East 56

Somebody call Rambo

The new issue of East will be on newsstands, in bookshops and available in digital format from November 1st. We’re celebrating our 10th year of publication with fresh new graphics!

cover: Obama, Rambo and an updated look at the American Empire – on the run or just shifting its bets?

europe: our Middle Classes may be risking extinction – again. Mercenary sex is giving Germany a boost, while the UK chills out after a bout of Scottish referendum anxiety. Northern Ireland’s “Orange” loyalists can make a grudge last three hundred years, much less for a few decades… Poland knows how to cure the EU’s fading economy, and the Erasmus program attempts to transform young Europeans into, well, young Europeans.

chronicles: Oriana Fallaci invents war in Gucci loafers and eyeliner. The Arabian Nights of the early Caliphates were even bloodier than today’s Islamic State. Then there’s the enterprising young Fidel Castro: who tried to hit up Franklin Roosevelt for ten bucks.

world: the Romans had it right two thousand years ago: “While Kabul fiddles, Afghanistan burns.”  Kurdish Amazons can’t wait to blast woman-hating Islamic State thugs into tiny pieces. In the meantime, Qatar funds the IS militants – while it lends an air base to those bombing them…

Africa is the continent of the future, at least once it gets over that pesky problem with Ebola.

Chinese internal strife has reached a peak not seen since Mao’s day – but it’s for a good cause – and the country’s submarines are visiting vacation spots to ruin the digestion of Indian admirals. Japan can’t decide between “nuclear” and “nature” – and wants both. Europe thought it could warm up with some of that American shale gas, but it’s mostly going to Asia.

Rambo is tired – like the crews of the United States Navy. They’re spending sleepless nights trying to keep their new hi-tech warships running, but the craft are still too fragile to fight.

dossier: we look at propaganda in morals, in nation-building, in history, society and commerce as well as in film, food, music, beauty and digital fakes. When is a good lie better than the truth?