TurcoPundit
Foreign Press Review - December 30 2005
1230-2005
f
FOREIGN PRESS REVIEW (FPR) - ‘Relevant news, views, comments and analysis from all around the world’ Compiled by Şanlı Bahadır Koç / e-mail :
sbahadir@bilkent.edu.tr -
Subscribe to FPRExt. links
Britain/
Turkey/
Magazines/
US /
Think-tanks /
Blogs /
Misc /
Books /
Quickread /
Numbers /
ReportsH
1 Financial Times
COMMENT: America begins to leave Iraq, shares go on up and Germany's economy revives -
The future is nuclear, Blair will hang on, shares head up but football is a long shot FT writers predict the events and issues that will shape the year ahead in UK and world affairs, economics, business and sport.
Los Angeles Times
Iraq's History Still Divides Children of Mesopotamia The myth of a unified Iraqi identity may have finally been laid to rest this month
Thomas C. Schelling – Nobel Prize Lecture --------
Robert J. Aumann – Nobel Prize Lecture IHT
Europa: Predictions for 2006, dire and not so direNew York Review of Books
The Mirage of Empire By John Gray Robert Kaplan was one of the few who did not share the complacent sense of triumph that accompanied the end of the cold war.
NYT
The Office Pool, 2006 By WILLIAM SAFIRE Here is your 32nd annual chance to Beat the Pundit.
Washington Post
Covert CIA Program Withstands New Furor Anti-terror program authorized by Bush after 9/11 has expanded in size and ambition, despite a growing outcry over its clandestine tactics.
The Year in Bad News By David Ignatius,At year-end, I usually like to offer readers a lighthearted collection of imaginary headlines, but 2005 somehow didn't seem very funny.
Independent
Review of the year: The European Union RFE/RL 2005 in Review
The Geopolitical Game In Central AsiaCan Yushchenko Survive Moscow's Gas Attack?Azerbaijan To Issue Revalued CurrencyRand Corporation China's Defense Industry Emerging from Its Troubled Past Despite 25 years of weakness, China's defense industry is showing signs of improvement. Advances in the missile, shipbuilding, aviation, and information technology sectors could enhance China's military position, with short-term implications for Taiwan and long-term implications throughout Asia.
Full Document --
Summary OnlyCarnegie Endowment
Transforming U.S.-India Relations: Forging a Strategic PartnershipRand Corporation - Doing Business with the Euro - Risks and Opportunities
Full DocumentBlogs asked to print UK memos illegally Uzbek
torture memos posted in defiance of gag order
NRO's 2006 Crystal BallH2 FT
EU accession hopes may force Turkey to change lawTurkey stocks hit five-year highEconomist Intelligence Unit
Turkey: Country outlookNew York Review of Books
Kurds in Turkey: The Big Change By Stephen Kinzer
Slate
Today's Papers /
Blogometer realclearpolitics –
ABC’s The Note -
Early Bird thru GovExec -
antiwar.com /
Wikipedia /
technoratiNorway's Oil Industry and the Partitioning of IraqKR
Iraqi defense officials deny influence of Kurdish militia leadersChristian Science Monitor
Shiites and Kurds forge ahead in Iraq The two groups met without Sunnis Thursday to plan a ruling coalition.
Azerbaijan oil: a mixed blessingCorruption-prone nation expects oil revenues to total $160 billion by 2025.
Washington Institute
Iran’s Air Forces: Struggling to Maintain Readiness By Fariborz Haghshenass Despite institutional bifurcation and limited access to foreign materials and expertise, in a crisis Iranian air forces can count on the advantages of strategic depth and an indigenous military industrial capacity.
Gıardian The story so far They were the years of 9/11, war in Iraq, the Asian tsunami, bloggers and iPods. Not to mention shrinking newspapers. But how will the noughties be remembered by historians? At its halfway mark,
Simon Schama delivers an interim report on the first decade of the millenniumUS intelligence service bugged website visitors National Security Agency admits placing software files on public computers to track US citizens' use of the web. ---
White House website also tracked visitorsThe Times
What kind of foreign policy is this? Dean GodsonWashington’s confusion over Iraq is now reflected in its incoherent attitude to Syria
EIA’s
Annual Energy Outlook (PDF).
Ha’aretz –
Chief of Staff Halutz: No IDF action soon against Iran's nukes Mossad chief: Iran seeks more than 1 nuclear bomb; Steinitz: Iran to have nuclear capability within 2 years.
Yedioth Ahronoth
The science of war Like cancer, war must be studied scientifically to be beaten Yisrael Aumann -
Robert J. Aumann – Nobel Prize Lecture ----
Thomas C. Schelling – Nobel Prize LectureUPI
Ballistic Missile Defense: Israel-Iran nuclear balanceH3 Turkey and EuropeTurkey and the U.S.Greek press on Cyprus and TurkeyTurkey and the Middle EastTurkey, Russia, Caucasus, C. AsiaExt links-
Google News Turkey –
Turquie-
Türkei -
Dış Basında Türkiye -
İç Basında Türk Dış Politikası -
Kurdish Media -
FPR Archive -
Quickread -
Google News -
Iraq -
Iran -
Syria –
Kurdish -
Greece -
Cyprus –
Azerbaijan -
Israel -
BBC Turkish 0700 -
TurcoPundit -
Mideastwire.com -
Iraqi&Regional MediaMonitoringRizgari
Kuzey Kürdistan Kürdleri ve Milli ZeminMichelle Pilecki: Kurds Prepare for SplitsvilleKurdish official: If government failed, Kurds unilaterally decide on KirkukDemand of 62 Kurdistan MP’s rejected for the unification of administrationsAl-Hakim pushes the responsibility of de-Arabisation of Kirkuk to TalabaniUPI
Kurds laying claim to oil-rich Kirkuk Kurdish migration creating ethnic 'time bomb'
Iran and Syria Still in the CrosshairsDissident Voice
'KDP Officials in Contact with Turkish Intelligence''PKK is a Terrorist Organization; it must not be Harbored in N. ...What should it take to free Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir?By Khasraw Saleh Koyi
Turning Turkey: The Kurdish GambitPEJ News, Canada
BBC Monitoring
Party leader criticizes "weak" Kurdish leadership, Iraqi elections [Leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Socialist Party] Muhammad Haji Mahmud says "I believe the Kurdish leadership is weak...
Independence of Iraqi Kurdish media "an illusion" during electionTurkey Will Soon Allow Limited TV Broadcasts in KurdishTurkish Novelist Won't Face New ChargesH4 New York Times
G.I.'s to Increase U.S. Supervision of Iraqi Police The increase in Army advisers aims in part to curtail abuse that Iraqi units are suspected of inflicting on Sunni Arabs.
The Office Pool, 2006 By WILLIAM SAFIRE Here is your 32nd annual chance to Beat the Pundit.
Monitor Group Says Team Will Review Voting ResultsIraqis' Claim of Attack from Lebanon Leaves ConfusionBeirut Journal: Hold the Champagne: Lebanon Is in No Mood to PartyMilitary Service Chiefs Demoted in Line of Pentagon SuccessionPaul Krugman
Heck of a Job, Bushie How things have changed in a year.
While You Were SleepingBy WILLIAM FALK A guide to the stories you missed in 2005.
Editorial
H
5 Washington Post
Covert CIA Program Withstands New Furor Anti-terror program authorized by Bush after 9/11 has expanded in size and ambition, despite a growing outcry over its clandestine tactics.
The Year in Bad News By David Ignatius,At year-end, I usually like to offer readers a lighthearted collection of imaginary headlines, but 2005 somehow didn't seem very funny.
I'm a Soldier, Not a Spy By Grant Doty, Now that we've learned that the military may be collecting "raw, unverified information" in the form of "Talon reports," my fear is that when friends and neighbors see me, in or out of uniform, their speech could be chilled.
U.S. Troops to Mentor Iraqi Police Program, Modeled After Army Training, Aims to Halt Abuses
Attacks Halt Fuel Production in Iraq International Team to Probe Complaints of Election Fraud
Policymakers Rise on Rumsfeld's LadderIn New Order of Succession, Service Secretaries With Limited Roles Move Down
The Pentagon Power StructurePalestinians Lose Status in IraqAfter enjoying favored status under Saddam Hussein, Palestinians now fear repercussions.
Russia-Ukraine Dispute Deepens Over Gas PricesEditorial
Fiscal Discipline, 2005H6 Gıardian
US intelligence service bugged website visitors National Security Agency admits placing software files on public computers to track US citizens' use of the web.
Sunnis shun government talks in protest at election results · Claims of electoral fraud threaten political stability · UN backing of poll angers Iraqi minority groups
Austria 'fed up' with EU as it takes on presidency Austria's president yesterday admitted that many of his citizens are "fed up" with the European Union, as the country prepares to take over the EU presidency from Britain on Sunday.
She has revived the art of talking - can Rice make a change? The secretary of state's style is giving rise to hopes of a new era of US foreign policy, reports Julian Borger in Washington.
The story so far They were the years of 9/11, war in Iraq, the Asian tsunami, bloggers and iPods. Not to mention shrinking newspapers. But how will the noughties be remembered by historians? At its halfway mark,
Simon Schama delivers an interim report on the first decade of the millenniumVictory in name only Sidney Blumenthal: Empty talk of turning points has failed to stop Bush's election triumph being reduced to ashes.
Leader
Speak truth to powerEgypt is an excellent winter holiday break choice - desert sunshine and the Red Sea a relief from northern European gloom.
Population gloom Moscow dispatch: Russia's demographic 'devastation' has left it facing increasing crisis
Fight to save army's reputationSenior army officers have been warned about the serious damage being done to the service's reputation in an era of unprecedented media and judicial scrutiny.
H7 New York Review of Books
The Mirage of Empire By John Gray Robert Kaplan was one of the few who did not share the complacent sense of triumph that accompanied the end of the cold war. In an article entitled "The Coming Anarchy," which he published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1994, Kaplan outlined a very different prospect from that anticipated by most other observers. He saw a world in which some states collapsed or rusted away, leaving their populations to scramble for survival, while powerful states acted ruthlessly to ensure their control of the world's dwindling resources. In many countries, he wrote, the struggle for resources would be intensified by ethnic and religious conflicts, and nationalist demagogues and fundamentalist prophets would come to power, imperiling what remained of order and security in the international system.
The Coming Meltdown By Bill McKibben The year 2005 has been the hottest year on record for the planet, hotter than 1998, 2002, 2004, and 2003. More importantly, perhaps, this has been the autumn when the planet has shown more clearly than before just what that extra heat means.
NRO
Victor Davis Hanson: Do we know what success we’ve seen?
Mark Steyn: If only the CIA were as good as George Clooney’s dreams.
Middle East Forum -
Mohamed Eljahmi, Qadhafi UnrepentantThe Libyan regime has not changed. U.S. rapprochement will backfire
UPI
Analysis: Difficult year for Middle East democracy By Claude Salhani
Is Outsourcing the Next Terror Target? - Aravind Adiga, Time
Christopher Meyer: Confidence Man - Michael Young, Reason
H8 Knight-Ridder
Muqtada al-Sadr emerging as a highly influential political leader He has successfully transformed his ragtag followers into a political force that could dramatically reshape the next parliament.
Gen. Pace: US to Launch Phased PulloutIraqi Police Say Torture Is 'How Things Get Done'US Partners in Iraq Dwindling in Number, SizeAl Hayat
Iran and the Story of the "Stupid Tree" Mustafa al-Ani - The moral of the story of the "Stupid Tree" is that Iran, whether through an agreement or a stroke of luck, has become the biggest beneficiary of American and Arab policy in the Middle East.
UPI
Analysis: Iran's dangerous gamble The really momentous question facing the world in 2006 is not whether any U.S. troops will still remain in Iraq by the end of the year, but whether Iran will become a nuclear power.
BBC
Death threats cut Iraq oil flow Iraq's largest oil refinery is shut down at a cost of $20m a day after death threats to tanker drivers.
Monitors to study Iraq poll claim A team of international monitors says it is to ready to review complaints that recent Iraq elections were not fair.
Guantanamo hunger strike rise The number of detainees joining a Guantanamo Bay hunger strike has increased sharply, the US says.
H9 Ha’aretz –
Chief of Staff Halutz: No IDF action soon against Iran's nukes Mossad chief: Iran seeks more than 1 nuclear bomb; Steinitz: Iran to have nuclear capability within 2 years.
Arab MK: Israel, U.S. are spiders creating Syrian-Lebanese crisisQuartet: Hamas should not be part of new Palestinian CabinetYedioth Ahronoth
Arab MK: Strong Syria vital Mohammad Barakeh says, 'strong Syria will bring closer the day in which J'lem will become Palestine's capital.' Right wing movement Israel Our Home in response: Transfer these Arab MKs, even as a gift, to the PA The science of war Like cancer, war must be studied scientifically to be beaten Yisrael Aumann
Middle East Forum -
Patrick Devenny, Hezbollah's Strategic Threat to IsraelUnder what circumstances might Hezbollah use its growing arsenal?
Daily Star
The 'Quartet' was created for ominous moments like thisWhat is the cost of leaving the Israeli-Palestinian issue to fester while potential external interlocutors watch it all on television?
Is Iran's Ahmadinejad a messianic medium?Egypt: deadlock and a whiff of sedition By Maria Golia
In France, the riots were really not about political Islam By Alain Dieckhoff
MEMRI
Dec 30 SD# 1061 - Conversations Between Human Rights Activists and Islamists in a Syrian Prison PBS
Syria Rallies Public Support in Response to Harsh Criticism Syrian authorities launched a public relations campaign to improve the country's tainted image following international allegations linking top Syrian officials to recent assassinations.
H
10 Christian Science Monitor
Shiites and Kurds forge ahead in Iraq The two groups met without Sunnis Thursday to plan a ruling coalition.
Azerbaijan oil: a mixed blessingCorruption-prone nation expects oil revenues to total $160 billion by 2025.
American goals abroad hampered by image problems Perceived US missteps in domestic and foreign policy set diplomacy back for '06.
H
11 IHT
Europa: Predictions for 2006, dire and not so direNortheast Asia: Defusing a dangerous region IAN BREMMER, CHOI SUNG-HONG AND YORIKO KAWAGUCHI A Northeast Asian Regional Forum could provide an urgently needed multilateral framework for the region.
Der SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH ECB PRESIDENT TRICHET
"You Can't Stop History" Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, discusses the risk of inflation in the euro zone and the challenges of globalization. He also takes a swipe at Germans' economic pessimism and says Europeans should be more confident.
H12 RFE/RL 2005 in Review
The Geopolitical Game In Central AsiaCan Yushchenko Survive Moscow's Gas Attack?Azerbaijan To Issue Revalued CurrencyWeak Controls On Oil Revenues Concern MonitorsU.S. Cautious On Announcement By Iran's Nuclear NegotiatorWashington Realist
Gas, Geopolitics and UkraineUPI
Eye on Eurasia: Russia for the Russians By Paul Goble
Outside View: Putin's New Year's resolution?H13 The Times
What kind of foreign policy is this? Dean GodsonWashington’s confusion over Iraq is now reflected in its incoherent attitude to Syria
Fears of new cold war as Russia threatens to switch off the gasWSJ
Rodney Dangerfield Revisited Will the economy finally get some respect in 2006?
Right Islam vs. Wrong Islam - Abdurrahman Wahid, Wall Street Journal
Fighting the Good Fight - Edwin Feulner, Heritage Foundation
H14 Financial Times
COMMENT: America begins to leave Iraq, shares go on up and Germany's economy revives FT writers predict the events and issues that will shape the year ahead in UK and world affairs, economics, business and sport.
COMMENT: The future is nuclear, Blair will hang on, shares head up but football is a long shotIraq government talks resume in Kurdish mountainsEditorial
France is not herself The 75m tourists who visit France each year find the country to be a pretty decent place. Tell that to the 60m people who live there.
Ukraine rejects Moscow gas loan offerEUROPE: Russian liberals fear the rising threat of nationalismNumbers that tell a story Retirement beckons for a generation that once believed it had found the secret of eternal youth. As of 2006, 7,918 people a day will turn 60 in the US: 330 new sexagenarians every hour of every day.
SOS: save oil stupid There is another reason at this season to say hurrah for reindeer. Just before Christmas the US Senate rejected the Bush administration's proposal to allow oil...
The hard job in Africa is to build growth So that was the Year of Africa. It was billed as a breakthrough year, the best opportunity for a long time for the world to dwell on what needs doing to improve the...
Poland ready to march on to world stageH15 Los Angeles Times
Iraq's History Still Divides Children of Mesopotamia The myth of a unified Iraqi identity may have finally been laid to rest this month
U.S. Plans to Rein In Iraqi Police Military oversight will be bolstered in response to reports of prisoner abuse by Iraqi forces.
Pentagon Calls Its Pro-U.S. Websites LegalWhat's wrong with partisan politics? By Jonah Goldberg
THE GREAT cliche among the chin-stroking, eat-your-spinach types these days is that they've never seen Washington so partisan. What's funny is that there probably hasn't been a time in the last 20 years when the forces of David Broderdom haven't waxed dyspeptic about the "tone in Washington."
H16
H
17 Daily Telegraph
Blairs, boom, badgers and bird flu The Daily Telegraph's specialist writers offer their opinions on what lies ahead in their fields in 2006.
Review of the yearBush seeks inspiration President George W Bush and his advisers are reported to be planning a 2006 relaunch, emphasising a newly cautious White House.
The president's annus horribilisLeader
Democracy in PalestineThe deepening of Palestinian democracy and the pressure of external events could offset Mahmoud Abbas's political impotence.
Detainees double in Iraq American forces in Iraq have launched a £30 million programme to expand military prisons after the number of suspected insurgents in custody reached 15,000.
Troops pull out of AcehIndonesian soldiers have been withdrawn from Aceh province to complete the last phase of an agreed troop reduction, a key step in an accord with separatist rebels to end a bitter 29-year war.
H18 Independent
Review of the year: The European Union Review of the year: The Bush Administration Review of the year: Iraq Review of the year: The Middle East Review of the year: France Aid agencies predicted winter disaster - now it is reality for people of Kashmir Almost three months after the earthquake that killed 73,000 people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, half of them children, a second tragedy is unfolding in the mountains. The winter disaster that the relief agencies had feared is now a reality
Review of the year: Robert Fisk on war without end Only justice, not bombs, can make our dangerous world a safer place
Envoy's suicide raises tension between China and Japan Review of the year: Books H19
Blogs asked to print UK memos illegally Uzbek
torture memos posted in defiance of gag order, now '
not found.'
U.S.-China Nuclear Cooperation Agreement Congressional Research Service This 25-page U.S. report discusses the agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation with the People's Republic of China
H20 Slate
The Peace Epidemic: The world isn't so dangerous after all.
PBS
Video-on-demand Changing Habits Recent advancements in television technology that give viewers control over watching television programs on their own schedule and on portable devices is revolutionizing the way networks distribute their programs.
H21 Weekly Standard
Misinformation Age More computers, less learning by David Gelernter
INTERNET'S $30 BILLION SEASONAre novels really superior to movies as an art form? It is hard to generalize, but for many, one thing is certain: in read fiction, the pictures are better...
more» Ext links Blogs -
memeorandum -
Slate's Today's Blogs -
Blogometer -
Juan Cole -
Kevin Drum -
Belgravia Dispatch -
Thomas P.M. Barnett Joshua Marshall -
Daniel Drezner -
Laura Rozen -
the washington note -
Syria Comment -
David Corn -
William Arkin -
Phil Carter -
Helena Cobban -
Matt Yglesias -
Oxblog -
Brad DeLongwinds of change - -
CounterterrorismBlog OutSide the Beltway -
InstaPundit -
Kausfiles -
andrewsullivan.com -
Becker Posner--
armscontrolwonk -
Registan
Foreign Press Review - December 30 2005
1230-2005
f
FOREIGN PRESS REVIEW (FPR) - ‘Relevant news, views, comments and analysis from all around the world’ Compiled by Şanlı Bahadır Koç / e-mail :
sbahadir@bilkent.edu.tr -
Subscribe to FPR Ext. links
Britain/
Turkey/
Magazines/
US /
Think-tanks /
Blogs /
Misc /
Books /
Quickread /
Numbers /
ReportsH
1 Financial Times
COMMENT: America begins to leave Iraq, shares go on up and Germany's economy revives -
The future is nuclear, Blair will hang on, shares head up but football is a long shot FT writers predict the events and issues that will shape the year ahead in UK and world affairs, economics, business and sport.
Los Angeles Times
Iraq's History Still Divides Children of Mesopotamia The myth of a unified Iraqi identity may have finally been laid to rest this month
Thomas C. Schelling – Nobel Prize Lecture --------
Robert J. Aumann – Nobel Prize Lecture IHT
Europa: Predictions for 2006, dire and not so direNew York Review of Books
The Mirage of Empire By John Gray Robert Kaplan was one of the few who did not share the complacent sense of triumph that accompanied the end of the cold war.
NYT
The Office Pool, 2006 By WILLIAM SAFIRE Here is your 32nd annual chance to Beat the Pundit.
Washington Post
Covert CIA Program Withstands New Furor Anti-terror program authorized by Bush after 9/11 has expanded in size and ambition, despite a growing outcry over its clandestine tactics.
The Year in Bad News By David Ignatius,At year-end, I usually like to offer readers a lighthearted collection of imaginary headlines, but 2005 somehow didn't seem very funny.
Independent
Review of the year: The European Union RFE/RL 2005 in Review
The Geopolitical Game In Central AsiaCan Yushchenko Survive Moscow's Gas Attack?Azerbaijan To Issue Revalued CurrencyRand Corporation China's Defense Industry Emerging from Its Troubled Past Despite 25 years of weakness, China's defense industry is showing signs of improvement. Advances in the missile, shipbuilding, aviation, and information technology sectors could enhance China's military position, with short-term implications for Taiwan and long-term implications throughout Asia.
Full Document --
Summary OnlyCarnegie Endowment
Transforming U.S.-India Relations: Forging a Strategic PartnershipRand Corporation - Doing Business with the Euro - Risks and Opportunities
Full DocumentBlogs asked to print UK memos illegally Uzbek
torture memos posted in defiance of gag order
NRO's 2006 Crystal Ball H2 FT
EU accession hopes may force Turkey to change law Turkey stocks hit five-year highEconomist Intelligence Unit
Turkey: Country outlookNew York Review of Books
Kurds in Turkey: The Big Change By Stephen Kinzer
Slate
Today's Papers /
Blogometer realclearpolitics –
ABC’s The Note -
Early Bird thru GovExec -
antiwar.com /
Wikipedia /
technoratiNorway's Oil Industry and the Partitioning of IraqKR
Iraqi defense officials deny influence of Kurdish militia leadersChristian Science Monitor
Shiites and Kurds forge ahead in Iraq The two groups met without Sunnis Thursday to plan a ruling coalition.
Azerbaijan oil: a mixed blessingCorruption-prone nation expects oil revenues to total $160 billion by 2025.
Washington Institute
Iran’s Air Forces: Struggling to Maintain Readiness By Fariborz Haghshenass Despite institutional bifurcation and limited access to foreign materials and expertise, in a crisis Iranian air forces can count on the advantages of strategic depth and an indigenous military industrial capacity.
Gıardian The story so far They were the years of 9/11, war in Iraq, the Asian tsunami, bloggers and iPods. Not to mention shrinking newspapers. But how will the noughties be remembered by historians? At its halfway mark,
Simon Schama delivers an interim report on the first decade of the millenniumUS intelligence service bugged website visitors National Security Agency admits placing software files on public computers to track US citizens' use of the web. ---
White House website also tracked visitorsThe Times
What kind of foreign policy is this? Dean GodsonWashington’s confusion over Iraq is now reflected in its incoherent attitude to Syria
EIA’s
Annual Energy Outlook (PDF).
Ha’aretz –
Chief of Staff Halutz: No IDF action soon against Iran's nukes Mossad chief: Iran seeks more than 1 nuclear bomb; Steinitz: Iran to have nuclear capability within 2 years.
Yedioth Ahronoth
The science of war Like cancer, war must be studied scientifically to be beaten Yisrael Aumann -
Robert J. Aumann – Nobel Prize Lecture ----
Thomas C. Schelling – Nobel Prize LectureUPI
Ballistic Missile Defense: Israel-Iran nuclear balanceH3 Turkey and EuropeTurkey and the U.S.Greek press on Cyprus and TurkeyTurkey and the Middle EastTurkey, Russia, Caucasus, C. AsiaExt links-
Google News Turkey –
Turquie-
Türkei -
Dış Basında Türkiye -
İç Basında Türk Dış Politikası -
Kurdish Media -
FPR Archive -
Quickread -
Google News -
Iraq -
Iran -
Syria –
Kurdish -
Greece -
Cyprus –
Azerbaijan -
Israel -
BBC Turkish 0700 -
TurcoPundit -
Mideastwire.com -
Iraqi&Regional MediaMonitoringRizgari
Kuzey Kürdistan Kürdleri ve Milli ZeminMichelle Pilecki: Kurds Prepare for SplitsvilleKurdish official: If government failed, Kurds unilaterally decide on KirkukDemand of 62 Kurdistan MP’s rejected for the unification of administrationsAl-Hakim pushes the responsibility of de-Arabisation of Kirkuk to TalabaniUPI
Kurds laying claim to oil-rich Kirkuk Kurdish migration creating ethnic 'time bomb'
Iran and Syria Still in the CrosshairsDissident Voice
'KDP Officials in Contact with Turkish Intelligence''PKK is a Terrorist Organization; it must not be Harbored in N. ...What should it take to free Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir?By Khasraw Saleh Koyi
Turning Turkey: The Kurdish GambitPEJ News, Canada
BBC Monitoring
Party leader criticizes "weak" Kurdish leadership, Iraqi elections [Leader of the Kurdistan Democratic Socialist Party] Muhammad Haji Mahmud says "I believe the Kurdish leadership is weak...
Independence of Iraqi Kurdish media "an illusion" during electionTurkey Will Soon Allow Limited TV Broadcasts in KurdishTurkish Novelist Won't Face New ChargesH4 New York Times
G.I.'s to Increase U.S. Supervision of Iraqi Police The increase in Army advisers aims in part to curtail abuse that Iraqi units are suspected of inflicting on Sunni Arabs.
The Office Pool, 2006 By WILLIAM SAFIRE Here is your 32nd annual chance to Beat the Pundit.
Monitor Group Says Team Will Review Voting ResultsIraqis' Claim of Attack from Lebanon Leaves ConfusionBeirut Journal: Hold the Champagne: Lebanon Is in No Mood to PartyMilitary Service Chiefs Demoted in Line of Pentagon SuccessionPaul Krugman
Heck of a Job, Bushie How things have changed in a year.
While You Were SleepingBy WILLIAM FALK A guide to the stories you missed in 2005.
Editorial
H
5 Washington Post
Covert CIA Program Withstands New Furor Anti-terror program authorized by Bush after 9/11 has expanded in size and ambition, despite a growing outcry over its clandestine tactics.
The Year in Bad News By David Ignatius,At year-end, I usually like to offer readers a lighthearted collection of imaginary headlines, but 2005 somehow didn't seem very funny.
I'm a Soldier, Not a Spy By Grant Doty, Now that we've learned that the military may be collecting "raw, unverified information" in the form of "Talon reports," my fear is that when friends and neighbors see me, in or out of uniform, their speech could be chilled.
U.S. Troops to Mentor Iraqi Police Program, Modeled After Army Training, Aims to Halt Abuses
Attacks Halt Fuel Production in Iraq International Team to Probe Complaints of Election Fraud
Policymakers Rise on Rumsfeld's LadderIn New Order of Succession, Service Secretaries With Limited Roles Move Down
The Pentagon Power StructurePalestinians Lose Status in IraqAfter enjoying favored status under Saddam Hussein, Palestinians now fear repercussions.
Russia-Ukraine Dispute Deepens Over Gas PricesEditorial
Fiscal Discipline, 2005H6 Gıardian
US intelligence service bugged website visitors National Security Agency admits placing software files on public computers to track US citizens' use of the web.
Sunnis shun government talks in protest at election results · Claims of electoral fraud threaten political stability · UN backing of poll angers Iraqi minority groups
Austria 'fed up' with EU as it takes on presidency Austria's president yesterday admitted that many of his citizens are "fed up" with the European Union, as the country prepares to take over the EU presidency from Britain on Sunday.
She has revived the art of talking - can Rice make a change? The secretary of state's style is giving rise to hopes of a new era of US foreign policy, reports Julian Borger in Washington.
The story so far They were the years of 9/11, war in Iraq, the Asian tsunami, bloggers and iPods. Not to mention shrinking newspapers. But how will the noughties be remembered by historians? At its halfway mark,
Simon Schama delivers an interim report on the first decade of the millenniumVictory in name only Sidney Blumenthal: Empty talk of turning points has failed to stop Bush's election triumph being reduced to ashes.
Leader
Speak truth to powerEgypt is an excellent winter holiday break choice - desert sunshine and the Red Sea a relief from northern European gloom.
Population gloom Moscow dispatch: Russia's demographic 'devastation' has left it facing increasing crisis
Fight to save army's reputationSenior army officers have been warned about the serious damage being done to the service's reputation in an era of unprecedented media and judicial scrutiny.
H7 New York Review of Books
The Mirage of Empire By John Gray Robert Kaplan was one of the few who did not share the complacent sense of triumph that accompanied the end of the cold war. In an article entitled "The Coming Anarchy," which he published in The Atlantic Monthly in February 1994, Kaplan outlined a very different prospect from that anticipated by most other observers. He saw a world in which some states collapsed or rusted away, leaving their populations to scramble for survival, while powerful states acted ruthlessly to ensure their control of the world's dwindling resources. In many countries, he wrote, the struggle for resources would be intensified by ethnic and religious conflicts, and nationalist demagogues and fundamentalist prophets would come to power, imperiling what remained of order and security in the international system.
The Coming Meltdown By Bill McKibben The year 2005 has been the hottest year on record for the planet, hotter than 1998, 2002, 2004, and 2003. More importantly, perhaps, this has been the autumn when the planet has shown more clearly than before just what that extra heat means.
NRO
Victor Davis Hanson: Do we know what success we’ve seen?
Mark Steyn: If only the CIA were as good as George Clooney’s dreams.
Middle East Forum -
Mohamed Eljahmi, Qadhafi UnrepentantThe Libyan regime has not changed. U.S. rapprochement will backfire
UPI
Analysis: Difficult year for Middle East democracy By Claude Salhani
Is Outsourcing the Next Terror Target? - Aravind Adiga, Time
Christopher Meyer: Confidence Man - Michael Young, Reason
H8 Knight-Ridder
Muqtada al-Sadr emerging as a highly influential political leader He has successfully transformed his ragtag followers into a political force that could dramatically reshape the next parliament.
Gen. Pace: US to Launch Phased PulloutIraqi Police Say Torture Is 'How Things Get Done'US Partners in Iraq Dwindling in Number, SizeAl Hayat
Iran and the Story of the "Stupid Tree" Mustafa al-Ani - The moral of the story of the "Stupid Tree" is that Iran, whether through an agreement or a stroke of luck, has become the biggest beneficiary of American and Arab policy in the Middle East.
UPI
Analysis: Iran's dangerous gamble The really momentous question facing the world in 2006 is not whether any U.S. troops will still remain in Iraq by the end of the year, but whether Iran will become a nuclear power.
BBC
Death threats cut Iraq oil flow Iraq's largest oil refinery is shut down at a cost of $20m a day after death threats to tanker drivers.
Monitors to study Iraq poll claim A team of international monitors says it is to ready to review complaints that recent Iraq elections were not fair.
Guantanamo hunger strike rise The number of detainees joining a Guantanamo Bay hunger strike has increased sharply, the US says.
H9 Ha’aretz –
Chief of Staff Halutz: No IDF action soon against Iran's nukes Mossad chief: Iran seeks more than 1 nuclear bomb; Steinitz: Iran to have nuclear capability within 2 years.
Arab MK: Israel, U.S. are spiders creating Syrian-Lebanese crisisQuartet: Hamas should not be part of new Palestinian CabinetYedioth Ahronoth
Arab MK: Strong Syria vital Mohammad Barakeh says, 'strong Syria will bring closer the day in which J'lem will become Palestine's capital.' Right wing movement Israel Our Home in response: Transfer these Arab MKs, even as a gift, to the PA The science of war Like cancer, war must be studied scientifically to be beaten Yisrael Aumann
Middle East Forum -
Patrick Devenny, Hezbollah's Strategic Threat to IsraelUnder what circumstances might Hezbollah use its growing arsenal?
Daily Star
The 'Quartet' was created for ominous moments like thisWhat is the cost of leaving the Israeli-Palestinian issue to fester while potential external interlocutors watch it all on television?
Is Iran's Ahmadinejad a messianic medium?Egypt: deadlock and a whiff of sedition By Maria Golia
In France, the riots were really not about political Islam By Alain Dieckhoff
MEMRI
Dec 30 SD# 1061 - Conversations Between Human Rights Activists and Islamists in a Syrian Prison PBS
Syria Rallies Public Support in Response to Harsh Criticism Syrian authorities launched a public relations campaign to improve the country's tainted image following international allegations linking top Syrian officials to recent assassinations.
H
10 Christian Science Monitor
Shiites and Kurds forge ahead in Iraq The two groups met without Sunnis Thursday to plan a ruling coalition.
Azerbaijan oil: a mixed blessingCorruption-prone nation expects oil revenues to total $160 billion by 2025.
American goals abroad hampered by image problems Perceived US missteps in domestic and foreign policy set diplomacy back for '06.
H
11 IHT
Europa: Predictions for 2006, dire and not so direNortheast Asia: Defusing a dangerous region IAN BREMMER, CHOI SUNG-HONG AND YORIKO KAWAGUCHI A Northeast Asian Regional Forum could provide an urgently needed multilateral framework for the region.
Der SPIEGEL INTERVIEW WITH ECB PRESIDENT TRICHET
"You Can't Stop History" Jean-Claude Trichet, president of the European Central Bank, discusses the risk of inflation in the euro zone and the challenges of globalization. He also takes a swipe at Germans' economic pessimism and says Europeans should be more confident.
H12 RFE/RL 2005 in Review
The Geopolitical Game In Central AsiaCan Yushchenko Survive Moscow's Gas Attack?Azerbaijan To Issue Revalued CurrencyWeak Controls On Oil Revenues Concern MonitorsU.S. Cautious On Announcement By Iran's Nuclear NegotiatorWashington Realist
Gas, Geopolitics and UkraineUPI
Eye on Eurasia: Russia for the Russians By Paul Goble
Outside View: Putin's New Year's resolution?H13 The Times
What kind of foreign policy is this? Dean GodsonWashington’s confusion over Iraq is now reflected in its incoherent attitude to Syria
Fears of new cold war as Russia threatens to switch off the gasWSJ
Rodney Dangerfield Revisited Will the economy finally get some respect in 2006?
Right Islam vs. Wrong Islam - Abdurrahman Wahid, Wall Street Journal
Fighting the Good Fight - Edwin Feulner, Heritage Foundation
H14 Financial Times
COMMENT: America begins to leave Iraq, shares go on up and Germany's economy revives FT writers predict the events and issues that will shape the year ahead in UK and world affairs, economics, business and sport.
COMMENT: The future is nuclear, Blair will hang on, shares head up but football is a long shotIraq government talks resume in Kurdish mountainsEditorial
France is not herself The 75m tourists who visit France each year find the country to be a pretty decent place. Tell that to the 60m people who live there.
Ukraine rejects Moscow gas loan offerEUROPE: Russian liberals fear the rising threat of nationalismNumbers that tell a story Retirement beckons for a generation that once believed it had found the secret of eternal youth. As of 2006, 7,918 people a day will turn 60 in the US: 330 new sexagenarians every hour of every day.
SOS: save oil stupid There is another reason at this season to say hurrah for reindeer. Just before Christmas the US Senate rejected the Bush administration's proposal to allow oil...
The hard job in Africa is to build growth So that was the Year of Africa. It was billed as a breakthrough year, the best opportunity for a long time for the world to dwell on what needs doing to improve the...
Poland ready to march on to world stageH15 Los Angeles Times
Iraq's History Still Divides Children of Mesopotamia The myth of a unified Iraqi identity may have finally been laid to rest this month
U.S. Plans to Rein In Iraqi Police Military oversight will be bolstered in response to reports of prisoner abuse by Iraqi forces.
Pentagon Calls Its Pro-U.S. Websites LegalWhat's wrong with partisan politics? By Jonah Goldberg
THE GREAT cliche among the chin-stroking, eat-your-spinach types these days is that they've never seen Washington so partisan. What's funny is that there probably hasn't been a time in the last 20 years when the forces of David Broderdom haven't waxed dyspeptic about the "tone in Washington."
H16
H
17 Daily Telegraph
Blairs, boom, badgers and bird flu The Daily Telegraph's specialist writers offer their opinions on what lies ahead in their fields in 2006.
Review of the yearBush seeks inspiration President George W Bush and his advisers are reported to be planning a 2006 relaunch, emphasising a newly cautious White House.
The president's annus horribilisLeader
Democracy in PalestineThe deepening of Palestinian democracy and the pressure of external events could offset Mahmoud Abbas's political impotence.
Detainees double in Iraq American forces in Iraq have launched a £30 million programme to expand military prisons after the number of suspected insurgents in custody reached 15,000.
Troops pull out of AcehIndonesian soldiers have been withdrawn from Aceh province to complete the last phase of an agreed troop reduction, a key step in an accord with separatist rebels to end a bitter 29-year war.
H18 Independent
Review of the year: The European Union Review of the year: The Bush Administration Review of the year: Iraq Review of the year: The Middle East Review of the year: France Aid agencies predicted winter disaster - now it is reality for people of Kashmir Almost three months after the earthquake that killed 73,000 people in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, half of them children, a second tragedy is unfolding in the mountains. The winter disaster that the relief agencies had feared is now a reality
Review of the year: Robert Fisk on war without end Only justice, not bombs, can make our dangerous world a safer place
Envoy's suicide raises tension between China and Japan Review of the year: Books H19
Blogs asked to print UK memos illegally Uzbek
torture memos posted in defiance of gag order, now '
not found.'
U.S.-China Nuclear Cooperation Agreement Congressional Research Service This 25-page U.S. report discusses the agreement on civilian nuclear cooperation with the People's Republic of China
H20 Slate
The Peace Epidemic: The world isn't so dangerous after all.
PBS
Video-on-demand Changing Habits Recent advancements in television technology that give viewers control over watching television programs on their own schedule and on portable devices is revolutionizing the way networks distribute their programs.
H21 Weekly Standard
Misinformation Age More computers, less learning by David Gelernter
INTERNET'S $30 BILLION SEASONAre novels really superior to movies as an art form? It is hard to generalize, but for many, one thing is certain: in read fiction, the pictures are better...
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Foreign Press Review - December 29 2005
1229-2005
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FOREIGN PRESS REVIEW (FPR) - ‘Relevant news, views, comments and analysis from all around the world’ Compiled by Şanlı Bahadır Koç / e-mail :
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1 Christian Science Monitor
Iraq's micro parties could play key role Shiites and Kurds look to be the big winners of this month's vote, but tiny parties could emerge as power brokers.
New Yorker
American Viceroy Zalmay Khalilzad’s mission Jon Lee Anderson Issue of 2005-12-19
LA Times
Bush alters 'dooms- day' succession line Military chiefs demoted, civilians from Rumsfeld inner circle move up.
Washington Post
Three Lessons From Vietnam By Dale Andrade, Vietnam is the most recent example of American counterinsurgency -- and our longest -- so it would be a mistake to reject it because of its complex and controversial nature.
BBC
First year report Condoleezza Rice's diplomacy abroad wins praise at home UPI
Analysis: Corridors of Power - After AnnanIHT
Behind the smiles, trans-Atlantic bile REGINALD DALE Behind the positive talk, deep tensions still threaten trans-Atlantic relations.
New York Times
U.N. Observer in Baghdad Calls the Voting Valid UPI
Analysis: India's promising year By KRISHNADEV CALAMUR India's future role on the global stage will depend on its relations with other nations and with its own disadvantaged citizens.
WSJ
The Rise of China's Soft Power It would be foolish to ignore the gains Beijing is making. By JOSEPH S. NYE, JR.
Newsweek
The Oval: Did Bush Spread Democracy in 2005?The Times
Nato facing a critical test of its resolve from resurgent TalebanH2 NYT
Kurds Are Flocking to Kirkuk, Laying Claim to Land and OilWashington Times
Turkey, Iraq and the Kurds (Tulin Daloglu)The Prospect
Happy ending Robert Jackson The opening of accession talks with Turkey and the new EU budget settlement add up to a resoundingly successful British EU presidency
Guardian
Turkey admits charges against author tarnish its imageTurkey's foreign minister says laws that limit freedom of expression may be changed.
BBC
Turkey insult law 'may be dumped' Turkey's foreign minister indicates that a law being used to prosecute people for insulting the state could be scrapped.
Turkey Eases Restrictions on Kurdish Language Broadcasts What Turkey can teach us about IraqRedState.org
Keeping Iraq Intact CBS News
Khalilzad : America and Kurdistan alliance will make a new worldSlate
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Reading IranTom PorteousOver the past decade, Iran's clerical conservatives have defeated their reformist rivals. But the summer election of populist Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is generating new conflicts among the networks that control the state. How will this affect Iran's relations with the west? Is liberalisation really dead?
Financial Times
COMMENT: Let Mozart's spirit guide Vienna at the helm of Europe Leader
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Time ripened to ask for independence By Baqi Barzani The Treaty of Svres, signed Aug. 10, 1920, between Ottoman Empire and the Allied powers (including the United States), provided for the formation of an autonomous Kurdistan.
US official to Iraq: Kurdish leadership are carpet sellers Barzani promised that he would not compromise of a number of fundamental issues to the Kurdish question. He drew a number of read-lines. However, when the constitution was produced, these read-lines were breached.
International Community needs to rethink and address Kurdish question By Kamaran Kurdi
The arrest of Dr Kamal Sayid Qadir emerges as a key test of KRG By Dylan Alan
BBC
First year report Condoleezza Rice's diplomacy abroad wins praise at home UPI
Analysis: Corridors of Power - After AnnanDer Spiegel GALILEO SATELLITE LAUNCH
First Step Towards a European GPS CompetitorH4 New York Times
U.N. Observer in Baghdad Calls the Voting Valid The assertion brought bitter denunciations from some Sunni Arab political leaders who swore to continue pressing their claims of fraud.
Editorial
Hosni Mubarak's Democracy The sentencing of a prominent liberal opposition leader in Egypt shows that President Hosni Mubarak doesn't have the stomach for competitive elections.
David Brooks
The Sidney Awards, 2005 An award, named after the philosopher Sidney Hook, honoring the best political and cultural essays of the year.
Editorial
The Mounting Powers of SecrecyThe open government law that guaranteed greater freedom of information to the public will soon be 40 years old and desperately in need of legislative overhaul, thanks to the Bush administration.
New Twist in Iran on Plan for Nuclear Fuel An official said Iran would study a proposal aimed at breaking the deadlock on efforts to block Iran from enriching nuclear fuel.
Ukraine's Talks With Russia Fail to Resolve Gas DisputeVice Axes That 70’s ShowBy Maureen Dowd - Dowd writes that Vice President Dick Cheney, along with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, are driving the obsession with secrecy and Presidential power in the current Bush Administration in response to their bitter experiences in the Executive Branch in the post-Watergate 1970s. She writes that both Rumsfeld and Cheney were White House Chiefs of Staff during the Ford Administration and chafed against the limits placed on executive power after the Nixon Administration. Dowd says Rumsfeld and Cheney regard checks and balances as antiquated. Historians must turn to the Ford Presidency to understand the motivation behind this administration?s decisions.
Link to full text in primary source.Report on Russia Massacre Faults OfficialsMuslim Women in Europe Claim Rights and Keep Faith Young European Muslim women claim the same rights as their Western counterparts, without renouncing Islamic values.
H
5 Washington Post
Three Lessons From Vietnam By Dale Andrade, Vietnam is the most recent example of American counterinsurgency -- and our longest -- so it would be a mistake to reject it because of its complex and controversial nature.
Foreign Affairs to Remember By Jim Hoagland, An eclectic list of foreign affairs books, many that didn't get much attention ths year, struck Jim Hoagland's fancy in 2005.
With Satellite Launch, E.U. Positions Itself To Compete Navigational System Aims To Break U.S. Monopoly
U.N. Official Endorses Iraq Vote Special Commissioner Sees No Need to Rerun 'Credible' Election
U.N. Asks Belgian to Take Over Assassination InquiryReport Criticizes Police In Beslan Siege "A whole number of blunders and shortcomings," plagued efforts to prevent, then end, the three-day siege that left 331 people dead
Editorial
Stand Up to Mr. Mubarak IT HAS BEEN 24 days since the Egyptian democracy activist Ayman Nour was unjustly imprisoned by the government of Hosni Mubarak; 18 days since he began a hunger strike to protest his treatment; and five days since he was actually convicted and sentenced by a state security court judge to a term of...
My '05 Hits and Misses By David S. Broder,
When I sat down to review the past year's columns for my annual accounting of errors and misjudgments, I realized that the politicians I cover had set an impossibly high standard in 2005.
Abramoff's Fall Is Surpassing His Rise: How a Well-Connected Lobbyist Became the Center of a Far-Reaching Corruption ScandalH6 Guardian
Russia's autocrats must feel the weight of world opinion David Clark: Putin was welcomed into the G8 after promising to turn his country into a democracy - now it is time for him to deliver.
Leader
A lot can happen in three years From 9/11 until the start of 2005, President George Bush succeeded in setting the political agenda for America and the world almost without effective challenge.
In Praise of
... Galileo Europe's best-laid plans have a depressing habit of not working out, but one of its biggest ambitions got off to a flying start with the launch of the first demonstrator rocket for the Galileo global satellite navigation system from a Kazakhstan cosmodrome.
Bearing the cross Christians in Iran face constant surveillance by the Islamic republic
MPs blame Beslan officialsPolice ignored repeated warnings, says inquiry into school siege where more than 330 people died.
H7 BBC
First year report Condoleezza Rice's diplomacy abroad wins praise at home UPI
Analysis: Corridors of Power - After AnnanAnti-Imperialists Beware – Bush Is Reading Again by Jim Lobe
Weekly Standard
The Inventor of Modern Conservatism Disraeli and us. by David Gelernter
The Prospect
After Iraq's election 1 Bartle Bull The parliamentary elections in Iraq represent the conclusion of one of the most successful processes from tyranny to pluralism in history
After Iraq's election 2 Tamara Chalabi The election managed to mobilise all Iraqi groups into political participation. But it also entrenched the country's increasing ethnic polarisation
H8 MEMRI
Dec 29 SD# 1059 - The Alleged Torture of Saddam Hussein Daily Star
In failure, a year of Arab achievement By Michael Young
Bush's Iraq plan is welcome, but leaves questions unanswered By Edward S. Walker, Jr.
Israel should respond to the majority will for negotiated peaceThe Politics and Liberation of Lebanon Middle East Review of International Affairs
New Republic
Accessories to genocide Both the African Union and the Arab League have chosen the genocidal Sudanese regime to host their upcoming summits. Could there be a clearer indication that African and Arab leaders don't care what happens to Darfur?
H9 Ha’aretz – Aluf Benn
Votes for Fatah, targets for Qassams Four months after the disengagement, it turns out the right was correct. We left Gaza and got Qassam rockets on Ashkelon. Hamas is becoming stronger and Fatah is disintegrating.
Olmert: No limitations in Sharon's war on Qassams Religious Zionism sets sights on leading IsraelMajor Challenges For Likud - David Makovsky, Wash Inst. For Near East Policy
Boston Globe
Constituting Israel(By David B. Green) Israel, like Britain, has no written constitution. Most Israelis today say the country should have one. But can Israel ever agree on how to define itself as a nation?
Jerusalem Post
Nuclear Iran wouldn't benefit Russia Russia offers to oversee Iranian uranium enrichment production.
BBC
Israel bombards Gaza no-go zone Israeli forces shell a newly declared no-go zone for Palestinians along Gaza's northern border.
Now Israeli Spies Blast Spielberg's MUNICH..H
10 Christian Science Monitor
Iraq's micro parties could play key role Shiites and Kurds look to be the big winners of this month's vote, but tiny parties could emerge as power brokers.
Nationalism splits China, JapanThough trade between the two nations grew in 2005, this could be 'worst Sino-Japanese relations since World War II.'
2006 economy looks solidExperts see growth of at least 3 percent, which means more jobs and higher pay.
•
Why energy prices are cooling offIsraeli-Palestinian skirmishes take to air Israel has formed a 'no-go' zone to prevent Palestinian militants in northern Gaza from firing rockets.
Americans divided on feds listening inHalf of Americans say Bush has the right to OK the secret NSA program.
H
11 IHT
Behind the smiles, trans-Atlantic bile REGINALD DALE Behind the positive talk, deep tensions still threaten trans-Atlantic relations.
Ways to wage peace in 2006 JONATHAN POWER War, the tactic of the weak, does not always have positive outcomes.
Europeans criticize U.S. sanctions as potential risk to Iran talksLetter from China: Japan and China head on a collision courseDer Spiegel GALILEO SATELLITE LAUNCH
First Step Towards a European GPS Competitor The European Galileo program, the Old World's answer to the US navigation system GPS, launched its first satellite on Wednesday. When completed in 2010, it will be even more accurate than GPS -- and won't be controlled by the military.
Washington Times
Nervous in Afghanistan Afghanistan's parliament recently convened for the first time in 30 years. The jockeying for positions, tribal politics and testy exchanges attest to its authenticity as an Afghan institution, not a rubberstamping government organ.
H12 RFE/RL
No Result In Ukraine's Talks With GazpromIraq
President Takes Lead To Resolve Political CrisisBBC
Mixed fortunes Russia emerges strong from 2005 but not without a bumpy ride Slate
So Much for Glasnost: Will we ever know what happened in Beslan?
The Year in Asia, 2005 - Todd Crowell, Asiacable
UPI
BMD Watch: Japan confirms BMD coop with USDer Spiegel GROWING JAPANESE ISOLATION
Koizumi's Obsession with the Past Makes for an Uncertain FutureAsia is not amused by Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's obsession with the past. Slowly, the once powerful nation is becoming isolated internationally -- both politically and economically. China and South Korea are the main beneficiaries as the balance of power in the Far East shifts.
Analysis: Russia-Ukraine on the brinkH13 The Times
Nato facing a critical test of its resolve from resurgent TalebanWSJ
The Rise of China's Soft Power It would be foolish to ignore the gains Beijing is making. By JOSEPH S. NYE, JR.
American Conservatism: The Burke Habit By Jeffrey Hart - Hart explores the major ideas of the American conservative mind today in the tradition of Edmund Burke. He touches on hard and soft utopianism, national defense, constitutional government, religion, abortion and free-market economics. Regarding free-market economics, he says conservatives shouldn?t overlook the importance of fostering beauty in their zeal to see the market triumph, for it ranks high among the needs of the civilization they seek to better. It should embarrass conservatives that stewardship of the environment is now left mostly to liberal Democrats.
Link to full text in primary source.Washington Times
Is the trade deficit sustainable? Probably the biggest parlor game on Wall Street, at the Federal Reserve and inside think tanks and university economics departments in recent years has centered on answering this question: Just how large can the U.S. current-account and budget deficits grow before either or both become ...
H14 Financial Times
COMMENT: Let Mozart's spirit guide Vienna at the helm of Europe By Donald Bandler and Peter Rashish Austria is well placed to build on the UK’s presidency efforts to revive the EU’s stalled Lisbon strategy of reform.
Leader
Here comes the rising sun again – Japan back on the radar - Amid all the excitement over the modernisation of China, the growth of India and the surprising resilience of the US, investors have tended to ignore thevaliant...
Rise of Asian powerhouse challenges economic order The pre-Christmas news that China's economy was 17 per cent bigger than previously reported had resonance far beyond its...
Iraqis look to raise oil output next year Iraq hopes to boost oil production by 25 per cent in 2006 in line with a government plan that sees rising oil revenue reinvested in the petroleum sector but also requires foreign investment, the country’s finance minister said
Rocky road to democracy Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, recently compared elections in his country with a London bus - you wait forever for one, and then three come at once.
H15 Los Angeles Times
Iraqis Pummeled at the Pumps Iraq's government has sharply raised the price of fuel and other petroleum products this month, sparking discontent and protests and worrying international observers who say the increases could hurt millions of poor Iraqis
Bush alters 'dooms- day' succession line Military chiefs demoted, civilians from Rumsfeld inner circle move up.
FT
EU presidency seeks to calm fears on gas The Austrian government attempted to calm fears of gas shortages across Europe as Ukraine’s fuel and energy minister arrived in Moscow for emergency talks to find a solution to a row over prices that could see Russia cut exports
Merkel enjoys ratings boost amid recoveryStorm over Katrina batters BushCOMMENT: The lesson from catastrophe By Quentin PeelThere is no doubting the desire of millions in the wealthy countries of the world to help those hit by natural catastrophes and abject poverty. The challenge is to spend their contributions well and wisely.
H16
'05's Big Five - Peggy Noonan, OpinionJournal
Decline of Congress - Robert Novak, Chicago Sun-Times
BBC
Bush aides reveal the president's Christmas break reading list CIA vet: Renditions began under ClintonH
17 Daily Telegraph
China's pollution crisis Nine in 10 of Chinese cities rely on polluted groundwater, the government has said after a year in which its devastated environment has been under constant scrutiny.
H18 Independent
Galileo blasts Europe into new era of space competition with US Terrorism cases in US may be reopened after scandal Defence lawyers in several terrorism cases in the United States are planning to appeal against the convictions of their clients on the ground that evidence may have been garnered from illegal wiretapping
Hamish McRae: The shocks may happen, but still I see encouraging signs for the world in 2006 H19 China ranks 6th in world economy By Chinaview China has overtaken Italy as the world's 6th biggest economy. China on Tuesday revised its GDP for 2004 to 15.9878 trillion yuan (about 2 trillion US dollars), up 2.3 trillion yuan, or 16.8 percent from the preliminary figures. The growth of the service sector output accounted for the largest part--93 percent--of GDP growth. Along with economic reforms, China has overseen a diversified economic development in ownership, in particular private and individual-run service activities. Still, although many new services are booming, data on their activities are often underestimated.
Link to full text in primary source.H20 WSJ
Oh, Has Uncle Sam Got Mail The rapid adoption of electronic communications has created a major crisis for the National Archives, which is struggling to devise a system for storing the enormous amount of digital information in a format that can be accessed 20, 75, even 200 years from now.
The Prospect
We are all complicit Noam Chomsky The world's top public intellectual responds to accusations of dishonesty
H21 FT
COMMENT & ANALYSIS: Screened out: life online is widening choice but risks a surrender of serendipity Amid an electronic blizzard of facts and entertainment, new tools are helping people find the material that is likely to be of most interest. Perversely, this ‘personalisation’ involves others in deciding what the user gets
NSA Web Site Puts 'Cookies' on Computers... Ext links Blogs -
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