This week’s readings are divided into three topics: U.S. politics leading up to the historic 2016 election which is right around the corner; the Middle East; and some miscellaneous thought-provoking pieces that I think were worth reading. Enjoy!

U.S. politics leading up to the 2016 election

• Endorsements in New York and New Jersey by The Editorial Board (The New York Times)
• Dear Republican Voters … by David Leaonhardt (The New York Times)
• The Conservative Intellectual Crisis by David Brooks (The New York Times)
• The Lonely Life of A Republican Woman by S.E. Cupp (The New York Times)
• Hillary Clinton’s Mandate Problem by Ryan Lizza (The New Yorker)
• Seven Score and 13 Years Later, Trump Impersonates Lincoln by Timothy L. O’Brien (Bloomberg View)
• From Donald Trump to Julian Assange — why do Western loudmouths love Vladimir Putin? by James Bloodworth (International Business Times)
• Inside The Strange, Paranoid World Of Julian Assange by James Ball (Buzzfeed News)

The Middle East 

• On the Bombing of Aleppo by George Soros (New York Review of Books)
• How Syria’s Forgotten Revolutionaries Rose Up to “Kill This Fear” by Murtaza Hussain (The Intercept)
• How thousands of Palestinian and Israeli women are waging peace by Riman Barakat (972 Mag)
• One almighty military order and 49 dead Palestinians by Sam Bahour (972 Mag)
• What a caliphate really is — and how the Islamic State is not one by Shadi Hamid (The Washington Post)
• How to Save Obama’s Legacy in Palestine by Muhammad Shtayyeh (The New York Times)

Thought-provoking 

• Struggling to Serve at the Nation’s Richest University by Rosa Ines Rivera (The New York Times)
• Twitter Has an Old Media Problem. Here’s a Solution. by Randall Stross (The New York Times)
• Pakistan’s Honor-Killing Law Isn’t Enough by Bina Shah (The New York Times)
• Counter Terror Smarter by Michael German (U.S. News)
• Islam 101: 7 Books about the World’s Most Misunderstood Religion by Kareem Shaheen (Bookriot)
• Playing With Fear: Russia’s War Card by Michael Khodarkovsky (The New York Times)
• 3 TVs and No Food: Growing Up Poor In America by Nicholas Kristof (The New York Times)
• The Plot Against America or the Plot by America? by Mustafa Akyol (The New York Times)
• Why refugees must be given education and the tools to thrive by Filippo Grandi (Medium)