“Israel Election: Netanyahu’s Likud Storms to Victory”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud Party has won a surprise victory in Israel’s election.
BBC News, Middle East.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31933326
“Netanyahu Wins Elections”
Prime Minister’s right-wing Likud Party wins surprise victory, sweeping past rival Zionist Union in bitter campaign.
By Patrick Strickland, Al Jazeera. Strickland is an independent journalist from Dallas, Texas, who focuses on human rights and social justice. His reportage appears at outlets like Al Jazeera English, AlterNet, GlobalPost, Middle East Eye, Truthout, and In These Times.
http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2015/03/150318051427755.html
“What Israel’s Upcoming Elections Are Really About”
This pre-election analysis says it’s not security or the economy or even that speech to Congress. It’s about two competing visions of the Jewish state.
By Liel Leibovitz, Tablet. Liebovitz is a senior writer for Tablet magazine.
http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/189580/what-israels-elections-are-about?utm_source=tabletmagazinelist&utm_campaign=2b790f1211-Friday_March_13_20153_13_2015&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_c308bf8edb-2b790f1211-207334713
“A House Undivided: Israel’s New Consensus Politics”
On the surface, Israel’s politics keep getting messier. Don’t believe the hype, says another pre-election take on the Israel’s March 17 election.
By Emanuele Ottolenghi, The National Interest. Ottolenghi is a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/house-undivided-israels-new-consensus-politics-12424
“What ISIS Really Wants”
The Islamic State is no mere collection of psychopaths. It is a religious group with carefully considered beliefs, among them that it is a key agent of the coming apocalypse. Here’s what that means for its strategy—and for how to stop it.
By Graeme Wood, The Atlantic. Wood is a contributing editor of The Atlantic.
http://www.theatlantic.com/features/archive/2015/02/what-isis-really-wants/384980/
“From Paper State to Caliphate: The Ideology of the Islamic State”
While the Islamic State dominates headlines through its brutal tactics and pervasive propaganda, there is little awareness of the unique beliefs driving the group’s strategy. Drawing from private correspondence, statements, speeches, and Islamic theology, the author unpacks the ideology of the Islamic State.
By Cole Bunzel, Brookings Analysis Paper. Bunzel is a Ph.D. candidate in Near Eastern Studies at Princeton University. His research focuses on the history of the Wahhabi movement in Saudi Arabia.
http://www.brookings.edu/~/media/research/files/papers/2015/03/ideology-of-islamic-state-bunzel/the-ideology-of-the-islamic-state.pdf
“Why It’s So Hard To Stop ISIS Propaganda”
It requires telling a better story. And the U.S. hasn’t come up with one yet, though the State Department’s Center for Strategic Counterterrorism Communications (CSCC) is trying.
By Simon Cottee, The Atlantic. Cottee is a contributing editor for The Atlantic and a senior lecturer in criminology at the University of Kent. He is the author of the forthcoming book The Apostates: When Muslims Leave Islam.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/03/why-its-so-hard-to-stop-isis-propaganda/386216/
“Finally, Obama’s Taking Radical Islam Seriously”
The White House summit on “Countering Violent Extremism” was six years late, says a former State Department official, who outlines some basics for a public diplomacy plan against ISIS.
By James K. Glassman, Politico. Glassman is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute. He served as Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs and as chairman of the U.S. Broadcasting Board of Governors in the George W. Bush administration.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2015/02/obama-countering-violent-extremism-115332_Page2.html#ixzz3USjmiqEB
“The Way Forward on Iran”
The P5+1 talks on Iran’s nuclear program have left some key players out of the equation—namely, Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the U.S. Congress. The president would be wise to add them in.
By Walter Russell Mead, The American Interest. Mead is a professor of foreign affairs at Bard College and Yale University. He is also the editor-at-large of The American Interest, a daily blogger as Via Meadia on that magazine’s Web site, and a non-resident scholar at the Hudson Institute.
http://www.the-american-interest.com/2015/03/12/the-way-forward-on-iran/
Europe’s Path and the Great Global Convergence?
Europe, a continent in decline, has retreated from being the self-defined center of the world to being what it had been before the 15th century—a corner of the Eurasian land mass. It remains fertile, populous and wealthy, but Europe is profoundly uncertain about its identity and its future.
By Stephen Green, The Globalist. Green is a former international banker who was Minister for Trade and Investment in the British Government from 2011 to 2013. His latest book is Reluctant Meister: How Germany’s Past Is Shaping Its European Future.
http://www.theglobalist.com/europes-path-and-the-great-global-convergence/
“U.S. Embassies Have Always Been for Sale”
President Obama may be getting flak for giving prestigious foreign posts to big-time donors rather than professional diplomats, but a new book shows that’s been the American way since the country’s founding.
By William O’Connor, The Daily Beast. O’Connor covers books, art, and travel for The Daily Beast.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2015/01/02/u-s-embassies-have-always-been-for-sale.html
“Matthew Barzun, US Ambassador to the UK, on Informal Diplomacy”
A profile of the diplomat who has brought parties, skateboard ramps, and turntables to the “special relationship.”
By James Pickford, The Financial Times. Pickford is deputy editor of FT Money.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/e919a648-b2c5-11e4-a058-00144feab7de.html?ftcamp=crm/email/2015221/nbe/ArtsLeisure/product#slide0
“How To Fix America’s Foreign Policy”
What President Obama should learn from Henry Kissinger’s new book, World Order.
By Anne-Marie Slaughter, The New Republic. Slaughter is the president and CEO of the New America Foundation. She previously served as Director of Policy Planning for the U.S. State Department under Hillary Clinton and as dean of Princeton University’s School of International Affairs.
http://www.newrepublic.com/article/120030/world-order-review-what-obama-should-learn-kissingers-book