They may be wrong. As our cover story explains, being monolingual when others speak several languages has its disadvantages – in the job market, in cultural understanding of the world and in keeping the brain alert. Could linguistic hegemony be responsible for the ‘Little Englander’ mind-set that Helena Kennedy, the human rights lawyer and Labour peer, decries?
Sanctions have a patchy record, but thanks to techniques perfected by the US Treasury, they have now reached a peak of effectiveness. However, Mark Malloch Brown and Harry Gibson warn they have reached their high water mark. The financial sanctions imposed on Iran are so effective that the non-western powers are looking to create a financial architecture that bypasses the dollar.
