Ghassan Sharbil, the editor-in-chief of al-Hayat, has built up a reputation as one of the best interviewers in the Arab press. His long interviews with key political figures are famous for their level of detail and for broaching sensitive topics (with the exception of the politics of Gulf monarchies, who finance Sharbil’s publication.)

Sharbil has begun publishing a new series of interviews, this time focusing on the (understudied) person of Michel ‘Aflaq, the founder of the Ba’th party and one of the veritable godfathers of Arab nationalism. The first interviews in the series are with ‘Aflaq’s daughter, Razan, who discussed her father’s relationship with Saddam, his views on Ba’thist infighting and the history of the Ba’th Party. The coming interviews will be with activists and friends who knew ‘Aflaq closely during his years of activism in 1940s Syria, the high tide of Ba’thism in the 1950s, and his escape to Iraq after a Ba’thist split (and coup) in the 1960s...

It's still a holiday weekend, so that means not a lot of news. But The New York Times and the Washington Post do their best, although no single story jumps out as a must-read.

Over there
Campbell Robertson of the Times reports that after talks in Finland, the major Iraqi parties have agreed to ... further talks. This isn't a bad thing, though, as jaw-jawing is better than war-warring, as Churchill once famously said. The talks were aimed at laying the groundwork for political reconciliation among the major Iraqi political parties, even though the process could take decades. The talks also resulted in a document that outlined several principles that all parties agreed on, even though there was grumbling that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki seemed more intent on declaring the talks a success than continuing to discuss significant disagreements. But beyond that, the Helsinki Agreement produced a document listing 17 principles, as well as strategies to ensure compliance with the goals. Disagreements were mentioned clearly, if modestly, and several qualifications were appended to a statement banning armed militias, an ominous addition. What...

Municipal authorities and Iraqi forces in Sadr City are completing a program to install lampposts in the district, under the guidance of US forces, residents say, noting that the militia forces that maintain a powerful presence in the district appear to be allowing the work to proceed unhindered.

The sprawling...