The International Monetary Fund and the United States are bailing out South Korea . The cost is reportedly $55 billion--a record--including $20 billion in backup loan guarantees from the United States and Japan, and another $15 billion from the World Bank. This follows bailouts of $17 billion and $40 billion for Thailand and Indonesia, respectively. The United States and the IMF moved quickly because South Korea's situation is worse than was originally thought and because, without the bailout, the crisis might spread to Japan and eventually to the United States. (12/1) Israel's Cabinet approved a plan to relinquish more of the West Bank to the Palestinians. Two small problems: The plan doesn't specify how much land would be turned over, or when. Palestinian cynics said the plan couldn't be serious because if it were, the Cabinet wouldn't have approved it so decisively (16-0, with two abstentions). Israeli cynics said that Netanyahu was counting on Palestinian cynics to reject the plan, so that he'd get credit for offering it (thereby appeasing the United States) without having to fulfill it (thereby appeasing Israeli right-wingers). Sure enough, the Palestinians rejected it. Meanwhile, Netanyahu approved more West Bank settlements in defiance of the U.S. plea for a settlement freeze (after having complained that President Clinton "humiliated" Israel by refusing to meet with him). (12/1) A panel of defense experts and former military leaders accused the Pentagon of gross strategic errors in battle planning and weapons procurement. Among the chief indictments: 1) We're too well prepared for an implausible two-war scenario (Persian Gulf plus Korea) and too poorly prepared for an increasingly plausible terrorist assault on the United States. 2) We're armed for the comfortable fight we'd prefer to wage (Air Force bombing) instead of the messy fight necessary to win wars (urban ground combat). 3) We keep buying fancy technology that can't be supported from low-tech bases in battle zones. Analysts agree that the criticism is largely valid and that it will be ignored. (12/1) Public-relations buzzards are cashing in on the Iraq showdown before it disappears. 1) Louis Farrakhan announced he will visit Iraq as part of his world tour and hopes to show that Saddam (who is "more popular with his people than President Clinton is with the American people") is a man we can work with. The U.S. government denounced Farrakhan's trip, thereby helping him promote it. 2) While seeking to limit U.N. access to Saddam Hussein's 63 palaces, Iraq paraded nearly 100 coffins containing what it said were corpses of children killed by cruel U.N. sanctions. 3) Israel bashers renewed their efforts to link the crisis to Israeli intransigence in the Middle East peace process. This enabled Israel apologists to denounce the linkage, thereby diverting attention from Israeli intransigence. (12/1) The Arlington National Cemetery cash-for-crypts story collapsed. Insight , the Washington Times magazine, initially reported that burial plots "allegedly have been 'bought' by fat-cat donors to Clinton's reelection committee and the DNC." Rush Limbaugh, Ollie North, and Gordon Liddy made hay of the story, and several congressional Republicans demanded investigations, thereby entitling the mainstream press to wade in. The Army eventually released the list of those getting waivers for burials. It showed only one major donor, and he had served in the Merchant Marine in World War II. Conservatives fell back on three arguments: 1) So what if it's a lie? The larger truth is that Clinton's record made it plausible. (See Slate 's "Readme" for more.) 2) The White House prolonged the story by failing to disprove it more quickly. 3) By broadcasting a lie, conservatives laudably hastened its exposure as such. Democrats consoled themselves with the observation that with enemies like these, Clinton hardly needs friends. The media, as always, pondered what it all means for the media. (11/26) Media moves: 1) Mort Zuckerman hired Harry Evans away from Random House to oversee the New York Daily News , U.S. News & World Report , and the Atlantic Monthly . Evans says he's delighted to resume "Boy Scout" journalism. Critics say he's all glitz and no talent. Media reporters are looking forward to a resumption of Evans' feud with Rupert Murdoch, who owns the rival New York Post . 2) Geraldo Rivera agreed to stay at NBC. He gets $4 million a year and gives up his lucrative lowbrow syndicated talk show in exchange for more highbrow assignments. Geraldo's spin: "This is something I need for my honor, for my family, for my own self-image." (NBC News President Andrew Lack added, "I am America's news leader.") 3) Isiah Thomas quit as vice president of the Toronto Raptors to broadcast basketball games for NBC. (11/26) Former South African first lady Winnie Mandela was accused of murdering a 14-year-old boy. A former bodyguard told the Truth and Reconciliation Commission that he saw her stab the boy to death. Mandela was previously convicted of assaulting and committing the boy, but not of killing him. Problems with the accusation: The ex-bodyguard hadn't implicated her in his previous accounts of the murder, and another of her henchmen has already been convicted of it. Analysts questioned whether her appearance before the commission, which was supposed to help revive her political career, might end up killing it. (11/26) British tabloids are having a field day with the divorce of Earl Spencer , Princess Diana's brother. The attorney for Spencer's wife says that Spencer 1) committed adultery with a dozen women; 2) summoned his wife to his bath to inform her, "I no longer love you and you're no good as a wife"; 3) expressed remorse by telling one of his mistresses that his wife deserved a husband who could "help her deal with her shortcomings." After Diana's death, Spencer had questioned the royal family's ability to raise her children properly and accused the tabloids of residing "at the opposite end of the moral spectrum" from the saintly Diana. In view of this week's divorce proceedings, the Sun crowed, "He is not fit to lecture anyone about morality and decency." (Also see Slate 's assessment.) (11/26)