DESTABILIZING GENIUS
Qasem Suleimani, the head of the fearsome Quds Force, is the incarnation of evil in Washington’s view. But many experts say it would be a mistake to try to take him out.
MURDER INC.
In the 1980s and ’90s, the Tehran regime set out systematically to eliminate or intimidate enemies. After a long hiatus, it looks like those hit teams are back in action.
Brave
Protesters took to the streets of Istanbul, defying the authorities' banning of the city's LGBT Pride Parade. The police fired teargas and rubber bullets, beat, and arrested them.
POWER MOVE
Erdogan’s Islamist-rooted political party and a nationalist ally appear set to keep control of parliament.
SIGNING LANGUAGE
The Singapore statement pales even in comparison with the interim, preliminary Iran deal signed by the U.S. and other world powers in 2013.
THE KURD CONUNDRUM
When Turkey’s increasingly authoritarian president called snap elections, many people thought he’d steamroll his opponents. But they’ve drawn together, and he just might lose.
COMEBACK KILLERS
The so-called Islamic State operating in Libya is smaller and controls much less territory than in the past. But it’s more mobile and deadly and still has big ambitions.
RUSSIAN ROULETTE
Moscow’s opportunistic approach to Middle East diplomacy won’t stop a cataclysmic war, and might make it more likely. Meanwhile the Americans look belligerent—and clueless.
GROPED AND GRABBED
President al-Sisi’s security forces may have wanted to send a message to Fathy’s husband to stop investigating the death of an Italian researcher.
‘Psychological Warfare’
The move ‘is a huge blow’ to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and ‘discredits him in Iranian politics,’ said a journalist based in Tehran.