Morteza Dehghani (USC), Scott Atran (CNRS), Rumen Iliev, Sonya Sachdeva and Douglas Medin (Northwestern), and Jeremy Ginges (New School): Sacred Values and Conflict over Iran’s Nuclear Program. More than three decades ago, before there was an Islamic Republic, the West sought desperately to prevent the Shah of Iran from getting his hands on the bomb — new revelations show just how serious the crisis was and why America's denuclearization drive isn't working. An interview with IAEA head Yukiya Amano: "We still know too little about Tehran's nuclear activities". Do we have Ahmadinejad all wrong? New WikiLeaks cables add evidence that Iran's blustery president might be a force for liberalization? Tunisia's deposed president Ben Ali once swept to power with bold promises of reform — what went wrong? Joshua Tucker on the Tunisian Jasmine Revolution in the larger context of the Colored Revolutions (and more). The Forum for the Future was supposed to be an instrument of George W. Bush's Middle East freedom agenda — seven years later, it embodies everything that was wrong with it and the Arab street is taking matters into its own hands. A decade after the 9/11 attacks were mounted by a team of mostly Saudi terrorists, America needs Saudi Arabia more than ever. Before trying to fit the term “Christian Arab” to a soothing and pleasing explanation, a definition of what, or who, constitutes an Arab is perhaps in order. Richard Gross on man at his best: the Middle East version.
