Vital Perspective

The Reading Room: Catch Up on What Top Periodicals Think of the Middle East

Our apolgies for the light blogging thus far today. We've been busy putting out fires most of the day and Vital had to fall to the backburner for a few hours. However, we did manage to get the latest edition of The Reading Room together for you. Click here to read all the Middle East articles in the top periodicals from June 13 to July 7. There's several interesting articles on the Israeli - Palestinian conflict and Iraq. The most interesting to us were the National Review symposiums and a roundtable discussion in Foreign Affairs.

The Reading Room Returns with Full Regional Coverage From Top Resources

The Reading Room -- May 9 to June 12: After receiving some emails from distressed readers, we knew it was time to put together another edition of The Reading Room. We apologize for the break we took, some long term projects bogged us down. We'll start publishing this on a weekly basis immediately.

We've covered a lot of material on Iran and Iraq in this edition of The Reading Room, as well as coverage of Israel, Hezbollah, Syria, Egypt, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the War on Terrorism, United Nations, U.S. politics and policy on the region, commentary on the infamous Harvard paper and energy concerns. While everything is worth reading -- and at 250 pages this could take some time -- we recommend Virtually Normal on page 38, Saddam's Delusions on page 80, The Short, Violent Life of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi on page 152 and Jihad 2.0 on page 183.

The Reading Room: Focus on Iran, Iraq, Domestic Politics and Policy

The Reading Room - May 2 thru May 8: There's plenty to read this week on Iran and Iraq, plus several smaller articles by guest writers for Time's special issue. The majority of material, however, focuses on U.S. politics and policy.

The Reading Room: Light Week Tilts Domestically; Commentary Stands Out

A day late but worth the wait, here's the latest in the Reading Room from April 26 to May 1. It was a light week, but still a few things that caught our eyes. There's an interesting Commentary article on Iran, plus a New Republic piece on the planned English language al-Jazeera that's worth a look.

The Reading Room Returns: Full Regional Coverage Plus Beltway Analysis

Back from a brief hiatus, here's the latest installation of the Reading Room (covering April 10 to April 24). At a solid 181 pages, we're sure there's nothing out there we haven't compiled for you.

Nukes Against Iran, Scott McClellan and UN Corruption in The Reading Room

This big bombshell story this weekend was Seymour Hersh's New Yorker article claiming that the U.S. is considering a tactical nuclear weapons strike on Iran - but that's not the only thing you should be taking a look at in The Reading Room. There's an important Vanity Fair profile of White House Spokesman Scott McClellan and a Commentary piece on the corruption of the UN.

Plus: Islamic imperialism, economics, Israeli elections, Iraq, Hamas, Hezbollah, GWOT and the infamous Harvard paper from Walt & Mearsheimer.

Announcement on Weekly "Reading Room" Report

Due to complications beyond our control, the weekly report in The Reading Room will not be available until Monday. We apologize to our readers.

Iraq, Iran, Israeli Elections and Saddam Check-In to The Reading Room

Tons to catch up on this week in The Reading Room. Lots of great articles on U.S. politics, Israeli elections, analysis on Iraq and Iran, Saddam's terror connections and a great profile of John Bolton as the president of the Security Council.

Former Head of Mossad Becomes Palestinian Intel Chief... in The New Republic

Welcome to week four of The Reading Room. A few interesting articles this week, with our favorite being a memo from the former head of the Mossad, Efraim Halevy, to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. Halevy writes as if he is Haniyeh's intelligence chief, and we think it's worth the read. Also plenty on Iran, Iraq and the American political scene.

ATM Machines and Long Term Mortagages: An Economic Revolution

It was a light week for the Reading Room - click here to see the latest - just a few scattered articles of interest on Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and several others. One that stood out of general interest, however, was a piece by Stephen Glain in Newsweek International on the economic revolution taking hold in the Middle East. For the first time, things we take for granted like ATMs, credit cards and even long-term mortgages are taking hold. As interesting as that is, we're hopeful that next week we can put out more substantive material for you.