- Saeed Jones is setting off for a year of travel:
Before I even knew I would lose her, and even as I held her hand in the hospital, I knew but couldn’t fully fathom just how much my mother’s death would change my life. I’m leaving everything I know and taking on the world for the same reason I told her – in the end – it was okay to let go:
We will find our home everywhere we are brave enough to travel.
- Kevin Drum: Why Obama Caved on National Security
- Eric Pfanner: Debunking Rumors of an Internet Takeover by the U.N.
- “It is supporters of Obama’s aggression, not its opponents, who are likely to provoke another Terrorist attack,” says Glenn Greenwald.
- Exposing Obama’s not-so-secret drone war
- Part 3 in a 3-part series on Syria; Bassam Haddad declares “not all leftist values are equal,” before setting out to analyze various positions on Syria and Hezbollah.
- Tony Badran on the Syrian government’s adept use of information warfare:
Of all the uprisings of the “Arab Spring,” the Syrian revolt has been the one arena where pro-regime information warfare has been a central element in the ongoing conflict. While the regime has not been able to shape the information environment completely, it has nevertheless had some success in sowing confusion and reinforcing the fears of its target audiences. What’s more, the pro-regime information operations have found resonance in some rather unexpected corners in Washington.
- George Washington University professors write fake–but highly researched–article on “presidential pets.” Citations include comments from Socks, Buddy.
- Listen to Glen Hansard’s new solo album, Rhythm and Repose, on NPR.
On Egypt (worth a read even post-elections; apologies, I read most of these earlier in the week and am just now collecting them):
- Hossam Hamalawy: “The Troubled Revolutionary Path in Egypt: A Return to the Basics“
- Alaa Aswany’s warning: “Before You Vote in the Second Round“
- Khalid Abdalla in the Guardian:
This time as millions go to vote, millions of others will not vote – boycotting or spoiling their ballots. They will do so, not because they don’t believe in democracy, but because they refuse to choose a lesser evil, and in turn be complicit in a political process that has been used to prevent change and not to bring it.
Far from disenfranchising themselves, they will be laying their bet on the only movement that has forced the army to bend and cornered the Muslim Brotherhood into decisions that have destroyed their popularity – the revolutionary movement.
- Khaled Fahmy: “The third way“
- Hossam Hamalawy: “In Egypt, Mubarak’s repression machine is alive and well“
- Mohamed El Dahshan: “Why the bad news in Egypt is even worse than you thought“