Foreign Press Review - February 16 2006 0216-2006f
FOREIGN PRESS REVIEW (FPR) - ‘Relevant news, views, comments and analysis from all around the world’ Compiled by Şanlı Bahadır Koç Subscribe to FPR
Ext. links Britain/ Turkey/ Magazines/ US / Think-tanks / Blogs / Misc /Books / Quickread / Numbers / Reports
H1 Financial Times COMMENT: The coming age of the self-interested superpower By Francois Heisbourg China, by virtue of the explosive growth of its economic appetites and production, disrupts the global scene

IHT Sharon's legacy and Hamas HENRY A. KISSINGER Sharon's personal intellectual odyssey is a metaphor of Israel's history and even of its biblical past: Like Moses, he caught a glimpse of the promised land.

Guardian I respect your articles of faith - will you respect mine?Timothy Garton Ash: In Malaysia, Islam seems to coexist as an official religion with a tolerant, multicultural society. But all is not as it seems.

Der Spiegel RUSSIA'S NEW FOREIGN POLICY Moscow's Mideast Challenge to America Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia seemed to cede much of its influence in the Middle East to the United States. No longer. Now, Moscow appears eager to present itself as a counterbalance to Washington in the region -- with major geopolitical consequences.
Council of Europe publish report on human rights situation in France Report full text [MS Word doc]
Guardian Pipe dreams The big oil companies are staying well clear of Iraq despite its huge proven reserves of 115 bn barrels and the fact the oil is easy to get out of the ground.

Los Angeles Times The West as Scapegoat - Max Boot

"Information Security," DOE Manual 470.4-4, approved August 26, 2005 (2 MB PDF file).


RFE/RL - Caspian: Oil Reserves Will Last But Export Routes Urgently Needed


Analysis: Russia's New Nuclear Strategy
H2 Brookings Institution - A Switch in Time: A New Strategy for America in Iraq By Kenneth Pollack View Full Paper (PDF—919kb).

International Crisis Group - In Their Own Words: Reading the Iraqi Insurgency
West Point's Combatting Terrorism Center - Harmony and Disharmony:Exploiting Al-Qa'ida's Organizational Vulnerabilities complete .pdf file list
The United States should launch a major covert information campaign to promote the nation's image in the Middle East and sow division among radical Muslim groups, according to a West Point critique of U.S. terrorism policy.
Graphic: Hi-res Abu Ghraib photos
WSJ Why Bush May Be Thinking About Replacing Cheney - Peggy Noonan

Federal Reserve, Ben S. Bernanke, Testimony of Chairman Ben S. Bernanke: Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress

Slate Today's Papers Wikipedia antiwar.com technorati

Rice Outlines White House Approach on Iran - - Senate Hearing - The Honorable Condoleezza Rice

Christian Science Monitor Another pivotal Balkan moment Kosovo's independence should not be granted outright. By Gordon N. Bardos

UPI Walker's World; EU's bold Caucasus bid By MARTIN WALKER - The European Union is heading daringly back into the minefield of Caucasus politics, driven by its new concerns about reliable and diversified energy ...

Analysis: Russia's seeks new role in the Middle East


H3 Dis Basinda Turkiye

FT Greece and Israel seal trade ties with R&D co-operation agreement

Knight-Ridder Popular Turkish movie portrays American soldiers as brutal killers

Der Spiegel TURKISH TREMORS A Society in Knots over Headscarfs Turkey has proven resolute in attempts to prevent Islam from gaining too much political clout. And one of secularism's opponents has been Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling religious conservative party. So far, Erdogan has been unable to follow through on his campaign promise of lifting the headscarf ban

US Plan for the "Great Middle East": The Kurdish Pipeline

The most touchy apparatus: The Turkish State Bianet

Washington Post - PBS Panel on Armenian Genocide Stirs Protest

Kurds Stage Violent Protests in Turkey

Washington Times Iraqi Kurds savor their rare power position (Scheherezade Faramarzi)

KDA urges Kurds to start a debate on freedom of expression after killing PWD members The Kurdistan Democratic Alliance

Kurdistan Recommended As Gateway For Investing In Iraq

Vatican Calls Turkey Trip a Critical Test
Romanian Lawmakers OK US Use of Bases
Ext 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 MediaMonitoring -


H4 New York Times Rice Is Seeking Millions to Prod Changes in Iran
Europe Takes Action as Bird Flu Spreads
Blair Wins Parliament Vote Criminalizing 'Glorification' of Terror
Pakistan's Violent Protests Over Cartoons Take a Political Turn
Prisoner Abuse: More Abu Ghraib Pictures Broadcast on Australian TV
Power: Radical Cleric Rising as a Kingmaker in Iraqi Politics

Silence Broken as Cheney Points Only to Himself The vice president took full responsibility for the accidental shooting while defending his decision to delay releasing news about it.Timeline of Cheney's Hunting Accident - TV Ritual, Longstanding, Adds Cheney Text: Cheney's Interview (whitehouse.gov)

The Weapon of DemocracyBy Thomas L. Friedman - Friedman writes that in the wake of the Hamas electoral victory, Israelis and Palestinians have never been so radical, with Israelis supporting territorial concessions and a two-state solution and Palestinians backing the most extreme anti-Israeli politicians. He adds that while Israel and the US expect to starve Hamas into submission, its electoral victory will not be so easy to undermine. Friedman notes that in the meantime, Hamas will have its hands full managing the Palestinian Authority. Link to full text in primary source.

Editorial Observer: For Pakistan, American Aid Is All Guns, No Butter By HELENE COOPER

DAVID BROOKS Places, Everyone. Action! As the reaction to Dick Cheney's hunting accident shows, we have created a political climate impeccably sterilized of normal human response.

BOB HERBERT Mr. Vice President, It's Time to Go There's a reason Dick Cheney is obsessive about shunning the spotlight. His record is not the kind you want to hold up for intense scrutiny.

Tough G.I.'s Go to War Armed With Afghan ABC's The Army's 10th Mountain Division is developing a military ethos that goes beyond the tactics of conventional warfare.

Shooter Slips on a SilencerBy Maureen Dowd - Dowd writes that Cheney’s hunting trip debacle serves as a metaphor for the Administration’s policy disasters: attack helpless prey, make mistakes, stonewall the public, and admit no wrongdoing. Link to full text in primary source.
H5 Washington Post Editorial Iraq Waits THE 11.9 MILLION Iraqis who voted in December's parliamentary election might be excused for wondering whether that democratic exercise will ever bring about a tangible change in their government. Two months after the vote, the country is still ruled by the deeply flawed interim administration...

Rice Asks for $75M to Pressure Iran

Anatomy of the Cartoon Protest Movement Opposing Certainties Widen Gap Between West and Muslim World

The Lessons of Counterinsurgency U.S. Unit Praised for Tactics Against Iraqi Fighters, Treatment of Detainees - By Thomas E. Ricks, TALL AFAR, Iraq

Cheney Says Shooting Was His Fault
But He Stands By Decisions On Disclosure

The Fears Under Our Prosperity By Robert J. Samuelson, Industries from the airlines, to car makers to mass media are in turmoil -- but the U.S. economy as whole remains prosperous. The two facts are connected.

No Checks, Many Imbalances By George F. Will,
Terrorism is not the only new danger of this era. Another is the administration's argument that the president alone, as commander in chief, may conduct the nation's foreign affairs.

Plugging Leaks, Chilling Debate By Gary Wasserman, For some leaks of classified information, Bob Woodward gets a bestseller. Lobbyist Steve Rosen may get jail. Where is the "clear line"?



H6 Guardian I respect your articles of faith - will you respect mine?Timothy Garton Ash: In Malaysia, Islam seems to coexist as an official religion with a tolerant, multicultural society. But all is not as it seems.

New photos of 'Abu Ghraib' abuseAustralian TV station broadcasts images of alleged abuse in prison. View the new Abu Ghraib images

US plans Iran propaganda driveBush administration requests $75m from Congress to fund campaign against Tehran government.
The Basra video should lay to rest a scurrilous lie Jasem al-Aqrab: The smug superiority of the British over their peacekeeping efforts in Iraq is an insult to those of us who live there.
Extremist Muslim groups to be bannedPolitics: Extremist Muslim groups who 'glorify' terrorism are likely to be banned in Britain as early as this summer. Q&A: glorification of terrorism
The worst day of my life, says CheneyUS: Vice-president makes first public comments on the hunting accident in which he shot a 78-year-old Texan lawyer. News blog: A shot heard around the web
Africa's forgotten crises Simon Tisdall: In Africa everything is bigger. Since the second intifada began in 2000 approximately 4,480 Palestinians and Israelis have died - but that is equivalent to a long weekend in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where, the UN says, 1,200 people are dying every day from war-related causes.

Communism may be dead, but clearly not dead enoughSeumas Milne: The battle over history reflects a determination to prove that no political alternative can challenge the new global capitalism.
H7 Washington Times Energy-security questions (Harlan Ullman) Civil war in Nigeria or Saudi Arabia and the cut-off of oil would raise the issue of intervention. Similar arguments were made in late 1973 to control Saudi oil fields after the embargo was imposed. Today, some in that region fully expect that if the Saudi government faltered, the United States would occupy the oil rich eastern provinces. However, when such thinking became public as it would, any administration irrespective of party would probably be under intense fire for contemplating a military response.
UPI Analysis: Cartoon spat a culture clash? Is the cartoon war the first battle in Samuel Huntington's prophesized clash of civilizations?
New Republic Oil Crisis by John B. Judis Bush may be taking the idea of peak oil seriously.

How the Cartoon Protests Harm Muslims - Daniel Pipes, New York Sun
Menaced Holy Land Christians - Robert Novak, Chicago Sun-Times

Der Spiegel Merkel Hopeful of Nuke Deal with Iran

Senate Hearing - The Honorable Condoleezza Rice

Democracy Arsenal Exploiting Terrorist Dysfunction

Iraq War Epitaph Being Written in Iran

Iraqi Insurgency in its Own Words

H8 Misunderestimating Moktada al-Sadr - Lee Harris, TCS Daily
Shi'ite Divisions May Hamstring Iraq Prime Minister
Is Lebanon’s Jumblatt the Next Target? - Christopher Dickey, Newsweek
KR - Order, peace elusive in Iraqi city of Samarra More than a year after arriving in Samarra, American troops still are battling insurgents. Bloodshed is destroying the city and driving a wedge between the Iraqis who live there and the U.S. troops who are trying to keep order. Violence, police corruption and the blurry lines of guerrilla warfare are clouding any hopes of victory.
Explanations for failure in Samarra vary
Comments from U.S. leaders about retaking Samarra
Republicans Slam Bush Mideast Policy
Tories: Attacking Iran Should Be an Option
BBC Beirut divided Many came to remember Hariri, but many stayed away
Hidden agenda? Is violence in Pakistan about more than the Prophet cartoons?

Boston Globe editorial Musharraf on a tightrope The strategic importance of Pakistan is obvious, but it is not exactly a blessing on the land. In an interview here this week, President Pervez Musharraf said the country lies at the nexus of five world concerns: terrorism, democracy, human rights, narcotics, and nuclear nonproliferation.
UPI Analysis: India consders joining TAP pipeline
H9 Ha’aretz – Hamas official says Israel must accept new reality

Robert Wistrich - The new British anti-Semitism Great Britain has regrettably become home to a wave of anti-Jewish sentiments, innuendos, motifs, symbols, and public statements.

Aluf Benn Improve the image

Lahoud vows to stay in office despite anti-Syrian call for his ouster

Forward - Concerns Mounting Over Fate of Iranian JewryBy MARC PERELMAN

New Republic - Memory Lossby Jeffrey Herf Britain and France recently backed an implicit call for Israel's nuclear disarmament. It is the same ploy they themselves resisted during the 1980s--when their own nuclear arsenals were at stake. Why the two countries were right then--and are wrong now.

Foreign Policy - What Next for Middle East Peace?
H10 Christian Science Monitor Smooth road for new Fed chair so far, but uncertainties ahead
Bernanke's comments have calmed the markets, but oil prices and housing values pose fundamental challenges.

Palestinian factions vie for spoils
President Abbas and Hamas are expected to jostle over who controls key government posts.

Detainees' crossroads Upcoming rulings could shift the legal landscape for those in Guantánamo.

H11 IHT Sharon's legacy and Hamas HENRY A. KISSINGER Sharon's personal intellectual odyssey is a metaphor of Israel's history and even of its biblical past: Like Moses, he caught a glimpse of the promised land.

Gas crisis a warning for Europe Top international energy experts Wednesday urged European countries to unify their energy and foreign policies in order to increase energy security and reduce their dependence on Russia and the Middle East for oil and gas.

Barroso on riots: Europe must fight

Washington Times Funding shortage threatens EU force The European Union's ambitious plan to create an independent defense force has stumbled into financial difficulties that are likely to delay, if not scuttle, the project.

H12 RFE/RL Russia: Is Putin's Hamas Overture A Calculated Risk?


Iran: Centrifuges And Political Spin?


EurasiaNet – Factional Fighting in Iran Complicates Nuclear Diplomacy

Georgian Parliament Votes to Boot Russian Peacekeepers from South Ossetia

EDM TWO-TRACK RESOLUTION -- GEORGIA'S BEST OPTION ON PEACEKEEPING IN SOUTH OSSETIA
- SAAKASHVILI TRUMPETS SUCCESSES, WHILE OPPOSITION PLOTS "NETTLE REVOLUTION"

BBC Macedonia quiz What do you know about the EU's newest candidate state?
Kyrgyzstan Seeks Hundredfold Increase in Rent on US Base



H13 The Times Let a thousand blogs bloom After monthes of arguments within the Communist Party about how to handle China's new 'cultural revolution', the volcano of discord has erupted

A gallop down the road to serfdom Theodore DalrympleI have lived under a Latin American military dictatorship where life was freer than in Britain today

WSJ Economists React to Bernanke Testimony Here's how economists reacted to Bernanke's pronouncements on interest rates, economic growth, jobs, housing and more.
The Shiite Choice The Prime Minister-designate is not an Iranian stooge.

The New Habsburgs Austrian pols are skeptical about opening up the east to the EU. Austria's third-largest bank finalized a €73 million purchase of Serbia's largest bank, which was the latest in Austrian investments dating back to the fall of communism. The author says business opportunities made possible by the expansion of stability to the east have helped rebuild a Habsburg empire with Austria in the center. Although there have been negative ramifications for Austria, the positive outshine them. She says it is a shame the country's politicians won't tell this story to Austrians, who are negative about the EU enlargement.By MARCIA CHRISTOFF KURAPOVNA

A New Surveillance Act A better way to find the needle in a haystack. By RICHARD A. POSNER

Friends of Hamas Whitewashing terror in plain sight.
H14 Financial Times COMMENT: The coming age of the self-interested superpower By Francois Heisbourg China, by virtue of the explosive growth of its economic appetites and production, disrupts the global scene

Bush seeks funds to weaken Iran from within The Bush administration set out a tougher policy towards Iran, asking Congress for an extra $75m this year to support opponents of the Islamic regime and fund the first 24-hour official US television station broadcasting in Farsi.

Fed chief hints at further rate rises Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve chairman, said that interest rates might have to rise to prevent the US economy overheating but inflation remains moderate.

Leader Bernanke's baptism Ben Bernanke's first testimony to Congress as chairman of the Federal Reserve marks the real beginning of the post-Greenspan era at the Fed.

Tory criticism of Iraq war risks upsetting charm offensive in US

Editorial China's internet wallIt sounds improbable but the US companies that dominate the internet are begging their government for restrictive new rules or even laws to govern their overseas...

TV broadcasts more images of 'abuse at Abu Ghraib prison'

COMMENT & ANALYSIS: Growing pains for France despite a brisk birth rate

COMMENT: The English have a right to determine their own laws By Kenneth Baker The only way to hold together the United Kingdom is to ensure that its constituent parts are treated equally, writes Kenneth Baker, former Conservative party chairman

Kosovo status talks 'in 20 years'Boris Tadic, Serbia's president, says Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders should accept autonomy for an agreed period, "say 20 years", before any discussions about final...

More infected swans found across Europe

H15 Los Angeles Times The West as Scapegoat - Max Boot WHY ARE SO many Muslims so enraged by a handful of cartoons published in an obscure Danish newspaper? It's not enough to point out how the governments of Egypt, Syria and Iran are stoking the protests in a cynical ploy to deflect Western pressure for democratic reform and to curry favor with Islamic radicals. Their strategy wouldn't be so successful if it didn't resonate with deeply ingrained attitudes among the Muslim multitudes.

Iraqi Premier Outlines His Plans for a More Inclusive Government

TEXT: Cheney's Interview on Fox


FT COMMENT: Missing you already Ben Bernanke, new Federal Reserve chairman, yesterday made his first appearance on Capitol Hill.

Shooting mishap puts a hole in Cheney's reputation

COMMENT: Cheney and the public's right to 'No' By Jacob WeisbergMust one really argue the case that when the US vice-president shoots someone – intentionally or unintentionally, fatally or otherwise – the public has a right to hear about it?

Fears for Spanish growth as soaring deficit hits €61bnSpain’s current account deficit rose by almost 60 per cent between January and November 2005. The deficit reached €60.7bn ($72bn) in the first 11 months of the year
H16 Cheney’s World Apart - Michael Duffy, Time

Blogometer realclearpolitics – ABC’s The Note - Early Bird thru GovExec -

Out-Hawking Bush on Iran by Walter Shapiro

H17 Daily Telegraph Fear of democracy The democratic election of an Islamist government in the Occupied Territories was sensational enough. Imagine the impact of the same thing happening in Egypt.

Democracy on hold in EgyptEgypt's experiment in democracy has stalled after parliament agreed to postpone municipal polls by two years, apparently fearing the Muslim Brotherhood's rise.

Bird flu spreads in EuropeFarmers across Europe were ordered to take their poultry indoors as fresh cases of bird flu were confirmed in Germany, Italy and in a battery chicken farm in Russia.
H18 Independent Iraq: the forgotten victims Dramatic figures have been released revealing that at least 1,333 servicemen and women - almost 1.5 per cent of those who served in the Iraq war - have returned from the Middle East with serious psychiatric problems

New pictures reveal extent of abuse at Abu Ghraib jail
H19 "Information Security," DOE Manual 470.4-4, approved August 26, 2005 (2 MB PDF file).

"Porter Goss' Op-ed: 'Ignotum per Ignotius'!" by Sibel Edmonds, February 11.

New York Times op-ed last week by DCIA Porter Goss.

Pentagon Alarmed as NATO Allies Reduce Size of Militaries

H20 Slate You're a Spy: If the Bush administration's interpretation of espionage law is upheld, then everyone is breaking the law, all the time. Fred Kaplan


The Institute of Energy Economics, Japan, Shigeru Suehiro and Akira Yanagisawa, November 2005 China’s Economic and Energy Situation and an Impact Analysis of Appreciation of the Yuan

H21 Following the Twisty Plot of “24” - Nancy Franklin, The New Yorker

How they know what you like before you do The high-tech tracking of people's preferences puts firms in touch with tastes.

David Brooks reviews World as Laboratory: Experiments With Mice, Mazes, and Men

A sweet solution to fuel troublesTechnology: Increasingly, the fuel in your car will include eco-friendly bioethanol made from sugar

The RAND Research Approach
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 DeLong
winds of change - - CounterterrorismBlog OutSide the Beltway - InstaPundit - Kausfiles - andrewsullivan.com - Becker Posner-- armscontrolwonk - Registan   ¶ 10:37