More Perspectives on Assassinating bin Laden and the Future of al-Qaida

Bookforum has collected some perspectives from around the web on the assassination of Osama bin Laden and the future of al-Qaida and the Middle East.

The missing story from the Middle East

May 3 2011

From Slate, Jack Shafer on how to read the Bin Laden coverage; John Dickerson on how Obama's focused, hands-on pursuit of Osama Bin Laden paid off; Anne Applebaum on how careful preparation, rather than expensive weapons, took out Osama Bin Laden; did the government's huge reward help nail Bin Laden? Annie Lowrey investigates; William Saletan on eight mysteries about the killing of Osama Bin Laden; Chris Wilson on how Al-Qaida is hopelessly complex and decentralized, but losing Osama could still be a major blow; Daniel Byman on Al-Qaida after Osama; Dahlia Lithwick on how Obama should use Osama Bin Laden's death to declare victory and end the legal war on terror; Christopher Hitchens on how what Obama does next will help define the legacy of Osama Bin Laden; and Fred Kaplan on what Osama Bin Laden's death means for al-Qaida and for U.S. relations with Afghanistan and Pakistan. Could Osama bin Laden have been found faster if the CIA had followed the advice of ecosystem geographers from UCLA? Geographers had calculated 81% chance that Osama was in Abbottabad. From New Left Review, Perry Anderson on the concatenation in the Arab world. Alfred Stepan on contrasting progress on democracy in Tunisia and Egypt. Letter from Yemen: Can protesters find a path between dictatorship and anarchy? Arab autocrats may be tottering, 
but the world's tyrants aren't all quaking in their steel-toed boots. An Arab Spring for Women: Shahin Cole and Juan Cole on the missing story from the Middle East. Why are the Muhammad cartoons still inciting violence? Malise Ruthven investigates. As rebellion rocked Egypt in early 2011, several scholars had unusually intimate perspectives on the action. University press meets Arab revolution: Strong Regime, Weak State becomes The Autumn of Dictatorship.