Today's Interesting Links

Here are some interesting links from today:

Syria:

• I found this to be particularly interesting: al-Arabiya has made an online "deck of cards" depicting the who's who of the Assad Regime modeled after the infamous Iraqi deck used by the USA during the early part of the Iraq War.

Saudi Arabia:

• "Saudi Royal Family Politics and the Arab Spring" (Foreign Policy)

Mali and the French Military Offensive:
Lots of links regarding France's military offensive in Mali . . . 

• "Making Sense of Mali's Armed Groups" (Al Jazeera)
• "Mali Islamists Counter-Attack, Promise France Long War" (Reuters) 
• "Mali Islamists Much Stronger Than Expected: France" (Lebanon Daily Star)
• "Islamist Insurgents Gain Ground in Mali" (Washington Post)
• "France in Mali: The End of the Fairytale" (Africa is a Country (Blog))
• Additionally, for those looking for an overview of what has been going on in Mali and the French offensive so far, this episode of Al Jazeera English's "Inside Story" does a fairly good job of explaining things (with commentary, as well):

• And here is another brief news clip from EuroNews:

Yemen:

• "Yemen Raid Nets Two Al Qaeda Militants: Security Sources" (NYT)

Counter-Terrorism/Strategy:

• Joshua Foust makes the case that "War on Terror Should Focus on Captures, Not Killings" (Bloomberg)