051708f - 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 NYT Saudis Rebuff Bush, Politely, on Pumping More Oil

Financial Times Saudis to boost oil output after US pressure

The announcement of an increase production by about 300,000 barrels a day came after a plea by US president George W. Bush to King Abdullah at a meeting in Riyadh

Washington Post Oil Efforts Are Best Possible, Saudis Say Push on Prices by Bush Is Gently Turned Aside

Bush Won't Strike OilSteven Mufson | The President's Saudi visit probably won't mean more oil for the U.S.

Wall Street Journal Editorial Beseeching the Saudis
An American President should not go begging.

DT Axis faces moment of truth...

Stratfor The Geopolitics Of Israel: Biblical and Modern By George Friedman

Charlie Rose A conversation with Robert Kagan

Audio Message From bin Laden Condemns Israel

Bush Administration Middle East Policy: What Went Wrong? By: Jon B. Alterman | World Politics Review
It has become impossible to credibly argue that the Bush Administration's Middle East policies have advanced U.S. national interests

Guardian Beirut, seen from Tehran M Cist Iranians are unsure what to make of recent events in Lebanon. Are they the result of Bush's incompetence, or part of his plan?

Weak dollar and supply worries push oil to fresh high of $128

Crude oil price increased sixfold in past eight years, fuelling debate about dwindling resources

Solving the food crisis Muhammad Yunus A comprehensive global plan is needed to tackle the high cost of food that threatens the lives of the world's poorest and most vulnerable people

Foreign Policy In an era of globalization, no country is immune when the US falls onto hard times; here’s a look at how economies elsewhere will fare.

Los Angeles Times Quake gives a big jolt to China's old ways Beijing responds with flexibility and openness, and individual initiative surges, signaling a new dynamic

Negotiating isn't appeasement

By J. Peter Scoblic

Newsweek An Unnatural Disaster | Print Article m America bears much of the blame for its waning global clout Michael Hirsh.

The Iraq War: Key Trends and Developments Source: Center for Strategic & International Studies Full Report (PDF; 4.7 MB)

McClatchy Bush Revives Talk of a Strike on Iran

Who'd pick up more swing states — Obama or Clinton?

Ha’aretz – PMO: U.S., Israel see need for 'tangible action' on Iran nukes

Jerusalem PostUS agrees to help Saudi Arabia develop civilian nuclear program

Decision comes after Saudis reject Bush appeal to increase oil production; leaders share concern that Lebanon violence emboldens Iran.

Column One: Hizbullah's power play [ CAROLINE GLICK ,

A Complicated Alliance By: Lee Hudson Teslik | Council on Foreign Relations Today, oil still dominates U.S.-Saudi ties. But the fairly straightforward buy-sell dynamic between the world’s leading importer and leading exporter of crude is increasingly complicated by a host of other issues, from security cooperation to currency concerns.

Asia Times Tehran ponders the spoils of victory
Hezbollah's display of strength in Lebanon leaves its backer, Iran, emboldened. Tehran is now in a stronger position to negotiate a deal with the United States pertaining to its nuclear file. Or it could do something radical, such as trade off Hezbollah in exchange for a greater piece of the Iraqi cake. All options are on the table. - Sami Moubayed

Saudis, US grapple with Iran challenge The reaction to the flareup in Lebanon has left Saudi Arabia (and its United States ally) with no doubt that there are not many takers in the Arab world for anti-Iran, anti-Hezbollah ploys. This leaves the George W Bush administration with little choice other than to resort to back-channel diplomacy to engage Tehran, while the Saudis, too, will have to re-asses their stance on Iran. - M K Bhadrakumar

Bush, McCain dream on in war landBush and the man who hopes to replace him, Senator John McCain, have divulged to the world their beautiful dreams, in which Middle East weapons have become ploughshares, bitter enemies lie down together as lambs and evil powers abandon nuclear weapons. This stuff keeps the neo-cons happy, even though the politics that will make it reality are absent. - Jim Lobe

TIME Welcome to Hizballahstan The militants' easy victory in the battle for Beirut leaves the U.S. yet again on the losing side of an Arab conflict, with little leverage and few options

A Gulf Apart By MICHAEL ELLIOTT

Lebanon is inflamed once more by old hatreds. Yet elsewhere in the Middle East a new Arab world is emerging, with powerhouses like Qatar and Dubai leading the way

Joe Klein Hamas Hysteria Smeared by McCain, Obama says he won't talk to the bad guys. They're both failing the leadership test

Al Hayat Lebanon's Battles in Light of the Struggle for Regional Domination Raghida Dergham - Hezbollah's coup in Lebanon is one of the episodes of a new regional order in the Middle East, one that is imposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran through the language of weapons pointed towards the interior to insure local domination.

Bashir Gemayel and Hassan Nasrallah Abdullah Iskandar -

Questions for the Opposition Ghassan Charbel - If the Lebanese government was said, in light of the two decisions it took, to have erred in assessing the sensitiveness of the issue and the gravity of the timing, then can't it be said that the opposition, with the first shot it fired in the streets of Beirut, has poorly assessed Lebanon's sensitive structure, a mistake tantamount to a fatal sin?

Sadr Movement at a Crossroads By: Kamal Nazer Yasin | ISN Security Watch The Sadr Movement has been strong in post-Saddam Iraq, but its future is now uncertain with the Iraqi government taking the movement on head first

A New Course for Pakistan
Source: Center for Strategic & International Studies Full Report (PDF; 1.6 MB)

The Afghan-Pakistan War: A Status Report
Source: Center for Strategic & International Studies Full Report (PDF; 6.2 MB)

NYT U.S. Planning Big New Prison in Afghanistan Officials are scaling back plans to shift prisoners into Afghan custody in a stark acknowledgment that the U.S. is likely to hold prisoners overseas for years.

"Text" of Joint Communique of China, Russia, India Foreign Ministers' Meeting

EDM U.S.-AZERBAIJAN RELATIONS GO THROUGH TENSION, YET MAINTAIN STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

RFERL Analysis: Does Azerbaijan Face A New Irredentist Threat?

Analysis: Armenian Opposition Issues New Ultimatum

IHT German industry seeks role in modernizing Russia The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, told President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia that German industry was prepared to help the Russian economy reduce its dependence on energy and commodities.

WSJ NOONAN: Republicans 'falling apart... dying'...

The Times Mass graves for China's dead, 5 million homeless Authorities tell soldiers to bury dead quickly but photographs and hair are taken first for DNA identification later

H2 WSJ Turkey's Courts Should Respect the Will of the People
By Mark R. Parris The legal case for shutting down the governing AK Party is preposterous.

EDM RISING UNEMPLOYMENT RINGING SOCIAL ALARM BELLS IN TURKEY

The Divisions of Cyprus (letters)
London Review of Books

Media mergers may help Turkey's struggling govt

The Generals and Islam in Turkey
Khaleej Times

Rapporteur Favors Rejecting Turk Headscarf Case: TV

IHT Police arrest 10 men in three countries in Europe in terror investigation Ten men of Turkish origin were arrested Friday in three European countries as part of a French investigation into what a judge said was a financial-support network tied to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a terrorist group with links to Al Qaeda.

El Kaide baskınında bir Türk gözaltında

ABD: Seçmen iradesi esas

Turkish voters spoke twice last year, says Bryza

Laikliği korumanın en iyi yolu parti kapatmak mı?

Ne AKP’li ne de karşıyız

ABD'li müsteşar: Ülkenin geleceğini seçmenler belirler

Demokrasinin tarafındayız

'Radikal dincilerin işine yarar'

Rusya, Türk yardımına öfkeli

Moskova, Türkiye ve üç ülkeyi Gürcistan�a askeri yardım yaparak Kafkaslar�da istikrarı bozmakla suçladı

Arap İslamî hareketler: AK Parti'nin kapatılması El Kaide'nin işine yarar

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

Taha Akyol Kürt sorununda yeni gündem

Türk'ün çıkışı DTP'deki şahinleri rahatsız etti

‘Türk’ün açıklamaları resmi görüşümüz’

'Silahlı eylemler zarar veriyor' diyen Ahmet Türk'e Hasip Kaplan'dan destek

Mehmet Kamış Derin statüko, derin PKK

İsrail tarzı eğitim

ABD ve İsrail tarzı operasyon eğitimi için Konya’da “Müşterek Harekât Eğitim Merkezi” kuruluyor.

Öcalan: PKK’ya ‘silah bırak’ çağrısı yaparım

PKK, Dağlıca baskınını belgesel yapmış

4. Öcalan nasıl paketlendi?

’Terör örgütü PKK demedim’

Önce 'terör örgütü' dedi sonra tutanaklardan çıkarılmasını istedi

Cevdet Aşkın

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

Semih İdiz İngilizlerin ‘Türk muhipliği’ depreşti

Hristofyas, zaman kazanma peşinde

Greek military chief of staff to pay rare visit to Turkey

The Divisions of Cyprus (letters)
London Review of Books

Nagehan Alçı
KUC (Kıbrıs Uzlaşma Cumhuriyeti)

[NEWS ANALYSIS]
‘Let’s meet at a cafe’ offer angers Talat

Abdülhamit Bilici Türk'ün Türk'e yaptığı!

'Türkiye'nin rolü felce uğrayabilir'

Ankara open to dialogue with Athens on Web site rift

The economic realities of Greek-Turk relations

Turkish - Greek Militray Exercise Performed In Greece

Mahir Kaynak Ziyaret

Gorbaçov'dan AKP yorumu

Hedo Okur Tuncay Nihat Altintop

Polislerin çoğu alt kültürden geliyor

Aileye kutsama

Erdoğan “Aile değerlerinin zayıflaması çok büyük bir tehdittir.” dedi

Fileye ‘türban’ şoku

Başımı kapatmadım ama kapatabilirim

Afganistan değil Kütahya!

Ergenekon davası Silivri'de görülecek

Rektörlerin aylık geliri devlet sırrı gibi

İşte Kandil'i vuran F-16 pilotları

H3 Fikri Sağlar'dan garip iddia

Raportör: Başörtüsüne iptal talebi reddedilmeli

Türban raporu ret ağırlıklı

Osman Paksüt: Bana baskı yapıyorlar

Hukukçular: Yeni anayasa raftan insin

Raportörden türban davasına 'ret' görüşü

Polis ‘akaryakıt’ takibindeymiş!

Operasyonu deşifre eden Paksüt'ten itiraf

Kamera kayıtları iddiaların asılsızlığını ortaya çıkardı...

İhsası rey değil hukuki izah

5 AKP’liye yazılı savunma

AKP komploya karşı Paksüt’ü koruyor

‘Polis haddini aşmıştır’

Şüphesi operasyonu bitirdi

Turkey’s early elections end in disappointment for some parties

İşadamının tutanakları AKP’ye yeni gensoru

Son Dakika Milliyet Hürriyet Zaman

Cengiz Çandar Türkiye’nin İngiliz ve İspanyol dostlarıyla...

Ahmet Taşgetiren “Iskarta sanatçılar...”

Ruşen - Çakır

Taha Akyol Kürt sorununda yeni gündem

Fikret Bila

Hasan Cemal Anayasa Mahkemesi’nin kararını beklerken AB yoluyla demokrasi!

Murat Yetkin Çiçek: Baykal baskı yapıyor

İsmet Berkan Sizin paranoyak olmanız...

Fehmi Koru Yeni duruma yeni formül

Taha Kıvanç Gör başıma neler geliyor

Şamil Tayyar

Ali Bayramoğlu Bir ruh hali olarak laiklik…

İsmail Küçükkaya
Büyük resim ortaya çıkıyor...

Yasemin Çongar

Serdar Turgut AKP reele çarptı

Ertuğrul Özkök Bir gemi iki imparatorluk

Ali Bulaç İki merkez

Sabahattin Önkibar Dinleme Ergenekon savcısına yapılsaydı neler olurdu?

Ömer Lütfi Mete Hangimiz Gladio’cu değiliz?

Ahmet Hakan

M Ali Birand Sigara yasağına tersten başlıyoruz

Cüneyt Ülsever

Enis Berberoğlu Sadece bando ile yaver

Mehmet Altan Siz hangi Türkiye’desiniz?

[YORUM - DOÇ. DR. MAZHAR BAĞLI] Bürokratik devlet amacına ulaşıyor mu?

Oktay Ekşi

Özdemir İnce

Mehmet Y Yılmaz

MUHARREM SARIKAYA

ERDAL ŞAFAK

ENGİN ARDIÇ Doğu Perinçek korkunç bir yalancı

ERGUN BABAHAN Yurttaş Kane

Sürüklenirken çözülüyoruz
HALUK ŞAHİN

AKP’ye yargı dersi
MEHMET ALİ KIŞLALI

EMRE AKÖZ

Umur Talu

HASAN BÜLENT KAHRAMAN

Medya katili aydınlar

NAZLI ILICAK Herkes tedirgin

MEHMET BARLAS

MAHMUT ÖVÜR CHP'nin İstanbul seçim stratejisi

YAVUZ DONAT

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIM

Ercan Kumcu

Erdal Sağlam

Deniz Gökçe
İstihdam cephesinde pozitif büyüme sinyali

Economy minister: Turkey must focus on innovation, technology

H4 New York Times Saudis Rebuff Bush, Politely, on Pumping More Oil

Sunni Insurgents in Mosul Offered Amnesty and Cash

Audio Message From bin Laden Condemns Israel

The Saturday Profile: Released From Rigors of a Trial, a Nobel Laureate’s Ink Flows Freely

World Briefing | Asia: Pakistan: Army Blames U.S. For Strike

Skirting Appalachia Barack Obama is unlikely to win the heart of Appalachia in the general election, but he may not need to if he can make up ground elsewhere

GAIL COLLINS McCain’s Superfuture If the Arizona senator’s domestic vision is far removed from reality, what does that say about his plan for international harmony via military interventions?

Editorial The President Goes Negative It is damaging for America when President Bush’s penchant for slash-and-burn politics are put on display abroad.

Obama Says Bush and McCain Are ‘Fear Mongering’ Senator Barack Obama responded sharply to attacks on his foreign policy and tried to turn the tables on his Republican critics.

High-Tech Japanese, Running Out of Engineers Engineering skill made Japan an economic superpower, but its young people are now choosing other careers.

Famine Looms as Wars Rend Horn of Africa In Somalia, villagers say hundreds of people are dying of hunger and thirst amid soaring global food prices, skimpy rainfall and escalating violence.

White House Memo: A Fast-Fading Sway: The Nation’s Leader, but Not His Party’s

H5 Washington Post Oil Efforts Are Best Possible, Saudis Say Push on Prices by Bush Is Gently Turned Aside

Mosul Insurgents Are Offered Cash for Arms Iraqi Officials Set 10-Day Amnesty Period

Power Barometer: Winning Iraq By Leaving

Bounties a Bust in Hunt for Al-Qaeda Lavish U.S. Rewards Program Has Failed to Dent Network's Leadership

Crises Cloud China's Olympic Mood as Quake Tests Party's Mettle

Opening China By Peter M. Herford,

Why the official Chinese media is giving the world, and its citizens, so much information about this week's earthquake.

Iraq's Slow Refugee Funding Has Ripple Effect: U.N. Says It May Scale Back Its Effort; Some Nations Have Withheld Payments

Obama Strikes Back at Bush On Diplomacy

The Glitter Twins By Kathleen Parker, Obama and Edwards look and talk pretty, but their message of unity won't work.

They Could Do More By Ali H. Soufan, How Yemeni officials, and the former U.S. ambassador to Yemen, could help the FBI in the fight against terrorism.

U.S. to Send N. Korea 500,000 Tons of Food Aid State Department Denies Revival of Program Is Tied to Progress in Nuclear Talks

Japan Feeling Left Out as U.S. Talks to Pyongyang

H6 Guardian Saudis reject Bush's oil price appeal US president makes renewed appeal to help cut record oil prices, during visit to Saudi Arabia

Weak dollar and supply worries push oil to fresh high of $128

Crude oil price increased sixfold in past eight years, fuelling debate about dwindling resources

Solving the food crisis Muhammad Yunus A comprehensive global plan is needed to tackle the high cost of food that threatens the lives of the world's poorest and most vulnerable people

Beirut, seen from Tehran

M Cist Iranians are unsure what to make of recent events in Lebanon. Are they the result of Bush's incompetence, or part of his plan?

President without shame

Richard Silverstein George Bush's suggestion of a moral equivalence between appeasing Nazi Germany and negotiating with Palestinians is an outrage

Italy poll: 68% want Roma expelled

Government accused of stoking racial tension as poll shows majority want Italy's 150,000 Gypsies removed

Sacrificial lamb Leader: The refusal of the ruling coalition to accept the resignation of Sharif's ministers is a sign of the gravity of the situation

Hebron is a ghost town where joggers carry automatic rifles

Ian Jack: For the settlers, subsidies and tax breaks have become as important a motive as Deuteronomy

Conception and conscience

Leader: Britain has been spared the culture wars that beset America

Time to decide: are we with the Germans or the Irish? Martin Kettle: As referendums return to centre stage, we should heed one of the wisest speakers on the subject: Margaret Thatcher

Forgotten But Not Gone By: Menzies Campbell | The Guardian
If governments around the world want the legal black hole of Guantánamo Bay to end, they need to take responsibility for those still held there.

Allez aux Etats-Uni d'Amerique!

Ian Williams: A senior Republican accuses the Democratic party of wanting to turn America 'into France'. Quelle horreur!

UK demands repayment of climate aid to poor nations Developing countries attack plan to offer warming help as loans instead of grants

H7 A Complicated Alliance By: Lee Hudson Teslik | Council on Foreign Relations Today, oil still dominates U.S.-Saudi ties. But the fairly straightforward buy-sell dynamic between the world’s leading importer and leading exporter of crude is increasingly complicated by a host of other issues, from security cooperation to currency concerns.

Asia Times Tehran ponders the spoils of victory
Hezbollah's display of strength in Lebanon leaves its backer, Iran, emboldened. Tehran is now in a stronger position to negotiate a deal with the United States pertaining to its nuclear file. Or it could do something radical, such as trade off Hezbollah in exchange for a greater piece of the Iraqi cake. All options are on the table. - Sami Moubayed

Saudis, US grapple with Iran challenge The reaction to the flareup in Lebanon has left Saudi Arabia (and its United States ally) with no doubt that there are not many takers in the Arab world for anti-Iran, anti-Hezbollah ploys. This leaves the George W Bush administration with little choice other than to resort to back-channel diplomacy to engage Tehran, while the Saudis, too, will have to re-asses their stance on Iran. - M K Bhadrakumar

Bush, McCain dream on in war landBush and the man who hopes to replace him, Senator John McCain, have divulged to the world their beautiful dreams, in which Middle East weapons have become ploughshares, bitter enemies lie down together as lambs and evil powers abandon nuclear weapons. This stuff keeps the neo-cons happy, even though the politics that will make it reality are absent. - Jim Lobe

TIME Welcome to Hizballahstan The militants' easy victory in the battle for Beirut leaves the U.S. yet again on the losing side of an Arab conflict, with little leverage and few options

A Gulf Apart By MICHAEL ELLIOTT

Lebanon is inflamed once more by old hatreds. Yet elsewhere in the Middle East a new Arab world is emerging, with powerhouses like Qatar and Dubai leading the way

Joe Klein Hamas Hysteria Smeared by McCain, Obama says he won't talk to the bad guys. They're both failing the leadership test

Al Hayat Lebanon's Battles in Light of the Struggle for Regional Domination Raghida Dergham - Hezbollah's coup in Lebanon is one of the episodes of a new regional order in the Middle East, one that is imposed by the Islamic Republic of Iran through the language of weapons pointed towards the interior to insure local domination.

Bashir Gemayel and Hassan Nasrallah Abdullah Iskandar - There is something in common between the political projects for Lebanon that the late President Bashir Gemayel previously tried to accomplish and Hezbollah's Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is currently attempting to undertake.

Questions for the Opposition Ghassan Charbel - If the Lebanese government was said, in light of the two decisions it took, to have erred in assessing the sensitiveness of the issue and the gravity of the timing, then can't it be said that the opposition, with the first shot it fired in the streets of Beirut, has poorly assessed Lebanon's sensitive structure, a mistake tantamount to a fatal sin?

Sadr Movement at a Crossroads By: Kamal Nazer Yasin | ISN Security Watch The Sadr Movement has been strong in post-Saddam Iraq, but its future is now uncertain with the Iraqi government taking the movement on head first

FT McCain’s worrying foreign policy

To continue the policies of the Bush years would be a disaster for the US and therefore for the world. Barack Obama may lack the Republican candidate’s experience but he is right that it is time to turn the page on failure

Europe’s monstrous market misgivings Support for free trade has dropped sharply in the region – and even more so in the US, writes John Thornhill

Real spies grow harder to find

Christopher Caldwell on the intelligence game

Serbia still in Milosevic’s shadow

The ghost of Slobodan Milosevic continues to haunt Serbia, long after he precipitated the collapse of Yugoslavia by espousing Serbian nationalism

Pressures mount on UN peacekeeping As diplomats prepare the biggest peacekeeping budget in United Nations history, concerns are being raised that the demands on the forces are running out of control

Bin Laden releases Israel tape

In an audio tape to mark Israel’s 60th anniversary Osama bin Laden vowed to continue to fight the Jewish state and its allies in the West

Hezbollah's Defeat By: Tariq Alhomayed | Asharq Alawsat
If the events in Lebanon today are perceived in accordance with who won and who lost, then the answer is undoubtedly Hezbollah and its leader Hassan Nasrallah are the losing party

Losing Lebanon By: Gershom Gorenberg | The American Prospect
Violence has shaken Lebanon as Hezbollah, backed by Iran, resists efforts by the nation's pro-western government to weaken its power

EDITORIAL: Use Syria to Defang Hezbollah

City Journal: The Real Iraq — Moment of Truth in Iraq, by Michael Yon …

Sustainable Development and Poverty Reduction under Mubarak's Program IDE
This 36-page Japanese discussion paper describes and analyses the major features of economic development and poverty reduction in Egypt during its transition to a market economy

African Economic Outlook 2007-2008
Source: African Development Bank, OECD Development Centre, and the Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA)

The war over the war

By Victor Davis Hanson

The war in Iraq is in its sixth year — and we, the public, are in our sixth year of reading warring accounts about it.

WSJ Saudis Rebuff Bush on Oil

Bush conceded the current level of Saudi Arabia's oil output isn't the prime factor driving today's oil spike, after the Saudi king rebuffed the president's request for higher oil production. The exchange came as crude-oil futures closed above $126 a barrel for the first time

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

Bush fails to win Saudi help on gas prices

Saudis 'resist Bush oil pressure'
Saudi Arabia rejects a US appeal to raise oil production saying there is no new demand, US officials say.

More Pressure Needed to Curtail Iran’s Destabilizing Activities

Iran Slams Saudi Officials Over Lebanon Turmoil Comments

Lebanese leaders gather in Qatar Lebanon's rival leaders start talks in Qatar aimed at pulling the country back from the brink of civil war.

Dangerous ground
Hezbollah offensive pushes Lebanon's frail unity to the limit

Pulling strings
Iran's key role in restraining Shia militias in Iraq

Saudi Editorial Says Bush Trying to Create "Diversion" By Seeking Any Progress

Iraq's Zebari Views Lebanon Situation, Upcoming Iraq-US Agreement

Russian Deputy Minister, Iranian Envoy Discuss Middle East Situation

Bahraini Defence Forces Head Views Domestic, Foreign Threats, Peace With Israel

Russia Urges Possible Participants in Mideast Summit to Decide on Time for Moscow Conference

WINEP Kuwaiti Elections: Democracy in Action? Despite political tensions with the royal family, Kuwait's parliament is relatively powerful compared to others it the region, making May 17 elections a consequential exercise in Arab Democracy. David Pollock and Mehdi Khalaji write

Leaders to meet with Hezbollah about unity deal Leaders of Lebanon's U.S.-backed government and the Hezbollah-led opposition went to Qatar yesterday for the highest-level talks since the country's political crisis began 18 months ago

H9 Ha’aretz – PMO: U.S., Israel see need for 'tangible action' on Iran nukes

Report: Police to confront Olmert with new evidence

Bin Laden vows to 'fight' Israel for Palestinian land

White House denies accusation Bush ignoring Palestinian plightPalestinians disappointed U.S. president did not press Israel to compromise on recent trip

The greatest achievement and failure of the Jewish people

Bush should be measured by the yardstick he prescribed to Obama

Jerusalem PostUS agrees to help Saudi Arabia develop civilian nuclear program

Decision comes after Saudis reject Bush appeal to increase oil production; leaders share concern that Lebanon violence emboldens Iran.

Column One: Hizbullah's power play

[ CAROLINE GLICK ,

Guest Column: Too many Jews? By IRA RIFKIN
The root cause of the growing food shortage is human overpopulation

'Google shmoogle'

Google founder Brin, News Corp.'s Murdoch in Israel to honor 60th b-day

Yedioth Ahronoth 'Bush boosted Iran, Hamas'
Harsh attack: Presidential hopeful Obama claims rival McCain wants to 'double down' on Bush's failed policies, says Administration must explain 'why Hamas now controls Gaza' after US insisted on Palestinian elections

Chavez apologizes to Merkel Venezuelan president shakes hands with German chancellor after likening her to Hitler

The female option

Instead of electing former PMs Barak and Bibi, we should give Livni a chance, Yigal Sarna says

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

New Statesman Israel at 60 Publicly, Israel will not do business with those who do not recognise it. But behind the scenes is a complex web of international contacts

Jane's Defence Weekly How Israel is adapting based on lessons learned from the Second Lebanon War

Sixty Years On, Israel Emerges as an Economic Force

Debka Exclusive: Bush’s Knesset speech puts Obama’s Iran policy on the spot Would Obama come to terms with Iran as a nuclear power?

A Test for Abbas By: Adam Brodsky | New York Post
Anyone with high hopes for the Middle East Road map as President Bush arrived in Israel Wednesday might reasonably be considered insane.

Israel's Outlook at 60: Either More of the Same, or Not ; How is Independence Preserved? Our Nation's Founders Knew: Only By Eternal Vigilance.

Israel Must Restore Deterrence Along Gaza Border

Palestinian Faction Leaders Emphasize Constants at National Accord Conference

H10 Christian Science Monitor

ASIA

Earthquake in China: the aftershocks The Sichuan disaster may have wider political implications

China leader spurs rescue effort China's President Hu Jintao urges rescuers in the earthquake-struck province of Sichuan to race to save lives.

A review of Will China Fail? The Limits and Contradictions of Market Socialism by John Lee

A New Course for Pakistan
Source: Center for Strategic & International Studies Full Report (PDF; 1.6 MB)

The Afghan-Pakistan War: A Status Report
Source: Center for Strategic & International Studies Full Report (PDF; 6.2 MB)

"Text" of Joint Communique of China, Russia, India Foreign Ministers' Meeting

Weekly Standard A Counterinsurgency Grows in Khost
by Ann Marlowe

Welcome to the Burmese Police State Der Spiegel With more than 180,000 dead and 2.5 million affected, the suffering in Burma is growing by the day because the ruling junta continues to block foreign aid. The Burmese military would like to cut off the country from the rest of the world again as soon as possible

The North Korea Challenge By: Danielle Pletka and Robert Bolton | American Enterprise Institute
The Bush administration is on the verge of signing an agreement with North Korea that, it argues, will result in the denuclearization of the Korean peninsula. In practice, however, the likely outcome will be the continuation of North Korea's nuclear weapons program and the proliferation of North Korean nuclear technology around the world.

Afghanistan Copper Deposits Worth $88 Billion Attract Chinese Investors By: Jeremy Page | The London Times
Somewhere beneath the valley’s floor lies one of the world’s biggest untapped copper deposits, estimated to be worth up to $88_billion (£44 billion) – more than double Afghanistan’s entire gross domestic product (GDP) in 2007

U.N. Official Raises Alarms Over Killings in Afghanistan By: Carlotta Gall | The New York Times
A special investigator for the United Nations on Thursday accused foreign intelligence agencies of conducting nighttime raids and killing civilians in Afghanistan with impunity.

India's Real Terrorists By: Chan Akya | Asia Times
Though Asia in general had a bad week, India's problems stand out as the most intractable and subversive, harking as they do to the dominance of age-old communist thinking that has bred a cesspool of corruption

China and the Danger of Anti-Western Boycotts
Clingendael A 2-page Dutch commentary on the implications of Chinese boycotts of Western goods

Asia's Lessons for African Development Strategies AJISS
A 6-page Japanese article offering lessons for African development

Asian Democracies Should be Taken More Seriously
AJISS
A 4-page Japanese article urging the West to recognise the existence and relevance of a democratic Asia

H11 IHT German industry seeks role in modernizing Russia The German foreign minister, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, told President Dmitri Medvedev of Russia that German industry was prepared to help the Russian economy reduce its dependence on energy and commodities.

Police arrest 10 men in three countries in Europe in terror investigation Ten men of Turkish origin were arrested Friday in three European countries as part of a French investigation into what a judge said was a financial-support network tied to the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, a terrorist group with links to Al Qaeda.

Extend the law to the gunslingers in Iraq That the U.S. is so reliant on private guards to plug the holes in the military underscores how badly the Bush administration has mismanaged the occupation of Iraq.

Treaty for cluster bombs expected during upcoming conference

Support for a ban on cluster weapons has risen sharply since 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon, when, according to United Nations estimates, Israeli troops fired some four million Vietnam War-era submunitions, of which a quarter failed to explode.

Food crisis meets chaos in Horn of Africa

A collision of troubles throughout the region, including skimpy rainfall, soaring food prices and escalating violence, has pushed many people here to the brink of famine.

EUROPE European press review

Bilateral Diplomacy in the European Union: Towards "Post-Modern" Patterns?
Clingendael A 37-page Dutch paper examining the role of bilateral diplomacy in the EU

Another Name for NATO? Clingendael
This 2-page Dutch commentary calls for a re-branding of NATO

Germany Supports Planned US Radar in Czech Republic

A review of Imagining Spain: Historical Myth and National Identity by Henry Kamen

Italy's Foreign Policy Seen Changed Since Berlusconi's Last Spell in Office

Macedonian President Warns Election Incidents May Cause "Internal Tensions"

H12 RFE/RLKremlin's Most Secretive Figure Moves To Cabinet

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin will be responsible for industry, energy, and natural resources. His appointment is perhaps the clearest signal that the second age of Vladimir Putin will be an intensely amplified version of the first

Analysis: Global Food Crisis Catches Up With Russia

Analysis: Does Azerbaijan Face A New Irredentist Threat?

Analysis: Armenian Opposition Issues New Ultimatum

Serbia: Is Nationalist-Socialist Coalition Ready To Take Power?

Russian Opposition Takes A Principled Stand The meeting in Moscow this weekend of Russia's opposition National Assembly -- if the authorities allow it -- seems either hopelessly quixotic or comically pathetic

Georgia: Minister Heads To Moscow Amid Fresh Spying Charges

Russia: Moscow Pushes Ahead With Pipeline Bypassing Belarus

Google News Azerbaijan

EDM U.N. RESOLUTION ON ABKHAZIA SHOWS WHO’S WHO ON ETHNIC CLEANSING

- LITHUANIA AND KAZAKHSTAN PLAN COOPERATION PROJECTS

- U.S.-AZERBAIJAN RELATIONS GO THROUGH TENSION, YET MAINTAIN STRATEGIC ALLIANCE

Tell-tale travelers' tales
Russia and Iran in the Great Game by Elena Andreeva
Opinion in Russia today on Iran is divided over whether or not to engage the country. This same division existed in the late 19th century, the era on which the author focuses, using the writings of Russian travelers to Iran. What the lively book lacks is a comparison of what European travelers to Russia felt. - Dmitri Shlapentokh

Tajikistan: Who’s in Charge?
Mystery continues to engulf Tajikistan’s first family, which appears preoccupied with a destabilizing power struggle. The continuing uncertainty surrounding the president and his close relatives suggests that a bout of instability could be in the offing for Central Asia’s poorest nation.

Loosening Russia's Grip on Gas By: Pierre Noel | The Moscow Times
There is a broad consensus in Brussels on the need for an external energy policy to diversify suppliers and routes and loosen Russia's grip on the European natural gas market

Russian Pundit Examines Features of Putin's New Status As Prime Minister

Russia Concerned About Nato's Plans to Create Another Abm System

H13 The Times Mass graves for China's dead, 5 million homeless Authorities tell soldiers to bury dead quickly but photographs and hair are taken first for DNA identification later

Earthquake in China: the aftershocks The Sichuan disaster may have wider political implications

Republicans in fear of election meltdown Party faces worst defeat in a generation as Democrats seek 60 senate seats and majority of 70 in House of Representatives

Why did so many Chinese schools collapse? Nearly 7,000 classrooms were destroyed in earthquake and parents are demanding to know why from the Beijing government

Wall Street Journal Beseeching the Saudis
An American President should not go begging.

How to Enrage a Democrat
'Appeasement' opens familiar wounds on national security.

Time How the Next President Should Fix the Economy (The Well / Nation)
Your paycheck is shrinking, gas costs $4 a gallon, and your house is losing value. Here's how to tackle the big issues

H14 Financial Times Saudis to boost oil output after US pressure

The announcement of an increase production by about 300,000 barrels a day came after a plea by US president George W. Bush to King Abdullah at a meeting in Riyadh

McCain’s worrying foreign policy

To continue the policies of the Bush years would be a disaster for the US and therefore for the world. Barack Obama may lack the Republican candidate’s experience but he is right that it is time to turn the page on failure

Europe’s monstrous market misgivings Support for free trade has dropped sharply in the region – and even more so in the US, writes John Thornhill

Real spies grow harder to find

Christopher Caldwell on the intelligence game

Serbia still in Milosevic’s shadow

The ghost of Slobodan Milosevic continues to haunt Serbia, long after he precipitated the collapse of Yugoslavia by espousing Serbian nationalism

Pressures mount on UN peacekeeping As diplomats prepare the biggest peacekeeping budget in United Nations history, concerns are being raised that the demands on the forces are running out of control

Bin Laden releases Israel tape

In an audio tape to mark Israel’s 60th anniversary Osama bin Laden vowed to continue to fight the Jewish state and its allies in the West

‘Appeasers’ row unites Democrats

Barack Obama accused George W. Bush and John McCain of trying to fool the US electorate by comparing advocates of talks with America’s adversaries to the “appeasers” of Nazi Germany

US consumer confidence at lowest since 1980 US consumer confidence sank to its lowest level in 28 years this month as anxious shoppers grappled with surging food and fuel costs, according to a new survey published on Friday

Europe against leaders’ presence at Olympics Protests against China’s rule over Tibet appear to have influenced more Europeans to oppose their leaders going to the opening of the Beijing games, says an opinion poll

US-Russia nuclear deal faces struggle The US administration is facing opposition in Congress over a nuclear deal with Russia intended to improve relations between Moscow and Washington

Gideon Rachman’s blogThe digital election: The internet has transformed American campaign finance - and may have solved one of the biggest problems with American democracy

Lunch with the FT: Desmond TutuThe outspoken former archbishop of Cape Town, also a Nobel Peace Laureate, has stepped up as South Africa’s moral conscience – and he readily admits to liking the attention

Man in the News: Wen Jiabao

In a society that is becoming more complex and inquisitive, the Chinese premier has brought a more direct engagement with the victims
of disasters

Merkel faces rebellion on tax cut stance Angela Merkel could be forced to renounce her pledge to eradicate Germany’s budget deficit by 2011 in the face of a challenge by MPs calling for immediate tax cuts

Defiant UMP gives Sarkozy humiliating rebuff

Lawmakers from the French president’s party dealt him a crushing blow by allowing the opposition to defeat a controversial law on licensing genetically modified crops

Paulson cites housing as ‘biggest risk’ US Treasury secretary says the correction in the housing market has ‘further to go’, as new data shows construction of family homes dropping to the lowest level in 17 years

The start of the nasty decade? The government can do a lot to make British workers more productive. But nothing is likely to make the 2010s as pleasant for the economy as the ‘nice’ years have been

Qualified failure The current UK exam system risks achieving the worst of all worlds: presenting results that are not believed, and failing to deliver consistency while stifling originality. Telling the public to expect less will not fix it

H15 Los Angeles Times Quake gives a big jolt to China's old ways Beijing responds with flexibility and openness, and individual initiative surges, signaling a new dynamic

Negotiating isn't appeasement

By J. Peter Scoblic

Save us from the rescuers

By David Rieff

A campaign without the 'gotchas'

By Ezra Klein

Bush weighs down McCain

Obama scorches Bush on appeasement remark The Democrat promptly rejects what he described as an unprecedented attack from the president.

Iraq offers amnesty to militants in Mosul

Prime Minister Maliki says those who turn in their heavy and mid-size arms will receive financial compensation. In Fallouja, eight people, including an infant, are killed in a suicide attack

Saudis see no reason to raise oil production now

Saudi Arabian leaders made clear today they see no reason to increase oil production until their customers demand it, apparently rebuffing President Bush amid soaring U.S. gasoline prices.

Pakistan says it has no knowledge of missile strike

Roots in the Holy Land

Judea Pearl and George Bisharat recount their personal connections to the history of the Holy Land

Editorial

H16 American Politics

Third-party candidacies

Speculation has again begun to mount over the impact that a third-party candidate might have on the general election. Throughout the past 100 years or so, third-party candidates have had disparate impacts.

Obama criticizes McCain for 'naive' foreign policy

Edwards flatly rules out running with Obama

Republican Consultant Alex Castellanos: Obama Has 60 Percent Odds of Winning

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

Time How Healthy Is John McCain? John McCain has faced personal tests most of us can't imagine. But his bout with melanoma after the 2000 campaign makes his health and his age election issues today. Why he's still at risk

Paul Maslin / Salon: How will Barack Obama get to 270?

What If Barak Obama Were a Real Muslim? By: Tom Plate | The Japan Times
A significant number of West Virginians (and others in America) evidently view U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Hussein Obama as a Muslim

H17 Daily TelegraphOsama bin Laden targets Israel

The al-Qa'eda leader has vowed to reclaim "every inch of Palestine" in an audio tape released to coincide with the 60th anniversary of Israel's foundation.

Scotland: one year closer to breaking away as SNP momentum continues

H19 Military Intelligence Terrorism

A Conversation with Michael Rose

The Impartial Intelligence Analyst - Richard Fernandez, The Belmont Club

A review of The Business of War: Workers, Warriors, and Hostages in Occupied Iraq by James A.

Bin Laden driver's trial delayed A military judge postpones the trial of Osama Bin Laden's former driver, Salim Ahmed Hamdan.

H20 Slate

H21 The first chapter from The Judge in a Democracy by Aharon Barak

Here are 5 psychological experiments that prove humanity is doomed

The New Politics of Identity

Why doesn't evolution discourage suicide?

A review of The Purpose of the Past: Reflections on the Uses of History by Gordon S. Wood.

Web Journalist Says Web is Destroying Journalism

A review of Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History by Ted Sorensen

A review of Daniel Tanguay’s Leo Strauss: An Intellectual Biography

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