International Periscope

/ Source: Newsweek International

RUSSIA

Oil and the Oligarchs

Yukos, Russia’s largest oil company, may soon gain some American friends. U.S. oil majors ExxonMobil and ChevronTexaco are each bidding for a 25 percent stake in Yukos, at a price approaching $12 billion. But there’s more at stake than just money. This could be one of the final rounds of President Vladimir Putin versus the oligarchs.

Certainly, Yukos CEO Mikhail Khodorkovsky stands to make a killing off the deal. But he may have more than money on his mind. Khodorkovsky spent the summer on the defensive after he funded anti-Putin opposition parties in the run-up to December’s parliamentary elections. Now a key Yukos associate is in jail, and Khodorkovsky fears he might be next. By selling to the Americans, analysts say, he would protect himself. Putin would hesitate to take on a major U.S. company, and Khodorkovsky could reinvest proceeds from the sale into less vulnerable assets.

He’s not alone. Other Russian oligarchs, like Roman Abramovich, are also looking abroad. Abramovich recently bought London’s Chelsea football club for $230 million and is in talks to sell off key assets. “The tycoons have come to the end of their life cycle,” says Stanislav Belkovsky, a Moscow political analyst. Destroying them would solve many of Putin’s political troubles. Yet he recognizes that they are the source of Russia’s economic dynamism. That’s the reason, perhaps, that Putin has yet to deliver the final blow.

—Michael Meyer

IRAQ

Cutting the Connection

While Americans seem increasingly skeptical of their leaders’ overheated claims about Iraq’s WMD arsenal, they have been less eager to question an equally shaky claim, that Saddam was somehow connected to the 9/11 attacks. According to polls, more than two thirds of Americans still believe that charge, which the Bush administration has not explicitly made but insinuated, as Vice President Dick Cheney did as recently as last week. Cheney said Czech officials had “alleged that Muhammad Atta... met in Prague with a senior Iraqi intelligence official five months before the attack” and that this claim had neither been confirmed nor discredited.

In fact, many in the administration seem to recognize that there’s no connection. Just days after Cheney’s remarks, President George W. Bush told reporters there was “no evidence” that Saddam was involved in 9/11. (So why did Cheney raise the issue? “He was asked a question and said we don’t know” about the truth of the allegations, says an aide.) Intelligence and law-enforcement sources say they know of no new intel that would justify reviving the Saddam-9/11 allegation. In fact, other U.S. officials say the FBI and the CIA are convinced the Prague meeting never took place: most investigators believe Atta was in the United States at the time. The Iraqi who allegedly met Atta is now in U.S. custody and denies the meeting occurred, though some Czechs apparently still stand by the story.

Cheney also claimed 1993 World Trade Center bombing co-conspirator Abdul Rahman Yasin had received “financing” and “safe haven” from Saddam’s government. But the Iraqis claimed that Yasin was in prison from 1994 until shortly before the war. “He was being clothed and fed by them so long as he wore stripes,” joked one U.S. investigator. Sources close to the White House say the FBI recently found evidence in Iraq that appears to show Saddam ordered monthly payments and housing for Yasin. But sources say the FBI and CIA have no evidence of a connection between Saddam and the ’93 attack. Little wonder, then, that Bush backed off from Cheney’s comments. The last thing the U.S. president needs now is a new controversy over his administration’s credibility.

—Mark Hosenball

Cash for The Kurds

While Iraqis in and around Baghdad are forced to deal with bombings, carjackings and kidnappings, Kurds in northern Iraq are getting on with life post-Saddam—and trying to get their economy going again. Last week nearly 100 businesses from Iran set up the first postwar trade fair, in the city of As Sulaymaniyah. Cell-phone-toting businessmen, trade representatives from other parts of Iraq and curious locals checked out the goods, which ranged from carpets and dairy products to Dara and Sara dolls (Iran’s equivalent of Ken and Barbie). Seyed Talib Ahmad, head of As Sulaymaniyah’s chamber of commerce, proudly touted the fact that more than two dozen contracts—worth nearly $50 million—were signed to import Iranian goods. Beyond their dollar value, such deals may help cement legitimate business ties with a prominent neighbor as well as fellow Iraqis, who were barred from visiting the Kurdish enclave under Saddam’s rule.

Don’t expect northern Iraq to become a hotbed for high-stakes deals right away, though. Local business has long revolved around a thriving black-market trade in arms, fuel and food products; mending those ways could take some time. And then there’s the problem of infrastructure; some of the Iranian businessmen attending the fair lamented that the lack of a banking network will prevent large-scale ventures in the near future. Still, given how stalled the rest of Iraq’s non-oil economy is right now, almost any deal is a good deal.

—Babak Dehghanpisheh

SCIENCE

Secrets of Sleepers

Sleep with someone enough times, and you’re bound to get to know his or her personality. Now a British scientist says he’s stumbled on a quicker method. Chris Idzikowski, director of Britain’s Sleep Assessment and Advisory Service, examined six of the most common sleeping positions—which one rarely changes throughout adulthood—and discovered that each corresponds to a particular personality type. If you like to curl up in the fetal position, you’re most often shy and sensitive. (Apparently, this is most of us—41 percent of those who took part in the survey opt for fetal.) Then there’s the log: if you lie straight on your side like a log, it means you’re generally easygoing and social. There are also the yearners—loggers who extends their arms. They’re warm by nature, but can have cynical and suspicious streaks. The soldier lies on his back, arms pinned to attention. He’s generally quite reserved. The least common sleepers are the gregarious yet sometimes insecure ones who sleep in “freefall” mode (on the stomach with hands around the head, and legs nonchalantly apart) and the starfish, who are apparently really good listeners—perhaps because both ears are unobstructed. Confused about your identity? This should help you sleep a little better at night.

—Malcolm Beith

MARKETS

Overheated Exchange

The furor that led to the resignation of New York Stock Exchange chairman Dick Grasso last week had much to do with greed, or the perception of it. Even Americans, long used to the supersize pay packages of their corporate titans, were appalled by the $140 million payout to which Grasso was entitled. Businessmen across the pond were equally affronted by his $12 million salary, more than those of the nine other major stock-exchange chiefs combined. But the NYSE could probably learn more from its European brethren than the virtues of thrift and modesty. As the American bourse begins to re-examine a system whereby its chief executive’s compensation is determined by board members who are in turn executives of companies that the NYSE regulates, it would do well to look closely at reforms that have begun to take hold across Europe.

Until recently, roughly half of Europe’s exchanges worked like the NYSE; the same people who were trading on the exchange also acted as watchdogs, approving new listings and executive compensation. But during the past few years, the European Commission has sought to overhaul the system, making it clear in a series of directives that it doesn’t look kindly on for-profit exchanges continuing to hold regulatory powers. “The trend in Europe is definitely towards a split between commercial and regulatory activity,” says Gregor Pozniak, deputy secretary-general of the Federation of European Stock Exchanges in Brussels. “Some are further advanced with this process, and others are less so.” Lagging behind are Paris and Frankfurt, which still play an important role in such tasks as approving listings. On the other hand, most Eastern European bourses are following the new directives to the letter.

Still, at least the French and German exchanges have gone public, bringing in more dispassionate shareholders from the outside. Five of Europe’s exchanges, including London’s, are publicly traded, and more are likely to follow. The competitive pressure resulting from a more commercial focus will probably push forward the consolidation that is predicted for Europe’s exchanges (Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Lisbon are already members of the larger, publicly held Euronext trading group). Will salaries rise as the number of stock markets shrinks? Maybe, but there’s no risk of a Grasso-like payout, say analysts. In Britain, for example, the average salary of a top CEO (and that of LSE head Clara Furse) is only about 1 million pounds.

—Rana Foroohar

SIGHTSEEING

Can’t Talk. On a Tour.

Checking e-mail, taking pictures—there isn’t much you can’t do with a cell phone these days. And now you can add something else to the list: a cell-phone walking tour of New York City’s Lower East Side. Narrated by New Yawk comic actor Jerry Stiller, the expedition focuses on the neighborhood’s Jewish roots. There’s music from composer Irving Berlin, a former resident, and interviews with historians.

By calling a toll-free number (with the exception of individual phone charges, the tours are free), visitors dial up audio segments cued to 13 stops that are mapped out at talkingstreet.com; including walking time, the trip takes a little more than an hour. Next spring tourists will be able to explore other Manhattan neighborhoods, including the financial district and Times Square. Creator Miles Kronby is working on plans for Boston; Washington, D.C.; San Francisco; London, and Paris. “It would be a dream to have a cell-phone tour of something like Route 66,” says Kronby. But “walking and listening can be dangerous enough.”

—Holly Bailey

WRITING

Showing Some Skin

Sarah Kamens feels a connection to Shelley Jackson’s new short story “Skin.” Specifically, she feels it midback and a little to the right, where the story’s first word, if, is tattooed. “I like my word,” says Kamens, 23. “It’s like there’s more to the story than what’s there.”

There is. Kamens was the first American to answer last month’s call in Cabinet magazine to participate in a unique project. Jackson wanted to publish her newest short story one word at a time—on human volunteers. Since then she’s had 64 people sign up for the 2,301-word story. From couples wanting to be linked not just romantically but syntactically, too, to those who just aspire to become human magnetic poetry, volunteers are slowly (and painfully) publishing the work. Want to read it? Too bad. Jackson’s not releasing the text—only her “words” get the whole story. But she may publish a book of photos of her volunteers (tattoos not showing). “I like the idea of the story encrypted as people,” she says. “Maybe they will meet. Sentences will form that I never wrote.”

—Elise Soukup

THEATER

Project Greenhorns

It’s a measure of Matt Damon’s and Ben Affleck’s celebrity that these best-friends-4-ever can make news without doing anything. The hottest play in New York right now is an off-off-off-Broadway production called “Matt & Ben,” a spoof set in 1995, when the two were struggling actors living in Boston. They’re played by actresses (coplaywrights Brenda Withers and Mindy Kaling) who bear little resemblance to the guys but do bang-up impersonations. The show has already drawn a few big names—Nicole Kidman, Steve Martin—though not a peep from the real Matt and Ben. A spokesman for the play notes that Matt’s in Europe and Ben... well, he has other stuff on his mind.

Onstage, the script for “Good Will Hunting” literally falls from the ceiling, touching off an hourlong existential crisis. Matt thinks it’s a blessing; Ben thinks it’s a curse. (And how right they are!) Withers, who’s very tall, plays Matt, the short one; Kaling, who’s very short, plays Ben, the tall one. Another incongruity: onstage, Ben slugs Matt and knocks him out; in reality, the scrappy Damon would surely beat the tar out of the Sexiest Man Alive. Best gag: Affleck, pining for stardom, fantasizes about a certain Latina: “I’m gonna meet Daisy Fuentes!”

—Devin Gordon

Q&A: Sarah J. Parker

Sarah Jessica Parker is just so glam and authoritative in “Sex and the City.” But what’s she like inreal life? NEWSWEEK’s Nicki Gostin put her to the personality test.

What will you miss most when “Sex and the City” is over? Hanging out with the girls, or the free clothes?

Oh my God. I’m going to miss hanging out with the girls. Luckily it’s a city filled with clothes.

There’s a fire at your home, and you can save only one pair of shoes. Manolos or Jimmy Choos?

I don’t wear Jimmy Choos. I only ever wear Manolos.

OK. A pair of Manolos or a Kelly bag?

Oh, well, that’s like “Sophie’s Choice.” That’s an impossible situation.

OK. All the shoes or the dog?

The dog. Jesus Christ! Do I appear to be a terribly superficial person, with all these questions about clothes? I have deeper thoughts than what I might put on that day. I’m not my character. I don’t want people to think I spend the better part of the day deciding where to shop.

It’s only because I read that your husband [Matthew Broderick] gave you a Kelly bag.

He did and I love it. Why don’t we assume the dog is safely out of the house and then I can have it all?

That’s it! I feel like I wasn’t very good at this.

Oh, no, that “Sophie’s Choice” comment was just perfect.

Oh, OK. Thank you so much.

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“It’s over.” George Odour Ong’wen,a Kenyan delegate to the WTO meeting in Cancun, after trade talks between developed and developing nations collapsed

“In the Middle Ages people were convinced there were witches. They looked for them and they certainly found them.” Former U.N. chief weapons inspectorHans Blix, criticizing the United States’ and Britain’s insistence before the Iraq war that Saddam Hussein possessed stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction

“We have no evidence that Saddam Hussein was involved with the September 11 attacks.” U.S. PresidentGeorge W. Bush,in a comment to reporters as he met members of Congress last week. Some 70 percent of Americans believe there was a connection.

“If you want me to do angry, I can do angry. Seven thousand people dying a day is not a cause, it is an emergency.” Rock star and activistBono, at a press conference in Washington, D.C., after what he called “a good old row” with President Bush over payment of $15 billion promised to Africa to fight AIDS

“Honey, I think I just shut down Washington.” U.S. National Weather Service meteorologistJim Travers,to his wife, after he told officials that Hurricane Isabel would arrive earlier than anticipated

“You can call us many things, but politically stupid we are not.” Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Prince Bandar bin Sultan,after noting that his family has been in power since 1747

“There are no excuses for being a vagabond.” Bangkok Gov.Samak Sundaravej,announcing plans to clear the streets of homeless people ahead of next month’s Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting of world leaders in Thailand

“If smoking rules here were as strict as they are in New York, I’d emigrate.” Sofia,an Italian bank worker, on EU Health Commissioner David Byrne’s plans for a Europewide ban on smoking in bars, cafes and restaurants

Quotation sources from top to bottom: Associated Press, BBC (2), The Guardian, The Washington Post, Reuters, BBC, Reuters