040108f - 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 Basra’s second battle decoded, Reidar Visser

MESH America in the Middle East From Bernard Lewis

Geopolitical Diary: Al-Sadr Silences His Guns | Stratfor

New York Times Editorial Once and Future NATO The greatest military alliance in history has begun the 21st century fractured and without a consensus about the threats it faces and how to meet them

Kevin Drum How to Withdraw

More Basra

McClatchy Iranian who brokered Iraqi peace is on U.S. terrorist watch list Brig. Gen. Qassem Suleimani helped Iraqi leaders negotiate a cease-fire with radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al Sadr. That an Iranian official on the U.S. watch list was key to ending the fighting underscores Iran's political influence in Iraq

Slate Foreign Policy

What it will take to heal U.S. diplomacy. Fred Kaplan

The Military How to fix the U.S. military. Phillip Carter and Fred Kaplan

Spiked, a review of The Politics of Chaos in the Middle East by Olivier Roy

Should We Fight for South Ossetia?
by Patrick Buchanan

Guardian Disunity in Damascus Ian Black As good old Muammar Gadafy pointed out, the Arab summit in Damascus laid bare crippling divisions over Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq

Five years on, the US military is now owned by Iraq By Lawrence Kaplan

Al Awsat Iraq from an Iranian View : Tariq Alhomayed

The introduction to The Roman Predicament: How the Rules of International Order Create the Politics of Empire by Harold James (and a review).

Jerusalem Post 'Winograd report all but forgotten'

William Arkin On Iraq, Forging 'Stability' Is Everyone's Game

Washington Post Relative Calm Returns After Clashes in Basra

Bush Visits a Ukraine Deeply Split Over Bid to Join Western Alliance

Not the Torch of Liberty By Rebiya Kadeer, China must engage in a meaningful dialogue that addresses the sources of discontent in Tibet and East Turkestan

Financial Times Olympic torch threatens to scorch China China is not just an emerging great power. It is also an authoritarian and nationalistic one-party state. Those concerns might have been brushed under the red carpet, if the Beijing games had not become the focus for protests against the government. But the violence in Tibet ended any hope of an apolitical games, writes Gideon Rachman

Good leadership is deciding how to decide Understanding context is key, writes Joseph Nye

Looming dangers for the dollar

The sine qua non of a reserve currency is stability. If the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate cuts unleash sustained inflation, the pre-eminence of the dollar will be tested

The limit of liberalisation Economists’ Forum: Has the dream of global free-market capitalism died? Martin Wolf debates the issue with Ricardo Hausmann, Robert Wade, Guillermo Calvo and Adam Posen

Germany blocks ex-Soviets’ Nato entry Leaders were seeking a face-saving compromise after Germany insisted it was ’not the right time’ to allow Ukraine and Georgia to take a significant step towards Nato membership

IHT The view from Athens

By DORA BAKOYANNIS

As long as the name problem persists, Greece cannot and will not endorse The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia joining NATO or the European Union.

A risky end-game By EDWARD P. JOSEPH The dispute between Greece and Macedonia over the latter's name jeopardizes this week's NATO summit in Bucharest - and Balkan stability.

The Balkans, again By MISHA GLENNY I wish all success to those diplomats who are working to find a compromise between Greece and Macedonia. But I'm not holding my breath.

Wall Street Journal All in a Name
By Dora Bakoyannis
Deciding what constitutes 'Macedonia' is key to stability in the Balkans.

Los Angeles Times Iraq showdown made Sadr stronger, backers say Militia members melt back into the background after the cleric's order to lay down their weapons

Editorial Shades of gray in Basra As factions battle in Basra, the U.S. must remember that not everyone who opposes Maliki is a 'terrorist.'

This week's NATO summit will shape Bush legacy Issues the alliance is grappling with -- the conflict in Afghanistan and the effort to spread democracy -- go to the heart of his agenda

H2 Middle East Digest: March 31, 2008 “… what we would expect and hope from this process is that those involved would proceed in a way that was apolitical and that reflected the commitment to representative democracy that's been expressed by the Turkish voters in recent elections.”

Newsweek - Call It a Coup Grenville Byford In private and in public, the West must explain to Turkey's Kemalist establishment and the generals who stand with it an essential fact of democracy: those who lose elections must accept the result.

WSJ Editorial Turkey's Judges Vote
Turkey's highest court yesterday agreed to hear a case to ban the President.

The Economist A threat of turmoil in Turkey TURKEY edged towards prolonged political and economic turmoil

Washington Post What a Headscarf Can Mean By Anne Applebaum, In certain Turkish communities, a head covering symbolizes not just faith but also adherence to a particular version of Islam.

FT Turkish court to hear case against ruling party

Turkey faces months of political stalemate

New York TimesTurkey Court Takes Politically Explosive Case

Guardian Turkey's government under threat

Slate A Wrinkle in the Fabric of Society In Turkey, head scarves are potent political symbols. Anne Applebaum

Turkey: Top Court to Hear Case Against the Ruling Party | Stratfor

Iraqi Kurdish delegation coming to Ankara

Daily Star Turkey's latest political crisis puts those of its neighbors to shame

Rehn, davadan kaygı duyuyorum (orjinal tam metin)

Independent Turkey's ruling party to stand trial for being 'too religious'

Washington Times Trial could ban Turkey's top politicians, party

Reuniting Cyprus By Bruce Fein

Turkish ruling party faces ban over Islamic headscarf DEBKA

Milan, Seeking Facelift, Beats Turkey's Izmir to Host 2015 Expo

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

Three Turk security personnel killed in PKK clash

Amid Turkish reforms, terrorists still defiant

Iraqi Kurdish delegation coming to Ankara

PKK: "We are prepared"

Şırnak’ta 3 şehit

Reprisals and Press Freedom in Iraqi Kurdistan [Michael Rubin]

After WND report of secret negotiations mediated by Turkey

Tuncel'in kimyasal silah provokasyonu

Call For Economic Boycott of the Turkish Products and Think Twice ...

Too Bad Kurdistan Isn't Tibet, Too Bad Turkey Isn't China

Warfare By Other Means Strategy Page

PKK, bölgedeki Kürtlere de tehdit

Cevdet Aşkın

Google News Greece Cyprus Turkish Cypriot Press ABHaber Dış Basında Türkiye-AB İlişkileri Günlük Haftalık

İlter Türkmen Zor bir NATO zirvesi

Sami Kohen NATO’nun zor zirvesi

21 oyla kaybettik

Kıbrıs'ta Lokmacı'dan çok daha zorlu meseleler var
Gerd Höhler

Toktamış Ateş Avrupa Türkleri

Washington Times Reuniting Cyprus By Bruce Fein

Atatürk 301'e geçit vermezdi
Terry Davıs

Rehn’in sözlerine farklı tepkiler

EDM TURKISH CHIEF OF STAFF RULES OUT TROOP WITHDRAWAL FROM CYPRUS

Murat Kurnaz

STELYO BERBERAKİS
'Savaş' zirvesi

EU 'takes note' of Turkish court's move against ruling party

Bush nominates ambassador to Yerevan, but...

Modernity must be protected through modern means Terry DAVIS

Turkey prepares Istanbul to be European Capital of Culture

Turkey must withdraw from Cyprus, says former EU commissioner

Hedo Okur Tuncay Nihat Altintop

Sağlık ocağında türban manzaraları

'Türban takmadığım için yurttan atıldım'

İdam yolunda sır teklif!

Helikopterde zarar büyük! Soruşturma yok

BBC Under strain
Turkey struggles to cope with soaring prison population

Selçuk’a zatürree teşhisi

H3 AKP'nin zor seçimi

Erdoğan referanduma gidecek mi?

AKP’nin 3 seçeneği

Anayasa savaşı

Dava kabul edildi gözler Meclis'te

Anayasa’ya ve millete rağmen

Bundan sonra ne olacak?

Yargıtay Cumhuriyet Başsavcısı'nın hazırladığı iddianamenin kabulüyle kapatma davası resmen başladı

Hasan Celal Güzel - Türkiye'de yargı iflas etmiştir

Milliyet Son Dakika

Cengiz Çandar Türkiye 2008'i kaybetti, AB ve demokrasiyi kurtarabilecek mi

Ahmet Taşgetiren Bedeli kim ödeyecek?

Ruşen - Çakır

Taha Akyol Bundan sonra

Fikret Bila Anayasa Mahkemesi’nin kabul kararının anlamı

Murat Yetkin Bu işi Erdoğan-Baykal uzlaşması paklar

Hasan Cemal Allah Türkiye’ye kolaylık versin!

İlnur Çevik Vote by Turkish Supreme Court judges show AK Party will be closed down

Ordu ve hükümet aylar önce anlaştı

Ergenekon belgelerini Fethullahçılar yazdı

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

Fehmi Koru: Kararın anlamı

Perihan Mağden - Oybirliğiyle kanuni hukuksuzluk ihtimali

Mustafa Karaalioğlu Küçük, fakir, tek sesli Türkiye hayali

Mehmet Altan Kaça kaç...

Berat Özipek Dava’nın kabulü ve Hükümet’in karar anı

Eser Karakaş Eski Türkiye’ye yöneliş

Sami Selçuk Demokraside uzlaşma

Serdar Turgut Türkiye'nin masumiyet...

[Yorum - Doç.Dr. Yusuf Şevki Hakyemez] Bundan sonra ne olacak?

Ertuğrul Özkök Duvara asılacak fotoğraf

Ahmet Hakan

M Ali Birand AB, çok geç olmadan laik Türkiye’ye sahip çıkmalı

Cüneyt Ülsever Başbakan ayrımcılık yapmaktan vazgeçemez!

Enis Berberoğlu Anlatınca kınıyorlar

Yılmaz Özdil Ne oldum deme...

Oktay Ekşi Batı usulü edepsizlik

Bekir Coşkun Bir cumhurbaşkanımız olsaydı...

Özdemir İnce Demek öyle Olli Rehn Efendi

Mehmet Y Yılmaz Geçmişte böyle kaç örnek var acaba

Yalçın Doğan ’Ben yaptım’ isyanı

MUHARREM SARIKAYA Sürece tahammül...

ERDAL ŞAFAK Riskler ve fırsatlar

ENGİN ARDIÇ

ERGUN BABAHAN Bu sürecin adını doğru koyalım

EMRE AKÖZ Teessüf ederim

Umur Talu

HASAN BÜLENT KAHRAMAN

NAZLI ILICAK 7'ye 4 mağlup

MEHMET BARLAS Türk'ün Türk'ten başka da dostları vardır...

MAHMUT ÖVÜR 'Kendisi iktidarda fikri mahkemede...'

YAVUZ DONAT 'Kaos' değil ama... Bal gibi 'kriz'

Güneri Civaoğlu AK / PAK

CHP'den AKP'ye gözdağı

Baykal karar için ne dedi?

Berzeg: Hukuka aykırı

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIM

İyilik de kötülük de dışardan azıcık da içerden

Ercan Kumcu İç talep büyüyor ama ekonomi büyümüyor

Erdal Sağlam Milli gelir artışında dünya rekoru

Güven Sak Bu siyasi kriz ne kadar ciddidir

Eyüp Can Krize inat iyi senaryo

Seyfettin Gürsel Yanıtsız sorular

Hurşit Güneş Artık küresel rüzgâr ters yönden esiyor; AKP’nin yelkenleri şişmiyor

Güngör Uras 2004’ten sonra büyümede frene bastık (2007’de üretim hızla düşmeye başladı)

Serpil Yılmaz Gül’ün EXPO 2015’te Moratti ile yarışı

Yaman Törüner Kriz halen bitmedi

Turkey's economy posts 4.5 percent growth rate for 2007 despite ...

Emerging Markets-Turkey, Hungary lead wider losses

Turkey's debt to IMF down to $7.02 billion

Turkish end-07 net public debt stock 249 bln lira Reuters

H4 New York Times Editorial Once and Future NATO The greatest military alliance in history has begun the 21st century fractured and without a consensus about the threats it faces and how to meet them

Doubts Greet Treasury Plan Regulation

H5 Washington Post Relative Calm Returns After Clashes in Basra

Bush Visits a Ukraine Deeply Split Over Bid to Join Western Alliance

Daniel Brumberg Islam and the West

Not the Torch of Liberty By Rebiya Kadeer, China must engage in a meaningful dialogue that addresses the sources of discontent in Tibet and East Turkestan

Bin Laden Took Part in 1986 Arms Deal, Book Says

Clinton's Real Choice By E. J. Dionne Jr., Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama seem determined to cause their party to lose an election it once seemed certain to win

A Block in Baghdad Mourns Its Own

Sudden U.S. Gunfire Claims Child, Her Grandfather and a Neighbor, Residents Say

McCain's Free Ride By Eugene Robinson, McCain should have to explain why he wants to keep us on George Bush's long, winding path to nowhere

Yes, It Was a Good War By Richard Cohen, A new book argues that we should not have fought WWII. It is wrong.

GAO Blasts Weapons Budget

Cost Overruns Hit $295 Billion

As Rivals Battle, McCain Builds November Machine

Wilders' West and IslamJorgen S. Nielsen | The new Geert Wilders film could reignite smoldering anti-Western fears and frustrations

H6 Guardian Disunity in Damascus Ian Black As good old Muammar Gadafy pointed out, the Arab summit in Damascus laid bare crippling divisions over Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq

Demands for EU crackdown on biofuels scam Calls for action to stop trading scam that exploits US subsidies and undermines fight against climate change

Obama is the change that America has tried to hide Alice Walker: Only one candidate offers the radical departure for the 21st century the US needs, for its own sake and the rest of the world's

McCain admits he was caught off guard by Basra offensive

One state or two? Mick Dumper: The binationalism would not mean the eradication of Israel or Palestine. Its is simply a two-state solution that works

The new nuclear risk Joschka Fischer Global disarmament must start at the top - with the US and Russia. But first we need to update the non-proliferation treaty

H7 Spiked, a review of The Politics of Chaos in the Middle East by Olivier Roy

Five years on, the US military is now owned by Iraq By Lawrence Kaplan

Al Awsat Iraq from an Iranian View : Tariq Alhomayed

The introduction to The Roman Predicament: How the Rules of International Order Create the Politics of Empire by Harold James (and a review).

A snub for Syria
International Herald Tribune,

Rubin: Iran Saves the Surge

The Nation The Lessons of Basra Robert Dreyfuss The latest round in Iraq's Shiite vs. Shiite civil war was to have been Bush's defining moment. The result: utter humiliation by Muqtada al-Sadr and a cease-fire brokered by a group the US considers to be terrorists.

MESH America in the Middle East From Bernard Lewis

Nuclear transfers: comparing Iran and Pakistan

Analysis: Damascus summit stresses schism By CLAUDE SALHANI (UPI) -- As expected, there were no surprises at the Arab summit in Damascus that ended Sunday without any breakthrough regarding the Lebanese presidential crisis

Asia Times The day the US declared war on Iran North Korea was a test-run for the United States' new strategy of "shock and awe" financial sanctions against Iran. On March 20, Washington initiated two acts of war: one against Iran's banks and one against any financial institution anywhere in the world that tries to do business with an Iranian bank. The next step is to designate Iran's central bank as a financial criminal; the impact of this will be the financial equivalent to the first bombs falling on Baghdad in 2003. - John McGlynn

Shi'ite fight shows other side of the COIN The struggle between Iraqi forces and Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army calls into question the US's new counterinsurgency doctrine (COIN) and bodes ill for the country's stabilization. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has made a big gamble - if the fighting causes more misery in southern Iraq, his government will be doomed by its chief constituency. - Ehsan M Ahrari

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Under Fire By: Dominic Moran | ISN Security Watch
The Egyptian government has intensified its security crackdown against the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) in recent weeks in a clear effort to keep its primary political rival off-balance ahead of nation-wide local elections on 8 April

Hudson Islamism and the Media

The Center for a New American Security has posted its latest policy brief - The Case for Conditional Engagement in Iraq by Colin Kahl and Shawn Brimley

Maliki vs. Sadr - National Review editorial

Basra Battle: Signs of Iran - Amir Taheri, New York Post

Now for the British Surge - Nile Gardiner, National Review

McCain: The Realistic Idealist - Baltimore Sun editorial

Chalabi as charlatan (By Claude R. Marx)

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

Sadr Wins as Govt Crackdown Backfires

Maliki Humiliated as Militia Gamble Fails

Crocker wants 'honest discussion' on Iraq

Embarrassed US Starts to Disown Basra Operation by Gareth Porter

Delusional Bush Dances Toward War by Ray McGovern

President Assad’s Speech to the Arab Summit

Backgrounder: Damascus Declaration for 20th Arab Summit

Damascus Declaration: Arab-Israeli Peace Depends on Israeli Behavior

Juan Cole / Informed Comment:

Iran Brokers Call for Ceasefire; Bush reduced to Irrelevancy in Iraq; Fighting Continues

Al-Sadr's statement is translated here.

Three-day curfew ends in Baghdad Iraqis return to the streets of Basra and Baghdad, after a curfew is lifted and militiamen follow orders to withdraw.

Nouri al-Maliki humiliated as gamble to crush Shia militias fail

Iraq: Fighting Over, But Shi'ite Power Struggle Continues

Labor: A briefing from the Economist Intelligence Unit looks at problems hampering Gulf region labor markets including simmering inflation and a lack of highly trained workers

Roundup: Damascus Summit Renews Commitment to Arab Solidarity

At Damascus Summit, Arab Countries Cling To Arab Peace Initiative

UK Arabic Daily Says "Sedative" Effects of Tour By USA's Rice to Fade Rapidly

Uncertainty facing Iraq's Awakening (Sahwa) movement

Gates says troop pullout still planned (By Robert Burns)

Iraqi Shiites Copying From Their Hezbollah Cousins in Lebanon?

Iraq attacks decline, but Green Zone hit

Dimming the Lights on Arab Satellites By: Marwan M. Kraidy | The Daily Star
After years of rhetoric about the need for a pan-Arab satellite television framework, Arab information ministers last February 12 adopted a charter that provides the tools to penalize broadcasters who attack leaders or air socially unacceptable content.

Iraq objects to Arab summit declaration

Analysts say crisis could drag on for another year

H9 Ha’aretz – Jerusalem council okays 600 new Jewish homes in Arab area

Editorial: Peace talks, even on Jerusalem, must be secret

Give and take par excellence Olmert?s eagerness to achieve a kind of mutual defense pact with Bush before his term is up in exchange for a draft agreement between Israel and the Palestinians is not unreasonable

Oligarchy or anarchy The re-emerging Pollard affair highlights a sad truth: There is no central authority in Israel, only separate feudal holdings headed by self-appointed barons. Every minister or chief is an oligarch

Russia's UN envoy: Moscow summit would energize peace process

Jerusalem Post 'Winograd report all but forgotten'

Barak, rethink the roadblocks

If we don't want Hamas in W. Bank, we must allow its economy to thrive.

Would Jesus want to convert the Jews?

View from Washington: Avoiding the next war

The Region: When terrorism makes sense

'UK is European center of anti-Semitism' Historian says "British detachment from Christian Bible-based roots contributes to changed society."

Czechs support Israel joining NATO Visiting defense minister: We'll back Israel against Iran with all available capabilities

Yedioth Ahronoth Israeli Arabs can't be 'tamed'/ Kopty

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

Jerusalem diary
Ways in which movement is restricted in the West Bank

Tony Blair and getting to the endgame in Palestine By Chris Patten

Secretary of State Rice Meets PA Prime Minister Fayyad and Israeli Defense Minister Barak (State Department)

Barak: Renewing Peace Talks With Damascus is a ; Priority.; Assad Accuses Israel of Foot-Dragging in Negotiations

The Mufti and the Nazis
John Rosenthal, Policy Review.

H10 Christian Science Monitor The Battle of Basra

Lessons from this six-day conflict may decide if Iraq is to have a strong government.

Anger follows the fight with Sadr's militia Residents of Sadr City, Moqtada al-Sadr's Baghdad stronghold, said they felt 'caught in the middle' of the battle between Sadr's Mahdi Army and US and Iraqi forces.

NATO's message to Russia It mustn't let Putin's challenge go unanswered. By Eugene Rumer

Paulson proposes major new role for the Fed The central bank would oversee all financial markets, under a new plan.

The bin Ladens: a family history

ASIA

Tom Barnett China's capitalism isn't so foreign KnoxNews.

Dominating the Headwaters By: Michael Richardson | The Japan Times Unlike Europe and the U.S., the priority of governments in South and Southeast Asia who have watched the anti-China riots in Tibet with concern is stability, not human rights.

Afghanistan, Pakistan, and NATO summit The NATO summit meeting in Bucharest this week comes at a critical time for the 26-member alliance and its mission in Afghanistan. It also comes at a critical time for the one country that can make or break that mission: Pakistan. (By Karl F. Inderfurth, Boston Globe)

U.S. Interests Face a Challenge in Pakistan By: Anand Kumar | Asia Sentinel Although the ascendancy of Yousuf Razaf Gilani ascendancy to power as prime minister may have reduced, however temporarily, Pakistan’s capacity for political chaos, it throws the future of Washington’s global war on terror into uncertainty, making the job of NATO forces and their allies far more difficult

Musharraf Swears in Cabinet Full of Foes

Asia Times Pakistan in tug of war over terror Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gillani has boldly asserted that from now on parliament will handle all matters of national security, including the all-important "war on terror". President Pervez Musharraf and the military, backed by the United States, have other ideas, and they could use the issue of the reinstatement of the judiciary to make this clear. - Syed Saleem Shahzad

ASK SPENGLER Turn it into a theme park ... Responding to the Atlas-sized problems that drop into the mail box, Spengler dispenses advice to the leader of an emerging superpower dealing with pesky separatists. Pearls of wisdom, too, for an American presidential hopeful ducking and weaving over religion and race, and a burned-out banker charged with bailing out a faltering financial system

The ministers and Musharraf

THE WASHINGTON TIMES EDITORIAL Signs abound that the terms of the U.S.-Pakistani alliance have changed, and that these changes are likely to impede the Bush administration's prosecution of the war on terror.

H11 IHT The view from Athens

By DORA BAKOYANNIS

As long as the name problem persists, Greece cannot and will not endorse The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia joining NATO or the European Union.

A risky end-game By EDWARD P. JOSEPH The dispute between Greece and Macedonia over the latter's name jeopardizes this week's NATO summit in Bucharest - and Balkan stability.

The Balkans, again By MISHA GLENNY I wish all success to those diplomats who are working to find a compromise between Greece and Macedonia. But I'm not holding my breath.

Bush's tour of Eastern Europe to focus on diplomacy President George W. Bush will be battling this week at the NATO summit in Romania against Russia's opposition to eventual alliance membership for Ukraine and Georgia.

Bush and Putin: Belatedly making nice George Bush and Vladimir Putin are suddenly ready to talk seriously about serious matters. We hope it is not too late.

A snub for Syria If there is a remedy for the Arab angst over Syria, it lies in American and Israeli engagement with Bashar Assad's regime.

Serbia vows to hold elections in Serb-dominated parts of Kosovo

EUROPE European press review

Birthing Athena: The Uncertain Future of the European Security and Defense Policy IFRI This 43-page French paper considers the future of the European Security and Defence Policy

NATO: Is There Life After Afghanistan?

European missile defence: the America-Russia-Iran knot , Tom Sauer David Webb

Bush to back Ukraine for Nato President Bush is set to offer his backing for Kiev's controversial bid to join Nato as he arrives in Ukraine

US Says Missile Deal With Czechs Nears

Outside View: Old, new Europe clash By TARAS KUZIO (UPI) -- President Bush's two-day visit to Kiev on the eve of NATO's April 2-4 summit in Bucharest, Romania, is his first visit to Ukraine and therefore long overdue. His predecessor, Bill Clinton, visited Ukraine on three occasions. Bush's visit to Ukraine ahead of the NATO summit is seen as a strong show of U.S. support for NATO enlargement to Ukraine and Georgia.

Walker's World: Bush's personal summitry By MARTIN WALKER (UPI) -- Managing this week's NATO and Russian summits will be one of the most complex international challenges President George Bush has faced because everything will hinge on his own personal diplomacy.

Terror Plot Thwarted in Bosnia By: Anes Alic and Damir Kaletovic | ISN Security Watch The dots begin to connect in a radical network that reaches from Bosnia across Western Europe as police in Bosnia arrest five suspected of plotting to attack Catholic and EUFOR objects

The New Iron Curtain By: Tom Hundley | The Chicago Tribune
These days there is a lot of talk about a borderless Europe, but in this corner of the continent, on the eastern crust of Poland along the banks of the River Bug, there is no mistaking the omnipresence of the border. In many ways, this border has become Europe's new Iron Curtain

NATO facing post-Cold War transformation (By William J. Kole)

H12 RFE/RLRussia: NATO Divided On Expanding Alliance, But Moscow's Stance Is Clear

NATO: Overtaxed Allies Assess Role In Afghanistan

Vox Pop: Is 'Fear Factor' Behind Your Country's NATO Aspirations?

Hudson - Moscow 2007: Oil, Thugs and Imperium

ANALYSIS: Myth of the New Cold War, By Stephen Kotkin, Russia Profile 4/08, Ocnus.Net, Mar 27, 2008

EDM PUTIN STILL POPULAR, BUT PEOPLE WANT POWER TO REMAIN IN THE KREMLIN

- PUTIN SEEKS TO REAFFIRM CONTROL OVER DISGRUNTLED SILOVIKI

KREMLIN MOUTHPIECE TO LEAVE GENERAL STAFF

EurasiaNet NATO Summit to Grapple with Afghanistan, Mull Membership for Georgia, Ukraine US President George W. Bush departed Washington on March 31 on what promises to be a challenging diplomatic trip. The focal point of the journey is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit in Bucharest, where he will seek to convince skeptical allies on the need for a troop buildup in Afghanistan and on the value of offering NATO membership to Georgia and Ukraine. Bush is also due to meet Russian leader Vladimir Putin for discussions on Eurasian security

Georgia: Justice System Faces New Doubts over its Independence An 11-year prison term given in absentia to Georgia’s former defense minister Irakli Okruashvili is prompting fresh debate about the impartiality of the country’s criminal justice system

Google News Azerbaijan

Security and a NATO Deal for Putin By: Simon Saradzhyan | The Moscow Times
Abandoning his bellicose rhetoric, President Vladimir Putin will seek to initiate a meaningful dialogue on security and to sign a political declaration with the NATO-Russia Council during this week's NATO summit

Americans Are Not Stoopid By: Mark H. Teeter | The Moscow Times
Various Russian commentators expressed irritation or dismay earlier this month when a Pew Research Center survey indicated that a majority of U.S. citizens could not name the province that had just proclaimed independence from Serbia

A 'Bout' of Russian terror (By Ed Royce)

H13 The Times Nato enemies give Bush a mixed welcome

The US President's arrival in Kiev to back the introduction of Ukraine and Georgia to Nato attracted fierce protests

Lords should say no to a referendum Is the Lisbon treaty good for the UK and for the EU as a whole? I would give an unhesitating affirmative answer to both Leon Brittan

Anti-Semitism finds new allies

Hatred of the Jewish people, which united the likes of Klaus Barbie and Tariq Aziz, hasn't been contained Michael Gove

Al-Maliki humiliated as militia gamble fails The increasingly isolated PM has ended up agreeing peace with the people that he described as being worse than al-Qaeda

Wall Street Journal All in a Name
By Dora Bakoyannis
Deciding what constitutes 'Macedonia' is key to stability in the Balkans.

The Roots of Chinese Nationalism
By Emily Parker Don't blame state propaganda alone for hardline sentiments on Tibet.

The Immigrant Gap
By Matthew J. Slaughter
America needs a lot more skilled workers from abroad.

China and Core Inflation
By Stephen S. Roach
Stripping out 'special factors' leads to bad policy -- just ask Americans.

Reform a la Glasgow
Professor Smith's discipline vs. Hank Paulson's reshuffle. Fortunately, the real reformer is already hard at work, changing the financial system right before our eyes.

U.N. Reformer (Really)
Mark Wallace tried to make the United Nations live up to its original ideals.

Does Obama Understand Defeat? By Bret Stephens
Global View: With the exception of a failed congressional bid in 2000, defeat has not formed a significant part of Mr. Obama's upwardly mobile life experience

The introduction to International Political Economy: An Intellectual History by Benjamin J. Cohen.

Ten Fundamental Issues in Reforming Financial Regulation and Supervision in a World of Financial Innovation and Globalization

H14 Financial Times Olympic torch threatens to scorch China China is not just an emerging great power. It is also an authoritarian and nationalistic one-party state. Those concerns might have been brushed under the red carpet, if the Beijing games had not become the focus for protests against the government. But the violence in Tibet ended any hope of an apolitical games, writes Gideon Rachman

Good leadership is deciding how to decide Understanding context is key, writes Joseph Nye

Looming dangers for the dollar

The sine qua non of a reserve currency is stability. If the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate cuts unleash sustained inflation, the pre-eminence of the dollar will be tested

The limit of liberalisation Economists’ Forum: Has the dream of global free-market capitalism died? Martin Wolf debates the issue with Ricardo Hausmann, Robert Wade, Guillermo Calvo and Adam Posen

Germany blocks ex-Soviets’ Nato entry Leaders were seeking a face-saving compromise after Germany insisted it was ’not the right time’ to allow Ukraine and Georgia to take a significant step towards Nato membership

Eurozone inflation surges to 16-year high The pick-up in inflation, from 3.3% in February to 3.5% in March, all but rules out any cut in European Central Bank interest rates in the near future, even as economic growth slows

Ukraine treads careful diplomatic path George W. Bush visits Kiev with a message very different to that of his father in 1991

Israel plans homes in West Bank

The Jerusalem municipality announced plans to build hundreds of new homes in the occupied West Bank settlement of Pisgat Zeev

Uneasy peace in Iraq after days of fighting A tenuous peace returned to Iraq following the call by the radical cleric Moqtada al-Sadr for his militia to withdraw from clashes with Iraqi government forces

Insight: US recession will not hinder emerging market stocks

Mugabe must go There is an inevitability about the regime’s demise but Zimbabweans may have no option but to take to the streets to save their country from a creeping coup

Paulson’s gamble One thing is clear: streamlining regulatory institutions is nice, but reforms that do not fix the incentives in the financial system will fix nothing

WORLD NEWS: Papal visit to turn spotlight on abortion in US poll year

H15 Los Angeles Times Iraq showdown made Sadr stronger, backers say Militia members melt back into the background after the cleric's order to lay down their weapons

Editorial Shades of gray in Basra As factions battle in Basra, the U.S. must remember that not everyone who opposes Maliki is a 'terrorist.'

This week's NATO summit will shape Bush legacy Issues the alliance is grappling with -- the conflict in Afghanistan and the effort to spread democracy -- go to the heart of his agenda

H16 American Politics

Eli Lake / New York Sun:

Some Republicans Emerge To Endorse Obama

National Journal's Charlie Cook on NPR's Diane Rehm show today: 50/50 chance McCain will be president, 99% chance Democratic Congress.

Democrat Pelosi urges end to race Senior US Democrat Nancy Pelosi urges a quick decision to choose the party's presidential candidate.

GALLUP: Obama Holds Lead Over Clinton, 51% to 43%...

Dem elite working for June solution

Could the Republicans Pick the Democratic Nominee? …

Clinton didn't pay health insurance bills

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

ALICE WALKER: OBAMA IS OUR MANDELA...

H17 Daily Telegraph

Hillary Clinton should pull out

Should she stay or should she go? With each passing day, the pressure intensifies on Hillary Clinton to end her campaign to secure the Democratic nomination for November's US presidential contest.

H18 Independent Sarkozy's troop pledge for Afghan campaign 'may encourage others'

Revealed: the story of the spy who led the French Resistance

USA 2008: The Great Depression Startling official statistics show that as a new economic recession stalks the United States, a record number of Americans will shortly be depending on food stamps just to feed themselves and their families.

Food stamps are a continuing reminder of widespread poverty

In one form or another, food stamps have been around in the US since 1939, before taking their current form in the 1964 Food Stamp Act, one of the earliest pieces of major legislation in the Johnson administration's "War on Poverty".

Life in Basra: 'The masked men have vanished, but we're still trapped'

No conspiracy, Diana coroner concludes after £10m inquest

H19 Military Intelligence Terrorism

Planning for America's Security - Elizabeth Dole, Washington Times

Right Way to View US Defense Costs - James Carafano, New York Post

GAO Blasts Weapons Budget

Secret Spying in US Caused Fears at Outset

The Pentagon's Battle Bugs
by Nick Turse and Tom Engelhardt

CIA enlists Google's help for spy work US intelligence agencies are using Google's technology to help its agents share information about their suspects

Google Partners With NSA, CIA on Intelligence Database

US weapons analyst admits leak to China

H20 Slate Foreign Policy

What it will take to heal U.S. diplomacy. Fred Kaplan

The Military How to fix the U.S. military. Phillip Carter and Fred Kaplan

Massive Computer Centers Worse Than Air Traffic By: Manfred Dworschak | Der Spiegel
There's been a lot of hand-wringing lately about how much air traffic contributes to global warming. An even more damaging culprit, however, has recently been found: the Internet. Computer centers consume massive amounts of energy, and their use is growing astronomically

Obama: I don't carry any CFR card, or know 'special handshake'

H21 CIA enlists Google's help for spy work US intelligence agencies are using Google's technology to help its agents share information about their suspects

Jihad for the soul Theo Hobson

That people are effortlessly happy and decent is a great lie of secular society - defeating our inner satan is a struggle

As a waitress in a posh restaurant, she was ally, authority, and confidante for her customers – all within 30 seconds... more»

Has reading about books replaced the real thing? The sheer amount of reviews we can now access has taken some of the joy out of books

He was not just a director of epics. What excited David Lean was a change of scale: matchstick to ball of fire, catastrophe to teacups, great expectations to small wonders... more»

If all of John Steinbeck is in print 40 years after his death and is still force-fed to school kids, why is he so decisively off the literary map?... more»

1776 and all that Andrew Exum: Could Britain have won the American war of independence if it had used contemporary counterinsurgency techniques to crush George Washington?

Flying penguins found by BBC

Stunning discovery flies in the face of evolution theory.

German hackers threaten to publish Merkel's fingerprints...

TOWER OF BABEL: Saudi Prince plans mile-high skyscraper!

The Facebook tool which turns your mobile into a snoop - Times Online

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