051008f - 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 Washington Post Opposition Seizes Most Of Beirut Hezbollah Supporters Criticized In Lebanon for Armed Clashes

Fighting in Beirut Threatens a Top Bush Administration Priority

War With Iran Might Be Closer Than You Think

GuardianHizbullah success leaves uncertainty Lebanon's government is reeling after Hizbullah guerrillas seize control of Muslim west Beirut

Hizbullah's web Leader

US Says Syria, Iran Behind Lebanon Violence

IHT Nuclear Middle East: Tempting Targets By: Bennett Ramberg | International Herald Tribune Israel's Dimona nuclear plant, one of the world's oldest, has generated all the nuclear material military planners plausibly could use. Closure would set a nonproliferation standard for the Middle East - no more dedicated nuclear weapons reactors, a goal that would enhance Jerusalem's security

Europe reluctant to set up a security doctrine The European Union is not ready for a serious discussion about why the bloc needs a security doctrine because it would mean dealing with the issue of power.

American Conservative Surging to Defeat By Andrew J. Bacevich
The Petraeus strategy buys time but not victory.

Robert Fisk Hizbollah rules west Beirut in Iran's proxy war with US

Yedioth Ahronoth Poll: US Jews prefer Clinton

Gallup survey predicts Democratic senator will get 66% of Jewish vote in race against McCain

Ron Ben-Yishai continues his analysis of what lays ahead for Israel in the next decade

Forecast for next decade/ Ben-Yishai Part 2: Ron Ben-Yishai says Palestinians won’t have a state, but Iran will possess nukes

Historian Norman Stone Ponders War, Peace As Victory Day Marked

Still Broken: A Recruit`s Inside Account of Intelligence Failures from Baghdad to the Pentagon

OIL RECORDS SMASHED: $126 BARREL...

Hints of a rift at OPEC about production...

New York Times Editorial Mr. Hu’s Peaceable Visit to Tokyo It will take a lot of effort for two competitors such as China and Japan to overcome their past. All in all, President Hu Jintao’s visit to Tokyo this week was a start.

Shiite Militias Seize Beirut Neighborhoods

News Analysis: Israel Readying for a Post-Olmert Era

Obama Leads in Superdelegates for First Time Hillary Rodham Clinton’s trump card began slipping from her grasp, and her speeches took a more conciliatory tone.

The Times Leader Battle for BeirutYet again Lebanon is the cockpit for wider confrontations

Obama may stumble if House of Clinton falls Barack Obama is going to need the Clintons and their supporters on side if he harbours any hope of reaching the White House

Obama sacks adviser over talks with Hamas

Wall Street Journal Georgia in Jeopardy
Russia plays war games in the Caucasus.

The Obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian Peace
By Abdurrahman Wahid
And Abdul A'la Too many people rationalize violence and stoke anti-Semitic emotions for political purposes

From National Journal, the Bush administration's campaign to spread democracy in the Arab and Islamic world is in danger of imploding — the next administration will have to pick up the pieces

A review of The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria (and more and an excerpt).

Wheat Disease Threatens Supplies By: David R. Sands | The Washington Times A lethal variant on an ancient disease affecting wheat has spread from its base in Africa to Iran and now threatens vast fields in South Asia, the Middle East and Europe at a time of global food shortages, agricultural specialists warn

Time Playing the Iraq Oil Card

Tony Karon Israel is 60, Zionism is Dead, What Now?

H2 Brookings Sabanci Lecture Righting the Course: The Future of the U.S.-Turkish Relationship by Nicholas Burns Transcript

AK Parti'yi kapatma kararı askeri darbeden farksız olur

Turkish Military Says It Killed 20 PKK Fighters

Military: 19 Kurdish rebels killed in southeast Turkey

PKK Blasts Kill Civilian, Hurt Guards In SE Turkey

Report: Land mine kills 3 in Turkey

IMF approves 3.65 billion dollar loan to Turkey

Son Gözden Geçirme Tamam

Iran-Turkey trade projected to hit $20b by 2011

YAVUZ BAYDAR Washington'da endişe var

Güngör Uras 2008 Sakıp Sabancı Konferansı

Wilson: ABD’nin PJAK ile hiçbir ilişkisi yoktur

FT EBRD looks at expansion to TurkeyThe development institution is to start evaluating a Turkish bid for access to its funds in a move that would see it operate outside the former communist countries

BBC Turkish strikes 'kill 19 rebels' Turkey's military says its has killed at least 19 Kurdish rebels in air strike in the south-east of the country.

Sympathy for rebels in N Iraq

Coded support for PKK

Profile: The PKK

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

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

Iraqi Kurdish KDP Parliamentary Bloc Head Interviewed

Cevdet Aşkın

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

French PM says Paris is against Turkey's full EU membership

Turkey presses the EU to set a target date for full membership Hürriyet

Hedo Okur Tuncay Nihat Altintop

H3 TSK Basın Açıklaması / 29

Basın Açıklaması / 30

O sürpriz Bayık

Hakkari'de jandarma karakoluna saldırı

Kandil'de PKK'ya ağır darbe

''Türkiye'de güç halka kayıyor, herkes buna alışacak''

"Reform taslağının önce Rehn'e sunulması şaşırtıcı"

Milliyet Son Dakika

Taha Akyol Kürt meselesi nereye?

Fikret Bila ABD, Gülen’in ne yanında ne karşısında

Hasan Cemal Washington’da kapatma davasına karşı olumsuz hava sürüyor!

Semih İdiz Önemli bir döneme giriyoruz

Cengiz Çandar

Ahmet TaşgetirenKapatmacıların yarınki utancı

Ruşen - Çakır

Murat Yetkin

İsmet Berkan

Fehmi Koru Org. Büyükanıt 'Yanlış' dedi, ama...

Taha Kıvanç Bir telefon yeter

Şamil Tayyar

Ali Bayramoğlu İşin özü...

Yasemin Çongar

Ertuğrul Özkök Ortalama laik Türk

Kürşat Bumin: Ak Parti'ye 'vurma'nın zamanı değil

Ahmet Hakan

M Ali Birand GS’lıların şampiyonluk günü…

Cüneyt Ülsever

Enis Berberoğlu Gül: Barzani ile güven oluşuyor

‘Fırat’la ortaklık geçen yıl bitti uyuşturucu ihracatçının kaderi’

ABDÜLHAMİT BİLİCİ - Kapatma davasının faydası!

Bilgiler geçici olarak kullanılabilir değil.

ŞAHİN ALPAY - 'Mahalle baskısı'na ne yapmalı?

Oktay Ekşi

Özdemir İnce

Mehmet Y Yılmaz

MUHARREM SARIKAYA

ERDAL ŞAFAK Lütfen susun!

ENGİN ARDIÇ

ERGUN BABAHAN

EMRE AKÖZ Yabancı dil bilmeyen yargıç kalmamalı!

Umur Talu

The AK Party’s apology by MÜMTAZ’ER TÜRKÖNE

HASAN BÜLENT KAHRAMAN

NAZLI ILICAK Kutuplaşma nereden doğuyor?

MEHMET BARLAS ABD de AB gibi Türkiye ile sivil ilişkiler kurmalı artık

MAHMUT ÖVÜR

YAVUZ DONAT Avrupa gününü kutla(ma)dık

Ömer Lütfi Mete Aa, kâhin Rubin kapatmayı bilmiş!

MHP 301’i Anayasa Mahkemesi’ne götürmek için CHP’den yardım istedi

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIM

Ercan Kumcu

Erdal Sağlam

IMF approves 3.65 billion dollar loan to Turkey

Turkey's Akbank Q1 net profit 720 million lira

Yaman Törüner Ekonomi yönetimi ne kadar başarılı?

H4 New York Times Editorial Mr. Hu’s Peaceable Visit to Tokyo It will take a lot of effort for two competitors such as China and Japan to overcome their past. All in all, President Hu Jintao’s visit to Tokyo this week was a start.

Shiite Militias Seize Beirut Neighborhoods

News Analysis: Israel Readying for a Post-Olmert Era

Obama Leads in Superdelegates for First Time Hillary Rodham Clinton’s trump card began slipping from her grasp, and her speeches took a more conciliatory tone.

World Briefs | Middle East: Gaza: Attacks Kill an Israeli and 5 Palestinians

Political Foe of Musharraf Is Released in Pakistan

Troops Kill 25 Militants in Iraqi Slum, U.S. Says

Russia Parades Military Might

Edwards Endorses Obama, or Does He?

Gas Prices Send Surge of Riders to Mass Transit Cities with long-established public transit systems and areas with a strong driving culture are both reporting increases in ridership of buses and trains.

Iraq Contractor in Shooting Case Makes Comeback Blackwater Worldwide, the security company involved in 17 Iraqis’ deaths, still has a contract to guard diplomats.

Paris on the Anniversary of the 1968 Protests By SERGE SCHMEMANN Not surprisingly, May ’68 and Nicolas Sarkozy’s first year as president of France are being treated quite differently

BOB HERBERT Seeds of Destruction The Clintons should be ashamed of themselves for deliberately trying to wreck the presidential prospects of their party’s likely nominee.

No News Is Bad News By ROBY ALAMPAY Until free and reliable news and information becomes available in Myanmar, the Burmese will continue to suffer horrors that are literally untold.

Death Comes Ashore By AMITAV GHOSHA nation need not be wealthy or technologically advanced to be well prepared for natural disasters.

H5 Washington Post Opposition Seizes Most Of Beirut Hezbollah Supporters Criticized In Lebanon for Armed Clashes

Fighting in Beirut Threatens a Top Bush Administration Priority

Obama Now Focusing Mostly on McCain

China's Harmonious Diplomatic Symphony John Pomfret | Its propaganda machine might sound shrill, but China's foreign policy has been hitting all the right notes.

Frustration and Deceit on U.S.-Iraqi Patrol in Mosul

Editorial Needed Testimony David Addington could shed light on the Bush administration's wartime legal policies.

Man Held is Not Leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq

Olmert: Iran Never Stopped Its Military Nuclear Program –

The Myth of Occupied Gaza

By David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey To concede that Israel 'occupies' Gaza is to buy into Hamas propaganda.

Soviet-Style Display of Might Fills Red Square At WWII Victory Day Parade, Medvedev Uses Putin Ploy To Imply Criticism of U.S.

On Visit to Japan, China's Hu Has No Time for Old Grudges

Army's Chief Liaison to Pakistan Is Pulled From Assignment

Fight On, Hillary By Ellen R. Malcolm, She has a responsibility to play this game to the end, and I'll cheer her on till the game is over

Black Community Is Increasingly Protective of Obama

Editorial Burma's Blockade

The ruling junta denies lifesaving aid to its own people

H6 GuardianHizbullah success leaves uncertainty Lebanon's government is reeling after Hizbullah guerrillas seize control of Muslim west Beirut

Hizbullah's web Leader: Gun battles between Hizbullah and militias of the US-backed government break 17-month stalemate

Malloch-Brown's vision for Africa

Former United Nations man turned minister on the continent's future - and being policed by the media

A perfect storm Leader: There are few issues in the world economy more worrying than the rocketing price of food

Inflated Claims By: Joseph Stiglitz |
Simplistic and crude: it's time central bankers recognised inflation targeting for the misguided fashion it really is.

Israeli PM Olmert urged to quit

Scandal threatens talks with Hamas as colleagues' unease grows about fifth inquiry since 2006

Battle for Baghdad James Denselow No matter who wins the latest conflict in Baghdad, women and children living in Sadr city are likely to be the losers

Court appeals Ian Williams

If the next US president really wants to apologise to the world for Abu Ghraib, Guantanamo and the rest, he should rejoin the ICC

Unintended consequences

Ian Bancroft EU pronouncements on Serbia's future have gone down badly there; on Sunday, voters are likely to hand power to an anti-European coalition

Legitimising terror Seyed Mohammad Marandi

The People's Mujahedin Organisation of Iran is set to be taken off the UK terrorism blacklist. It's a mistake - this is a violent, criminal group

UN: Burma junta is seizing international storm aid

1.9m at risk of disease and hunger as officials talk of frustration caused by 'astonishing' delays

Superdelegates opting for Obama

While Hillary Clinton fights on, the tide appears to be inexorably turning in favour of the frontrunner

Slowly but surely, the secretive superdelegates opt for Obama

While Hillary Clinton fights on, the tide appears to be inexorably turning in favour of the frontrunner

Extremists ahead as Serbs go to the polls Radicals in Balkan nation are likely to form coalition with anti-EU prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica

Kosovo builds towards sustainable peace

Q&A: Serbian elections

The EU is about to land in Kosovo

H7 From National Journal, the Bush administration's campaign to spread democracy in the Arab and Islamic world is in danger of imploding — the next administration will have to pick up the pieces

A review of The Post-American World by Fareed Zakaria (and more and an excerpt).

Wheat Disease Threatens Supplies By: David R. Sands | The Washington Times A lethal variant on an ancient disease affecting wheat has spread from its base in Africa to Iran and now threatens vast fields in South Asia, the Middle East and Europe at a time of global food shortages, agricultural specialists warn

Time Playing the Iraq Oil Card

Saudi Arabia: Signs of a New Political Era | Stratfor

Egypt, Jordan: Fears of an Israeli-Syrian Détente | Stratfor

How to Lose a War By: Steve Chapman | Reason When it comes to the war in Iraq and other foreign policy issues, Republicans like to harken back to the stalwart presidents of the Cold War. Which raises the question: Why do they embrace those leaders while rejecting their policy

Sudan: Between Reform and Conflict ARI 38-page paper on the political situation in Sudan

Kuwait: Carnegie profiles Kuwait’s upcoming parliamentary elections (PDF).

Ramesh Thakur of the University of Waterloo says that the new U.S. administration will have to pay early attention to repairing and revitalising the relationship with the UN that has been strained and frayed.

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

In concession, militia agrees to let Iraqi troops into Sadr City

Shiite Gunmen Seize Control of Beirut Neighborhoods

US Military Denies Iraq Report of al-Qaida Arrest

Iraq Quietly Confronts Iran With Evidence of Trafficking

Ending Iran’s Influence Inside Iraq - Herschel Smith, The Captain's Journal

Iran and AQI - Dr. iRack, Abu Muqawama

Syria's Intelligence Operates Through Hizbullah Lebanon Communications (Naharnet-Lebanon)

Cabinet condemns Hezbollah 'coup' Lebanon's government says the seizure of most of western Beirut by Shia group Hezbollah is "a bloody coup".

High stakes

Global rifts are fuelling the Lebanese conflict

H9 Ha’aretz – Lebanese army moves into W. Beirut after Hezbollah takeover

British PM: Israel`s creation one of 20th century`s `greatest achievements`

ANALYSIS / Olmert probe shows the media really is the message

Jews bend over backward to stay neutral in U.S. vote

Jerome Segal: Through tough love, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict can be ended

Jerusalem PostKey Obama Middle East adviser resigns

Rob Malley calls it quits following persistent reports of his meetings with Hamas officials.

Assad: 'We won't cut Iran or Hizbullah ties'

U.S. Pushing Hard for Border Agreement -

Yedioth Ahronoth Poll: US Jews prefer Clinton

Gallup survey predicts Democratic senator will get 66% of Jewish vote in race against McCain

Ron Ben-Yishai continues his analysis of what lays ahead for Israel in the next decade

Forecast for next decade/ Ben-Yishai

Part 2: Ron Ben-Yishai says Palestinians won’t have a state, but Iran will possess nukes

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

Israel at 60 By: Daniel Levy | The American Prospect
To understand the co-existence of modern, cosmopolitan Israel with the Israel of permanent violent occupation, it's important to understand that Israel has locked itself into a box of fear.

Israel in Transition By: Dominic Moran | ISN Security Watch
Jewish-Israelis celebrated their country's anniversary Thursday in an atmosphere tainted by a building political crisis that both reflects and symbolizes wider societal shifts in recent years and the gradual slipping away of established understandings

1948, Israel, and the Palestinians - The True Story - Efraim Karsh (Commentary)

Hamas Holding Gaza Population Hostage

Washington Times Condi, George Marshall and Israel – Editorial

Newsweek From Dove to Hawk - Benny Morris

Israel Should Be the Plaintiff, Not the Defendant, in the Court of Public Opinion - Barbara Kay

A Reality Check as Israel Turns 60 - Fouad Ajami

The paper describes Israel’s 60^th anniversary, in an editorial, as an awkward, perhaps irreconcilable, commemoration of opposites

Exploring Zionism

Panellists exchange passionate views as Israel turns 60

H10 Christian Science Monitor

Nationalistic debate as Serbia heads to polls

On Sunday, Serbs will weigh in on whether to pursue a pro-European Union path or a more nationalistic, anti-Western route.

Serbia's 'Obama' woos voters

Uncertainty deepens in Lebanon as Hezbollah seizes control of west Beirut The success of the Shiite group's offensive casts doubt over government's ability to survive.

China and Japan lay groundwork for better ties

Ping pong and pandas buoyed the five-day visit to Tokyo, but tougher issues, such as disputes over energy exploration, went unresolved.

ASIA

Superpower Play
By Luke Coppen
China’s Olympic quest isn’t just for gold medals but for global prestige

SSI Baloch Nationalism and the Geopolitics of Energy Resources: The Changing Context of Separatism in Pakistan, by Dr. Robert Wirsing. This monograph examines the Baloch separatist insurgency that has resurfaced in recent years. In particular, the author looks at how Pakistan's mounting energy insecurity has magnified the economic and strategic importance of Balochistan, while at the same time complicating Pakistan's efforts to cope with the province's resurgent tribal separatism.

A new Freedom House blog entry looks at the relationship between Chinese nationalism and internal governance.

India: A new forecast from Lehman Brothers says India’s economy may overheat in 2009 (Economic Times).

How to Succeed in Burma with a Practical Approach By: Brahma Chellaney | The Japan Times
Widening sanctions make it less likely that the seeds of democracy will take root in a stunted economy. External pressure without constructive engagement and civil-society development in a critically weak country, where the military is now the only functioning institution, is counterproductive

Time Is it Time to Invade Burma?

H11 IHT Nuclear Middle East: Tempting Targets By: Bennett Ramberg | International Herald Tribune Israel's Dimona nuclear plant, one of the world's oldest, has generated all the nuclear material military planners plausibly could use. Closure would set a nonproliferation standard for the Middle East - no more dedicated nuclear weapons reactors, a goal that would enhance Jerusalem's security

Europe reluctant to set up a security doctrine The European Union is not ready for a serious discussion about why the bloc needs a security doctrine because it would mean dealing with the issue of power.

EUROPE European press review

Serbia's Divided Society By: New Statesman | Eric Gordy
Ahead of elections in Serbia on Sunday, the country going to the polls is split between those looking hopefully toward a European future and those looking vengefully back to the recent past

Saving Candidate Sarkozy: A Year of Disappointment and Broken Promises By: Judah Grunstein | World Politics Review
One year after his election as president of France, Nicolas Sarkozy strikes a lonely figure on the French political scene. Having referred to himself as the "buying power president" to emphasize his goal of increasing disposable income, he has instead become the object of a nationwide case of buyer's remorse

Kostunica May Be Serbia Kingmaker as Pro-West Tadic Group Slips By: Aleksandra Nenadovic | Bloomberg News Serbia's caretaker prime minister, Vojislav Kostunica, may be kingmaker after a May 11 general election in which pro-western forces are battling politicians who favor closer ties to Russia

Poland and Lithuania to Coordinate Positions on Russia By: Elitsa Vucheva | EU Observer The prime ministers of Poland and Lithuania have agreed to coordinate how to proceed with talks on a long-delayed EU-Russia partnership deal, according to a statement by the Lithuanian government

Ethnic politics

Serbia's poll stokes Kosovo's Albanian-Serb divide

H12 RFE/RL

Google News Azerbaijan

With Russia flexing its military muscle, are the chances of an accidental nuclear war back again on the increase?... more»

Remember Andijan? By: Galima Bukharbaeva | International Herald Tribune
It took the West just three short years to drop its concern for the victims of the Andijan massacre in Uzbekistan and once again to start cozying up to the regime that murdered them. As an eyewitness to those events, I do not have the luxury of being able to forget.

H13 The Times Battle for Beirut

Yet again Lebanon is the cockpit for wider confrontations

Hezbollah storms to success in west Beirut Lebanese security sources said that at least 11 people had been killed and 30 others wounded in three days of bloodshed

Obama may stumble if House of Clinton falls Barack Obama is going to need the Clintons and their supporters on side if he harbours any hope of reaching the White House

Obama sacks adviser over talks with Hamas

No masks, no daggers, no surprises Unlike works of opera or fiction, Gordon Brown's departure from No 10 will be a slow slide

Matthew Parris

Medvedev flexes muscles with V-Day display Over 100 vehicles, including troop carriers, tanks and Topol-M nuclear missile launchers, paraded through Red Square

Tony's secret 'crisis of confidence' over Iraq...

Israel marks a birthday of bitterness Beyond the pomp and circumstance, Ehud Olmert fights for political survival and peace with Palestinians remains elusive

Japanese military to breach final frontier After 40 years of unwavering official pacifism Japan is poised to overturn its ban on the militarisation of space

Gordon Brown hounded former PM out of office...

Wall Street Journal Georgia in Jeopardy
Russia plays war games in the Caucasus.

The Obstacles to Israeli-Palestinian Peace
By Abdurrahman Wahid
And Abdul A'la
Too many people rationalize violence and stoke anti-Semitic emotions for political purposes

Our Enemies and the Election
By Gabriel Schoenfeld
We should prepare for an October 'surprise.'

Obama Promises Germany-Plus
By Gabor Steingart
But are we willing to pay the price?

Tight Money Won't Slay Food, Energy Inflation By: Michael R. Sesit | Bloomberg
Inflation is like the boor who goes to the hottest restaurant in town without a reservation, barges past the maitre d' and then grabs a seat, refusing to leave. The restaurant can accommodate the unwelcome customer, hope he'll eventually depart of his own volition or try to throw him out

How Did We Get Into this Mortgage Mess, and How Do We Get Out?

H14 Financial Times Hizbollah seizes Muslim west Beirut

It took Lebanon’s Hizbollah group just a few hours to seize control of Muslim west Beirut and bring the country’s western-backed government to its knees

Living in a world of $200 oil

Another doubling in oil prices is about conceivable. It would cause serious economic disruption, global tension and currency crises for some poor nations

Beirut on fireLebanon’s history is all about postponing problems – which is one reason it risks any future it may have as a nation

Scotland the brave? After 300 years of marriage, the relationship between England and Scotland has had a turbulent week, with talk of divorce again in the air

Bribery: the net tightens but holes remain Campaigners hope they can capitalise on pressure for greater transparency, writes Michael Peel

Disasters and dictatorships hristopher Caldwell on the disaster in Burma

Tanks return to Red Square for Victory DayRussia’s new president Dmitry Medvedev issued a pointed warning against countries interfering in other states’ affairs as he watched tanks and missiles roll across Moscow’s Red Square in the annual Victory Day celebration for the first time since the Soviet era

Poll unlikely to alter Serbia’s anti-EU driftThe snap elections – called after the government’s collapse over EU relations and Kosovo – look unlikely to reverse Serbia’s recent drift away from the EU’s integration agenda

Pressure to quit builds on Israeli PM

Ehud Olmert has admitted receiving funds from a US-Jewish businessman while serving as mayor of Jerusalem and minister for trade, but said the money was for his campaigns

Oil and corn hit record high

Demand for fuel drives prices up

Man under siegeLiving under the constraints of Albania’s repressive regime spurred the creative spirit of Booker Prize winner Ismail Kadare

Obama takes lead among super-delegates Barack Obama for the first time overtook Hillary Clinton’s support among the unelected “super-delegates” who will ultimately settle the Democratic nomination

Well of donors dries up for Clinton

Hillary Clinton’s campaign debts are estimated at between $20m and $30m. The financial story of Mrs Clinton’s bid offers a glimpse of her campaign’s broader failures

Lunch with the FT: Sebastian FaulksThrough all of the author’s novels, his characters are thinkers, not killers; it’s the inner life that fascinates him. Is he really the right man to pen a thriller about the hard-living secret agent 007?

US trade deficit narrowed in March

The US trade deficit narrowed by 5.7 per cent to $58.2bn in March, as weak demand for imported goods due to the economic downturn offset a shrinking of US export volume that was ascribed to a fall in aircraft shipments

H15 Los Angeles Times

Editorial

War's Shopping Cart By: Nick Turse | Los Angeles Times
The fact is that corporations such as PepsiCo, IBM, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson are, indeed, typical defense contractors. To suggest that such firms, and tens of thousands like them, only receive defense-related contracts at the odd, aberrant moment is specious at best

H16 American Politics

Obama picks up 9 superdelegates, union endorsement

Obama Leads in Superdelegates for First Time

Gallup Daily: Obama Not Yet Pulling Away

Barack Obama sacks adviser over talks with Hamas

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

A review of US Versus Them: How a Half-Century of Conservatism Has Undermined America's Security by J. Peter Scoblic.

Rahm Emanuel: Obama Is Our Presumptive Nominee —

Obama Takes Lead in Superdelegate Tally

H17 Daily Telegraph

H18 Independent Hizbollah rules west Beirut in Iran's proxy war with US Another American humiliation. The Shia gunmen who drove past my apartment in west Beirut yesterday afternoon were hooting their horns, making V-signs, leaning out of the windows of SUVs with their rifles in the air, proving to the Muslims of the capital that the elected government of Lebanon has lost.

As Clinton campaign flounders, hopes of 'dream ticket' resurface

Could the long and bitter battle for the Democratic nomination end with Barack Obama and the all-but-vanquished Hillary Clinton united?

Howard Jacobson: If there really is a smear campaign to try to silence the critics of Israel, it isn't working

H19 Military Intelligence Terrorism

Still Broken: A Recruit`s Inside Account of Intelligence Failures from Baghdad to the Pentagon

Violent Islamist Extremism, the Internet, and the Homegrown Terrorist Threat (PDF; 1.7 MB)
Source: U.S. Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Illicit drug trends reports
Source: UN Office for Drugs and Crime (via UN Pulse)

An excerpt from The Cost of Counterterrorism: Power, Politics, and Liberty by Laura K. Donohue.

War's Shopping Cart By: Nick Turse | Los Angeles Times
The fact is that corporations such as PepsiCo, IBM, Microsoft and Johnson & Johnson are, indeed, typical defense contractors. To suggest that such firms, and tens of thousands like them, only receive defense-related contracts at the odd, aberrant moment is specious at best

Why are the presidential candidates—and so many counterterrorism experts—afraid to say that the Al Qaeda threat is overrated?

Suicide Prevention Among Veterans
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists),

FBI, ATF Battle for Control of Cases

H20 Slate

Social Indicators (PDF; 878 KB)
Source: House of Commons Library This Research Paper summarises a wide range of social statistics. Subjects covered include crime and justice, defence, education, elections, health and population.

A gendered assessment of the brain drain
Source: World Bank Policy Research Working Papers

H21

From Psychology Today, encounters with the opposite sex skew our psyches in such a special way that reason and bias climb right into bed with each other — in this mode, it sometimes pays to deceive ourselves: Welcome to the paradoxical world of mating intelligence.

Does your brain have a mind of its own, or why can't we stick to our goals? Blame the sloppy engineering of evolution.

introduction to Political Hypocrisy: The Mask of Power, from Hobbes to Orwell and Beyond by David Runciman.

You can argue with some credibility that John Stuart Mill was the greatest public intellectual in the history of Britain, maybe even the world... more»

From TLS, Edward Said still dominates debate: Robert Irwin reviews Daniel Martin Varisco's Reading Orientalism: Said and the unsaid and Ibn Warraq's Defending the West: A critique of Edward Said’s Orientalism; and

Seven Pillars of Wisdom was hailed on its first appearance as a historical and literary masterpiece. But this memoir of the Arab revolt, and T E Lawrence's other writings, also offer prescient warnings about western policy in the Middle East.

Marriage, passion, and the individual: An excerpt from Elizabeth Fox-Genovese's Marriage: The Dream That Refuses To Die (and more).

are not your bookcase: Online profiles and painfully constructed "faves lists" have turned us into a bunch of unwitting snobs.

PAPER: HOW TECHNOLOGY IS CHANGING WAY OUR BRAIN WORKS...

Is the criminal-justice system racist? No, argues Heather Mac Donald, the high percentage of blacks behind bars reflects crime rates, not bigotry... more»

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