From the moment she arrived in the emergency room that Friday morning in February, the train of events ran against a peaceful ending.

NEWYORKER: Letting Go

The Irish Republican Army made a formal declaration that it was ending its armed campaign to pursue peaceful politics, ending more than 30 years of violence.

ECONOMIST: Suicide bombings in Egypt

Some of the reforms were cosmetic, but free elections in Iraq and Palestine did produce radical change, and in Lebanon a peaceful uprising succeeded in ending decades of Syrian tutelage.

ECONOMIST: The Middle East