0518-2007f - FOREIGN PRESS REVIEW (FPR) - ‘Relevant news, views, comments and analyses from all around the world for informed debate’ Compiled by Şanlı Bahadır Koç U.S. / Britain / Turkey / Magazines / Think-tanks / Blogs / Misc /Books / Quickread / Numbers / Reports - FPR Table - Subscribe to FPR

H1 Rand Corporation New Security Threats Beyond Iraq Will Require Changes in Military Deployments and Structure, RAND Study Says The report, “A New Division of Labor: Meeting America's Security Challenges Beyond Iraq,”

Stratfor The United States, Iran and the Iraq Negotiation Process

New York Times Wolfowitz Resigns From World Bank

WP P W Singer America's New Leadership: Reboot and Restart

Commentary The Case for Bombing Iran
NORMAN PODHORETZ

If the ayatollahs acquire nuclear weapons, it will be too late—and too costly—to act.

IHT Striking a new realism By DIMITRI K. SIMES Neither the Democratic takeover of Congress nor the beginning of the presidential campaign has yet started a meaningful foreign policy debate in the United States.

Valued-based foreign policy By ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER American foreign policy has lost its compass.

Guardian Palestinians and Israelis can't make peace on their own Hussein Agha and Robert Malley: The boldness and skills needed by politicians are sorely lacking, and the Arab initiative is the object of futile bartering.

Leader Palestine's catastrophe
While the gunmen are in command in Gaza, everything is on hold. A viable and independent Palestinian state becomes an ever more distant dream.

Ha’aretz – Schiff A war this summer?

Survey: 71% of Israelis want U.S. to strike Iran if diplomacy fails Poll also reveals 65% of Israelis believe U.S. is a loyal ally, 59% still think the war in Iraq was justified.

Christian Science Monitor

Iraqi lawmakers want caution on oil law They say that draft law has many holes, and that foreign pressure only draws ire.

How will Iraq share the oil?

In the US, the demand that Iraq pass an oil law is a 'benchmark' that is becoming a flashpoint.

Boston Globe Editorial Molding a Mideast peace camp THERE ARE many reasons why a two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has proved so elusive. The two peoples have staked their identities on very different accounts of their common history. The core issues of occupation, security, land, sovereignty, refugees, and Jerusalem are both tangled and entangling. No less daunting, though, is the difficulty of getting all the concerned parties ….

Washington Post Prelude to the Six Days By Charles Krauthammer,

Understanding the three-week run-up to the Six-Day War helps one understand Israel's unwillingness to cede control of the war's spoils -- Israel's buffer zone.

COMMENT: Squabbles over war finances endanger security The Middle East and other regions will continue to be dangerous places and may require a prolonged military presence, writes Robert Hormats.

COMMENT: European appeasement will worsen Russian aggression Merkel must make clear that attempts to intimidate and divide the central Europeans have no chance of success, writes Jonathan Eyal.

COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: Why Blair was no conservative Far too many analysts remain trapped in a simplistic distinction between the ’progressive left’ and the ’reactionary right’, writes the FT’s Martin Wolf.

NYT DAVID BROOKS The Insurgent Advantage Thanks to a series of organizational technological innovations, guerrilla insurgencies are increasingly able to take on and defeat nation-states.

EurasiaNet Russia Takes a Step Toward the Formation of a Natural Gas Cartel
BY STEPHEN BLANK

The Times King Abdullah: Middle East is on borrowed time

The world is losing its last hope of making peace in the Middle East, King Abdullah II of Jordan has told The TimesIn full: The Times meets King Abdullah

Exclusive Interview with Brent Scowcroft

WSJ Cyber Attack Vexes Estonia, Poses Debate A cyber attack on Estonia will likely shape a debate inside many governments over how such attacks should be considered in the context of international law and what sort of response is appropriate.

From Think Tank, America Quo Vadis: Max Boot and Dennis Ross debate the limits of diplomacy (and part 2).

A review of A Theory of Secession: The Case for Political Self-Determination.

Toothless Tiger By: Ralph Peters | New York Post The whoppingly mislabeled "czar" will have neither the authority to force departments and agencies to do what they were supposed to do all along, nor the vital power of the purse.

Arab Reform Bulletin: May 2007
Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Independent Earth's natural defences against climate change 'beginning to fail'

CFR Markey: Concerns That Anti-Musharraf Protests Could Spiral Out of Control

A 21st Century State Department: Transformation and Resourcing (Audio)

Consortium for Strategic Communication at Arizona State University, "A 21st Century Model for Communication in the Global War of Ideas,"

Three Questions the EU Must Ask Russia CER An 11-page briefing note urging the EU to focus, in its negotiations with Russia, on urgent issues rather than on political reform in Russia

Suppose a CIA analyst knows more than his boss does – and his boss is the President of the United States. This does happen... more»

Washington Institute A Resurgent al-Qaeda and U.S. Counterterrorism Strategy

2006 Annual Report on International Religious Freedom

The Economist A survey of international banking The alchemists of finance

RFE/RL Key Players Seek To Maximize Election Gains

The party of Prime Minister Serzh Sarkisian was the overall winner in parliamentary elections. But a small party has emerged as a potential kingmaker in talks to form a new coalition government. ...

Senators want CIA to release 9/11 report Bipartisan group wants CIA to release internal report on September 11th.

H2 Morgan Stanley Turkey The Politics of Misery and Expectations Macroeconomic performance may not be enough to convince voters. The rise of the middle class is great news, but we need to look deeper into the data. Unemployed and poor voters are likely to determine the composition of the next parliament.

LA Times Turkish party builds base on social work The ruling AKP's community programs and devoted cadres give it an edge in the July vote, despite a secular backlash.

The future of Kirkuk is primarily a constitutional issue By Khaled Salih
Daily Star

RFE/RL Kurdish Region Under Increasing Threat The Kurdish north has been spared much of Iraq's violence, but recent threats from Al-Qaeda and other insurgent groups could change that

FT Turkish left forms alliance for election

COMPANIES INTERNATIONAL: Sabanci prepares for future beyond finance

TURKEY STRUGGLES TO DEFINE ITS ROLE IN THE FUTURE

AP Secularists unite against Turkey's governing party

Scenarios for Third Party Intervention in Israel/Palestine
TESEV Report of a conference held in Istanbul to discuss possible scenarios for third party intervention in the Israel/Palestine dispute

CSM EU bid to wean itself off Russian gas: Nabucco pipeline The project, which would deliver Caspian gas directly to Europe, has hit some bumps ahead of Friday's EU-Russia summit.

AKP'nin Kürt siyaseti de rahatsız etti! F. Stephen Larrabee

Military.com Turkey on the Table

'İslamcıların model kenti Pursaklar'

Avrupa ordu bildirisinden büyük üzüntü duyuyor –

Avrupa'dan 'bildiri' için mektup var

Washington laiklerin tarafını tutmalı DANIEL PIPES

"ABD AKP'yi güçlendirmekten vazgeçmeli"

Turkey, US sign agreement for 30 additional F-16s

Google News Kurdish Kurdish Media

Sınır ötesi operasyon toplantısı mı?

The future of Kirkuk is primarily a constitutional issue Daily Star

Tanklar sınırda

ALİ BAYRAMOĞLU Kürt sorunu ve yeni bunalım…

Lessons from the Edge of Globalization: 3 days in Iraq from the Syrian/Turkish Border to the Iranian Border

SINIRA TANK YIĞINAĞI..

DEP’LİLERDEN TAHRİK..

The Economist Iraq and the Kurds A truly national army? Iraq's Kurdish soldiers have been welcomed in parts of Baghdad

DTP'ye kötü haber

Sadak: Kurdish deputies won't act like militants in Parliament

Doctors from Mosul to attend training seminar

Yargıtay: Eski DEP'liler parti üyesi olamaz

DTP üyeliğinden çıkarılsınlar

Birleşik oy pusulasına onay

TSK’dan sınıra yığınak

American Prospect The Powder Keg Up North Jason Motlagh In northern Iraq, Kurds are building their own country in all but name. But the region may be headed for deadly conflict. The flash point: Kirkuk.

Kobralar füze yağdırıyor

HEDEF : İRAN !...

Only Kurds and Roma Do Not Have a State

Google News Greece Cyprus Turkish Cypriot Press ABHaber

İşte Sarkozy'nin Akdeniz Birliği projesi

Chirac'ın danışmanı, Paris'in yeni Ankara büyükelçisi olacak

Rum yönetimi petrol arama lisansı dağıtacak

French experts say Sarkozy cannot block Turkey’s EU talks

Sarkozy: 'Türkiye AB'ye Uygun Değil'

YUNANLILAR KAŞINIYOR..

The Economist Turkey and Armenia Clash of civilisations Beleaguered Armenians in Turkey—and a closed border with Armenia

Gül Sarkozy'nin 'Akdeniz Birliği' önerisini eleştirdi

Sarkozy'ye yanıt: AB ile Akdeniz ayrı

Merkel'in KKTC iddiasını tekzip etti

Talat denies Merkel’s allegations of cultural destruction

Turkey-EU Association Council meeting postponed once again

'Council of Europe not to act upon pressure in Öcalan claims'

MERKEL SUPPORTS GREEK CYPRIOTS argument ON RELIGIOUS PROPERTIES

Fillon Türkiye'ye daha ılımlı

Ege'de E-Savaş

FM Lillikas concerned about Turkey

AB imzasına sadık kalsın

Türk mücahitler artık Bosna’da istenmiyor

Necdet Pamir Putin'in son hamlesi Türkiye'yi vurdu

Turkey in a dilemma over secularism
Robert Ellis

Europe’s Second Chance in the Balkansby MORTON ABRAMOWITZ

Washington Times Sarkozy backs sea-tied alliance Plans are being discussed, with strong backing from new French President Nicolas Sarkozy, to group 16 countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea into a loose union cooperating on economic, security and other issues, according to diplomatic missives circulating in regional capitals.

There are opposing Europe visions behind the Eurovision
Gökhan Yücel

Justice, not charity, for persons with disabilities
Louise Arbour and José Antonio Ocampo

Foreign Ministry diplomat learns Armenian

BBC 18 Mayıs 2007 Basın Özeti

H3 Serdar Turgut Hürriyet ve Erdoğan

Ali H Aslan Should the US side with the ‘whites’ or the ‘blacks’?

Baykal iktidar programını açıkladı

Köşk'e yeni aday mı?

HİLTON’UN ŞİFRELERİ KIRILDI..

Solda nihayet güç birliği

Laikliği asıl 'laikçiler' ihlal ediyor MUSTAFA AKYOL

Cengiz Çandar İçerde ilkesiz ittifaklar, dışarıda demokratik dayanışma

Siyasette yeni sayfa Murat Yetkin

AK Partili dostlara önemli bir tavsiye Hasan Celal Güzel

Genç subaylar M.Ali Kışlalı

22 Temmuz sonrasına bakış
Haluk Şahin

KORU O GECE TRT'YE NASIL SIZDI

Nasuhi Güngör Zeyno Baran’a sorulamayanlar

MAHMUT ÖVÜR Tarikat ve cemaatler kime oy verecek?

EMRE AKÖZ Korkmaya başladım

Mümtazer Türköne "Yaşam biçimi"

Hasan CEMAL Organize çekirdek ile Türkan Saylan!

M. Ali BİRAND Krizi, kim iyi yönetti?

Sami KOHEN Dış politikada durgunluk dönemi

Sabahattin ÖNKİBAR Erdoğan-BüyükanIt görüşmesinin perde arkası

Tamer Korkmaz Genelkurmay kime bağlı?

MUHARREM SARIKAYA
DP görücüye çıkıyor

ERDAL ŞAFAK Bir grup aydın

Ali Bulaç Turkey’s agenda

İBRAHİM KARAGÜL
CIA/Mossad o uçağı neden düşürdü?

Baykal, VATAN’a konuştu

İç Basında Türk Dış Politikası

Dış Basında Türkiye-AB İlişkileri - Dış Basında Güncel Türkiye Bülteni

Dış Basında Irak BBC Turkish 0700

VOA TSİ 06:30 Dış Basında Türkiye Turkish Press Review Google News Turkey Turquie Türkei TurcoPundit

Taha Kıvanç MHP'nin vitrini

Fehmi Koru Bir ihtimal daha var…

NAZLI ILICAK Özde laik olmak için

Ahmet Hakan Faydasız bir mayo yazısı

Yalçın Doğan Erdoğan’ı yadırgadım

Erdoğan, AKP'nin cumhurbaşkanı adayını soranlara 'Gül' demedi

Ferai Tınç Demokrasiyi sınırlama ittifakı

Şamil Tayyar Emeklilik yan gelip yatma yeri değil

Ece TEMELKURAN Reel politika akıntısında mitingler

[Yorum - M. Şükrü Hanioğlu] Kavramlar yorumlanmamalı, tartışılmamalı mı? (I)

Bilal Çetin CHP ekonomide ne yapacak?

CHP hopes AK Party fear will carry it to power

Güneri CIVAOĞLU 'Az' çoktur

Fikret BİLA Sezer doğru yaptı

[Yorum - M. Naci Bostancı] Tandoğan, Çağlayan, İzmir... Mitingler ne iş görür?

'Korku ve ölüm kalabalığı' ALİ AKAY Türkiye toplumu bir parçalanmışlığın, kısmileşmelerin içinde: Laik-anti-laik, dindar-dinsiz, partili-partisiz, Türk milliyetçisi-Kürt, Ermeni-Yahudi, küreseleşmeci-anti-küreseleşmeci, kadın-erkek...

Özdemir İnce Başbakan’ın çapı

Oktay Ekşi Ya sahip çıkmasalardı?

Tufan Türenç Karşı koyulamaz halk gücü bu işte

Şakir Süter Demokrat ve laik!

Genç subaylar M.Ali Kışlalı

Yargıtay mayoyu dosyaya koydu

How the CHP provoked the military interventionby HALUK ÖZDALGA*

Etyen Mahçupyan The minefield that lies before our bureaucracy

Mehmet Y Yılmaz Akılları hep imam hatipte

Köşk adaylığı için Erdoğan'a 'ya sen ya Gül ya da ben' demedim

Four political parties set up ‘A teams,’ ready for power

Güler Kömürcü Üniversitelere dikkat...

Hasan ÜNAL ‘Beni seçerseniz...

Yusuf KANLI The updated photograph of Turkey

Erdoğan'ın ajandasında 20 sürpriz isim var

Bülent Korucu Sezer mi daha çok oy alır, yoksa Demirel mi?

Solda birlik dönemi

CHP-DSP Büyük rüya en sonunda gerçekleşti

Derya SAZAK Sol nihayet

YAVUZ DONAT Solda at pazarlığı (mı?)

Bülent Keneş Which Baykal, which CHP?

Mustafa Ünal Sol birleşti mi?

Kitleler istedi oldu

Emin Çölaşan Başarı diliyoruz

Hüseyin Gülerce Tek parti hasreti CHP'yi bitirebilir

Kahveci'nin oğlu DP'den aday adayı

Yeni rektörlerin atamaları tamam

Erdoğan bukalemun siyaseti uyguluyor

'Gül'ün adaylığı geçerli değil'

Dindarlık vasıf değil diyenlere eyvallah

Başbakan'ın basın müşaviri ayrıldı

Danıştay Yıldönümünde sert uyarı

Karamahmutoğlu ve Şahin’e MHP’den red

YILMAZ ÖZDİL Vitrin...

Sağın gözü de Alevi oylarında

Mehmet Tezkan Baykal’ın hedefi meydanları diri tutmak..

OKAN MÜDERRİSOĞLU Erkek 47, kadın 44 yaşında emekli oluyor, sistem çöküyor!

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIM
Seçime küresel piyasa etkisi

Ercan Kumcu Milli gelir artışı ve kadınlar

Erdal Sağlam

Deniz Gökçe Polonya ve enflasyon hedeflemesi!

Son sözü kim söyleyecek? Uğur Civelek

Eser Karakaş Seçimler ve istihdam tablosu

ÇEAŞ-Kepez davası Türkiye'ye karşı Rum kozu oluyor

Faik ÖZTRAK Kur ve işsizlik

Petkim’de geri sayım başladı

Zirvede hedef dörde katlandı 2 milyar dolarlık anlaşma yapıldı

DAVID BROOKS The Insurgent Advantage Thanks to a series of organizational technological innovations, guerrilla insurgencies are increasingly able to take on and defeat nation-states.

White House Memo: Unlikely Comrades Share Parting Moment

H5 Washington Post Prelude to the Six Days By Charles Krauthammer,

Understanding the three-week run-up to the Six-Day War helps one understand Israel's unwillingness to cede control of the war's spoils -- Israel's buffer zone.

P W Singer America's New Leadership: Reboot and Restart

Fatah Troops Enter Gaza With Israeli Assent Hundreds Were Trained in Egypt Under U.S.-Backed Program to Counter Hamas

Editorial Rocket From Gaza The Middle East is on the brink of another summer war.

Bush Open to Iraq Benchmarks President Confident Deal Is Near on War Funding

Ending Battle, Wolfowitz Resigns From World Bank

For Washington Insider, Job Was an Uneasy Fit

Finishing What Wolfowitz Started

By Sebastian Mallaby The lesson for the next World Bank president is that corruption must be attacked subtly.

60 Die in Iraq; Study Warns Of Collapse British Center Finds Country Close to Being a 'Failed State'

Tony Blair's Unshaken Logic

By Michael Gerson Tony Blair's foreign policy approach is a rigorous, logical argument

PostGlobal The Anglo-Social Third Way

The GOP's Crisis of Faith By E. J. Dionne Jr., This year's Republican presidential campaign marks the collapse of conservative orthodoxy.

Deal on Immigration Reached

Bush Supports Senate's Bipartisan Compromise, but Hurdles Remain

Editorial Breakthrough on Immigration

A bipartisan bill could mean a lasting fix for a broken system -- if Congress works out the kinks.

Tehran Denying Rights to Detained Scholar, Lawyer Says As U.S. and Iran Prepare for Talks on Iraq, Nobel Peace Prize Winner Decries Treatment of Client

H6 Guardian Palestinians and Israelis can't make peace on their own Hussein Agha and Robert Malley: The boldness and skills needed by politicians are sorely lacking, and the Arab initiative is the object of futile bartering.

Leader Palestine's catastrophe
While the gunmen are in command in Gaza, everything is on hold. A viable and independent Palestinian state becomes an ever more distant dream.

After bitter battle, Wolfowitz resigns from World Bank

Profile: Controversial, divisive and tainted by Iraq

Eastern European woes ruin Merkel's plans for EU alliance with Russia · Poland and Lithuania wanted summit called off · Germany had hoped for a deal on climate change

World briefing: Simon Tisdall Putin and the pipelines European Union efforts to loosen Russia's energy grip by seeking alternative supplies from central Asia via the Caucasus suffered a stunning setback this week.

Israeli airstrikes add to turmoil
Hamas targeted after Qassam rocket attacks hit Israel and Palestinian gunmen ignore truce by rival leaders.
Comment: Futile bargaining
Leader: Palestine's catastrophe
Q&A: Gaza's civil war

Blair 'I do not regret close relationship with Bush'

Anglophile Fillon is new French PM
· Low-key style set to complement Sarkozy · New leaders start regime with jogging session

Political reform is essential, Beckett tells Chinese cadres China must relax grip on media, religion and courts so it can take stronger leadership role in global affairs, says Beckett.

Finally ministers are off the leash and free to say the rich are too bloody rich Polly Toynbee: Brown has now accepted what Blair would not: the growing gap between rich and poor is splitting and damaging our society.

Islamabad succumbs

Pervez Hoodbhoy May 17 07, 09:30pm: Pakistan's president is doing nothing to prevent the country's capital from becoming an Taliban stronghold.

MI6 takes mystery out of recruitment with Guardian advert Spymasters looking for broader pool of talent.

How the world can save the bank

Paul Blustein: Paul Wolfowitz has now resigned, but the World Bank urgently needs to reform the way its leadership is appointed.

A better weapon Khaled Diab Palestinians are beginning to discover the value of non-violent resistance.

H7 From Think Tank, America Quo Vadis: Max Boot and Dennis Ross debate the limits of diplomacy (and part 2).

A review of A Theory of Secession: The Case for Political Self-Determination.

Toothless Tiger By: Ralph Peters | New York Post The whoppingly mislabeled "czar" will have neither the authority to force departments and agencies to do what they were supposed to do all along, nor the vital power of the purse.

Arab Reform Bulletin: May 2007
Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Tony Karon When the World Refuses to be Saved

Washington Times U.S., Iran set talks seeking security

The uses and limits of soft power: A review of Charm Offensive by Joshua Kurlantzick.

When you look at the history of human warfare, civil wars always stand out: Wariness, not hatred, keeps civil wars raging.

Chicago Tribune Springtime for Iran – Editorial

Turning The Corner In Iraq
FrontPage

Middle East Nuclear-Weapon Free Zone: A Serious Start?

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

CFR In Syria, A Not So ‘Great’ Game

Iraqi Shiite, Sunni Clerics Call for Ending Sectarian Violence

U.S. Lawmakers Seek to Intensify Economic Pressure on Iran, Syria

The Economist Pakistan A general state of disarray A slaughter in Karachi, and a vengeful judge, are signs that Pervez Musharraf is struggling to remain in power

The Economist Iran, Iraq and the United States Neighbourly mumblings Will the United States and Iran really start talking, if only about Iraq?

BBC Positive energy
Mark Urban on the 'can-do' spirit of US troops in Baghdad

CRS "Africa Command: U.S. Strategic Interests and the Role of the U.S. Military in Africa," May 16, 2007.

Haleh Esfandiari: Iran's cultural prison | Rasool Nafisi

Middle East Times Commentary: Time running out for Rice

Commentary: Mission accomplished - for Iran

H9 Ha’aretz – Survey: 71% of Israelis want U.S. to strike Iran if diplomacy fails Poll also reveals 65% of Israelis believe U.S. is a loyal ally, 59% still think the war in Iraq was justified.

Schiff A war this summer?

Rosner The mismatch factor

Duel to the death?

Jerusalem Post Punish Hamas
Hamas is to blame for both of the wars it insists on fighting, against Fatah and against Israel.

Analysis: IDF's options in Gaza
By YAAKOV KATZ No one in Gaza has anything to gain from continuing Kassam attacks Hamas-Fatah infighting

'Israel-US relations vital for security'

BBC Gaza hit by fresh Israeli strikes Israel launches new air strikes on what it calls Hamas targets near Gaza city, killing at least four people.

Mossad Chief and Defense Minister Differ on Approach to Syria

Boston Globe Editorial Molding a Mideast peace camp

THERE ARE many reasons why a two-state resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has proved so elusive. The two peoples have staked their identities on very different accounts of their common history. The core issues of occupation, security, land, sovereignty, refugees, and Jerusalem are both tangled and entangling. No less daunting, though, is the difficulty of getting all the concerned parties ...

Israel's Postwar Commission Urges: Crisis Management Imperative
Defense Update -

Solution for PA Anarchy? - Ron Ben-Yishai (Ynet News)

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

Russia, Israel Among Countries to Begin OECD Talks By: Maria Levitov and Flavia Krause-Jackson | Bloomberg News
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has invited Russia and Israel to begin membership talks

H10 Christian Science Monitor

Iraqi lawmakers want caution on oil law They say that draft law has many holes, and that foreign pressure only draws ire.

How will Iraq share the oil?

In the US, the demand that Iraq pass an oil law is a 'benchmark' that is becoming a flashpoint.

THE MONITOR'S VIEW

As Pakistan goes, so goes a war

Schorr: A battle over benchmarks for Iraq

ASIA Foreign policy debate: Differing conceptions of China's Rise TPMCafe

Debate: What's Your China Fantasy? By: David M. Lampton and James Mann | Foreign Policy
Just how repressive is the Middle Kingdom today, and is it becoming any more free as it grows in economic clout? Veteran reporter James Mann has his doubts—and his controversial new book accuses U.S. leaders and prominent scholars like David M. Lampton of peddling unduly optimistic assumptions about China’s rise.

Asian Giants' Game of Chess in Indian Ocean

The Economist China and US trade Lost in translation If China sharply revalued the yuan, as American politicians are demanding, it could actually hurt the United States and help China

Bad news from Gujarat: why is India seeing the erosion of democracy and the rise of Hindu fascism? Martha Nussbaum asks the hard questions... more»

It's Win-Win on U.S.-China Trade By: Wu Yi | The Wall Street Journal (subscription required) Thirty-five years ago, China-U.S. trade volume was almost nonexistent when a breakthrough was made in our icy bilateral relations. By 2006, we had become the other's second largest trade partner, with both economies inextricably entwined.

FT COMMENT: Pyongyang thrives on America's constant concessions

The uses and limits of soft power: A review of Charm Offensive by Joshua Kurlantzick.

CFR US-China Relations: An Affirmative Agenda, A Responsible Course (Audio)

H11 IHT Striking a new realism By DIMITRI K. SIMES
Neither the Democratic takeover of Congress nor the beginning of the presidential campaign has yet started a meaningful foreign policy debate in the United States.

Valued-based foreign policy By ANNE-MARIE SLAUGHTER
American foreign policy has lost its compass.

Blair makes final White House visit British reporter asked President George W. Bush whether he was partly responsible for Prime Minister Tony Blair's leadership ending so soon.

Germany fights lonely battle to rein in hedge funds

Sarkozy names Fillon as prime minister

Scandal fogs Bulgaria's first EU elections

EUROPE European press review

Tony Karon Getting Sarkozy - and France - Wrong

Foreign Policy Seven Questions: The Man Who Would Be Tony Blair

Washington Times Sarkozy backs sea-tied alliance Plans are being discussed, with strong backing from new French President Nicolas Sarkozy, to group 16 countries surrounding the Mediterranean Sea into a loose union cooperating on economic, security and other issues, according to diplomatic missives circulating in regional capitals.

Geopolitical Diary: A New French President and the EU Constitution
Stratfor

CER If Nixon could go to China, Brown can go to Brussels

Walker's World: Sarkozy's new-old France

BBC Eurozone sceptic
Mark Mardell on how Gordon Brown will get on with Brussels

New blood
The arrival of Nicolas Sarkozy both excites and worries EU allies

What Sarkozy Means for Europe By: Konstantin von Hammerstein, Wolfgang Reuter and Stefan Simons | Der Spiegel France and Germany have long been the motor of the European Union. But new French President Nicolas Sarkozy has called that dynamic into doubt. He may be more interested in French protectionism than European cooperation.

The Economist France's new president An inclusive government

Germany's grand coalition A North Sea signal

BBC Rows overshadow EU-Russia talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin meets European Union leaders to try to tackle sharp differences.

H12 RFE/RL

Google News Azerbaijan

The Economist Central Asia

Stan v stan A new sort of Great Game

Russia and the West

The big chill America and Europe confront a new freeze in their relationship with Russia

Georgia Pushes for Closer Ties with "Alternative" South Ossetian Leader

Three Questions the EU Must Ask Russia CER An 11-page briefing note urging the EU to focus, in its negotiations with Russia, on urgent issues rather than on political reform in Russia

Putin Hosts EU Talks as East European Disputes Strain Relations By: Sebastian Alison | Bloomberg News President Vladimir Putin and European Union leaders begin a two-day summit today, with the EU promoting the meeting as a chance to mend fences after a series of disputes between Russia and former Soviet satellites in eastern Europe.

Web attackers used a million computers, says Estonia
Estonia says 1m computers used to launch cyber-attacks and indicates damage to cost tens of millions of euros

CSM Russian 'cyberattack' on Estonia?

NATO is investigating siege on Estonian government, media, and banking websites.

Washington Times Editorial Putin's vitriol

For several years, Mr. Putin has been indicating his displeasure with the United States; this year he has started dropping the coded language in which he usually couched his criticism.

EDM ADYGEI LEADER PURSUES DE FACTO INCORPORATION INTO KRASNODAR KRAI
- KAZAKHSTAN’S GROWING GAS EXPORTS TO GO RUSSIA’S WAY
- PUBLIC ANGER AGAINST U.S. MILITARY BASE GROWS IN KYRGYZSTAN

H13 The Times King Abdullah: Middle East is on borrowed time

The world is losing its last hope of making peace in the Middle East, King Abdullah II of Jordan has told The Times In full: The Times meets King Abdullah The transcript of The Times interview with King Abdullah of Jordan about peace in the Middle East and Iraq

Scientists warn of rapid global warming rise Oceans are losing the capacity to soak up carbon emissions, increasing the rate of global warming by up to 30 per cent

Global warming can be controlled – but only if nations act now, UN told

And here’s a clunking fist in return

Cameron and Blair were too similar. They were different colours of chalk: Brown is the cheese

Mary Ann Sieghart

Farewell Falwell, the bigot who failedJerry Falwell was the very avatar of almost everything that alarms people about the modern United States

Gerard Baker

Wolfowitz resigns but remains defiant The president of the World Bank resigned, ending weeks of turmoil over the lavish pay rise he arranged for his girlfriend

Putin accused of launching cyber war

Sarkozy revolution begins with Cabinet appointments

Wall Street Journal World Bank Justice
Wolfowitz's resignation offers a window into a corrupt institution.

H14 Financial Times Wolfowitz steps down as Bank president Paul Wolfowitz announced his resignation effective June 30, as president of the World Bank, ending a turbulent two-year tenure as chief of the world’s leading development institution. Departure terms divides bank

COMMENT: Squabbles over war finances endanger security The Middle East and other regions will continue to be dangerous places and may require a prolonged military presence, writes Robert Hormats.

COMMENT: European appeasement will worsen Russian aggression Merkel must make clear that attempts to intimidate and divide the central Europeans have no chance of success, writes Jonathan Eyal.

COMMENT AND ANALYSIS: Why Blair was no conservative Far too many analysts remain trapped in a simplistic distinction between the ’progressive left’ and the ’reactionary right’, writes the FT’s Martin Wolf.

Israeli air strikes target Hamas in Gaza

Israel launched air strikes on Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, killing six people and wounding dozens more, in response to rocket fire on Israel. WORLD NEWS: UN envoy fears 'deterioration' in Gaza

Negroponte fears al-Qaeda expansion

A top US official has warned of the increasing risks of terrorism and violence in Africa and the Middle East.

WORLD NEWS: Eyes turn to finding Wolfowitz successor

WORLD NEWS: House backs Guantánamo exit strategy

A vindicated Trichet continues to press for reform Criticised for excess zeal when he raised rates in 2005, the ECB chief now basks in a eurozone recovery. But governments still have much to do.

Hedge fund industry could do more to engage its critics

A voluntary code of conduct may not be ideal, but greater hedge fund engagement might clarify the way forward.

Hard labour for trade negotiators

Just what trade talks needed: another issue to wrestle with. The nascent deal between Congress and the US administration to insert stronger protection of labour rights...

Russia claim ratchets tensions with west Moscow files $22.5bn lawsuit against BoNY

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COMMENT: Pyongyang thrives on America's constant concessions

H15 Los Angeles Times Editorial

U.S., Iran diplomats will discuss Iraq's future

Measures fail but votes build in Senate to limit Bush on Iraq

H16 American Politics Time The Last Temptation of Al Gore (Cover Story / The Well) He has fallen out of love with politics. But friends,money men and an army of green activists are still begging him to run

Senate, White House agree on a compromise immigration bill McClatchy Newspapers
Ending three months of closed-door deliberations, Senate negotiators unveiled a massive immigration bill Thursday that would enable more than 12 million illegal immigrants to step out from their shadow existence to live and work in the United States legally

Senate prepares for a no-confidence vote on Gonzales

CSM Giuliani losing steam in '08 race

The former New York City mayor has been slipping in the polls as social issues – not security concerns – have dominated.

LA Times New immigration push may end in a stalemate

The Economist The candidates: Hillary Clinton Her latest incarnation: presidential front-runner

Lexington God without the godfather

realclearpolitics – ABC’s The Note – US News Political Bulletin

Early Bird GovExec Swamp Gas Swamp Sunrise Daybook

Vanity Fair REAGAN, UNSCRIPTED Whether Ronald Reagan was blowing up at Gorbachev, embracing the weeping mothers of dead Marines, or stewing over his kids, he wrote about it all at the end of each day. In an exclusive excerpt from The Reagan Diaries, the book's editor, Douglas Brinkley, presents the president's own, unvarnished take on those world-changing White House years.

H17 Daily TelegraphA special relationship gone sour No British government, not even one headed by pacifist Gordon Brown, can ignore that Britain relies heavily on the US for defence and security, says Con Coughlin.

Blair in Brussels

Britain's foreign policy will be vulnerable during the handover period if Tony Blair is tempted to go out on a high note at the June EU summit.

Hamas threatens suicide bombings

War looms after Israeli strikes.

Estonia calls for Nato cyber-terrorism strategy

Strategy against cyber-terrorists urged after suspected Russian hackers launched new attacks on leading websites.

H18 Independent Earth's natural defences against climate change 'beginning to fail'

Brown: A quest fulfilled

After waiting 13 years to acquire his crown, Gordon Brown is king without a contest

The Big Question: What does the World Bank do, and where does it go from here?

Bush and Blair stand shoulder to shoulder for one last time

In their farewell joint appearance, George W. Bush and Tony Blair delivered a resounding defence of the US-British alliance, and stood squarely behind their decision to invade Iraq

Rupert Cornwell: No regrets as defiant pair bid fond farewell

Saboteurs have upper hand in an endless war, says Iraq's Oil Minister

Bernanke plays down effect of US sub-prime mortgage crisis

Donald Macintyre: How 'national unity' has been soured by suspicions about outside interference

Sarkozy launches French version of Cool Britannia

H19Military Intelligence Terrorism

UPI Analysis: A new defense structure

Six Questions for Marc Lynch on Iraq, the “Surge,” and Al Qaeda

MI6 takes mystery out of recruitment with Guardian advert

Spymasters looking for broader pool of talent.

Special Operations Command nominee ready to take the war to the terrorists

Washington Times Petraeus and PC-policy-making (Diana West)

Analysis: War Czar Compromise - Part 1

Suppose a CIA analyst knows more than his boss does – and his boss is the President of the United States. This does happen... more»

William Langewiesche’s The Atomic Bazaar: The Rise of the Nuclear Poor insightfully examines the perils created by the illicit and unstoppable spread of nuclear weapons to some of the world’s most volatile nations. From CRB, an article on China as a rising nuclear power.

"DoD Personnel Clearances: Delays and Inadequate Documentation Found for Industry Personnel," [GAO-07-842T], May 17, 2007.

H20 Slate

Dispatch From Karachi:

Did Pakistan's president provoke an ethnic war last weekend?

Nicholas Schmidle

The Economist Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger The poison, if not the fruitfulness

A survey of international banking The alchemists of finance

Multiculturalism, citizenship and national identity | Tariq Modood

H21 The Graduates by Louis Menand More than fifty per cent of Americans spend some time in college, and American higher education is the most expensive in the world. The average annual tuition at a four-year private college is more than twenty-two thousand dollars. What do we want from college, though?…

Martians did it

You can't keep a good conspiracy theory down. The trouble with any crackpot theory is the more easily it is disproved, the more obvious it is that the conspiracy orchestrating the evidence must be huge.

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