Courageous and optimistic, he knew the country he was assigned to like no other diplomat. His tragic death leaves an enormous hole in the American foreign service—and in Washington’s fitful dealings with the Arab world
Death and the American Ambassador: What Happened in Benghazi
The birthplace of the Libyan revolution has become the scene of an American diplomatic tragedy. Who might be behind it?
After Benghazi Consulate Attack, What’s Next for U.S. Relations with Libya and Egypt?
Outrage was the Obama Administration’s first reaction, Wednesday morning, to attacks on U.S. diplomatic posts in Egypt and Libya — where four Americans were killed, including U.S. Ambassador J. Christopher Stevens.
Libya: The Killing of the U.S. Ambassador Highlights the Country’s Post-Gaddafi Struggles
In an attack sure to have an explosive impact on U.S. relations with Libya, Chris Stevens, the newly installed U.S. ambassador to Libya, died after protesters attacked the U.S. consulate building in Benghazi on Sept. 11
Syria’s Looted Past: How Ancient Artifacts Are Being Traded for Guns
The ongoing civil war in Syria, a land brimming with history, has led to a dangerous, tragic surge in the looting and smuggling of Syrian antiquities
Must-Reads from Around the World
Today’s picks: the en masse arrival of Pakistan’s Hindus into neigboring India to escape religious persecution, lingering questions over Turkey’s human rights record, as it attempts to reposition itself as the Middle East’s …
Teacher, Violinist, Enemy of the State? Web Posts Spur Free-Speech Debate in China
With his thin frame, shabby suit and graying hair, Chen Pingfu, who played his violin for handouts on the streets of the northwestern Chinese city of Lanzhou, hardly seemed to be a threat to anyone. But after he wrote a series of …
Cairo and Benghazi Attacks: Two Sets of Fundamentalisms Unleash Havoc
Two attacks on American diplomatic buildings in Cairo and Benghazi, Libya, illustrate the ugly bigotry of two sets of religious fundamentalists in different ends of the world
Red Lines, Deadlines and End Games: Netanyahu Turns Up Iran Heat on Obama
The Israeli prime minister’s problem is not the lack of a red line. It’s that the U.S. one isn’t the same as his.
Barcelona Warns Madrid: Pay Up, or Catalonia Leaves Spain
Hundreds of thousands march for Catalan independence as economic pressure boosts secessionist sentiment
Protesters Scale U.S. Embassy Walls, Tear Down American Flag
Egyptian protesters stormed the walls of the American embassy in Cairo, tore down the U.S. flag and ripped it to shreds. The protesters, mostly conservative Salafists, were angered by reports of a film made in the U.S. that …
Palestinians Take to the West Bank’s Streets in Protest
Palestinian demonstrators fed up with high prices and unpaid salaries shuttered shops, halted traffic with burning tires and closed schools throughout the West Bank on Monday in the largest show of popular discontent with the …
Europe Goes Dutch: Holland Elections May Be a Referendum on the Euro
The European debt crisis takes center stage as the Dutch head to the polls