Meir Dagan, who until February ran Israel’s overseas intelligence agency for nine pretty successful years, has been making a new name for himself as outspoken retiree. Earlier this month he warned from a Tel Aviv stage that bombing Iran to stop its nuclear program was “a stupid idea,” and suggested that with the recent departure of …
Middle East
Enfeebling Ahmadinejad: Iran’s President Downsized for Challenging the Ayatullah
How do you say “lame duck” in Farsi? (According to Google’s translation service, the answer would be: علیل وناتوان) And in a twist worthy of Game of Thrones, less than two years after his disputed reelection and the brutal crackdown on opponents that followed, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has been reduced to a علیل …
NATO and Libyan Rebels Struggle to Communicate
As NATO gets further bogged down in Libya, Steven Sotloff examines for TIME its worsening relationship with Libya’s rebel fighters. Some rebels contend that lack of communication between their forces and NATO have resulted in more deaths as expected air counterattacks never materialize or errant strikes result in rebel deaths. If these …
Why the Muslim Brotherhood Are Egypt’s Best Democrats
After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, many Western commentators were surprised by the ease with which Iraq’s religious movements adapted to multiparty democracy. The Shi’ite groups, in particular, were quick to organize into political parties, set up grass-roots organizations across the country and form practical coalitions ahead of …
The Trials of Adel al-Gazzar: Former Gitmo Detainee Ends Up Back in Prison
Adel al-Gazzar is possibly the last person who deserves to go from the frying pan into the fire. After losing a decade of his life to the cruel exigencies of the war on terror, the 46-year-old returned to his native Egypt for the first time last week, only to be seized by security officers and flung into jail upon arrival. Al-Gazzar had …
In Chaos-Ravaged Syria, Truth Gets Tossed Out the Window
In two new articles for TIME, Rania Abouzeid touches upon the myths and shifting perspectives of those caught up in the ongoing Syrian conflict. First, she details her quest to confirm reports of mass rapes and sexual assaults in Syria by interviewing refugees in Turkish camps. Although nearly every refugee interviewed was able to relate …
World Refugee Day: Three Things You Must Know
Today marks 60 years since the founding of the UN refugee agency. Initially tasked with assisting 2.1 million Europeans displaced by World War II, it now works in 120 countries and is charged with helping millions more. In a cover story for TIME last year, Krista Mahr reported that the system is over-stretched and under-funded. The …
NATO’s Libya Bombing Error Won’t Help a Flagging War Effort
The reason there’s a well-worn military euphemism – “collateral damage” – to describe incidents like Sunday morning’s air strike in which NATO admits it may have inadvertently killed Libyan civilians in a residential area of Tripoli is that they’re an inevitable consequence of waging war from the air. It happens so frequently in …
With Syria on Fire, Turkey and Israel Move to Avoid a New Fiasco at Sea
It’s hard to overstate the zesty potency of the words “Mavi Marmara” in Turkey. Giant posters on Istanbul’s busiest streets trumpet the impending return to sea of the ferry that Israeli commandos intercepted in the Mediterranean a year ago, killing nine activists en route to break the Israeli blockade on the Gaza Strip. The botched raid …
Why Greek Tumult Signals the Coming of Europe’s Own ‘Arab Spring’
Are the youth-led protests rocking Greece and other European countries a sign Arab Spring uprisings have jumped the Mediterranean? Kinda-sorta, say experts watching these movements. They warn that even if democratic systems in Europe can’t be compared with the brutally authoritarian regimes under fire in the Arab world, the angry …
Al-Qaeda’s ‘Shadow Leader’ Finally Emerges As Head Honcho
In an investigation for TIME, Tim McGirk details Al-Qaeda’s new chief: an Egyptian doctor who some report has been wielding the true power in the terrorist organization for several years. Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s former deputy, does not look like a fearsome terrorist leader with his large wire-framed glasses and scraggly …
Al-Qaeda’s Nairobi Bomber: The Time He Got Away
Harun Fazul, the senior al-Qaeda operative killed in Somalia last week, could have been captured at the start of his terror career fully 13 years ago. He had just overseen the crime that put the terrorist organization on the map: the Aug. 7 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassy in Nairobi that killed more than 200 people and injured …
An Exile Among Refugees on the Turkish Border
In a recent story for TIME, Rania Abouzeid tells the story a 61-year old Syrian exile living in southern Turkey who, after leaving the political world of Syria more than 20 years ago, has entered into a new role as a “Father of Knights,” or “Abu al-Forsan” in Arabic. His knights are approximately 70 injured wounded Syrian refugees who he …