The FPA’s Must Reads (March 8-15)

Newly elected Pope Francis, Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina appears on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after being elected by the conclave of cardinals, at the Vatican, March 13, 2013. White smoke rose from the Sistine Chapel chimney and the bells of St. Peter’s Basilica rang out on Wednesday, signaling that Roman Catholic cardinals had elected a pope to succeed Benedict XVI. [REUTERS/Dylan Martinez]

The Iraq War that Might Have Been
By Michael R. Gordon, Bernard E. Trainor
Foreign Policy

Ten years later, these newly published secret documents may shed some light on the roads not taken — roads that may have shortened America’s longwinded involvement in the country. Foreign Policy outlines four pivotal episodes from the war that, had different choices been made, could have changed the course of U.S. history in Iraq.

Afghan Women Face the Future
By Ann Jones
The Nation

Ann Jones, a journalist and author, reflects on the changes and contradictions in the women’s rights movement in Afghanistan in this most recent edition of the Nation.

The End of the Two-State Solution: Why the window is closing on Middle-East peace
By Ben Birnbaum
The New Republic

The majority of the essential components remain for a successful Middle East peace process: Abbas is still in office, a majority of Palestinians and Israelis support the two state solution, a border can still be drawn on the West Bank to (potentially) satisfy both parties, and Hamas is confined to Gaza. But, and it is possible, if these circumstances vanish at the end of the Obama presidency, so too would the hope of a two-state solution.

The Putin Doctrine
By Leon Aron
Foreign Affairs

Aron outlines “the Putin Doctrine,” positing that it is a revamped version of the 1990s consensus, which rested on three imperatives: Russia remains a nuclear superpower, a great power in all international activity, and a hegemon. Putin, he says, adds to this an overarching goal of retrieving what was lost by the Soviet State in 1991.

Farewell, El Commandante: How Hugo Chavez Polarized Venezuela & the World
By Boris Muñoz
Newsweek

Chavez — a charlatan, populist and provocateur — built up an impressive, and perhaps glamorous, list of both supporters and enemies. But now with a country sunk in confusion, his legacy’s future seems like more of a mixed bag.

Blogs

Obama’s Moment to Make the Case for Middle East Peace
By the Boston Study Group on Middle East Peace

Leadership and Social Justice in Latin America: Francis I and Hugo Chavez
By Richard Basas

How Americans Are Making Sense of Remote Warfare
By Julia Knight

The Kenyan Election: Temper Your Optimism
By Derek Catsam

Torture, Zero Dark Thirty, and the Need to Confront the Past
By Scott Monje