052408f - 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

BESA Why Time Is on Israel's Side - Efraim Inbar

NY Post Behind the Israel-Syria Talks - Amir Taheri Everyone had been dancing around the idea of Israel-Syria peace talks for at least a year. Why are they happening now? Will they get anywhere?

Wall Street Journal How to Have Successful Negotiations
By Dennis Ross Nonstate actors should not be given something (recognition) for nothing

The Golan Heights and the Syrian-Israeli Negotiations - Dore Gold (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

Ma’ariv Israeli Army Intelligence Gives Slim Chances to Peace Agreement With Syria

Ha’aretz – Iran reportedly irate over Israel-Syria peace talks Sources: Ahmadinejad 'unable to conceal disappointment'; Olmert: Talks won't harm Palestinian front

Rosner's Guests: can "decisive victory" against guerilla achieved?

GuardianIsrael hopes hard power will do the talking Israel is gambling that its military superiority can persuade an isolated Bashar al-Assad to distance himself from Iran and its allies Ian Black

Think small Dani Rodrik: Poor countries need help tackling the specific, local problems that hold them back, rather than one-size-fits-all institutional reform

Some Simple Measures Would Alleviate the Global Food Crisis By: Jeffrey D. Sachs | The Daily Star
But many poor countries can grow more food themselves, because their farmers are producing far below what is technologically possible. In some cases, with appropriate government action, they could double or even triple food production in just a few years

Al Hayat The Menace of George W Bush's Last Months in Office Patrick Seale - In the troubled, conflict-ridden Middle East, President George W Bush has done everything wrong. But his mandate still has half a year to run and, unless restrained, he can do a lot more damage - to the region and to America - before he retires to his ranch at Crawford, Texas, and to the obscurity he amply deserves.

Weekly Standard In the Driver's Seat Condoleezza Rice and the jettisoning of the Bush Doctrine.
by Stephen F. Hayes

Time Bombing Iran: The Clamor Persists

Doha Compromise is 'No Cave In to Hezbollah' - Council on Foreign Relations

McClatchy Mideast Negotiations Now Bypassing Washington

Charlie Rose Show - Guest host George Packer talks to General Anthony Zinni about Zinni's book The Battle For Peace: A Frontline Vision of America's Power and Purpose which calls for an end to unilateral action and an effort on the part of the U.S. to work towards world-wide stability and development.

Al Awsat The Making of Hezbollah Part Two

Los Angeles Times Hezbollah image in Arab world less shiny The Shiite militant group's temporary takeover of West Beirut and fighting with Sunni rivals have been criticized, but it's still popular in the street.

The failed theology of arms control So-called experts are frequently certain about what they know about nuclear material -- and they're frequently wrong

By Gabriel Schoenfeld

Washington Post Clinton Sorry for RFK Assassination Remark

Candidate hastens to explain that she merely intended to refer to another primary that lasted into June, not to suggest Obama might be killed

Power Barometer: Iran's Bold Move

Behind U.S. Intelligence Failures

Mark M. Lowenthal

Sami Moubayed: Syria's Misguided Optimism

A Campaign In Need of A Perot

Alice M. Rivlin and Michael O'Hanlon

Global Wealth Shrinks IMF's Role

Fund rapidly becomes more adviser than lender to Ghana and other prospering world economies

Juan Cole Will Sistani Declare Jihad on US?

BBC Message to US
China and Russia jointly condemn US missile shield plan

Financial Times Over a barrelThe rising cost of crude is hitting profit margins and household budgets. Which countries and sectors will be worst affected?

Russia’s aim in wooing Mr Hu

By travelling east, Medvedev is signalling to the west that he will be hard-nosed and pragmatic in pursuing multiple partnerships

EU to slash emissions from new cars The average new car sold in the European Union in 2020 will have to use less fuel than almost all conventional models on the road today, under plans being drawn up by the European Parliament

Lebanon’s Christians boosted by Doha deal A new electoral law agreed at the talks could give the Christians a pivotal role after next year’s parliamentary elections

IHT Fortunately, Israel doesn't listen to Bush It was irresponsible for President Bush to try to restrain Israel from pursuing a settlement that it judges as possibly being in its best interests.

The alchemists By WILLIAM PFAFF Unregulated oil trades have virtually no useful economic role

PUTIN'S LEGACY Let the good times roll, for Russia's sake

By VIKTOR EROFEYEV

Under Putin, Russians acquired the possibility to live a free private life.

AMERICA'S IMAGE Whose face to the world? By STEVEN W. BARNES The candidates agree: America's public diplomacy is badly flawed

Russia and Ukraine pick a new fight over an old naval base The fate of a Russian naval base in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol has been the subject of renewed bickering between the two nations

Balance of Power Is Continuing to Shift From the US by Leon T. Hadar

NYRB Jihadi Suicide Bombers: The New Wave
By Ahmed Rashid
After September 11, 2001, readers around the world quickly learned about the basic tenets of jihad and its distortion by al-Qaeda. Now the shelves of Western bookshops are again filled with books on the subject, which gives no sign of going away

Asia Times How the US dream foundered in Iraq The unexpected Iraqi resistance - at all levels of society - to the plans of the George W Bush administration has hardly been given its due. This resistance ranges from the Sunni insurgency to oil workers (who aborted a plan to transfer management of the port of Basra to then-Halliburton subsidiary KRB), to tribal leaders, the Sadrists to the national parliament. Thus the "new American century" went missing in action in Iraq. - Michael Schwartz

The Mosul riddle While most attention in Iraq is focused on Baghdad and the troubles in Sadr City, under the global radar an invisible war in Mosul drags on, officially against al-Qaeda jihadis but in fact a barely disguised anti-Sunni mini-pogrom conducted by government-embedded militias. - Pepe Escobar

Where are those Iranian arms in Iraq? The United States military continues to imply that Iranian weapons are flowing into Iraq to arm Shi'ite groups opposed to the US occupation. Yet US officials have not even come close to providing evidence to support the claims - most weapons most likely are bought on the open market. - Gareth Porter

NY Sun The Syrian Mirage – Editorial

Jerusalem Post Column one: Assad's week of triumph [ CAROLINE GLICK

Arabic Writer Says Syrian Leaders "Deceived" Arab Public Opinion

Syrian Minister on Istanbul Talks With Israel, Lebanese Doha Agreement

Syrian Official Hopes Lebanon Accord Will Help Normalize Inter-Arab Ties

Meet Michel Suleiman, Lebanon's Next President (Ya Libnan-Lebanon)

Weekly Standard Change That Matters Iraq has changed. Why can't the Democrats?
by Matthew Continetti

A world beyond control , Paul Rogers

Daily TelegraphUS shelves plans to raid Sadr City Two Iraqi divisions to take up positions in eastern Baghdad but no US troops will be allowed in.

RFERL Analysis: Russian-Armenian Gas Talks Inconclusive

Analysis: Armenian Coalition Partner Lambastes Former President

China/Russia: Focus On Pipelines During Medvedev Visit

Ukraine: Kyiv Summit Seals Caspian Energy Project

Abkhazia: Rumors Of Peace Amid Drums Of War

H2 Harvey Sicherman on Syria and Israel: tactical advantage (and Turkey)

"Türkiye ABD ve İran arasında seçim yapacak"

PKK'nın dış destekçilerine karşı tedbirler alınıyor

PKK’nın umudunu kıracak önlemlere hız veriliyor

Prime Minister Barzani meets President Bush in Washington

Abdülhamit Bilici İran'a saldırı ve AK Parti! Attack on Iran scenario

Türkiye'nin arabuluculuğu: Sınırlar, gerçekler ve tuzaklar

Akdeniz'de tartışmalı tatbikat

Şahin Alpay Kürt sorununa barışçı çözüm

EDM NATIONAL PRIDE HAMPERS TURKISH BORDER SECURITY

Türkiye Ortadoğu’ daki rolünü güçlendirmek istiyor

Mustafa Akyol From isolationism to peacemaking: 'New Turkey' meets Mideast

SETA "The AKP and the Kurdish Issue: What Went Wrong?" by Rabia Karakaya POLAT

[ANALYSIS] Turkish crisis puts ‘post-Islamist’ reform on hold

Türkiye koloni mi

Semih İdiz Leyla Zana’nın Avrupa ile artan akortsuzluğu

N. Barzani Bush ve Cheney ile görüştü

Dağlıca Tabur Komutanı Yarbay Dirik görevden alındı

Condoleezza Rice'dan Türkiye'ye övgü

Bu haber AKP’nin başını ağrıtır!

Türkiye'nin derin devleti

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

Diyarbakır'a 'GAP' çıkarması

Şehidi 25 bin kişi uğurladı

Semih İdiz Leyla Zana’nın Avrupa ile artan akortsuzluğu

SETA "The AKP and the Kurdish Issue: What Went Wrong?" by Rabia Karakaya POLAT

N. Barzani Bush ve Cheney ile görüştü

Ali Bayramoğlu Kürt sorunu ne olacak?

Şahin Alpay Kürt sorununa barışçı çözüm

Cevdet Aşkın Öcalan: Camiler toplumsal merkez haline getirilmeli

Van�da çatışma: 2 korucu şehit

Selek�e Mısır Çarşısı davasından beraat

�Eğitimde� havaya uçtu

Altemur Kılıç 'Büyük Kürd'-istan- oyunu

AKP’ye Ortadoğu’dan düşen şeker
AYŞE KARABAT

Hesap karışık

ABD'nin Irak'da harcadığı milyarlarca doların neye ödendiği belli değil

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

Akdeniz'de tartışmalı tatbikat

Babacan warns EU against watering down promises

Darbe olmasaydı Menderes Moskova'ya gidecekti

Neo-con Rubin'den ulusalcı çıkış: AB yetkilileri sömürge valileri gibi

AB Komisyonu: Yargı reformu hayati ehemmiyette

"Doğrudan müzakere" çağrısı

Tek devlet formülü

Cyprus reunification process remains on track, for now

Greek, Turkish Cypriot leaders differ on timing - Hürriyet

Kıbrıs'ta liderler 'birleşik federal cumhuriyet'te hemfikir

Kafkaslar'da 'civil peynir' diplomasisi

EU says well-functioning judiciary is of crucial importance

Kıbrıs�ta liderlerden federasyon taahhüdü

Türkiye-Ermenistan peynir diplomasisi

Moskova�ya Rusya uzmanı Türk elçi

AB'den Türk yargısına demokrasi hatırlatması

Gökçen Ogan Medvedev'in ilk gezisinin anlamı

Birleşik Federal Kıbrıs Cumhuriyeti

Kıbrıs’ta bir araya gelen Talat ile Hristofyas'tan birleşme yolunda olumlu mesajlar

Fransa'nın Akdeniz Birliği inisiyatifine Doğu Ortaklığı cevabı

Sadi Somuncuoğlu Denetim mi, istismar ve aşağılama mı?

Rumlar, eşitliği kabul etti

Talat ve Hristofyas görüştü

Hedo Okur Tuncay Nihat Altintop

Gov’t declares war against ticks

Sergeant's arrest places Şemdinli back under spotlight

Savcıya yeniden ifade verdi

Çanlar Türkiye için çalıyor!

Sendikalar Tuzla’da birbirine düştü

Climate of hostility
Visibility breeds violence for gay and transgender Turks

How a chair in a kebab shop was transformed into a Royal throne

NTV genç televizyon gazetecileri yetiştiriyor

TOKİ yoksullara yönelik konutu artırıyor

Turkish population thinks media enjoys enough freedom

Güler: "Okullardaki lambalar verimli lambalarla değişiyor"

Boru hattından petrol çalan çeteye 'Yağmur' operasyonu

Ordu'da 31 kaçak silah ele geçirildi: 50 gözaltı

Darbeciler, mektuplardaki sevgi ifadelerini bile sansürledi

H3 Gül, formül arıyor

Bildiri savaşında iki farklı görüş

Prof. Mardin: Öğretmen �mahalle�ye karşı kaybetti

Mahalle baskısı gözle başladı

Şerif Mardin: Mahalle baskısı kavramı yanlış kullanıldı

Masadan kaçmayız

Erdoğan yasaklansa bile başbakan olabilir

Herkes herkese baskı yapıyor

Öğretmen mahalleye karşı kaybetti

Fırat: "Yargıtay tarafsızlığını kaybetti"

Çözüm istemiyorlar

Rektörlerden destek bildirisi

Laikliği koruyacak yeni bir anayasal çerçeve

Step kıyafeti AKP�yi gerdi

Ergenekon’dan 2. kez ifade

TBB Başkanı Özok: "Barış ortamı kayboluyor"

Fırat'tan yargıya: Herkes milli iradeye râm olmak durumunda

Sular durulmuyor

Çavuş�a Şemdinli kalkanı

Kriz günlerine asla dönülmeyecek; istikamet demokrasi

İddianameden çıkan Yarsav bildirisi AK Partilileri şoke etti

Diyaloglar masa başı uydurma

İslamcı Vakit�ten Üskül�e yaylım ateş

Son Dakika Milliyet Hürriyet Zaman

Cengiz Çandar Feyruz, Lübnan, Beyrut...

Ahmet Taşgetiren MHP’li dostlarla...

Ruşen - Çakır

Taha Akyol Yargıda ideoloji sorunu

Fikret Bila AKP cepheyi genişletiyor

Hasan Cemal Paylaşıyorum, ‘Hepimizin umuda ihtiyacı var!’

Murat Yetkin İran nasıl bakıyor?

İsmet Berkan Yargıyla kuvvetler ayrılığı krizi

Fehmi Koru Bağımsız gazetecilik ha!

Taha Kıvanç Kulampara sarması

Şamil Tayyar

Ali Bayramoğlu Kürt sorunu ne olacak?

Yasemin Çongar

Ertuğrul Özkök Tarassut köpekleri işbaşında

Devletine karşı hükümet
MEHMET ALİ KIŞLALI

Ahmet Hakan

M Ali Birand AKP boyun eğmeme kararında

Cüneyt Ülsever

Enis Berberoğlu Taraftan hakem olur mu?

Eyüp Can Abdüllatif Şener Londra’ya gidiyor

Serdar Turgut Gül arabulucu olabilir mi?

Ali Bulaç Yargı'nın hedefi AB

Oktay Ekşi Biraz empati

Bekir Coşkun Hangi cumhurbaşkanı?..

Özdemir İnce

Mehmet Y Yılmaz

Mehmet Altan Birinci Cumhuriyet’in sonu mu?

Ömer Lütfi Mete Yargıç, yargısız infaz yaparsa

Nuh Gönültaş Türkiye Türklere bırakılmayacak kadar önemli bir ülkeyse...

MUHARREM SARIKAYA

ERDAL ŞAFAKSpekülatör

Fikri Akyüz: Tempo'daki edepsiz yazı ve Yargıtay Bildirisi

ENGİN ARDIÇAslında ödleri patlıyor

ERGUN BABAHAN

Başarmalıyız HALUK ŞAHİN

Veda
MURAT BELGE

EMRE AKÖZEgemenlik mücadelesi

Umur Talu

Judiciary’s political war
by
MÜMTAZ’ER TÜRKÖNE

HASAN BÜLENT KAHRAMAN

NAZLI ILICAKKaçan fırsat

MEHMET BARLASBağımsızlık ve tarafsızlık kadar ciddiyet de önemlidir...

MAHMUT ÖVÜRÇiller neden korkuyor?

Güneri Civaoğlu Kafasına kafasına

Can Dündar Dünyanın en güvensiz toplumu

YAVUZ DONATAğacın dalları kendi aralarında kavga eder mi?

YASİN AKTAY

Washington'da ulusalcı mahalle baskısı

Sabahattin Önkibar 28 Şubat süreci ve bugün...

Ahmet Kekeç Bir muhtıra da çeteler için yayınlasanız...

Can Ataklı

İktidardayken emanetçi olmaz

Reha Muhtar Türkiye'nin darbecileri...

Nagehan Alçı Türkiye toplumları

İsmail Küçükkaya
Tuzak

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIM

Ercan Kumcu

Ege Cansen Çelişki, çelişki içermeyebilir

Güven Sak Arjun Murti artık petrol dünyasının kâhini

Deniz Gökçe
Ülkelerin zenginleşme sırrı ne?

Erdal Sağlam Piyasa ekonomisinde ’ram etmek’ yoktur

Enerji, gıda ve emtia enflasyonu
TANER BERKSOY

Dünya Tarımı

Destek ödemeleri dünya tarımını nasıl etkiliyor?

Elektrikte rasyonel fiyatlandırma yüzde 19 zamla başlıyor

H4 New York Times Russia and Ukraine Lock Horns Over Naval Base

Russia and China Attack U.S. Missile Shield Plan

Editorial

McCain’s Health Is Called Robust by His Doctors

Sen. McCain’s Agents of Intolerance John McCain’s belated decision to distance himself from two of the most extreme ministers was long overdue — and we suspect driven more by political ambition.

France’s Bright Shining Lie

By JEAN-CLAUDE GUILLEBAUD Since mid-April, all we seemed to have talked about in France is 1968. We’ve never had such an outpouring of reminiscences. Why such a frenzy of nostalgia?

H5 Washington Post Clinton Sorry for RFK Assassination Remark

Candidate hastens to explain that she merely intended to refer to another primary that lasted into June, not to suggest Obama might be killed

Power Barometer: Iran's Bold Move

Behind U.S. Intelligence Failures

Mark M. Lowenthal

Sami Moubayed: Syria's Misguided Optimism

A Campaign In Need of A Perot

Alice M. Rivlin and Michael O'Hanlon

Global Wealth Shrinks IMF's Role

Fund rapidly becomes more adviser than lender to Ghana and other prospering world economies

Rescuing Pandas -- and Us By Elisabeth Liptak and Robert Litwak The astonishing courage of the Chinese amid disaster.

The Wisdom In Talking By John F. Kerry As President Bush commemorated Israel's 60th anniversary by attacking Barack Obama from overseas, here at home he found an all-too-frequent ally: John McCain.

Editorial The Next President's Health

How much disclosure is appropriate?

Food Costs Push Bangladesh to Brink Bangladesh is among at least 33 other countries, many with shaky governments and destitute populations, at risk of serious political unrest if food prices keep rising, according to World Bank

H6 GuardianThink small Dani Rodrik: Poor countries need help tackling the specific, local problems that hold them back, rather than one-size-fits-all institutional reform

Israel hopes hard power will do the talking Israel is gambling that its military superiority can persuade an isolated Bashar al-Assad to distance himself from Iran and its allies

Ian Black

The collapse of courage Leader: Labour has not yet lost the next general election. The party needs to be reminded of this fact

PM isolated as ministers decide: 'Brown can't win'

Clinton sorry for Kennedy remark

Hillary Clinton cited 1968 assassination of Robert Kennedy to justify her decision to keep campaigning

McCain cuts ties with evangelists

Tibet to be 'swamped' with Chinese after Olympics Beijing is allegedly planning a settlement of ethnic Chinese people in Tibet says Dalai Lama

Saudis donate £250m to UN's food appeal Secretary general Ban Ki-Moon warmly welcomes 'landmark contribution' from world's biggest oil producer

H7

Asia Times How the US dream foundered in Iraq The unexpected Iraqi resistance - at all levels of society - to the plans of the George W Bush administration has hardly been given its due. This resistance ranges from the Sunni insurgency to oil workers (who aborted a plan to transfer management of the port of Basra to then-Halliburton subsidiary KRB), to tribal leaders, the Sadrists to the national parliament. Thus the "new American century" went missing in action in Iraq. - Michael Schwartz

The Mosul riddle While most attention in Iraq is focused on Baghdad and the troubles in Sadr City, under the global radar an invisible war in Mosul drags on, officially against al-Qaeda jihadis but in fact a barely disguised anti-Sunni mini-pogrom conducted by government-embedded militias. - Pepe Escobar

Where are those Iranian arms in Iraq? The United States military continues to imply that Iranian weapons are flowing into Iraq to arm Shi'ite groups opposed to the US occupation. Yet US officials have not even come close to providing evidence to support the claims - most weapons most likely are bought on the open market. - Gareth Porter

NY Sun The Syrian Mirage - Editorial

McCain-Obama Foreign Policy Debate Ignores Reality in Iraq By: Charles Crain | World Politics Review The question of whether a President Obama would sit down with Iranian leaders grabs attention, but is largely irrelevant. Far more relevant is the fact that in Iraq -- the highest-stakes arena of U.S. foreign policy -- Americans already routinely negotiate with their enemies

Commentary: Arab cry of alarm
By ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE (UPI) -- The Arab world’s moderate center must show results -- or it will be outpaced by extremists. A cry of alarm from a prominent Arab statesman who goes public with many secrets.

Same hymn-sheet?
Subtle differences as Rice and Miliband talk jointly to BBC

Why Qatar Is Emerging as Middle East Peacemaker By: NIcholas Blanford | The Christian Science Monitor
With regional powers, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, aligned behind rival players in Lebanon, Qatar is uniquely suited to help mediate Lebanon's crisis. It's seen as charting an unashamedly independent path in the maze of Arab politics,

Pakistan May Turn Over US 'Spies' to Iran

South American Presidents Meet on New Bloc as Mistrust Builds By: Joshua Goodman | Bloomberg News
Leaders of 12 South American nations will set aside growing mistrust and ideological divisions today in Brasilia to sign a treaty to create a continental bloc modeled on the European Union

Saudi aid bails out U.N. food agency The U.N.'s lead food aid agency said yesterday it has raised the money to cover an emergency funding shortfall due to soaring world food and fuel prices, thanks in large part to a last-minute $500 million donation from Saudi Arabia.

The Iranian Brotherhood! : Mshari Al-Zaydi

The Doha Agreement: Hezbollah's Second Rescue Raghida Dergham - Sharm El Sheikh -- The Doha Agreement between the Lebanese parties is a breakthrough that may be transformed into a decisive achievement if Qatar manages to build a relationship between the state and the organized groups, a relationship that rests on the following self-evident concept: there can be no multiplicity of security in any stable country

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

Arabic Writer Says Syrian Leaders "Deceived" Arab Public Opinion

Syrian Minister on Istanbul Talks With Israel, Lebanese Doha Agreement

Syrian Official Hopes Lebanon Accord Will Help Normalize Inter-Arab Ties

Meet Michel Suleiman, Lebanon's Next President (Ya Libnan-Lebanon)

U.S., Israel "Afraid" of Iran's Power

Russia, China Favor the Solution of Iran's Nuclear Problem Through Dialogue

Shi'ites Accuse Iraqi Army of Truce Violations

Al-Qa'Idah Behind Attack on Iranian Diplomats in Iraq - Advisor

EU Preparing Sanctions on Iran's Biggest Bank

Iran And Syria to Attend Iraq Meeting In Sweden – Reuters

Iraq Troops Relax in Cleric Sadr's Former Bastion - Reuters

Basra Shooting Strains Truce Between Govt, Militia - Associated Press

Why US Must Pull Out of Iraq - Sean Duggan, Boston Globe opinion

USIP Dialogue on Media and Conflict - United States Institute of Peace

H9 Ha’aretz – Iran reportedly irate over Israel-Syria peace talks Sources: Ahmadinejad 'unable to conceal disappointment'; Olmert: Talks won't harm Palestinian front

Rosner's Guests: can "decisive victory" against guerilla achieved?

Blame the Israel Lobby for Clinton's loss? (WTR)

UN: No. of roadblocks in W. Bank up 7 percent from last Sept.

Syria hesitant to let IAEA inspect alleged nuke site hit by IAF Syria rebuffs U.S. intelligence pointing to an almost completed graphite reactor built with N. Korean help

Amid Talks, Golan Development Booms – Yuval

Poll: Peace between Israel & Syria?

Should American Jews Embrace Living Double Lives?

Jerusalem Post Ahmadinejad 'displeased' by talks

"Syria's overtures to Israel violate its commitment to Iran"; Turkish official says talks to resume.

Politics: Wishing on a star? By GIL HOFFMAN
As Olmert speeds up his efforts to make history, Kadima ministers scramble to vie for his seat.

Column one: Assad's week of triumph [ CAROLINE GLICK

'Turkish-mediated talks with Syria to resume in two weeks'

Legacy of Islamic Anti-Semitism - Raphael Israeli (Jerusalem Post)

Israel-Syria - now the arguing begins [ HERB KEINON

Yedioth Ahronoth

Long Road to Syrian-Israeli Peace Accord - Shai Bazak

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

Ma’ariv Israeli Army Intelligence Gives Slim Chances to Peace Agreement With Syria

Beirut Steps Back from the Brink, Again - Nicholas Blanford, London Times

In Sign of Change, Israeli, Palestinian Officers Meet - Associated Press

Israeli Police Question Olmert Again - Isabel Kirshner, New York Times

An Unmentionable Truce? By: Sadie Goldman and Jason Proetorius | Israel Policy Forum
A Hamas-Israel cease-fire could be on its way, but you wouldn't know it. No press conference will be held to announce it.

The Golan Heights and the Syrian-Israeli Negotiations - Dore Gold (Institute for Contemporary Affairs-Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

Anti-Semitism among Palestinian Authority Academics - Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

Israel's Historic Achievement - Mortimer Zuckerman

Former Indonesian President Describes Lynching of Jews in Iraq

Microsoft Opens New R&D Facility in Israel –

Israeli Economy Weathers Global Storm - Neal Sandler (Business Week)

Anti-Semitic Hate Speech in the Name of Islam - Matthias Kuntzel (Der Spiegel-Germany)

$1.4bn pledged for Palestinians Palestinian PM Salam Fayyad says a conference has raised $1.4bn of new investments in Palestinian areas.

H10 Christian Science Monitor

ASIA

Message to US
China and Russia jointly condemn US missile shield plan

Composite Dialogue: Pakistan, India and Peace By: Naveed Ahmad | ISN Security Watch
Islamabad and New Delhi have not only improved relations significantly since 2004, they have also softened their stance on Kashmir.

China's 'Tofu Buildings' Raise Inflation Risks By: William Pesek | Bloomberg
Economists are busily probing what the China earthquake tragedy means for the world's fastest-growing major economy. For policy makers in Beijing trying to tame inflation, initial opinions won't come as welcome news

Oil price mocks
energy realities
Blame for the surging price of oil - almost double from a year ago - has been pinned on demand from China and India, supply constraints, terrorism scares, among other factors. The real culprits are closer to home, in the offices of banks and hedge funds, leveraged for all their worth.
- F William Engdahl

H11 IHT Fortunately, Israel doesn't listen to Bush It was irresponsible for President Bush to try to restrain Israel from pursuing a settlement that it judges as possibly being in its best interests.

The alchemists By WILLIAM PFAFF Unregulated oil trades have virtually no useful economic role

PUTIN'S LEGACY Let the good times roll, for Russia's sake

By VIKTOR EROFEYEV

Under Putin, Russians acquired the possibility to live a free private life.

AMERICA'S IMAGE Whose face to the world? By STEVEN W. BARNES The candidates agree: America's public diplomacy is badly flawed

Russia and Ukraine pick a new fight over an old naval base The fate of a Russian naval base in the Ukrainian city of Sevastopol has been the subject of renewed bickering between the two nations

In sign of warming ties, Russia and China agree to nuclear cooperation

The deal was concluded during a visit by President Dmitri Medvedev to Beijing on Friday, with the two countries also condemning a U.S. missile shield plan for Europe

Cautiously, British Tories savor a big victory

What's ailing the French? A Sarkozy obsession A year after taking office, Sarkozy can appear to be everywhere - at least in the world of television and print. The daily Figaro counts at least 100 books devoted to the French president, his life and loves, with more than a million sold for about $25.1 million.

Approaching its moment in the spotlight, Serbia is divided

For many Serbs, the televised Eurovision contest is an opportunity to show the world that the Serbia of Slobodan Milosevic is a thing of the past.

Saakashvili's party wins in Georgian vote Citing the preliminary official results, Georgia's Central Elections Commission said Saakashvili's United National Movement party secured 59.5 per cent percent of the vote in Wednesday's ballot.

EUROPE European press review

Yugo-nostalgia
Can Eurovision reunite the Balkans in nostalgia for old unity?

H12 RFE/RL Can Russia Find 'Systemic Solution' To Corruption?

Another government commission or another "code of behavior" is unlikely to make up for an opaque, monopolized, clan-based political system. And it is hard to believe that the so-called liberal lawyer-cum-president cannot see that

Analysis: Russian-Armenian Gas Talks Inconclusive

Analysis: Armenian Coalition Partner Lambastes Former President

China/Russia: Focus On Pipelines During Medvedev Visit

Ukraine: Kyiv Summit Seals Caspian Energy Project

Abkhazia: Rumors Of Peace Amid Drums Of War

Russia and Ukraine Lock Horns Over Naval Base - Michael Schwirtz, New York Tines

Google News Azerbaijan

Russian, Chinese Leaders to Discuss Nuclear Problems of Iran, N. Korea - Kremlin Aide

Resistance to Terrorism Must Be Based on U.N. Charter - Russian- Chinese Declaration

Washington, Prague, Warsaw Could Coordinate Confidence-Building Measures for Russia - Envoy to Nato

China, Russia Condemn US Missile Defense Plans - Associated Press

Georgian Opposition Vows to Boycott Parliament – Reuters

Georgia Opposition Vows Boycott - BBC News

Slate Travels in the Former Soviet Union Uzbekistan's human rights activists are paranoid, weak, and unbelievably brave.
Joshua Kucera

Russia-Kazakhstan: Medvedev Tries to Pick Up Where Putin Left Off
BY JOANNA LILLIS
New Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, making his first foreign foray as president, visited Kazakhstan to emphasize the importance of energy issues in the Kremlin’s geopolitical mindset. While Medvedev and Kazakhstani President Nursultan Nazarbayev offered effusive praise for bilateral ties, the host nevertheless stressed that Astana’s energy-export policy would continue to be based on pragmatic considerations, and not Russian wishful thinking.

H13 The Times Outrage after Clinton 'assassination' gaffe Hillary Clinton rushes out apology after citing 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy as a reason to keep campaigning

Can new China outlive relief effort? The unprecedented access allowed to foreign aid workers could signal a shift in policy by the Communist rulers

Beirut steps back from the brink with optimism Nightlife and business return to normal as Hezbollah tent protesters and their supporters finally leave the Lebanese capital

David Miliband queries Obama's Iran policy Foreign Secretary queried the Democrat’s willingness to meet leaders from rogue states when visiting the US this week

McCain releases 1,173 pages of medical records Republican presidential candidate at pains to show the US electorate that, despite being 71, he is in perfect health

Presidential adviser who argues the case for torture Philip Bobbitt insists he is not telling anyone what to think. But few policymakers are able to ignore his challenging ideas

Germany ratifies EU treaty

Germany's vote means the votes of just 13 more EU members are needed before the treaty passes into law

Wall Street Journal How to Have Successful Negotiations
By Dennis Ross Nonstate actors should not be given something (recognition) for nothing

Trichet Says 'Shocks' Aren't Over European Central Bank President Trichet said potential fallout from market turmoil, coupled with pressures from rising food and commodity prices, add up to "an accumulation of shocks that is clearly not over."

H14 Financial Times Over a barrelThe rising cost of crude is hitting profit margins and household budgets. Which countries and sectors will be worst affected?

Russia’s aim in wooing Mr Hu

By travelling east, Medvedev is signalling to the west that he will be hard-nosed and pragmatic in pursuing multiple partnerships

EU to slash emissions from new cars

The average new car sold in the European Union in 2020 will have to use less fuel than almost all conventional models on the road today, under plans being drawn up by the European Parliament

Lebanon’s Christians boosted by Doha deal A new electoral law agreed at the talks could give the Christians a pivotal role after next year’s parliamentary elections

Israel calls on Syria to cut ties with Iran Jerusalem will demand as part of a peace deal that its adversary end all support for anti-Israel militant groups and make a clean break with its closest ally in the region

WORLD NEWS: Russia and China condemn US shield

WORLD NEWS: Pakistan relaxes curbs on Khan

Network power that works too wellWe are tempted to think that globalisation has fostered diversity. But this is an optical illusion, says Christopher Caldwell

Eurozone faces inflation risk as growth slows The region’s economic growth is slowing rapidly despite Germany’s robust performance, with private sector economic output this month growing at the slowest pace since July 2003

Sarkozy in uphill battle over living standards The French president’s main pledge in his election campaign last year was to improve “le pouvoir d’achat”, or purchasing power, but French consumer confidence has since hit a 21-year low

Italy ready to patrol Afghan danger zones The new centre-right government has taken a significant step to reinforce relations with the US by announcing that it would be prepared to deploy troops in the frontlines

A by-election disaster for Brown

It is hard to see how the UK prime minister can recover. His best course is to provide more decisive government and articulate a clearer vision

Broaden the mind All-business travel can celebrate a unique pair of achievements: being both unprofitable and unaffordable. Care to consider the alternatives?

Bold Etonians

The renewed high visibility of the school’s alumni seems to signal that a renaissance is at hand for Eton College. Harry Eyres recalls his feelings about the institution that shaped many of Britain’s leaders

Mideast wealth funds eye New York property

New York’s real estate industry is looking to the Middle East to replicate the capital infusions that Gulf and Asian sovereign wealth funds made into Wall Street banks struggling with subprime losses, by seeking stakes in big real estate assets on the cheap

H15 Los Angeles Times Hezbollah image in Arab world less shiny The Shiite militant group's temporary takeover of West Beirut and fighting with Sunni rivals have been criticized, but it's still popular in the street.

The failed theology of arms control So-called experts are frequently certain about what they know about nuclear material -- and they're frequently wrong

By Gabriel Schoenfeld

Obama's delusional foreign policy President Bush was right to call it appeasement. By Raoul Lowery Contreras

Key Al Qaeda figure apparently died in U.S. strike in Pakistan

Editorial

Barack Obama would win election match-up The Democratic contender leads Republican John McCain in projected California votes, a new Times/KTLA poll finds

H16 American Politics

A new NEWSWEEK Poll underscores Obama's racial challenge.

Who Is John McCain?
By Michael Tomasky
It is little remembered today that the political career of John Sidney McCain III, a career now thoroughly laundered in mythology, began with the help of several fortuities.

Sources: Clinton, Obama supporters discussing exit strategies

Clinton regrets RFK assassination remark

Fewer Democrats Want Hillary to Drop Out

Geoff Earle / New York Post:

HILLARY RAISES ASSASSINATION ISSUE — DEFENDS LONG-RUNNING CAMPAIGN — Hillary Clinton today brought up the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy while defending her decision to stay in the race against Barack Obama. — “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won …

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

Arianna Huffington / The Huffington Post: Stop Yelling at Hillary to Stand Down and Start Yelling at the Superdelegates to Stand Up

H17 Daily TelegraphUS shelves plans to raid Sadr City Two Iraqi divisions to take up positions in eastern Baghdad but no US troops will be allowed in.

Euro seat for Italian neo-fascist Fiore

1 in 10 British citizens living overseas

We learned this week that more than 200,000 Britons emigrated during 2006, bringing the total of British citizens living abroad to five and a half million.

H18 Independent A cataclysmic by-election defeat... Does this really mark the end of New Labour?

The New Labour coalition of support has collapsed. Voters are deserting the once- heaving big tent that propelled Labour to power and kept it there for more than a decade.

Spain's drought: a glimpse of our future?Barcelona is in the grip of a climate crisis on a scale never seen before in modern-day Europe. And now this parched city is being forced to import supplies from France

Rupert Cornwell: The US constitution can't let Bush go

H19 Military Intelligence Terrorism

We Still Need a Larger Army By: Thomas Donnelly and Frederick W. Kagan | The Wall Street Journal
As a remarkable series of recent speeches indicates, Defense Secretary Robert Gates intends to do what he can during the final months of his tenure to reorient the American military for the tasks of the "Long War."

Pentagon can't account for $15b
Failed to get receipts for everything from bottled water to pickup trucks

John Nagl / SWJ Blog:
America's Greatest Weapon

Germany Plans to Centralize Intelligence-Gathering Activities By: Marcel Rosenbach and Holger Stark | Der Spiegel
German Interior Minister Wolfgang Schäuble wants to set up a central communications monitoring agency in Cologne for use by the police and intelligence agencies, modeled after the US's NSA and the UK's GCHQ. But critics fear the creation of a powerful new super-agency

H.R. 5658, National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2009 (PDF; 198 KB)
Source: Congressional Budget Office

The Best Tanker Won By: Ronald D. Sugar | Los Angeles Times
After a lengthy competition between Northrop Grumman Corp. and Boeing Co., the Air Force has selected Northrop Grumman to build 179 aerial refueling tankers. This program is long overdue, as the Air Force urgently needs to replace its fleet of Eisenhower-era tankers

H20 Slate

The strut and bluster of McCain vs. Obama.
John Dickerson

Containing the Cost of a Cap-and-Trade Program for Carbon Dioxide Emissions
Source: Congressional Budget Office (Statement of Peter R. Orszag, Director, before the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, United States Senate)

Food Price Crisis: A Wake Up Call for Food Sovereignty (PDF; 230 KB)
Source: The Oakland Institute

Some Simple Measures Would Alleviate the Global Food Crisis By: Jeffrey D. Sachs | The Daily Star
But many poor countries can grow more food themselves, because their farmers are producing far below what is technologically possible. In some cases, with appropriate government action, they could double or even triple food production in just a few years

Defuse This Crisis By: Sen. Joseph R. Biden | Miami Herald
ith proper planning, foresight and coordination, this particular crisis might have been managed. But we have not changed course as the price of food has almost doubled in the past three years. Only now, with widespread hunger and civil unrest has the drumbeat of concern reached a high enough pitch to awaken us to action

Food Insecurity By: Peter Mandelson | International Herald Tribune
The food crisis has reinforced two things about the future of agricultural trade. The first is that a growing world population, higher incomes and changes in diet are pushing up global demand for food faster than farmers can supply it. The second is that throwing up new barriers to farm trade on this crowded plant is not the way to fix this.

Analysis of Crude Oil Production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge
Source: Energy Information Administration

The Question of Global Warming
By Freeman Dyson
On A Question of Balance: Weighing the Options on Global Warming Policies by William Nordhaus and Global Warming: Looking Beyond Kyoto, edited by Ernesto Zedillo.

H21 The Library in the New Age
The New York Review of BooksInformation is exploding so furiously around us and information technology is changing at such bewildering speed that we face a fundamental problem: How to orient ourselves in the new landscape? How to make sense of it all? I have no answer to that problem, but I can suggest an approach to it: look at the history of the ways information has been communicated.

The future looks different from the past, but on a grand cosmological scale, maybe it’s all the same. Somewhere, maybe time runs backwards... more»

Are authoritative public intellectuals extinct?

Nasa mission to the Red Planet

Years of preparation to end in "seven minutes terror".

Economics: Which Way for Obama?
By John Cassidy
A review of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein.

Earth would be happier without humans

Looking after 'the planet' means looking after ourselves. Animals and plants can live without us, says Lionel Shriver.

Microsoft Will Shut Down Book Search Program

How to be a classic snob

Joel Stein: Learning the tricks behind having a snotty attitude about orchestral music.

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