My journals on September 11th, 2001
I still can’t believe how slowly I grasped the scale of what was happening that day
Are American conservatives the new French?
Libya suggests that conservatives want chest-beating glory more than they want success
Mabrouk, ya Seif al-Islam!
Gaddafi’s son shows up in the night. Did he accidentally reveal where his father is hiding?
They are dancing in Tripoli
Suddenly, the rebels have taken the heart of Libya’s capital and Gaddafi’s end is near
And God will give Gov. Rick Perry a dog whistle
Yesterday’s prayer rally gave us Rick Perry, sectarian leader, dooming his shot at the presidency
The wisdom of the New York Times comments section
Times readers know the debt ceiling debate is bogus, but it works on them anyway
Into the darkness of the New York Times comments section
The central challenge for a superpower: strong views, little knowledge, limitless power to intervene
Seeing the Ryan Trecartin exhibit at PS1
His tedious stories replicate like fractals in a surfeit of superficially distinct artistic choices
Is this really Yemen’s Ali Abdullah Saleh?
And what was he thinking he’d gain from appearing on TV like this?
Philippe Petit’s new act and a Keralan puppeteer
A Keralan puppeteer, the last known practitioner of her art, performs a high wire act of her own
President Ali Abdullah Saleh finally leaves Yemen
It is a shame for Saleh, and Yemen, that it took violence to get him out
Mubarak on trial: should the past be prosecuted?
Forgetting the past is unacceptable, but so too is shelving it through superficial justice
On Obama’s second big Middle East speech
There has been a revolution in the Arab world but, thus far, no revolution in American thinking
Osama bin Laden killed after 3,519 days of freedom
Osama bin Laden is dead but it is the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions that are killing Al Qaeda
Osama bin Laden still free 3,514 days later
What is most astonishing is that there is no public pressure whatsoever to capture him
The strange structures off Italy’s Adriatic coast
Italy’s trabocchi fishing platforms are of mythical origin. Are they related to ones in India?
The truth about the Egyptian military
In the revolution, Egyptian reverence for the military shamed them into not opening fire. Now what happens?
Libya and the end of the neo-colonial argument
Libyans have asked the international community for help; there’s no colonial aggression in doing it
The truth about travel guidebooks
They are no joy to write and they don’t change as much as you think
Prospects for social justice and economic reform in Egypt
Why social justice in Egypt demands more economic reform — true reform, this time — not less
Triumph at last in Midan at-Tahrir
These 18 days of protests constitute the most beautiful political act I have ever witnessed
Where the Egypt revolution began
Egypt’s current demonstrations build on years of work by civil society groups