Links 18-27 September 2016

The new issue of Middle East Report is out, and it features some great pieces by old friends, including Mona El-Ghobashy on Egypt's judges and Joshua Stacher on Hebron. And don't miss editor Chris Toensing's editorial on the absurd $38 billion President Obama decided to give Israel – a country whose leaders have tried to serially humiliate him – as a parting gift.

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Now here are the links...

• U.S. Was Warned of Attack on Aid Workers in Syria - The Daily Beast
• Robert Fisk and the Russian war on salafism | al-bab.com
  Good piece on the Grozny conference
• The elephant in the room (part 1): The state and sectarian violence | Mada Masr
• ‘Our Anger is Boundless’: Syrian Artists and Intellectuals Condemn Imperialism – P U L S E
• "A destroyed Syria is the symbol of the state of the world today."
• A soliloquy on Syria - The Washington Post
• Fred Hiatt channels Obama the Vulcan
• In Push on Aleppo, Syria and Russia Seem Ready to Further Scorch Its Earth - The New York Times
• Terribly sad piece.
• Libyan renegade general hails support of Egyptian leadership | Middle East Eye
• Is the sky falling on Libya? | European Council on Foreign Relations
  Well, on the Libyan agreement anyways.
• Egypt Recovers Over 160 Bodies From Sunken Migrant Boat - NYT
  The next big source of refugees/migrants.
• The Assassin’s Veto - Oum Cartoon أم كرتون
  On the murder of Nahed Attar.
• High Hitler: how Nazi drug abuse steered the course of history | Books | The Guardian
  This is fascinating and might also explain a lot about Arab leaders.
• We are all Stalinists on Syria — FT
  Gideon Rachman - "The conclusion is bleak: to sustain liberal politics at home, western politicians may have to tolerate outrages against liberal values overseas."
• Egypt and Iran have the same problem — and the same answer - The Washington Post
  Ignatius interviews Sisi.
• Sisi at the UN: Desperation of church and state
• Nazra for Feminist Studies director wins ‘alternative Nobel Prize’
  Congrats to Mozn Hassan
• Repair and Prepare: Growth and the Euro after Brexit
  Dire warnings from Euro grandees
• Latest Estimate Pegs Cost of Wars at Nearly $5 Trillion
  And some wonder why many Americans are against interventionism
• Sunni Islam riven anew by ancient dispute
  Forget the headline, this is a good explanation of what went down at that Grozny conference
• Putin’s lesson for Obama in Syria - The Washington Post
  Jackson Diehl has a point here.
• Wheat trade hit hard by Egypt quarantine crackdown — FT
  Such weird behavior by Cairo.