Fw: Al-Monitor Weekend Reads

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Weekend Reads Looking for some weekend reads? Check out these five great stories from this week you might have missed. Israel is marking 100 years since the 1915 massacres with its first-ever official delegation to Armenia's memorial ceremony, so why is it still reluctant to utter the word genocide? In a word: Azerbaijan, an Armenian foe that shares Israel's fear of Iran - and could help in a military campaign. President Erdogan is using the 100th anniversary of the Ottoman victory at Galipolli to dramatic - some would say cynical - effect with his paean to patriotic history, military valor and indomitable Islam. The celebrations seem carefully crafted to rile up his Anatolian base and cement his legacy as the commander-in-chief of a new Turkey. Most commuters check the radio for traffic updates; West Bank Palestinians instead have a Facebook page dedicated to real-time monitoring of backups at Israeli security checkpoints. Chalk one more problem up for Egypt's Sisi: The country now has to deal with a tainted bread scandal of the sort that helped bring down Hosni Mubarak four years ago. Russian wheat full of toxic chemicals and dead insects was allegedly found on its way to government-subsidized bakeries, raising fresh concerns about safety standards, corruption and the reliability of one of Egypt's key partners. Iran is counting on sanctions relief to help allay a slew of economic difficulties, not least of which is the country's housing bubble. With home prices down 14.3 percent over the past 12 months, some investors are hopeful that office and high-end housing sales will surge if better relations with the West can attract international business investment and the return of a cash-rich diaspora. View slideshow> Egypt Gulf Iran Iraq Israel Lebanon Palestine Syria Turkey Congress Russia / MidEast   © 2015 AL-MONITOR. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED| PRIVACY | FEEDBACK By accessing this site, you accept our VISITOR AGREEMENT. Please read it.

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