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H1 NYRB Iraq: The War of the Imagination By Mark Danner (repeat)

Washington Post Iraq Panel to Urge Pullout Of Combat Troops by '08 Iraq Study Group advocates leaving troops to train, advise and support Iraqis, setting the first goal for a major drawdown of U.S. forces.

U.S. Considers Ending Outreach to Insurgents By Robin Wright, The Bush administration is deliberating whether to abandon U.S. reconciliation efforts with Sunni insurgents and instead give priority to Shiites and Kurds, who won elections and now dominate the government, according to U.S. officials.

Groping for the Exit Bush's Search Brings Him to the Palestinian Morass By David Ignatius, A measure of how bad tings are right now in the Middle East: The Israeli-Palestinian morass is regarded as a bright spot.

This Is Realism? Iran and Syria Won't Be Riding to Our Rescue By Charles Krauthammer, Iran and Syria have an overriding interest in chaos in Iraq

U.S. May Pursue Iran Sanctions Even if Russia Balks

NYT News Analysis: The Only Consensus on Iraq: Nobody’s Leaving Right Now Despite the Democrats’ victory, the idea of a rapid American troop withdrawal is fast receding as a viable option.

Editorial Bush, Maliki and That Memo The president’s advisers need to tell him all the harsh truths about Iraq in the vivid terms they require, and they need to tell him how little time he has left to act.

Slate Things Fall Apart: What do we do if Maliki's government falls? Here are three options. Fred Kaplan

Asia Times Titans square up for clash in Iraq Signs of a more assertive anti-occupation stance by Iraqi Shi'ites point to a realization that the best way to avert a civil war might be to form common cause with Sunni insurgents. The Shi'ites are thus poised to challenge US power directly, with assistance from Iran, should the US refuse to set a timetable for withdrawing its forces. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi

American Conservative Special Relationship by Leon Hadar A one-sided U.S. policy toward Israel endangers both countries’ interests.

November 2006 Edition of Strategic Assessment Full Text of Document

Christian Science Monitor Middle East hot spots beginning to merge The recent trips by Bush and Rice signal a US push for a holistic, regional solution.

Financial Times Baker report prompts fears of ‘too little, too late’ Rarely has Washington awaited a report with such eagerness. But when the 10-member Iraq Study Group publishes its recommendations on Wednesday next week, a sense of anti-climax is likely.

Bush show of support for Iraqi premier

COMMENT: Nuclear deterrence may still have a role to play If the security debate is no longer preoccupied by big wars, we should be grateful but not take it for granted, writes Lawrence Freedman

COMMENT: Nato needs to wake from its daydream and face the present What matters now is that Nato returns to the present. Even as it talks about tomorrow, the alliance faces the possibility, if not the probability, of defeat today, writes Philip Stephens.

Washington Times Editorial James Baker's record James Baker's tenure as secretary of state was characterized by a disconcerting tendency to focus on winning the kind of short-term diplomatic victories that ended up costing the United States a great deal in the medium and longer term.

CFR Iran’s Ethnic Groups

Iraq's Uncivil War - Ralph Peters, New York Post

Time As Iraq Bleeds, the US Policy Cupboard Remains Bare

$100 Billion Iraq Bill to Test Democrats

“Democratic Bomb”: Failed Strategy Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Instead of treating nuclear weapons and materials as problems wherever they exist, the Bush administration has pursued a “democratic bomb” strategy, bending nonproliferation rules for friendly democracies

LA Times Abandon Iraq to save it Rosa Brooks: Having combat troops in Iraq is only making a bad situation worse, so the U.S. should find other ways to help.

CFR Mapping a New Energy Future (Video)

Saudi-Iranian rift? (Diana West)

Guardian Litvinenko was victim of 'Russian rogue agents'

Rand Corporation On ‘Other War' – Lessons from Five Decades of RAND Counterinsurgency Research”

Lebanon: The Next Volley in Hezbollah's Domestic Fight
Stratfor

IHT NATO's failure portends a wider war
AHMED RASHID / IHT The abysmal failure of NATO countries at the Riga summit meeting this week to commit more troops to Afghanistan will plunge the country into further desperation.

McClatchy Bush returns from Jordan to face scrutiny over policy

EurasiaNet New Partnership with European Union Prompts Hopes in Armenia

EDM ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS REKINDLE HOPES FOR KARABAKH PEACE

- AZERBAIJANI-RUSSIAN RELATIONS ENTER TURBULENT PHASE

H2 Guardian Leader Europe closes the door Although differences over Cyprus are the immediate reason for the problem between Turkey and the EU, the more fundamental cause is the way in which certain European leaders have played politics with the prospect of Turkish membership.

FT Editorial LEADER: Turkey and EU held hostage by Cyprus Some 43 years after beginning its long courtship of Europe and barely a year after opening entry talks with Brussels, Turkey's bid for European Union membership may...

EUROPE: Sarkozy calls for suspension of EU entry talks with Turkey

The Times Mick Hume Talk turkey? It's gobbledegook European leaders hide behind the Turkish question as a distraction from the EU’s own internal crisis

spiked | Time to ‘talk turkey’ about Turkey – and the EU

Guardian Iraq is already enduring two wars. Could it survive a third?
Jonathan Steele: The competing claims of Arabs, Turkomans and Kurds in the oil-rich Iraqi north are an explosion waiting to happen

PINR "Intelligence Brief: Turkey and its Succession to the E.U." Full text of report

Türkiye Doğu kadar Batı'ya da ait Hugh Pope

Nasuhi Güngör Erdoğan İran’a giderken

MEHMET OCAKTAN Erdoğan'ın Ortadoğu inisiyatifini görmemek...

KORAY DÜZGÖREN NATO Batı'nın global jandarması oluyor

Burkay 'Dağa çıkmak için neden yok'

Turkey's peculiarity recognized by NATO Suat Kınıklıoğlu

Slate Today's Papers Wikipedia antiwar.com technorati

Time The Meaning Behind the Pope's Trip Analysis: Benedict's words and gestures in Turkey, including a visit to a mosque, reveal a man who is finding his footing but still has a long way to go

The Pope in a Mosque — Dialogue or Idolatry? FOX News

Christian Science Monitor Pope's effort eases Muslim doubt

In Turkey, Pope Benedict supported Turkey's bid to enter the EU and visited a key mosque.

For Turkey's Armenians, Painful Past is Muted By: Anne Barnard | The Boston Globe

NYT Pope Prays in Turkey With Muslim and Orthodox Leaders

Pope and Muslim cleric pray in historic mosque · Dramatic gesture to quell claims of Islamophobia · Benedict also seeks to end rift with Orthodox church

Pope and Muslim cleric pray in historic mosque

BBC Pope makes Turkish mosque visit

Pope Benedict XVI visits a Turkish mosque in what is seen as an attempt to mend relations with Muslims.

Pope shows respect in Blue Mosque visit (Brian Murphy)

Pope prays in Turkish mosque

WSJ Benedict's Seminar on Fundamentals
The pope enters the greatest military and intellectual battle of our age. By DANIEL HENNINGER

Hedef, birleşik Hıristiyanlık

'Avrupa, Hıristiyan köklerini korusun' .. Haberin Devamı>>>

Güler Kömürcü Papa'nın gizli ajandasında ne var?

Ahmet Hakan Papa ile Bardakoğlu arasındaki dokuz fark

Papa 'dinsel Rönesans'ına destek arıyor Phillip Blond

'Yanlış' başka, 'gaf' başka Murat Belge

Derya SAZAK Papa ve AB kutsaması

FORUM: Papa'nın Türkiye gezisi

Papa'nın ziyaretiyle ilgili görüşlerinizi paylaşın

Reason prevails during pontiff's visit
Semih İdiz

Diyalog her zamankinden daha önemli

Avrupa basını ton değiştirdi

Pope takes step back on EU support for Turkey

Savaş SÜZAL Papanın Türkiye desteği AB’de ters tepti

Bülent Korucu DYP (aslında Ağar) nereye?

Bahçeli: Kimse demokrasi dışı müdahalelere bel bağlamasın

Ağar: Türkiye'nin alternatifleri var

Etyen Mahçupyan Aleviler bölücü mü oldu?

ABD Elçiliği: PKK hálá terör örgütü

US ruling not specific to PKK, says Ankara

"Güney Kıbrıs Çin'den silah alacak"

Editorial: The State Department’s Continuing Appeasement of ... Turkey
Greek News

Kahkaha dolu şura

TSK’dan rekor sayıda ihraç

Genelkurmay'ı eleştiren savcı davalık

İt dalaşı için 5 mil kalkanı

Kozinoğlu'na sahte diploma davası açıldı

Leyla Zana, federasyonu savunanlara 'Niye karşı çıkmadınız?' diye tepki gösterdi

Renaissance Research: The Tatars: A Pre-Turkish European, Largely Sunni Muslim, Minority Of 10 Million Citizens In The Eastern Heart Of The New Europe

1256) Gallup Carried Out An Autopsy On Armenia

THE CONSTANT APPLICATION OF PROPAGANDA By Mizgîn

Inflation in Kurdistan

Settlement on Kurdish Lands
Kurdish Aspect

Iraqi Kurdistan, an expansive look into the daily lives of the Kurdish people of northern Iraq

H3 Mehmet Ali Birand Türkiye, AB’ye akılcı yanıt verdi

AB'yle zorlu günler Papadopulos, limanları açması için Ankara'ya zaman sınırı konulmasını istiyor ve tehdit ediyor: Hiçbir başlığı açtırmayız. Finlandiya: Tavsiye kararı değişebilir

Türkiye zorlu süreçte diplomasiye hız veriyor

Komisyon'un bıraktığı boşluğu Rumların veto tehdidi dolduruyor

Komisyon'un tavsiye kararları değişebilir

NAZLI ILICAK 'Fifthy-fifthy' (% 50-50) kehaneti Neocon'lar AK Parti'ye karşı

TAHA KIVANÇ Mızrak çuvala sığmıyor

Tamer Korkmaz Darbe Kuponu Çöpe Gitmeye Mahkûmdur

15 günün gündemi bize yetmez
İsmet Berkan

AB kararı daha da kötüleşebilir
Murat Yetkin

Dön dolaş yine Kıbrıs Erdal Güven

Güngör URAS Avrupa Birliği ilişkilerinin bir süre askıda kalması iyidir

Cengiz Çandar Tüm yazıları AB’yle müzakere süreci Kıbrıs rehinesi olarak devam edemez

YASİN DOĞAN AB treni raydan çıkmayacak

Suat Toktaş Türkiye sertleşmeli!

Bilal Çetin
Babacan: Komisyonun kararı adil değil

'AB halıyı çekti' yorumu

AB ile ne olacak?

İKV Brüksel Temsilcisi Haluk Nuray değerlendirdi

ALİ BAYRAMOĞLU Finlandiya Dışişleri Bakanı'nından mesajlar...

ERDAL ŞAFAK Kaçış yok!

Barroso 'Karar makul, tarafsız ve adil'

Baykal'dan Rehn'e: Kendi kalemize gol mü atalım?

Fin Başbakanı Vanhanen bugün Ankara’da

Bakoyani’nin davetine Gül’den ret

Barçın Yinanç BM'ye atıf Rumları rahatsız etti

Taha AKYOL Avrupa ile gerginlik

Hasan CEMAL AB kötü oynuyor!

Yusuf KANLI Cyprus is now a condition

MUHARREM SARIKAYA AB: Belge değişecek; kapı kapanmayacak

Altın gol mü, altın vuruş mu?
Haluk Şahin

Daralan yolun haritası çiziliyor - İsmet Berkan (30.11)

Ferai Tınç Kendi formülümüzü yaratabiliriz

Serdar Turgut Avrupa hakkında

Yalçın Doğan Çıplak fotoğraf çektirmiş şimdi ’Şantaj’ diyor

Abdülhamit Bilici AB şaka mı yapıyor, çözüm mü sunuyor?

FEHMİ KORU İcmal

Mustafa Ünal AB treninin hızı

Türkiye karşıtları Kıbrıs'ın arkasına saklanıyor

Sarkozy: Türkiye'nin yeri AB değil

1 Aralık 2006 Basın Özeti

İç Basında Türk Dış Politikası - Dış Basında Güncel Türkiye Bülteni - Dış Basında Türkiye - Google News Turkey - Turquie- Türkei - Kurdish Media - FPR Archive - Quickread - Google News - Iraq -Iran - Syria – Kurdish - Greece - Azerbaijan Cyprus – - Israel - BBC Turkish 0700 -TurcoPundit - Stratfor Mideastwire.com

Mehmet Y Yılmaz Sorun Erdoğan’ın kafasının içindekiler

Ömer Lütfi Mete Köşk'te 'Ahir Zaman' alameti

İngiliz yazardan askere Atatürk M.Ali Kışlalı

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIMNe kadar dövize yönelme o kadar enflasyon artışı mı?

Ercan Kumcu Model farklı ama sorun aynı

Hurşit GÜNEŞ Kur değer kaybetmeden verimlilik sağlanabilir mi?

Saruhan Özel
Yurt dışı desteği devam ediyor

Ekonomik durgunluk ve enflasyon
Uğur Civelek

10 soruda ekonomide kurumlar, derecelendirme ve Basel II ALİ SERİM -

H4 New York Times Bush, in Meeting on Iraq, Rejects a Quick Pullout The announcement came even as Iraq’s prime minister said his country’s forces can take charge of security by next June.

News Analysis: The Only Consensus on Iraq: Nobody’s Leaving Right Now Despite the Democrats’ victory, the idea of a rapid American troop withdrawal is fast receding as a viable option.

Editorial Bush, Maliki and That Memo The president’s advisers need to tell him all the harsh truths about Iraq in the vivid terms they require, and they need to tell him how little time he has left to act.

THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN The Energy Wall

A virtual wall of energy independence will enable us to continue to engage on a reform agenda with the most progressive Arabs and Muslims, but without being hostage to the most malevolent.

PAUL KRUGMAN Economic Storm Signals

The odds are very good that 2007 will be a very tough year.

Asia Finding Rich Partners in Mideast

Beirut Journal: After War, Lebanon Turns to Art, Asking: Who Are We?

Having Pinned Little Hope on Talks, Many Iraqis Appear to Be Beyond Disappointment

Dissent Weakens Coalition Pressing Iran on Nuclear Program

Abbas Says Palestinian Unity Talks Have Reached an Impasse

As the Talks on Iraq Conclude, Arabs Wonder, Is That All?

Hezbollah Calls for Rally to Grip Beirut

H5 Washington Post Iraq Panel to Urge Pullout Of Combat Troops by '08 Iraq Study Group advocates leaving troops to train, advise and support Iraqis, setting the first goal for a major drawdown of U.S. forces.

U.S. Considers Ending Outreach to Insurgents By Robin Wright, The Bush administration is deliberating whether to abandon U.S. reconciliation efforts with Sunni insurgents and instead give priority to Shiites and Kurds, who won elections and now dominate the government, according to U.S. officials.

Groping for the Exit Bush's Search Brings Him to the Palestinian Morass By David Ignatius, A measure of how bad tings are right now in the Middle East: The Israeli-Palestinian morass is regarded as a bright spot.

This Is Realism? Iran and Syria Won't Be Riding to Our Rescue By Charles Krauthammer, Iran and Syria have an overriding interest in chaos in Iraq

U.S. May Pursue Iran Sanctions Even if Russia Balks

Bush Rejects Troop Reductions, Endorses Maliki President Calls Prime Minister 'the Right Guy for Iraq' After Summit in Jordan

The Delusional Duo By: Dan Froomkin

Hezbollah Sets Anti-Government Protest, Sit-In Premier Sees Threat to Lebanon's Democracy as Shiite Movement Seeks More Power

There He Goes Again By Eugene Robinson, Arguing whether the situation in Iraq does or does not meet some textbook definition of civil war is a distraction and a waste of time

Gazprom's Negative Energy

Russia's state-controlled natural gas monopoly seeks to access U.S. market, polish its image

Editorial Keep Hope Vaccines tell a wider tale of human progress.

H6 Guardian Litvinenko was victim of 'Russian rogue agents'

Baker's recipe for disaster Robert Zelnick The Iraq Study Group's proposals would lead to savage fighting and continued political meltdown.

How America dumped Bush, part 1 Sidney Blumenthal A new American generation has arisen that fundamentally repudiates President Bush and the Republican party.

Preaching to the convicted

Theo Hobson Nov 30 06, 04:15pm: Boris Johnson's claim that religion is a useful disciplinary force exposes his intellectual and moral limitations.

Lebanon vows to defy protests
Hizbullah mass protest a threat to democracy, says Lebanese PM.

The not-so-special relationship
It is hard to quarrel with Kendall Myers's characterisation of US-UK relations as one-sided, writes Mark Tran

It's not Marx, but Mill

How special is special?

H7 Washington Times Editorial James Baker's record James Baker's tenure as secretary of state was characterized by a disconcerting tendency to focus on winning the kind of short-term diplomatic victories that ended up costing the United States a great deal in the medium and longer term.

Iraq's Uncivil War - Ralph Peters, New York Post

$100 Billion Iraq Bill to Test Democrats

“Democratic Bomb”: Failed Strategy Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Instead of treating nuclear weapons and materials as problems wherever they exist, the Bush administration has pursued a “democratic bomb” strategy, bending nonproliferation rules for friendly democracies and refusing to negotiate directly with “evil” nondemocratic regimes such as North Korea and Iran. Yet regime change and democratization cannot solve major proliferation challenges in the necessary timeframe and actually can make them worse. Nonproliferation should take precedence over democratization. Universal rules remain essential and must be invigorated, which requires cooperation with major powers that differ on democracy. Full Document (PDF; 688 KB)

From TNR, Peter Beinart on nation-building, United Nations style.

Blaming Iraqis: Timothy Noah on what we tell ourselves about an American failure.

A look at why the Iraq Study Group is a bust.

Blood and Oil - Victor Davis Hanson, RealClearPolitics

Gates Favors Seeking Help From Iran and Syria

10 Fallacies About the Violence in Iraq by John Tirman

George Soros and Dangerous Political Currents - Zalman Shoval, NY Sun

CFR Voices of the Next Generation: Ian Bremmer (Audio)

H8 BBC Lebanese PM vows to defy protests Lebanon's PM Fouad Siniora says his government will not be brought down by protests planned by pro-Syrian groups.

Hezbollah calls for huge protests

Showdown time in Lebanon

Lebanese crisis explained

Iraqi forces 'ready by mid-2007'

Empty streets
Baghdad residents keep off the streets as fears of civil war grow

Sectarian loyalties seen in fledgling military

France Stands by US Refusal to Engage Syria

Saudi-Iranian rift? (Diana West)

Shi'ites vs. Sunnis

Iran may lend Iraq up to $1 billion

Al - Maliki Faces Revolt Within Government

Iraqis Plan To Take Over Security In '07

Maliki’s snub reverberates through Middle East

To Stabilize Iraq, Isolate Iran's Mullahs - Frank Gaffney, NY Daily New

Daily Star Washington has no right to blame anyone else for Iraq's problems

Can Aoun survive taking to the streets?
By Michael Young

Arabs may one day miss George W. Bush
By Michael Rubin

Geopolitical Diary: Iraq's Evolving Relationship with Iran
Stratfor

MEMRI Dec 01 SD# 1373 - Lebanon on the Brink of Civil War (5): Popular Street Actions To Begin Tomorrow, December 1, At 3 PM

Powell: Iraq in Civil War, Accept It

Gates, Hadley: More of the Same
by Ray McGovern

Jim Lobe Bush Seems Determined to Stay the Course

Smoke and mirrors in Iraq (Austin Bay)

Learning to Live With the Ayatollahs by Robert Scheer

Over at TPMCafe, Reed Hundt mocks Tom Friedman's "10 months or 10 years" choice for Iraq, but then adds his own plan for withdrawal:

The nexus of energy and climate policy

H9 Ha’aretz - Print Edition

Nasrallah-Siniora showdown / Who will blink first in Lebanon?

Spinning on an axis of evil

Editorial Fall in love only with Jews Arab citizens have to marry among themselves, or emigrate from Israel. Any possibility of marrying an Arab from a different state or the territories will be blocked by the citizenship law or the law on illegal aliens.

Yoel Marcus: Time will tell if PM's speech was rhetoric-shmetoric

Daily Alert.org

EJC Israeli Press Review

Analysis: High bar set in AIPAC case

BBC Holes in the wall
Palestinian workers get into Jerusalem despite the barrier

Boston Globe Death of the Mideast peace process

(By Chuck Freilich) THE SAUDIS and Arab League have recently refloated the idea of the 2002 Beirut Initiative, Syrian President Bashar Assad has renewed his calls for a settlement on the Golan, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is trying, to the best of his limited power, to cajole the Hamas government into agreeing to terms that will enable renewed talks with Israel

Daily Star Palestinian apathy does not mean an end to resistance
By Nadia Naser-Najjab

Jitters over the looming Fatah-Hamas showdown
By Mkhaimar Abusada

The spy who wasn't me
Jerusalem Post

November 2006 Edition of Strategic Assessment Full Text of Document

Jewish Controlled Media

H10 Christian Science Monitor Middle East hot spots beginning to merge The recent trips by Bush and Rice signal a US push for a holistic, regional solution.

Now in control, Democrats seek unified war strategy

In pushing for a bipartisan plan, they seek to avoid 'ownership' of the Iraq war.

Tony Karon Saudis Threaten to Back the Baathists (Again) in a New Iraq Proxy War

OpenDemocracy Washington's Iraqi sandstorm | Paul Rogers

Scottish independence? No fear! | Jimmy Reid | Alasdair Gray | Christopher Harvie

H11 IHT NATO's failure portends a wider war
AHMED RASHID / IHT The abysmal failure of NATO countries at the Riga summit meeting this week to commit more troops to Afghanistan will plunge the country into further desperation.

The new Golden Triangle ANTONIO MARIA COSTA / IHT
Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan are shaping up to be the new Golden Triangle of the drug trade.

Scant refuge in Jordan
BILL FRELICK / IHT The United States must aid Jordan in accomodating the waves of Iraqi refugees fleeing the war that it started.

Talk peace, but hold the road map JERROLD KESSEL AND PIERRE KLOCHENDLER Washington should encourage the Israeli and Palestinian leaders to continue talking peace, but not mire them in the temptation to pursue full-scale peace talks.

Daily Star Forget burka bans: EU Muslims need sensible integration By Zachary Shore

An ambitious Spanish plan becomes a modest flop By James Badcock

Eyeing the future
French presidential hopeful faces tough campaign battle

France is that part of Europe where political leaders are most vocally opposed to capitalism and globalization. Well, anyway, in theory... more»

From Merkur, wanderlust has made Europe into a transcontinental continent. Will the world and its cultures ever be able to disentangle themselves from their Europeanization?

A review of Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance by Ian Buruma.

What does it mean to be a “moderate” Muslim today? As Pope Benedict treks to the secular Muslim state of Turkey, this is a good week to ask the question.

H12 RFE/RL

BBC Unfair blockade?
Georgia is angry with Russia's ban on wine imports

Washington Times Russian bear sets a trap A number of European governments are cementing a relationship with Vladimir Putin's Russia which, in effect, will make them hostages of the Russian bear.

CIS weighing reforms to fragile alliance (Michael Mainville)

Ukraine's Yanukovych returns as reformer (Natalia A. Feduschak)

Youth Crisis Looms in North Caucasus By: Nabi Abdullaev | The Moscow Times
A rise in the number of young people coupled with a lack of opportunity in the North Caucasus could impede long-term economic development and threaten stability in the region, a World Bank study shows.

EDM ARMENIAN, AZERI PRESIDENTS REKINDLE HOPES FOR KARABAKH PEACE

- AZERBAIJANI-RUSSIAN RELATIONS ENTER TURBULENT PHASE

- WILL POLITICAL CHANGES IN KYRGYZSTAN AFFECT U.S. MILITARY PRESENCE?

EurasiaNet New Partnership with European Union Prompts Hopes in Armenia

From Deportations to Wine Embargo, Saakashvili-Putin Chat Changes Little

What Lies Behind Rash of Russian Poisonings? - Yuri Zarakhovich, Time

Georgia Parliament Speaker Pleased With NATO Summit "We hope to receive a [Membership] Action Plan, and become a member of the alliance as soon as possible," Nino Burdjanadze told RFE/RL

Brookings The Future of Russian Energy Policy

H13 The Times Leader Battle for BaghdadIraq's neighbours must commit themselves to its stability

Gerard Baker
Nothing seems to capture the symbolism of a nation’s decline better than a falling currency

David Cameron
We owe it to our troops and to
the people of Iraq to be clear about the direction we should now take

Ben Macintyre Why spies need the last word

The Litvinenko case: unanswered questions
What we know and what we may never know of the case of Alexander Litvinenko, the former Russian security agent poisoned by radioactive polonium

Poison trail leads back to Moscow
The Kremlin is at the centre of another poison mystery after the family of a former Russian PM claimed he had been poisoned

Bush backs Iraqi leader to stop the violence President Bush concedes there were tensions with Baghdad over the pace of the handover to Iraqi security forces but quells ideas of speedy withdrawl

Irshad Manji
The reaction to my defence of the Pope forced me to rethink what being a "moderate" Muslim really means

WSJ Our Iraq Policy Must Change
A stable and moderately free Iraq may be beyond the Iraqis' reach.
By JACK DAVID

H14 Financial Times Baker report prompts fears of ‘too little, too late’ Rarely has Washington awaited a report with such eagerness. But when the 10-member Iraq Study Group publishes its recommendations on Wednesday next week, a sense of anti-climax is likely.

Bush show of support for Iraqi premier The US president put on a strong show of support for Iraq’s beleaguered prime minister, describing him as the “right guy for Iraq” and assuring him that the US would not respond to pressure for a “graceful exit”.

COMMENT: Nuclear deterrence may still have a role to play If the security debate is no longer preoccupied by big wars, we should be grateful but not take it for granted, writes Lawrence Freedman, professor of war studies and vice principal (research) at King’s College London.

COMMENT: Nato needs to wake from its daydream and face the present What matters now is that Nato returns to the present. Even as it talks about tomorrow, the alliance faces the possibility, if not the probability, of defeat today, writes Philip Stephens.

COMMENT: Why money is making a comeback Monetary analysis has recently made a comeback because of many signs that, in their efforts to avert recession early this century, central banks permitted an excessive expansion, writes Samuel Brittan.

COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: Petro-populism: a third term beckons for Venezuela's firebrand president US policymakers may have markedly toned down their rhetoric in dealings with Hugo Chávez of late, reflecting a shift towards pragmatic accommodation, but there has been no let-up in the Venezuelan leader’s anti-imperialist rhetoric

Dollar slides as US business slows The dollar suffered sharp falls, hit by reports of weak US business activity and a benign inflation picture. Sterling rose to its highest level against the dollar since 1992.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: Bush has not broken with basic US policy principles

EUROPE: Putin looks in danger of overplaying a strong hand

EUROPE: 'Unnatural products' causedGaidar illness

EUROPE: Fears growof Chinese moving into Russian east

EUROPE: Georgia calls for single EU voice on Russia

Hizbollah to lead mass protest in Beirut

H15 Los Angeles Times Bush confident Maliki 'right' for Iraq The president extols Iraqi Premier's "courage" and vows to help him secure authority and quell violence.

- Bipartisan panel to urge U.S. pullback in Iraq

Lebanon adds 11,000 troops to security forces The buildup indicates that the country's ruling majority, led by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, has been bracing for armed sectarian conflict

Editorial

H16 Lawmaker intends to take oath of office on Quran

The Widening Gaps in the Evangelical-Republican Coalition
Stratfor

For Democrats, 'Not-Hillary' Field Takes Shape Iowa Gov. Vilsack declared he will run for president, joining what may become an army of Democrats whose aim is to stop Sen. Clinton.

Democratic Power Struggle By E. J. Dionne Jr., In their hunger to overturn the Republican majority, younger Democrats have finally learned that politics and policy are inevitably linked.

Can Reid play an effective offense? With Dems in control of Senate, ex-boxer will assume broader role for charting alternatives to Bush agenda.

A review of The Broken Branch: How Congress is Failing America and How to Get It Back on Track by Thomas E. Mann and Norman J. Ornstein.

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

The Dollar's Slide: How Far, How Hard? - Katie Benner, Fortune

H17 Daily Telegraph Halt inquiry or we cancel Eurofighters

Saudi Arabia has given Britain 10 days to halt a fraud investigation into its arms trade - or lose a £10 billion Eurofighter contract.

Leader: Balancing the law against 50,000 jobs

H18 Independent Maliki hailed as 'right guy for Iraq' as civil war is ignored President George Bush yesterday insisted that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki was the "right guy" for Iraq and pledged to accelerate the handover of security responsibility

Robert Fisk: Like Hitler and Brezhnev, Bush is in denial

Iraq panel to call for US to trade troops for diplomacy

The suffering that betrays a world divided

Today is World Aids Day. It was first marked in 1991, an attempt by the international community to alert humanity to the terrible scale of the threat posed by the disease.

H19 The Biological Weapons Threat and Nonproliferation Options: A Survey of U.S. Decision Makers and Policy Shapers
Source: Center for Strategic & International Studies

H20

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· Slate

Things Fall Apart:

What do we do if Maliki's government falls? Here are three options.

· Fred Kaplan

· hot document

The Hadley Memo:

How do you solve a problem like Maliki?

Bonnie Goldstein

·

Chronicle of the Newspaper Death Foretold:

The newspaper industry knew it was doomed 30 years ago.

Which experts make better political predictions? John Allen Paulos on Expert Political Judgment by Philip Tetlock

A review of Making Globalization Work: The next steps to global justice and The Next Great Globalization: How disadvantaged nations can harness their financial systems to get rich.

Who is missing from the latest Atlantic Monthly's Top 100 list? Ross Douthat investigates.

The Self-Isolation Ward The Economist
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) operates in many of the world’s most dangerous and unpleasant places, from Afghanistan to Guantánamo Bay. The opposite of the canary in the mine, it is often the last to keel over. Jealously guarding its reputation for discretion and impartiality, it manages to work with the world’s least tractable governments.

From Cato Unbound, the conclusion to the debate on irrationality and the limits of democracy.

H21 Google Search: 'Copyright'
YouTube and intellectual property theft.

New Rules Make Firms Track E-Mails, IMs...

Order out of chaos. Will to power. These may be the only truisms about human nature in the whole sorry Sigmund Freud saga... more»

The only woman who seems not to have liked Casanova as much as he liked himself was his mother. All the others... more»

Is the Process of Democratization the Mean for a Peaceful World? A Critical Analysis of the Democratic Peace Theory pdf.

From The Claremont Review of Books, an essay on why the Era of Big Ideas is over. Twilight of the Republic?

Andrew Bacevich on seeds of decline, path to renewal.

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