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In times of great upheaval, why should intellectuals be concerned with art? Bernard-Henri Lévy on balancing current events with creativity.

Our era has to have lost its mind, its memory, or its immunity to absurdity to be surprised that an intellectual attentive to his times—committed to the defense of freedom in Libya or Syria, haunted by the barbarity of an over-the-top century that, just last week in Paris, reminded us, in the death of young gay activist Clément Méric at the hands of a French fascist group, that history is by no means done dealing out tragedy and horror in Europe—should also be interested enough in art to devote a book to it.

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In a surprise victory, a pragmatist candidate who ran as a moderate was declared Iran’s next president today. Omid Memarian on why the U.S. must show the Iranian people it’s with them.

The results of Iran’s presidential election have never been more meaningful for the U.S. than the June 14 election that led to the emergence of a moderate candidate who ran on a reformist platform, promising a solution to Iran’s nuclear negotiations and the Iranian people's need for relaxing the sanctions.Hasan Rowhani’s victory is indicative of the Iranian leadership’s rejection by the Iranian people and its failure to sell its hardliner policies, including the nuclear program that has led Iran to a series of crippling sanctions.

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After seeming to reach a peaceful understanding with protesters, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan reverses course, again, and has police clear the park. Mike Giglio reports.

Just days after protesters and the government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appeared to reach an agreement to halt a planned mall-development project in Gezi Park and Taksim Square, the last remaining green space in central Istanbul, police cleared the park by force Saturday evening. The move—the latest reversal in approach by an administration that’s seemed unable to hold a course of action in response to the now 17-day-old protests—came after Erdogan, addressing a crowd of about 10,000 supporters at a rally in Ankara, announced:“This state is not your plaything.

Evan Vucci/AP

Obama could be in for some serious unintended consequences. Bruce Riedel on what we can learn from Afghanistan.

The United States is about to start arming and training the Syrian rebels fighting to overthrow the brutal dictatorship of Bashar al-Assad. If done well, this move can end a bloody civil war. If done poorly, it could lead to disaster. Will Obama and his team do the right thing?It turns out Afghanistan of the 1980s is a terrific test case for how to handle the Syrian rebels. The Afghan mujahedin then and the Syrian rebels now both seem incapable of forming a broad national consensus or an effective united political and military organization.

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Personal matters aside, the mogul’s divorce could have a huge impact on his media empire. Peter Jukes on the succession drama brewing at News Corp.

It was not the split everyone expected.Two weeks before Rupert Murdoch was due to split the world’s second-largest media conglomerate into two new companies (21st Century Fox and a period-free News Corp), the announcement on Thursday that he was filing for divorce from his third wife, Wendi Deng, came as a shock.There were reports that the 12-year marriage was on the rocks two years ago, according to the former Financial Times chief media correspondent Ben Fenton, but these were denied at the time and overwhelmed by the phone-hacking scandal that erupted weeks later.

Ian West/PA Wire,via AP

Is there a bombshell behind Rupert Murdoch’s divorce? A BBC reporter suggests there’s more to come.

The Murdoch divorce is fast turning into the kind of saga that could sell a million newspapers a day, and in the latest bit of pot-stirring, Robert Peston, the BBC's usually sober and buttoned-down financial correspondent, sent out an extraordinary tweet last night: “‘Am also told that the undisclosed reasons for Murdoch divorcing Deng are jaw-dropping—& hate myself for wanting to know what they are.”What could he mean? The incendiary comment is being taken particularly seriously as Peston is said by Murdoch biographer Michael Wolff to be good friends with key Murdoch lieutenant Will Lewis.

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The NGO convictions should sound alarms from those just focused on Syria’s drama. Jane Harman writes it’s not too late for Morsi and Egyptians to real embrace democratic change.

Egypt is a mess, and its leaders seem intent on making a bad situation even worse.Returning recently from my fourth trip to Egypt in 18 months, I see the endless missed opportunities on all sides. The country appears stuck, and there is a real prospect that the economy could reach negative growth, unrest increases, and the glimmer of hope for building a pluralist democracy in the world’s largest Arab nation fades forever.The latest evidence is the conviction of 43 NGO activists, including 16 Americans, on trumped-up charges of using funds from abroad to operate without permission.

Albert González Farran/UNAMID/AP

Despite the narrative from diplomats and journalists that Sudan’s civil war is mostly over, Janjaweed gunmen are still terrorizing the region. This time, no one’s paying attention.

The Janjaweed militias are back. The Sudanese government’s notorious paramilitary force and favorite instrument of counterinsurgency—which earned infamy at the height of Darfur’s genocide in the mid-2000s—has unleashed several scorched-earth campaigns in 2013 that have ethnically cleansed entire communities off their land, displacing hundreds of thousands of Darfurians. Fueled by complex economic agendas, Khartoum’s alliance with and support for these militias has led to a comeback of infamous Janjaweed leader Ali Kosheib, already indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court.

Tara Todras-Whitehill/Reuters, via Landov

The death of a girl who was having an operation to have her clitoris removed puts a new spotlight on the widespread practice of female genital mutilation in Egypt. By Alastair Beach.

In the mind of Hasanat Fawzy, ten dollars was a small price to pay for her daughter’s honor. Ten dollars, and her little girl, Soheir, would be ready to take her first step on the road to womanhood. All it required was a trip to the clinic. There, the local doctor would take a sharp knife and slice off the 13-year-old’s clitoris.Young Soheir was no exception. Generations of women in her family and village had undergone the same procedure. If they ever objected, it hardly mattered.

Yusuf Sayman

After Istanbul had the feel of a conflict zone on Tuesday, tensions were rising again on Wednesday night with police and protesters locked in a tense standoff in Taksim Square. Mike Giglio reports.

The streets of central Istanbul, normally home to shoppers and tourists, with hotels and restaurants buzzing until the late hours, had turned into an eerie scene of conflict Tuesday night. The crowds were gone, and many shops had pulled down their iron gates. Along residential side streets, any locals who ventured out moved hurriedly—a man in a surgical mask walking briskly with a bag of groceries; a young woman holding a cloth to her mouth as she sprinted to her door and fumbled with her keys.