051208f - 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 Daily Telegraph Lebanon facing threat of civil war

Fighting in Lebanon has spread from the capital Beirut across the country as the Shi'ite radical group Hizbollah sought to seize power by force.

Christian Science Monitor

Hasty truce with Moqtada al-Sadr tests his sway in Baghdad stronghold A cease-fire deal between Mr. Sadr's representatives in the Iraqi government and members of the leading Shiite bloc aims to end weeks of fierce battles in Sadr City.

Lebanese Army steps into Beirut fray Opposition Hezbollah fighters continue civil disobedience against pro-Western government.

Independent 'Ghost city' Mosul braces for assault on last bastion of al-Qa'ida in Iraq Mosul looks like a city of the dead. American and Iraqi troops have launched an attack aimed at crushing the last bastion of al- Qa'ida in Iraq and in doing so have turned the country's northern capital into a ghost town.

Leading article: A fateful vote that may dash hopes of peace in the Balkans

IHT Tilt to West is seen in elections in Serbia The parliamentary elections were viewed as a referendum on if Serbia would turn toward the West or revert to the nationalism and isolation of the Slobodan Milosevic years.

Guardian Israel's celebration remains a Palestinian catastrophe

Ahmad Samih Khalidi: Neither side will ever agree on the narrative of the conflict, and the prospects for peace in the Middle East are slim

Hizbullah seizes key Lebanon areas Iranian-backed militants clash with pro-government Sunni fighters in Tripoli during armed takeover

The Muslim middle class Jason Burke They're well-educated professionals with a modern outlook. They're also pious and socially conservative

Washington Post Spread of Nuclear Capability Is Feared

At least 40 developing countries have recently approached U.N. officials to signal interest in starting nuclear power programs, a trend some say could presage arms race. Syria Exemplifies Challenge

Our Priority Is Statehood The Palestinian right of return is not what's holding up a peace agreement. By Daoud Kuttab

NYT President Apostate? By EDWARD N. LUTTWAK

Of all the well-meaning desires projected on Barack Obama, the hope that he would decisively improve relations with the world’s Muslims is the least realistic

WILLIAM KRISTOL The Jewish State at 60 In 2008, the defense of the state of Israel, and everything it stands for, requires a kind of courage very much out of accord with the perpetual click-clack of our politics.

PAUL KRUGMAN The Oil Nonbubble Are speculators mainly responsible for high oil prices? And if they aren’t, why have so many commentators insisted, year after year, that there’s an oil bubble?

Dani Rodrik video lecture: Why are some countries so poor?

The Iraq War: Key Trends and Developments - Anthony Cordesman, CSIS

Iraq: Will We Ever Get Out? - Thomas Powers, NY Review of Books

How to Deal w/the Clerics in Tehran - Reuel Marc Gerecht, Weekly Standard.

Newsweek How to Feed the World Below, eight leaders in the fight against hunger offer up food crisis action plans, and long term ideas for how to end famine and bolster farming.

Maureen Dowd / New York Times: Is She a Trojan Rabbit?

Sunday Times Hillary’s suicidal gamble with race poison

Clinton's decision to stop chasing the black vote has become her undoing as shown in last Tuesday’s North Carolin

a primary Andrew Sullivan

Strong quake shakes central China

Washington Post New Allies In Asia? By Jim Hoagland TOKYO -- China and Japan have been reliable enemies for a thousand years. Their leaders have always been able to count on each other to stir nationalist anger and distract their followers from other problems by trading insults, threats or at times blows.

Purchases Linked N. Korean to Syria Pyongyang Company Funneled Reactor Parts to Damascus, Intelligence Officials Say

New York Times The Dollar: Shrinkable but (So Far) Unsinkable By PETER S. GOODMAN What are the chances that a day of reckoning is coming, when the dollar would be so weak that America would have to play by the rules that apply to every other country?

White House Memo: As Bush Term Wanes, Mideast Peace Appears as Elusive as Ever

Oil Prices Are Up and Politicians Are Angry. Yawn. What can Washington do to reduce gas prices in the near term? The short answer, alas, is not much.

Already, Obama and McCain Map Fall Strategies Even before the Democratic nomination fight ends, the candidates are focusing on independent voters, Latinos and about a dozen states.

Dowd Is She a Trojan Rabbit? If Hillary Clinton were to become Barack Obama’s vice president, would she take the back seat or would she just always be plotting, draining him of his magical powers?

Lessons Learned The Upside of Being Knocked Around Maybe hard-hitting Hillary Rodham Clinton has been the best thing that could have happened to Barack Obama — a teaching adversary who made him stronger

Sadrists and Iraqi Government Reach Truce Deal

Israel at 60: Will It Hit Iran Before Bush Leaves? | Newsweek ...

Hillary and the Gender Wars | Newsweek International Edition ... Americans still think of their leaders in male terms, but studies recommend a much more feminine style. By Joseph Nye

Forget Naysayers - America Still Inspiration to All - W. Hutton, Observer

Psychology of Intelligence Analysis (1999) Source: Central Intelligence Agency (History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence) Full-text book now available online. Browse by chapter or download full document (PDF; 2 MB). (repeat)

Rand Breaking the Failed-State Cycle

CEPS A Different Country: Russias Economic Resurgence

Time to think of a strategic bargain with Russia

CEPS Is European democracy promotion on the wane?

The Hunt for Mr. Europe | Newsweek International . The EU is choosing its new president. But will he be pencil-sharpener in chief, or a new global player?

The Observer After the boomers, meet the children dubbed 'baby losers' Across Spain, France and Italy, young middle-class professionals with good degrees and diplomas are facing a lifetime on low salaries with unrewarding jobs, forever poorer than their parents. Investigation by Graham Keeley in Barcelona, Jason Burke in Paris and Tom Kington in Rome

Los Angeles Times

An unhappy birthday By Benny Morris As it turns 60, Israel's hopes for peace are near death.

Forget two states By Saree Makdisi Such a solution is unviable. Israel must share land and power

Putin's Imperial Russia - Garry Kasparov, Los Angeles Times

Civilization's last chance

By Bill McKibben The planet has passed a tipping point on climate change, and it gets much worse, fast.

Ha’aretz – Bypassing the factionsEven though Lebanon's government uses harsh rhetoric against Hezbollah, terming its actions a coup and even ordering the army to take steps to impose order, there is no choice but to acknowledge that this government does not in fact control Lebanon

Eldar Bush should stay home Unless he has a rabbit in his hat, this will be the third time in the past half year that the U.S. president shows the Palestinians and the entire Arab world that they are wasting their time by trying to end the occupation by peaceful means

Sunday Telegraph Brown: I will never let the Union split Gordon Brown has vowed to do "whatever is necessary" to preserve the United Kingdom in the wake of a bruising battle over a referendum on Scottish independence.

Beijing and Riyadh will call the shots on ailing dollar's future...

Independent on Sunday Robert Fisk: Lebanon does not want another war. Does it?

“How Hizbullah Blundered and Why Things Will Get Worse,” by Rex Brynen

Helena Cobban Prospects for Lebanon

Jerusalem Post The Region: As Lebanon turns into Gaza By BARRY RUBIN Iran and Syria back their friends with weapons and help. The West responds with words backed by nothing.

CSM As Pakistan changes, should U.S. policy? The US is increasingly out of sync with Pakistan's newly-elected government, say analysts

Why the presidential candidates won't talk about Israel Analysts say politicians hold their tongues on giving additional US aid to Israel for fear of being labeled as anti-Semitic.

Oil Shock 2? With prices at $120 a barrel, Americans are facing an oil adjustment.

The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11 (Updated 11 April 2008) (PDF; 316 KB) Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)

U.S. Forces in Iraq (PDF; 69 KB) Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)

Tehran, Damascus ascendant

THE WASHINGTON TIMES EDITORIAL Make no mistake about it, the quick, brutal display of raw military power by Hezbollah in the past six days is a window into the grim future of Lebanon and the broader Middle East: a future in which Iran and Syria are ascendant and have lost much of their fear of the United States and Israel.

Hezbollah 'redrawing' Mideast map Hezbollah's dramatic gains in Lebanon last week are just part of a regional process that began last year in the Gaza Strip and will continue in Jordan and Egypt, a Hamas official in the West Bank told The Washington Times

Financial Times Comment: Know, rather than imagine, your enemy The Bush administration has appeared nonplussed as Iran emerged as the main beneficiary of the US’s regional policies, writes Lawrence Freedman

Civil war fear as Lebanon clashes escalate Fierce clashes involving rockets and heavy machine guns erupted in Lebanon between pro-government forces and opposition gunmen in mountains east of Beirut as Arab foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in a bid to find a solution to worsening crisis.

Shell and Repsol drop Iran gas project Pair’s withdrawal from the $10bn-plus development deals heavy blow a blow to Tehran’s attempts to expand its energy exports in the face of US and international sanctions

Iran and Syria accused over Beirut chaos A senior US official has claimed that both states have a hand in the disturbances in the Lebanese capital, the scenes of confusion worrying the Bush administration

In hope of a principled campaign

An Obama-McCain contest in November then presents a novel prospect – an election in which the candidates devote more effort to challenging each other’s ideas than to questioning each other’s character and good faith, writes Clive Crook

Wolfgang Münchau: The global euro Institutions matter. They create their own agendas. Nobody knows this better than the Commission itself, writes Wolfgang Münchau

A spring thaw in chilly east Asia

Do not underestimate the Japan-China rapprochement. It will be hard for either country to return to the fruitless hostility of the Koizumi era

Pro-EU alliance wins Serbia election The pro-European Union alliance led by Boris Tadic, Serbia’s president, won the advantage over hardline nationalists in snap elections as voters demanded EU integration despite the loss of Kosovo

Garzón cracks down on Basque separatists Baltazar Garzón, Spain's top anti-terrorist judge, has ordered a clampdown on the activities of Basque separatists - jailing the mayoress of a big industrial town...

Germany faces shortage of engineers

Germany, a land renowned above all for its high standards of engineering, is facing an acute shortage of skilled engineers. Franz Fehrenbach, chief executive of Bosch,...

Germany urges higher EU food import standards Germany believes China, India and the US should be forced to adopt higher environmental and health standards if they want to export food products to the European Union, says Horst Seehofer, Germany’s farm minister

The Times King Oil will turf out Gordon Brown Market rules: it doesn't matter who is leader, the Government is finished at $200 a barrel William Rees-Mogg

Lebanese Army caught in crossfire Hezbollah militia embark on fresh fighting after brief weekend lull while Druze rivals face bitter Chouf mountain stand-off

Pro-EU may win Serbia’s election

Results seen as a referendum on whether the Balkan country’s future lay towards the West or back with old ally Russia

The Rise in the Price of Oil-Becker

H2 FT Doubts as Turkish IMF deal expires The end of a $10bn loan agreement removes an anchor for Ankara’s economic and structural reform programme just as the economy appears to be heading into difficulties

Editorial Banking on Turkey The EBRD continues to play a useful role, especially in the poorer countries of the former Soviet Union. If it can also assist Turkey, then it should

Gen. Petraeus tells Turkish generals ‘not to bomb Kandil Mountains’

Ali H Aslan Diyet ve cizye

Ömer Taşpınar Talking Turkey in Washington

Philip Robins [MONDAY TALK] ‘Turkish foreign policy hostage to domestic political problems’

Iraqi Kurdistan Region PM Comments on PKK Issue, Ties With Turkey, Israel, Iran

Türkiye Golan'a umut oldu

Kandil'e mesaj: Taviz beklemeyin Pişmanlık Yasası'ndan yararlanın

Atina silahlanma atağına geçiyor

Yavuz Baydar Obama vs. McCain and prospects of US-Turkish relations

'Turkish army the least reformed in NATO'

Turkey hits Kurdish rebel bases in Iraq

US pilots in İncirlik base for training

CIA, Erbakan’ın önündeki sıfatı niye sildi

'Laik medyadan rahatsız'

Analysts predict complexities in Turkey's mediation on Golan

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

[NEWS ANALYSIS] Pro-Kurdish DTP's strategy: Hang on until local elections

1.5 yılda 1500 PKK’lı etkisiz

Öcalan’ın hücre cezası 30 güne çıktı

PKK’da çöküş dönemi

'Oğullarınızı askere göndermeyin' çağrısı

Cevdet Aşkın PKK'yı tasfiye süreci kısır döngüye girdi

Ferai Tınç PKK operasyonu ve yeniden yapılanma süreci

Barzani: Savaşta taraf olmayız

PKK�da ayrışma başladı

Cemil Bayık, İran'ın da kıskacında

Güngör Mengi

Ahmet Türk'ten Barzani'ye sitem

O benim son beşiğimdi

Mesud Barzani şeker gibi oldu!

Şehit ailesi tören istemedi

Cemil Bayık Ermenistan'da 'Bahoz' Suriye'de iddiası

Erdoğan: Gelin bu yanlış yoldan dönün

İran'la PKK arasında yoğun çatışma

İspanya’da Kürd Konferansı

Bilgiler geçici olarak kullanılabilir değil.

PKK, PJAK ile yeniden mi doğuyor?

PKK'nın Kandil'deki medya merkezi vuruldu

WesternZagros commences drilling in Kurdistan

[HABER ANALİZ] Beyrut çığlıkları

Allah'ın partisi

Lübnan'da etkin bir siyasi ve askeri güç olan Hizbullah'ın 26 yıllık öyküsü

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

Selçuk Gültaşlı Barroso, Rehn, Lagendijk Avrupa dersi için sıraya!

Kadri Gürsel İki tane ‘Bon pour l’Orient’ Avrupalı

Turkey's tension is between extreme secularists and Muslim democrats Olli REHN

Şahin Alpay Is there hope in Cyprus?

Müzakereler haziranda başlıyor

Ömer Lütfi Mete Kemik-üstü yerine, kimlik-üstü ENOSİS

Cypriot leaders realize challenges ahead despite positive atmosphere

İhsan Dağı Why do they hate the West?

Eser Karakaş Avrupa köprüsü ve ulusalcılık

Ardan Zentürk Avrupa’nın ‘gerçek’ sesleri...

Baykal AB'ye: AKP'den çok AKP'ciler

Kimse caymazsa adada müzakere haziranda

İnsanlar ölüyor biz egemenlik tartışıyoruz

'AB, Türkiye yatırımlarını AKP'ye yaptı'

Yoldaş, Kıbrıs'ı ya çözeceğiz ya böleceğiz

Fransa Başbakanı: Türkiye’nin AB üyeliğine karşıyız

İhsan Yılmaz Can EU leaders be silenced?

Derya Sazak Hristofyas ziyareti

The Kemalist crusade against 'imperialism' (aka the EU)
Mustafa AKYOL

STELYO BERBERAKİS
Basının site öfkesi

2008 içinde çözüm zor

Lagendijk’e Meclis tepkisi gündemde

French PM against Turkey's EU bid

Şahin: Yargı reformunun amacı, AB'ye uyum sağlamak

'Annan Planı kabul edilseydi asker azalırdı'

Land, property to be roughest issues in Cyprus talks

Lessons from the motherlands Cyprus Mail

Hedo Okur Tuncay Nihat Altintop

ENGİN ARDIÇ Atatürk annesini sever miydi

msn'de duruşma

Askerin yeni bankası

Scorching heat, water shortage loom

Türkiye'nin yüzde 15'i açlık sınırının altında

Kuraklık vurdu, fiyatlar arttı, çiftçi acil önlem istiyor

Polisten 'FBI akademisi'

TESEV book shows need for new attitude from police, gendarmerie

Rektör, Şehitliği ziyarete gelen aileleri gece yarısı pansiyondan kovdu

Sürpriz görüşme!..

Başbakan Erdoğan, "Mavi Hat" soruşturması dahilinde hakkında çeşitli suçlamalar bulunan Fenerbahçeli ünlü müteahhit Nihat Özdemir ile görüştü

Ece Temelkuran Mayıs 1968: Aslı var mı?

Kuraklık vurdu, fiyatlar arttı, çiftçi acil önlem istiyor

�Ekşi� AİHM yolunda

Zübeyde Hanım’ı anmaya AKP’den gelen olmadı

NYT Istanbul's Beat Is International The modern beats pulsing through this cosmopolitan city are as diverse as its cultural history.

Turkey still grapples with domestic violence; cultural practices ...

Turkey's Terim names 26-man squad for Euro 2008

Serdar Turgut To the Finland Station

Serdar Turgut
Bu yazının fikir babası Ertuğrul Özkök

Allah’a değil kutsala yemin

'Türkiye'nin enerji atlasını çıkardık'

Soner Yalçın Baş davası ahlak olan bir Müslüman sosyalist NURETTİN TOPÇU

ECEVİT KILIÇ Bırakın gelinlikli İtalyan'ı zihinsel engelli gidemezdi

'Ahmet Hakanlaşmayın kardeşim'

Yamanlar College students awarded silver medals at I-SWEEEP

Kimse Yok Mu? volunteers reach Myanmar

Süpermarketlerin sayısı 10 yılda 4 kat arttı

Turkey and Italy offer tribute to La Diva Turca

Gerçek ’diva’ artık yok

Güngör Uras Sabancı Üniversitesi’nden 217 öğrenci ABD’de burslu okuyor

Turks with African ancestors want their existence to be felt

'Hagi'yi Galatasaray'ın başına kim getiriyor?'

Dershaneleri kaldıramazsınız!

Deliller tam toplanmayınca cinsel suçlar cezasız kalıyor

Hotel Of The Week: W Istanbul, Istanbul

Turkey dinner

Istanbul's food culture goes far beyond the kebab, as you'll discover on Journey Anatolia's three day "Eat Istanbul" tour

Üniversite kontenjanı artacak

Danimarkalı turiste tecavüz

11 Mayıs 2008 Basın Özeti

12 Mayıs 2008 Basın Özeti

H3 'Silah bırakılmadıkça asker sessiz kalamaz'

Ergenekoncular, komutanlıkları birleştiren geçide saldırı planlamış

Başbakan için bağımsız koltuk

Gülen cemaati devlete karşı değil Zaman yazarı Ali Bulaç, Fethullah Gülen'i anlattığı yeni kitabıyla ilgili konuştu

Taraf'ın 'Sabancı suikasti' haberine MİT'ten yalanlama

‘Suikast raporu’na MİT’ten jet yalanlama

CHP'de sola vurgu artacak

Kapatma davası açılmasaydı AB gündemine laikliği alıyordu

Demokraside balans ayarı seçimle olur

Bakalım kırılan kol yen içinde kalmaya devam edecek mi? AB ile yürütülen müzakerelere göre polis ve jandarmanın hak ihlalleri konusunda kurum dışından denetlenmesi gerekiyor. Ancak her iki kurum da buna karşı çıkıyor. Top hükümette.

Palavra bombası

Komuta kademesinde nefesler tutuldu

Bakan Akdağ'dan türbanlılara uyarı

Aktütün planı 16 yıl önceki gibi

'Başbakan’ı sıkıştırmak için davet vermedim ki'

AKP’nin demokratikleşmekten başka çıkışı yok

Can Paker: Laiklik demokrasiden önce gelir demek, Saddam rejimi iyi demektir

AKP dışında demokrasi isteyen yok

AKP’de damat olmak varmış!

Danıştay’dan ilgililere ders

AKP’nin kurduğu tuzak kendini vurdu

[CAFE CAPITAL] Early election excitement brewing in Parliament corridors

Danıştay'dan tepki

Varoşlara dönük açılım yapılıyor

Meclis'te bu hafta neler olacak?

Genel seçim ne zaman?

Yaş kararları yargı denetimine açılmalı

Şahin defends sharing judicial reform draft with EU

Ergenekon bombalı suikast için ek ifade

’Bombaları almaya ambulansla gittim’

Abdüllatif Şener'den önemli açıklamalar..

‘Ekonomide bozulma davadan önce başladı’

'Yekta Güngör Özden, CIA ajanı' mı?

Günün gazete manşetleri için tıklayın

Milliyet Son Dakika

Enis BerberoğluKandil söndü silahsız geçildi

Cengiz Çandar

Ahmet Taşgetiren

Ruşen - Çakır Yoğun bir çatışma döneminin eşiğinde

Taha Akyol ‘Ortalama Türk’ün partisi?

Fikret Bila ABD’nin aldığı pozisyon

Hasan Cemal Siyasette ancak ‘değişim’le, ‘yeni’yle başarı yakalanıyor!

Fatih Çekirge Asker ne demek istedi

SOLİ ÖZEL Geleceği kurmak

Osman Ulagay AKP’nin rakibi ve AB’nin muhatabı CHP olabilir mi?

Murat YetkinAsıl ‘sürpriz’ daha sonra gelebilir

İsmet BerkanCumhuriyetçi misiniz, demokrat mı? ‘Özgürlük-Eşitlik-Kardeşlik Partisi’

Fehmi Koru Kapatma davası ve Kıbrıs davası Better late than never

Taha KıvançTarihi bir olay ve Hürriyet yine yok

Şamil Tayyar Güven Paşa söyledi, parti kapatılacak

Ali Bayramoğlu

Yasemin Çongar

Ertuğrul Özkök

Ahmet HakanAvrupalı abilere nereden çakılır Öteki dünyada verilecek hesap

Serdar Turgut Demokratik laiklik

M Ali Birand

Cüneyt ÜlseverYaşayan 100 entelektüel

TAMER KORKMAZ Müttefik?

Oktay EkşiAKP usulü reform

Özdemir İnce

Tufan Türenç Cumhurbaşkanı Gül kimden korkuyor

Şükrü Küçükşahin Kız öğrenci yurtlarına ilgi

Mehmet Y Yılmaz

MUHARREM SARIKAYA

ERDAL ŞAFAKTaburcu olmak

Dikkat; tsunami geliyor

ENGİN ARDIÇ Atatürk annesini sever miydi Hanginiz dinlediniz?

Kötü imajımız ve Gül’ün payı
HALUK ŞAHİN

Siyasi hayatımızın ‘seçim yoluyla uyarı’ya ihtiyacı var...
ALTAN ÖYMEN

Birinciliği AK Parti’ye...
ERDAL GÜVEN

Fatih Çekirge Türk toplumu ruhunu arıyor

ERGUN BABAHANİçişleri-dışişleri

EMRE AKÖZEski köye, yeni âdet

Avni Özgürel Danışıklı ve dövüşlü demokrasi

Umur TaluTarihi kâbus

HASAN BÜLENT KAHRAMAN Otoriter rejim tehlikesi

NAZLI ILICAKŞu ulusalcılara bakın!

MEHMET BARLAS'Mahalle baskısı'na karşı 'meyhane baskısı' çözüm mü? Ayağını yorganına göre mi, yoksa yorganı ayağına göre mi?

MAHMUT ÖVÜRVan'da yatırımcı olmanın dayanılmaz ağırlığı

YAVUZ DONATCumhurbaşkanı Gül ile Bursa'da Abdullah Gül: "Top yuvarlak, saha düz"

Ali Bulaç Ulusalcılar mutabakatı bozar mı?

Mehmet Yılmaz Asimetrik demokrasi

Ekrem Dumanlı Maalesef acı gerçek bu: Bir hafta dayanamazsınız

Serdar Turgut AKP’nin samimiyet testi

Searching for an identity and mission as the AK Party ‘falls’by ŞABAN KARDAŞ*

MÜMTAZ'ER TÜRKÖNE - Kelaynaklar ve Fırat

MUSTAFA ÜNAL - Bir başka açıdan Anneler Günü...

Kürşat Bumin: İşimize çok mu karışıyorlar?

Mahir Kaynak Senaryolar

Eser Karakaş Evler, devlet ve AKP

Nasuhi Güngör Gemiden gemiye koşmak

Sevim Gözay AKP’nin değil, Kafka’nın Dava’sı mübarek!

Gülay Göktürk '68 Hikayeleri Hemen şimdi!

Ömer Lütfi Mete Çakar çakmaz, çakan senaryo!

Hakan Aygün

Fırat’tan inciler

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIM

IMF sonrası nasıl bir dönem başlıyor?

Ercan KumcuDış ticarette orta dönemli eğilimler Büyüme odaklı enflasyoncu politikalar

Erdal Sağlam Sigortalı olmak istemeyen yeşil kartlılar

OKAN MÜDERRİSOĞLU
Dava değil, piyasa kapatır!

Hasan Ersel Orta Vadeli Mali Çerçeve yerel seçimde avantaj sağlamaya dönük

Baturalp candemir Orta vadeli mali program çerçevesi üzerine

Şimşek: Anlaşmayı başarılı bir şekilde bitirdik

Economist’in Anadolu listesi
UĞUR GÜRSES

Piyasaları sarsan fonlar, şimdi fakirin sofrasına el uzattı

Asaf Savaş Akat

IMF’yi değerlendiriyoruz

TÜSİAD'ın açıklamasına Şimşek'ten sert cevap

Aydın Ayaydın

Hesap bilmeyenler Unakıtan’dan dayak yemeli

Deniz Gökçe
Gıda fiyatları ve para politikası!

İBRAHİM KAHVECİ

Petrol fiyatında son ve oyun: İthalat çok

Asım Erdilek Turkey still needs the IMF

Salih Neftçi İçeride döviz planları dışarıda balon beklentisi

Türk sanayiinde ihracatın atası tekstil sektörü de ithalatçı oldu

OKAN MÜDERRİSOĞLU
IMF'siz günler de çok zorlu geçecek

Bankalarımız hazine bulmuş olmalı

Yaman Törüner Sosyal güvenlik yasası

Telekom'u borsaya açan Hazine, 3 milyar dolar kazandı

Türk Ekonomisi: İç ve Dış Etkenler

H4 New York Times The Dollar: Shrinkable but (So Far) Unsinkable By PETER S. GOODMAN What are the chances that a day of reckoning is coming, when the dollar would be so weak that America would have to play by the rules that apply to every other country?

White House Memo: As Bush Term Wanes, Mideast Peace Appears as Elusive as Ever

Oil Prices Are Up and Politicians Are Angry. Yawn. What can Washington do to reduce gas prices in the near term? The short answer, alas, is not much.

Already, Obama and McCain Map Fall Strategies Even before the Democratic nomination fight ends, the candidates are focusing on independent voters, Latinos and about a dozen states.

Dowd Is She a Trojan Rabbit? If Hillary Clinton were to become Barack Obama’s vice president, would she take the back seat or would she just always be plotting, draining him of his magical powers?

Lessons Learned The Upside of Being Knocked Around Maybe hard-hitting Hillary Rodham Clinton has been the best thing that could have happened to Barack Obama — a teaching adversary who made him stronger

Sadrists and Iraqi Government Reach Truce Deal

President Apostate? By EDWARD N. LUTTWAK

Of all the well-meaning desires projected on Barack Obama, the hope that he would decisively improve relations with the world’s Muslims is the least realistic

WILLIAM KRISTOL The Jewish State at 60 In 2008, the defense of the state of Israel, and everything it stands for, requires a kind of courage very much out of accord with the perpetual click-clack of our politics.

PAUL KRUGMAN The Oil Nonbubble Are speculators mainly responsible for high oil prices? And if they aren’t, why have so many commentators insisted, year after year, that there’s an oil bubble?

Sadr City Bomb Squad: Looking for Trouble Before It Explodes

Hezbollah Begins to Withdraw Gunmen in Beirut

In Serbian Elections, Voters Face a Choice Between East and West

Sudan’s Army Beats Back Rebel Attack on Capital

Militants Kill Israeli; Israelis Kill 5 Hamas Policemen

Editorial Rethinking Ethanol Congress should realign its tax and subsidy programs to encourage the biofuels that will not compete for the world’s food supply.

Pragmatic Politics, Forged on the South Side Barack Obama’s ability to replicate and expand the eclectic coalition he built in Chicago has brought him to the brink of the Democratic presidential nomination.

NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Saving the World in Study Hall Bill Gates may have the spotlight for his philanthropic work, but high school pupils and even younger children are driving a trend toward piggy-bank philanthropy.

THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN Call Your Mother Much of the outlook that infuses my own writings was bred into me from my mom, who believed that even if pessimists were usually right, optimists were behind great changes

FRANK RICH Party Like It’s 2008 Almost every wrong prediction about this election has come from those trying to force the round peg of this year’s campaign into the square holes of past political wars.

News Analysis: Judge’s Guantánamo Ruling Bodes Ill for System

Bodies Flow Into Hard-Hit Area of Myanmar In isolated areas, bodies come and go with the tides, washing up on riverbanks or floating grotesquely downstream. They are all but ignored by the living.

In Dixie, Signs of a Rising Biracial Politics The South went solidly red state in the ’90s, but that tide may be receding.

H5 Washington Post Spread of Nuclear Capability Is Feared

At least 40 developing countries have recently approached U.N. officials to signal interest in starting nuclear power programs, a trend some say could presage arms race. Syria Exemplifies Challenge

New Allies In Asia? By Jim Hoagland TOKYO -- China and Japan have been reliable enemies for a thousand years. Their leaders have always been able to count on each other to stir nationalist anger and distract their followers from other problems by trading insults, threats or at times blows.

Purchases Linked N. Korean to Syria

Pyongyang Company Funneled Reactor Parts to Damascus, Intelligence Officials Say

Our Priority Is Statehood The Palestinian right of return is not what's holding up a peace agreement. By Daoud Kuttab

Delicate Deal Helps Decrease Violence in Baghdad's Sadr City Enclave

Experience With Syria Exemplifies Challenge That Detection Presents

How Defense Research Is Making Troops More Effective in Wartime

Scandal Threatens Olmert's Premiership Corruption Probe of Israeli Leader Could Undermine U.S.-Backed Peace Talks

A Talk With Shimon Peres

A Talk With Salaam Fayyad

The Threat Mr. Putin Sees

Deal Reached to End Fighting in Sadr City Agreement Reported by Aide to Cleric

The Price of Delay By David S. Broder Three days after last Tuesday's primaries seemingly tilted the Democratic presidential nomination decisively toward Barack Obama, the surprising fact was that almost half the party's senators had not announced a choice between him and Hillary Clinton

Mr. Cool's Intensity By David Ignatius, Barack Obama called himself an "imperfect messenger" in his victory speech in North Carolina last Tuesday. That was a refreshing touch of humility, but it was also a fact. The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee is far from perfect. But he has demonstrated the most mysterious and precious...

Olmert Scandal Could Impact U.S.-Backed Peace Process

U.S. Jews' Relationship With Israel Evolves Education of Young Is but One Example

DEMOCRACY RULES The Race's Real Winner By Alan Wolfe

A CONVERSATION WITH EHUD OLMERT A Conversation With Ehud Olmert

5 Myths on Who's Really 'Pro-Israel'

By Jeremy Ben-Ami, Who decides what it means to be pro-Israel in the United States these days?

Some Bad News for Obama

By Alan Abramowitz, Page B04

Polls show that some white Democrats still resist a black presidential candidate

Incursion Crushed, Sudan Reports

Darfur rebels launch unprecedented attack on Sudanese capital of Khartoum in unsuccessful attempt to overthrow government.

Lebanon Struggles to Defuse Crisis

Though capital appears calmer, violence between opposition and government supporters continues and civil war remains a possibility

Editorial Free the Food Export controls threaten the world's hungry

McCain's Christian Problem

By Robert D. Novak, The GOP nominee will have to depend for help this fall from an erstwhile foe: Mike Huckabee.

ENDURING FREEDOM

Quietly Surviving in A Not-So-New Iraq By Cameron W. Barr,

Editorial Olympic Gag Order Why should China's repression of free speech be imposed on athletes from the rest of the world?

A Promise Not Kept By Fred Hiatt, In Burma, the U.N. has once again failed to protect a people whose government has failed them.

Keeping New Mothers Alive

In Haiti and Rwanda, Reducing Tragedy in Childbirth

U.S. Legal Work Booms in India

New Outsourcing Industry Is Growing 60 Percent Annually

Not an Emergency Congress again uses a war funding bill to advance pet projects.

H6 Guardian Israel's celebration remains a Palestinian catastrophe

Ahmad Samih Khalidi: Neither side will ever agree on the narrative of the conflict, and the prospects for peace in the Middle East are slim

Hizbullah seizes key Lebanon areas

Iranian-backed militants clash with pro-government Sunni fighters in Tripoli during armed takeover

Pro-EU Serbian parties claim poll win Serbia rejects sharp turn away from Europe as president Boris Tadic announces victory

The Muslim middle class Jason Burke They're well-educated professionals with a modern outlook. They're also pious and socially conservative

Realism from Riyadh Ian Black

Obama sets sights on McCain debates As Clinton campaigns in West Virginia, frontrunner begins to reveal presidential election strategy

The silver lining of shortages

Kenneth Rogoff Commodity prices continue to increase, but among other things, that means more room for innovative conservation, to benefit future generations

Prescott reveals Downing St feuds

Brown's leadership takes a downturn as one in five voters say he is doing a good job

The Tories need only fly a straight course as Brown force-lands Labour Max Hastings: The prime minister looks old, tired and sour beside Cameron, who shares Blair's brilliant ability to act like a human being

Beware cosy deals between politicians and their pundits

Jackie Ashley: Britain can learn lessons from the scandal of how the Bush administration used spin to sell the Iraq war to Americans

UK warns of 'unimaginable tragedy' if Burma fails to act Oxfam warns 'public health catastrophe' imminent as thousands of cyclone survivors lack proper sanitation

Sudan severs Chad ties over rebel attack Chad denies involvement, but has history of close military ties with Justice and Equality Movement (JEM)

Egyptian mediator to meet Israelis after Hamas agrees ceasefire plan

Initiative comes two days before George Bush is due to visit the region to discuss flagging Gaza peace talks

Directorial debuts Gwladys Fouché In Norway, a new law requires 40% of board members to be women. It has proved a great success and should be adopted in the UK

The Observer Lebanese declaration threatens civil warGovernment says it will not be intimidated by Hizbollah's force of arms

Now for the good news - overseas aid does work Leader: As our economic circumstances change, the global anti-poverty movement risks losing momentum

Brown hits all-time low in shock new survey PM has suffered a devastating collapse in public standing, according to a new survey

Gordon Brown's reputation has collapsed on every front Andrew Rawnsley: The strong message from voters is that they are utterly alienated from a Prime Minister they regard as weak and out of ideas

Forget the naysayers - America remains an inspiration to us all

Will Hutton: The US will recover from the credit crunch. Already there is an aggression and activism about how to respond that makes the British look limp

Iraqi artists and singers flee amid crackdown on forbidden culture

Hundreds reported killed by Islamic radicals, with many cinemas, art galleries, theatres, and concert halls destroyed

Dictators only save their skins - never their people Chris McGreal: Humanity is the last thing to expect from a rogue regime argues a leading foreign correspondent

'My daughter deserved to die'

A father explains why he is unrepentant after the 'honour killing' of his daughter in Basra

The worst place to be a woman?

In Yemen, women belong to men. Most are illiterate. They are arrested in the street. They die in childbirth. Rachel Cooke reports

H7 Tehran, Damascus ascendant

THE WASHINGTON TIMES EDITORIAL Make no mistake about it, the quick, brutal display of raw military power by Hezbollah in the past six days is a window into the grim future of Lebanon and the broader Middle East: a future in which Iran and Syria are ascendant and have lost much of their fear of the United States and Israel.

Hezbollah 'redrawing' Mideast map Hezbollah's dramatic gains in Lebanon last week are just part of a regional process that began last year in the Gaza Strip and will continue in Jordan and Egypt, a Hamas official in the West Bank told The Washington Times.

'Muqtada' By PATRICK COCKBURN Reviewed by JAMES GLANZ Patrick Cockburn’s life of the radical cleric Moktada al-Sadr.

First Chapter

'The Post-American World'

By FAREED ZAKARIA
Reviewed by JOSEF JOFFE

In this examination of power, Fareed Zakaria focuses not so much on the decline of America, but on the rise of China and India.

First Chapter

Rethinking the Iraq Critics - Michael Barone, US News & World Report

Of Macedonia and Mesopotamia - Phillip Carter, Intel Dump

Q&A on Lebanon & Hezbollah - Abu Muqawama, Abu Muqawama

Lebanon's Crisis Not Really a Sunni-Shia Crisis - Marc Lynch, Abu Aardvark

Boston Globe Editorial Strange bedfellows in Iraq IN THE FACE of American charges that Iran has been training and arming Shi'ite militias in Iraq, the Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's government has been issuing contradictory statements - as it strains to maintain a precarious balance between the United States and Iran, its two principal backers.

An oil-addicted ex-superpower
The United States' brief reign as the world's sole superpower is over, its status crumbling as surely as the unlamented Berlin Wall. Last month's NATO summit is merely recent evidence of the decline. America's utter addiction to oil, which once powered its climb to might, is its undoing, and an aid to Russia's resumption of power. - Michael T Klare

Der Spiegel A New Energy Leader: Brazil Wants to Join OPEC

SyriaComment News Round Up (11 May 2008)

Tibet, Palestine and the politics of failure , Fred Halliday

Bush's Influence in Mideast Wanes

Hezbollah.. The Ugliest Picture : Tariq Alhomayed

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

Hezbollah rocks eastern villages

A Hezbollah assault forces several villages loyal to a pro-government leader to hand control to Lebanon's army.

Baghdad district calm after truce A ceasefire between the Iraqi government and Shia militias seems to be holding in Baghdad's Sadr City.

Deal to End Fighting in Sadr City - Freeman and Londoño, Washington Post

Sadr City residents fear a cease-fire means more violence After six weeks of fighting, the signs of battle are common in Sadr City. Wires snaked out of potholes and from underneath tires — signs of past or future roadside bombs. Abandoned pickup trucks, destroyed by airstrikes, littered the streets, and pock marks from bullets or shrapnel scarred the houses. Residents wondered if an agreement really means peace.

Shell Pulls Out of Iran Gas Deal

Arab League tries to broker Lebanon settlement

Lebanese violence spreads to mountains outside capital

Arab Chief Editor Blames USA, Israel, Some Arab States for Tension in Lebanon

Iran Says Talks With US on Iraq Uncertain - Report

Lebanese Opposition Fighting "Sinister Plot" By Government Team - Syrian Paper

Sadrists and Iraqi Government Reach Truce - Alissa Rubin, New York Times

Lebanese Sunni Figure Fathi Yakan Backs Opposition in Recent Events, Slams USA

Smuggling to Iran Rife in Dangerous Gulf Waters – Reuters

Bush Heads to Middle East Amid Dark Omens

Iran, IAEA to Resume Nuclear Talks on Monday - Reuters

Iran Looks to Tap Key Oil Field with Homegrown Crews - Associated Press

Iranian Press Menu 11 May 08

Ceasefire Deal with Sadr Militia - BBC News

Lebanese Army Caught in Crossfire Between Druze and Hezbollah Gunmen

US Military Hits a Wall in Sadr City

Fighting spreads east of Beirut Clashes flare outside Beirut as Lebanon's army struggles to contain fighting between Shia and pro-government groups.

Hezbollah to pull back

High stakes of Lebanon crisis

Iraqi Factions Agree to End Baghdad Fighting – Reuters

Hezbollah Battles Druze East of Beirut

Iraq Envoy Rejects Democrats' Anger Over US Funding,,

Iraqi Alleges Abu Ghraib Torture, Files Suit (video)

OSC: Lebanon -- Both Sides Take Tough Line, Leave Room To Maneuver

Saudis solicit bid for Iraqi border fence Scholars in Saudi Arabia warned against extremist ideologies urging men to enter Iraq to join the insurgency while officials solicit bids for a border fence.

Sadrist Bloc Buckles - Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal

Sadr City Bomb Squad - Michael Gordon, New York Times

Arab countries discuss nuclear cooperation

Lion's Roar: Next Stop Mosul - Dr. iRack. Abu Muqawama

Arabs Hold Crisis Talks on Hezbollah ‘Coup’ - Uzi Mahnaimi, London Times

Lebanon Struggles to Defuse Crisis - Alia Ibrahim, Washington Post

Hezbollah Begins to Withdraw in Beirut - Worth and Bakri, New York Times

Lebanon Won't Take on Hezbollah - Wheeler and Gilbert, London Daily Telegraph

Iran Analyst Cautions Against Hasty Judgement on West's Nuclear Proposals

Hezbollah to End Armed Presence in Beirut - Ed Yeranian, Voice of America

Hezbollah Leave West Beirut - The Australian

Crisis Eases in Lebanon - Mark MacKinnon, Globe and Mail

US to Stand by Lebanon's PM - Olivier Knox, Sydney Morning Herald

Hezbollah Fighters in Beirut Melt Away - Associated Press

Hezbollah to End Beirut Seizure - BBC News

Lebanese Violence Reaches Tripoli - BBC News

Clashes in Northern and Eastern Lebanon - Associated Press

Lebanon’s Third Civil War - Michael Totten, Contentions

Is Lebanon in a Civil War? - Abu Muqawama, Abu Muqawama

H9 Ha’aretz – Bypassing the factionsEven though Lebanon's government uses harsh rhetoric against Hezbollah, terming its actions a coup and even ordering the army to take steps to impose order, there is no choice but to acknowledge that this government does not in fact control Lebanon

Eldar Bush should stay home Unless he has a rabbit in his hat, this will be the third time in the past half year that the U.S. president shows the Palestinians and the entire Arab world that they are wasting their time by trying to end the occupation by peaceful means

Lebanon PM: Hezbollah is worse than Israel

Ex-IDF Chief: Hezbollah rule in Lebanon may help Israel beat it

Mr. Suspect's governmentThe Olmert government appears to be the most miserable of Israel's 31 governments, in its makeup and performance.

Police suspect money transferred to PM outside campaign season

Gideon Levy: PM probe raises serious questions about U.S. Jewry-Israel relations

Talansky: Don't know how Olmert spent funds I gave

Narrow-mindedness and discriminationThe issue of what exactly a Jewish state means in our time and what its values are supposed to be is an open question that the Israeli populace, which is casting about for its Jewish identity, has yet to clarify seriously for itself

Jerusalem PostWashington Watch: Palestinian statehood - as elusive as ever By DOUGLAS BLOOMFIELD After six years of neglect, the Bush administration has started to talk as if peace was a real priority.

As Lebanon turns into Gaza

[ BARRY RUBIN

The Olmert scandal

PM job is too challenging a burden for a leader preoccupied in scandals.

Analysis: Between Gaza and Beirut

Saniora is being mocked by Hizbullah as Lebanon's new Mahmoud Abbas.

Bush's visit might come too late

The current scandal will impact negatively on the peace talks.

Iran refuses to stop enriching uranium

Teheran: Nuclear development is Iran's "indisputable right;" accuses Israel, US of destabilizing Lebanon

Analysis: Livni's loud silence

By HERB KEINON
The one voice that has been noticeably absent in support of Olmert is Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.

Yedioth Ahronoth US warship to Mediterranean

AFP reports USS Cole making its way back to region as internal fighting in Lebanon escalates

Poll: Olmert should resign

Yedioth Ahronoth and Dahaf survey reveals 60% of public do not believe PM did not take bribe

The power of weakness

In a state as complex as Israel, a weak PM can pursue bold moves, Emmanuel Rosen says

Tehran is here Israel will eventually have to act, as Lebanon turns into Iranian colony

Nasrallah lost, for now/ BechorWeekend violence exposed Hizbullah’s deception, but Lebanon’s future still grim

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

Obama's problems with Jewish voters THE WASHINGTON TIMES EDITORIAL As he moves closer to winning the Democratic presidential nomination, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Barack Obama has a huge problem winning the trust of Jewish voters, and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain knows it.

And many more to come

By Mark Steyn I don't recall being asked about Israel quite so much on its 50th anniversary, which as a general rule is a much bigger deal than the 60th. But these days friends and enemies alike smell weakness at the heart of the Zionist Entity.

Condoleezza Rice's Futile Diplomacy Patrick Seale - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has visited Israel/Palestine no fewer than fifteen times in the past fifteen months - and has virtually nothing to show for it. Her diplomacy has been an exercise in futility.

Exclusive: Hizballah received 35 new Iranian speedboats shortly before current crisis

Hizballah ultimatum demands Druze disarmament as price for ceasefire

US Looks Set to Offer Israel Powerful New Radar – Reuters

Bush's Odds for Mideast Peace Wane - Jon Ward, Washington Times

Gaza blackouts as fuel runs low Electricity blackouts hit Gaza as the territory's only power station shuts down, with officials citing lack of fuel

Embattled Olmert Vows to Lead Peace Drive - Reuters

Palestinian Negotiator Worries About Olmert Impact - Reuters

Israel to Hear Egypt on Gaza Truce Idea - Reuters

Fuel Shortage Forces Gaza Blackout – Reuters

With McCain’s Spot on the Ticket Secure, Jewish GOPers Jockey To Win His Favor

Israel's Unhappy Birthday - Benny Morris, Los Angeles Times opinion

A Triumph of Life and Hope - Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe opinion

Forget the Two-state Solution - Saree Makdisi, Los Angeles Times opinion

Shimon Peres: ‘Practically All of Us Were Hawks’

For Palestinians, Mourning - Yousef Munayyer, Boston Globe opinion

Israel Facing Demographic Challenge - Trudy Rubin, Miami Herald opinion

Key events
A brief history of Israel in video, pictures and text

Exclusive: Israel’s diplomatic positions eroded by PM Olmert’s police probe

H10 Christian Science Monitor

Hasty truce with Moqtada al-Sadr tests his sway in Baghdad stronghold A cease-fire deal between Mr. Sadr's representatives in the Iraqi government and members of the leading Shiite bloc aims to end weeks of fierce battles in Sadr City.

Lebanese Army steps into Beirut fray Opposition Hezbollah fighters continue civil disobedience against pro-Western government.

As Pakistan changes, should U.S. policy? The US is increasingly out of sync with Pakistan's newly-elected government, say analysts

Why the presidential candidates won't talk about Israel Analysts say politicians hold their tongues on giving additional US aid to Israel for fear of being labeled as anti-Semitic.

Oil Shock 2? With prices at $120 a barrel, Americans are facing an oil adjustment.

U.S. to mine N. Korean papers for answers, progress A US diplomat returns from talks in Pyongyang Monday with 18,000 pages supplied by North Korea on its nuclear facilities.

Burma (Myanmar): An unbending regime still blocks aid The secretive regime, wary of outsiders and opposition, continues to block foreign aid.

In congressional races, Republicans are losing ground

GOP leaders urge a new agenda after several key losses.

Obama shifts sights to McCain and the general election

The nomination isn't his yet, but his aim now is to unify Democrats.

An up-close view of brutality in Darfur How would we react if Khartoum bombed our kids?

Microsoft and Yahoo: Where were the mediators?

They help countries and couples. Why not businesses?

Darfur rebel raid stirs Sudan-Chad war The JEM rebel group – which Sudan accuses of being backed by Chad – reached the outskirts of Sudan's capital, Khartoum, for the first time this weekend, raising concerns about a proxy war.

Private philanthropy's global reach e-giving spurs new practices, donors. But biggest 'giving' is migrant workers' remittances.

ASIA

Heritage China's Undervalued Currency Benefits Americans

New Allies In Asia? - Jim Hoagland, Washington Post opinion

Pakistan's Perils - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette editorial

US Operation Sparks Afghan Unrest –

Purchases Linked N. Korean to Syria -

Is it Time to Invade Burma? - Romesh Ratnesar, Time

Burma's Blockade - Washington Post editorial

Kick Burma Out of the UN - Wall Street Journal editorial

The Case for Invading Burma - Shawn Crispin, Asia Times opinion If ever there was an opportunity for the United States to take out an "outpost of tyranny", as Washington likes to call Myanmar, it is now. The tardy response of the junta in allowing in foreign aid for its cyclone-devastated population provides a strong moral case for a United Nations-approved, US-led humanitarian intervention. Such a move would also allow President George W Bush to burnish his legacy, which to date will be judged harshly due to his pre-emptive military policies waged exclusively in the name of fighting terror

Burma: No News Is Bad News - Roby Alampay, New York Times opinion

Time to Invade Burma? - Gordon Chang, Contentions

Re: Time to Invade Burma? - Abe Greenwald, Contentions

H11 IHT Tilt to West is seen in elections in Serbia The parliamentary elections were viewed as a referendum on if Serbia would turn toward the West or revert to the nationalism and isolation of the Slobodan Milosevic years.

Beirut, bullets and breakfast By RAMI G. KHOURI

We had to feed Jerry the turtle soon, but was it safe to go on the balcony?

As Gazprom's chairman moves up, so does Russia's most powerful company Dmitri Medvedev's swearing-in as the president of Russia confirms that the line separating big business and the state is becoming so fine that it is almost nonexistent.

Paris, May 1968: The revolution that never was For two astonishing weeks in May, an entire nation was caught up in a frenzy of self-examination. It is still not easy, 40 years later, to discern what it was all about.

Italian minister wants to bring back border checks Italy's new interior minister wants to re-impose border controls for travellers from Europe's passport-free Schengen zone as part of security measures to crack down on crime and immigration

Cyclones past, present and to come

By AMITAV GHOSH

A nation need not be wealthy or technologically advanced to be well prepared for natural disasters.

Turnout is robust as Serbs vote in parliamentary elections Serbs went to the polls Sunday in closely contested parliamentary elections considered a referendum on whether Serbia turns toward Europe or reverts to the nationalism and isolation of the Milosevic years.

EUROPE European press review

CEPS Is European democracy promotion on the wane?

The Hunt for Mr. Europe | Newsweek International . The EU is choosing its new president. But will he be pencil-sharpener in chief, or a new global player?

The Observer After the boomers, meet the children dubbed 'baby losers' Across Spain, France and Italy, young middle-class professionals with good degrees and diplomas are facing a lifetime on low salaries with unrewarding jobs, forever poorer than their parents. Investigation by Graham Keeley in Barcelona, Jason Burke in Paris and Tom Kington in Rome

Heavier Drinking At an Earlier Age: E.U. Study Finds Worrisome Trends

Almost Two-Thirds of Czechs Opposed to US Radar Plan - Poll

Italy Needed Fascism, Says the New Duce - John Follain, London Times

Serbian reformers claim victory
Serbian President Boris Tadic's pro-EU alliance declares victory in elections but falls short of a majority.

Serbia votes in watershed ballot
Serbian voters take part in a snap election seen as the most important since the overthrow of Slobodan Milosevic.

Sex and politics
Spain and Italy take different paths towards gender equality

Mardell's Europe
Serbia split between EU supporters and nationalists

A Security Strategy for Germany
The Weekly Standard –

France relives May '68 with a new dissatisfaction Rock music blares on a hot afternoon as students demonstrating against cuts in education reluctantly disperse in midtown under the watch of riot police in a scene reminiscent of a watershed May 40 years ago, when protests forced the Gaullist government to hold new elections and profoundly changed France's political landscape.

Sarkozy the unwanted (By Andrew Borowiec)

H12 RFE/RLRussia-Georgia Tensions Over Abkhazia

In a video presentation, RFE/RL Georgian Service Director David Kakabadze discusses the escalating diplomatic row over Georgia's breakaway republic and what's at stake

As Gazprom Goes, So Goes Russia - Andrew Kramer, New York Times

Google News Azerbaijan

CEPS A Different Country: Russias Economic Resurgence

Time to think of a strategic bargain with Russia

H13 The Times King Oil will turf out Gordon Brown Market rules: it doesn't matter who is leader, the Government is finished at $200 a barrel William Rees-Mogg

Lebanese Army caught in crossfire Hezbollah militia embark on fresh fighting after brief weekend lull while Druze rivals face bitter Chouf mountain stand-off

Pro-EU may win Serbia’s election

Results seen as a referendum on whether the Balkan country’s future lay towards the West or back with old ally Russia

Israel at 60 An astonishing success alongside an extraordinary failure

Republicans to bombard Obama

Strategists working for John McCain believe that the Illinois Senator is vulnerable and can be portrayed as inexperienced

Darfur rebels reach Sudan capital Sudan raise spectre of war with Chad, accusing it of backing Darfuri rebels who launched a daring assault on Khartoum

A test of the UN's moral authority

Imposing aid on a country is a messy business; but the alternative in Burma is far worse Rosemary Righter

Israel plugs into the battery car revolution The electric Renault Sedan battery powered car could help to put Israel at the forefront of green motoring by 2010

Embryos have souls? What nonsense New crusade: we mustn't remain in hock to the moral conservatism of the Christian lobby Matthew Syed

Sunday Times Hillary’s suicidal gamble with race poison

Clinton's decision to stop chasing the black vote has become her undoing as shown in last Tuesday’s North Carolina primary Andrew Sullivan

Parading of bodies taunts Basra rebels The Sunday Times has seen evidence suggesting the Iraqi army presented two dead Mahdi fighters at a victory celebration

America must learn to love dearer petrol

Arabs hold crisis talks after Hezbollah ‘coup’ Arab foreign ministers will hold crisis talks amid growing Isreali fears that Iranian influence in Lebanon could lead to war

Italy needed fascism, says the new Duce His rise has prompted fears of a far-right revival, but Gianni Alemanno, the mayor of Rome, says he is no bogeyman

On its 60th birthday, Israel is still a Jekyll and Hyde nation

Israelis and Palestinians are learning to put their enmity behind them and live together. Can the politicians catch up?

Exclusive: I told Tony to sack Gordon, says Prescott John Prescott says he urged Tony Blair to sack Gordon Brown, but the former prime minister was 'scared' of his chancellor

Burma: now aid workers warn of refugee crisis Aid workers returning from the worst hit areas of Burma warn of catastrophe with tens of thousands on the move

Burma’s dying cry out to be saved

What is this distinction between a massacre and what the military are inflicting? A corpse is a corpse. Simon Jenkins

Barack eyes the big duel as Hillary sinks Barack Obama is confident he will secure the Democratic nomination and is preparing for a showdown with John McCain

Russia or the EU? Serbs vote in crossroads poll The pro-Western president is struggling to convince voters that it should turn to EU after Kosovan independence

Wall Street Journal

Air Combat by Remote Control
By Brian M. Carney
The sniper never knew what hit him. The airman who fired the missile was 8,000 miles away.

Keep America Open to Trade
By Carlos M. Gutierrez and Arnold Schwarzenegger
Foreign-owned companies employ more than five million people in the U.S.

Nuclear Plants Face High Costs A new generation of nuclear power plants is on the drawing boards in the U.S., but the projected cost is causing some sticker shock: $5 billion to $12 billion a plant, double to quadruple earlier estimates.

Panic control

By William HawkinsThe Federal Reserve, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank have jointly announced an expansion of liquidity measures to combat the global financial crisis triggered by the U.S. subprime mortgage meltdown.

Mavericks Gamble on Ukraine's Scarce Land The vast collectives that fed the Soviet Union are now a patchwork of fields and vacant lots. They could help feed the world -- if someone could stitch the land back together and create modern farms. A British businessman is trying to do just that, going door-to-door in the Ukraine and leasing small plots of land.

Bribe Case Shines Light on Consultants

The Kazakhstan president's daughter used U.S. security firms to learn about a bribery probe involving her father that has stymied the nation's access to $84 million in disputed funds.

H14 Financial Times Comment: Know, rather than imagine, your enemy The Bush administration has appeared nonplussed as Iran emerged as the main beneficiary of the US’s regional policies, writes Lawrence Freedman

Civil war fear as Lebanon clashes escalate Fierce clashes involving rockets and heavy machine guns erupted in Lebanon between pro-government forces and opposition gunmen in mountains east of Beirut as Arab foreign ministers held an emergency meeting in a bid to find a solution to worsening crisis.

Shell and Repsol drop Iran gas project Pair’s withdrawal from the $10bn-plus development deals heavy blow a blow to Tehran’s attempts to expand its energy exports in the face of US and international sanctions

Iran and Syria accused over Beirut chaos A senior US official has claimed that both states have a hand in the disturbances in the Lebanese capital, the scenes of confusion worrying the Bush administration

In hope of a principled campaign

An Obama-McCain contest in November then presents a novel prospect – an election in which the candidates devote more effort to challenging each other’s ideas than to questioning each other’s character and good faith, writes Clive Crook

Wolfgang Münchau: The global euro

Institutions matter. They create their own agendas. Nobody knows this better than the Commission itself, writes Wolfgang Münchau

A spring thaw in chilly east Asia

Do not underestimate the Japan-China rapprochement. It will be hard for either country to return to the fruitless hostility of the Koizumi era

Pro-EU alliance wins Serbia election

The pro-European Union alliance led by Boris Tadic, Serbia’s president, won the advantage over hardline nationalists in snap elections as voters demanded EU integration despite the loss of Kosovo

Garzón cracks down on Basque separatists Baltazar Garzón, Spain's top anti-terrorist judge, has ordered a clampdown on the activities of Basque separatists - jailing the mayoress of a big industrial town...

Germany faces shortage of engineers

Germany, a land renowned above all for its high standards of engineering, is facing an acute shortage of skilled engineers. Franz Fehrenbach, chief executive of Bosch,...

Germany urges higher EU food import standards Germany believes China, India and the US should be forced to adopt higher environmental and health standards if they want to export food products to the European Union, says Horst Seehofer, Germany’s farm minister

Shipping rates near record levels

Near 80 per cent jump in the past year

Gideon Rachman’s blog Are we living in an intellectual dark age? Or have Prospect and Foreign Policy simply overlooked the great minds of our era when compiling their list of the top 100 public intellectuals?

Political HypocrisyA Cambridge academic argues that a hypocritical politician need not be a bad thing – and shows that, in many cases, this realist’s approach is justified

Spanish gas groups fear reliance on Algeria Some executives are wary of Sonatrach’s entry into southern Europe’s gas market, going so far as to describe the African state’s energy company as a ‘Gazprom on the Med’

Focus on the female talent at home

In technology, women are shunted into helping roles while men continue to occupy the more celebrated positions, writes Sylvia Ann Hewlett

H15 Los Angeles Times Race may not be Obama's biggest hurdle Experience and social issues loom larger, Democratic strategists say.

Editorial

An unhappy birthday By Benny Morris As it turns 60, Israel's hopes for peace are near death.

Forget two states By Saree Makdisi Such a solution is unviable. Israel must share land and power

Putin's Imperial Russia - Garry Kasparov, Los Angeles Times

Civilization's last chance

By Bill McKibben The planet has passed a tipping point on climate change, and it gets much worse, fast.

Defense budget overkill The Pentagon persists in seeking pricey weapons of little use in low-tech warfare.

Italy's new right wing Rome's new mayor is one example of a trend that raises questions about the future of the country's immigrants.

Sadr City fighting eases under short-term truce

Lebanon appears to back away from anti-Hezbollah decree

Before and after Iraq The war there is not an intellectual exercise. It has real, personal consequences.

'We Are Now Beginning Our Descent' by James Meek

H16 American Politics

McCain & Obama Map Fall Strategies - New York Times

Newt Gingrich / Newsweek:

Dear Senator Obama ...

Fred Barnes / Weekly Standard: Gloomy Republicans

Religious right leaning toward Democrats?

How 'Team O' Plans to Take On the GOP - R. Wolffe & E. Thomas, Newsweek

Limbaugh: 'My Impact Will Increase'

Obama's Two-Front Battle Has Given McCain An Edge - Chicago Tribun

McAuliffe: Need ‘something big’

Young, evangelical ... for Obama? —

Clinton and Obama on Al-Jazeera

Democratic country keeps its distance from Obama

Analysis: Obama rises to stand on verge of history

Group pushing Clinton as VP choice tied to her campaign

Is McCain considering a one-term presidency?

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

Obama's problems with Jewish voters THE WASHINGTON TIMES EDITORIAL As he moves closer to winning the Democratic presidential nomination, it is becoming increasingly apparent that Barack Obama has a huge problem winning the trust of Jewish voters, and presumptive Republican nominee John McCain knows it.

The Incredible Shrinking Evangelical - Heather Wilhelm, RealClearPolitics

As Losses Mount, GOP Begins Looking in the Mirror

'Nixonland' By RICK PERLSTEIN
Reviewed by GEORGE F. WILL Rick Perlstein’s sprawling, rollicking book argues that Richard Nixon is the explanation for everything — or at least for the rise of the right and the decline of almost everything else.

First Chapter

Clinton Team Acknowledges $20 Million Debt

The Pundit Analyzing Obama? Some TV Upstart Named Rove —

H17 Daily Telegraph Lebanon facing threat of civil war

Fighting in Lebanon has spread from the capital Beirut across the country as the Shi'ite radical group Hizbollah sought to seize power by force.

Nationalists face defeat in Serbian poll Moderate pro-European forces looked set to score a stunning victory in Serbia's elections, preliminary results showed.

Labour in turmoil as Levy warns Brown Gordon Brown should consider his position as Prime Minister after a series of disastrous poll results, one of Tony Blair's most senior former aides has said.

Cherie: Miscarriage used for Iraq spin Cherie Blair discloses today that she "could not believe" news of her miscarriage was released early for political reasons.

Addicts who steal may escape jail Burglars and thieves could escape jail if they commit their crimes because of addiction to drink, drugs or gambling, under proposed sentencing guidelines.

Republicans fear defeat against Obama Senior Republicans expressed grave fears on Sunday about the prospects of John McCain against Barack Obama in November.

Sunday Telegraph Brown: I will never let the Union split Gordon Brown has vowed to do "whatever is necessary" to preserve the United Kingdom in the wake of a bruising battle over a referendum on Scottish independence.

Beijing and Riyadh will call the shots on ailing dollar's future...

Lebanese army won't take on Hizbollah The Lebanese army has defied the country's government and bowed to demands by pro-Iranian Hizbollah militants who brought the country to the brink of civil war.

'New' China basks in Olympic glow

H18 Independent 'Ghost city' Mosul braces for assault on last bastion of al-Qa'ida in Iraq

Mosul looks like a city of the dead. American and Iraqi troops have launched an attack aimed at crushing the last bastion of al- Qa'ida in Iraq and in doing so have turned the country's northern capital into a ghost town.

Leading article: A fateful vote that may dash hopes of peace in the Balkans

Tadic claims victory for pro-Europeans in Serbian elections

Serbs have voted for close ties with Europe in parliamentary elections seen by many as crucial to the country's future.

Bruce Anderson: The world is in an alarming state of flux – and there is a limit to what Britain can do about it

Independent on Sunday Robert Fisk: Lebanon does not want another war. Does it?

To blame? Moi? Sarkozy tells the French it's all their fault

Exclusive report: Soldiers need loans to eat

A highly sensitive internal report into the state of the British Army has revealed that many soldiers are living in poverty. Some are so poor that they are unable to eat and are forced to rely on emergency food voucher schemes set up by the Ministry of Defence (MoD).

Read the full report

At last: the Fall of the House of Clinton

The missing multi-millionaire: A cut-throat mystery for the new Cold War

Cherie's revenge
Explosive revelations pile woe on Gordon Brown

H19 Military Intelligence Terrorism

Psychology of Intelligence Analysis (1999) Source: Central Intelligence Agency (History Staff, Center for the Study of Intelligence)
Full-text book now available online. Browse by chapter or download full document (PDF; 2 MB).

The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11 (Updated 11 April 2008) (PDF; 316 KB)
Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)

U.S. Forces in Iraq (PDF; 69 KB) Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)

Prison Break: Maybe the Army's Not So Hidebound Afterall by Fred Kaplan at Slate

SECDEF, CJCS Briefing and EUCOM Roundtable

NYRB The Rise of the Muslim Terrorists By Malise Ruthven
What are the forces that drive young suicide bombers to commit mass murder? The question is addressed from different perspectives in nine books under review.

Tom Barnett Buying wings but operating rotors KnoxNews.

Does the US Need the UN to Fight Terror? - Drew Kumpf, Foreign Policy

Defense Budget Overkill - Los Angeles Times editorial

Political Warfare Is A Double-edged Sword: The Rise And Fall Of The French Counter-insurgency In Algeria by Pierre Pahlavi

DoD Briefing on Quadrennial Roles and Missions Review

The Bin Ladens

U.S. Customs and Border Protection — Three Reports
Source: U.S Department of Homeland Security, Office of Inspector General
+ Independent Review of The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Management Assertions on the 2007 Drug Control Performance Summary (PDF; 982 KB)