1214-2006f - 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 Chatham House Living with Two Megapowers: The World in 2020

Washington Post Joint Chiefs Advise Change In War Strategy Leaders Seek No Major Troop Increase, Urge Shift in Focus to Support of Iraqi Army

New York Times nytcolumns

Democrats Plan to Tighten Reins on Iraq Spending

Guardian Bush has created a comprehensive catastrophe across the Middle East Timothy Garton Ash

Financial Times COMMENT: Talks with Iran and Syria will not be an easy ride Robert Malley and Peter Harling

IHT New members give a lift to the EU economy But World Economic Forum report finds that the bloc lags far behind the United States and a bloc of East Asian countries. World Economic Forum report (pdf)

Washington Times Israel's nuclear strategy By Louis Rene Beres and Maj. Gen. Paul E.Vallely Unveiling capacity only one step

CSM Why Israel maintains nuclear ambiguity

Asia Times US staying the course for Big Oil in Iraq One solution to the Iraqi tragedy would be for the Bush administration to give up its quest for the country's oil, with no preconditions. This is not going to happen, which is why there can be no firm timeline for a complete US withdrawal. A new Iraqi oil law being drafted will open the industry to foreigners, and US troops will be needed to defend Big Oil's investment. - Pepe Escobar

Heritage Foundation U.S. Strategy in the Black Sea Region By Ariel Cohen, Ph.D., and Conway Irwin - It is time for the U.S. to launch a coordinated policy effort in the Black Sea area to gain support for addressing such pressing issues as the rise of Iran, WMD proliferation, cooperation in the war on terrorism, and energy security, but the U.S. also needs to tread lightly, offering support where possible and backing off where necessary.

The Times Leader Anxious Ally The United States and Saudi Arabia need to swap notes on Iraq

IraqSlogger

“Six Brutal Truths about Iraq,” By Gen. Odom

FT Editorial Ahmadi-Nejad is beyond the pale

Editorial The world's challenge The worldwide movement against globalisation, itself a humorously contradictory concept, frequently portrays the process as one that creates mostly losers

COMMENT: Iraq and the wilting of flower power

COMMENT: Immigration is no way to fund an ageing population By Martin Feldstein

Los Angeles Times Throw The Iraq Report In The Trash By: Max Boot

Official: Saudis to back Sunnis if US leaves Iraq CNN

The Iranian Position Stratfor

Los Angeles Times Poll: McCain would top Clinton in presidential bid Times/Bloomberg findings come at a crucial time in the formation of the 2008 candidate field, which is expected to be crowded. POLL

Newsweek Hirsh: More Troops for Iraq? Hearing wildly conflicting advice, Bush has postponed his speech on Iraq. That may mean he's considering sending more troops to Baghdad.

Is America's Dominance Waning? The United States has unmatched military and economic strength, but is it losing its role as a force for global stability? By Robert J. Samuelson

A Real Exit Strategy: Talk to the Enemy - Joe Conason, New York Observer

Talking to Iran is a Mistake - Victor Davis Hanson, RealClearPolitics

ISG Can't Undo the Failures of Others - Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune

Gates Outlines US Strategic Defense Priorities

Washington realist The Republican Debate on Foreign Policy

CSIS Winning in Afghanistan: How to Face the Rising Threat Watch the Briefing | Briefing Slides | Transcript

FT Caspian boost for US policy A BP-led consortium will begin production this week at the Shah Deniz field in the Caspian Sea feeding the new South Caucasus pipeline carrying natural gas to Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey and, it is hoped, eventually Europe.

EUROPE: Russia bypassed as Caspian natural gas pipeline comes on stream

EurasiaNet Baku Banks on Independent Energy Policy

Nagorno-Karabakh Gains a Constitution, But Little Clarity for Future

CSM Helena Cobban: US engagement with Iran and Syria

H2 Boston Globe Slamming the door in Turkey's face (By Stephen Kinzer)

Daily Telegraph Leader The EU's hypocrisy Faced with popular opposition to Turkish member-ship, the European Union is set to tighten conditions for entry at its summit in Brussels, opening today.

Cyprus - Turkey's obstacle to the EU

IHT Turkey refusing to open ports to Cyprus

The Holocaust, the truth and the free mind CHARLES FRIED / The Boston Globe To doubt the Holocaust or Armenian genocide is foolish, but that judgment is not a judgment of politics but of the free mind that judges politics.

Lizbon Stratejisi'nden Türkiye'ye övgü

CSM Greek vs. Turk 'Survivor' may ease a bitter past

Press Release: IMF Executive Board Completes Fifth Review Under Stand-By Arrangement for Turkey and Approves US$1.13 billion Disbursement

Collective schizophrenia on a ghost train Burak Bekdil

Yusuf KANLI Can we go on in our EU bid despite Europe?

Rehabilitating Pamuk Suat Kınıklıoğlu

BBC Cypriot wounds
Mark Mardell meets men living with loss on both sides of Cyprus

Stalled talks
Turkish readers debate what next for Turkey's bid to join EU

Türkler Avrupa'nın günah keçisi PIERRE WEILL -

Türkiye hakkındaki tartışmaların odağı yanlış Rİhardos Somerİtİs

Independent AB Rumlara teslim olmamalı

Google News Kurdish Kurdish Media

ERDAL ŞAFAK Göbeğinde Türkiye'nin de yer alacağı bir gaz krizi patlak vermek üzere.

Google News Greece - Cyprus

Erdoğan: Hani siz anayasaya sadıktınız

1 saat başbaşa

FEHMİ KORU Erken seçim ve gerçek gündem

Erken seçime gideceğini söyleyen başbakan oldu mu hiç? Murat Yetkin

Bilal Çetin Sezer ile Erdoğan arasında ipler kopuyor mu?

ALİ BAYRAMOĞLU Genelkurmay'ın açıklaması ve arka plan...

Ekrem Dumanlı Demokrasiye bağlılık yemini

Güneri CIVAOĞLU / Sezer fırtınası

Fikret BİLA / Baykal: Başbakan, Sezer'e kulak versin

Sayın Baykal, Sezer'i CHP'ye almayınız Hasan Celal Güzel

[Yorum - Dr. Ümit Kardaş] Türkiye solunu arıyor (II)

Ahmet Hakan İki büyük olay

Derya SAZAK / Çankaya, Sezer, Baykal

Devletin başı nasıl seçilmeli? Altan Öymen

Murat Çelik Yaşanan öncü sarsıntı mıydı?

Ağar: Barajda geç kalındı

MAHMUT ÖVÜR 'Azıcık emperyal olmak'

NAZLI ILICAK Eski günlerdeki gibi...

Ömer Lütfi MeteMuz cumhuriyeti Erdoğan'a yarar

Şakir Süter Çankaya Savaşı mı?

Mehmet Tezkan Erdoğan kendi ayağına ateş etmedi mi?

Şamil Tayyar İşte o mektup

TSK'ya internetten hakarete tutuklama

Fikret Ertan İran'da önemli seçim

İsmail Küçükkaya
MİT brifingleri basına versin

Güler Kömürcü Kim o milletvekilleri?

Azınlıklar normal vatandaşlık istiyor -

Aksiyon Yeni Yüzyılın Diyanet’i - Fatih Uğur

Çırakları da Erdoğan’ın yolunda..

Güneybatı Kürdistanlılar KKK/PKK’dan kopuyor mu?

The establishment of an independent Kurdistan: A winning strategy
KurdishMedia

WHITHER KURDISH NATIONALISM Kurdish Aspect

Tolerance and dialogue are the bases to a peaceful Federal Iraq KurdishMedia

H3 Suç, ceza ve savunma Gündüz Aktan

Bush, Kurds Discuss Iraq Strategy

US takes new step against PKK - Turkish Daily News (subscription)

Cengiz Çandar Tüm yazıları Türkiye-AB: Trenlerin çarpışmadığı “tren kazası”...

Taha AKYOL / Kıbrıs'ta hareket zamanı

SOLİ ÖZEL Bundan sonrası

Ertuğrul Özkök Kimdir bu Ertuğrul Apakan

PKK ahtapot gibi!

Ankara: Irak raporu doğruları anlatıyor

Ankara'da 'bekle-gör' pozisyonu Türkiye, AB dışişleri bakanlarının, KKTC'ye doğrudan ticaret tüzüğünün işletilmesi konusunda çalışma kararını 'yakın takibe' alıyor

Kıbrıs'ta çözüm için ısrar etmek, Türkiye'ye kazandırır

Sabah Koordinatöre 13 yardımcı krizi

2007 süreci, kaygılar ve umutlar CEVAT ÖNEŞ –

Ruşen Çakır ABD’de bir devir kapanırken/1?Türk-Amerikan ilişkilerinde Neo-con gölgesi*

Avrupa'da PKK avı: Biz bu filmi görmüştük

İsterseniz bana yalancı deyin; ama ABD PKK'yla mücadelede samimi

Türkiye-ABD Savunma Grubu Toplantısı

'Güvenilir müttefik olmak istiyoruz'

Washington mektubu Rumlara okul cephesinde darbe indirdi

'1960'lar geride kaldı, Türk demokrasisi reformlarla derinleşti'

ABD'den PKK'ya ahtapot operasyonu

Suriyeliler PKK’dan kopuyor –

PKK baskısı yapacakmış!..

İç Basında Türk Dış Politikası

Dış Basında Türkiye-AB İlişkileri - Dış Basında Güncel Türkiye Bülteni Dış Basında Irak BBC Turkish 0700 Dış Basında Türkiye Turkish Press Review Google News Turkey Turquie Türkei TurcoPundit

Hasan CEMAL / Kuliste Büyükanıt Paşa!

Cüneyt Ülsever İçine kapanan Türkiye’de ne olur?

Bizde neden derin devlet vardır?
İsmet Berkan

Semih İDİZ / AB'ye alternatifler geliştirilmeli

Şahin Alpay Avrupa'ya karşı Avrupa

Ahmet Taşgetiren “Türkiye’siz Avrupa”yı düşündürtmek...

Ümit ÖZDAĞ AB-Türkiye ilişkilerinde son durum ve Türk milliyetçileri

Sami KOHEN / Tren kalkış sinyali bekliyor

M. Ali BİRAND / Papadopulos yine kaybetti...

[Yorum - Dr. İbrahim Kalın] AB ile ipler koparsa

Limanlar bunalımı ve tanıma
Turgut Tarhanlı

Ali Bayramoğlu AB macerasında en derin sular faslı...

Papadopulos: Türk önerisi yazılı olsun

Blair'den sürpriz Türkiye ziyareti

Annan’dan altın gol BM Genel Sekreteri Annan görevden ayrılmasına kısa süre kala, KKTC’ye izolasyonların kaldırılmasını içeren bir raporu Güvenlik Konseyi’ne sundu

Dışişleri: Kararı 'ehven-i şer' olarak görmüyoruz

İzolasyonlar kalkacak

Pierini: Kıbrıs için yeni bir öneri gelebilir

Türkiye'yle AB arasındaki tren kazasını engelledik

'Ertelenmiş olan iptal edilmiş değildir'

Cengiz Aktar Ökümenik sıfatı üzerine

İBRAHİM KARAGÜL Lübnan'da Türk askerine saldırı mı?

Doğalgazda kilit ülke olacağız,

IMF, 1.13 milyar dolar krediyi serbest bıraktı

Piyasalara uyarı var Merkez'den sinyal geldi: Pazartesi piyasalara müdahale edilebilir

Anne Kruger'den Türkiye'ye uyarı

Türkiye'nin IMF'e son taahhütleri

Hurşit GÜNEŞ / Enflasyonun sorumlusu belli. Ya cari açığın?

Güngör URAS / İyi ise Merkez'den, kötü ise başkalarından

Ercan Kumcu Büyümedeki yavaşlamanın dış açığa etkisi

Erdal Sağlam Yıl sonu bilançosuna kadar sıkıntı istenmiyor

Yalnızca ekonomi büyümedi
Mahfi Eğilmez

Bugünkü yavaşlama dünkünden farklı mı? Fatih Özatay

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIM Konutta büyümenin tortusu kaldı duraklama başladı

Deniz Gökçe Reel yavaşlama nasıl değerlendirilmeli?

H4 New York Times nytcolumns

DAVID BROOKS The Sidney Awards My selection of some of the best magazine essays of the year.

H5 Washington Post Joint Chiefs Advise Change In War Strategy Leaders Seek No Major Troop Increase, Urge Shift in Focus to Support of Iraqi Army

Lebanese Government Issues Own Warning

The government is mobilizing its sectarian constituencies as a veiled warning to Hezbollah and its Shiite Muslim followers not to go too far

Defying Bush, Senator Visits Syria Democrat Talks With Leader of Nation Iraq Report Calls Key

Russia's Killing Ways By Oleg Gordievsky,The KGB and its predecessors liquidated people abroad quite regularly in the 1920s and '30s and even after World War II. But after two embarrassing and highly publicized defections of assassins, in 1957 and 1959, these activities ceased. Nikita Khrushchev, Leonid Brezhnev and later Yuri Andropov all avoided political killings when they led the Soviet Union

Holocaust Conference Brings Disbelief on All Sides

Hamas Commander Slain Outside Court in Gaza Town

H6 Guardian Bush has created a comprehensive catastrophe across the Middle East Timothy Garton Ash

If US leaves Iraq we will arm Sunni militias, Saudis say Fears of massacre prompt king's warning to Cheney.

Take a bow, Kofi Ewen MacAskill: The UN secretary general used his farewell speech to take revenge on his persistent critics from the US administration.

US 'pressed British in Iraq to toughen up interrogations'

2006 warmest year since records began, say scientists
Surge in temperature astounds UK weather experts.

The dream of a neoliberal nirvana is coming to an end John Harris: From the environment to consumerism and housing, the issue is now how to rein in the market, not extend it.

A way out of the bunker Mark Seddon: North Korea and the US will both have to face uncomfortable truths to end their nuclear standoff.

H7 Asia Times US staying the course for Big Oil in Iraq One solution to the Iraqi tragedy would be for the Bush administration to give up its quest for the country's oil, with no preconditions. This is not going to happen, which is why there can be no firm timeline for a complete US withdrawal. A new Iraqi oil law being drafted will open the industry to foreigners, and US troops will be needed to defend Big Oil's investment. - Pepe Escobar

Attacing Iran - The cost: An army and a leg As long as the Bush administration refuses to rule out an attack on Iran, military strategists will have a field day assessing just how such an offensive could play out. According to some, it might backfire spectacularly and cost the United States an army. - Jason Motlagh

Asia Times Democrat dilemma over Iran The Bush administration is mustering arguments and support for its solution to the Middle East crisis: an attack on Iran. This gives the Democrats a choice. They can get sucked into such a war, or they can put forward a bold alternative that would not only prepare for US withdrawal from Iraq but restabilize the Middle East.

Remarks by President Bush After Meeting With Senior US Department ...

Bush Discusses Iraq Policy Changes with Pentagon Chiefs

Newsweek Hirsh: More Troops for Iraq? Hearing wildly conflicting advice, Bush has postponed his speech on Iraq. That may mean he's considering sending more troops to Baghdad.

Is America's Dominance Waning? The United States has unmatched military and economic strength, but is it losing its role as a force for global stability? By Robert J. Samuelson

A Real Exit Strategy: Talk to the Enemy - Joe Conason, New York Observer

Talking to Iran is a Mistake - Victor Davis Hanson, RealClearPolitics

ISG Can't Undo the Failures of Others - Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune

Gates Outlines US Strategic Defense Priorities

Secretary-general outlines 'new' NATO

Washington Times Naivete of the 'realists'

Outside View: Iraq a choice between bad and very bad

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

BBC Bush defends Iraq strategy delay Bush says he will not be rushed into deciding how to change his Iraq policy.

Growing exodus
More and more Iraqis flee to Syria to escape increasing violence

Iraqi PM Weighs Political Realignment

Sunni Groups: US Weighed Offer to 'Clean Up' Militias

Saudi Royal Family, Govt Split on Iraq

Sectarian battles spill beyond Iraq (Iason Athanasiadis)

Jordan and Iraq: Between Cooperation and Crisis USIP

Five Years After the Fall of the Taliban: Afghanistan and the War on Terrorism USIP

Troubles on the Pakistan-Afghanistan Border USIP

Bush Statement Highlights Plight of Syrian Political Prisoners

Syria's Assad Calls on West Not to Intervene in Lebanon

New Middle East Kommersant

US Denies Saudis Threatened to Back Iraqi Sunnis

Al Awsat The Baker Report: Impressive but Ineffective : Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed

More Than 800,000 Iraqi Refugees May Be in Syria

Washington Note Prince Bandar's Ambitions: Turki-Bandar Feud Over US Politics Cause of Resignation

After Iran- Are Arab Nuclear Efforts Underway?
Defense Update

H9 Ha’aretz - Israel worried Hamas and Iran developing strategic relations

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

Washington Times Israel's nuclear strategy By Louis Rene Beres and Maj. Gen. Paul E.Vallely Unveiling capacity only one step

Debka Tehran Seeks Ways to Capitalize on Olmert’s Nuclear Admission Print

BBC Hamas judge killed in Gaza Strip A prominent member of the Palestinian militant group Hamas is shot dead in the southern Gaza Strip.

Rivals: Fatah & Hamas

Spy terror
Israel's agents bring fear and suspicion to West Bank

A new player
Can Europe revive stalled Middle East peace talks?

James Baker's Fiasco - Daniel Pipes, Jerusalem Post

Yedioth Ahronoth 'Targeted killing permitted'
High Court authorizes IDF's 'assassination policy,' rejects petition claiming State has no right to take human life: 'It cannot be determined in advance that every targeted killing is prohibited according to international law'

Israeli TV catches Olmert "coaching" Italy's Prodi

A review of Fratricide in the Holy Land: A Psychoanalytic View of the Arab-Israeli Conflict.

Yet another problem in the Middle East: Arab women are suffering, says a UN report.

Morgan Stanley Israel Missing Piece An unambiguous agenda for peace would significantly improve Israel’s economic prospects

From Haaretz, a review of Zionism and the Biology of the Jews

The brilliant young Spinoza might have applied his mind to the Torah. Instead, he died as a man cursed by his own people... more»

Israeli Officials Struggle to Contain Damage From Nuclear Blunder

Tony Karon What Arab Holocaust-Deniers Should Learn from Mandela

H10 Christian Science Monitor Iran nukes prompt concerns in Mideast

Saudi Arabia and other Gulf nations say they may arm if UN sanctions on Iran prove weak.

Why Israel maintains nuclear ambiguity

THE MONITOR'S VIEW

How to keep America's education edge

Helena Cobban: US engagement with Iran and Syria

An article on China as a military boogieman in the US policy debate. Does the future really belong to China?

If China does not abandon one-party rule, will it stumble under the stresses of state capitalism? Or will it show that there can be a successful authoritarian road to modernity? For all the talk about the rise of Asia in the “knowledge age” that we live in, are these countries ultimately constrained in their potential to be great nations by their lack of top-flight systems of higher education?

Paulson told U.S. lacks knowledge of China

CFR On Trade, A Superpower Summit

Time Why Japan Is Cozying Up to India

Statement of Denial: The Iraq Study Group got the facts right, it just couldn't stand to face them.

Praise for the Group's "consensus-building" leader ignores his role in leading us into Iraq in the first place.

The Deniers' Club: What good is the bipartisan commission's new, last-ditch plan for Iraq if President Bush still has his heart set on victory?

Iraq Study Group Report Already an Orphan

H11 IHT New members give a lift to the EU economy But World Economic Forum report finds that the bloc lags far behind the United States and a bloc of East Asian countries. World Economic Forum report

World Bank sees developing countries benefiting in next wave of globalization

Meanwhile: Gaza, my home and my prison
LAILA M. EL-HADDAD The world has remained relatively silent — even complicit — as Gaza has been turned into a prison.

BBC EU summit to reconsider expansion European Union leaders are expected to make it harder for new members to join, as they hold an annual summit.

PINR "The Implications of Le Pen's Electoral Strategy in France" Full text of report

Washington Times Kosovo: Eternally dependent? Kosovo is a living testament to the inability of the U.N. to solve problems.

A review of Breeding Bin Ladens: America, Islam, and the Future of Europe.

A look at why the German Left is better for free markets than the Right.

The introduction to The European Economy since 1945: Coordinated Capitalism and Beyond.

H12 RFE/RL NEEDED: A US BLACK SEA STRATEGY
Central Asia-Caucasus Analyst

US-Armenian Tycoon Launches New Lobby Group

Google News Azerbaijan

BBC KGB influence 'soars under Putin'
A study says most of Russia's political elite has security service ties, with many chosen by President Putin.

Russia, Iran and the Nuclear Question: The Putin Record SSI

Russian Defense Reforms: Current Trends Source: Strategic Studies Institute, U.S. Army War College

EurasiaNet Baku Banks on Independent Energy Policy

Nagorno-Karabakh Gains a Constitution, But Little Clarity for Future

EDM A BLACK TUESDAY FOR WESTERN ENERGY COMPANIES IN RUSSIA

- YUSHCHENKO REGAINS CONTROL OF HIS PARTY

- ARMENIA’S KOCHARIAN SEEKING CONTINUED ROLE IN GOVERNMENT

The Nation The collapse of the Soviet Union was far from inevitable: A historic opportunity to democratize Russia by more gradual means was lost.

H13 The Times Leader Anxious Ally The United States and Saudi Arabia need to swap notes on Iraq

How violence is forging a brutal divide in Baghdad Neighbourhoods have become no-go areas as Sunni and Shia militias engage in a grab for land and the domination of government

Baghdad's sectarian divide according to the US military
The US military's classification of Baghdad along 'ethno-sectarian' lines

Anatole Kaletsky
Gordon Brown may not yet be prime minister, but already his prospective government appears to be foundering

Report: Diana crash was an accident

Saudi envoy leaves US after post not renewed

Wall Street Journal Kofi and U.N. 'Ideals'
Rwanda, Dafur, Iraq and Oil for Food.

The Power of The Press By: Peter R. Kann Thomas Jefferson, a better president than we've had in a very long time, penned a line back in 1787: "Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers or newspapers without government, I would not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter."

What Muslim Women Want By: Geneive Abdo and Dalia Mogahed

H14 Financial Times COMMENT: Talks with Iran and Syria will not be an easy ride A central recommendation of the Iraq Study Group was among the first casualties of President George W. Bush’s cavalier pick-and-choose response, writes Robert Malley and Peter Harling of the International Crisis Group.

MIDDLE EAST AND AFRICA: US senators make overtures to Syria

Gas dispute threatens Belarus, Georgia Russia is preparing to cut off natural gas supplies to neighbouring Belarus and Georgia unless the two former Soviet republics agree by the year-end to pay much higher prices in 2007.

Bush urged to break US oil dependence The Bush administration should act decisively to break America’s dependence on oil, according to a group of US business executives and senior military officers

THE AMERICAS: Washington seeks 'joint vision' over Beijing's economic reforms

COMMENT: Iraq and the wilting of flower power The American experience in Iraq, as many have pointed out, looks a lot like the American experience in Vietnam. But one element seems to be missing: anti-war protests, writes Jacob Weisberg.

COMMENT: Immigration is no way to fund an ageing population Increasing life expectancy and declining birth rates are leading to big fiscal problems throughout Europe, writes Martin Feldstein, chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers under President Ronald Reagan, and a professor at Harvard.

Ask the expert US foreign policy Robert Kagan

Tehran reformists move to rebuild from the local level

Editorial Ahmadi-Nejad is beyond the pale If Iran wishes and expects to be treated as a member of the international community in full standing, and requires its neighbours and adversaries to take into account...

Editorial The world's challenge The worldwide movement against globalisation, itself a humorously contradictory concept, frequently portrays the process as one that creates mostly losers.

Move to charge Ahmadi-Nejad over Israel remarks

WORLD NEWS: India and Japan seek to rekindle an element of passion in their relationship

COMMENT: Delaying democracy could damage Hong Kong The Hong Kong dollar’s recent slide to near-parity with the Chinese renminbi is having an unexpected side-effect, writes Guy de Jonquières.

COMMENT: Chile blazes the trail for Latin America

H15 Los Angeles Times Poll: McCain would top Clinton in presidential bid Times/Bloomberg findings come at a crucial time in the formation of the 2008 candidate field, which is expected to be crowded. POLL

Civil strife follows Iraq's refugees Escaping their battered homeland, Iraqis adrift find that prejudice is growing and compassion is fading.

Iraqi politicians consider a reshuffling

Bush says he won't be rushed on Iraq plans

Iran elections a last stand for reformists

Throw The Iraq Report In The Trash By: Max Boot

He doesn't know Shiite Don't know what Hezbollah is? Neither does the incoming chair of the House Intelligence Committee.

Holocaust denial can be dangerous Iran's two-day conference for revisionists can't be shrugged off given its quest for nuclear weapons.

Editorial

H16 American Politics McCain Inc.?

By Robert D. Novak, Party regulars, corporate officials and Washington lawyers and lobbyists are moving toward John McCain, the man they feared and loathed eight years ago.

BBC Senate control hinges on 'stroke' A US senator suffers a possible stroke, which could lead to Republicans regaining control of the Senate.

WSJ War-Weary Public Wants Congress to Lead Bush's approval rating slid to 34% in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, as a war-weary public showed overwhelming support for Democrats taking control of foreign policy. (Poll results)

• Graphic: Bush's approval ratings

Los Angeles Times Poll: McCain would top Clinton in presidential bid Times/Bloomberg findings come at a crucial time in the formation of the 2008 candidate field, which is expected to be crowded. POLL

WP Clinton and Giuliani Have the Early Edge For '08, Poll Shows

New Congress More Trusted Than Bush

Run Now, Obama By George F. Will

Bush to seek $100 bln more war funds: House report

realclearpolitics – ABC’s The Note - Early Bird GovExec

H17 Daily Telegraph

H18 Independent Adrian Hamilton: It won't help to demonise Iran at this stage

Johann Hari: Will Gaza, like Iraq, descend into civil war?

Leading article: Betrayed by a reckless civilian leadership

H19Military Intelligence Terrorism

Top DoD Strategist: Prepare for 50-100 Years of War

From American Heritage, from Saigon to Desert Storm: a look at how the US military reinvented itself after Vietnam

A review of On the Brink: An Insider's Account of How the White House Compromised American Intelligence

Claim: US gov't behind anthrax attacks

WSJ Pelosi Plans Oversight for Spy-Agency Funds Pelosi plans a House panel to oversee spy-agency funds in a bid to heed the 9/11 panel's call for Congress to exercise greater authority

Washington Times Bidders unready for jobs in Iraq Nearly two-thirds of the 276 Foreign Service members who volunteered to serve in Iraq next year were found unqualified for the jobs, aggravating a shortage that has left the State Department scrambling to fully staff its embassy and other operations in the country.

NSA Pinochet: A Declassified Documentary Obit Archive Posts Records on Former Dictator's Repression, Acts of Terrorism, U.S. Support

Post-Conflict Security-Building
Chatham House and ESRC

Allies and American Security FSI-Stanford, SSI

The Economics of Small Arms Demand
BICC

An article on Blackwater USA and the rise of private military contractors.

And former Air Force officer Mikey Weinstein says evangelicals are trying to turn his beloved military into a "frickin' faith-based initiative"

China's real nuclear capabilities
The US may have 50 times as many nuclear warheads as China, but that hasn't stopped alarmists from clamoring for even more weapons to meet the growing "China threat". A realistic assessment of China's capabilities would make the procurement of more nuclear arms a much harder sell. - David Isenberg

Bonnie Goldstein

Jacob Weisberg

David Plotz

Newsweek Dickey: Five Fatal Decisions Killed Diana

H21 Asians are the “new Jews” of higher education, kept out of some colleges by informal quotas. Is it time to give up the idea of racial identity?... more» ... another view

Circumcision can cut risk of HIV in men, study finds

Google’s Launch of Library Book Digitization Program Turns 2 Years ...

Mel Gibson's blood lust

By Richard Schickel The filmmaker's taste for scenes of bloody torture tell us much about his sensibilities.

Analyst says 'blogging may be peaking'

It is sheer snobbery to make teenagers study languages Peter Wilby: Forcing secondary school students to learn a foreign tongue will only backfire.

Here is Irving Kristol's personal account of his Public Interest at the conference on "The Public Interest and the Making of American Public Policy: 1965-2005."

From NPQ, an interview with Gore Vidal: "Nancy Reagan had a key role in ending the Cold War... Sex and relationships don't go together".

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