Some Interesting Articles on the Web (July 16, 2014)

Israel, Palestinians, Gaza:

“Jewish Groups Mostly Silent on Israeli Beating of American Teen Tariq Khdeir: J Street Calls It 'Brutal' — ADL Has No Comment.” Article in Jewish Daily Forward.

“US blocked Qatari funds intended for Hamas employees.” This article in The Times of Israel says that funds from Qatar to pay civil servants in the Gaza Strip were blocked by the U.S. That is not entirely clear. See next article.

“Hamas is looking for a way out: The organization’s financial straits far outweigh the image boost provided by Operation Protective Edge.” This article in Haaretz highlights divisions in the Arab world with respect to Hamas and suggests that the blocking of Qatari funds to pay civil servants in Gaza was due to Israeli pressure.

“What Hamas hopes to gain from the crisis in Gaza.” Article by Ishaan Tharoor in The Washington Post.

“Israel can't win this or any future conflicts by bombing Gaza.” Article by Ibrahim Sharqieh in the Los Angeles Times.

“Iron Dome—Savior, or Sales Job? When the fighting is over in Gaza, one of these stories is going to look strange.” James Fallows discusses the controversy over the effectiveness of Israel’s Iron Dome rocket shield in a post at The Atlantic website.

“Iron Dome: the public relations weapon.” John Mecklin writes a rather critical article about the Iron Dome in a post on the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists website.

“How Israel's ‘Iron Dome’ works.” Blog post by N.P. on The Economist website. This post is more positive about the effectiveness of the Iron Dome than the previous articles.

Argentina:

“Stopping a repeat of Argentine debt war” by Elaine Moore in the Financial Times.

“If Argentina Settles Debt Dispute, More Claims Could Come: Economists Figure Country Could Be on Hook for About $13 Billion, Far Less Than $120 Billion Some Politicians Have Suggested” by Shane Romig in The Wall Street Journal.

Miscellaneous:

 “Elizabeth Warren Splits Progressives On Mortgage Reform” by Zach Carter writing for The Huffington Post. Among other things, this article indicates why the Congress will have difficulty deciding what to do about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“Punish the Executives, Not Just the Banks.” Blog post on The New Yorker website by James Surowiecki.

“Germany ‘may revert to typewriters’ to counter hi-tech espionage.” Article in The Guardian by Philip Oltermann.

“Expected Health Spending Declines (Again).” Blog post by Margot Sanger-Katz on The New York Times’ “The Upshot.”

“Opinion: the Brics bank is more about geopolitics than investment.” Opinion piece by Joe Leahy on the Financial Times website.