1219-2006f - FOREIGN PRESS REVIEW (FPR) - ‘Relevant news, views, comments and analyses 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 Washington Post White House, Joint Chiefs At Odds on Adding Troops Military officials say proposal to boost numbers in Iraq temporarily lacks defined mission and is being promoted in part because of limited alternatives.

NYT Attacks in Iraq at Record High, Pentagon Says

Ha’aretz - Mossad chief: Iran will not get nuclear bomb before 2009

Jerusalem Post Mossad Chief: Syria More Willing Now Than Ever to Attack Israel

WP Forget the Domino Theories By Robert Satloff, The road to Baghdad does not pass through Tehran, Damascus, Jerusalem or Gaza -- it is a cul-de-sac that begins and ends in Iraq

Financial Times COMMENT: How Bush can start fixing his policy failures The US faces in Iraq what could be the most consequential foreign policy debacle in its history. The only other contender for that distinction is the war in Vietnam, writes Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution.

Iran’s election likely to bring rethink at top

COMMENT: Five events and how they changed the world in 2006 Rushing to judgment is all part of the job and my offering this week is a shortlist of the most significant events of the year. Here they are, in chronological order, writes Gideon Rachman.

Christian Science Monitor Missing: a functional Iraqi government The weak Iraqi state, riven by factions, is still crucial to most visions for stabilizing the nation.

Washington Times Saudis report Shi'ite 'state' inside of Iraq Iran has effectively created a Shi'ite "state within a state" in neighboring Iraq, defying both Iraqi Sunnis and neighboring Sunni nations, according to a Saudi security report.

NYT News Analysis: In Abbas, Western Hopes Hang on Thin Reed

Daily Star After unipolarity, Europe's time to make a difference By Dominique Moisi

Strategic Studies Institute Regional Fears of Western Primacy and the Future of U.S. Middle Eastern Basing Policy. by Dr. W. Andrew Terrill.

Iran, Iraq, and the United States: The New Triangle's Impact on Sectarianism and the Nuclear Threat. Authored by Dr. Sherifa D. Zuhur.

Global Economic Prospects 2007
World Bank A 208-page outlook for the world economy

Knowing the Enemy Can social scientists redefine the “war on terror”? by George Packer, New Yorker

Morgan Stanley - Global Economic Forum Looking to 2007

Guardian This is an attempt to overturn our elections Karma Nabulsi

Slate fighting words There are only three options in Iraq. By Christopher Hitchens

The Times Leader Yanks Stay Here American isolationism would be far worse than supposed ‘unilateralism’

New Republic The Assad two-step: Crush the Sunnis, then pander to them by Clinton Bailey

LA Times U.S. seeks to 'rein in its military spy teams' Special Forces on 'secret missions' are clashing with CIA, spying on allies.

EurasiaNet Georgia Claims Energy Crisis "Over," But Deal With Iran Undefined

Asia Times Iran's crocodile rocked Moderates, with unexpected gains in the weekend's elections for the influential Council of Experts, have dealt Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and his extreme-right mentor, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi (also known as "the crocodile"), a hard blow. But the real winner is Supreme Leader Ali al-Khamenei, whose vast powers remain undiluted. - Pepe Escobar

Top former State Department expert Wayne White explained to the Iraq Study Group's members why their preferred plan would most likely fail

H2 CSIS Turkey's Train to Europe Stalls Bulent Aliriza and Seda Ciftci READ MORE

Ambassador Mark R. Parris Named Visiting Fellow and Director of Brookings-TUSIAD Project on Turkey

FT REPORT - CYPRUS: Partition starts to look permanent

Türkiye'nin AB'de yeri yok Geoffrey Wheatcroft

AB genişlemeyi sürdürmeli

Boston Globe Turkey and the European Union: a difficult match

IHT Turkish author to face court for insulting reputation of Ataturk

'Unfair to Turkey' By Tulin Daloglu

Turkish PM: Too Soon for New Palestinian Elections

Google News Kurdish Kurdish Media

İlnur Çevik Discord deepening with the Iraqi Kurds

Ümit ÖZDAĞ Psikolojik savaşta savunma hattı

Talabani lambastes Baker-Hamilton report: It is ill-informed, negative, unfair and undermines our long struggle for democracy Kamal Mirawdeli

The Kurdish case for Kirkuk KurdishMedia.com - By Dr Nouri Talabany

After Baker –Hamilton report, USA interest in Iraq and Middle East By Hamma Mirwaisi

Kurdish authority is in need for a dramatic shift in policy? By Abdul-Rahman Mawlood

Baker -Hamilton Raporu, Kürd tarafının eksiklikleri ve yapabilecekleri

Kürt Ulusal Demokratik Çalışma Grubun'dan Çağrı

Irak’ta Kürt devleti kurulamaz

19 Aralık 2006 Basın Özeti

MAHMUT ÖVÜR 'Köyümüze dönmek istiyoruz'

İngiltere-Ercan uçuşuna hukuki engel yok

Elçi partisini bugün kuruyor: Türkiye'nin de KDP'si olacak

Kürtler, Öcalan seminerini iptal ettirdi

Hasan DEMİR Apocuları Ankara’ya yürüten ABD-İsrail ittifakıdır

Arınç'tan Ankara'ya gelen DTP'lilere randevu yok

Iraq's political chaos raises fears in Turkey

Standard Eurobarometer 66: Autumn 2006

Turkish PM: Abbas call for early Palestinian vote 'very negative'

Georgian president to seek energy alternatives in Turkey

Armenians Against and For Turkey's European Union Membership
Armenia Diaspora,

Working towards mutual understanding between Turkey and Armenia Sylvia Tiryaki

Türkiye, Avrupa ortak hava sahasını veto etti

Google News Greece - Cyprus

Osmanlı Arşivi'ne sahip çıkalım
Hasan Celal Güzel

‘Islamic capitalism’ faces Kemalist resistance
By MustafaAkyol

MEHMET BARLASArtık dünyada bir Türk diasporası da var...

ERDAL ŞAFAKTürk ve Türklük

Şahin Alpay TRT'de skandal

Erdil’e beraatte direnme kararı

Erdoğan cumhurbaşkanı, vatandaş müşteri olunca

HAKAN ALBAYRAK
Ekstremist Bush yönetimi, İsrail işgali ve “medeniyetler ittifakı”

Sosyal Güvenlik Kanunu
Turgut Tarhanlı

Ercan Kumcu Siyasetin alışmaya çalıştığı gerçekler

Cari açık iyimser yorumlanabilir mi? Korkmaz İlkorur

Tarımda yapılacaklar AB olmasa da yapılacak

Güven Sak Baker-Hamilton Raporu ve AB kararından 2007'de Türkiye ekonomisine

Asaf Savaş Akat “Düzeltme gerekmiyor” tezi

Seyfettin Gürsel Büyümeye sert fren

Doğrudan yabancı sermaye yatırımları Mahfi Eğilmez

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIM Yerli parasını getirmek yetmez, asıl Türkiye'de tutmanın yolu önemli

Turkish economy-global economy
Doğu ERGİL

Deniz Gökçe Para politikası kolay mı?

H3 Başbakan, K.Irak için tepki koydu

Erdoğan: Ben Türküm eşim Arap, sıkıntı yok

ABD: Türkiye, Türkmenlere silah ve para veriyor

Erdoğan'ın New York Temasları Sürüyor

Dülger:'ABD Politikasını Gözden Geçiriyor'

Cengiz Çandar Tüm yazılarıFilistin-Lübnan-Irak ve Türkiye’nin pusulası...

Açık-kapalı Gündüz Aktan

Annan raporu niye sümenaltı edildi?

Türk hava sahasına tek elden kontrol geliyor

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

Cüneyt Ülsever 2007 Irak yılı olacak!

Gözcüleri satın alıp Türkleri avladık

Karabay Ben olsam ateş emri verirdim

İlter Türkmen Geçmişi unutmak o kadar kolay mı?

Enis Berberoğlu Erdoğan sporla 94 kiloya düştü

FATİH ALTAYLIKöşk'e çıkmak istemiyor ama...

Bilal Çetin Muhalefet Erdoğan’ı inatlaşmaya mı zorluyor?

Cumhurbaşkanlığı önemli bir makam mıdır? İsmet Berkan

Yusuf KANLI Let the people elect the president

Cumhurbaşkanlarının siyasi ve hukuki sorumluluğu

Baykal CHP'yi Meclis'ten çekmeli mi? Murat Yetkin

ASLI AYDINTAŞBAŞCHP erken seçim istemiyor

MUHARREM SARIKAYAMillet sinesine bekliyor mu?

[Yorum - Doç. Dr. Neşet Toku] Köşk'ü demokrasi içinde tartışalım

Fikret BİLA / Baykal: TÜSİAD önce seçim istemeli

Hasan CEMAL / Tezgâh ve oyun!

Berat Özipek Erken seçim hangi Türkiye’yi rahatlatır?

Tamer Korkmaz Çankaya Gerçeği

Şakir Süter Sine-i millet

Can Ataklı Erken seçim kararı için son 27 gün

AKP Sezer'in 4 yıllık karnesini çıkardı

Taha KıvançMedeniyetler ittifak edecekse...

Hüsnü Mahalli İngiliz sözü!

Rusya, AB'nin alternatifi değil

Güler Kömürcü
Parola: 100 milyon dolar 100 vekil

Müslüman sol veya sol Müslümanlık
Nuray Mert

MÜMTAZ'ER TÜRKÖNE - Devrimci sağ-muhafazakâr sol

İnanca ve inançlıya saygı Murat Belge

Fehmi Koru

NAZLI ILICAK Kaçırılan fırsatlar ve ulusalcılık

Ömer Lütfi Mete

Nuh Gönültaş Erdoğan’ın cumhurbaşkanlığı Sezer’inkine göre daha meşru olur

TAHA KIVANÇ İhtilâl taşı

H4 New York Times nytcolumns Editorial The Kremlin’s Shell Game It appears that the Kremlin is again trying to muscle an energy company into doing its bidding, this time with environmental regulators.

H5 Washington Post White House, Joint Chiefs At Odds on Adding Troops Military officials say proposal to boost numbers in Iraq temporarily lacks defined mission and is being promoted in part because of limited alternatives.

Iraq Violence at Record Highs
Sectarian killings by Sunni and Shiite death squads threaten political institutions, report finds.

Forget the Domino Theories By Robert Satloff, The road to Baghdad does not pass through Tehran, Damascus, Jerusalem or Gaza -- it is a cul-de-sac that begins and ends in Iraq

A 'Surge' in Wasted Sacrifice By Eugene Robinson, It is unconscionable to sacrifice more American blood and treasure to save face in a lost war.

Two Cities McCain Stands to Lose By Richard Cohen, John Mccain's incessant sword-rattling has gotten just plain rattling.

'Old Europe' Can Gloat, but Then What? By Anne Applebaum, If the 'Old Europe' intelligentsia have better ideas about how to improve the catastrophic state of Iraq, they aren't speaking very loudly.

Bush Signs India Nuclear Law Critics Say Deal to Share Civilian Technology Could Spark Arms Race

Defense Chief Gates Sworn In Secretary Vows to Listen to Others' Advice on Iraq War

Ex-NSC Official Says White House Is Stifling His Criticism of Iran Policy

William Arkin What a "Surge" of Forces Really Means in Iraq

H6 Guardian This is an attempt to overturn our elections Karma Nabulsi: Mahmoud Abbas declared yesterday: "Let the people decide for themselves what they want."

Only an end to sanctions can halt Palestine's crisis Azzam Tamimi: The White House, Tony Blair and the Israeli government urged the world community to support Abbas in his latest bid to rid them of a Hamas-led government. These three carry the burden of Palestinian blood shed as a result of the crisis.

Blair's last push in Middle East
PM proposes bypassing Hamas with aid to Abbas.

Ahmadinejad loses first poll test
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's supporters fail to win key councils

'Americans' helped Iraqi ex-minister escape jail

Leader Governing by numbers
It will be years, even decades, before all the human, material and political damage done to the world by the Iraq war can be repaired. In one small but significant area of this country's own domestic legacy, however, some preparatory reconstruction is already under way.

H7 Washington Times Editorial The consequences of failure in Iraq As the security situation deteriorates in Iraq, there is growing support, particularly among political and media elites, for the following argument: that defeat is inevitable.

Iraq exit via Iran: Act II

By Arnaud de Borchgrave

Democracy, yes but. . .

By Claude Salhani

Surge protector By Frank J. Gaffney Jr.

Bush must exercise winning options in Iraq (Tod Lindberg)

Top former State Department expert Wayne White explained to the Iraq Study Group's members why their preferred plan would most likely fail

Asia Times Iran's crocodile rocked Moderates, with unexpected gains in the weekend's elections for the influential Council of Experts, have dealt Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad and his extreme-right mentor, Ayatollah Mesbah Yazdi (also known as "the crocodile"), a hard blow. But the real winner is Supreme Leader Ali al-Khamenei, whose vast powers remain undiluted. - Pepe Escobar

The coming Sunni-Shi'ite showdown As the US mulls its options in Iraq, the message from the region, and particularly from Saudi Arabia, is clear: Sunni governments are rallying to stymie Tehran's influence across the Middle East in what is shaping up to be a showdown against widening Shi'ite power. The opening salvo may already be taking place in Palestine. - Jason Motlagh

Analysis: Iraq forces sometimes own enemy

Outside View: Gates' two year challenge

Gates: Iraq Failure Would Be 'Calamity'

CFR Iraq and the Mideast Conundrum

Resetting US Policy in the Middle East

The EconomistFarewell Annan Kofi Annan’s UN leadership nears an end. It was marked by a frustrated wish to protect civilians from horrors, and by a cold relationship with America

ISG: Defeat With Honor
The Nation

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

Washington Times Saudis report Shi'ite 'state' inside of Iraq Iran has effectively created a Shi'ite "state within a state" in neighboring Iraq, defying both Iraqi Sunnis and neighboring Sunni nations, according to a Saudi security report.

U.N. funds for Iraqi refugees decimated

NATO proposed as security move (Anju S. Bawaa)

Islamic Democracy for the Midde East? GlobalComment.com

BBC US defence chief warns over Iraq Robert Gates warns that failure in Iraq would be a "calamity" as he is sworn in as the new US defence chief.

US 'troop boost in Iraq likely'

Poll blow for Iran's Ahmadinejad Partial results from key polls in Iran suggest a setback for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad

Early Election Results Seen As Bad For President

Analysts say partial results from city-council and Assembly of Experts elections could signal a defeat for the supporters of President Mahmud Ahmadinejad.

Debka Ahmadinejad’s Followers Ordered to Falsify Election Results In full

'Leave US Alone,' Iranian Reformers Say by Muhammad Sahimi

Person of the Year: Ahmadinejad
by Patrick Buchanan

Dec 19 SD# 1398 - Al-Hayat Editor: Iran is Trying to Position Itself as 'The Only Power in the Region'

A Smorgasbord with Poisonous Dishes : Amir Taheri

Outside View: Russia, EU divided on Iran sanctions

Daily Star Arabs must practice dynamic engagement, not traditional docility

Don't expect an able Iraqi Army soon
By Andrew Exum

Can Lebanese Christians Survive Islamic Divisions?

Let Iraq Break Up? Let Kosovo Leave Serbia? The Perils of Separatism

H9 Ha’aretz - Mossad chief: Iran will not get nuclear bomb before 2009

The Iranian threat / Safe to leave the bomb shelters

Senators McCain, Lieberman to Olmert: Don't be tempted by Syrian talks offers

Marcus First, say yes At no point should Israel find itself in a situation in which an Arab country offers to negotiate and Israel refuses

And thanks to Ahmadinejad

In God they trustWhat motivates U.S. presidents like Bush, Wilson to aspire to create new world orders?

Study: Blair failed because of inability to influence Washington

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

Yedioth Ahronoth End of Hamas democracy

Assad waiting for Ehud/Oppenheimer

Dagan: Syria willing to attack Israel

Iranian Envoy: Return of Golan to Syria is Also Our Goal

The First Decade of the Jordanian-Israeli Peace-Building Experience MERIA

NRO ILAN BERMAN: It wasn’t just a freak show in Tehran last week. ““Believe Him and Stop Him””

WILLIAM HARRIS: The situation in the Middle East right now turns not on Baghdad or Jerusalem, but on Beirut. “Getting Syrious”

An interview with Rashid Khalidi on why Palestinians have failed to create a nation the grave situation in the Middle East.

The Iraq Study Group gets the linkage wrong on peace
By Yossi Alpher

Resolving the Middle East's crises needs integrated efforts
By Christian Hanelt

Jordan Asks Israel to State Position on Palestinian Statehood

H10 Christian Science Monitor

Missing: a functional Iraqi government

The weak Iraqi state, riven by factions, is still crucial to most visions for stabilizing the nation.

Democrats challenge Bush doctrine on Mideast tour Sens. John Kerry and Christopher Dodd are due to meet Syria's president on Tuesday.

The Arabs on the outside A forthcoming report says that 55,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites are being cut off from the city by Israel's security barrier. Part 1 of three.

THE MONITOR'S VIEW Ballots as Mideast backstops

British official: No lack of evidence of corruption in Saudi arms deal Senior fraud officer openly challenges British government's cancellation of probe into deal.

ASIA - Washington Times Japan and Asian security

Statement by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson at US Delegation Press Conference following the US-China Strategic Economic Dialogue

Business as Usual By: Robert Kuttner | The American Prospect
The high-profile mission to China of key administration economic officials looks like another predictable fizzle.

Is China Ready for its Closeup? By: Dan Glickman | Los Angeles Times

The New Great Game By: Daniel Twining | The Weekly Standard
As its relationships with the United States, Japan, and China show, India has reemerged as a geopolitical swing state after decades of marginalization as a consequence of the Cold War, its own crippling underdevelopment, and regional conflict in South Asia.

The rising pole of the East

Walker's World: Here comes China, warns U.K.

Japan, The Rising Sun…Again? - American Spectator
American Spectator

Credit to the Administration: US-India relations

H11 IHT Reject the war
JAMES CARROLL / The Boston Globe
Having led the world into this moral wilderness of mass violence, America has a grave responsibility to lead the way out

'Islamophobia' on the rise in Europe, report says

When truth is sacrificed TZVETAN TODOROV For nearly five years, it has been possible to put a moratorium on truth in a great democracy like the United States.

EUROPANew Al Qaeda Message Expected As Terror Anxieties Already High in Europe...

New Report Says EU Muslims Face Broad Discrimination Education, housing, and employment are some of the areas where Muslims living in the EU face obstacles, a new EU report says

Iran To Denominate Foreign Deals In Euros

French Socialist presidential candidate postpones U.S. tour after Hillary snub...

A European Agenda By: Jurgen R. Thumann | The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) The German presidency of the EU beginning next month is both a challenge and an opportunity for our country to provide the impetus to enhance the bloc's competitiveness.

Deconstructing Spain Spain's economy is booming. But all fiestas must end, or at least wind down.

European Court to Tackle Terrorism Cases by Looking to History By: Anna Jenkinson | Bloomberg News
The European Court of Human Rights' experience with the Northern Irish and Basque conflicts may help it when weighing an increasing number of cases about national anti-terrorism laws, said Luzius Wildhaber, the court's president.

BBC In the middle
Should a post-Blair Britain rebalance towards Europe?

New energy power
Norwegian merger to create world's largest offshore oil company

Let's Just be Friends: The EU's tepid response to its ardent Balkan suitors would frustrate anyone. But they can't give up.

Vision of a Liberal Europe
speech by Sir Menzies Campbell, 12 December

Confronting Crisis in the European Union: A Fresh Start - Stefano Micossi and Daniel Gros - CEPS Policy Briefs

H12 RFE/RLOECD Urges Armenia To Crack Down On 'Tradition' Of Bribery

What Does Putin Want? By: Leon Aron | Commentary Putin is taking Russia in a direction not only unmistakably different from the one pursued by Yeltsin but, in many regards, its opposite. For the United States no less than for the Russian people, this turn of events carries profoundly unsettling implications. Not only is the survival of Russian democracy at stake, but so too is Russia’s reliability as a key oil producer and as an actor in the world.

EurasiaNet Georgia Claims Energy Crisis "Over," But Deal With Iran Undefined

Google News Azerbaijan

Lukashenko Finds Gas Talks Tough | The Moscow Times

Derek Brower: Gazprom's Winning its Caucasian Chess Game with EU

H13 The Times Leader Yanks Stay Here American isolationism would be far worse than supposed ‘unilateralism’

'Nobody should have a veto on progress' Tony Blair has declared Hamas an obstacle to peace because of its refusal to recognise Israel

Wall Street Journal An Oil Trust for Iraq By: Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Ensign (subscription required)

Econoblog: The Dropping Dollar

Two economists discuss the dollar's recent slide against the euro.

US Deficit Heading Toward Record

H14 Financial Times COMMENT: How Bush can start fixing his policy failures The US faces in Iraq what could be the most consequential foreign policy debacle in its history. The only other contender for that distinction is the war in Vietnam, writes Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution.

COMMENT: Five events and how they changed the world in 2006 Rushing to judgment is all part of the job and my offering this week is a shortlist of the most significant events of the year. Here they are, in chronological order, writes Gideon Rachman.

Investigate the US nation's painful state of mind Washington worked itself up into a fine lather before the Iraq Study Group’s report, writes Jurek Martin. But with some unusually artful White House prodding, the report has gone from being the only topic in town ten days ago to being just an afterthought today

Iran’s election likely to bring rethink at top Just 18 months after the landslide election of President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad of Iran, the bloody nose delivered to his government at the weekend suggests Iranian politics is entering a new and volatile stage.

Editorial Theocratic democracy Democracy can be so wonderfully unpredictable, even in a theocracy. Ask Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad

EUROPE: Putin succession doubts unsettle the Kremlin

Shell's hopes for Sakhalin-2 resolution

FT REPORT - CYPRUS: Partition starts to look permanent

FT REPORT - CYPRUS: All set for club membership

FT REPORT - CYPRUS: Emotional attachment ever more entrenched

FT REPORT - CYPRUS: Stymied by 30 years in the wilderness

FT REPORT - CYPRUS: Division puts a brake on trade

FT REPORT - CYPRUS: In search of a regional role

FT REPORT - CYPRUS: Anxious to improve visitors' first impressions

FT REPORT - CYPRUS: Effort to lure a better class of customer

FT REPORT - CYPRUS: Migrant workers rush for asylum

NATIONAL NEWS: Iraq war was Blair's 'terrible mistake'

THE AMERICAS: Powell talks of defeat as Gates is sworn in

engagement with Iran.

H15 Los Angeles Times Editorial Kofi Annan's tough love Though plagued by corruption scandals, the outgoing secretary-general's focus on human rights and reform has left the United Nations a stronger institution.

U.S. seeks to 'rein in its military spy teams' Special Forces on 'secret missions' are clashing with CIA, spying on allies.

White House accused of censorship Former NSC official says administration ordered CIA to intervene on op-ed he wrote for New York Times.

FTFRONT PAGE - FIRST SECTION: Gaza mission Blair's foreign policy under fire

Blair seeks to bolster support for Abbas

N Korea lists demands for disarmament North Korean diplomats presented a long list of demands to be met before the country considers abandoning its nuclear weapons programme

Critic accuses Bush of silencing dissent A former senior Bush administration official who has been outspoken in his criticism of US foreign policy accused the White House of trying to silence him by censoring an article he co-authored that advocated broad

COMMENT: Ban's debut is a chance for Asia to step into the spotlight On January 1 a new secretary-general will move into UN headquarters in New York. For the first time in three and a half decades, he will be an Asian, writes Michael Fullilove, of the Lowy Institute for International Policy in Sydney, Australia.

Editorial Capital controls could prevent baht take-off Thailand's decision to impose controls on capital inflows should be little surprise. Its dilemma is one often faced by emerging markets: how to keep the exchange rate...

COMMENT: Britain buckles before Saudi threats Though this UK government often seems to think otherwise, the rule of law stands above any and all individual statutes as the foundation for freedom and democracy, writes Philip Stephens.

Accident-prone BP Today the Financial Times publishes the second part of a long investigation into the environmental and safety record of BP

H16 American Politics Hillary Clinton Says She Wouldn't Have Voted For Iraq War

Hillary Opposes Temporary Troop Surge in Iraq

CNN Poll: US Support for Iraq War Falls to 31 Percent

Powerful Dem: No troop adds without 'compelling reason'

Form Newsweek, an article on the Republican Identity Crisis

What do people see when they look at Barack Obama? Whatever they want to see

Fund on why Barack Obama may not run. John Dickerson on the five best political moments of 2006.

realclearpolitics – ABC’s The Note - Early Bird GovExec

Public to ‘08 Contenders - It’s Too Early Source: Pew Research Center for People and the Press

Across U.S., violent crime on the rise Upsurge reflects an increase in gang violence and a growth in gun crimes, experts say. REPORT

Ex-Mayor Giuliani Eyes 2008 Bid Conservative strategists warn that the socially liberal Republican faces a difficult campaign.

How far down will the US dollar fall given the still growing US current account deficit?

H17 Daily Telegraph Blair puts peace plan before democracy

New Statesmen NS interview: Margaret Beckett

From Great Britain, a review of The English National Character: The History of an Idea from Edmund Burke to Tony Blair (and more); a review of Believing in Britain: The Spiritual Identity of "Britishness" and City of Laughter: Sex and Satire in 18th Century London; a review of Marking the Hours: English People and Their Prayers 1240-1570 by Eamon Duffy; and they come to Britain in their hundreds of thousands, all seeking refuge, asylum or just a better life.

H18 Independent Donald Macintyre: Blair could make things worse in Palestine

H19Military Intelligence Terrorism

Gates Must Manage Iraq While Transforming Military (Update2)

Weapons alone can’t win a war of insurgency – you need to dig wells and build schools. In line with this, the U.S. Army is remaking itself for the 21st century... more» ... more»

SPIEGEL Interview with US General David Petraeus: "We Have to Raise our Sights Beyond the Range of an M-16"

New Counterinsurgency Manual AFPS 18 Dec 2006 -- “Learn” and “adapt” are the key messages of the new Army & USMC Counterinsurgency Field Manual

DSB Task Force: Nuclear Weapons Rule!

Rebuilding Iraq: Status of DOD's Reconstruction Program
GAO

From CUP, the introduction to Agents, Structures and International Relations: Politics as Ontology

The dividends of asymmetry: al-Qaida's evolving strategy | Mohammad-Mahmoud Ould Mohamedou

John Dickerson

Luxury or Necessity? Things We Can’t Live Without: The List Has Grown in the Past Decade Source: Pew Research Center: Social Trends

Information Economy Report 2006: The development perspective
Source: United Nations Conference on Trade and Development

H21 A.J.P. Taylor, architect of pop history, thought it should be written as a novel, with all the style, wit, and cynicism that entailed... more»

Rembrandt thinks in paint, and the thinking makes the painting great. Eye and hand do their part, but it is his mind we remember... more»

The book reviewer’s life is one of homebound excitements – emails, phone calls, and FedEx deliveries – words taken in and sent out again... more»

Robot controlled by power of brain waves

Scientists in Washington make a big step forward in harnessing the immense power of the human brain.

Why Religion Matters Even More: The Impact of Religious Practice on Social Stability

The New York Times Book Review asks a range of writers to recommend titles they find particularly illuminating

From CUP, the introduction to The Endurance of Nationalism: Ancient Roots and Modern Dilemmas

Recalculating the Costs of Global Climate Change

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