Links 1-30 July 2014

A long overdue link dump. From the first link:

“In all the suffering and death,” wrote a friend from Gaza, “there are so many expressions of tenderness and kindness. People are taking care of one another, comforting one another. Especially children who are searching for the best way to support their parents. I saw many children no older than 10 years old who are hugging, comforting their younger siblings, trying to distract them from the horror. So young and already the caretakers of someone else. I did not meet a single child who did not lose someone – a parent, grandmother, friend, aunt or neighbor. And I thought: If Hamas grew out of the generation of the first intifada, when the young people who threw stones were met with bullets, who will grow out of the generation that experienced the repeated massacres of the last seven years?”

• Israel's moral defeat will haunt us for years | Haaretz
  Amira Hass.
• Israeli Self-Defense Does Not Permit Killing Civilians - NYT
  Daniel Levy.
• A City-Sized Prison-House - Lori Allen
• The Consequences of NATO’s Good War in Libya
• Five legal controversies in 'Al Jazeera case' | Mada Masr
• In the Heart of Mysterious Oman by Hugh Eakin | The New York Review of Books
• Iraq Illusions by Jessica T. Mathews | The New York Review of Books
• Zen and the art of American foreign policy - The Washington Post
  Pretty, pretty good.
• What’s behind Libya’s spiraling violence? - The Washington Post
  Excellent piece by Fred Wehrey.
• Israel's Latest Fib: 'Gaza Tunnels Were Surprise' – J.J. Goldberg – Forward
  Important read.
• Let Sunnis Defeat Iraq’s Militants - NYT
  Interesting op-ed by Iraqiyya politicians against Maliki.
• Algerians Question Stability after Eight Months of Local Violence » Muftah
  On Ghardaia.
• Still Torn by Factional Fighting, Post-Revolt Libya Is Coming Undone - NYT
• Bound by Bridge, 2 Baghdad Enclaves Drift Far Apart - NYT
• Information and conflict - case study Israel 2014 — Londonstani
  Argues Israel is losing info battle.
• In a Syrian City, ISIS Puts Its Vision Into Practice - NYT
  On life in Raqqa.
• Lutte antiterroriste et libertés: Le dilemme de la Tunisie
• Two Egyptian officers killed in Sinai attack | Reuters
• AIPAC Is the Only Explanation for America's Morally Bankrupt Israel Policy | Stephen M. Walt
• Egypt's presidency declares national mourning over killing of soldiers - Ahram Online
  Probably smugglers.
• Egypt Caucus gets off to rough start
  Oh boy.
• In Sudan, the Janjaweed Rides Again
  Bashir has made a militia notorious for its atrocities into his personal army.
• Islamic State in Syria, Back With a Vengeance - Sada
  Hassan Hassan
• The Muslim Brotherhood One Year after the Ouster | Middle East Institute
  Ibrahim Houdaiby
• 'It's Like Jail Here'
  Watching the World Cup finals in the labor camps of Qatar by @priyanica
• Helpless Giant: How Imperial US Elites Tied America Down All by Themselves
• 2 killed, 3 critically injured in anti-austerity protests in Cairo | Mada Masr
• Head of military engineering authority is replaced
  Because of CC machine?
• Bashar al-Assad is west's ally against Isis extremists, says Syria
  Haha.
• Saudi Arabia’s Duplicitous Legalism
  An good article from last month. Waleed Abu al-Khair has just been given 15 years.
• Iran’s Agony in Syria
  Captured document reveals infighting, manpower shortage - must read.
• A year of legal setbacks
  Meet Adly Mansour, Egypt's most autocratic 'president'.
• Kurdish Independence: Harder Than It Looks
  Joost Hiltermann on the Kirkuk problem and more.
• Top Obama official blasts Israel for denying Palestinians sovereignty, security, dignity | The Times of Israel
• gulftoday.ae | Arrest of Qatari intelligence officials in the UAE
• Are the Authoritarians Winning? by Michael Ignatieff | The New York Review of Books
• ISIS: The New Taliban by Ahmed Rashid | NYRblog
• Inventor of Complete Cure device files complaint against critics | Mada Masr
  The gall.
• Sisi was asked to lead Cabinet before July 3: MB official | Mada Masr
  If true, why didn't Morsi publicly say so?
• Saudi Arabia denies financing IS after allegations by UK ex-intelligence chief | Middle East Eye
• 'The Infiltrator': Shedding light on the invisible hands | Mada Masr
• Saudi Aramco to Pump ’Tight’ Natural Gas at Equal Cost to U.S.
  Bloomberg reports
• Meet the Muslim-American Leaders the FBI and NSA Have Been Spying On
  From The Intercept
• Sexual assault and the state: A history of violence | Mada Masr
  Must-read.
• Over 700 Egyptian intellectuals and artists sign petition against Protest Law
  Why did they wait 8 months to do so?
• Egypt's Copts may soon regret supporting Sisi
  Sentences for insulting Islam, reporting on religious discrimination and conversion continue
• Israel holds US boy without charge after police nearly beat him to death
  Cousin of 16-yr-old who was burned alive
• Blair versus the Brotherhood: Meddling in Egypt and the Emirates
  Quartet's peace envoy moonlights as a UAE-paid advisor to Sisi
• Karl reMarks: The Caliph and His Psychiatrist, Exclusive Transcript
• Sisi Relies on Egypt's High State to Reinforce His Authority
  Steve Negus on the new regime
• الظابط قالي «هثبتلك إني راجل» .. واغتصبني في المدرعة 
  Al Azhar student claims she was raped by police officer during protest last December
• The secret fruits of the peace talks, a future point of departure? | Haaretz
  Barak David with long wrap-up on talks.
• Egypt to raise fuel prices by up to 78 percent from midnight: source
• Norman Finkelstein: EVERYTHING IS FOR THE BEST- The US and Egypt one year after the coup | Norman G. Finkelstein
• A bitter year: Egypt after the coup | Middle East Eye
  Emad Shahin
• Baheyya: State Prestige Redux
  "regime’s core priority was to crush popular mobilization"
• Will Moroccans' protests be heard? - Le Monde diplomatique
• Tony Blair to advise Egypt president Sisi on economic reform
  At the behest of his UAE paymasters. His office says he is "not a formal advisor" and "not doing business" in Egypt.
• Interior Ministry: Prisons have become like hotels
  Unlike actual hotels, Egypt's prisons fully booked.
• Cabinet approves new property tax law
  Egypt has tried to pass one since 2008. Sometimes it takes a dictator.
• كاذب من قال أن السجون تصنع رجالا
  Another heart-breaking missive from Egyptian prison, from Sherif Farag
• Reporting Egypt: From passion to purpose
  Journalist Heba Afify on the chronicling endless lies and human rights abuses
• Rosie the scribbler
  Our friend (and uber journalist) Leila Fadel on female reporters in the Middle East
• Ce qu’annonce l’éclatement irakien, par Peter Harling (Le Monde diplomatique, juillet 2014)
• Before Shooting in Iraq, a Warning on Blackwater
  Mercenary warned government investigator: "I could kill you."
• New Saudi spy chief confronts 'Islamic State' - Al-Monitor
  Khaled bin Bandar from DepMinDef to NSA.
• NASL calls for ‘uprising of anger’ on 3 July | Egypt Independent
  "Let the endless volcano of anger erupt but keep it peaceful”
• Benghazi map
  Useful map of recent fighting.
• After Retreat, Iraqi Soldiers Fault Officers - NYTimes.com
  Damning piece by CJ Chivers.
• Le leurre de la « réconciliation » entre le Fatah et le Hamas
  Argues Pal. reconciliation driven by Egyptian security concerns.