michigan. L’Université, qui tient à la diversité du campus, étudie les moyens d’être à la fois conforme à la loi, et néanmoins de ne pas assister au déclin des inscriptions noires et hispaniques qu’ont connu les universités californiennes.

to global warming — or only non-fossil-fuel alternatives? On mileage standards, U.S. automakers will lobby the White House very hard for the smallest possible change. Will they get their way? If so, there isn’t much here. The really bold, transformative — and popular — initiative Mr. Bush should have offered would either be a national cap-and-trade system for controlling CO2 emissions by utilities, manufacturers and autos, or a carbon tax. Both would create economic incentives for us to get rid of appliances, buildings and cars that emit a lot of CO2 and to invent and purchase those that don’t. But there is no reason that the Democrats could not right now put a cap-and-trade bill on Mr. Bush’s desk themselves by spring, Mr. Krupp said, “and I think Bush would sign it.” It is not enough for Democrats to just hold hearings on climate change. They need to use their new power to change the climate. Not only would the public be with them, but so would big business. A coalition of America’s best companies and environmentalists just issued a “call to action’’ for a national cap-and-trade program to limit greenhouse gas emissions. On Iraq: talking to some of our senior military lately, I’ve been struck by how concerned they are about the new Bush buildup against Iran. I am all for brandishing the stick with Iran, but it should be for the purpose of gaining leverage for a diplomatic dialogue with Iran and Syria about Iraq. Just as the business community would support a real climate initiative, I think the United States military would support a real diplomatic conference. Bush gave America’s voters the reasons to fire him. Democrats need to give voters the reasons to hire them — for the long haul.

Dans l’article “Trying to Spot the Next Market Darling,” page 5: SEATTLE: Plus grande ville du nord Ouest pacifique, Seattle compte 580.000 habitants et une agglomération de 4 millions d’habitants, à environ 67% blancs, 16% asiatiques, 10% noirs, 6-7% hispaniques et 1% “native” (indigènes). Elle est nommée en hommage au Chief Seattle, grand Chef Indien qui avait tenté la coopération avec les Blancs, s’était converti au catholicisme, pour constater, sans doute écologiste avant l’heure, que le rapport de son peuple avec la nature n’avait rien à voir avec le rapport destructeur de l’homme blanc au monde. La ville s’est développée selon des cycles de “boom and bust” autour de l’exploitation du bois, puis fut ville du départ vers l’Alaska, lors de la ruée vers l’or du Klondike en 1896, puis s’est reconvertie dans les chantiers navals, puis a été la grande ville de Boeing, avant d’être celle de Microsoft et des “dotcoms”. Ville rare dans l’Ouest américain, car il y fait bon marcher à pied, elle possède des marchés, des petits cafés (Starbucks) en terrasse, elle est aussi beaucoup moquée pour son climat pluvieux.

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Watching Iraq Lurch From Chaos, to Hope and Deep Into Despair BAGHDAD — A painful measure of just how much Iraq has changed in the four years since I started coming here is contained in my cellphone. Many numbers in the address book are for Iraqis who have either fled the country or been killed. One of the first Sunni politicians: gunned down. A Shiite ESSAY baker: missing. A Sunni family: moved to Syria. I first came to Iraq in April 2003, at the end of the looting several weeks after the American invasion. In all, I have spent 22 months here, time enough for the place, its people and their everevolving tragedy to fix themselves firmly in my heart. Now, as I am leaving Iraq, a new American plan is unfolding in the capital. It feels as if we have come back to the beginning. Boots are on the ground again. Boxy Humvees move in the streets. Baghdad fell in 2003 and we are still trying to pick it back up. But Iraq is a different country now. The moderates are mostly gone. My phone includes at least a dozen entries for middle-class families who have given up and moved away. They were supposed to build democracy here. Instead they work odd jobs in Syria and Jordan. Even the moderate political leaders have left. I have three numbers for Adnan Pachachi, the distinguished Iraqi statesman; none have Iraqi country codes. Neighborhoods I used to visit a year ago with my armed guards and my black abaya are off limits. Most were Sunni and had been merely dangerous. Now they are dead. A neighborhood that used to be one of the most exclusive in Baghdad has the dilapidated, broken feel of a city just hit by a hurricane. The Iraqi government and the political process, which seemed to have great promise a year ago, have soured. Deeply damaged from years of abuse under Saddam Hussein, the Shiites who run the government have themselves turned into abusers. Never having covered a civil war before, I learned about it together with my Iraqi friends. It is a bit like watching a slow-motion train wreck. I learned how much violence changes people, and how

A reporter measures four years in Baghdad by the once-thriving neighborhoods that are now empty and contacts who are now dead or have fled.

SABRINA TAVERNISE

trust is chipped away, leaving society a thin layer of moth-eaten fabric that tears easily. It has unraveled so quickly. A year ago, my interviews were peppered with phrases like “Iraqis are all brothers.’’ The subjects would get angry when you asked their sect. Now some of them introduce themselves that way. I met Raad Jassim, a 38-year-old Shiite refugee, in a largely empty house, recently owned by Sunnis, where he now lives in western Baghdad. He moved there in the fall, after Sunni militants killed his brother and his nephew and confiscated his large chicken farm north of Baghdad. He had lived with Sunnis his whole life, but after what happened, a hatred spread through him like a disease. “The word Sunni, it hurts me,’’ he said, sitting on the floor in a bare room with his 7-year-old boy. “All that I have

It’s a changed country where Iraqis no longer say they are brothers. lost came from this word. I try to avoid mixing with them.’’ “A volcano of revenge’’ has built up inside him, he said. “I want to rip them up with my teeth.’’ In another measure of just how much things have changed, Mr. Jassim’s Shiite neighborhood is relatively safe. The area is now largely free of Sunnis, after Shiite militias swept it last year, and it runs smoothly on a complex network of relationships among the local militias, the police and a powerful local council.

King With No Throne Survives to Tell His Tale — cars are his lifelong hobby — making a life in Switzerland largely on the generosity of others. “It’s not nice to talk about money, but you have to,” he BUCHAREST, Romania — King Michael I of the Ro- said, his eyebrows lifting toward each other in an expresmanians was sitting alone at his desk here, looking over sion of hapless resignation. Romania has been without a monarch since 1947, but some correspondence, when a visitor arrived. He had evidently been sitting there for some time because the Michael remains vaguely hopeful that his authority will sun had set and the room had dimmed to near darkness be restored along the lines of Juan Carlos I of Spain. He is still revered by most Romanians. But the politiaround him. His personal secretary, Oana Carbunescu, cians and businessmen who now run the country have flipped on a light and he stirred. Michael, 85, is the last living head of state from World little interest in the sort of moral oversight a king might War II. He lunched with Hitler, shook Churchill’s hand provide. “Many of the ones who have come into the government are from the past,” he said. and lived briefly under Stalin’s thumb. “They changed their colors, but they have the same He is a quiet man, an undemanding man and, inevitably perhaps, a disappointed man. But as with many quiet, mentality.” He tapped his temple. “After 40 years of going through undemanding, disappointed men, he is a keen observer of what we have gone through, the louder world around him. we’ve got a bad bug in here,” he “Unfortunately, I had four said of the Romanian people. years with the Nazis and three “You know, they say it is the years with the Soviets, and you end of Communism in Romaget to the point — how should I nia. Well, not quite. It is the end say — you have radar in your of the dictatorship, but certain nose,” he said, smiling faintly. things remain and it is very difHe speaks in a mumble, an ficult to change.” impediment from childhood He says that while the current that invites amateur analysis coalition government has tried because his life, from the beto overcome the cronyism and ginning, has been marked by corruption that have marred betrayal. the country’s post-Communist His father, Carol II, known years, those efforts have often as the playboy king for his robeen thwarted at lower levels of mantic misadventures, abanthe bureaucracy. doned Michael’s mother for “It is very, very difficult for another woman when Michael Petrut Calinescu for The New York Times your side of the world to unwas 3, leaving him heir to the throne. When Michael’s grand‘‘It is very, very difficult for your side of derstand what happens in this part of the world,” he said with father, King Ferdinand I, died the world to understand what happens a wry twist of his mouth and an two years later, in 1927, the boy in this part of the world.’’ infinitesimal shrug, one of the suddenly became the youngest many almost whimsical micromonarch in Europe. Then, less KING MICHAEL I OF THE ROMANIANS expressions that play over the than three years later, Carol old king’s otherwise placid feaII returned to take back the tures as he speaks. “Byzantine crown. Michael became king again in 1940, when the fascist habits are left over.” He predicts trouble in bringing his country, which dictator Ion Antonescu forced his father to abdicate. Michael’s shining moment came four years later when he joined the European Union in January, firmly back into overthrew Antonescu and abruptly switched sides from the European fold. the Nazis to the Allies. Many historians credit his brave Michael spends only a few months a year in Romania, act with shortening the war by weeks and saving tens of preferring his adopted home, Switzerland. Yet he is much thousands of lives. loved in Romania, particularly by children and the elderBut within months, Churchill had traded Romania for ly. That is a comfort, he said. Greece at a meeting in Moscow. The Communists forced “Stalin, Groza, Gheorghiu-Dej, Pauker, Vyshinsky. Michael to abdicate three difficult years later, and he Where are they all now?” he asked of his erstwhile torpacked up his bags and left by train with four automobiles menters. “I’m lucky enough to still be here.” By CRAIG S. SMITH

lost, one fact bears remembering. A great many Shiites and Kurds, who together make up 80 percent of the population, will tell you that in spite of all the mistakes the Americans have made here, the single act of removing Saddam Hussein was worth it. And the new American plan, despite all the obstacles, may have a chance to work. With an Iraqi colleague, I have been studying a neighborhood in northern Baghdad that has become a dumping ground for bodies. There, after American troops conducted sweeps, the number of corpses dropped by a third in September. The new plan is built around that kind of tactic. But the odds are stacked Johan Spanner for The New York Times against the corps of bright His street is dotted with fruit stands. young American officers charged with Boys in uniforms roughhouse. Men sit making the plan work, particularly in teahouses sipping from tiny glass because their Iraqi partner — the govcups. ernment of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal Just to the south, the Sunni neighboral-Maliki — seems to be on an entirely hood of Dawoodi is ghostly at almost different page. any time of day. Wide boulevards When American officials were detrimmed with palm trees used to conbating whether to send more troops in nect luxury homes. Now giant piles of December, I went to see an Iraqi govtrash go uncollected in the median. ernment official. The prospect of more A serious problem is dead bodies. troops infuriated him. They began to appear several times More Americans would simply proa week last summer on the railroad long the war, he said. If you don’t allow tracks that run through the neighborthe minority to lose, you will carry on hood. But when residents call the police forever,’’ he said. to pick up the bodies, they do not come. The remarks struck me as a powerThe police are Shiite and afraid of the ful insight into the Shiites’ thinking. area. Abused under Mr. Hussein, they still “Entering a Sunni area for them is a act like an oppressed class. That means Iraqis are looking into a future of war, risk,’’ said Yasir, a 40-year-old Sunni at least in the near term. whose house is close to the dumping As one young Shiite in Sadr City said ground. to me: “This just has to burn itself out.’’ For those eager to dismiss Iraq as

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A Political Rumor Is Repeated Often, Even Though It’s Untrue By DAVID D. KIRKPATRICK WASHINGTON — Jeffrey T. Kuhner, whose Web site published the first anonymous negative story of the 2008 presidential race, is hardly the only editor who will not reveal his reporters’ sources. What sets him apart is that he will not even disclose the names of his reporters. But anonymity has not stopped them from making an impact. For at least two weeks in January, Mr. Kuhner’s Web site, Insight, the last remnant of a defunct conservative print magazine owned by the Unification Church led by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, was able to set off a wave of television commentary, talk-radio chatter, official denials, investigations by journalists around the globe and news media self-analysis. The Washington Times, which is also owned by the Unification Church, but operates separately from the Web site, quickly disavowed the article. Its national editor sent an e-mail message to staff members under the heading “Insight Strikes Again’’ telling them to “make sure that no mention of any Insight story’’ appeared in the paper, and

another e-mail message to its Congressional correspondent instructing him to clarify to Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama that The Washington Times had nothing to do with the article on the Web site. Mr. Kuhner’s ability to ignite a news media brush fire illustrates how easily dubious and politically charged information can spread through the constant chatter of cable news commentary, talk radio programs and political Web sites. And at the start of a campaign with perhaps a dozen candidates hiring “research directors’’ to examine one another, the Insight episode may be a sign of what is to come. The controversy started with a quickly discredited January 17 article on the Insight Web site asserting that the presidential campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton was preparing an accusation that her rival, Senator Barack Obama, had covered up a brief period he had spent in an Islamic religious school in Indonesia when he was 6. (Other news organizations have confirmed Mr. Obama’s descriptions of the school as a secular public school. Both senators have denounced the report, and there is no evidence that Mrs. Clinton’s

An anonymous report from the Web is spread around the globe. campaign planned to spread those accusations.) In an interview during the controvery, Mr. Kuhner, 37, said he still considered the article, which he said was meant to focus on the thinking of the Clinton campaign, to be “solid as solid can be.’’ But he declined to say whether he had learned the identity of his reporter’s sources. Its assertions about Mr. Obama resemble rumors passed on without evidence in e-mail messages that have been widely circulated over the last several weeks. The Clinton-Obama article followed a series of inaccurate or hard-to-verify articles on Insight and its predecessor magazine about politics, the Iraq war or the Bush administration. To most journalists, the notion of anonymous reporters relying on anonymous sources is a bad sign. “If you want

to talk about a business model that is designed to manufacture mischief in large volume, that would be it,’’ said Ralph Whitehead Jr., a professor of journalism at the University of Massachusetts. With so much anonymity, “How do we know that Insight magazine actually exists?’’ Professor Whitehead added. “It could be performance art.’’ But hosts of morning television programs and an evening commentator on the Fox News Network nevertheless devoted extensive discussion to Insight’s Clinton-Obama article, as did Rush Limbaugh and other conservative talk radio hosts. And the Fox News rival MSNBC has picked up several of Insight’s other recent anonymous “scoops.’’ A spokesman for MSNBC declined to comment. Representatives of News World Communications, the arm of the Unification Church that owns Insight, could not be reached for comment. Mr. Kuhner said, “Our report on this opposition research activity is completely accurate,’’ and he argued that all major news organizations relied on anonymous sources. Mr. Kuhner, in an editor’s note on Insight, said the Web site could not afford to “send correspondents

to places like Jakarta to check out every fact in a story.’’ The Web site pays up to $800 for an article. Mr. Kuhner said he was not yet convinced by reports from officials of the elementary school that Mr. Obama attended in Indonesia about its secular history. “To simply take the word of a deputy headmaster about what was the religious curriculum of a school 35 years ago does not satisfy our standards for aggressive investigative reporting,’’ he wrote. Mr. Kuhner said Insight stopped using bylines to encourage contributions from reporters for major news organizations. “Reporters in Washington know a whole lot of what is going on and feel themselves shackled and prevented from reporting what they know is going on,’’ Mr. Kuhner said. Insight, he said, “is almost like an outlet, an escape valve where they can come out with this information.’’ “The team I have has some of the most seasoned, experienced reporters in this town, so I know the material I am getting is rock-solid.’’ he said. “The reporter has to give his or her word that, ‘It is solid, Jeff,’ ’’ Mr. Kuhner said.

POLITICAL MEMO

Are Americans Ready To Cast a Vote for Mom? Senator Barack Obama presents himself as an alternative to the feuding politicians of the baby boom generation.

a speaker assuming power surrounded by children signaled “a kinder, gentler, softer approach’’ to voters, particularly women, who are weary of a long and been on the public scene long enough difficult war and the intense partisanthat they no longer have to prove their ship in Washington in recent years. strength day in and day out. For Mrs. Clinton, highlighting the What this means, strategists say, is maternal is a way of building on what that motherhood and a focus on chilpolls and strategists suggest are her dren can become one more political asclear advantages, like strength and set to be showcased — a way of humanintelligence, while compensating for izing a candidate and connecting with what are widely considered her liabilivoters, especially other women. ties: a coolness, an excess of caution In fact, strong leadership was seen and a capacity to so polarize the elecas one of Mrs. Clinton’s core attributes torate that many voters question her in a CBS News Poll, conducted Januability to win. ary 18-21. Sixty-four percent of the men Several analysts said this softer surveyed, and 75 percent of the women, said Mrs. Clinton had strong qualities of approach also allowed Ms. Pelosi and Mrs. Clinton to offer a clear contrast leadership. with the leadership style of President “It’s a whole different world,’’ said Bush, which Democrats have asserted Bill Carrick, a Democratic strategist was a “my way or the highway’’ apand a longtime Feinstein adviser. proach to governing. And the stereotypes are weakening as Democrats also seem less woryounger generations come along, Mr. ried about the old Carrick added. charge of being the Ms. Pelosi took “mommy party,’’ the speaker’s gavel, dedicated to domesordinarily a moment tic concerns while of raw legislative the Republicans, “the power, in a carefully daddy party,’’ are structured tableau trusted with national filled with children, security. Democratic some of them her own women were often grandchildren. Mrs. warned over the Clinton held the first years that the stereoevent of her presidentypes of party and tial campaign sursex reinforced each rounded by children other. at a health care clinic, National security where she announced remains a threshold her support for exissue for voters but is panded health coverno longer such an auage for children. Chip East/Reuters tomatic advantage Aides to both womHillary Clinton is stressing for the Republicans en object to the idea her maternal side and because they have that this is in any way lost so much support contrived. Ms. Pelosi longtime advocacy for on the war in Iraq, did, in fact, raise five children’s issues. the polls suggest. children before she And neither Ms. Peran for office, and losi nor Mrs. Clinton is neglecting these Mrs. Clinton raised one and has been an issues. advocate on children’s issues since her On the campaign trail recently, Mrs. days in law school. Clinton argued that all of this — secuBut candidates decide how to tell rity, maternity, affordable health care their story and there are good political — was part of her potential-first-womreasons for Ms. Pelosi and Mrs. Clinton an-president package. to highlight the maternal. “I’m going to be asking people to vote For Ms. Pelosi, relentlessly caricafor me based on my entire life and expetured by the Republicans last year as a rience,’’ she said. “The fact that I’m a hard-edged, tax-raising liberal, the imwoman, the fact that I’m a mom, is part age of mother and grandmother takes of who I am.’’ the edge off the ideological cartoon. As The question arose in an exchange Karen O’Connor, director of the Women between Senator Barbara Boxer, also and Politics Institute at American Unia California Democrat, and Secretary versity, puts it, “For Nancy Pelosi, it of State Condoleezza Rice. Ms. Boxer becomes, ‘O.K., am I going to be the San noted in a hearing that members of Francisco liberal, or the woman who her own family were either too old or relates to all voting women, because too young for military service, and so I’ve raised five kids, I have several she would not pay a personal price for wonderful grandchildren and I can also the Iraq war. She added, of Ms. Rice, run your House.’ ’’ “You’re not going to pay a particular Kate O’Beirne, Washington editor of price, as I understand it, with an immeNational Review and a conservative diate family.’’ analyst, said she believed Ms. Pelosi’s Ms. Rice shot back later, “I thought imagery “was probably effective.’’ Alyou could still make good decisions on though she quickly added, “I don’t see behalf of the country if you were single that as a welcome development.’’ and didn’t have children.’’ Ms. O’Beirne said that “the optics’’ of

Continued From Page 1

Manuel Balce Ceneta/Associated Press

NEWS ANALYSIS

New Generation Makes Push for White House Continued From Page 1 White House were formed. He writes that the politics of that era were highly personal, burrowing into every interaction between youth and authority and among peers. The battles moved to Washington in the 1990s and endure today, he says. “In the back and forth between Clinton and Gingrich, and in the elections of 2000 and 2004,” he writes, “I sometimes felt as if I were watching the psychodrama of the baby boom generation — a tale rooted in old grudges hatched on a handful of college campuses long ago — laid out on the national stage.” Mr. Obama may have discovered a trend. Surveys — and the stock market — show that the founders of Google,

Sergey Brin and Larry Page, both 36, are among the most admired entrepreneurs in America. And no less an establishment institution than the Ford Foundation has indicated that it will look for a leader in his or her 40’s when Susan V. Berresford, the foundation’s president since 1996, retires next year at age 65. But despite the supposed hunger for a new generation of leaders, voters recently elected what is probably the oldest Congress in American history, according to the Congressional Research Service. The question most Americans are asking, said Paul B. Costello, 54, who worked on the presidential campaigns of Jimmy Carter, Michael Dukakis and Walter Mondale, is not “When were you born?” but “What have you got?”

INTERNATIONAL WEEKLY The New York Times International Weekly circulates in Le Monde (France), The Daily Telegraph (England), Süddeutsche Zeitung (Germany), La Repubblica (Italy) and El Pais (Spain). The total circulation of the International Weekly is 2.1 million copies a week. EDITORIAL ....................... [email protected] ADVERTISING (EuroReach Network) Jean-Christophe Demarta • 33 1 41 43 93 81 [email protected] ADVERTISING (Local) Le Monde............................. Antoine Dubuquoy • 33 1 57 28 39 94 [email protected] The Daily Telegraph ........ Nicholas Edgley • 44 207 531 3350 [email protected] Süddeutsche Zeitung........ Jürgen Maukner • 49 89 2183 222 [email protected] La Repubblica.................... Leonardo Barbieri • 39 02 5749 4434 [email protected] El Pais.................................. Hortensia Fuentes • 34 91 337 7801 [email protected] Info stampa www.nytco.com/press.html Info abbonamenti IHT Kevin Hickman • 33 1 41 43 92 88 • [email protected]

Mr. Costello said, “I don’t know that voters really care about these issues of the baby boomers versus Generation X. It’s a nice sort of branding, a marketing thing when you’re trying to create yourself from nothing.” While the Obama-Clinton generational dynamic will mostly play out in the Democratic primary, which will determine who will represent the party in the presidential vote, Republicans will weigh the candidacy of one of the oldest men ever to seek the presidency, John McCain, 70. John F. Kennedy noted in his Inaugural Address in 1961 that a torch had passed to a new generation of Americans, “born in this century, tempered by war, disciplined by a hard and bitter peace.” Kennedy’s generation, born between 1901 and 1924, occupied the White House until Bill Clinton wrested it from George Herbert Walker Bush in 1992. Mr. Clinton turned it over to another boomer, George W. Bush. But some say that after 14 years, it’s time to say goodbye to the solipsistic generation. Todd Harris, 35, a Republican political consultant, said he worked in 1999 for the short-lived presidential campaign of Representative John Kasich of Ohio, who was born in 1952. “He was young and new and fresh and we listened to the same music,” Mr. Harris said. “But I’m not sure that works when your country is at war. I think that most people I know in my generation will place a far greater premium on someone’s leadership skills and their ability to guide the nation through turbulent times than they do on what generation that politician came from or what that person recently downloaded from iTunes.” Mr. Obama would be foolish to run solely as the anti-boomer, Chris Lehane, a former Clinton White House official who is now a political consultant, said, if for no other reason than that the baby boomers are the largest generation in American history, and they vote.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2007

LE MONDE M O N E Y

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5

B U S I N E S S

The ‘Green’ Entrepreneurs Are Welcome in Europe �n��gy c��pan��� �� l�g�t�� ��gulat��n �v�� publ�cly l��t�d c��pan���. M��� t�an �alf �f t�� ���ld’� 22 ���t valuabl� PARIS — ��� cl�udy W�l�� c�a�t publ�cly t�ad�d ��nd and ��la� c��pa�ay ���� an �dd c���c� f�� �a��ng ��- n��� a�� ba��d �n Eu��p�, acc��d�ng t� la� pan�l�, ��p�c�ally f�� an ��p��tant t�� J�ff����� G��up, an �nv��t��nt ban� p����n l��� R�b��t M. H��tzb��g, a Cal�- ba��d �n ��� ����. A��ng t�� ���t p����n�nt f���� t� f��n�an ��� �� an acqua�ntanc� �f G�v��n�� A�n�ld Sc��a�z�n�gg��. But a �av� ����g�d �n Eu��p� �� V��ta�, a c����t��nt by Eu��p�an g�v��n��nt� Dan��� c��pany �upply�ng tu�b�n�� t� ��lp�ng �ut “cl�an �n��gy’’ �nt��p��- t�at g�n��at� 35 p��c�nt �f t�� �l�ct��cn�u�� �� c��at�ng a ���� ��lc���ng �n- �ty ���ld��d� t�at c���� f��� ��nd v���n��nt t�an A����ca, ����� ���at�c p����. But V��ta� l��t 192 ��ll��n �u��� �n �upp��t, a lac�lu�t�� �a���t f�� ta��ng c��pan��� publ�c, al�ng ��t� ���� �n��- 2005, �� $252 ��ll��n at cu���nt �xc�ang� �u� f�nanc�al �ul��, �av� g�v�n pau�� t� �at��, �n 3.6 b�ll��n �u��� �n �al��, pa�tly b�cau�� �f ��a� ���ult� �n ���t� A������� �ta�t-up� and �nv��t���. “Cal�f��n�a d��� �av� t��� g��at ��- �ca. V��ta� �a� f���ca�t ��p��v�d p��f�t ag�,’’ �a�d M�. H��tzb��g, a f����� �a�g�n� f�� 2007, and �t� ��a��� ���� �p�a��� �f t�� Cal�f��n�a Stat� A����- ab�ut 130 p��c�nt �n 2006 — a ��gn t�at bly and t�� c�-f�und�� �f an �nv��t��nt t�� d��v� f�� cl�an �n��gy and alt��naf���, R�n��abl� Cap�tal. “But Eu��p� t�v�� t� ��l �� pu���ng up valuat��n�. Apax Pa�tn���, a buy�ut f��� ba��d �n �t�ll �� �uc� g���n�� t�an any����� �n t�� Un�t�d Stat��, by ��v��al ��d��� �f L�nd�n, �ult�pl��d �t� �n�t�al �nv��t��nt �f 11.5 ��ll��n �u��� by 27 t���� ���n �t �agn�tud�.’’ B���d��, �a�d M�. H��tzb��g, ��� t��n ��ld ���t �f �t� �ta�� �n t�� G���an ��and fl�x�bl� ��la� pan�l� �v�n ���� �n la� c��pany Q-C�ll� b�t���n Oct�b�� �v��ca�t c�nd�t��n�. “H�y, d�n’t y�u g�t 2005 and Janua�y 2006. Suc� �ucc��� �� ��lp�ng t� ��t�vat� �t? It ����� �n t�� �a�n!’’ �� l���� t� t�ll ��all �ncubat�� fund� �n Eu��p�, l��� t�� W�l��. M�. H��tzb��g’�, t� c��Eu��p� �� �xp����ncp�t� ��t� t�� ca��-��c� �ng a n�� �av� �f �nt��v�ntu�� cap�tal f���� ��t �n v�ntu��� t�at d�and g�ant ut�l�t��� t� f�nd v�l�p �n��gy f��� l��� and f�nanc� ��n��abl� p�llut�ng �� ��n��abl� �n��gy v�ntu��� and ��u�c��, l��� �un and �ta�t-up�. ��nd, a� ��ll a� f��� ��a�� ag�, �a���ng t�d��, ag��cultu�� and la�g� a��unt� �f ��n�y g��t����al ��at. It �� f�� �calabl� ��n��abl� n�t cl�a�, t��ug�, �f t�� �n��gy ��u�c�� �a� �nt����t ��ll tu�n �nt� a ���� a c�nc�pt t�an a pa���ng fad �� a bubbl�, p�act�c�. But la�t y�a�, l��� t�� �u�� �nt� Int��cl�an-�n��gy c��pan��� n�t �t�c�� du��ng t�� lat� �a���d ab�ut $4.4 b�ll��n 1990�. �n Eu��p�an �t�c� �a���� Un�t�d Stat�� R�c�a�d Ha�bu� f�� ��t�, ab�ut f�u� t���� �a� n�t ��gn�d �n t� t�� ��� Int��nat��nal H��ald ���bun� t�� a��unt �a���d �n Ky�t� P��t�c�l, an �nt���t�c� �a���t� �n ���t� nat��nal acc��d a���d at Robert Hertzberg, an A����ca, acc��d�ng t� �tab�l�z�ng �������n� �f American, owns a solar ��� En��gy F�nanc�. g���n��u�� ga��� �n t�� panel firm in Wales. Many Eu��p�an g�vat���p����. Ev�n ��, ��n��nt� al�� bac� t�� ���t� A����can �ndu�t�y �a� ��t t�� �nv��t��nt pac�, p�u��ng u�� �f n�� t�c�n�l�g��� ��t� g�n���u� $3.5 b�ll��n �f p��vat� �qu�ty and v�ntu�� �ub��d���. In G���any, f�� �xa�pl�, cap�tal ��n�y �nt� �ta�t-up cl�an-�n��- c�n�u���� ��� ��ll ��n��abl� �n��gy, gy d�v�l�p��� �n 2006, acc��d�ng t� ��� l��� ��la� p���� t� t�� c�nt�al �l�ct��cEn��gy F�nanc�, a ����a�c� f��� ba��d �ty g��d, a�� �ff���d ��g�ly att�act�v� ta��ff�. ��at ��lp� c�n�u���� pay bac� �n L�nd�n. Eu��p� �a� ��gn�d t�� Ky�t� P��t�c�l, t�� c��t �f buy�ng �xp�n��v� n�� �qu�pbut p��vat� �qu�ty and v�ntu�� cap�tal ��nt l��� ��la� c�ll�. C�unt���� l��� B��ta�n, F�anc� and �nv��t��nt �nt� cl�an �n��gy �a� b��n ��all�� t���� t�an �n t�� Un�t�d Stat�� ����ay al�� �nc�u�ag� ��n��abl� �n�v�� t�� la�t t�� y�a��. ��g�t���, Eu- ��g���, ��t� �nc�nt�v�� t� ���tc� t� l����p�, t�� M�ddl� Ea�t and Af��ca �av� ca�b�n-���tt�ng alt��nat�v��. “��u can’t ��ally �a�� a c��pa����n �a���d �nly ab�ut �n�-t���d a� �uc� a� t�� Un�t�d Stat�� f�� n�� cl�an �n��gy ��t� t�� Un�t�d Stat��,’’ �a�d Ma�� K���, v�ntu���, acc��d�ng t� ��� En��gy F�- t�� d���ct�� �f t�� ��l, ga� and p���� t�a� at 3�, a buy�ut f��� ba��d �n L�nnanc�. But K�n B�ud��, t�� �x�cut�v� d���c- d�n. “����� �� a �ug� a��unt �f publ�c t�� �f ��� En��gy F�nanc�, �a�n�d t�at and g�v��n��nt �upp��t f�� ��n��abl� t���� nu�b��� ���� an un��l�abl� gu�d� �n��gy ac���� Eu��p�.’’ A� f�� M�. H��tzb��g, �� d�d n�t c��� t� t�� �v��all d�v�l�p��nt �f t�� ��ct��. H� �a�d t�at ��ady acc��� t� g���n-��nd- t� Wal�� f�� t�� �ub��d��� — at l�a�t n�t �d c�n�u���� and l�ng-t��� g�v��n- d���ctly. ��nt �upp��t ��uld d� ���� t� c��at� But �� c��d�t� t�� c����t��nt �f f��t�l� t����t��y f�� g�n��at�ng p��f�t�. Eu��p�an g�v��n��nt� t� ��n��abl� “S�tt�ng up p���� l�n�� t� ��ac� ��nd �n��gy f�� �a��ng t�� ��g��n a ���� and ��la� fa��� �� a �aj�� ta�� and n�t p������ng plac� f�� ��� lat��t v�ntu��, acc��pl����d �v��n�g�t,’’ M�. B�ud�� call�d G24�. “Ky�t� ���� �� t�� ��al t��ng,’’ �� �a�d. �a�d. “Eu��p� �ay b� d��ng a b�tt�� j�b t�an A����ca �n ��tt�ng up t���� n�� �n- “��� f�nanc�al �a���t� and t���� ��� f�a�t�uctu���.’’ c�nt��l t�� b�g fund� und���tand t�� ��An�t��� �nc�nt�v� �n Eu��p� f�� cl�an p��tanc� �f ��n��abl� �n��gy.’’ By JAMES KANTER

R�b��t St. Ja���

Small Firms Reach for Energy Riches By CHARLES DUHIGG Aft�� a l�ngt�y d���ant �p�ll, t�� gl�bal ��a�c� f�� ga� and ��l �a� ���gn�t�d ��t� a f��v�� t�at �� t�an�f����ng l�ttl� �n��n c��pan��� �nt� Wall St���t da�l�ng�. “��� g�ld �u�� �� bac� �n,” �a�d And��� V. B�land, an �n��gy analy�t at P�t��� & C��pany, a Canad�an �nv��t��nt f���. “It’� l��� t�� ��ld, ��ld W��t, all �v�� aga�n.” ��� S�ut� Pac�f�c ��land� �f Papua ��� Gu�n�a a�� a l�ng �ay f��� t�� c��p��at� jungl�� ����� En��n �a� b��n. ��t a��d t�� ���c�ag� �f En��n, t�� �n��gy g�ant t�at ��nt ban��upt �n 2001, �� a l�ft�v�� �l�v�� �f t�� c��pany t�at �� �t�ll d��ng bu��n��� �n Papua ��� Gu�n�a: an ��l ��f�n��y n�a� t�� c�unt�y’� cap�tal, P��t M����by, t�at �a� ���pp�d t���� f��� Ala��a and �n ���c� En��n c�nt�nu�� t� ��ld a ��all �ta��. In ��v��b��, t�� ��lat�v�ly �b�cu�� H�u�t�n c��pany t�at ��n� ���t �f t�at ��f�n��y, t�� Int��O�l C��p��at��n, �ad� t�� ��nd �f ann�unc���nt �nv��t��� c�av�: �xpl��at��n� n�a� t�� ��f�n��y �ad unc����d a va�t p��l �f natu�al ga� p�t�nt�ally la�g�� t�an t�� Un�t�d Stat��’ t�tal ����d�nt�al c�n�u�pt��n �f t�� f����l fu�l �n 2005. ��� ��z� �f t�� d��c�v��y �a� �� la�g�, P��l E. Mulac��, Int��O�l’� c�a���an and c���f �x�cut�v�, �nf����d an analy�t, t�at ���ply c�nt��ll�ng �t� �utput “�a� ���t �f l��� t�y�ng t� �t�p t�� M�������pp�.” Ju�t a f�� y�a�� ag�, �uc� p��cla�at��n� — and t�� �x�cut�v�� ��� �ad� t��� — ��g�t �av� b��n v����d a� cu�����t���, �f t��y ���� n�t�c�d at all. En��gy p��c�� ���� �� l�� t�at �any natu�al-ga� d��c�v����� ���� bu�nt �ff �� t�at d��ll�ng ��g� c�uld �xt�act p��c��u� ��l d�p���t� fu�t��� b�l��. And ������d �nv��t��� ��g�t �av� b��n �a�y �f any c��pany l�n��d t� En��n, ��p�c�ally �n� l��� Int��O�l t�at �a� b�a�t�ng �f p����bl� t��a�u��� un�a�t��d �n ����t� jungl��. But t�at �a� t��n. ���� �� n��. Int��O�l’� ga� f�nd — ���c� �� unc�nf����d and �ay b� ��p����bl� t� t�an�p��t — cau��d t�� c��pany’� �t�c� p��c� t� ��a� and �t� �a���t cap�tal�zat��n t� ���ll t� $891 ��ll��n f��� $572 ��ll��n ��t��n t���� ����� �f t�� ann�unc���nt.

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An investor’s guide to which acorns will become oaks. �ult�pl� �f �a�n�ng�. ���ug� M�. M�� �nclud�� a c�apt�� �n p��c�-t�-�a�n�ng� �at��� and �uc�, ��� f�cu� cl�a�ly �� n�t �n valuat��n (t�at ��, t�� p��c� �f a �t�c� ��lat�v� t� �t� �a�n�ng�) but �at��� �n “f�nd�ng t�� c��pan��� t�at can �av� �ap�d �a�n�ng� g���t� f�� a l�ng p����d �f t���.” H� al�� u�g�� �nv��t��� t� �gn��� t�� d�ubt���. Ind��d, �f y�u can f�nd t�� n�xt Sta�buc��, t���� �� n� ��a��n t� �nv��t �n b�nd�, g�ld c��n�, c��t�f�cat�� �f d�p���t �� ut�l�ty ��a���. M�. M��’� cla�� t� fa�� �� t�at �� f�und t�� f���t �n�. A� �� t�ll� �t, �� �a� ab�ut t� ��tu�n f��� a l�ng t��p t� S�attl� ���n �� ��luctantly pa�d a call �n �n� la�t

c��pany. �� ���n�� d�d �� �nt�� t�� ��c�pt��n a��a t�an �� ��n��d t�� buzz (�� �a� �t t�� caff��n�?) and b�ca�� “�n� �f t�� f���t ����a�c� analy�t�” t� ��c�gn�z� Sta�buc��. H� �a��� a ����la� b�a�t ��t� ���p�ct t� t�� Ap�ll� G��up and, ���� ��c�ntly, G��gl�. M�. M�� al�� ac�n��l�dg�� t�at �� �a� �ad ��� ��a�� �f l�����, but �� d��� n�t t��ubl� �����lf t� �d�nt�fy any. Suc� ��t�c�nc� �� a p�ty b�cau��, �t ����� t� ��, �d�nt�fy�ng t�� p�t�nt�al l����� �� ju�t a� ��p��tant a� �d�nt�fy�ng t�� ��nn���. ���� �� ��p�c�ally t�u� �n t�� g���t�-�t�c� a��na, ����� a fla���ut can b� d�va�tat�ng. It ��uld �av� b��n �nt����t�ng t� ��a� M�. M�� tal� ab�ut A�az�n, a c��pany ��t� all t�� att��but�� — g���t� p�t�nt�al, �����d �anag���nt, a valu�d b�and — t�at �� ad�����. Aft�� �t� �a�ly ��y��g� valuat��n, t�� �t�c� �a� y�t t� ��ga�n �t� p�a� ��t ��v�n y�a�� ag�. But M�. M�� ta��� a bac��a�d-

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Many �f Int��O�l’� f�nanc�al bac����, �nclud�ng M����ll Lync�, M��gan Stanl�y, G�ld�an Sac��, W�ll� Fa�g� and B��n� P�c��n�’� �nv��t��nt f���, �nc��a��d t���� b�t� aft�� t�� d��c�v��y �a� ��v�al�d. Stanl�y D�uc��n��ll��, a f����� l��ut�nant �f G���g� S����, t�� b�ll��na��� ��� ���� p��lant���p��t, d��cl���d t���� day� aft�� t�� ann�unc���nt t�at ��� ��dg� fund �ad p�u��d ���� t�an $30 ��ll��n �nt� Int��O�l �t�c�.

A vestige of Enron capitalizes on a fever for oil and gas. ��� pa����n f�� un�a�t��ng �n��gy ��c��� g��� ��ll b�y�nd Int��O�l, �f c�u���. ��t f��tun� and ����t d� n�t al�ay� �a�c� �n l�c��t�p �n t�day’� �n��gy �c�a�bl�. In add�t��n t� �nf�anc����ng b�ld �xpl�����, �n��gy f�v�� �a� ��p�����d �c�appy p����t��� and ��uld-b� ��ng�a���� ��� a�� �u���ng t� ���a�� nat��n� and �c�n�����, analy�t� �ay. In a c�nt��v����al ��v�, t�� ��na�c�y �f Qata�, f�� �n�tanc�, �a�n�d a ���t

at b�c���ng a ��g��nal p���� b����� aft�� a c�ll�ct��n �f l�cal �agnat�� ��lp�d t� p���uad� t�� g�v��n��nt and Exx�nM�b�l t� �nv��t ���� t�an $25 b�ll��n �nt� t�� nat��n’� ga� f��ld�. In B�l�v�a, P����d�nt Ev� M��al�� �� t�y�ng t� u�� ��� c�unt�y’� ga� �����v���� t� f��c� n��g�b���ng C��l� t� g�v� ��� landl�c��d c�unt�y a c����d�� t� t�� ��a. F�� ��all c��pan��� l��� Int��O�l, t�� p����b�l�t��� f�� ��c��� and �nflu�nc� a�� �v�n ���� �nt�x�cat�ng. “I �n�� f��� t�� �ta�t t��� c��pany ��uld b� g��at,” �a�d Wayn� And����, an analy�t at Ray��nd Ja��� ��� �a� l�ng �nc�u�ag�d �nv��t��� t� buy Int��O�l. “����� guy� �av� ��v�d ��unta�n�. ���y’�� �����ng �n an a��a ��t� �ug� d�cu��nt�d �����v���� �f c�ud� ��l and natu�al ga�. ���� �� ��� f��tun�� a�� �ad�,” �� �a�d. C��t�c� d��ag���. ��� c��pany’� ���t��y �f d��app��nt�ng ���ult� cau�� ���� t� ����y t�at n�t �v��yt��ng at Int��O�l �� a� �t �����. “���� �� a v��y qu��t��nabl� c��pany,” �a�d P�t�� J. H�d��n, a ��n��� p��tf�l�� �anag�� at Sp��tt A���t Manag���nt ��� �a� b�t� ��n�d and b�t aga�n�t Int��O�l’� �t�c�, but �� n�t cu���ntly �nv��t�d �n t�� c��pany. “����� a�� n�t t�� typ�� �f p��pl� ��� a�� �upp���d t� ��n t�� �n��gy �ac�.”

Michael Moe looks for the Starbucks of tomorrow.

Trying to Spot the Next Market Darling F�v� y�a�� aft�� t�� �t�c� �a���t ��t b�tt��, �nv��t��� a�� f��l�ng p���y aga�n. ���y �av� �v�n ��tu�n�d t� ����g�ng �ta�� �n t�� ��g�-t�c� ���ld. M�c�a�l M��’� n�� �nv��t��nt �anual ��, t����f���, all t�� t���ly. “F�nd�ng t�� ��xt Sta�buc��” �� an una��a��d gu�d� t� p�c��ng g���t� �t�c��. �O�E� LOWENS�EIN A� t�� �ubt�tl�, “H�� t� Id�nt�fy and Inv��t �n t�� H�t St�c�� �f ��������,” �a��� cl�a�, ta��ng b�g ����� �� t��ndy aga�n. M�. M��, f�����ly a ��ll-�n��n ��cu��t��� analy�t and, t�day, C.E.O. �f a b�ut�qu� San F�anc��c� f���, ���n�Equ�ty Pa�tn���, p�tc��� a t��ndy app��ac� t�at ��ll d�l�g�t ��� f���nd� �n Wall St���t. H� adv���� ��ad��� t� �nv��t �n c��pan��� �n ��t �ndu�t���� t�at a�� �un by t�� ��g�t p��pl� and t�at b�a�t �u�ta�nabl� g���t� �pp��tun�t���. H� �� undaunt�d by t�� fact t�at �uc� �t�c�� typ�cally t�ad� at a ��y-��g�

NE� IN�OME ����

l����ng app��ac�, f�cu��ng �n �t�c�� �� �n��� t� �av� b��n ��nn���. ���� �at��� c�l��� ��� c�nclu���n�. H� a��� ����� t�� ��nn��� ca�� f��� and, n�t �u�p����ngly, d��c�v��� t�at t�� b��t p��f������ �n any p����d �ta�t�d �ut a� v��y ��all bu��n�����. ���y ���� “ac��n�” t�at g��� �nt� �a��. ����� �� a p��bl�� ��t� �uc� an app��ac�. W�at �� ��uld l��� t� �n��

�� ��at, �n advanc�, d��t�ngu����� t�� v��y f�� ac��n� t�at g��� �nt� t����? ���ug� M�. M�� �� d�ad ��g�t t� ��p�a��z� l�ng-t��� �a�n�ng� g���t�, �� ��p�at�dly und����n�� t��� by u�g�ng ��ad��� t� pay att�nt��n t� ����t-t��� fact���. �a�� t�� ca�� �f D��c�v��y Z�n�, ���c� b���fly ����d Wall St���t a� a p�t�nt�al ��c�nd c���ng �f D��n�yland. M�. M�� �ay� t�� f���t ��gn �f t��ubl� �a� ���n D��c�v��y Z�n� ��p��t�d qua�t��ly �a�n�ng� t�at, ���l� n�a�ly d�ubl�ng, f�ll a p�nny ����t �f analy�t �xp�ctat��n�. H� app��v�ngly qu�t�� a ��a��n�d �nv��t�� ��� t�ld ���, “M���, �f t���� guy� can’t f�nd a p�nny, t��y a�� t�� du�b f�� �� t� �nv��t ��t� �� t���� bu��n��� �a� �t��� ���u��.” ��� c��pany �a� ban��upt ��t��n 12 ��nt��. ���� �� a cut� �t��y, but ��nd� �xactly t�� ���ng ����ag�, a� d� ��� �t��� ����nd��� �n t�� �upp���d ��p��t �f qua�t��ly �a�n�ng�. It ����� tu�n�ng l�ng-t��� g���t� �nv��t��� �nt� ��t��n�y t�ad���.

6

LE MONDE

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2007 S C I E N C E

&

T E C H N O L O G Y

Do You Believe in Magic? The Power of Superstition By BENEDICT CAREY

Chris Gash

Joy for Skiers, But Danger For Animals And Birds By HENRY FOUNTAIN While a ski trail can provide plenty of enjoyment (at least when there is enough snow to cover it), from an environmental standpoint it is a scar on the landscape. This is especially true for trails that have been constructed below the tree line, where large patches of forest must be clear-cut in order to make way for skiers. But such trails are more than just eyesores. They also chop up habitat for birds and other animals. Studies have shown, for instance, that there is less bird diversity in forested areas along ski runs. What about trails above the tree line, like those at high-altitude resorts in the Alps? They may not seem so damaging, because no trees are harmed in their creation. But slopes are smoothed, rocks are removed, and the original vegetation — low shrubs and grasses — is eliminated. A new study that has been conducted by Antonio Rolando and colleagues at the University of Turin in Italy shows that even these more open trails can affect birds that spend summers at high elevation. Dr. Rolando and his team studied populations of water pipits, black redstarts and other birds in and around high-altitude ski trails in northern Italy, including some built for the 2006 Turin Olympics. They counted birds in three types of plots: within a trail, adjacent to it and far away. The plots within ski trails had relatively few birds over all and low species diversity — a measure of both the number of species and the number of individuals in each species. Adjacent and far-off plots had higher diversity, but adjacent plots had low bird density as well. The findings were reported in The Journal of Applied Ecology. “Habitat loss is surely very important,” Dr. Rolando wrote in an e-mail

A study near an Olympic ski site finds less bird diversity. message, “because most species during summer forage in grass, and some also make nests on the ground.” The researchers found that the habitat loss also affected arthropod populations; there were fewer insects in the trail plots, so there was less food for the birds. Dr. Rolando said that while there were still many undeveloped areas in the high Alps, further construction of trails could affect certain birds considered under threat. Resort operators, he said, could help by modifying their construction methods, grading slopes less and removing less vegetation, though not to the point of making trails unsafe for skiers. “The best thing,” he wrote, “is to preserve as much soil and natural vegetation as possible.”

An application to graduate school can go wrong in as many ways as a first date. The personal essay might seem too eager, the references too casual. Rachel Riskind nonetheless has a good feeling about her chances for admittance to the University of Michigan’s graduate program in psychology. On a recent afternoon, she went out to lunch in Austin, Texas, where she lives. Walking to the restaurant, she saw a woman stroll by with a Michigan umbrella. “I felt it was a sign; you almost never see Michigan stuff here,” Ms. Riskind, 22, said. “And I guess I think that has given me a kind of confidence.” Psychologists and anthropologists have typically turned to faith healers, tribal cultures or New Age spiritualists to study the underpinnings of belief in superstition or magical powers. Yet they could just as well have examined their own neighbors or even some fellow scientists. New research demonstrates that habits of so-called magical thinking — the belief, for instance, that wishing harm on a loathed colleague or relative might make him sick — are far more common than people acknowledge. These habits have little to do with religious faith, which is much more complex because it involves large questions of morality, community and history. But magical thinking underlies a vast, often unseen universe of small rituals that accompany people through every waking hour. The appetite for such beliefs appears to be rooted in the brain. The sense of having special powers buoys people in threatening situations, and helps soothe everyday fears and ward off mental distress. In excess, it can lead to compulsive or delusional behavior. This emerging portrait of magical thinking helps explain why people who fashion themselves skeptics cling to odd rituals that seem to make no sense. The brain seems to have networks that are specialized to produce an explicit, magical explanation in some circumstances, said Pascal Boyer, a professor of psychology and anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis. In an e-mail message, he said such thinking was “only one domain where a relevant interpretation that connects all the dots, so to speak, is preferred to a rational one.” Children exhibit a form of magical thinking by about 18 months, when they begin to create imaginary worlds while playing. By age 3, most know the difference between fantasy and reality, though they usually still believe in Santa Claus and the Tooth Fairy (who arrives magically during the night to leave a present

Photographs by Cara Howe; Four-leaf clover by Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Magical thinking and habits, like carrying a good luck charm, are more common than people admit, research finds.

Scientists investigate why even skeptics have a lucky number. under the pillow of a child who has lost a tooth). By age 8, and sometimes earlier, they have mostly pruned away these beliefs, and the line between magic and reality is about as clear to them as it is for adults. It is no coincidence, some social scientists believe, that youngsters begin learning about faith around the time they begin to give up on wishing. “The point at which the culture withdraws support for belief in Santa and the Tooth Fairy is about the same time it introduces children to prayer,” said Jacqueline Woolley, a professor of psychology at the University of Texas. “The mechanism is already there, kids have already spent time believing that wishing can make

things come true, and they’re just losing faith in the efficacy of that.” If the tendency to think magically were no more than self-defeating superstition, then over the pitiless history of human evolution it should have all but disappeared in intellectually mature adults. Yet in a series of experiments published last summer, psychologists at Princeton and Harvard showed how easy it was to elicit magical thinking in well-educated young adults. In one instance, the researchers had participants watch a blindfolded person play an arcade basketball game, and visualize success for the player. The game, unknown to the subjects, was rigged: the shooter could see through the blindfold. On questionnaires, the spectators said later that they had probably had some role in the shooter’s success. “The question is why do people create this illusion of magical power?” said the lead author, Emily Pronin, an assistant professor of psychology and public af-

fairs at Princeton. “I think in part it’s because we are constantly exposed to our own thoughts, they are most salient to us” — and thus we are likely to overestimate their connection to outside events. The brain, moreover, has evolved to make snap judgments about causation, and will leap to conclusions well before logic can be applied. But reality is the most potent check on runaway magical thoughts, and in the vast majority of people it prevents the beliefs from becoming anything more than comforting — and disposable —private rituals. When something important is at stake, a test or a performance or a relationship, people don’t simply perform their private rituals: they prepare. And if their rituals start getting in the way, they adapt quickly. Tom Livatino, a basketball coach in Chicago, wears the same clothes for every game, believing it helps his team win, but he also recently became engaged. “I can tell you she doesn’t like the clothes superstition,” he said.

Small Wonders: Explaining Sperm and Their Warrior Ways By CLAUDIA DREIFUS

ming. Now, if this ion channel is blocked, there can be no fertilization.

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts — The first thing that David E. Clapham of Harvard Medical School wants me to know as we meet for breakfast on a recent morning is that he’s “not a sperm specialist.” It’s true that Dr. Clapham’s résumé is eclectic. At 54, he is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, has an electrical engineering degree from Georgia Tech and an M.D. and a Ph.D. in cell biology from Emory University, and has worked as a practicing internist. But while Dr. Clapham’s laboratory, tucked into the pediatric cardiology department at Boston’s Children’s Hospital, studies heart cells and neurons, the most noteworthy topic there really is sperm: how they swim, how they function. In fact, the Clapham lab is one of the few venues in the world where researchers are looking into new ideas for male contraception.

Q What are some of the underappreciated attributes of sperm? A. I’m fascinated by how determined they are. Sperm — each one seems an individual in the way they move. When they change from one motion to another, it’s fascinating. Moreover, they have the ability to do much more than most other human cells: they crawl long distances in a short period of time, they can sense their surroundings. In fact, they have molecules that are much the same as olfactory receptors in our noses. As you watch them under a microscope, you get the sense that they are going somewhere, or at least “think” that they are. They surround an egg and vigorously try to fuse with it. They don’t give up until they run out of energy.

Q. If you’re not, as you say, a sperm specialist, then how did your lab’s sperm research begin? A. By accident. I study ion channels, the molecular gates on the membranes of our cells. Within our bodies, whenever they open and close, about a million ions per second flow through them. This is how neurons communicate with one another and how muscles get signals to contract. Way back in 1999, in my lab, we were rummaging through the database of the Human Genome Project, searching for previously undiscovered ion channels. Once we detected them, we used molecular biology and biochemistry to find

Jodi Hilton for The New York Times

The work of Dr. David E. Clapham, of Harvard Medical School, may help develop new methods of male, and female, contraception. where in the body they were. One day, one of my postdoctoral fellows, Dejian Ren, discovered an ion channel that really was different from any of the hundreds of others that exist in a body: CatSper. It was only found in one tissue type, the testes, and only in the tail of mature sperm. That got my attention because this meant that it was doing a very specific job. It would turn out that the CatSper gene, which makes the proteins that create the ion channel, held the key to one of the great mysteries of reproduction: how sperm penetrate eggs.

Q. And just how do they do that? A. As you know, a human sperm needs to swim through the female reproductive tract for something like 15 minutes to get to the egg. They have a kind of builtin motor that permits them to do that. When sperm get to the egg, they need to crash through the ovum’s membrane to deposit their DNA there. The way that happens is that at the end of its run, this ion channel brings the sperm calcium, which changes the shape of its tail and turns it into a kind of whip. The sperm is then propelled into hyper drive — pushing it into the egg with 20 times the force of normal swim-

Q. Does your research have any practical applications? A. It might be useful in understanding some aspects of male infertility. Men who have a mutation in this gene are infertile. The research could also lead us to a new form of contraception. If you can find a drug that interferes with the calcium getting to the sperm’s tail, you can prevent fertilization. Q. Are you suggesting you may have found a new male contraceptive? A. Actually, either gender could take it. It’s possible to even give a woman a drug that could block the CatSper channel when the sperm entered her body. A man could take the drug any time before ejaculation.

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2007

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A Love of Board Sports Is the Soul of a Business By MATT HIGGINS Jamie Thomas has built a thriving business in the more than $11 billion board-sports industry by following principles he knows in his bones, the very bones that Mr. Thomas, a professional skateboarder, has broken over the years. He is attentive to the bottom line, but mindful of another line separating hardcore — or core — skateboarders from everybody else. He sells vast numbers of skateboards, sneakers and T-shirts, but he refuses to sell out and leave the world he loves. If it seems confusing, that is sort of the point. An insider’s understanding has kept the lucrative board-sports industrial complex — skateboarding, snowboarding and surfing — mostly in the hands of hard-core practitioners, even as these sports have grown more popular. Mainstream companies like Nike that have easily penetrated other sports often find themselves on the outside looking in, struggling to gain traction with action-sports athletes and fans who define their world by its antiestablishment bent.

Mr. Thomas created his first company in 1996. He called it Zero, because skateboarders were deemed zeros — losers. But in the past 10 years, skateboarding’s popularity has soared, with more than 11 million participants. These days, the only zeros in skateboarding are organized in groups of three, to the right of dollar signs, and separated by commas. Mr. Thomas, 32, has parlayed Zero into three brands, including Mystery skateboards and Fallen footwear, all under the banner of Black Box Distribution, another company he owns. Mr. Thomas has turned down several offers to buy his company for the same reason he will not allow his products to be sold anywhere but skateboard shops. “The thing that makes skateboarding unique is that it’s a subculture,’’ Mr. Thomas said. “You’re inside the group. Until you cross the line, you’ll stay inside the group. Crossing the line is selling, and you’ll go down on the brand-credibility barometer.’’ In other words, selling a stake in your business, selling to the wrong stores, selling bad product or selling too much product — it is all tantamount to selling out. “Selling out is not about profits,’’ said Lora Bodmer, a spokeswoman for Ac-

Photos by Sandy Huffaker for The New York Times

Jamie Thomas, a professional skateboarder, owns Black Box Distribution, which makes skateboards and footwear.

tion Sports Retailer, the leading boardsports industry trade show. “It’s about distribution. That’s a big deal in our industry — exclusivity.’’ Several board-sports entrepreneurs are professional athletes, and they have an automatic appeal for consumers and merchants. “A lot of hero worship in action sports is based on a particular pro’s fashion sense,’’ said Kevin Imamura, the communications manager for Nike SB, the sneaker giant’s skateboard line. “Jamie Thomas — people want to dress like him.

He’s setting trends, just like he did pushing the progression on a skateboard.’’ Mr. Thomas’s Black Box company has 160 employees and has grown 200 percent during the past seven years. Mr. Thomas was named Ernst & Young’s entrepreneur of the year for San Diego in its consumer and business products and services category. With shoulderlength hair and mutton-chop sideburns, he was the only entrepreneur in Ernst & Young’s promotional photos not wearing a sport coat. The professional snowboarder Danny

Kass has seen firsthand the rising interest in core brands like Grenade, a glove and outerwear company he founded with his brother Matt in 2000. Mr. Kass, 24, a two-time Olympic silver medal winner in the halfpipe competition, said sales had doubled each year of operation. “We really cannot put our logo on enough things,’’ he said. Yet Grenade has maintained an image as the epitome of a core brand: riderowned, exclusive, with an iconoclast’s bent. “We were all in our early 20s and teens when we started,’’ Mr. Kass said. “It was something that made us stand apart. We didn’t want to do what other companies were doing. “A lot of companies can’t figure out the formula for our success. What we have is organic.’’

Iraq’s Escape Is Soccer, But Soccer Can’t Escape War By KIRK SEMPLE

Thrillseekers With Kites Soar Over Snow Slopes Xavier Petit, a local snowkiter, said in French. “And the Col is next door to big resorts, where many good skiers and snowboarders live. It’s LA GRAVE, France — The Col not the easiest place to kite, but it’s du Lautaret, a mountain pass that popular because of media attention reaches 2,058 meters, is an hour’s and all the crazy riders who live near drive from Grenoble and sits in the here.’’ heart of the Southern Alps under This year’s Snowkite Masters inthe imposing shadow of big peaks cluded participants from around the and vertical glaciers. It is home to world. The staging area included a an annual early-winter festival, the teepee and a sports-drink company’s Snowkite Masters, which brings topromotional tent, with a D.J. spingether hundreds to participate in ning reggae music for a crowd that this emerging sport, which mixes was huddling around a snow-pit barskiing, snowboarding, kiting and becue and drinking beer. kiteboarding, with a bit of skate“We are an anticontest, with no boarding, wakeboarding and parafees, rules, competitions or prizes,’’ sailing thrown in. said Guillaume Chastagnol, one of Using lightweight foil-type kites the event’s organizers and perhaps that have bellows that inflate with the sport’s best-known professional. the wind and give impressive lift and “Yet we still attract the world’s top power, snowkiters are pulled across, snowkiters who travel here from far up and over snow-covered hills, away to meet friends, test new equipmountains, fields and frozen lakes. ment and show off new tricks. And, Upon arriving at the mountain yes, we have very good fiestas.’’ pass, known locally as the Col, one Pascal Joubert earned his nickcan walk in knee-deep snow toward name, Big Air, because of his huge a distant, shimmering flotilla of coljumps, which last as long as five minorful snowkites flying against a deep Photographs by Colin Samuels for The New York Times utes at heights of more than 100 mewinter sky. The kites, some as large Snowkiters from around the world ters. Jumps are measured in time, as a motor home, zip about the sky not distance. He said he converted in graceful arcs. When hit by sudden gathered in the French Alps recently for gusts, the kites slashed furiously the Snowkite Masters festival. Jumps are to snowkiting 10 years ago when he grew tired of fighting for fresh powback and forth through the air. Then, measured by how long they last, not by der at nearby resorts. without warning, a snowkiter passed how far the snowkiter travels. “In snowkiting, we are going back silently 9 meters above me, connectto the roots of the mountain, of the ed to his kite by 30-meter strings. He looked like an oversized mariSnowkiting became popular in Eu- calm, the serenity and virgin snow,’’ onette, except for the dreadlocks com- rope in the mid-1990s, and the Col quick- Mr. Joubert said. “The biggest pleasure for me is to flow over the snow and in ing from under his helmet and the hand- ly gained cult status. rolled cigarette dangling from his grin“Here we have consistent wind, var- the air. In snowkiting, we are no longer ning mouth. ied terrain and easy road access,’’ a victim of gravity.’’ By COLIN SAMUELS

BAGHDAD — Anyone wanting to take a measure of the importance of soccer in Iraq needed only to be in the country during the national team’s recent march to the finals of the Asian Games, which were held in Doha, Qatar. During each match involving the Iraqi squad, work ground to a halt across Iraq as people gathered around televisions. Each victory was celebrated with sustained gunfire. On December 12, the day Iraq beat the heavily favored South Koreans in the semifinals, at least five people in Baghdad were taken to the hospital with wounds from stray bullets, the police said. When the final whistle blew on the championship game against Qatar on December 15 — a 1-0 defeat for Iraq — the Iraqi television channel that carried the game cut to a montage of highlights from past victories, seemingly intent on forestalling a total collapse of the national spirit. “You are heroes,’’ the commentator declared. “Second is a beautiful position.’’ Sports fandom is a universal phenomenon, but in Iraq, soccer, the country’s most popular sport, may have greater meaning than usual. “We Iraqis don’t have much fun,’’ said Mehdi Hadi Sabi, 36, an auto parts salesman. On a recent afternoon, he was among a cluster of die-hard fans watching the Police Club, one of Iraq’s professional soccer teams, practice in a small stadium here. “This is one of the few recreational things we have left,’’ Mr. Sabi said. “It’s kind of a catharsis.’’ Soccer has become an escape from the uncertainty and violence of life, a source of camaraderie and even a binding force of nationalism in a country riven by sectarianism. Khalid al-Ansary and Abdul Razzaq al-Saiedi contributed reporting from Baghdad.

The professional league halted at the 2003 invasion; play was not resumed until late 2004. Though the stadiums remain remarkably free of violence, fear of attacks has cut into attendance. Ticket revenues and government support have declined, and the stadiums and practice facilities are in poor shape. The best players have fled abroad, seeking safer conditions and more lucrative contracts. “All the players would be happy to leave the country,’’ said Amir Sabah Hussein, 18, a forward on the Police Club. “I wish it weren’t so.’’ Violence has also precluded professional league matches in areas of the country where the insurgency is particularly strong, including Anbar Province and the area north of Baghdad known as

A beloved game, derailed by bullets and kidnappings. the Sunni Triangle. Teams from several violent, troubled cities have either folded or moved. Amateur and school leagues have also been crippled, with many teams no longer traveling outside their neighborhoods. In recent months, athletes and sports officials have been shot and kidnapped. The Police Club practices on a field scorched yellow by the sun, and the stands have fallen into disrepair. The team has not played an official league game there for two years because it is too vulnerable to attack, team officials said. The possibility that the season may evaporate has crippled the morale of the Police Club. “They’re training aimlessly,’’ Muhammad Shakir, the team’s coach, said during a recent practice. “They don’t know what they’re doing this for.’’

The Police Club, a Baghdad soccer team, has not played an official game on its field for two years.

Christoph Bangert for The New York Times

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Martín Ramírez, an outsider artist, was largely unknown to his family. A new retrospective introduces his works to New York, and to his relatives.

An Outsider Artist Draws In His Family By KATHRYN SHATTUCK NEW YORK — Their flight from Los Angeles had arrived nearly three hours late, but travel fatigue couldn’t keep Maria Ramirez-Miller, her six daughters and a granddaughter from scampering out of their Manhattan hotel rooms and onto West 53rd Street around midnight. There it was — trumpeted by banners hanging from street lamps and on coffee cups and catalogs stacked in the window of the American Folk Art Museum gift shop — the name Martín Ramírez. For more than 70 years,

this self-taught 20th-century outsider artist had been little more than a ghost to his family. But Mr. Ramírez, who created roughly 300 drawings that make up his known work between 1948 and 1963 while confined to a mental hospital in Northern California, is, as Roberta Smith wrote in a New York Times review of his show, “simply one of the greatest artists of the 20th century.” “He belongs to the group of accessible, irresistible genius draftsmen that includes Paul Klee, Saul Steinberg and Charles Schultz,” she wrote. Yet when the women entered the museum the morning after

Photographs by Patrick Andrade for The New York Times; American Folk Art Museum, Ramírez portrait, right

they arrived in New York, they saw many of the 97 drawings that make up “Martín Ramírez,’’ a retrospective of his art, for the first time. There was sudden silence as they stood there, and then tears. The daughters huddled around their mother, Mr. Ramírez’s oldest grandchild, as she gazed at the work before her: the obsessive, hypnotic renderings of hors-

es and riders, trains and tunnels, Madonnas and the landscape of the Jalisco region of Mexico. In 1925 Mr. Ramírez had left his small ranch there, seeking work in the United States to support his wife and children. By 1931 he had all but disappeared into the California mental health system, with diagnoses of manic-depression and later catatonic schizophrenia. Over time,

he ceased to talk and was classified, erroneously, as deaf and mute. After 1948 he lived out his years at the DeWitt State Hospital in Auburn, California, spending his time drawing. Hospital workers apparently sent Mr. Ramírez’s family a few of his artworks, along with a letter, sometime in the 1940s. The family members decorated their patio with the colorful images but then burned the drawings when they were told that Mr. Ramírez had tuberculosis. The artist’s larger works can now fetch more than $100,000 at auction. His family, however, has been left without any tangible connection to Mr. Ramírez. “When this exhibition was started, we had no idea it could be something like this,’’ said Elia Diaz, Ms. Ramirez-Miller’s oldest daughter. “It’s amazing after all this time to find out where your background comes from.’’ Speaking about her greatgrandfather, Ms. Diaz said: “Do I think he was mentally ill? I think it’s more the fact that he

was away from his family, he was homeless without a job, he couldn’t speak the language and he was depressed, just walking around, frustrated that nobody was listening to him. And he felt that he had nothing to go home to.” In 2000 Ms. Ramirez-Miller and her daughters found Mr. Ramírez’s pauper’s plot at a California state cemetery in Stockton and, with a priest, laid a tombstone on his grave. The women are talking of forming a family trust perhaps to buy a work by Mr. Ramírez and promote his legacy. “My mother and her family grew up with shame, but now I feel pride for my mother,’’ Ms. Diaz said. “It has given her a lot of sense of self-worth connected with her heritage. She grew up really poor, but now she feels rich.” Her sister Elba Ortega added: “It’s such an accomplishment for him. Maybe he thought all those years that he had left his family nothing. But he left us this.’’

No Smoking in Theaters, Especially While Onstage

www.love.cartier.com

By ZACHARY PINCUS-ROTH “Hand me a cigarette …, lover,” Martha says to her conquest Nick in the second act of Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” The stage directions then read: “He lights it for her. As he does, she slips her hand between his legs.” This scene cannot take place as written in Lincoln, Nebraska; Colorado; Scotland; or, starting April 2, in Wales. Smoking bans are so strict in these places that actors cannot legally light even herbal cigarettes onstage. In Colorado three theater companies — the Curious Theater Company and Paragon Theater, both in Denver, and Theater13 in Boulder— have gone so far as to sue the state, arguing that smoking in the course of a play is a form of free expression. The claim echoes the arguments once made to defend the nudity in the musical “Hair” against indecency laws. “It will deny residents in Colorado access to great prior works, and cutting-edge new plays as well,” said Bruce Jones, the lawyer representing the theaters. In October a judge ruled against the theaters. The companies are now awaiting an appeal, although they have not decided what they will do if it fails. Paragon is committed to staging “Virginia Woolf” in July, though it has not decided whether to follow the antismoking law or not. A spokesman in the Colorado attorney general’s office said he could not comment on an active case. Not all smoking bans are quite as rigid. In Ireland herbal cigarettes, which do not contain tobacco and which actors frequently use as an alternative, are permitted. England’s ban, which begins July 1, allows actors to smoke only “if the artistic integrity of the performance makes it appropriate

for them to smoke.” In New York City theaters, which fall under a statewide smoking ban in place since 2003, actors may smoke herbal cigarettes. If they want to use the real deal, the production has to apply for a waiver from the city. Many productions, like “Chicago” on Broadway, use herbal cigarettes. Abbie M. Strassler, the general manager of the 2005 Broadway revival of “The Odd Couple,” in which Oscar Madison is constantly chomping his cigar, did decide to apply for a waiver. The entire process, starting from when she first inquired, took four

Henry Grossman/The New York Times

Tobacco smoke used to be allowed onstage during plays like ‘‘The Odd Couple’’ in the mid-60s. months, she said, calling the procedure “absurd.” But she admitted that she did not get approval for a three-week Broadway run of Hal Holbrook’s “Mark Twain Tonight!” in June 2005. “I figured I’d take my chances,” she said. No legal action was taken. Actors aren’t allowed to smoke onstage under the ban in Chicago, but when they do, the law is simply not enforced. As for Theater13, it plans to produce “My Life Is My Sundance,” based on a memoir by the Indian activist Leonard Peltier, in whose culture tobacco plays a large spiritual role. It is unclear if smoking will be involved.