ON THE FRONT LINES OF A GLOBAL STRUGGLE: Veteran Canadian journo Terry Glavin pens an epic essay for the Ottawa Citizen about the rupturing violence from Tunis to Kabul and everywhere in between that doubles as a book review of Is This Your First War? by Michael Petrou, Arab Spring Dreams by Sohrab Ahmari and Nasser Weddady, and my own new book, Where the West Ends.

MY LATEST IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: The Islamist Threat Isn’t Going Away.

A WHIFF OF WEIMAR: The Greek crisis keeps getting worse.

CLAIRE BERLINSKI investigates Fethullah Gülen, the controversial Turkish preacher who “inspires” the largest charter school network in the United States.

A SUSPECT LINKED TO THE BENGHAZI ATTACK was just killed in Cairo in a shootout with security forces.

HMM: Sudan’s opposition claims the weapons manufacturing plant that was just allegedly bombed by the Israelis belongs to the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

JACK REACHER ON THE BIG SCREEN. I can’t vouch for this movie starring Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher, but I can say I’ve read five of Lee Child’s Jack Reacher novels and they are outstanding.

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Lee Child writes brilliant stories with compelling characters that completely take over your life.

SUDAN ACCUSES ISRAEL of bombing an arms factory in Khartoum. Israeli officials offer no comment.

ISLAMISTS IN MALI ban music. These creeps aren’t run of the mill Islamists like the Muslim Brotherhood. They’re obviously Al Qaeda. France is about to go in there and kick their asses. Good for France! It’s nice to see we’re not the lone globocop after all.

ELI LAKE REPORTS: A Benghazi suspect is being held in Tunisia, of all places.

ASSAD’S CHILD VICTIMS: Vice magazine, the folks behind the outstanding Vice Guide to Travel, just uploaded some grim footage from a field hospital in Syria where children are taken after having their guts ripped out by the government. They aren’t kidding around with the content warning. Don’t watch this if you’re squeamish.

I LINK, YOU DECIDE: Stephen S. Roach argues that blaming China’s current manipulation is tempting, but wrong while Peter Navarro says confront China now.

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES of the Middle East. Also starring Hillary Clinton and Ri Sol Ju of North Korea.

QADDAFI’S SON KILLED in Libya fighting.

SYRIA’S BASHAR AL-ASSAD BANS GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS: “The law is meant ‘to preserve the health of human beings, animals, vegetables and the environment.’” He used to do a good job mimicking the prejudices of silly Westerners and saying exactly what they wanted to hear, but no one’s buying this crap anymore.

JONATHAN FREEDLAND AT THE GUARDIAN: “When Israelis kill Arabs there is outrage. But Assad’s brutal campaign has cost 30,000 lives and there’ve been no protests.”

EGYPTIAN MOB VIOLENCE: Yet another Western woman—Sonia Dridi, a journalist for France 24 TV—was seized and assaulted by a mob in Cairo. Fortunately she wasn’t harmed as badly as Lara Logan was last year. She credits someone named Ashraf Khalil, whom I presume is her fixer, for getting her out of there.

ISRAELIS AND LEBANESE are both angry—for very different reasons—that an episode of Showtime’s Homeland that took place in Beirut was filmed in Israel.

A MASSIVE CAR BOMB just exploded in Beirut near an anti-Hezbollah organization’s office. Lebanese police say the head of police intelligence was the target.

KICKSTARTER IS AWESOME: I launched a Kickstarter project 36 hours ago to fund my trip to Libya, and I’ve already exceeded my goal. Thanks to everybody who pledged!

MICHAEL J. TOTTEN’S DISPATCHES FROM LIBYA: I just launched a Kickstarter project to raise money for a trip to Libya in December. I’m not asking for donations this time. This time I’m asking for funding and will give something back in return. Check out the project page for all the details. There’s also a promo video and a complete project description at the link.

I need 7,500 dollars and I’ve got 30 days to raise it. The money will cover plane tickets, hotels, food, fixers, ground transportation, translators, travel insurace, and will even leave me a slight bit of padding in case of emergency—which in a country like Libya in 2012 is a real possibility. Click through to my Kickstarter project, pledge a bit of money, and let’s make this happen.

THE FOREIGN POLICY INITIATIVE published a report on the foreign policy of independent voters. Among its findings:

Nearly 60 percent believe the United States is headed down the wrong track

Roughly 57 percent favor preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons even if that means taking U.S. military action against Tehran — placing independents between Democrats (49 percent) and Republicans (79 percent)

Around 65 percent feel the United States should work with its allies to establish a no-fly zone in Syria

72 percent have a favorable view of Israel

Roughly 87 percent believe America is a force for good in the world and more than 90 percent say it is important for the United States to play a significant role in world affairs

FRANCE IS GEARING UP to intervene in Mali to oust the Al Qaeda controlled “government” in the north. The defense minister says the intervention will begin “in a matter of weeks.”

JACKSON DIEHL on the coming collapse: Authoritarians in China and Russia Face an Endgame.

WE KNEW THAT ALREADY: Pakistan’s president admits his country created terrorist organizations.