Soldiers with the 7th Iraqi Army Division and service members with Military Transition Team 7 pick up trash at the Al Asad oasis and palm grove. (Cpl. J. Jones/US Marine Corps)
Ring of Fire: Why Our Military’s Toxic Burn Pits Are Making Soldiers Sick
By Katie Drummond
The Verge
In this week’s most disturbing and comprehensive exposé, Katie Drummond reveals the alarming extent of the U.S. military’s pollution problem and its devastating effects on soldiers and their families.
The Snowden Leaks and the Public
By Alan Rusbridger
The New York Review of Books
The Guardian’s editor, Alan Rusbridger, reflects on his experience with British officials who opted for archaic tactics such as smashing hard drives that held Snowden information in a technological world where information is no longer that easy to stifle.
A Game of Shark and Minnow
By Jeff Himmelman
The New York Times Magazine
Jeff Himmelman analyzes the geopolitical battleground for control of the South China Sea and the policy implications such a dispute holds for China and the rest of the world.
So Long, Saakashvili
By Thomas de Waal
Foreign Affairs
Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili’s charm on the U.S. has dissipated, and Thomas de Waal explores why it took so long for the Georgian president’s legacy to reach the heights of insignificance.
The Penitent Warlord: Atoning for 20,000 War Crimes
By Jonathan Stock
Der Spiegel
Joshua Milton Blayhim, better known by his nom de guerre General Butt Naked, was a ruthless Liberian warlord in the 1990’s infamous for practicing human sacrifice and cannibalism. Today, he is a pastor living freely and campaigning for forgiveness from his thousands of victims.
Rodolfo Walsh and the Struggle for Argentina
By Stephen Phelan
Boston Review
Phelan tells the story of Rodolfo Walsh, an Argentinian activist and journalist who helped strengthen the importance of narrative reporting in his 1957 book Operation Massacre.
Blogs:
On The Ground in Jakarta
US Smart Power is Taking a Beating
Analysis: Implications of Greenland’s Decision to Allow Uranium Mining
Russia’s Bullying Pushes Ukraine Further West
Memo to America: Stay Out of Cambodia
