Nayef Ali Al-Joulan (Al al-Bayt): Aesthetic Dying: The Arab's Heroic Encounter with Death. From Asia Times, James Carroll on the disappearance of the nightmare Arab; and Pepe Escobar on the birth of Islamic modernity. An interview with Benjamin Stora on the bitter legacy of past Franco-Algerian relations. Geocurrents on Libya’s geographical divisions and the challenge to national unity. From Subject to Citizen: Michael Walzer, who is against wishful thinking (and a response), on how the Libyan crisis provides a classic test of the liberal doctrine of nonintervention, now entrenched in international law, and famously defended by John Stuart Mill. Immanuel Wallerstein on Libya and the world left. With Libya's Megalomaniac "Philosopher-King": In a tent in the desert, Gadhafi explained to Robert Putnam why he could never tolerate any challenge to his supreme will. Harvard for Tyrants: How Muammar al-Qaddafi taught a generation of bad guys. From the streets of Bucharest to the slums of Manila, people power invariably wins out in the end; as Libya recovers its voice, Peter Beaumont examines the dynamics of bringing down a despot. We should beware of reducing the Middle Eastern revolution to local foreign policy spats—and therefore to our human rights. The turmoil that has been sweeping the Middle East is susceptible to at least two broad and daring explanations. Economic development is at the root of unrest throughout the Arab world — and helping countries manage economic growth well should be our concern going forward. An interview with Ilan Berman, vice president of the American Foreign Policy Council, on the Middle East region. How much did social media contribute to revolution in the Middle East? Evgeny Morozov investigates. Can data predict political revolutions? Richard Florida investigates (and part 2 and part 3).
