Business Insider: George Washington University hired a reformed Islamic extremist who recruited for Al Qaeda

"Mr. Morton’s affiliation is groundbreaking, as this is the first time the perspective of a U.S.-born former Islamist extremist will be inserted into the American arena," program director Lorenzo Vidino said.

Morton, whom The New York Times described as one of the "most prolific recruiters for Al Qaeda," was previously known as Younus Abdullah Muhammad and helped form an extremist group called Revolution Muslim. Several of his recruits are now fighting for ISIS.

Morton will have a role at George Washington's Center for Cyber & Homeland Security, a nonpartisan think tank, completing writing and research. Before hiring Morton, the university worked with FBI officials and the lawyers who prosecuted him during a yearlong vetting process, according to the Times. [...]

But prison, especially the library, caused him to find value in tolerance and democracy through thinkers like John Locke and Jean-Jacque Rousseau, according to CNN. He deradicalized and became an informant for the FBI, which helped reduce his time in prison. Morton was released in 2015 after serving less than three years in prison.

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Business Insider: Former Israeli intelligence chief: Israel 'at risk of civil war'

Israeli society is heading for civil war and the country must take steps to counter it, former Mossad chief Tamir Pardo signaled Tuesday in his first public remarks since stepping down as the spy agency director in January. [...]

There was more to unite than divide, Pardo told reporters, as he promoted an event next month to commemorate fallen soldiers from the Druze community. But, he added, some people in Israel sought the intensity that came with division, and “there are some for whom it’s comfortable to emphasize that which divides and not that which unites. I can’t put my finger on a group or a leader. It exists within all the country’s groups.” [...]

Pardo also criticized the Avigdor Liberman-led Defense Ministry for comparing last year’s nuclear deal with Iran with the Munich Agreement signed by the European powers with Nazi Germany in 1938. History did not repeat itself he said, adding that it was wrong to compare events that had taken place at such different times.

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Seeker Stories: Why India’s Youth Are Dating In Secret

In western culture, the idea of forbidden intimacy before marriage seems pretty antiquated, but for young adults in India it's the reality they face everyday. While not technically illegal, being physically intimate before marriage is considered immoral by many Indians, and public displays of affection often result in verbal and sometimes physical attacks. Young couples are forced to jump through hoops just to get a few hours of privacy.

That’s why a new start up is trying make the process easier. StayUncle helps young couples find rooms at participating hotels that guarantee their anonymity and safety. They hope that they can contribute towards changing cultural values in India and make it easier for couples to express their affection to one another.

Vox: A new poll shows most Republicans appear to regret nominating Donald Trump

A new poll by the Huffington Post and YouGov shows that 54 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters now say that Donald Trump was not the best choice for the GOP nomination, up from 44 percent in June. Meanwhile, the number of Republican voters who say Trump was the best option fell from 44 to 35 percent.

In comparison, 53 percent of Democratic and Democratic-leaning voters say Hillary Clinton was the Democrats' best option, compared to 56 percent in June. And 37 percent say she was not the best option, up from the previous 32 percent. [...]

The findings likely reflect Trump’s abysmal performance in the polls. According to RealClearPolitics’ poll average, Clinton currently holds a 5-point lead over Trump — a very big margin in presidential polling. It wasn’t supposed to be this way: Vox’s political science model found that the election favored Republicans after eight years of a Democrat in the White House, yet Trump is polling about 4.9 points behind where he should be as of Tuesday.

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Böll-Stiftung: Nord Stream II: Shaking Hands with the Devil

Doubled to 110 bcm, Nord Stream would be able to handle all of Russia’s gas exports to Western Europe. But what would the consequences of such a development be? Within a very short time, both the Brotherhood and Yamal pipelines would go out of business, and without continual maintenance and investment they would soon fall into disrepair. Stripped of important revenue sources, Poland, Slovakia, Belarus, Ukraine and their 100 million people would become economically weaker and more vulnerable to separate “deals” with Moscow.

The big winner would indeed be the Kremlin, securing more European money flowing to Moscow for a longer period of time. Western investment into Nord Stream II would commit Europe to Russian natural gas for longer, while intensified lobbying by the Western gas companies involved in the deal could discourage more aggressive energy conservation, encourage waste, and delay the transition to renewables.

The aim of corporate and Russian propaganda is for the German public to believe that the “only” losers in a Nord Stream II deal would be Germany’s eastern neighbours. They would certainly be losers: an important Kremlin objective is, without a doubt, to increase pressure the EU’s eastern flank and on Ukraine in particular. An economically weaker eastern EU periphery and an economically and socially more polarised EU are exactly what the Kremlin is hoping for in its quest to destroy the European Union and re-establish the good old world order of the first half of the 20th century. Nord Stream II would make anti-EU propaganda and subversion much easier in an economically, socially and politically more polarised continent. A poorer Ukraine would be even more vulnerable to Russian occupation and military aggression, and Putin’s hold on Belarus would become even firmer.

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