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)

Today's Interesting Links

And here are today's interesting links . . .

Saudi Arabia:

• "Child Bride Married to Elderly Man Escapes After Wedding" (Riyadh Bureau).  This story has also been reported on the BBC and in Canada's National Post. 
• I also found this interesting BBC Documentary on Saudi Arabia called Inside the Saudi Kingdom, in which the filmmakers follow Prince Saud bin Abdul Muhsin al-Saud (the governor of the Kingdom's Ha'il Province and one of the many, many grandsons of the Kingdom's founder and namesake Abdul Aziz ibn Saud).  After a quick internet search, I see that this is actually pretty old . . . from 2008, it seems.  But you know what?  I missed it then, so you get to see it now.

Counter-Terrorism:

• "US Strategy for Countering Violent Extremism: An Assessment" (Will McCants and Clinton Watts, Foreign Policy Research Institute)
• "If You Thought Obama's Drone Godfather Was Powerful, Wait 'til He's at CIA" (Wired's Danger Room)

Libya:

• "Assailant Killed in Assassination Attempt on Libya Islamist" (NYT)

Syria:

• "Hints of Syrian Chemical Push Set Off Global Efforts to Stop It" (NYT)
• "Syria: Why Assad May Yet Claim Victory" (The Guardian's Comment is Free)

Iran:

• "Iran: Oil Exports Decline 40% Due to Sanctions" (Jerusalem Post)