Supporters of Hezbollah try to extinguish the fire from burning cars at the site of a car bomb in Beirut’s southern suburbs, August 15, 2013.
REUTERS/Hasan Shaaban
Zero Degrees of al Qaeda
By J.M. Berger
Foreign Policy
Twitter could be the most effective jihadist recruiter in online radicalization. With a powerful recommendation feature designed to find accounts that are relevant to your interests, a potential recruit can be introduced to a web of terrorist organizations in mere clicks. Could this ease of access facilitate the would-be terrorist, and should Twitter add further regulations and reporting tools in contrast to its usual hands-off approach to user content?
Eastern European autocrats pose new test for democracy
By Ian Traynor
The Guardian
The Hungarian village of Felcsút has recently known a flurry of building activity, including a football academy, due to the fact it is the hometown of the powerful Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán. A comparison between Orbán and other “strongmen” leaders of Eastern Europe and their tactics to dominate their political systems.
The Killing Machines
By Mark Bowden
The Atlantic
How to think about drones, with a David and Goliath metaphor and an account from a 19-year-old solider. The Air Force prefers to call this wartime innovation Remotely Piloted Aircraft. John Brennan famously declared in 2011 that a drone strike had not caused “a single collateral death” in the previous 12 months, which he went on to amend.
From Cold War to Cold Shoulder
By Timothy Naftali
Foreign Affairs
Despite the Obama administration’s denial, the Russians claim that Snowden’s asylum is the sole cause of the cancelation of the U.S.-Russian presidential summit. A warning to keep spying game below the level of the heads of state.
Arab Spring Countries Find Peace Is Harder Than Revolution
By Ben Hubbard and Rick Gladstone
The New York Times
The latest and most violent of the suppressions against the Muslim Brotherhood supporters in Egypt unfortunately fits all too well in the pattern of chaos that has befallen the Arab Spring countries. Many Arab activists are disillusioned by the turmoil that has resulted from their dangerous revolutions; however, others argue the discovered general sense of empowerment will lead the people in the right direction.
Asia’s Pivot: Stepping on Human Rights, Reviving Realpolitik by Zach Scott
Germany’s EU by Michael Crowley
Time To Put Blue Helmets On Killer Hawks by Oliver Barrett
The Politics of Political Islam by Abukar Arman
Ciao, Bella: Death in Italian by Cate Mackenzie
