Case for globalization: The Economist goes out on a limb to make a bold stand for globalization, pointing out (quite correctly) that globalization helps poor nations become richer. Indeed, every poor country that has become wealthy has done so through closer ties with the rest of the world (Japan, Korea, Hong Kong). They also point out that globalization is not irreversible, and that the thoughtless actions of the righteous, cowardly, and comfortably well-off can mean real misery and poverty for the genuinely poor. Says something about the state of the intellectual left when its greatest triumph is the further impoverishment of the world's destitute.