Distilled Digest

Acting as the Cradle of Civilization: Iranian Ambassador Barimani discusses WMDs on Monday 6 May. 

We have Ambassador Mahmoud Barimani of Iran with us today at Distilled, as well as a closer look at the IAEA Governors Report.

Writer's block. It's annoying enough regardless of anything else. It is even more of a problem when you're expected to deliver in a regular schedule. But I think I know the cause.

Many people think that massive open online courses, or MOOCs, are the future of higher education in America. In the past two years, Harvard, Stanford, M.I.T., Caltech, and the University of Texas have together pledged tens of millions of dollars to MOOC development. Their stated goal is democratic reach. Some lawmakers, meanwhile, see MOOCs as a solution to overcrowding. But MOOCs are controversial, and debate has grown louder in recent weeks.

Last week, Detroit, Michigan became the fourth major city in five weeks in which fast food workers organized work stoppages in protest of low wages, variable schedules, and tenuous employment. 

News broke on Monday that the Department of Justice secretly sought phone records of reporters at the Associated Press, likely as part of an investigation into several national security related leaks. Last year, the Associated Press reported that an Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) plot had been foiled, thanks to a timely intervention [...]

h/t Karissa

Let the inimitable Malcolm Tucker explain why leaks are part of the system:

The best bit starts at 3:30.

The war in Syria has been picked over from every angle except the most obvious one: who'€™s doing what, and how

In early April 2012, I took an overnight train from Kayseri to Adana in southeast Turkey. Kayseri is a conservative commercial sprawl plopped in the center of Anatolia. It was a tough place to get a

Public intellectuals can alter the course of events, even after their time, says the philosopher

Yes. Yes they do. But before you shoot me...

I think that in order for them to continue mattering, the public intellectual class ought to be opened up to anyone who has something to share about the human experience (AKA everyone).

We need some more empathy up in here! Even among the eggheads on TV and the Times opinion page!