032808f - FOREIGN PRESS REVIEW (FPR) - ‘Relevant news, views, comments and analyses for informed debate’ Compiled by Şanlı Bahadır Koç U.S. / Britain / Turkey / Magazines / Think-tanks / Blogs / Misc /Books / Quickread / Numbers / Reports - Subscribe to FPR FPR Table - H4 NYT WP GU H7 ME Isr H10 CSM IHT Eur FSU Asia H13 Times WSJ FT LAT H16 USP DT Ind H19 Mil Int Ter Wonk H21 Misc

H1 New York Times Militias Resist Iraqi Forces in Fight for Basra American-trained Iraqi security forces failed for a third straight day to oust Shiite militias in Basra, even as President Bush hailed the operation as a sign of the growing strength of Iraq’s government

DAVID BROOKS Tested Over Time John McCain’s speech on Wednesday was as personal, nuanced and ambitious a speech as any by a presidential candidate this year

OpenDemocracy Iraq in 2012: four scenarios, Volker Perthes

“More from Marc Lynch. After quoting a Saudi Arabian editorial suggesting that Iran has abandoned Muqtada al-Sadr because it now has more useful allies in Baghdad, he summarizes the various guesses floating around about what's really going on in Iraq right now:”

The Economist American foreign policy All change? Whether it is Clinton, McCain or Obama, the world will still quarrel with America's foreign policy

The state of NATO A ray of light in the dark defile The Western alliance is in trouble in Afghanistan. But France is ready to help take on the Taliban, and others still want to join NATO

Independent Stalled assault on Basra exposes the Iraqi government's shaky authority

The Iraqi army's offensive against the Shia militia of the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Basra is failing to make significant headway despite a pledge by the Iraqi PM to fight "to the end".

Nasr: Iraqi Prime Minister ‘Irrelevant’ in Shiite Power Struggle Council on Foreign Relations

Badr vs. Sadr in Iraq
Council on Foreign Relations

Patrick Cockburn / The Independent: Iraq implodes as Shia fights Shia

Washington Post U.S. Takes Lead in Iraq Offensive U.S. forces in armored vehicles battle Mahdi Army fighters in Sadr City as offensive begins third day

A 100-Year War? Charles Krauthammer | John McCain never said we'd be fighting in Iraq that long, but the Democrats want you to think he did.

NATO's Middling Agenda »

Jim Hoagland | Bush and Putin focus on legacy-building instead.

Chatham House - 'New Cold War' or 'Twenty Years' Crisis'? Russia and International Politics Richard Sakwa Download article here

WINEP The Damascus Arab Summit: Arab Divisions Ensure Modest Achievements

Reidar Visser The Enigmatic Second Battle of Basra

CRS “Enlargement Issues at NATO’s Bucharest Summit,” March 12, 2008.

“The NATO Summit at Bucharest, 2008,” March 24, 2008.

Multidimensional chess (By Arnaud de Borchgrave)

Der Spiegel Author Ian Buruma on Wilders' Politics: 'Condemning Islam, Per Se, Is Unhelpful'

Rice hits U.S. 'birth defect' Condoleezza Rice said yesterday that the United States still has trouble dealing with race because of a national "birth defect" that denied black Americans the opportunities given to whites at the country's very founding

Bush and Bin Laden's Virtual War By: Mark Danner | Asia Times
The George W Bush administration's "war on terror" could be summed up in three words - "fragmentation, diminution, destruction". That's fragmentation brought about by "creative destabilization", as in Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine; diminution of American prestige, both military and political, and thus of American power; destruction of political consensus within the US for a strong global role. And all this to the advantage of Osama bin Laden

Ensuring permanence: A look at how the Bush administration is negotiating a long-term Iraq occupation.

Behind Sarkozy's Afghan Troop Plan TIME

US-Allied Arab Govts Ever More Draconian

The Growing Iraq Sectarian Divide

Asia Times Muqtada cuts free
Fighting in the south of Iraq between Muqtada al-Sadr's Madhi Army and a rival Shi'ite organization fitted in uniforms of the Iraqi security forces mark the end of Muqtada's self-imposed ceasefire. It also signals a major defeat for the US military command's strategy of weakening the Mahdi Army. - Gareth Porter

Guardian The sermons of cowards Kishore Mahbubani: The west is squandering authority on democracy and human rights: it fails to practise as it preaches

Bush likely to delay Iraq withdrawal Commanders want to keep the level of troops at about 140,000 in a 'pause' to assess security impact

Arab leaders snub Damascus summit Syria declares summit as a triumph over US pressure despite boycott over Lebanon role

Anglo-French axis aims for closer ties 'Entente formidable' plans include regular meetings, nuclear cooperation and coordinated foreign policy

Balkans on the boil Borut Grgic and Gordon N Bardos Aside from the Kosovo question, it is not alarmist to say that the region has entered a period of strategic uncertainty

Crisis talks Robert Wade The world's bankers are recognising the extent of the credit crunch. Now the world's politicians have to stop it getting worse

The Great Divide: Andrew Bacevich on the crisis of US military policy.

Colin Kahl and Shawn Brimley of CNAS offer their view of the way forward in Iraq:

The Devaluation of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on the Iranian Threat - Ephraim Kam Since the publication of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on the Iranian threat, its impact has been progressively devalued. This devaluation can be attributed, first of all, to the fact that the American administration, along with leading European governments and Israel, continued to stress the severity of the Iranian nuclear threat. Secondly, the NIE report ran into a storm of criticism by professional echelons in Israel, Europe and the U.S. itself. That criticism prompted Thomas Fingar, the Chairman of the National Intelligence Council that drafted the NIE, to admit in March 2008 that the Council did not assume that the report would be published and that if it had believed otherwise, it would have formulated the estimate somewhat differently. Thirdly, the most recent report of the International Atomic Energy Agency in February 2008 about Iran included voluminous information about procurement and attempted procurement of components critical to the development of nuclear explosive devices. (Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University)

WINEP The Damascus Arab Summit: Arab Divisions Ensure Modest Achievements Given the current abundance of intra-Arab tensions over Lebanon and Iran, the upcoming Arab League summit in Damascus is unlikely to make good on its ambitious agenda. David Schenker writes

Daily Star Hopefully not a summit to end all summits
By Mohamed Abdel Salam

Toward a US policy that looks beyond Arab oil By Tamer Mallat

Uncovering the roots of the growing US financial crisis
By Jeffrey D. Sachs

Ha’aretz – ANALYSIS: Isolating Syria serves to highlight its importance Arab states are unable to force Syria's hand as Damascus holds the key to the Palestine, Lebanon crises

China-Tibet, America-Iraq: perils of forced modernity, Jeffrey N Wasserstrom

FT The Basra fight for Shia supremacy The US-led occupation forces will do nothing for their reputation or the future of Iraq by taking sides in an intra-Shia test of militia strength

Maliki risks open Sadrist insurrection

Nouri al-Maliki took a huge gamble this week when he ordered the Iraqi army into battle against Shia militias in the southern port city of Basra

Medvedev should expect the west’s respect – and resolve The message from the Nato summit in Bucharest must be that, yes, the US and Europe want a better relationship, but no, they are not about to concede the restoration of Russian primacy in the former Soviet sphere, writes Philip Stephens

The dollar is falling at the right time The dollar’s current decline is part of a natural process for reducing the American trade deficit, writes Martin Feldstein. Intervention is dangerous, warns

Nato chief warns Putin over summit

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato’s secretary-general, has warned Vladimir Putin that next week’s annual summit of the 26-member alliance must not be marked by another display from the Russian president of “unhelpful rhetoric” directed at the west

When inflation comes from abroad The emphasis in central banks’ policy should shift towards pressures that are domestically generated Samuel Brittan on what central banks must fight

IHT Georgia on their mind

By F. STEPHEN LARRABEE

Georgia's internal conflicts would be easier to resolve if NATO allowed it to join.

The hollowing of a hero

By NINA L. KHRUSHCHEVA

Yushchenko's only concern nowadays is his own political survival

New divisions arise in NATO over 2 bids for membership Before a meeting of alliance leaders in Bucharest, strong American support for the Ukrainian and Georgian bids for membership is being resisted by Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg and the Netherlands

RFE/RLRussia: Top Brass Signals Trouble Within Defense Ministry

Armenia Seeks Stronger Ties with Russia BY SERGEI BLAGOV Serzh Sarkisan, whose controversial election as president of Armenia precipitated political violence in Yerevan, is hoping closer ties with Russia can hasten a return of stability in the South Caucasus country.

Salon Peak oil? Consider it solved

Analysis: Al-Sadr in trouble, Iraq headed for meltdown (CNN)

The Times Militias in power grab as Iraq stares into abyss Iraqi PM vows to keep up fight against Shia forces as Iraqi Army falters in Basra and major oil pipeline is blown up

Analysis: Britain must now fight or fail

Iraq: the battle for Basra Britain should suspend the withdrawal of its troops from southern Iraq

Basra crisis leaves British withdrawal in ruins The Iraqi military offensive against Shia militias has backfired, thwarting plans to bring 1,600 troops home this spring

H2 LA Times Turkey's religious bent By Robert Ellis The ruling party is corrupting the country's secular character.

100 adet F-35 alımına onay

Asker yok, Cobra yok

ABD'den Cobra ambargosu

President Bush Attends Celebration of Greek Independence Day

AP Türkiye Raporu

İslam karşıtı film yayına verildi !

Google News Fırat News Agency KurdishMedia Kurdish Kurdish Aspect Dış Basında Irak BBC Monitoring Inter – national

PKK, MİT'i vuracaktı

Barçın Yinanç 'Sümme haşa, Batılı değiliz'

Bush: PKK, Irak için tehdit unsuru

“Sağduyu” sağlanırsa, Kabak yine Kürdlerin başına patlayacak!

Iraqi Kurds ready to work with Turkey to solve PKK problem, Cheney says - Turkish Daily News Mar 27, 2008

Survey shows: Turks willing to pay more taxes to combat terrorism

Cevdet Aşkın

Baydemir Kürtçe afişten beraat etti

Demirtaş’ın Roj TV davası başladı

DTP’nin Said-i Nursi merakı

New paradigm needed for Cyprus
CENGİZ AKTAR

Türkiye'de yargı darbesi yapılıyor

Erdoğan’s ‘kayış’ by HAJRUDIN SOMUN*

Bulgaristan, Erdoğan'ı jestle karşıladı: Ermeni tasarısı iptal

Avrupa Türk yargısına karşı sert tavır alacak

Batı Trakya Türkleri hukuk zaferi kazandı

Italian prosecutor Di Pietro: Turkey can have a ‘Clean Hands’ operation

Bulgaristan, Erdoğan'ı jestle karşıladı: Ermeni tasarısı iptal

Irkçılar, Bulgaristan'da yarın da Erdoğan'ı Kırcali'de protesto kararı aldı

Türkiye'de herkesin güveneceği bir yargı yok

Sarkozy: ‘Türkiye hakkında görüşlerim değişmedi, değişmeyecek’

’Irkcı’ baskını

Atatürk de AB'ye üyelikten yana olurdu

Yalçın Bayer Tarihi karar

European deputy questions trust in Turkish judiciary

Turkey wants to expand economic ties with neighboring Bulgaria

$600 Million Turkish Investments in Bulgaria

Hedo Okur Tuncay Nihat Altintop

Denizli'de skandal kitap!

Maaşına rekor zam

[KÜRSÜ] "Ben değişmem, ben buyum!"

Prof. Şengör’e soruşturma

İstanbulspor Klübü Başkanı'ndan şok açıklama

İstanbulspor'da şike depremi

Oray Eğin Galatasaray’ı Fethullah Gülen’e satıyorlar

NYTART REVIEW | 'RE-ORIENTATIONS'; When the Islamic World Was Inspired by the West

Çiçek’ten karakollara ‘baskın’ genelgesi

Koğuştan adliyeye Ergenekon turu

Serdar Turgut
Bir ceza kolonisi olarak Türkiye

Diyanet'ten “Genelkurmay ayarı”

Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı, Kutlu Doğum Haftası etkinliklerine,“Genelkurmay ve Yargıtay ayarı” yaptı.

Erdoğan için güvenlik kalkanı

28 Mart 2008 Basın Özeti

H3Tuhaf diyalog

Veli Küçük'e 200 soru

İade ve kabul seçenekli rapor Raportör takdiri mahkemeye bıraktı.

Raportöre göre dava iade de edilebilir

AKP kapatma davasına raportörden 'kabul' görüşü

İşte raportörün ilk yorumu

Veli Küçük'ün evinde Mumcu suikastı belgesi

Dinlemeye takılan tuhaf konuşmalar

Yargıyla temas ekibi kurmuş

YAVUZ DONATAbdullah Gül ile Deniz Baykal "bunları" konuştular

Bilal Çetin Cumhurbaşkanı siyasi krizi niye konuşmadı?

Karamehmet’in Turkcell’deki hakimiyeti sona mı eriyor?

Kapatma davası ile ürken dev fonların umudu anayasa değişikliği

[Yorum - Prof. Dr. Zühtü Arslan] Anayasa Mahkemesi iddianameyi iade edebilir mi?

Erdoğan: Neden geri adım atacağımı bilmem lazım

Hard diskler yakılmadı

Mantı yedik kahve içtik

İşte gündem yaratacak o iddia!

'Gülen dönüyor' haberine yalanlama

Taraf muhabirine 'kroki' gözaltısı

Güler Kömürcü Hangisi cesaret?

Gülay Göktürk Reform kuşa dönmesin

İsmet Özel: AKP kapanamaz

Ertuğrul Özkök O cümle niye kondu

Ahmet Hakan İktidar yandaşlarının Ergenekon yanlışları

Demokrasilerde hükümet yargının kararlarına uyar

M Ali Birand Gül başarırsa, herkesin cumhurbaşkanı olacak…

Ergenekon çetesinde adı geçen ajan gazeteciler...

Sebahattin Önkibar STK girişiminin perde arkası ve Gül destekli Hisarcıklıoğlu modeli ile A. Şener?

Güneri Civaoğlu Uzlaşma değilse sağduyu

Metin Münir Disleksi

Vural Savaş: AK Parti çoktan kapatılmalıydı, ama kapatılmayacak

Evet sağduyu ve uzlaşma ama nasıl?

AK Party won’t give up on constitutional changes

Yargı güvence verdi

Arınç'tan Yargıtay iddiası

Ali H Aslan Convictions in Ankara and Washington

The religious way to the open society Mustafa AKYOL

İç Basında Türk Dış Politikası Dış Basında Türkiye - BBC Turkish 0700 VOA TSİ 06:30 Turkish Press Review Google News Turkey TurcoPundit

Fehmi Koru: Hepimizin muradı bir, ama…

KORAY DÜZGÖREN Bir adım geri değil birkaç adım ileri

İsmet Berkan - AKP'nin önünde iki yol var

Cüneyt Ülsever

Enis Berberoğlu

Bülent Keneş What is this conciliation for?

Oktay Ekşi Muhabbetin sırası mı?

Özdemir İnce Prof. Dr. Ergun Özbudun’un anayasa taslağı

Mehmet Y Yılmaz İki adım ileri, bir adım geri!

Yalçın Doğan Paris’te İslam oyları

Bekir Coşkun Hırsız...

Tufan Türenç Keşke tarihten ders alabilselerdi

Nasuhi Güngör MHP’nin hedefi Erdoğan’a yasak mı?

Mustafa Mutlu

Bizim değil, ABD’nin sorunlarını görüştüler!

Nagehan Alçı Cheney ABD’ye akbabalar İran’a

Beril Dedeoğlu Gezelim, görelim...

MUHARREM SARIKAYAAKP: Geri adım yok

ERDAL ŞAFAK "Fitne" üstüne

ENGİN ARDIÇ Üstüme iyilik sağlık

EMRE AKÖZ Kanının son damlasına kadar

Umur TaluHedef gösterme!

HASAN BÜLENT KAHRAMANSağ Kemalizm ve çeteler

NAZLI ILICAKAh bir unutabilsek!

MEHMET BARLAS Huzuru korumak için ayıpları görmezden gelmek de bir yoldur...

MAHMUT ÖVÜR Abdüllatif Şener neye hazırlanıyor?

Mehmet Metiner İtidal çağrısı!

Gül, muhalefeti uyardı: Demokrasiden sapma olmamalı

Ürperten iddia: Etkisi büyük sansasyonel siyasi cinayetler olabilir

Kritik dönemdeyiz

Sabancı Holding Yönetim Kurulu Başkanı Güler Sabancı, “Ülkemiz kritik bir dönemden geçiyor. Hepimiz, sağduyuya, soğukkanlılığa ve uzlaşmacılığa önem vermeliyiz” dedi.

Günay'dan sağduyu çağrılarına cevap

Yargıyla temas ekibi kurmuş

'Niye geri adım atacağım'

İddianame çekilsin hukukun önü açılsın

Avukatı: Gülen, dava açılmadan 1,5 yıl önce ABD'ye gitti

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIM

Kapatma sürecinin ekonomik faturasını hükümet belirler

Deniz Gökçe
Sosyal Güvenlik reformunu destekleyelim!

Ercan Kumcu Ekonomik büyüme iç talep büyümesine bağlı

Asaf Savaş Akat

Sosyal güvenliğin kurumsal yapısı

Aydın Ayaydın

İç siyaseti saran kara bulutlar büyüme ve cari açığı etkiler mi?

Erdal Sağlam

Mehmet Altan Bir başbakan konuşuyor...

İBRAHİM KAHVECİ

En kötü yaşandı mı? Uğur Gürses

Carlsberg in talks to sell listed Turkish unit

'Türkiye'de sert düzeltme yaşanabilir'

H4 New York Times Militias Resist Iraqi Forces in Fight for Basra American-trained Iraqi security forces failed for a third straight day to oust Shiite militias in Basra, even as President Bush hailed the operation as a sign of the growing strength of Iraq’s government

PAUL KRUGMAN Loans and Leadership The candidates’ positions on the mortgage crisis tell a tale that is seriously at odds with the way they’re often portrayed.

H5 Washington Post U.S. Takes Lead in Iraq Offensive U.S. forces in armored vehicles battle Mahdi Army fighters in Sadr City as offensive begins third day

A 100-Year War? Charles Krauthammer | John McCain never said we'd be fighting in Iraq that long, but the Democrats want you to think he did.

Spinning the Bloodshed in Basra By Dan Froomkin

NATO's Middling Agenda »

Jim Hoagland | Bush and Putin focus on legacy-building instead.

Conservatism 2.0 Michael Gerson

| What's working for the Tories could work for McCain

Bill Emmott: Lessons From Japan's Crash

William Arkin The Pause Is All About Military Self-Interest

Fed Leaders Ponder an Expanded Mission With decision to become emergency lender to all major investment firms, central bank abandons 75 years of precedent, adopts new Wall Street role

Dems Jab McCain on Economy

Clinton, Obama criticize GOP candidate's views on housing crisis, try to paint him as indifferent

Online, a Violent View of Islam

Anti-Immigration Dutch Lawmaker Characterizes His Film as 'Tough Reality'

Despite the Fighting in Basra, Bush Emphasizes Progress

Ignoring Al Jazeera Lawrence Pintak | Boycotting the Arab world's most influential TV station won't help Israel.

Anything It TakesEugene Robinson

| Why Clinton's popularity is suffering.

Tibet Is Test for China's Rulers

Response to popular unrest spotlights harsh tactics, leaving a cloud over the Olympics.

Gates Orders Nuclear Inventory

Control Measures To Be Reassessed

42 Democrats Vow a Drawdown in Iraq If They Win Seats

Obama Rewriting Rules for Raising Campaign Money Online

H6 Guardian The sermons of cowards Kishore Mahbubani: The west is squandering authority on democracy and human rights: it fails to practise as it preaches

Bush likely to delay Iraq withdrawal Commanders want to keep the level of troops at about 140,000 in a 'pause' to assess security impact

US gave $300m arms contract to 22-year-old

Arab leaders snub Damascus summit Syria declares summit as a triumph over US pressure despite boycott over Lebanon role

Anglo-French axis aims for closer ties 'Entente formidable' plans include regular meetings, nuclear cooperation and coordinated foreign policy

Romancing the old rival with the promise of a lasting relationship Nicolas Sarkozy's whirlwind state visit to Britain arguably marks a new high in the Anglo-French relationship since the second world war. The question now is: can it last, or is it - despite the French president's protestations to the contrary - just a "one-night stand".

Explainer: Shifting alliances

Balkans on the boil Borut Grgic and Gordon N Bardos Aside from the Kosovo question, it is not alarmist to say that the region has entered a period of strategic uncertainty

The charm offensive Agnes Poirier: Sarkozy's plan has worked. His seductive speech swept MPs off their feet and paved the way for his new entente cordiale

Beyond the battle of Basra

Matthew Mainen: Nouri al-Maliki should stop putting all his faith in Shia movements and recognise the stabilising effect of the Sunni Awakening councils

Crisis talks Robert Wade The world's bankers are recognising the extent of the credit crunch. Now the world's politicians have to stop it getting worse

Life in the fast lane Martin Jacques Tata's purchase of Jaguar and Land Rover signals that India and China are turning the old hierarchy of global trade on its head

Dutch MP releases critical Qur'an film Government says that controversial film 'serves no other purpose than to cause offence'

Iran's resistance David Alton

The People's Mojahedin Organisation is 'not concerned with terrorism', according to a UK court. So, we should take it off the blacklist

Monks disrupt Chinese media trip

Protesting monks accuse the Chinese government of lying to outside world on their trip to Lhasa

Reading Reverend Wright

Michael Tomasky: Race and America: The published sermons of Jeremiah Wright show little of the fierce rhetoric that alarmed the media in the US

'The day of Jerusalem's fall'

Jeremiah Wright: Race and America: A transcript of one of the controversial sermons delivered by Barack Obama's former pastor, Jeremiah Wright

A friendly match Paul MacInnes: It's been billed as the Arsenal summit: the moment when Sarko went to ask Wenger for advice on strategy. Someone called Gordon was there too

H7 SWJ Debating Basra

The Great Divide: Andrew Bacevich on the crisis of US military policy.

The Devaluation of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on the Iranian Threat - Ephraim Kam Since the publication of the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate on the Iranian threat, its impact has been progressively devalued. This devaluation can be attributed, first of all, to the fact that the American administration, along with leading European governments and Israel, continued to stress the severity of the Iranian nuclear threat. Secondly, the NIE report ran into a storm of criticism by professional echelons in Israel, Europe and the U.S. itself. That criticism prompted Thomas Fingar, the Chairman of the National Intelligence Council that drafted the NIE, to admit in March 2008 that the Council did not assume that the report would be published and that if it had believed otherwise, it would have formulated the estimate somewhat differently. Thirdly, the most recent report of the International Atomic Energy Agency in February 2008 about Iran included voluminous information about procurement and attempted procurement of components critical to the development of nuclear explosive devices. (Institute for National Security Studies-Tel Aviv University)

The Mideast and the media
Michael Young, MESH.

How the Iraq War Has Empowered Iran
Brookings Institution

WINEP The Damascus Arab Summit: Arab Divisions Ensure Modest Achievements Given the current abundance of intra-Arab tensions over Lebanon and Iran, the upcoming Arab League summit in Damascus is unlikely to make good on its ambitious agenda. David Schenker writes

Daily Star Hopefully not a summit to end all summits
By Mohamed Abdel Salam

Toward a US policy that looks beyond Arab oil By Tamer Mallat

Uncovering the roots of the growing US financial crisis
By Jeffrey D. Sachs

Boston Globe Editorial Bush's risky mission to Basra

War and democracy
Al-Ahram Weekly

Misguided missile defense

THE SILVER anniversary of President Ronald Reagan's "Star Wars" speech came and went quietly this week. However, the research program to develop ballistic missile defense still remains a big-ticket item a quarter-century later. (By John Tierney and Stephen Flynn, Boston Globe)

A Smarter Weapon - Zinni and Smith, USA Today Why two retired military officers believe it's essential that the next president use outreach, good deeds and a strong military to make the United States safer

Atlantic Body Counting Why even the most-dubious statistics influence our thinking by Megan McArdle

Islam and Free Speech - Peter Hoekstra (Wall Street Journal)

Daily Star Lebanon's 'leaders' could learn a thing or two from the UAE's

Al Awsat Sadrists Under Fire : Tariq Alhomayed

A Summit of Insults : Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed

Al Hayat Moqtada's Bitter Cup Zuheir Kseibati - With the Iraqi PM Al-Maliki testing his power to disarm al-Mehdi Army in Basra by force, the price should be questioned before the target

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

Baghdad under curfew amid clashes A three-day curfew is imposed on Baghdad, amid continuing clashes between Shia militias and security forces.

Battles threaten fragile Iraq

Risky confrontation
Government battles with militias threaten fragile Iraq

No comfort
Arab summit offers Lebanon no hope of breakthrough

Arabs to Tackle Divisions at Syria Summit

Syria Calls on Saudi Arabia to Help on Lebanon

Anti-Syrian Camp Urges Damascus to Recognize Lebanese Independence

Areas of Baghdad Fall to Militias as Iraqi Army Falters in Basra

Iraqi Government Hold Talks With Sadr Movement

A Talk with Former Iraqi PM Iyad Allawi

Sadrists launch protest amid violence (UPI) -- Supporters of Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr took to the streets Thursday calling for the Iraqi prime minister to step down as violence continued in Basra.

Oil hits $108 on pipeline blast
Oil prices rise above $108 after one of Iraq's main export pipelines is blown up, sparking supply fears.

Iraqi leader threatens fight 'to the end'

Iraq PM vows to fight Shiite militias 'to the end'

BBC Monitoring Quotes From Middle East Arabic Press for 27 March 08

Iraq Press Roundup

Expert: Current Iraq fighting not good guys vs bad

Iraqis Who Risked All Deserve Better - Miami Herald editorial

Basra's Cautionary Tale - Washington Times editorial

Arab Foreign Ministers' Meeting "Positive" - Syrian Envoy to Arab League

Pentagon Calls Iraq Fighting Good Sign, Analysts Not Convinced

U.S. Queries Value of UN Council's Mideast Meetings

Maghreb Integration and the Four-Sided Development Squeeze
CIPE

Syria hosts Iraqis ahead of Arab summit UPI) -- The Iraqi and Syrian foreign ministers met in Damascus to make preparations for presentations at the upcoming Arab League summit.

Mahmud Tube

Could a new Persian-language TV network help Tehran spread a radical Islamic ideology? Skeptics question the potential appeal of entertainment defined by the dictates of Iran's official brand of Islam

H9 Ha’aretz – ANALYSIS: Isolating Syria serves to highlight its importance Arab states are unable to force Syria's hand as Damascus holds the key to the Palestine, Lebanon crises

Do not reignite the flameBarak must finally take steps to accelerate the diplomatic process and genuinely improve life for residents of the West Bank.

Eldar Syria and Palestine firstWe should talk to everyone, about everything, all the time. After all, Olmert claims he accepts the principles of the Arab peace initiative, which calls for full peace in exchange for all the territories. To receive concessions we need negotiations

Settling for less?

Two years and counting

Imagined PartnersThe motivation for increased Jordanian involvement is simple. Jordan has as much to fear from a Hamas-dominated West Bank as Israel does

Ten ways Israel keeps Hamas afloat

A C-minus for now As Olmert begins the second half of his term, the test will be in taking action and recognizing that when it comes to the peace process, standstill is not an option

Hamas smuggles Iranian blueprints into Gaza for Qassam upgrades

Ben-Eliezer: Israel working to bring Syria back to negotiations

Rice to discuss final-status talks during Mideast visit next week

Dutch MP's anti-Islam film highlights anti-Jewish preaching

Bulgaria accepts blame for deaths of 11,000 Jews in Shoah

Foreign Minister Livni: IDF Gaza Operations Help Move Peace Talks Forward -

Jerusalem Post Ben Eliezer: Israel trying to bring Syria to negotiating table

Barak fears Hamas W. Bank takeover

Defense minister warns US that weapons authorized for PA could ultimately be turned against Israel.

Mashaal says willing to consider truce

Clinton easily beats Obama... in Israel

By HERB KEINON
If you're a Hillary supporter, you have to regret there is no presidential primary in Israel

Yedioth Ahronoth Israel trying to engage Syria
Minister Ben-Eliezer confirms 'all efforts' are being made to bring Syria back to negotiations table, says price for peace with Damascus is known to all. Defense Minister Barak among those attempting to broker renewal of talks

Barenboim snubs Israel's 60 Controversial conductor shuns Independence festivities because of 'Palestinian suffering'

IDF: Islamic Jihad Producing Longer-Range Rockets

Daily Alert.org – Hebrew Press Editorials (2008) - Middle East Progress - EJC Israeli Press Review – Google News Israel - Palestine

Fears Rise of New Israel-Hezbollah War, but Some Call It Unlikely

The Strange Case of Robert Malley The recent hounding of Barack Obama for the supposed anti-Israel stance of his informal adviser Robert Malley is just the most recent of the outsized attacks that have marked the Democratic primary

Israeli defense officials: Hezbollah has dramatically increased rocket range

Arab-Israeli Peace: A 'Much Too Promised Land'?
NPR -

Olmert Upbeat on Mideast Peace Talks By: Ashraf Khalil | Los Angeles Times
Amid ongoing rocket fire from Gaza Strip militants and efforts by the Israeli government to shore up the Palestinian Authority, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Wednesday said he was optimistic that current negotiations would produce a lasting peace with the Palestinians

A review of The Cambridge Companion to Modern Jewish Philosophy

Acting in ignorance Richard Silverstein Israeli extremists have built themselves a vacuum of hatred. Liberal Jews have a responsibility to prevent them flourishing

H10 Christian Science Monitor NATO divided over Ukraine, Georgia membership bids

Ahead of a major summit April 2-4, Germany is leading the opposition against their accession

Mideast rift upstages Arab League summit This weekend's Arab League gathering of Middle East and North African countries in Syria is expected to be a display in regional divisions.

Democrats' primary battle takes toll, but long view looks rosy

Clinton's positive rating has dropped, while Obama's image as a uniter has taken a hit

Wall Street's crisis hitting small business Some companies are having problems getting loans, and others are being informed of reduced credit lines.

Congress looking for broader fixes for U.S. economy

On the Hill, bills range from rule changes allowing judges to rewrite mortgage terms to a financial-sector overhaul.

Transformational leaders are not always better By Joseph S. Nye Jr. They can inspire and unite followers, but effectiveness and ethics can suffer

Bruni and Sarkozy disarm the British in cross-Channel charm offensive France's first couple breeze past centuries of British-French antagonism on two-day state visit.

Did Obama's pastor preach hate?

While some label the Reverend Wright's words 'hate speech,' others point to a tradition of exposing social ills.

ASIA

Prolonged Unrest in Tibet Could Unravel China's Monocracy By: Brahma Chellaney | The Japan Times The scrutiny that will accompany the 2008 Beijing Olympics could be the spur that brings change to China

China’s Generation Without Women By: Alice Poon | Asia Sentinel China’s gender imbalance, the result of the one-child policy implemented in 1979, is creating a social time bomb that may threaten the already feeble status of women, who are already losing ground.

Contrasting fates By William Hawkins In 1950, Beijing took control of Tibet while Taiwan remained independent. Today, the fate of the two lands stands in stark contrast.

Newsweek International has a new interview with the Dalai Lama in which he expresses eagerness to meet with Chinese officials.

Greg Sheridan, writing on Australia’s relations with China, points out that prime minister Kevin Rudd met the Dalai Lama when in opposition and says that for the self-respect of all Australians, not to mention the human rights of Tibetans, he should do so again

Dawn In an editorial, the paper is critical of a visit by two senior State Department officials (John Negroponte and Richard Boucher), saying their arrival in indecent haste when the new prime minister, Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani, had not even formed his cabinet was not in keeping with diplomatic propriety

China's 'harmonious' world

Warren W Smith Despite Chinese aggression and a barrage of anti-Tibet propaganda, world leaders still value diplomatic and economic relations with China above all else

Tibet, China, the West: Back to stereotypes The riots in Tibet have blown a formidable flicker into China's Olympic flame, and any chance of keeping the sporting event free of politics has been extinguished. All the same, the Games still offer China the opportunity to educate the world on the daunting challenges it faces as a still-developing nation. - Kent Ewing

What's up with Asian currencies? The strength of the yen and euro has been a dominant recent feature of global markets. Yet Asian currencies, even the Chinese yuan, have yet to show comparable gains against the US dollar. Economic fundamentals argue that these gains should come; local politics can argue otherwise. Therein lie the risks and the opportunities. - Axel Merk

Sunset policy
Will South Korea's new leader abandon the Sunshine Policy?

North Korea 'test-fires missiles' North Korea test-fires several short-range missiles off its western coast, the Yonhap news agency says

Prayer Into the Wind By: H.D.S. Greenway | International Herald Tribune Seldom has the world seen such a stark clash between soft power and hard power as the confrontation between the Dalai Lama and China.

From Seed, what will happen when the two most populous nations on Earth join scientific forces?

Taiwan Detente? - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial

Taiwan’s Delicate Dance - Boston Herald editorial

Chinese Engagement is a Two-way Street - Greg Sheridan, The Australian

China's Long March of Misery - Dominic Lawson, Canberra Times

H11 IHT Georgia on their mind

By F. STEPHEN LARRABEE

Georgia's internal conflicts would be easier to resolve if NATO allowed it to join.

The hollowing of a hero

By NINA L. KHRUSHCHEVA

Yushchenko's only concern nowadays is his own political survival

New divisions arise in NATO over 2 bids for membership Before a meeting of alliance leaders in Bucharest, strong American support for the Ukrainian and Georgian bids for membership is being resisted by Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Luxembourg and the Netherlands

Anti-Koran film post on Internet After months of public discussion, a film, produced by the Dutch politician Geert Wilders was released on the Internet on Thursday night despite warnings that it could spark violence.

The new Diana? In Britain, Carla Bruni steals the show

EUROPE European press review

Balkans on the boil Borut Grgic and Gordon N Bardos Aside from the Kosovo question, it is not alarmist to say that the region has entered a period of strategic uncertainty

France-Britain: NPR surveys press reaction on either side of the English Channel to French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s visit to Britain.

Deutsche-Welle questions whether the meetings signify a marginalization of Berlin.

“Starkozysme": the French president’s retreat, Patrice de Beer

Dutch MP posts Islam film on web A Dutch right-wing politician posts a controversial film critical of the Koran on the internet.

Power dressing
How important is the nuclear deal between France and the UK?

US-Russia Accord on Radar Coming Soon - Czech Opposition Leader

Bad Memories By: Ilana Bet-El | The Guardian
The tragedy of Srebrenica still influences Dutch decision-making, so why hasn't the Netherlands done more in Darfur?

NATO's Balkan Destiny By: Antonio Milososki | The Wall Street Journal
The NATO summit in Bucharest is less than a week away. Yet Macedonia's bid to join the trans-Atlantic alliance hangs in the balance

Sarkozy's NATO Demands Are Unreasonable CBS News

NATO: A U.N. Subsidiary - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review editorial

CRS “Enlargement Issues at NATO’s Bucharest Summit,” March 12, 2008.

“The NATO Summit at Bucharest, 2008,” March 24, 2008.

Brown seeks 'Entente Formidable'

President Sarkozy and wife Carla meet Gordon and Sarah Brown in Downing Street, ahead of talks.

Sarkozy's pride in wife Carla

Brown 'got lost' at state banquet

At-a-glance: Leaders compared

H12 RFE/RLRussia: Top Brass Signals Trouble Within Defense Ministry

Armenia Seeks Stronger Ties with Russia BY SERGEI BLAGOV Serzh Sarkisan, whose controversial election as president of Armenia precipitated political violence in Yerevan, is hoping closer ties with Russia can hasten a return of stability in the South Caucasus country.

US hails progress in Russia talks US diplomats say they have made progress in talks over future co-operation with Russia.

Analysis: A second Kosovo in Georgia? (UPI) -- Russia and the West could be headed for a showdown over independence claims of two breakaway regions in Georgia

Google News Azerbaijan

Talking About Democracy Is Not Enough By: Misha Lipman | The Moscow Times
The Expectations of liberalization incoming Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's rhetoric and non-KGB background might have raised in some circles are wishful thinking

Russia's gas bullying an opportunity to increase efficiency
Kyiv Post

Turkmenistan: Leader Proclaims "Open Door" Investment Policy
While he certainly has played hard-to-get, the signals continue to suggest that Turkmen leader Gurbanguly Berdymukhamedov,

some of the Central Asian country’s natural gas via the planned trans-Caspian pipeline.

EDM HISTORIANS DEBATE 1918 DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN BELARUS

- SBU ACCUSED OF PLAYING POLITICAL GAMES IN KHARKIV
- KYRGYZSTAN MARKS THIRD ANNIVERSARY OF TULIP REVOLUTION, BUT WITHOUT BAKIYEV

H13 The Times Militias in power grab as Iraq stares into abyss Iraqi PM vows to keep up fight against Shia forces as Iraqi Army falters in Basra and major oil pipeline is blown up

Analysis: Britain must now fight or fail

Iraq: the battle for Basra

Britain should suspend the withdrawal of its troops from southern Iraq

Basra crisis leaves British withdrawal in ruins The Iraqi military offensive against Shia militias has backfired, thwarting plans to bring 1,600 troops home this spring

Hillary Clinton; fibber in chief

Her blatant deceit over Bosnia, among other lies, is about the last nail in her coffin Gerard Baker

Dutch MP posts anti-Islam film on web The 15-minute 'documentary' juxtaposes images of Islam’s holy book with the 9/11 terror attacks and other bombings

Robert Gates wants list of all US nuclear arms Defence Secretary orders assessment of inventory procedures after mistaken delivery of ballistic missile fuses to Taiwan

Pastor hands Obama Jewish vote woe Barack Obama's bid to win Jewish support hit by publication of Rev Jeremiah Wright's anti-Israeli views in church newsletter

Spy siphoned $½bn from Oil-for-Food deal Russian leaders profited from lucrative contracts for Iraqi oil when Moscow agent was put in charge of setting prices

Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Should Have Known Better - Robert Reich, American Prospect

H14 Financial Times The Basra fight for Shia supremacy The US-led occupation forces will do nothing for their reputation or the future of Iraq by taking sides in an intra-Shia test of militia strength

Maliki risks open Sadrist insurrection

Nouri al-Maliki took a huge gamble this week when he ordered the Iraqi army into battle against Shia militias in the southern port city of Basra

Medvedev should expect the west’s respect – and resolve The message from the Nato summit in Bucharest must be that, yes, the US and Europe want a better relationship, but no, they are not about to concede the restoration of Russian primacy in the former Soviet sphere, writes Philip Stephens

The dollar is falling at the right time The dollar’s current decline is part of a natural process for reducing the American trade deficit, writes Martin Feldstein. Intervention is dangerous, warns

Nato chief warns Putin over summit

Jaap de Hoop Scheffer, Nato’s secretary-general, has warned Vladimir Putin that next week’s annual summit of the 26-member alliance must not be marked by another display from the Russian president of “unhelpful rhetoric” directed at the west

When inflation comes from abroad The emphasis in central banks’ policy should shift towards pressures that are domestically generated

Samuel Brittan on what central banks must fight

We live longer, so we should work for longer Christopher Johnson on longevity and poverty

Gazprom chief casts doubt on Kiev gas deal The intermediary at the heart of the strategically sensitive natural gas trade between Russia and Ukraine will remain in place for now, according to Alexander Medvedev

Sarkozy and Brown list joint plans

Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy promised on Thursday to create a “partnership of pioneers” between Britain and France to tackle global crises, climate change and reform of international institutions

Time to honour America’s debt to the retired Healthcare costs are likely to rise along with pension costs, so the term ‘cost of living’ takes on a whole new meaning Do not cut Social Security, says John Shilling

MARKETS & INVESTING: Crude at $107 after attack on Iraq pipeline

Earnings hit as US economy near stalling US corporate profits fell in the final quarter of last year, according to figures from the Commerce Department, as one of the worst banking crises in decades helped bring the economy near to stalling

Obama attacks Bill Clinton’s economic legacy Barack Obama laid much of the blame for America’s unfolding credit crisis on the financial deregulation of the 1990s in his hardest hitting attack so far on the economic legacy of Bill Clinton’s administration

NATIONAL NEWS: MoD admits British troops tortured Iraqis after invasion

H15 Los Angeles Times Economy emerges as central election issue

Editorial

Shiites march in Iraq to protest crackdown

How the U.S. and Britain went wrong in Iraq

Bush plays up progress in Iraq but admits it's 'reversible'

Shut Guantanamo, ex-diplomats say

H16 American Politics

The Case for Partisanship

Why polarization is good for us

by Matthew Yglesias

Obama: Bloomberg Is “Extraordinary”

realclearpolitics memeorandum ABC’s The Note – US News Political Bulletin Early Bird GovExec Swamp Gas The Swamp

A review of Upstream: The Ascendance of American Conservatism by Alfred S. Regnery (and more).

Obama seeks tougher regulation, $30 billion to stimulate economy

A superdelegate solution

IT’S THE 'Democrats’ nightmare scenario: A bitter nominating fight that lasts all the way to the national convention in late August, giving Republican John McCain a clear field for the entire summer, and leaving their own party split and dispirited even after they settle upon a standard-bearer. (By Scot Lehigh, Boston Globe

H17 Daily Telegraph

Nicolas Sarkozy the rampant Anglophile British officials would be wise to proceed with caution so far as Mr Sarkozy's promise of an "Entente Amicale" is concerned, says Con Coughlin.

H18 Independent Stalled assault on Basra exposes the Iraqi government's shaky authority

The Iraqi army's offensive against the Shia militia of the radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in Basra is failing to make significant headway despite a pledge by the Iraqi PM to fight "to the end".

Leading article: A vision for Europe that Britain can share

Brown and Sarkozy pledge to form 'entente formidable'

Gordon Brown said that Britain and France share a vision of a "global Europe" and despite a few cracks showing, he said the relationship would develop into an "entente formidable".

The Big Question: What is the role of a First Lady, and can she have political significance?

H19 Military Intelligence Terrorism

New DNI Directive on Technical Surveillance Countermeasures

President Bush Visits Dayton, Ohio, Discusses Global War on Terror Audio

September 11 was a third-rate operation From the day of the attack, evidence has accumulated that September 11, 2001, was never more than a third-rate operation. This is evident from what the plot achieved, and what it didn't attempt, or do. The American public shares the blame for the plot's success, causes and ensuing ramifications; through its collective narcissism, dereliction of responsibility, and fear. - Bohdan Pilacinski

The Great Divide: Andrew Bacevich on the crisis of US military policy.

Law of War: U.S. Government in a Dilemma of Its Own Making By: Geoffrey S. Corn | World Politics Review
The war on terror has produced a historically unprecedented degree of judicial oversight of wartime decisions. To date, these cases have produced a mixed bag of outcomes, sometimes favoring assertions of executive power but also rejecting the exploitation of the asserted "gap" in legal coverage

A Smarter Weapon - Zinni and Smith, USA Today Why two retired military officers believe it's essential that the next president use outreach, good deeds and a strong military to make the United States safer

DIA Withdraws, Corrects Official History

The introduction to Creating the National Security State: A History of the Law That Transformed America by Douglas Stuart

Marine Corps Will Restore Online Access to Public Documents

CRS “Selected Federal Homeland Security Assistance Programs: A Summary,” updated January 31, 2008.

“Selected Laws Governing the Disclosure of Customer Phone Records by Telecommunications Carriers,” March 10, 2008.

Outsourcing defense contracts (By Duncan Hunter)

H20 Slate

Dimensions and Dynamics of Contemporary International Migration Brookings Institution

The Role of Civil Society in Ending Displacement and Peacebuilding
Brookings Institution

Atlantic Sins of Emission Kyoto was a sham and a failure—so how has it become a model for future anti-warming efforts?

by Clive Crook

eJournal USA: Immigrants Joining the Mainstream (PDF; 6.6 MB) Source: U.S. Department of State

Giving by U.S. Family Foundations Jumped 21 Percent According to New Foundation Center Report Source: Foundation Center

Confronting corruption: The business case for an effective anti-corruption programme
Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers Full Report (PDF; 1.9 MB)

How consumer conversation will transform business Source: PricewaterhouseCoopers Full Report (PDF; 1.1 MB)

H21 The Future of Media

American Book Review has made their list of the 100 best last lines from novels available online.

Scribble, scribble, scribble: Allan Massie on why writers write

Tom Stoppard on 1968, the year of the posturing rebel

Fossil could be Europe's first humans Discovery in northern Spain fills gap in knowledge about long march out of Africa

From Robespierre to al-Qa’eda, categorical extermination: An intellectual is someone who thinks ideas matter more than people

Does it not demean a woman, every bit as much as it demeans a man, to make of her either a victim of men’s appetites or a fantasist of them?... more»

Philanthrocapitalism: after the goldrush, Michael Edwards

September 7, 1940, “one of the fairest days of the century, a day of clear warm air and high blue skies,” the day the Blitz began... more»

Ex-security guard solves maths riddle Russian Israeli Avraham Trahtman solves 40-year-old challenge to devise a map that will work no matter from where you start

Folk song is 'world's earliest recording' US researchers manage to play back French sound clip from 1860, well before Thomas Edison's first sound recording

Nietzsche and his Nazi sister

The philosopher's work - and his grave - was hijacked by his viciously anti-Semitic sister

Ben Macintyre

Time magazine features Britain's violent youth Britain's problems with binge-drinking and youth violence are held up to the world today by the American magazine Time.

1968: a revolting year Roger Kimball Tariq Ali is wrong: the 1960s was a decade-long disaster that up-ended civilisation. Its corrosive influence still harms both the left and the right

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