China almost bankrupted Rome through its aesthetic craving for imported silks, and wrenched the British Empire apart with the chemical high of costly teas. Now the West faces a metaphysical addiction to its “toys.”

A short film by Donald Weber—an insider’s glimpse at red carpet culture and paparazzi during the 2009 Toronto International Film Festival.

Although it’s never been recognized by the international community, Somaliland broke away from Somalia during the civil war. Hargeisa, the capital of Somaliland, a bombed-out ghost town only fifteen years ago, is now thriving. But across the border in Ethiopia there’s trouble. Somali Ogadenis are still fighting their own, doomed war of secession.

The rise of the ‘Third World Preacher’ and how the increasingly global reach of African Pentecostalism is proving there are many ways of being modern.

Our contemporary coureurs du bois head straight into Manitoba’s heart of whiteness to plumb the true meaning of an Arctic Front. Can Western Civilization and Immanuel Kant triumph over The Land God Gave Cain? Your guide to the Ices of Northern Canada.

Okay, here’s the assignment — myself and a stylist drove around western Ukraine in an Opel, purposely avoiding the big cities, sticking to the back roads, looking for “real” people to be our models. In the trunk of the car, thousands of dollars worth of high fashion from Europe and New York. Change in the car, you look great!

The recent climate change summit in Cøpenhagen illustrated the new relationships between magazines, bloggers, activists, and advocacy groups, revealing how journalists are now working with the groups they once reported on.

Havana’s most conspicuous foreign mission is the former Soviet (now Russian) embassy, which seems to glower rather direly back at anyone who dares to look at it. The obelisk erupting from its brutalist tower block does suggest a periscope from which those inside might be surveilling the city, but for those of us with an unhealthy fascination with totalitarian design the building is utterly compelling.

If social media tools are enabling the opposition protests in Iran, and helping us outside the country understand what’s transpiring, some credit for this is due to Hossein Derakhshan—Iran’s “Blogfather” and the author of a life that’s taken some very through-the-looking-glass turns of late. Derakhshan is currently being detained by the Iranian Intelligence Ministry.