海角大神

鈥淲ho Is Ali Khamenei?鈥� writes Akbar Ganji in Foreign Affairs. Understanding Iran鈥檚 supreme leader is a crucial step if the United States is to ever find a way to deal with Iran on vital issues from its nuclear program to the security of Israel and the stability of the entire Middle East.

The first problem: Mr. Khamenei believes that the US wants to remove him and his government, either through an internal revolution, economic pressure, or military action. He also believes that capitalism and the West 鈥渁re in inevitable decline,鈥� Mr. Ganji writes. The good news: He doesn鈥檛 blame the US and the West 鈥渇or all the Islamic world鈥檚 problems.鈥�

And he鈥檚 not been isolated from Western ideas: His favorite novel is Victor Hugo鈥檚 鈥淟es Mis茅rables.鈥� Among American works a favorite is 鈥淯ncle Tom鈥檚 Cabin,鈥� by Harriet Beecher Stowe. He鈥檚 also read John Steinbeck鈥檚 鈥淭he Grapes of Wrath.鈥�

Khamenei 鈥渋s not a crazy, irrational, or reckless zealot searching for opportunities for aggression,鈥� Ganji concludes. 鈥淏ut his deep-rooted views and intransigence are bound to make any negotiations with the West difficult and protracted....鈥�

The Guardian defends its actions

Edward Snowden, who leaked details of United States government surveillance programs, has launched an important debate on privacy versus security, says the news organization that published portions of the material. In an editorial titled 鈥淪urveillance and the state,鈥� Britain鈥檚 The Guardian defends its actions:
鈥淚t is difficult to imagine any editor in the free world who would have destroyed this material unread, or handed it back, unanalysed, to the spy agencies or the government,鈥� the editorial says. 鈥淭he Guardian did what we hope any news organisation would do 鈥� patiently analysed and responsibly reported on some of the material we have read in order to inform the necessary public debate.鈥�

Electronic surveillance has changed the rules since the days of cold-war spies smuggling a piece of paper or microfilm across physical borders.

鈥淲hat was once highly targeted has now become virtually universal,鈥� The Guardian says. 鈥淭he evident ambition is to put entire populations under some form of surveillance. The faceless intelligence masters may say they are still searching for needles, but first they want the entire haystack. And thus countless millions of entirely innocent (in every sense) citizens are potentially being monitored.鈥�

Microsoft鈥檚 Gorbachev

When Steve Ballmer announced late last month that he was stepping down as head of Microsoft, few analyses of his tenure were more scathing, or colorful, than 鈥淲hy Steve Ballmer Failed,鈥� a post by Nicholas Thompson on The New Yorker鈥檚 website.

鈥淏allmer is roughly the tech industry鈥檚 equivalent of Mikhail Gorbachev, without the coup and the tanks and Red Square,鈥� Mr. Thompson surmised. 鈥淲hen he took control, in 2000, Microsoft was one of the most powerful and feared companies in the world. It had a market capitalization of around five hundred billion dollars, the highest of any company on earth.... As he leaves, it鈥檚 a sprawling shadow.鈥�

Mr. Ballmer, Thompson says, is the 鈥渁nti-Steve Jobs,鈥� missing out on every big trend 鈥� completely misjudging, for example, Apple鈥檚 revolutionary iPhone and iPad. Ballmer has managed to alienate customers and employees alike. He loved complex designs when Apple saw that customers sought simplicity.

Microsoft has become a paper tiger. 鈥淏allmer鈥檚 reign has done more to defang Microsoft than the Justice Department could ever have hoped to do,鈥� Thompson writes.

Who will benefit most from a new chief at Microsoft? 鈥淕iven the size of his financial stake in the company,鈥� Thompson says, 鈥渢here鈥檚 almost no one who should want a better C.E.O. for Microsoft than Ballmer himself.鈥�

Is Japan 鈥榗辞辞濒鈥�?

The Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry hopes so.

Two years after the 鈥渢riple disaster鈥� of an earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear meltdown in 2011, the Cool Japan Advisory Council is testing the idea.
It鈥檚 true that Japan is the home of anime (animation) and manga (comics), two cool art forms, points out David Zax in the Smithsonian. But stodgy Japanese bureaucrats and Japanese pop culture might not make for a comfortable match.

鈥淭he forefront of Japanese popular culture tends to be edgy and off-color, so there is likely a limit to the kinds of things that Japan鈥檚 perennially conservative government is willing to support publicly,鈥� he quotes one cultural anthropologist as saying.

A Japanese art curator has a better idea, he writes. The triple disaster has other lessons for Japan: 鈥渉ow to live in harmony with nature, how to wean the country from nuclear power and how to sustain a peaceful world.鈥� 鈥淚f we practice these,鈥� the art curator says, 鈥渁ny branding will not be necessary.鈥�