From NYRB, Haleh Esfandiari on Iran’s state of fear. The making of a martyr: Some doubt the story of Mohamed Bouazizi whose suicide sparked the revolution in Tunisia. For all the worries about the region's turmoil, there is also cause for hope in the Middle East. From News & Letters, an article on philosophy and Iran's revolution: Where to now? Iraq is still very dangerous, though not dangerous enough to scare off investors with an appetite for risk. Can Turkey unify the Arabs? As the Arab world struggles with the traumas of its revolutions, something else is at work along connections from the Ottoman Empire. Barak Barfi on how to topple Qaddafi. An interview with Emmanuel Todd on the demographic roots of the Arab revolution. Can nonviolence work in Iran? Ramin Jahanbegloo and Roberto Toscano on the future of Iran's opposition (and more on the dignity of nonviolence in Iran). Tunisia's literary life is blossoming after the end of Ben Ali's dictatorship — now critical works are selling like hot cakes. The next version of Egypt could set an example for the Arab world — inside the struggle to imagine a new state (and more on Egypt’s next crisis). A Fourth Wave or false start? Larry Diamond on democracy after the Arab Spring. Inside Al Jazeera: Nothing prepared us for what we saw happening across the Arab world this year — one network knew damn well how to report a revolution. A review of Democracy in Modern Iran: Islam, Culture, and Political Change by Ali Mirsepassi. The Syrian Problem: Steve Coll on an uprising unlike the others. Franco Frattini on a Marshall Plan for the Arab world. The Silence of the Thinkers: Many intellectuals in the Arab world had already made their peace with the autocrats and dictators — few of them made an active contribution to the Arab Spring movements. Qaddafi’s Green Book mixes utopian socialism and Arab nationalism with a streak of Bedouin supremacism. A review of The People Reloaded: The Green Movement and the Struggle for Iran’s Future. Christopher Caldwell on how Bernard-Henri Levy fought his way into chronic interventionism. Political Order in Egypt: Francis Fukuyama on how Samuel Huntington helps us understand the Jasmine Revolutions.
