Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei casts his ballot at his office during the Iranian presidential election in central Tehran June 14, 2013.
Credit: REUTERS/Fars News/Hassan Mousavi
Silent War
By Michael Joseph Gross
Vanity Fair
Did the U.S. bid to stop nuclear proliferation unleash an even great threat? The cyberwar between Iran and the U.S. may not involve shooting, but it’s taken a number of casualties in the business community with it, whether they are banks or huge parts of the telecommunications industry. And it’s all tied to a shared struggle of the U.S. and Israel to keep Iran from getting the bomb.
Ghosts of the Rio Grande
By Brenden Borrell
American Prospect
The path across the U.S.-Mexico border is littered with the bodies of the vanished — los desaparecidos — during their journey north. Unlike Arizona, where most remains are identified, the bodies have piled up in Texas, even despite laws requiring the collection of DNA off of unidentified remains. Borrell’s piece is a story not just of the “ghosts” haunting the Rio Grande or of the treacherous path for migrants trying to cross the border, but also of the U.S.’ strategy toward cracking down on “illegal immigration.”
Missing Mahmoud
By Reza Aslan
Foreign Policy
Ahmadinejad’s rhetoric and populism may have provided a certain amount of comedy to some, but it’s, according to Aslan, his ability to stand up to the mullahs that will be most missed. Aslan argues that even though Ahmadinejad is dislikable, he’s proved to be more of a threat to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — a trait we’ll miss once a member of Khamenei’s fan club comes to power.
Can We Imagine the Life of a Terrorist?
By Robert F. Worth
The New York Times Magazine
With the proliferation of suicide bombings since 1980, the struggle to make sense of it all has plagued not just academics, but also artists, novelists, and filmmakers the world over. With the release of “The Attack,” a film about an Arab-Israeli tourism whose wife kills herself and 17 other people in a Tel Avi restaurant, Worth reflects on the impact the proliferation of suicide bombings has had on both fiction and non-fiction, and how it continues to intrigue.
Iranian Foreign Policy After the Election
By Farideh Farhi and Saideh Lotfian
Foreign Affairs
Much of the focus on Iran’s elections has been on how it will affect the country’s domestic policy, with much less on its foreign policy. Nevertheless, the election has exposed the political limitations and the choices facing policymakers. Farhi and Lotfian identify the three broad “schools” of Iranian foreign policy thinkers — the Islamic idealists, regional power balancer, and global power balancers and outline their main goals and interests.
After the Revolts: Arab-West Relations (Part 2/2) by Manuel Langendorf and Abul-Hasanat Siddique of Fair Observer
Polisario Threatens its Way to Congress: There’s Something Wrong with this Picture by Calvin Dark
The Dilemma of Snowden’s Leak by Maxime Larive
Strategic Stability in Cyberspace by Franz-Stefan Gady
Foreign Policy in Theory and Practice by Michael Crowley
