1208-2006f - FOREIGN PRESS REVIEW (FPR) - ‘Relevant news, views, comments and analysis from all around the world’ Compiled by Şanlı Bahadır Koç U.S. / Britain / Turkey / Magazines / Think-tanks / Blogs / Misc /Books / Quickread / Numbers / Reports - FPR Table - Subscribe to FPR

H1 NYT Bush Backs Away From 2 Key Ideas of Panel on Iraq

Dueling Views on Diplomacy Pit Baker Against Rice

News Analysis: Can They All Get Along in Iraq? Despite the Report, Maybe They Can’t

Pentagon Generals Condemn Plan as 'Unrealistic'

Washington Post Bush Appears Cool to Key Points Of Report on Iraq President Talks of Forming 'New Strategy'

Senators Challenge Feasibility of Iraq Plans

Study Group Concedes Some Risks But Calls Its Proposal 'Worth a Try'

Chairmen: Iraq Report Can't Be Used Piecemeal

Kevin Drum Benchmarking the Benchmarks

CSIS Anthony Cordesman The Baker-Hamilton Study Group Report: The Elephant Gives Birth to a Mouse (PDF; 63 KB) Report, with all its 79 recommendations, fails to suggest workable incentives for the Iraqis

The Economist Don't do it Why President Bush should not take the advice of the Iraq Study Group report to pull out swiftly

Iraq Managing defeat

New York Times nytcolumns Don’t Count on Iran to Pick Up the Pieces By KENNETH M. POLLACK The problems in Iraq were not caused by the Iranians, nor can Iran solve them all.

CFR Simon: ISG Report Essentially Calls for US to ‘Cut and Run’ from Iraq

Jerusalem Post Baker aide: We aim to help Israel, not force concessions Exclusive: Djerejian hails Blair's planned Mideast visit as start of new initiative, says region "crying out" for comprehensive solution.

Christian Science Monitor Arab world welcomes Iraq group's report

Israel cites some doubts, but Arabs say their advice is now being heard.

From Foreign Affairs, Stephen Biddle, Larry Diamond, James Dobbins, and Leslie Gelb analyze the report of the Iraq Study Group and debate what should be done in Iraq.

Jim Lobe on how neocons move to preempt Baker report.

Guardian Bush-Blair split on Iraq proposals

Leader: Avoiding great expectations

A just and lasting peace in the Middle East is a laudable and urgent goal. But achieving it will be very hard in the dark shadow of Iraq.

The neocons have finished what the Vietcong started Martin Jacques: Vietnam traumatised the US but left its power intact; Iraq, however, will be far more serious for the superpower.

AEI Eliot A. Cohen and Frederick W. Kagan critique the Iraq Study Group report - Reuel Marc Gerecht, Newt Gingrich, Michael A. Ledeen, Danielle Pletka, and Michael Rubin offer pre-release assessments of the commission - Recent articles by Kagan on strategic options, troop levels, and the consequences of withdrawal

Senator Biden's Plan For Iraq: Can It Work?

Bush Should Co-Opt the ISG Report - Robert Kaplan, The Atlantic

The ISG Report: Necessary, But Not Sufficient - Sen. Joe Biden, USA Today

Daily Star Iran seems ready to help America in Iraq - but Israel clearly does not

Frederick W. Kagan / NY Daily News:
Asking for chaos — Iraq Study Group fails the big test: how to quell the violence

Don't Count on Iran and Syria - Dennis Ross, The New Republic

Baker & Hamilton Hoping for a Miracle - Suzanne Nossel, Huffington Post

McClatchy Leaders greet Iraq report with skepticism

CFR World Energy Outlook 2006: Mapping a New Energy Future Fatih Birol, Chief Economist and Head of the Economic Analysis Division, International Energy Agency

A report (pdf) by Washington-based Refugees International said an influx of Iraqis threatened to overwhelm other Middle Eastern countries, particularly Syria, Jordon and Lebanon.

RFE/RL Is The Alliance Ready To Provide Energy Security? Some analysts are asking what would have happened if Ukraine had been a NATO member during last winter's "gas war" with Russia.

Editorials on the Iraq Study Group report

H2 FT Editorial Turkey gives its EU ambitions a chance Turkey needs the European Union and the EU needs Turkey. The stakes are so high that no trifling dispute should divide Ankara from Europe. That is why it is good news...

EUROPE: Turkey in softer line on Cyprus dispute

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: A Cyprus 'divorce' would boost Turkey's EU bid

COMPANIES INTERNATIONAL: Turkish delights

Cyprus Says Will Get Tough if EU Accepts Turkish Offer

The Economist Turkey and the European Union The ever lengthening road

Geopolitical Diary: Turkey's Latest Plan
Stratfor

Why Turkey and EU must get closer to each other*
Opinion by Carl Bildt

BBC Turkey in Europe
Join the World Service debate on Turkey's European ambitions

Guardian EU row looms over Turkish plan to break deadlock Greek Cypriots dismiss limited opening of ports as Athens calls for tougher sanctions on membership.

IHT Turkey makes an overture on Cyprus The proposal to open limited trade links with Cyprus did little to narrow sharp divisions within the European Union on resuming full membership negotiations with Ankara.

BBC Turkey 'will open up to Cyprus' The EU says Turkey's offer to admit Cypriot traffic could be an "important step" in reviving its EU membership bid.

Orhan Pamuk’un İsveç Kraliyet Akademisi'nde yaptığı konuşma...

Turkish [pdf] English [pdf]

Cengiz Çandar Tüm yazıları Orhan Pamuk ve Nobel: “Hepimiz adına” değil, hepimiz için...

FT COMMENT: Let us stop crying doom at the Union's expansion

Counterterrorism, integration of Islam in Europe ... The Turkish imams do not preach “political nonsense,” my interviewees told me

Cal State panel fails to suspend Cyprus program

Google News Kurdish Kurdish Media

Is Baker a Turk or an American? - KurdishMedia

Turkish Mayor Demands Dam Project Halted | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle

"The Changing Dynamics in the Middle East and the Implications for Turkish-American Relations" Read Dan Sreebny’s Remarks

ARI Vakfı, ABD’de başkan adayı McCain ile görüştü

Erzurum'da PKK'ya direniş hazırlığı iddiası

Özbek Paşa: Terörün nedeni Evren ve Özal

KISSINGERIANS, KURDS, AND STUPIDITY By Mizgîn

Baker-Hamilton report squeezed out of frozen mentality of Cold War
KurdishMedia

KurdishMedia That’s how the real world of politics functions: The Iraq study ... group and Kurdish concerns

ITC İngiltere Temsilcisi Haber’e konuştu Türkmenler’in umudu BM’de

Have your say: What is your reaction to the resignation of ... Newshirwan Mustafa KurdishMedia

Helikopter düştü 1 şehit

US Congress Blocks Loan for Caucasus Railway Project

'Mavi Kitap' ve Türk-Ermeni sorunu ŞÜKRÜ M. ELEKDAĞ

The Greek state, patriarchate, monastery and theological school Onder Aytac & Emre Uslu

[Yorum - Jaap De Hoop Scheffer] NATO'nun Riga çatlağı Gerçek mi yoksa söylenti mi?

Google News Greece - Cyprus

Asia Times The 'not an anti-American' bloc The Shanghai Cooperation Council is potentially the largest, if not the strongest, regional grouping in the world. It is also the largest security group without US participation. Not surprisingly Washington views it with suspicion. But the US need not be overly concerned, as it is not yet a full-fledged military bloc. - Yu Bin

Financial Times COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: At last, Bush is presentedwith the obvious truth on Iraq About one thing George W. Bush is right, but for the wrong reasons. There can be no ’graceful exit’: America faces a resounding defeat, writes Philip Stephens.

COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: Will the tap open? Why oil groups dream of the day they can enter IraqWhile the stability of Iraq under the former regime had been buttressed by oil revenues, today the struggle for control over these resources is threatening to tear the country apart.

Heritage Foundation The Iraq Study Group Report: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

H3 Ankara'dan tarihi öneri
Ankara, AB ile müzakerelerin sorunsuz olarak devamı için bir limanını, 1 yıllığına ve koşulsuz olarak Rumlara açmayı önerdi ... Haberin Devamı>>>

İlk adım Türkiye'den Murat Yetkin

Koşul yok beklenti var Erdal Güven

Türkiye’nin önerisine farklı tepkiler

Türkiye'nin çözüm hamlesi Rumların inadına takıldı

Sürpriz teklifin Fincesi

Ankara'dan son dakika hamlesi

AB'ye ters köşe

AİHM'den tarihi karar Mahkeme, Rum mallarıyla ilgili başvuruları değerlendirmek için KKTC'de kurulan 'Tazmin Komisyonu'nu 'iç hukuk yolu' saydı. Karar, komisyonu yasadışı ilan eden Rumlara darbe niteliğinde ... Haberin Devamı>>>

Rumlar AB'yle karşı karşıya

Baykal'a göre Dışişleri tuzağa düşürüldü

İşte Türkiye'nin B Planı

AKP'li Dülger: Bu fiili tanımadır

Ankara’dan altın gol mü

AB: Çözüm değil ama önemli adım

Atina: Bir liman bir alan yetmez

Rumlar: Ercan’a uçuş izni asla

Loğoğlu: US troops in N. Iraq would be no way out

Savaş SÜZAL Baker-Hamilton raporu, Türkiye için çok önemli

Mehmet Tezkan
Kuzey Irak’la ticaret yapıyorsan Rumlara da limanlarını aç..

Tazminat komisyonuna AİHM onayı

AİHM şoku Rumları birbirlerine düşürdü

‘Türkiye’nin girişimi can sıkacak’

Turkey EU Cyprus news articles »

EU sources: Merkel may kill Turkey's EU membership in 2009

İç Basında Türk Dış Politikası - Dış Basında Güncel Türkiye Bülteni - Dış Basında Türkiye - Google News Turkey - Turquie- Türkei - - TurcoPundit - BBC Turkish 0700

Hasan Ünal Yes, prime minister, you're right; but don't talk, do it

Hasan ÜNAL Acaba???

ERDAL ŞAFAK Türkiye'nin AB'de yaptığı son dakika hamlesinin can alıcı noktası limanlar değil, tarih!

Fikret BİLA Kıbrıs sorunu taksit taksit çözülür mü?

M Ali Birand Türkiye herkesin kafasını karıştırdı

Ferai Tınç Merkel’in şifreleri ve son dakika girişimi

Büyükanıt Hükümet bize sormadı kararı TV’den öğrendim

Turks increasingly fed up with the EU Semih İdiz

Yusuf KANLI Walking on a knife's edge

Güngör URAS Ödünün 'askıya' yararı olamaz

Güneri CIVAOĞLU Ankara sürprizi

Taha Kıvanç

Fehmi Koru

NAZLI ILICAK

ÖMER LÜTFİ METE Yine mandacı ruh

Emin Pazarcı MHP'de bir şeyler oluyor!

Ağar: Sivil anayasaya ihtiyaç var

Etyen Mahçupyan Ağar sendromu

'Darbe' mi dendi?
Murat Belge

Güler Kömürcü Yeni şifre; Suryoyo

MUHARREM SARIKAYA Stegniy: Hollywood senaryoları bitmeli

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIM Halk dövize boğulmuş şirketler açık pozisyonda

Ercan Kumcu Bütçeyi biraz da artan ithalat kurtarıyor

Faik ÖZTRAK
Tek haneli enflasyon ve makro ekonomik istikrar

Coca - Cola Names Muhtar Kent New COO

Erdoğan adaylığı, piyasa riski
M.Ali Kışlalı

H4 New York Times nytcolumns Don’t Count on Iran to Pick Up the Pieces By KENNETH M. POLLACK The problems in Iraq were not caused by the Iranians, nor can Iran solve them all.

THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Set a Date and Buy Some Leverage Only if we tell all the players in Iraq that we are leaving might we create a different balance and therefore some hope for a diplomatic deal.

Bush Backs Away From 2 Key Ideas of Panel on Iraq

Dueling Views on Diplomacy Pit Baker Against Rice

PAUL KRUGMAN They Told You So I’d like to offer some praise to those who correctly predicted the folly of the Iraq war.

Hezbollah’s Leader Vows to Continue Protests

Editorial Blood, Toil, Tears and Nukes The major powers would have a far stronger case for their calls to restrain the nuclear ambitions of countries like Iran and North Korea if they showed they were willing to reduce their own arsenals

H5 Washington Post Bush Appears Cool to Key Points Of Report on Iraq President Talks of Forming 'New Strategy'

Senators Challenge Feasibility of Iraq Plans Study Group Concedes Some Risks But Calls Its Proposal 'Worth a Try'

Editorial Mr. Ch?vez's Victory The most significant result of Venezuela's election is the reappearance of a political opposition.

That Murder in London By Charles Krauthammer Alexander Litvinenko's death was a warning of what awaits those who go after the Russian government.

Bush Listened, but Did He Hear? By Eugene Robinson, The Decider isn't in the habit of letting mere facts get in the way of blind conviction.

Intelligence Agencies 'Must Do Better'

Panel Faults Quality of Information on Insurgency, Militias

Dangers in a Dollar on the Edge By Robert J. Samuelson, Can the world economy thrive without the massive stimulus of ever-increasing U.S. trade deficits?

An Ideal In Need Of Rescue By E. J. Dionne Jr.,

The administration fought this war in a way guaranteed to make the road to democracy even more difficult.

Hezbollah Chief Rallies Protesters Beirut Speech Reiterates Vow to Topple Premier but Forswears Civil War

At State, the News Needs No Muse The Iraq Study Group report rocketed through town Wednesday, setting thousands of reporters off in search of foreign policy experts to opine about what it all meant

William Arkin Not What the American or Iraqi People Want

Iraq: worse than civil war | Sami Ramadani

Washington realist Realists Resurgent?

H6 Guardian Bush-Blair split on Iraq proposals President rejects recommendations made by the Iraq Study Group.
Baker report dismissed as unrealistic

Leader: Avoiding great expectations

A just and lasting peace in the Middle East is a laudable and urgent goal. But achieving it will be very hard in the dark shadow of Iraq.

ISG: what the blogs said

The neocons have finished what the Vietcong started Martin Jacques: Vietnam traumatised the US but left its power intact; Iraq, however, will be far more serious for the superpower.

Selling Iraq Julian Borger: After the Baker commission finished its deliberations, the ad-men and spin-doctors moved in.

Don't expect peace soon Jonathan Spyer: Hostile forces have to be defeated before any meaningful Middle East talks can take place.

UN makes plea for Palestinian aid
Half of population going short of food

H7 Senator Biden's Plan For Iraq: Can It Work?

Bush Should Co-Opt the ISG Report - Robert Kaplan, The Atlantic

The ISG Report: Necessary, But Not Sufficient - Sen. Joe Biden, USA Today

Frederick W. Kagan / NY Daily News:
Asking for chaos — Iraq Study Group fails the big test: how to quell the violence

Don't Count on Iran and Syria - Dennis Ross, The New Republic

Baker & Hamilton Hoping for a Miracle - Suzanne Nossel, Huffington Post

McClatchy Leaders greet Iraq report with skepticism

Senators Question Iraq Panel's Blueprint...

Options for the long war

By Austin Bay

Boston Globe What will Congress do?(By Scot Lehigh)

Baker-Hamilton Won't Stop Beltway Bloodshed - Daniel Henninger, WSJ

Skillful Report Further Isolates Bush - Carl Leubsdorf, Dallas Morning News

Withdraw to Victory? - Pat Buchanan, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

This way out? By Cal Thomas What possible reason would Iran and Syria have to stabilize Iraq so the United States can leave behind a free nation?

Ehsan Ahrari Iraq Study Group gets one thing right The Iraq Study Group has performed an invaluable service to the United States by underscoring the importance of multilateralism and the need for diplomatic exchanges even with America's adversaries. As such, it might prove to be the end of neo-conservative efforts to drive US foreign policy toward unilateralism, jingoism and hubris, the results of which are plain to see in Iraq, writes Ehsan Ahrari. It remains to be seen whether President George W Bush will adopt such an approach, and whether it will come in time to save Iraq.

Leave Iraq now; don't wait until 2008 election day By JOSEPH L. GALLOWAY

YaleGlobal Baker's “Realism” Must Not Be a Cover for Retreat

The Fears of a Regional War

US Rout Is Iran's Condition to Talk to Washington

Capitalism: One Size Does Not Suit All

H8 Google News Iraq Iran - Syria Mideastwire.com - NPR Iraq

What the Middle East thinks about the ISG report

Daily Star Iran seems ready to help America in Iraq - but Israel clearly does not

UPI Commentary: Iran rising By Arnaud De Borchgrave

BBC Bush: No early Iran-Syria talks US President George W Bush and UK Prime Minister Tony Blair reject early talks with Iran and Syria over Iraq.

Bush ponders next move

Iraqis await shift
Iraq's leaders pleased with the findings of the report on US policy

The Economist Lebanon A battle for the nation's heart

The Death of Gemayel: A Tactical Analysis Stratfor

McClatchy Analysts: U.S. at root of effort to topple Lebanese government

BBC Hezbollah leader urges defiance

Hezbollah's leader vows to continue mass protests in Beirut aimed at ousting Lebanon's government.

PBS interview Shiite Politician Urges Faster Iraqi Takeover of Security

Recent US Free Trade Initiatives in the Middle East: Opportunities but no Guarantees Source: Harvard University, Kennedy School of Government, Faculty Research Working Paper Series + Full Paper (PDF; 206 KB)

Backdrop to Iran's Nuclear Policy Clingendael
A 5-page speech by Iran's Minister of Foreign Affairs, offering a backdrop to Iran's nuclear policy

Michael Rubin Is American Support for Middle Eastern Dissidents the Kiss of ...

MEMRI Dec 08 IA# 306 - Human Development Report 2006-References to the Middle East

Helena Cobban Why I welcome the ISG report

Washington Note Hagel As a Study Group On His Own: The Middle East in Perspective

Does The Iraq Study Group Report Call For A Timetable?

H9 Ha’aretz - Print Edition PM: Conditions not ripe for talks with Syria

Editorial A positive step in Washington If Bush accepts the Baker report's findings, Israel should see it as a ray of hope, as it did the Madrid Conference 15 years ago.

Shmuel Rosner Baker's brew The issue raised by the Baker-Hamilton report does in fact deserve an examination - and then a reexamination: To what extent is the Israeli-Arab conflict central to the Middle Eastern imbroglio?

Bar’el Nasrallah's orange revolution No longer is the Hezbollah secretary general just the head of a threatening opposition movement. He's the most important political force in Lebanon

The Israeli interest in Iraq: who has the answer?

This means war This week, the leaders of the Arab minority in Israel declared war in their own way on the Jewish national state in the Land of Israel.

Schiff Hamas' critical lesson What lesson has Hamas drawn after the Israeli government unconditionally accepted the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip? The best way to get out of trouble is to use force, and if needed, even more force.

Lebanon's 'Second Revolution'

Daily Alert.org - EJC Israeli Press Review – Google News Israel –

Gates Confirms Israel Has Nukes

Israeli prime minister rejects link to Iraq

Yedioth Ahronoth 'Siniora helped Israel in war'
Hizbullah leader Nasrallah tells tens of thousands of demonstrators in Beirut that opposition will continue protests until its demands are met; accuses Lebanese PM of taking orders from US, conniving with Israel

Congress bans Hamas talks

US Congress passes bill prohibiting transfer of aid, official talks with Hamas government

Who decides who's a Jew?

An Iranian victory/ Alex Fishman

Daily Star Regional interests mean the cease-fire might lead nowhere
By Yossi Alpher

Time Are Israel and Hizballah Squaring Off to Fight Again?

Forget Islamophobia–What About Kafirophobia!

H10 Christian Science Monitor Arab world welcomes Iraq group's report

Israel cites some doubts, but Arabs say their advice is now being heard.

Opinion: A reality check on the Iraq report

Iraq report received mixed response in Israel

A new chief at the Pentagon As secretary of Defense, Robert Gates may be able to shape a bipartisan approach on Iraq and the war on terror.

Confucius reenters China's schools to counterbalance Western influence

Cultural heritage lessons help the Chinese join the world economic scene without completely absorbing Western cultural values.

Global warming: a few skeptics still ask what's causing it to happen

Scientists who seek an alternative to the fossil-fuel theory got a Senate hearing this week.

THE MONITOR'S VIEW

Let US now speak with one voice on Iraq

Daniel Schorr: When Washington leaks, it pours

H11 IHT Bush resists idea of troop withdrawal

Common ground remains the key JOAN VENNOCHI / The Boston Globe The Iraq Study Group presented a middle ground out of Iraq. Can America find the common ground to act on it?

A mosque in central Munich is stirring sentiment against foreigners The construction of mosques has become one of the most contentious symbols of a foreign faith in Germany, rising in the middle of German cities and reinforcing fears that Christianity is under threat.

Dollar, yuan, and wary euro PETER NAVARRO If the upcoming talks fail to aggressively address the record-high U.S.- China trade imbalance, the European recovery could well be stopped in its tracks.

Things are bad, but not hopeless IAN BREMMER
Lebanon is in bad shape. But it is not on the verge of civil war.

Jagdish Bhagwati responds to questions on managing globalization

The Economist Kosovo's future Delay, delay

Italy's divided opposition A plague on both your houses

Spain's bickering opposition Popular peevishness

The French presidential race Candidate inflation

Germany's press Still a man's world

Charlemagne A European values debate

European Union: Electricity prices for EU households and industrial consumers on 1 July 2006 Direct to Full Text

The Relative Importance of the European Languages Source: Department of Economics, University of Copenhagen
+ Full Paper (PDF; 559 KB)

After Enlargement: Europe's New Migration System DIIS

H12 RFE/RL Is The Alliance Ready To Provide Energy Security? Some analysts are asking what would have happened if Ukraine had been a NATO member during last winter's "gas war" with Russia.

Azerbaijan Says It Has Intercepted Suspicious Cargo To Iran

U.S., Russia Clash Over Future

An Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe ministerial meeting threw into sharp relief divisions over the organization’s future.

Azerbaijani President Accuses Opposition Of Intimidation

Four Armenian Protesters Set Themselves Alight

Azerbaijan Threatens to Stop Using Russian Pipeline By: Christina Tashkevitch | The Messenger
Russia's attempts to involve Azerbaijan in its "anti-Georgian bloc" have failed after Baku warned it may reduce, or even stop pumping its oil through the Baku-Novorossiysk pipeline, the Russian business daily Kommersant wrote on December 4

EDM TRANS-BLACK SEA PIPELINE CAN BRING CASPIAN GAS TO EUROPE

- KAZAKHSTAN AND TURKEY SPEARHEAD INTEGRATION OF TURKIC NATIONS

A look at how Russia tests the limits of realism.

From Commentary, what does Putin want?

Russia's democratic revolution has given way to the deep authoritarian tendencies of Russian political culture

Google News Azerbaijan

From Russia, the problem with diplomatic paranoia is not that someone is after you, but that you are unable to tell the difference between a real enemy and an imagined one.

EurasiaNet Regional Electrical Integration: Panacea for Central Asia’s Economic Woes?

Addressing Pipeline Security Challenges in Russia BY YURI M. ZHUKOV

Bill on Kars-Akhalkalaki-Baku Railway Project Awaits US President ...

BBC Born after the USSR
Young Russians struggle for identity in post-Communist era

Lake Balkhash's Disappearing Act: Is Central Asia’s second-largest lake destined to become another Aral Sea?

H13 The Times Leader Double Act A quick exit from Iraq is not a policy option for the US or the UK

Blair tries to bridge the gap between Bush and 'realists' on Iraq strategy

Warm welcome in Washington, cold shoulder elsewhere The recommendations of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group received a far cooler reception in Iraq, Iran, Israel and from the US military

Religious split could set region on fire The Sunni and Shia conflict is spilling out of Iraq and bodes ill for future of country’s neighbours

There's no right answers – but lots of wrong ones The biggest loser from the Iraq Study Group report is President Bush; it has given him a much sharper rebuke than expected

WSJ Our Unceasing Ambivalence
Why it's so hard to define victory in Iraq. By SHELBY STEELE

No Way to Win a War
"A fatuous process yields, necessarily, fatuous results."
By ELIOT COHEN

U.S. to Beef Up Iraqi Army Training

U.S. military commanders in Baghdad are advancing a plan to increase the number of American troops involved in training Iraqi soldiers. The approach isn't expected to require a marked change in the number of American troops.

AEI A NATO for Asia
Helping South Korea Despite Itself
By Gary J. Schmitt, Ellen Bork

Pakistan goes global
Asia Times

H14 Financial Times COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: At last, Bush is presentedwith the obvious truth on Iraq About one thing George W. Bush is right, but for the wrong reasons. There can be no ’graceful exit’: America faces a resounding defeat, writes Philip Stephens.

COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: Will the tap open? Why oil groups dream of the day they can enter IraqWhile the stability of Iraq under the former regime had been buttressed by oil revenues, today the struggle for control over these resources is threatening to tear the country apart.

WORLD NEWS: Iraq report's proposals split Congress

COMMENT: Let us stop crying doom at the Union's expansion

COMMENT: Once again, Russia is waiting for Godunov Although Russia's elections are more than a year away, -Russians are already talking seriously about "the 2008 question".

NATIONAL NEWS: March could be a resonant time for an early Blair resignation

Blair plans Mideast visit after Iraq report

Arab states seize on call for peace drive

WORLD NEWS: Hizbollah ups ante against Lebanon PM

Protests sap Beirut’s ability to bounce back

COMMENT: Europe has made real progress onfinancial integration

China loans create ‘new wave of Africa debt’ The International Monetary Fund warned that China’s emergence as an alternative lender was creating a new wave of hidden debt in Africa.

Editorial The sky has a limit One of those cliches built around a kernel of truth is that the Boeing 747 is the commuter train of the global village. Yet…

H15 Los Angeles Times Editorial What they said ... The Iraq Study Group's report contains some wishful thinking, but its usefulness is undeniable.

It's a war, not a buffet Jonah Goldberg

All the backslapping over the Baker panel's report ignores the fact that the Iraq Study Group didn't say much.

Conservatives incensed over panel's findings Howls of protest echoes across right-wing political spectrum as commentators and tabloids voice dismay over Iraq diagnosis.

Senators question Baker, Hamilton on panel findings

H16 American Politics

The Economist Lexington After Bush, the deluge The field of presidential candidates grows by the day

Assessing the 2008 Presidential Candidates by David Corn

Beating Off the Rescue Party
by Sidney Blumenthal

Free Trade and the Democratic Party
Stratfor

Gerard Baker An Obama presidency is a thrilling prospect for a nation in which race
is a continuously reopening sore

For Now, an Unofficial Rivalry

Possible Clinton-Obama Presidential Clash Has Senate Abuzz

LA TimesShe's too vaneBy Arianna Huffington It didn't matter much that Hillary Clinton is a fickle leader -- until Obama came along.

John McCain: The Last Neocon - Joe Conason, Salon

A World Gone Barack - Kathleen Parker, Orlando Sentinel

Democracy and Greatness - Harvey Mansfield, Weekly Standard

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

H17 Daily TelegraphBush and Blair refuse to move over Iraq

Generals say plans won't work in field

Ambrose Evans-Pritchard / Telegraph:
Economic storm brewing in America

From Scotsman, we have had Rule Britannia, Cool Britannia, Brit Art and Britpop, and it is all the fault of the Scots: The Spiritual Identity of Britishness argues that Britishness is a concept invented by Scots.

Would an independent Scotland be the land of the brave or the province of fools? Arguments for and against.

Anti-enterprise Scotland go it alone?

What a hoot. English nationalism, not Scottish, may decide the fate of the union.

H18 Independent Cracks appear between Bush and Blair over need for talks with Iran and Syria

Was there a small chill in the space between the two leaders?

Leading article: The harsh reality of this special relationship

Litvinenko's associate 'in a coma' as spy murder mystery deepens

On day 37 of a murder mystery; one funeral, a second murder plot and seven more people test positive for radioactivity

H19Military Intelligence Terrorism

Reining In Military Contractors By: Michael A. Cohen and Maria Figueroa Küpçü | The Washington Post

From Japan Focus, an article on The Militarization of Space and US Global Dominance: the China Connection

Alfred W. McCoy, author of A Question of Torture: CIA Interrogation, from the Cold War to the War on Terror, on how the US has a history of using torture.

McClatchy: "The top Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee signaled this week that he'll join prominent Democrats in seeking to restore legal rights to hundreds of suspected terrorists confined at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere."

Ex-Detainees Seek to Sue U.S. Officials

Japan, U.S. Tune Up Defense Policies By: Hisane Masaki | Asia Times

Afghanistan: Drug Industry and Counter-Narcotics Policy
Source: World Bank

The Army Small Arms Program That Relates to Availability, Maintainability, and Reliability of the Small Arms Support for the Warfighter Source: U.S. Department of Defense, Office of Inspector General Full Report (PDF; 3.34 MB)

Troops Don't See Policy Changes Until After Presidential Election

Recommendations Could Stretch Special Ops

Guantánamo General Sworn in as NATO Military Chief

Phillip Carter

H21

The Economist Intellectual property

New ideas about new ideas

Books of the year 2006 Fighting to be tops

Islamic finance Calling the faithful

From TNR, a look at why Nobel laureate Mohammed Yunus will doom microfinance.

With Muhammad Yunus set to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for his work with microcredits on Sunday, the tiny bank loans are in the spotlight.

Foreign Correspondents An Endangered Species By: Trudy Rubin | Miami Herald
One group of Americans who can be proud of their work in Iraq are the print media correspondents based in Baghdad. They were maligned by the White House and Pentagon as lazy, biased or worse, but their gutsy reporting turned out to be on the mark.

In Japan, English Speakers Are From Mars By: Kumiko Makihara | International Herald Tribune Despite some predictions that Chinese will become the next worldwide lingua franca, the acceptance of English as the global language, spurred by the spread of the Internet, is here to stay. Fluent English is increasingly expected, rather than respected, in the business community.

The social norm of leaving the toilet seat down: A game theoretic analysis (PDF; 93 KB) Source: Munich Personal RePec Archive

A new issue of the IMF's Finance & Development is out

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