October 4, 2012 | 3:05 am

October 4, 2012

Posted by Shmuel Rosner

An Iranian money changer holds rial banknotes as he waits for customers in Tehran's business district, January 2012. (Photo: Reuters)

In-depth

Iran Loses the Economic Battle

John Allen Gay of the National Interest takes a hard look at the Islamic Republic's imploding financial system. 

The Islamic Republic reportedly has funneled ten billion dollars into backing the Assad regime in Syria, yet the situation on the ground continues to deteriorate slowly. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has even had a falling out with Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Gorps-Qods Force head Qassim Suleimani, who was once untouchable. Tehran is now rumored to be seeking contact with the Syrian opposition, but the bleeding—physical and financial—is unlikely to stop soon.

 

Free Speech and Muslim Unrest

Professor Timur Kuran talks to the Council on Foreign Relations on the development of an ethos of free speech in the Arab world. 

Sooner or later, though, I think the principles that have served the United States and Western Europe quite well will take hold in the Middle East as well. We should keep in mind that the Middle East and the Islamic world in general have undergone a massive transformation since the nineteenth century.

 

Fetishizing Holocaust Tattoos

A new trend of young Israelis reproducing the tattoos of their relatives who survived the Holocaust is profoundly distasteful, writes Jonathan Tobin in Commentary Magazine. 

The most important challenge for Jews today is to reconnect with Judaism, Jewish peoplehood and to act to protect the living Jewish state that is the best guarantee that the Holocaust will never happen again. That requires joint action that seems the antithesis of elevating a tattooed number inspired by Nazi dehumanization into a conversation starter.

Daily Digest

• Times of Israel: Turkey unleashes morning artillery barrage on northern Syria
• Haaretz: Civil Administration rejects purchase of contested Hebron house by Jewish settlers
• Jerusalem Post: Police arrest six people on Temple Mount
• Ynet: Experts: Iranian military stuck in the past
• New York Times: Rift Grows Between Israeli Leaders Over Relations With U.S.
• Washington Post: Egypt’s Maria TV pitches strict vision of Islam
• Wall Street Journal: The Folly of Appeasement

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