The FPA’s “Must Reads” (February 16-22)

A Malian soldier fires an AK-47 during fighting with Islamists in Gao, Mali, February 21, 2013.
[REUTERS/Joe Penney]

Be sure to check out some new reviews of “Great Decisions in Foreign Policy” on PBS by Foreign Policy Blog’s Gail Harris, Scott Bleiweis and Jason Anderson.

A Ground-Level View of the U.S.’s Drone Campaign
By Christopher Swift
The Atlantic

From the ground in Yemen, the complexities of the country’s fractured politics make Washington’s drone debate seems shallow. Perhaps, too, it’s Washington’s practice of “targeted killings” that’s keeping Yemen in a unstable state, undermining its efforts to stabilize the country’s political and economic environment.

L’Étranger
By Lauren Collins
New Yorker

Gérard Depardieu, the French actor gone Russian, handed back his French passport in December of 2012 and nested in Russia after being granted citizenship by Putin’s executive order. Collins tells the story of how he ended up there in the first place after the drama of France’s “supertax.”

Capitalism and Inequality
By Jerry Z. Muller
Foreign Affairs

Arguing that both the left and the right are wrong about the origins — and how to deal with — inequality, Muller postulates that “inequality is an inevitable product of capitalist activity,” not a matter of politics. Each end of the spectrum, furthermore, minimizes the concerns of the other when in fact, as Muller claims, both are wrong.

To Fight India, We Fought Ourselves
By Mohsin Hamid
The New York Times

Pakistan’s problem is it celebrates the militants, elevating them to a heroic status. Yet to squash the rise of militancy in the country, Pakistan must normalize relations with India, avoiding confrontations where the militant is viewed as an “equalizer.”

Hillary Clinton, State Feminist?
Tara McKelvey
The Nation

Hillary Clinton came into the State Department vowing to make women’s rights a core part of U.S. foreign policy. So what does her record look like?

Blogs

A Candid Discussion with David Crist by Reza Akhlaghi
Censoring Speech in Haiti’s Most Celebrated Agora (part one) – Haiti by Chris Celius
Cybersecurity: Top Challenges and Six Big Policy Action Ideas by Franz-Stefan Gady
North Korean Nuclear Test: What Is the Nature of the Threat? by William Sweet
Thoughts on Zero Dark Thirty by Michael Crowley