Foreign Press Review - February 25 2006 0225-2006f
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 Washington Post Editorial A Step Back From War

Push for Democracy Loses Some Energy On Mideast Tour, Rice Focuses On Hamas

Guardian It was our mistake that led to this desecration and killing Martin Kettle: Forget revisiting Berlin 1945 or Saigon 1975. There is still a chance of pulling out in good order.
Ha’aretz - Iranian advisor: We'll strike Dimona in response to U.S. attack Advisor to Revolutionary Guard says Tehran would also strike Haifa and Israel's Jericho missile base.
UPI Analysis: Has the civil war in Iraq begun? By Claude Salhani When is a civil war officially declared a civil war? At what point in a conflict does sectarian fighting, car bombing, kidnapping and random acts of inter-communal violence officially get awarded the designation of civil war?
Daily Star Bearded Arabs 1; American ladies 0 By Rami G. Khouri
Weekly Standard The Long WarThe radical Islamists are on the offensive. Will we defeat them?by William Kristol

Rethinking The Interagency System (Donley, March 2005) Part I (67K PDF) Part 1 - How the scope and functions of the interagency system are being redefined, the recommendations of recent commissions and task forces ... interagency activities have outgrown the National Security Council's policymaking process and that a new interagency architecture is needed. Part II (261K PDF) Alternative approaches for improving integration of effort in the interagency system, including additional functions for the NSC.

H2 Financial Times Explosion of violence reveals weakness of US position

COMMENT: Hamas's recognition of Israel is not the only key to peace Harvey Morris

A crude conspiracy Syriana is as confusing as it is thrilling

Asia Times Payback time in Iraq More important than who planted the explosives is the fact that Shi'ites have seized on the attack to justify striking at Sunnis. - Sami Moubayed

The Times Analysis: can Iraq avoid civil war?

Slate Today's Papers Wikipedia antiwar.com technorati

The Roots of Democracy - Carles Boix, Policy Review
EU-ISS - Chaillot Paper nº 86 — February 2006 Why Georgia matters by Dov Lynch
EDM MOSCOW STUNG BY GEORGIAN RESOLUTION ON SOUTH OSSETIA
- PUTIN IN BAKU: CHANGES IN AZERI-RUSSIAN ENERGY RELATIONS ON THE HORIZON
- EUROPE HOPES TO REVIVE TRANS-CASPIAN ENERGY PIPELINES

Wall Street Journal - Will We Persevere? By Eliot A. Cohen - A brief tour of Iraq shows that the American military has developed Iraqi security forces to defeat insurgencies on its own, which demonstrates progress. However, Cohen says if a weak or sectarian Iraqi government emerges, or the private armies and militias are not contained, or the US does not remain engaged in Iraq, Iraq may slide into chaos. An American withdrawal will then have dire consequences for regional peace and America's reputation. Success in Iraq is possible but is far from assured. Cohen outlines what success in Iraq would look like. Link to full text in primary source.

H3 NYT Armenian Furor Over PBS Plan for Debate

FT WEEKEND - TRAVEL: An aesthetic triumph for today's Turkey The timing of the opening of Istanbul Modern Art Museum just over a year ago was no accident, but it was a surprise to...

Ext links- Dis Basinda Turkiye - Google News Turkey –Turquie- Türkei - 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

The role of Kurdish intellectuals in the Diaspora KurdishMedia.com - By Dr Rebwar Fatah Unless the communication and coordination between both home and Diaspora Kurdish community are improved and backed up by resources, the Diaspora community cannot achieve its objectives fully.

Kurdish TV is testing the limits of freedom of expression KurdishMedia.com - By Dr Kristiina Koivunen It would be strange if Denmark would close the Kurdish television after it has defended the right to publish caricatures which defame Islam.

Iraq's Chalabi: Kurds Must Work With Baghdad On Oil Deals

Iran boosts cooperation with Turkey against PKK New Anatolian

Turkish Court Overturns Journalist's Conviction

Turkey puts al-Qaida member on trial

Cyprus: 2 Israelis released from custody

PJAK is preparing to protest Iran in Copenhagen

US Department of Commerce Report Recommends Kurdistan as Gateway ... Kurdistan Regional Government
H4 New York Times Religious Strife Shows Strength of Iraq Militias The recent violence has demonstrated the power that the many militias in Iraq have to draw the country into a full-scale civil war.

Editorial Silenced by Islamist Rage With every new riot over the Danish cartoons, it becomes clearer that the protests are no longer about the caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad, but about the demagoguery of Islamic extremists

How a Speech Won the Cold War By WILLIAM TAUBMAN
Fifty years ago Saturday, Nikita Khrushchev gave a "secret speech" at the 20th Communist Party Congress that began the Soviet decline.

Arabs Tell Rice Violence Like Iraq' s Could Spread
Muslim Clerics Call for an End to Iraqi Rioting
Japan May Announce Iraq Pullout Next Month: Paper
Bush Sees a Tough Test for the Skills of the Iraqi Troops
Iran Is Said to Start Enriching Fuel, on Very Small Scale
Bush Sees a Tough Test for the Skills of the Iraqi Troops
Little Mideast Oil Wealth Is Going Toward Takeovers of U.S. Assets
H5 Washington Post Editorial A Step Back From War THE WAVE of sectarian violence that seemed to push Iraq to the brink of a civil war this week has ebbed, at least for now. If the relative peace holds -- and another attack such as the bombing Wednesday of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra could easily shatter it -- Iraq's political and religious...

U.S. Report on Iraqi Troops Is Mixed
Basra Is Lost for BritishIn a region long insulated from the rampant unrest in Iraq, relations between British forces and local leaders have sharply deteriorated.
A 'Moment of Choosing' Premier Orders Additional Measures

Push for Democracy Loses Some Energy On Mideast Tour, Rice Focuses On Hamas

America Abandons a Friend By E. Wayne Merry, An obscure arms deal from nine years ago has produced a major human rights case in the former Soviet country of Moldova, challenging the U.S. government to stand up for its own good name as well as for the rule of law.

Pentagon Corruption Probe Expands Probe Extends Beyond Bribes to Congressman

Pentagon to Identify Detainees Military to Comply With Court Order at Guantanamo Bay

Libby Loses Round in Court Ex-Cheney Aide Is Denied in Bid to Learn Leaker's Identity




H6 Guardian Iraq curfew cuts violenceShia and Sunni leaders call for calm as daytime curfew in Baghdad and surrounding provinces appears to check pace of sectarian unrest.

It was our mistake that led to this desecration and killing Martin Kettle: Forget revisiting Berlin 1945 or Saigon 1975. There is still a chance of pulling out in good order.

Looking for troubles Moazzam Begg wanted to help his fellow Muslims - in Bosnia, Chechnya, Afghanistan . In the eyes of the CIA and MI5, that made him an enemy combatant. He tells Simon Hattenstone what drove him on

To Brussels ... via The Hague The fate of Ratko Mladic will determine Serbia's future in Europe, writes Ian Black.

Lipstick and liberty Georgia's row with Moscow is more than just a tiff in a faraway place, writes Tom Parfitt.

Saudis foil oil plant attack Suspected Islamist militants attack oil facility in Saudi Arabia .

Friend or foe? UK forces enter Afganistan's dark zoneUK mission aims to reclaim night from Taliban but lawless province provides big challenge for soldiers.

Extremism: the loser's revenge Ian Buruma: Can sexual inadequacy or deprivation turn angry young men into killers?
Capital ideas Interview: Stuart Jeffries meets Jacques Attali, banker and champion of Marx.
Free speech: is it an illusion?James Harkin: Is there really such a thing as free speech, or is it all just an illusion?
H7 Transatlantic Security: The Importance of NATO Today Kurt Volker, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Remarks at Howard University's Model NATO Conference

William Buckley: US mission in Iraq 'failed'...

Democracy & Its Discontents - Leon Hadar, The American Conservative
The Roots of Democracy - Carles Boix, Policy Review

PBS Newshour Religious Leaders Key to Peace in Iraq NewsHour analysts Mark Shields and David Brooks

Questions Raised Over Stability Of Foreign Oil Sources

NRO Victor Davis Hanson: It's the IED vs. democracy.

American Patience is Now Needed in Iraq - Victor Davis Hanson,

No Amount of Spin Can Provide Security in Iraq - James Klurfeld, Newsday
H8 UPI Analysis: Has the civil war in Iraq begun? By Claude Salhani When is a civil war officially declared a civil war? At what point in a conflict does sectarian fighting, car bombing, kidnapping and random acts of inter-communal violence officially get awarded the designation of civil war?
Analysis: Iraq on the brink By MARTIN SIEFF

Heritage Foundation Pulling Iraq Back from the Edge of Civil War by James Phillips
Pentagon: No Competent Iraqi Battalions
Poll: Americans See Iran as Enemy No. 1
Asia Times Payback time in IraqSeveral parties to the Iraq imbroglio stand to benefit from the bombing of the Shi'ite Golden Mosque, and fingers are being pointed at all the usual suspects. More important than who planted the explosives is the fact that Shi'ites have seized on the attack to justify striking at Sunnis. - Sami Moubayed

KR Iraq's insurgents focus on creating civil strife This week's surge in sectarian violence in Iraq - shootings, mosque burnings and mob attacks - is a chilling indicator of how successful the Sunni Muslim insurgency and foreign terrorists have been in fomenting unrest.

Fear of informants has stoked climate of fear in Baghdad Fear of informants turning in neighbors to police or militia groups has deeply undermined community trust in many parts of Baghdad. A word to the police can result in uniformed security officers or even private soldiers in fake uniforms dragging residents from their homes in the middle of the night - without legitimate cause, the victims complain

BBC Tense Iraq extends daytime curfew The Iraqi government extends a curfew and other measures aimed at ending the recent sectarian violence.

Al-Qaeda 'behind Saudi oil plot' A website used by Islamic militants says al-Qaeda was behind a foiled suicide bomb attack on a Saudi oil facility.

H9 Ha’aretz - Iranian advisor: We'll strike Dimona in response to U.S. attack Advisor to Revolutionary Guard says Tehran would also strike Haifa and Israel's Jericho missile base.

Abbas urges Israel, world to stop pressuring Hamas

Jerusalem Post Abbas: I'll resign if Hamas doesn't recognize IsraelAdvises Israel, international community not to 'push Hamas into a corner'; says Russia could help moderate Hamas's position.

Interesting Times: Those jihadi grins By SAUL SINGER Prominent Democrats such as Hillary Clinton, Evan Bayh and Howard Dean are trying to out-hawk Bush.

Yedioth Ahronoth An open apology to Steven Spielberg

Our Man in Damascus Stanford Review

MEMRI Feb 24 SD# 1101 - Cultural Advisor to Iranian Education Ministry and Member of Interfaith Organization Lectures on Iranian TV: Tom and Jerry - A Jewish Conspiracy to Improve the Image of Mice, Because Jews Were Termed

KurdishMedia Khaddam's conversion too late By Jamal Ekhtiar Recently news agencies reported that Abdul Halim Khaddam, politician and former vice president of the Syrian government, has held meetings with Syrian opposition groups including Muslim Brotherhood and Kurds.

Daily Star Iraqis need the help of the international community

Reconcile ego and ideology between the U.S. and Iran By Sanam Vakil

Egyptian judges see their independence stifled By Mona Eltahawy
H10 Christian Science Monitor Report: NSA continues controversial data-mining program Total Information Awareness projects, shut down by Congress in 2003, funded under different plan

KR President Bush will travel to India's New Delhi next week

U.S. overture to India could complicate efforts to stop nuclear spread
H11 IHT A fatal desire for order NINA L. KHRUSHCHEVA Russia's best opportunity to shed its brutal past is being lost in the popular desire for order and greatness.

Europe doesn't get free speech MATTHEW ROJANSKY Europe's guaratees of free speech must be consistently respected to avoid being undermined.

2 German spies aided U.S. before Iraq war

Der Spiegel Merkel's First 100 Days -- Foreign Flair, Domestic Denial Popular at home and lauded abroad, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has made a remarkable start in her first 100 days in office. But pressing domestic issues could quickly end her political honeymoon.
Germany: Iraq Spying Affair Prompts Growing Calls for Full Inquiry
H12 RFE/RL Energy: NATO Considers Role In Increasing Energy Security

EDM MOSCOW STUNG BY GEORGIAN RESOLUTION ON SOUTH OSSETIA
- PUTIN IN BAKU: CHANGES IN AZERI-RUSSIAN ENERGY RELATIONS ON THE HORIZON
- EUROPE HOPES TO REVIVE TRANS-CASPIAN ENERGY PIPELINES

EurasiaNet Uzbekistan Sets Limits for Cooperation with Russia BY SERGEI BLAGOV
H13 The Times Analysis: can Iraq avoid civil war?

Emergency rule 'to stop coup' dismays old allies

WSJ Early Warning System A few lessons on the blogosphere's strengths and weaknesses. By GLENN HARLAN REYNOLDS

Brookings Institution As President Bush embarks on his first visit to India and Pakistan, Brookings hosted a panel of experts which examined issues that he will face when he meets with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Pakistani President and Army Chief Pervez Musharraf Transcript of the policy briefing
Q & A with Stephen Cohen on Bush's Trip

FT FT WEEKEND MAGAZINE - THE IDEAS DEPARTMENT: Reasons to be fearful By John Lloyd I'm not Jewish, though some of my best friends are, but if I were I would be worrying about whether or not I should worry...

Leader People power is backA decade on, it is a struggle to recall the excitement in the mid-1990s over south-east Asia's "tiger" economies. Their recovery from the 1997 financial crisis has...

By hook or by crook Britain's largest cash robbery in the early hours of Wednesday led tothe disappearance of used bank-notes whose value has yet to be determined but could reach...

COMMENT & ANALYSIS: The taboos that undid Summers By Christopher Caldwell That a serious university would make the expression of opinions a firing offence is an idea too painful for many of Harvard’s alumni to bear
H14 Financial Times Explosion of violence reveals weakness of US position

COMMENT: Hamas's recognition of Israel is not the only key to peace If the international community wants to reinforce Mahmoud Abbas, it could offer more carrots and wield less stick, writes Harvey Morris, the FT’s Jerusalem bureau chief.

A crude conspiracy Syriana is as confusing as it is thrilling

Rebel Iraqi cleric issues plea to militia to halt revenge attacks

Oil prices jump as bombers strike at Saudi refinery Saudi Arabia’s oil industry came close to the most serious terrorist attack in its history when suicide bombers penetrated the Abqaiq refinery, the world’s biggest oil facility.

EU prepared to give cash lifeline to Palestine Authority


Multicultural Europe blamed for cartoon crisis

US to press Beijing on trade issues

Berlin comes in from the cold Sixteen years after the Wall came down, the German capital looks like a mess: it’s virtually bankrupt, unemployment is rampant and the property market is dismal. To all intents the city is a failure - but its reborn creativity makes it a fabulous failure.

Leader Bush badly needs a port in this storm

Bush trips up trying to balance security fears with free trade

BOOK REVIEWS: Occupational hazards


H15 Los Angeles Times Iraq Tense as It Teeters on the Brink of Civil War Many Iraqis fear it could be more bloody and heartbreaking than the post-invasion violence.
Iraq and U.S. Face Difficult, Decisive Time
Iraq Now Has No Units Able to Stand Alone
Attack on Saudi Oil is Ominous Thwarted assault on the world's "jugular vein" could have had disastrous effects on the U.S. economy

Editorial Trust the truth DAVID IRVING IS THE KIND OF creep who will stand up in front of a crowd of Holocaust deniers and brag, "This hand has shaken more hands that shook Hitler's hand than anyone else in the world." As a once-respected World War II historian, he has arguably done more than anyone else alive to add a gloss of academic respectability to the grossly inaccurate notion that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz.
Utopia lost By Andrew L. Yarrow
Fifty years ago, America's future was limitless. So what happened to optimism?

H16 What Has Happened to the Bush White House? - John Podhoretz, New York Post

Weekly Standard Losing Friends and Influence President Bush misjudges immigration and the ports issue. by Fred Barnes

Summers's End Too bad Harvard's president wouldn't take his own side in a quarrel. by Peter Berkowitz

Harvard Lays an Egg The triumph of the diversity faction and the fall of Larry Summers by James Piereson

Blogometer realclearpolitics – ABC’s The Note - Early Bird thru GovExec -
H17 Daily Telegraph 'Long war' strategy on terror The Pentagon is aggressively promoting a new strategy for the "long war" against terrorism in which combat units will play second fiddle to diplomats, aid workers and civil servants.

Clinton gets seriousHillary Clinton has recruited the two loud-mouthed consultants who masterminded her husband's "back from nowhere" presidential run in a clear hint at her own White House ambitions.
H18 Independent Abbas threatens to resign if he fails to reach Hamas deal

Car bombers attack Saudi Arabia's oil processing facility

Robert Fisk: Is the problem weather, or is it war?

Chechens face intimidation and torture, says UN
H19
H20 Slate
From NPQ, an interview with Francis Fukuyama.

A look at how the neoconservative right adopted the worst errors of the left.

George Will reviews The Making of The Conservative Mind, National Review and Its Times, and Impostor

Weekly Standard Plagiary, It's Crawling All Over Me by Joseph Epstein
H21 Googling National Archives
Music landmark as billionth download is sold
Ruling May Undercut Google in Fight Over Its Book Scans
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   ¶ 12:09