The FPA’s Must Reads (July 19-26)

A local Afghan boy stands near members of Provincial Reconstruction Team Farah watching as 550 meters of quick assembly barrier are loaded onto a truck as part of a civil affairs project for the Farah director of education. The barrier will be used as fencing around the Farah stadium to help protect the playing field. PRT Farah’s mission is to train, advise and assist Afghan government leaders at the municipal, district and provincial levels in Farah province, Afghanistan. (U.S. Navy photo by Lt. Chad A. Dulac/ Released)

Sleep-Away Camp for Postmodern Cowboys
By Josh Eells
The New York Times Magazine

Fifteen miles north of Amman sits the King Abdullah II Special Operations Training Center (Kasotc), the site for annual Warrior Competition. Dubbed the “Olympics of counterterrorism,” the competition is meant to showcase the 21st-century warrior through a series of mock missions.

Why Putin Crushed Navalny
By Joshua Yaffa
Foreign Affairs

Alexei Navalny, a blogger and opposition figure who’s been on trial for corruption charges since April, was found guilty last Thursday of embezzlement and sentenced to serve five years in prison. Now Navalny may be free, but it’s only temporary. The real question, which Yaffa seeks to answer, is why Putin has focused so much attention on a figure who doesn’t yet have the capacity to threaten Putin at the ballot box.

Cyber-Sabotage Is Easy
By Thomas Rid
Foreign Policy

In certain circles, it’s a fairly well-known fact that hacking power plants and chemical factories isn’t too difficult (Thomas Rid learned how to do it in a five-day workshop) — in some cases this vulnerability is pointed to as evidence U.S. infrastructure is dangerously far from being able to handle cyber attacks. But if these vulnerabilities are so easy to spot, why hasn’t the U.S. been ravaged by a slew of cyber attacks?

Makers of War
By Matthieu Aikins
Wired

The Syria’s rebels arms manufacturers are an eclectic mix, many of whom came from seemingly unrelated backgrounds. Focusing particularly on Aleppo — two-thirds of which was seized by the rebels in 2012 — Aikins delves into the lives of the men whose careers have moved from house painting and construction to creatively construction the “machinery of death” used by the Syria rebels in their fight against the regime.

Why Immigrating to the United States Is More Dangerous Than Ever
By Lauren Fox
US News

With the increased number of border patrol agents since 2001, the route across the Mexican-U.S. border has become more and more difficult to accomplish alone. What used to be a fairly inexpensive trip has now blossomed into a business, one that is increasingly controlled by drug cartels. In this long read, Fox investigates the world of human smuggling and the toll it takes.

Blogs:

Needed: A Hippocratic Oath for U.S. Foreign Policy by Sarwar Kashmeri
French National Mood by Maxime Larive
Malala’s Islam by Sahar Said
Zimbabwe Election Countdown by Derek Catsam
Rouhani and the Media by Allison Kushner