PERISCOPE

ESPIONAGE

Listen Up, Everyone

There was outrage at the United Nations last week when a former member of Tony Blair's cabinet claimed that British intelligence had conducted electronic surveillance on Secretary-General Kofi Annan in the lead-up to the Iraq war. But there wasn't much surprise. Many diplomats already assumed that wiretapping was rampant. Former Australian diplomat Richard Butler says he held sensitive meetings in Central Park. Former chief Iraq weapons inspector Hans Blix believes he was tapped. Adolfo Aguilar Zinser, Mexico's former U.N. ambassador, told NEWSWEEK, "If you are in a room and you begin a conversation that is delicate for any reason, you say 'Let's go outside' or 'Please do not continue'."

The allegation comes right after British officials closed another wiretap controversy by absolving former intelligence officer Katharine Gun of breaking Britain's Official Secrets Act--even though she admitted leaking a top-secret memo to a British newspaper. In the memo, the U.S. National Security Agency requested assistance spying on undecided U.N. Security Council members last March. Did spying have an impact on the war debate? Zinser, who was Mexico's U.N. rep at the time, claims he and other missions came up with a preliminary compromise proposal on renewed inspections. The next morning, members were approached b y U.S. officials and told, "Don't even try it." The Chileans (a swing vote at the time) say they swept their U.N. office and found wiretaps. They decided to resolve the situation through "diplomatic" channels. But officials in Mexico's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told NEWSWEEK they have been waiting more than two months for a response to diplomatic "expressions of concern" sent to Washington and London. It seems unlikely they will hear any direct admission of spying from George W. Bush or Blair--unless they install some wiretaps of their own.

Walled Off

Israel's 700km security barrier in the West Bank is roiling emotions both at home and abroad. Two Palestinian men were killed by Israeli troops last week during an anti-wall demonstration in the town of Bidou. Meantime, hundreds of protesters squared off outside the International Court of Justice in The Hague as judges heard arguments about the legality of the barrier, which Palestinians assert is a land grab. Israeli Justice Minister Tommy Lapid, one of the few cabinet members to speak out against the placement of the barrier, talked to NEWSWEEK's Dan Ephron:

Why are you critical of the wall?

I am for the fence but I am critical of the route. We made some mistakes in the way we routed the fence. It shouldn't be invasive; it shouldn't be aggressive; it shouldn't hurt Palestinian farmers who want to reach their land and cannot get across the fence. [And] it shouldn't cut off villages from schools.

Right-wing Israelis argue the Palestinians brought this on themselves.

They brought it on themselves in the collective sense, but [an olive farmer] is not responsible personally for suicide bombings.

What practical steps could emanate from a Hague decision against Israel?

This is a propaganda battle. A negative opinion would be used by the Arabs and their friends to ask the U.N. General Assembly for sanctions or boycotts against Israel, which the United States would prevent. But of course we'd like to avoid that situation altogether.

Isn't there a precedent for this with South Africa?

This is what the Arabs would like to see. But the difference between us and South Africa is so obvious. It's so obvious that it's not a racist issue but a clash between two peoples over territory. You have these situations all over the world.

GLOBAL BUZZ

ROCKING THE BOAT AND THE VOTE EDITION

Electoral uncertainty roils politics in India and Mexico, while French politics could soothe feelings in Turkey. Iran's had its vote--not for the better.

(NEUTRAL ARROW) India Don't count Congress out. The BJP has the upper hand in April elections, but a few state alliances could tip the balance. Local issues will be key.

(UP ARROW) France-Turkey Relations with Ankara are cool. But Chirac will not block Turkey's EU bid to counter his far-right opposition, and to please Britain and Germany.

(DOWN ARROW) Mexico Despite denials, First Lady Fox is intent on running for president. Her ambitions are splitting the ruling party--and may doom the passage of reforms.

(DOWN ARROW) Iran Conservatives dominate new parliament. But splits, between those eager for closer U.S. ties and those opposed, mean signals will stay fuzzy.

NORTH KOREA

No Nukes, Only Juche

Last week's six-party talks on North Korea's nukes concluded with an agreement to keep talking. One of the stickiest points remains Pyongyang's denial that it has a nuclear program based on highly enriched uranium (HEU)--as opposed to a plutonium-based system, of which it has boasted. The Americans insist North Korean negotiators confessed to an HEU program during an October 2002 meeting in Pyongyang. What U.S officials took as a confession, however, may have merely been a case of uninformed North Korean diplomats.

NEWSWEEK has learned that some in the intelligence community doubt whether those particular North Korean negotiators really knew if Kim Jong Il actually had an HEU program or not. When confronted with the charge, the flustered officials responded a day later by saying, "Yeah, we have a program--you forced us to--and we have something even more powerful as well," says a Western source familiar with the incident. U.S. officials assumed they'd been threatened with more WMD. But State Department experts ultimately concluded that the "more powerful weapon" was simply juche, the North Korean state ideology of "self-reliance." For now, the ambiguity suits Pyongyang just fine.

RUSSIA

Good Guy or Bad?

How to read Russian President Vladimir Putin's sacking of his entire cabinet last Tuesday? In doing so, he bucked up interest in the upcoming presidential election at a time when Kremlin strategists worry voter turnout will dip below the 50 percent needed for a valid result. Putin's move also boosted the hopes of investors and Western governments that a new P.M. will jump-start critical economic reforms. To civil libertarians, on the other hand, the move smacked of yet more Kremlin heavy-handedness. Their position was bolstered later in the week by a report from the U.S. State Department, which accused Russian police of engaging in "torture, violence and other brutal or humiliating treatment."

In being open to wide interpretation, the move is classic Putin. Ordinary Russians will re-elect him on March 14. Foreign businessmen like him, too, for the stability he has brought to Russia. "As an investor, you are not really interested in democracy," says Christof Ruehl, the World Bank's chief economist in Moscow; democrats in turn warn that businessmen aren't safe without a stronger rule of law. Putin's choice of a new P.M. should clarify matters. Selecting a crony from the security establishment, such as Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, will send one signal--a second term of further Kremlin power. Picking a more liberal economic reformer, such as Finance Minister Aleksei Kudrin or a similar-minded dark horse, would send a more encouraging one. Good guy or bad? Only Putin knows.

INDIA

A World of Its Own

India is suddenly on Western radar screens, as U.S. presidential hopefuls bash the export of jobs to Bangalore. But the latest Globalization Index from A.T. Kearney and Foreign Policy magazine ranks India 61st out of 62 nations, down five places from 2003. Based on the idea that an open economy is a strong one, the survey suggests that fear of India is outrunning reality.

The problem, as with China, is sheer size: tens of millions of Indians are fully globalized, yet they represent just a fraction of the entire country. "Not all of India is Bangalore," says Moises Naim, editor of Foreign Policy. Take the Internet rankings: the number of Indian Web surfers grew 136 percent to about 21 million, but they still represent such a small fraction (2 percent) of the population that India came in at No. 55. India also suffered from weak results in foreign direct investment, with a meager $4 billion (compared with, say, China's $57 billion), and ranked close to the bottom in foreign travel and investment income. Those who fear India as the next Asian superpower may still be right; it just depends on what they mean by "next."

ENVIRONMENT

Up in Smoke

It's a bird, it's a plane, it's... a smoking rain cloud? Perhaps, if you happen to be in the Amazon. Two new studies show that biomass fires--the slash-and-burn method used to clear pasture for cattle--wreak havoc with our climate by disrupting rainfall patterns. When fires burn in the Amazon--covering about 25,000 square kilo-meters annually--the smoke carries tiny particles of soot, called aerosols, into the atmosphere. Naturally forming aerosols, which are considerably larger than the ones produced by smoke, are crucial to the formation of rain-making cumulus clouds--the particles attract water, triggering the formation of droplets. However, the fires prevent the rain clouds from forming, and the tiny smoke-made aerosols then rise to higher altitudes. At those altitudes, the "smoking clouds" that form are more violent and unstable, lessening the amount of rain that hits the earth. The result: declining precipitation and an extended dry season. Scientists believe the overall effects of the change in cloud cover may be felt on a regional and continental scale. In fact, by messing up rainfall patterns, aerosols may play a role equal to that of greenhouse gases when it comes to changing the climate.

ARTS

The New Old Louvre

The past decade has been tough on the Louvre. The late 1990s saw a rapid decline in public funding for renovation after a decade of excessive government spending. So France's pre-eminent museum is turning to foreign investors--including, mon Dieu, Americans--to fund the rebuilding of the Tuileries Palace, the wing of the Louvre that was burned to the ground in 1871. The reconstructed wing, expected to be completed within 10 years, won't come cheap, at roughly 300 million euros, and many of the art world's major donors live in the United States. "I hope our American friends can help us with this project," says Alain Boumier, president of the Academie du Second Empire, the committee responsible for the rebuilding. The new wing will provide space for the museum's massive inventory and give the neglected Jardin des Tuileries a face-lift. To test it out, the committee will project a facade of the final design for three days. And the architecture will be historically accurate: although architects Roger Taillibert and Stephane Millet have not settled on the design yet, Boumier confirms that the new wing will mimic the old. That'll give Mona Lisa something to smile about.

OBITS

Here Lies...

When Thomas Dahlberg passed away last fall, he was honored with a newspaper obituary befitting a CIA agent, two-star general and Pulitzer Prize finalist. But it turns out about the only accurate part of the piece was his name. The obituary had been written by Dahlberg himself. Shocking, but Dahlberg isn't alone in lying to the grave: scores of Web sites (which we will not name out of conscience) now offer tips on writing your own obit. "Do you have the guts to find out what people really think of you... 'after the fact'?" asks one Web site that offers to slide your self-written obit into a realistic-looking news-paper page. For a reasonable fee (as little as $16.95), news of your demise can be distributed to people like former in-laws who "you'd really rather stopped sending you Christmas cards."

TESTS

Proving the Weird

Think you have supernatural powers? "The Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge" is for anyone who can "show, under proper observing conditions, evidence of any paranormal, supernatural or occult power." According to James Randi, the magician/escape artist who organizes the event, hundreds inquire each year--but only about a half dozen take the test (register at Randi.org). No one's won the cash, but given the success of "Pop Idol," you don't need talent for good TV: the challenge was made into a show in South Korea, and Randi's headed to Germany this fall. Applicants in South Korea, writes Randi, included " 'X-Ray eyes' people, 'magnetic' people, spoon-benders, people who find lost animals, and even a man from Malaysia who lit up a fluorescent tube he held between his fingers."

Randi's not without detractors. While he insists he conducts fair, double-blind tests, Gary Schwartz, a University of Arizona professor and an expert on the paranormal, says Randi alters testing parameters. "The phenomena are very sensitive," says Schwartz. "He doesn't optimize conditions." Mike Guska, who failed to prove he could find gold, agrees. He says taking the challenge in an office threw off his channeling ability. Guska wants to retake it. But, he says, "they're going to have to come to me."

MUSIC

Smart, Sarcastic Love

On her new solo album, Courtney Love is far more present than she has been in court. She's back to her raw beginnings, screaming out pop-punk "melodies" over garagey, psychedelic guitar reverb. Her lyrics are smart, sarcastic, scathing and funny, especially when she sings about Julian Casablancas, the hipster heartthrob of the Strokes: "Remember when your phone went dead, well that was me on the other end." Be afraid, Julian, be very afraid. Taking Love lightly has never been wise.

Q&A: Chris Noth

Chris Noth is best known for playing Mr. Big on "Sex and the City." But he hopes someday he'll be bigger than TV. NEWSWEEK's Jennifer Barrett caught up with Noth as the HBO series came to its U.S. TV climax:

Does it bother you that a lot of people identify you as Mr. Big?

It's bittersweet.

There could be worse characters to be identified with.

These days what gets you the great roles, in many respects, is celebrity-type status. But let me cross that out... I still believe that the work counts more than anything else. That will be my mantra, because it's too depressing to think otherwise.

Let's talk about "Sex."

[Starts singing] It's over. It's over! [But] "Sex and the City" [was] five years of wearing Gucci suits, eating in some of the best restaurants, and I got to adore Sarah Jessica Parker. She got to break my heart; I got to break hers.

Will you break her heart again?

We get together in Paris.

Don't give away the ending!

No, everyone knows I was in Paris [filming]. But so was Mikhail Baryshnikov [Parker's love interest]. I'll give you a tip. It's going to be a threesome in the end. We're just all going to get it on.

I don't think HBO would go with that.

They don't know what they want to go with. We have more endings than interpretations of the Vietnam War. I truthfully don't know where they are going with it.