Links 16-31 October 2019

• Egyptian government documents: Officials in Cairo tried to cover up arms deal with North Korea | Washington Post
  Probably a senior military official's arms trade deal (Libya?)

• Another Birthday Behind Bars: The UAE’s Unjust Imprisonment of Ahmed Mansoor – POMED
  Joe Stork

• The spectre of Syria silenced Arab protest. But now it’s finding its voice | Guardian
  Nesrine Malik

• Egypt to press for outside mediator in Ethiopia dam dispute - Reuters
  Sisi wanted the US to play this role over the last year. Now he will be pressing this... while in Russia

• Why Washington Cannot Abandon Military Intervention | Foreign Affairs
  Richard Fontaine

• Russian cyberattack unit ‘masqueraded’ as Iranian hackers, UK says | Financial Times
  This is fascinating

• Why a One-State Solution is the Only Solution | Foreign Affairs
  Youssef Munayer

• Mohamed Ali: Face-to-face with Egypt's most-wanted man | MEE
  Middle East Eye scores the first interview with the Egyptian YouTube star

• War in Yemen, made in Europe | Arms Trade Watch
  The Yemen dossier

• Libya: Rich in Oil, Leaking Fuel | Chatham House
  Tim Eaton on the oil and fuel scams in Libya

• We Are Conquerors | LRB
  Adam Shatz reviews Tom Segev's biography of David Ben-Gurion

• In Egypt, Institutional Insanity is the New Normal | HRW

• Egypt’s dictatorship is sitting on a powder keg | Washington Post
  Ezzedine C. Fishere

• Facing unbearable heat, Qatar has begun to air-condition the outdoors | Washington Post
  Steven Mufson

• Kurds’ Sense of Betrayal Compounded by Empowerment of Unsavory Rivals | NYT
  Ben Hubbard and David Kirkpatrick with yet more evidence that all of this was long-planned and not Trump's whimsy

• Saudi Arabia successfully evacuates its citizens from Lebanon

• Lebanon reforms 'must start from politicians' bank accounts' | Al Jazeera
  Timour Azhari on Lebanon's (and the Lebanese) debt problem

• Consider the Hedgehog | LRB
  Great essay by Katherine Rundell

• Short Cuts | LRB
  David Bromwich on Trump, Syria and impeachment

• Understanding Russia and the UAE’s Special Partnership | LobeLog
  Giorgio Cafiero

• How US foreign policy elites spread lawlessness around the world | Nonzero

• Assad Is Now Syria’s Best-Case Scenario | Foreign Policy
  Stephen Walt, rather weirdly, posits this as if there is a choice now

• Ongoing Post on Protests in Beirut/Lebanon (Jadaliyya Co-Editors in Beirut)
  Details of events of 18 October

• Qatar approves minimum wage law and will scrap all worker exit permits | MEE

• Jordanians anxious for return of lands leased to Israel | MEE

• Memo: Americans Want a Progressive Overhaul of American Foreign Policy | Data for Progress

• Jusqu’où laisserons-nous passer la haine des musulmans? | Mediapart
  Petition urging Macron to take a stance against widespread islamophobia in French media and politics

• Tunisia’s new president: how memes and viral videos led to a “Robocop” revolution | 1843
  Layli Foroudi

• Super Kais Saied
  This is brilliant on Tunisia's new president