Today's Must Reads

David Pryce-Jones: Decomposition of the Social Body

The moral confusion [in the West] is a warning of the imminent decomposition of the social body.

Barry Rubin: Egypt: If A Country of 80 Million People Falls And The Media Is Deaf, Does Anyone Hear?

There are a lot of complaints about the mass media not reporting important developments. But what about when a major newspaper publishes a revelation of huge global importance and no one pays attention?

Elliott Abrams: Can Anyone Explain Our Syria Policy?

As the days go by and the Assad regime kills more peaceful demonstrators, U.S. policy becomes less and less possible to comprehend, much less defend.

Kenneth Levin: Abbas and the 'Plan of Stages'

There is also little evidence that any facts on the ground, any reality, can shift Obama from his rigid, ideologically-driven position on the Arab-Israeli conflict. The real, thus far unanswered, question is whether Israel is prepared to play Czechoslovakia to Obama's Neville Chamberlain.

CAMERA: Explicit Hamas, Vague Hamas

Not quite a year ago, Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar explicitly told Future TV that his organization is pursuing a "phased plan" to destroy all of Israel and replace it with a Palestinian state. Lately, Hamas leaders have been emphasizing one aspect of this plan: that they will accept a state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Lee Smith: Pact or Fiction

The recent rapprochement between Fatah and Hamas may be a blessing. It exposes the fatal flaw at the heart of the peace process: the West’s fantasy of Palestinian moderation.

Daniel B. Smith: The University Has No Clothes

The notion that a college degree is essentially worthless has become one of the year’s most fashionable ideas, with two prominent venture capitalists (Cornell ’89 and Stanford ’89, by the way) leading the charge.

Thomas Friedman: Bad Bargains

We are surely safer with Bin Laden dead, but no one will be safe — certainly not the many moderate Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan who deserve a decent future — without different ruling bargains in Islamabad and Riyadh.

Jonathan Schanzer: Why the Hamas-Fatah Deal Is Bad for the Palestinians

But the deal should nonetheless concern Washington. This deal with Hamas – which recently criticized America for killing Osama bin Laden – signals that Fatah no longer believes U.S. recognition and support are essential to their national aspirations.

Victor Davis Hanson: The World Turned Upside Down — Again

Will the strains in the Middle East, Asia, and Europe resolve themselves — or are we on the brink of epochal change?