The FPA’s Must Reads (7/25-8/1)

It Don’t Gitmo Better Than This
By Molly Crabapple
Vice

Taking its title from a t-shirt sold in the Guantanemo Bay gift shop, Crabapple’s article details a venture into the heavily controlled media landscape of one of the world’s most infamous prisons. Crabapple — who did not get nearly as much direct access to the prisons as, say, Sami Al-Hajj, the Al-Jazeera journalist detained in Gitmo for six years — focuses in on the captivity of Nabil Hadjara, a 34-year-old detainee born in Algeria cleared for release in 2007 but unable to return to his family in France.

Will Iran Get a Bomb—or Be Bombed Itself—This Year?
By Graham Allison
The Atlantic

Allison takes a bet on the possibility of Iran either getting the bomb or being the target of a major bombing attack in 2013. In an effort to bridge technical and policy issues, Allison produces answers to 12 key questions on the Iranian nuclear issue.

The War of Law
By Jon Kyl, Douglas J. Feith, and John Fonte
Foreign Affairs

In an era of globalization, a number of legal scholars have embraced the idea of transnationalism, the idea that the United States should, in the interest of promoting “global governance,” bring American law into conformity with “global norms.” Yet, the authors argue, this idea elevates “global norms” above the U.S. Constitution, limiting accountability to American voters.

The Defection of Edward Snowden
By Joshua Foust
Medium

“Is Snowden the next Phil Agee or the next Martin and Mitchell?” asks Foust. Snowden’s leaks appear different than, say, those of whistleblowers like Bradley Manning: Unlike Manning, he’s made himself the story, publicly announcing his identity, arguably in an attempt to control the narrative about the leaker.  Foust delves into the motives and logic behind Snowden’s movements, analyzing them against a backdrop of likeminded leakers in decades past.

SWAT for Settlers
By Debra Kamin
Foreign Policy

Yisrael Danziger, a Brooklyn-born settler, has been training settlers in self-defense for years. Founder of Mishmeret Yesha (“Guardians of Judea, Samaria, and Gaza”) and Israeli resident since he was 19, he’s become part of a system structured to protect settlers and dig its heals into contested land.

Blogs:

Uncle Sam, Uncle Bob and elections in Zimbabwe by Scott Firsing
Thinking of Syria as Two States by Alexander Corbeil
Zimbabwe Elections: Why Should We Care? by Ralph Black
Revisiting the Shoah by Maxime Larive
GailForce: Aspen Security Forum Part III – Syria by Gail Harris