Plus: Torah Scholars; Luis Alvarez; Alexei Ratmanski; Rilke
| Today in The New York Review of Books: Sandeep Vaheesan generates public power; Magda Teter studies the Torah; Alec Wilkinson celebrates the polymathic physicist Luis Alvarez; Marina Harss watches Alexei Ratmansky dance; Joy Williams reads Rilke; and, from the archives, a plea for peace from Iranians in 2019. The long story of public power suggests that state ownership can in fact appeal to the broad American public. The Torah scholars who came to be called “rabbis” emerged as figures of authority after the destruction of the Jewish Temple in 70 CE and the later exile of Jews from Judaea—and created Judaism’s founding literature. Luis Alvarez brought a scientific pragmatism to many of the twentieth century’s greatest mysteries, including the secrets of pyramids, the Kennedy assassination, and the disappearance of the dinosaurs. Having wrested himself from Russia after the invasion of Ukraine, the great choreographer has sought to remake himself and his work in Denmark. Rainer Maria Rilke’s temperament, it could be said, was fragile, ghost-haunted, unironic, unthrifty, reliant, romantic, intermittently animistic, and decidedly non-avant-garde. Free from the ArchivesDuring the first Trump administration, the president withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a multilateral agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program negotiated during President Obama’s last term, and instead imposed harsh economic sanctions on the country as part of what Trump called a “maximum pressure campaign.” The result was a devastating recession in Iran, the return of the country’s nuclear program, and a series of small conflicts in the Persian Gulf that brought the US and Iran to the brink of war. On July 9, 2019, four Iranian political reformists published a plea for peace in the NYR Online, arguing that the pursuit of violence would lead to “untold human suffering, environmental disaster, and a prolonged conflict that will forestall the possibility of peaceful coexistence and prosperity in the Persian Gulf area for decades to come,” while also setting back any efforts to liberalize their government. “The vicious counsel of warmongers must give way to the calm voices of peace and reconciliation,” they wrote. “Retaliation and revenge have never worked for humankind.” The consequences of waging another Middle Eastern war will be catastrophic not only for our country, Iran, but for the United States and its regional allies. It will lead to untold human suffering, environmental disaster, and a prolonged conflict that will forestall the possibility of peaceful coexistence and prosperity in the Persian Gulf area for decades to come. As veteran members of the reformist movement in Iran, we are also concerned about the mortal blow that even a limited military conflict with the United States of America will deal to the democratic movement of Iran. We can already feel the restrictions that the crisis of the last two years has imposed on the fragile civil society and peaceful political activity in Iran.
New Subscriber Benefit!Subscribers are now able to share unlocked versions of our articles with friends, family, and social media channels. When signed in to your account, look for this gift box icon in any of our articles. To some cops and the unions that represent them, the federal invasions of American cities are a chance to undercut the already fraying democratic constraints on police power. Robert McNamara’s failure to reckon with the exceptionalism that led the United States into the Vietnam War contributed to fifty years of foreign policy failures. It can help us understand the crisis facing American democracy today. You are receiving this message because you signed up
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