Must Read Articles (October 26 – November 1)

Soldiers with the 7th Iraqi Army Division and service members with Military Transition Team 7 pick up trash at the Al Asad oasis and palm grove. (Cpl. J. Jones/US Marine Corps)

Ring of Fire: Why Our Military’s Toxic Burn Pits Are Making Soldiers SickBy Katie Drummond
The Verge

In this week’s most disturbing and comprehensive exposé, Katie Drummond reveals the alarming extent of the U.S. military’s pollution problem and its devastating effects on soldiers and their families.

The Snowden Leaks and the PublicBy Alan Rusbridger
The New York Review of Books

The Guardian’s editor, Alan Rusbridger, reflects on his experience with British officials who opted for archaic tactics such as smashing hard drives that held Snowden information in a technological world where information is no longer that easy to stifle.

A Game of Shark and MinnowBy Jeff Himmelman
The New York Times Magazine

Jeff Himmelman analyzes the geopolitical battleground for control of the South China Sea and the policy implications such a dispute holds for China and the rest of the world.

So Long, SaakashviliBy Thomas de Waal
Foreign Affairs

Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili’s charm on the U.S. has dissipated, and Thomas de Waal explores why it took so long for the Georgian president’s legacy to reach the heights of insignificance.

The Penitent Warlord: Atoning for 20,000 War CrimesBy Jonathan Stock
Der Spiegel

Joshua Milton Blayhim, better known by his nom de guerre General Butt Naked, was a ruthless Liberian warlord in the 1990’s infamous for practicing human sacrifice and cannibalism. Today, he is a pastor living freely and campaigning for forgiveness from his thousands of victims.

Rodolfo Walsh and the Struggle for ArgentinaBy Stephen Phelan
Boston Review

Phelan tells the story of Rodolfo Walsh, an Argentinian activist and journalist who helped strengthen the importance of narrative reporting in his 1957 book Operation Massacre.