New Periodical: Azure no. 34 (Autumn 5769/2008)

I recently received Azure no. 34 (Autumn 5769/2008). It has quite a few interesting articles about books and movies:

• Not Our Mother's Feminism (link) by Marla Braverman - Opposing what she calls "Victim Feminism"
• Man As His Own Maker (link) by David Heyd - Responding to a previous article by Leon Kass (Spring 5768/2008). Heyd argues in favor of genetic manipulation and cloning.
• A Truer Humanism (link) by Leon Kass - Rebuttal
• 'Zohan' And The Quest For Jewish Utopia (link) by Michael B. Oren - Review of comedy movie by Adam Sandler about Israeli super-soldier who moves to New York: an expression of American Jewish utopianism.
• Who Needs Job Security by Omer Moav and Ofer Cohen - Argues that the American model of at-will employment is better than European or the current Israeli models. Seems obvious to this American but I guess others need convincing. Although given the current financial crisis, a little job security would be nice.
• Israel and the Palestinians: A New Strategy (link) by Moshe Yaalon - Israel and the world need to facilitate the building of a solid Palestinian society before any peace can be made. Yaalon offers a number of areas in which progress must be made simultaneously -- including ending corruption, strengthening the judiciary, consolidating the armed forces, changing the education curriculum.
• The Jihad That Wasn't (link) by Yoav Gelber - A review of Benny Morris' 1948 (discussed in this post: link). Mainly quibbles on a number of historical points but recommend the book overall.
• The CIA Gets An F (link) by Shmuel Rosner - Review of a book that tells the history of the CIA and chronicles its many colossal failures.
• Batman's War On Terror (link) by Benjamin Kerstein - A review of the movie Dark Knight. Argues that the movie raises many of the difficult issues of living in an age of terrorism and, significantly, leaves the problems as open questions.