071108f - FOREIGN PRESS REVIEW (FPR) - ‘Relevant news, views, comments and analyses for informed debate’ Compiled by Şanlı Bahadır Koç U.S. / Britain / Turkey / Magazines / Think-tanks / Blogs / Misc /Books / Quickread / Numbers / Reports - Subscribe to FPR FPR Table - H4 NYT WP GU H7 ME Isr H10 CSM IHT Eur FSU Asia H13 Times WSJ FT LAT H16 USP DT Ind H19 Mil Int Ter Wonk H21 Misc

H1 Washington Post In Praise of Hard Power By Charles Krauthammer, Diplomacy and moral suasion alone cannot make the world a better place.

Iran's Conflicting Signals to the West Some Observers Suggest That Missile Tests Show a Readiness to Bargain

Capitalism's Reality Check By E. J. Dionne Jr., The biggest political story of the year is economic: the collapse of free-market theory.

Maintaining the U.S. Strategic Advantage By: Bruce Berkowitz | Foreign Policy Research Institute
Instead of focusing on just one threat at time, the US should adopt the strategy of dealing with a series of various threats to maintain the upper hand

China Will Surpass U.S. Economically by 2035, Double by Midcentury Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Full Report (PDF; 196 KB)

McClatchy New poll shows Obama ahead, with ominous signs for McCain Among all voters, Democrat Barack Obama leads Republican John McCain by 48 to 40 percent, a Pew Research Center survey shows. Independents were nearly evenly divided between the two candidates, but 46 percent were undecided. Ominously for McCain, 25 percent of conservative Republicans are not solidly in his camp and only 35 percent of his supporters said they back him strongly.

Ha’aretz Ari Shavit: The real problem is America The very fact that America exported itself is acting as a boomerang against it. The Americanization of the world is what is weakening it.

Arab state tells Israel it won't oppose Iran strike

• 'Is a Military Attack on Iran Imminent?' by Zaki Shalom, Institute for National Security Studies, Israel

Christian Science Monitor

Amid Iran's tests, signs of weakness Evidence mounts that international sanctions are having an impact.

Immanuel Wallerstein Where Is the World Headed? A multipolar world must prepare for a relative decline in US power and the turbulence that may follow

Financial Times Europe promises cheers for Obama – and little else The old continent has already decided: it will get the American president it deserves, writes Philip Stephens. Even those whose sympathies are with the Republican John McCain are caught up in Obamamania. Only Carla Bruni, partner and chanteuse to France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, can compete in the glamour stakes

Democracies must work in concert The pre-eminent need today is not an exclusive club of democracies, but renewal of the world’s global architecture, write Anne-Marie Slaughter and John Ikenberry

Bring back the real McCain Pandering and equivocation do not suit Mr McCain. He best commands respect when daring to offend, and advancing sound but politically awkward positions

France’s Club Med The Union for the Mediterranean may prove to be the high point of France’s EU presidency. But what the region really needs is lasting European commitment

The Economist The Mediterranean economy Club Med The Mediterranean, north and south, is forming a single economic unit. Europe should make it a powerful one

Israel and Iran Coming to a city near you? Be very afraid, please

The G8 summit in Hokkaido They came, they jawed, they failed to conquer

The Economist Barack Obama, New and Improved - The only problem with Obama’s move to the centre is that he’s not moving far enough. The oddity of this election cycle is not that Mr Obama is moving to the centre but that McCain is moving to the right.

Failed Responsibility: Iraqi Refugees in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon International Crisis Group

Washington Post Ahmadinejad in 2009 Maziar Bahari | Why America?s favorite rogue leader won?t be exiting the stage anytime soon.

The Times Iran and Israel's game of bluff The warlike posturing would be more frightening if there were much likelihood of an Israeli attack Gerard Baker

Playing Chicken Iran's missile tests are a deliberate and dangerous provocation to cover up Ahmadinejad's weak political position at home

Israel issues threats as Iranian isolation deepens French group Total froze its role in a $10bn gas project in a victory for the US push against Iran's nuclear ambitions

ANALYSIS: not the end of the affair Total’s apparent retreat sounds like a victory for the US, but it is nothing of the sort

Quickly, Carefully, and Generously: The Necessary Steps for a Responsible Withdrawal from Iraq (printable full text .pdf) (executive summary .pdf),

IHT RUSSIA AND THE G-8

Resolving a credibility problem

By PETER I. BELK AND ALEXANDROS PETERSEN

Medvedev must put his house in order, without Western meddling

Sarkozy aims to revive EU pact this year By STEPHEN CASTLE

The French president said further delays would not be acceptable to voters who would elect a new European Parliament in June of next year

China and a globalisation of sentiment, Kerry Brown

Forward America Sounds a Dovish Note
 as Iran and Israel Trade Threats

Amir Taheri A Very Tangled Web : Amir Taheri

H2 CSM Saving turkey's democracy In a fierce legal battle, Islamists and secularists are undermining the very system that can help them.

NYT Turkish Premier, in Iraq, Highlights a Warming Trend

Four Detained After Deadly Istanbul Attack

Foreign Policy Photo Essay: Turkey’s Year of Turbulence

LA Times Iraq to help Turkey fight Kurdish rebels Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, on a historic visit to Baghdad, in turn says he hopes to increase trade between the countries

EDM INITIAL EVIDENCE SUGGESTS HOMEGROWN ORIGIN FOR ATTACK ON U.S. CONSULATE

‘Türk El Kaidesi’ Kürtlerden nasıl besleniyor

Asia Times Consulate attack exposes Turkey's frailty
A court case seeking to shut down the ruling party, the arrests of high-ranking members of the military and now a deadly terrorist attack on the United States consulate in Istanbul expose Turkey's political instability. The attackers are as yet unnamed, but as as one Turkish analyst says, "Whatever the message they are trying to give, this is a terrorist attack as a result of the unstable atmosphere in the country." - Patrick Wrigley

Almanya PKK ile temasa geçti mi?

Brothers: AK Parti'nin kapanma ihtimali zayıflıyor

VVD questions subsidy for Gülen movement

Müttefik Türkiye’nin yanında durmalıyız

Erdoğan'dan Irak'ta Kürt yönetimine teşekkür

Cengiz Çandar Avrupa’da Fransa-Almanya ne ise; Ortadoğu’da Türkiye-Irak...

Apo, MOSSAD’ın hediyesi mi?

Türkiye NATO kartını kullanmalı

Der Spiegel Kurdish Kidnappers' Demands: PKK Calls on Berlin to End 'Hostile Policy'

Fugitive attacker reported captured in Turkey

ABD’nin Türk polisine şükran borcu var

Barçın Yinanç İstanbul'daki Amerikan polis zirvesine saldırı şoku

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

Mustafa Karaalioğlu Irak’la ‘en üst düzey ilişki’ dönemi

[Yorum - Prof. Dr. Samir Salha] Buzları eriten ziyaret

Iraqi Kurdish Press Highlights 10 Jul 08

Kurdish rebels say no quick release of German tourists

Report: Iran Shells Kurdish Seperatists in Iraq

PKK sets German hostage demands

Erdoğan Irak'tan memnun döndü

Irak'la stratejik ortaklık yolunda bir adım daha atıldı

Hakkari’de hain pusu 8 asker ve 1 korucu yaralı

President Talabani: Turkish PM's Visit to Iraq is Historic

PKK niye kaçırdı?

Şaşırtmacalı ziyaret

DTP, Diyarbakır'da kurultaya hazırlanacak

Kurds, Baghdad reach budget agreement

Turkish PM boosts ties with Iraq

Almanya PKK ile temasa geçti mi?

PKK: Alman dağcıları serbest bırakmayacağız

Alman dağcılar için büyük operasyon

"Irak hava sahası İsrail jetlerine açıldı" iddiası

Erdoğan Irak'ta Talabani ile görüştü

Cevdet Aşkın Erdoğan'dan Barzani'ye teşekkür, PKK'ya karşı yeni dönem

Mümtazer Türköne 'Hangi Kürtler, hangi Türkler?'

Ekrem Dumanlı İşgal altındaki ülkede önemli bir başarı

Sami Kohen Tehlikeli oyunlar

Şırnak'ta çatışma: 1 şehit, 10 PKK'lı öldü

PKK, Tunceli'de TİKKO ile işbirliği yapıyor

Şemdinli’de mayın arayan time pusu

Iraq and KRG agree on Iraq’s complementary budget for 2008 (09/07/08)

From the Heart of Kurdistan Region

Kaçan PKK’lıları İranlılar öldürdü

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

Fransa Meclisi Türkiye'yi üzdü

Akdeniz Birliği’ni 3/5 formülü kurtardı

Türkiye önergesi, yılan hikâyesine döndü

[Yorum - Ali Yurttagül] Türkiye doğru olanı yaptı

[Yorum - Dr. İrfan Yıldırım] Gladyo/Ergenekon ile mücadelede İtalya tecrübesi

Erdoğan, Sarko şovda olmayacak

Zeynel Lüle AB süreci saç beyazlatıyor

Cengiz Aktar

Barselona Süreci: Akdeniz için Birlik

Türkler çok büyük millet

Türkiye’nin Avrupalı olmadığını her fırsatta tekrarlamaktan kaçınmayan Nicolas Sarkozy, bu sefer de Türkler’i övdü

Eser Karakaş Asker, NATO, AB ve Fransa

Türkiye'nin üyeliği artık cumhurbaşkanına bağlı

Talat: KKTC’de teslimiyet yok

Türkiye NATO kartını kullanmalı

Alman Yeşiller eş başkanı Roth KKTC'ye gitmeyecek

Beril Dedeoğlu G-8, D-8 ve diğerleri

Gül’e Erivan’dan maç bileti geldi

Hedo Okur Tuncay Nihat Altintop

Kene kaç kişiyi öldürdü?

Koç Holding dünyanın en büyük 186'ncı şirketi

Bizans Londra'da

Londra'daki Kraliyet Akademisi'nde, Ekim 2008'den itibaren Bizans Sergisi var

Bakan Çelik 'Yerli Erasmus' projesi açıkladı

H3 "Yakaladım Darbeni Paşa!"

MIT’te Ergenekon’un örgüt şeması var

Kasaptaki ete soğan doğramam Günü gelir o zaman bakılır!

DHA: İddianame pazartesi günü verilecek

Saldırı Ergenekon kokuyor

Köşk'te Sarıkız brifingi

Öz: İktidar geçicidir, kalıcı olan Türkiye'dir

Bombalardan önce dosyada Ergenekon izi

Şener'e oy verir misiniz?

Erdoğan’ın koruma amiri görevden alındı

Köşk’te 2 saat darbe sohbeti

Hürriyet o manşeti kimin adına attı?

Kocasakal: Danıştay Ergenekon'a giremez

Tolon’dan yalanlama: Büyükanıt belgesi yok

Sinan Aygün'ün ağabeyi kim?

BİLMECE GİBİ

Dördüncü saldırgan korsan taksici

RTÜK’ten Ergenekon için yayın yasağı

Hedef polisti 'ses getirsin' diye elçilik seçildi

Aynı mahallenin teröristleri

Baykal'dan, Anavatan ve MHP'ye: Gelin bir olalım, sonra ayrışırız

Dördüncü hain yakalandı

Babası da Hizbullah'çı çıktı

Saldırıdaki inanılmaz tesadüf... 'Beni içeri alırlarsa elçilikleri havaya uçururlar'

İfade yok, bilgime başvuruldu

Gül’le görüşen Özkök: Düşüncemi arz ettim

Plan 5 yıl önce planlanmış

Teröristler aynı mahalleden

Baykal: Faşizan operasyon

Saldırıda asıl hedef polisti

Şener, parti için büro bile tuttu

İşkenceci baronun Ergenekon bağı

Kaçan 4. terörist eylem hazırlığında yakalandı

Ergenekon hükümetin elleriyle büyüttüğü bebek gibi

‘Asıl darbeci Özkök’tür, Ergenekon’un avukatı benim’

Polis bilgisayara el koyabilir mi?

Hukukçulara göre, emekli askerlerin yargılanma yeri sivil mahkemeler

MİT Müsteşarı da Köşk'e çıktı

Sol örgüt bağırdı, Küçük nakledildi

Eğitimde cemaat tartışması

Okkır'ın evinden belge çıkmış

CHP: Yargı bağımsızlığı Türkiye'nin en temel konusu

Konsolosluktan gelen çiçeği geri gönderdi!

Şahin: Hükümetin yargıya talimat vermesi mümkün değil

Tutuklu Albay, Balbay'ın görüntüsünü nasıl çektiklerini anlattı

Son Dakika Milliyet Hürriyet Zaman

Cengiz Çandar Avrupa’da Fransa-Almanya ne ise; Ortadoğu’da Türkiye-Irak...

Ahmet Taşgetiren Şener'in işi zor

Ruşen - Çakır Bu kan davası biteceğe benzemiyor

Taha Akyol El Kaide mi Ergenekon mu?

Fikret Bila Gül: Herkes sertlikten kaçınmalı

Hasan Cemal Irak’la stratejik ortaklık mekanizması kuruluyor

Murat Yetkin Özkök’ü dinleyen Gül ‘İstişare Mekanizması’ oluşturuyor

İsmet Berkan

Fehmi Koru Yok aslında birbirinden farkları...

Taha Kıvanç Dükkanı açtık

Şamil Tayyar Ergenekon’da tarihi karar

İhsan Dağı Avrasyacılar tasfiye mi ediliyor?

Hüseyin Gülerce Darbecilere geçit vermeyen komutan

Gülay Göktürk Ergenekon Davasını bekleyen tehlikeler

YALÇIN KÜÇÜK PAŞALAR OPERASYONU'NU ODATV.COM'A YORUMLADI!

Ali Bayramoğlu Askerin krizi ile “beyaz”ın krizi

TAMER KORKMAZ

Yasemin Çongar

Ertuğrul Özkök Şehirde çıkarılan ilginç bölüm

Ahmet Hakan Darbe günlükleri psikopat işi mi

M Ali Birand Darbe günlükleri psikopat işi mi

Nasuhi Güngör İstanbul saldırısına ‘hijyenik’ analizler

Etyen Mahçupyan Illegitimate solidarity

Monopoly to interpret history and the CHP by ESER KARAKAŞ*

Serdar Akinan Saldırının kodları ne?

Mustafa Ünal İşgal altındaki ülkede önemli bir başarı

Cüneyt Ülsever

Enis Berberoğlu

Fatih Altaylı Savcı Öz'ü kim yanlış yönlendiriyor

Yavuz Baydar Turkey’s inevitable lie detector test

Üçüncü seçenek tasfiye edilirken
HALUK ŞAHİN

Serdar Turgut Terörün gizli kodları

Mehmet Metiner El Kaide’nin mesajı!

Bahçeli’nin günahları
MEHMET ALİ KIŞLALI

Üç Paşa HASAN CELAL GÜZEL

Susurluk ve Ergenekon...
ORAL ÇALIŞLAR

Oktay Ekşi

Özdemir İnce

Mehmet Y Yılmaz

Okkır olayı önemsiz mi?
TÜRKER ALKAN

Güngör Mengi

Bir numaralı tanık

Güneri Civaoğlu Yalnız değilsiniz

Mehmet Altan Kuran ve kurşun

Ahmet Kekeç Darbe başarılı olsaydı...

MUHARREM SARIKAYA "Kural, ilke, standart..."

ERDAL ŞAFAK İşgal altındaki kentten izlenimler

ENGİN ARDIÇ Kafayı yeme özgürlüğü

ERGUN BABAHAN Darbe, SABAH ve iftiralar

EMRE AKÖZ Türkiye yerinden oynar!

Metin Münir Benim savcım senin savcını döver

Derya Sazak Şehit polisler

Oray Eğin Ergenekon başarıya ulaşmıştır

Umur Talu Kahramanlar giderken!

HASAN BÜLENT KAHRAMAN

NAZLI ILICAK

MEHMET BARLAS "Fetret Dönemi"ni "Yükselme Dönemi" izledi de ne oldu sanki?

MAHMUT ÖVÜR Merkez sağ 'darbeci' mi?

YAVUZ DONAT Dersin konusu: Demokrasi

Ekonomi

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIM

Faiz nasıl düşecek?

Ercan Kumcu

Erdal Sağlam

Güngör Uras Döviz rezervini yemeye başladık. Bundan sonra ne olabilir?

Hurşit Güneş Dış açık artık doğrudan yatırımla değil, kredilerle finanse ediliyor

Deniz Gökçe Yorum ve haberler yanlış!

‘Dava etkiledi, faizde makas 12.5 kat açıldı’

Bütçe iyi geldi, 6 ayda fazla verdi

IMF ile nihai karar Ağustos'tan sonra verilir

Şimşek: "Cari açık 50 milyar doları bulabilir"

Turkish Premier, in Iraq, Highlights a Warming Trend

While the global economy has been hit by a credit meltdown and surging inflation, Europe has proved surprisingly resilient — until now. With growth slowing, stocks in a tailspin and consumer confidence sinking, here's what to watch out for

H5 Washington Post In Praise of Hard Power By Charles Krauthammer, Diplomacy and moral suasion alone cannot make the world a better place.

Iran's Conflicting Signals to the West

Some Observers Suggest That Missile Tests Show a Readiness to Bargain

Capitalism's Reality Check By E. J. Dionne Jr., The biggest political story of the year is economic: the collapse of free-market theory.

Ahmadinejad in 2009 Maziar Bahari | Why America?s favorite rogue leader won?t be exiting the stage anytime soon.

Editorial

Britons Ponder: Stay In or Quit

Survey of Troop Satisfaction Adds to Worries of War Fatigue

Iran Apparently in Possession of Photoshop

Sudan Leader To Be Charged With Genocide Peace Efforts in Darfur Could Be Hampered, Some U.N. Officials Fear

Robotic Morality By Michael Gerson, 'Wall-E' has a surprisingly sophisticated lesson: We are more than the sum or our wants.

Is He a Racist? James Watson's Errant, Perilous Theories

By Henry Louis Gates Jr., From TheRoot.com: James Watson's theories are both errant and dangerous.

India's Unlikely Obama Hindu Nationalist Models Campaign for Premier After U.S. Presidential Candidate's

H6 Guardian Missiles with a message Editorial: What generally follows military exercises and widespread fears of confrontation in the Middle East is conflict itself

US will defend Israel, Rice warns Tehran Second day of ballistic missile tests brings fresh vow of support from Bush administration

Sarkozy to push ahead with Lisbon treaty EU institutional changes are a matter for parliaments not referendums, French president says

International court likely to seek arrest of Sudan's president

Prosecutor to submit evidence on war crimes committed in Dafur over the last five years

Jackson gaffe turns focus on Obama Off the air remark reveals unease about presidential candidate's move to the right

In praise of ... Rathaus Schöneberg

Editorial: Barack Obama's visit to Europe later this month has set off some small local difficulties in Germany

Consider the poppies Roger Howard: A joint Nato-Iran venture tackling the Afghan drug trade could deliver great political fruits for all

Saying 'Islamic threat' over and over doesn't make it real

Soumaya Ghannoushi: Years of peddled fear and demonisation have left vulnerable minorities more isolated and the world fixated by a myth

Tax and policy? You're lucky to have parking tickets and bin bags

Simon Jenkins: Britain's local democratic deficit is the starkest variance between our politics and that of other western states

'Six days ago I was chained to a tree. Now I'm just trying to understand how to live'

Exclusive: Former hostage Ingrid Betancourt talks to the Guardian about her extraordinary experiences

H7

Divide and Conquer: The Anglo-American Imperial Project
Center for Research on Globalization

Daily Star Is the Mediterranean Union of any use?
By Bassam Bounenni

Mullahs & Missiles By: Peter Brookes | New York Post
It's not unusual for a state to conduct military exercises, but Iran had a lot more in mind when it literally went ballistic yesterday -- launching nine medium- and long-range missiles during its "Great Prophet" war games

Designation of Iranian Entities and Individuals for Proliferation Activities
Source: U.S. Department of State

Iran and The Economist Silent no more

Congress and the Next President Should Repeal the War Powers Act U.S. News & World Report

As Paris Boosts Assad, US Adds Sanctions (10 July 2008)

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

Iranian Press Menu 10 July 08

U.S. vows to defend allies after Iran reports more missile testing

Expert: Iran 'doctored' photo of missile launches

General Say Increasing Iraqi Capabilities Turning Tide - Jim Garamone, AFPS

Iraq’s Water Woes - Timothy Hsia, Small Wars Journal

US Senate approves Petraeus' role The US Senate confirms the appointment of General Petraeus as Washington's top military commander in the Middle East

Al-Jazeera TV Talkshow Discusses Decision to Name Arab Ambassadors to Iraq

Will Iran Diffuse Tension With U.S.?

H9 Ha’aretz – Arab state tells Israel it won't oppose Iran strike

Did Iran doctor an image of its missile test launch?

Ari Shavit: The real problem is America

The very fact that America exported itself is acting as a boomerang against it. The Americanization of the world is what is weakening it.

Is the Arab love affair with Obama over? (WTR)

Oren A question of deterrence

H.A. Hellyer: Who speaks for Europe's Muslims?

ANALYSIS / Olmert won't be able to recover from this interrogation

Police source: Anyone but Olmert would have been arrested by now

Two years later / Hezbollah recovers, but still fears Israel

Jerusalem Post Barak to tell US time running out Iran

After Iranian missile tests, defense minister declares Israel "won't be deterred from acting."

Assad: Israel may not be able to commit

Syrian president says that despite desire for peace from both sides, Israeli gov't must be stronger

· A 'dhimmi' view of Europe

'Eurabia' author bemoans 'illness' of West at hands of Islamist ideology.

Yedioth Ahronoth 79% want PM out of primaries

Poll: Most registered Kadima voters believe Olmert should resign over corruption allegations

Nasrallah won, and lost

Despite Nasrallah’s boastful claims, Hizbullah didn’t win war by knockout, says Roee Nahmias

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

McClatchy Once again, Israel cuts a deal with its worst enemies

In the first hours after Hezbollah fighters captured two Israeli soldiers in a 2006 cross-border raid from Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made it clear that he wouldn't bargain for their freedom. In the coming days, if all goes as planned, Israel will complete a deal that does just that. » read more

Israel 'ready to act' over Iran

Israel's defence minister hints at his country's readiness to strike Iran, amid rising tensions over Iran's missile tests.

Hamas arrests Gaza rocket squad Hamas arrests three Gaza militants belonging to the rival al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades after rockets are fired into Israel

UN criticises West Bank barrier
The West Bank barrier Israel is building will be devastating for Palestinians if completed along its current route, the UN says

The Grim Logic of Jerusalem By: Bernard Avishai | Los Angeles Times
Israeli actions in the capital city treat Palestinians as if it's in their DNA to attack Jews.

H10 Christian Science Monitor

Amid Iran's tests, signs of weakness Evidence mounts that international sanctions are having an impact.

Palestinians: Let us tame wild Jenin The West Bank city of Jenin has been officially handed over to Palestinian control, but the Israeli army still goes in to arrest and assassinate militants.

What you don't know about the presidential candidates Little-known polls show that people would prefer Obama to water their plants and McCain to wash the car.

Dutch court upholds U.N. immunity in genocide case

Plaintiffs plan to appeal, saying peacekeepers failed to protect their relatives in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre

How the candidates' speaking styles play McCain is unscripted. Obama is soaring. In these times, both styles have their advantages.

Putin faces green Olympic challenge The Sochi 2014 Winter Games are threatened by a looming international boycott, environmental concerns, and public protests against local development.

ASIA

China Will Surpass U.S. Economically by 2035, Double by Midcentury Source: Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Travails of a Nuclear Deal By: Brahma Chellaney | The Japan Times A deal touted as ushering in a new era of U.S.-India relations has instead succeeded in infusing controversy and complexity into the relationship

Afghanistan: state of siege, Paul Rogers

UN to investigate Bhutto killing

The UN agrees in principle to a Pakistani request to set up a panel that will investigate the killing of ex-PM Benazir Bhutto.

Bhutto murder: Key questions

Pakistan Strikes New Truce Deal With Militants - Barry Newhouse, VOA

The Taliban’s Rising Tide - New York Times editorial

Gates Says No Proof That `Foreign Agents' Planned Kabul Bombing By: Ed Johnson | Bloomberg News
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said there is no evidence ``foreign agents'' were involved in a suicide bomb attack on the Indian embassy in Kabul, after the Afghan government blamed Pakistani intelligence services

In the 2020s, perhaps 10% of Chinese males will not find wives. By then, China will be no country for young men... more»

Confucianism Makes a Comeback in China By: Daniel A. Bell | The Japan Times
Communism has lost its capacity to inspire the Chinese. So what should replace it? Most Westerners think the answer is liberal democracy, as did many Chinese liberals in the 20th century. But there is another answer, which takes the form of the old and venerable tradition of Confucianism, which is being revived by government officials, critical intellectuals and ordinary citizens

China's Environmental Catastrophe - Bradford Plumer, The New Republic

The China Bubble Fuelling Record Oil Prices By: Daniel Gros | Financial Times
What is behind the ever-increasing price of crude oil? Most economists and energy experts argue that even the current sky-high price is justified by fundamentals, namely the high growth in demand by emerging markets, in short “China”. The one important fact usually adduced to support this position is that supply and demand seem finely balanced as inventories are not increasing. But this argument is wrong

A Disturbing Radicalism Comes to Indonesia By: Ali Noer Zaman | Asia Sentinel Indonesia's religious life in the post-Suharto era has been marked by the emergence of extreme religious radicalism. The conflict between Muslims and Christians in Poso in the province of Sulawesi Tenggara, and in Maluku province exemplifies this phenomenon, as do the 2002 and 2005 Bali bombings

Thai Massage for China's Military Muscle By: Ian Storey | Asia Times Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's four-day visit to China last week was another indication of the cozy Sino-Thai military-security relationship. But Bangkok is still trying to balance the interests and influence of two superpowers; keeping its military alliance with the US well lubricated while at the same time expanding defense ties with China

H11 IHT RUSSIA AND THE G-8

Resolving a credibility problem

By PETER I. BELK AND ALEXANDROS PETERSEN

Medvedev must put his house in order, without Western meddling

Sarkozy aims to revive EU pact this year By STEPHEN CASTLE

The French president said further delays would not be acceptable to voters who would elect a new European Parliament in June of next year

OPEC warns against military conflict with Iran

Leader at E.ON urges Germany to keep nuclear plants Angela Merkel's coalition government is under growing pressure to reverse its promise to phase out nuclear sector by 2020.

EUROPE European press review

Time Europe's Economy: Falling Down While the global economy has been hit by a credit meltdown and surging inflation, Europe has proved surprisingly resilient — until now. With growth slowing, stocks in a tailspin and consumer confidence sinking, here's what to watch out for

France's Ambitious, Uncertain Security Policy By: Ben Judah | ISN Security Watch
Sarkozy's ambitions for the French military begin to take shape in an atmosphere of public uncertainty and unease

We're Clueless as to the Meaning of Europe's Great Migration By: Hans-Werner Sinn | The Daily Star
Europe is currently experiencing a huge wave of migration between its east and west. This movement resembles the Great Migrations that marked Europe between the 4th to 6th centuries. Within the first year of Romania's accession to the European Union on January 1, 2007, for example, roughly 1 million Romanians migrated to Italy and Spain

H12 RFE/RL

Georgia: President Describes Russia as the "Elephant in the Room" in Peace Process

RUSSIAN TANKS WILL BE EQUIPPED WITH FRENCH IR TV

- RUSSIAN PRESIDENT IN BAKU: DID HE GET WHAT HE WANTED?

Google News Azerbaijan

Georgian Ambassador to Russia Recalled to Tbilisi for Consultations

Georgia recalls Moscow ambassador Tbilisi says it is recalling its ambassador from Moscow after Russian fighter jets flew over a breakaway region

Turkmenistan Plays Waiting Game By: Sergei Blagov | Eurasianet
The Turkmenistan president keeps Russia and the West on a string in the hope of seizing the best export deal.

Baiting the Russian Bear By: Richard Weitz | The Guardian
The debate between the US and Russia over American plans to deploy ballistic missile defences in Europe is heating up again. Persistent differences with Poland over its conditions for accepting defensive interceptor missiles have led American officials to hint that they might consider Lithuania as an alternative deployment site

Medvedev Is Neither Tsar Nor Saint By: Boris Kagarlitsky | The Moscow Times
Russians have a serious problem on their hands. They don't know which of the two tsars is the real one.

H13 The Times Iran and Israel's game of bluff The warlike posturing would be more frightening if there were much likelihood of an Israeli attack

Gerard Baker

Playing Chicken Iran's missile tests are a deliberate and dangerous provocation to cover up Ahmadinejad's weak political position at home

Israel issues threats as Iranian isolation deepens French group Total froze its role in a $10bn gas project in a victory for the US push against Iran's nuclear ambitions

ANALYSIS: not the end of the affair Total’s apparent retreat sounds like a victory for the US, but it is nothing of the sort

It looks chilly... but it's far from a cold war The imperial past explains why relations between the Russia and Britain are in uniquely bad shape Robert Skidelsky

Moscow triggers spy row over British diplomat

Russia has accused the British Embassy's acting director of trade and industry Chris Bowers of working for British intelligence

ANALYSIS: tit-for-tat accusations Under Dmitri Medvedev it had been hoped that the new presidency might seek to redress the crisis in relations with Britain

Olmert 'will not contest leadership' The Israeli Prime Minister is being asked not to run for re-election by concerned members of his own Kadima party

Picture: Iran 'fakes' missile launch after misfire Official Iranian news agency releases doctored photograph showing four missile launches - but only three actually fired

Iran missile test New version of the Shahab-3 missile puts Israel, Turkey, the Arabian peninsula, Afghanistan and Pakistan within its reach. Watch video

Wall Street Journal

H14 Financial Times Europe promises cheers for Obama – and little else The old continent has already decided: it will get the American president it deserves, writes Philip Stephens. Even those whose sympathies are with the Republican John McCain are caught up in Obamamania. Only Carla Bruni, partner and chanteuse to France’s Nicolas Sarkozy, can compete in the glamour stakes

Democracies must work in concert

The pre-eminent need today is not an exclusive club of democracies, but renewal of the world’s global architecture, write Anne-Marie Slaughter and John Ikenberry

Bring back the real McCain Pandering and equivocation do not suit Mr McCain. He best commands respect when daring to offend, and advancing sound but politically awkward positions

France’s Club Med The Union for the Mediterranean may prove to be the high point of France’s EU presidency. But what the region really needs is lasting European commitment

WORLD NEWS: Scepticism abounds over value of new club

Genetically modified food – a time to sow? Countries, once wary, are re-evaluating biotech’s benefits in producing more reliable harvests

Iran vows to press on after Total pull-out Tehran plays down the loss of Total of France after it became the final large western energy company to pull back from investing in the country’s huge South Pars gas field

Missile photo seeks to mislead

The public relations arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard appears to have doctored an image purporting to show an Iranian missile test on Wednesday. The picture on the...

Sarkozy warns on ‘multi-speed’ Europe The EU’s repeated crises over how to reform its institutions may eventually make it necessary to create a ‘multi-speed Europe’, with the most pro-integrationist countries at its heart, Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president said

Scepticism abounds on Mediterranean club France will launch the first project of its European Union presidency when more than 40 Balkan, north African and Middle Eastern leaders inaugurate a new regional union

Flattery ignores Russia’s reality

Europe’s fantasy appears to be that oil revenue and designer boutiques will turn the country into a democracy, writes Garry Kasparov

Next big project for EU is energy

It must build a new body to facilitate action in climate change, energy security and sustainable competitiveness, write Michaele Schreyer and Ralf Fuecks

UK seeks to defuse Russian ire over killing The move comes after members of the UK security services allegedly said that a British citizen and former KGB officer was murdered in London as a result of ‘state action’

Russia says jets flew over Georgia

Moscow confirms the ‘brief flight’ over the breakaway territory of South Ossetia just hours before Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, visited Tbilisi with a message of support

Italy denies racism against Gypsies

The country’s centre-right government rejects accusations of racism from European parliamentarians over its finger-printing of Gypsies in illegal ‘nomad’ camps

Kosovo seeks €1.4bn to bolster independence Kosovo hopes to secure more than €1.4 billion worth of international aid at a donor conference on Friday meant to invigorate the new state’s weak economy and underpin its independence

Jackson’s attack rebounds in favour of Obama Jesse Jackson’s foul-mouthed tirade against Barack Obama in a Chicago television studio this week might have delivered the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate an unwitting political gift

H15 Los Angeles Times Iran missile tests seen more as theater

Tehran's war games, which have included the rocket launches, are downplayed by officials and experts as more propaganda than peril

Editorial

Breakthrough unlikely at North Korea nuclear talks

Pyongyang may stall proceedings and seek a better deal with the next U.S. president

Syria software pirate lives by own code of ethics Abdul-Rahman Mahaini says he hacks into programs because U.S. sanctions block their sale in his country. But he is not above helping Western clients

H16 American Politics

Time Divided They Fall
If Hillary's supporters refuse to vote for Obama, her agenda will fade. And a united GOP just might win

Barack Obama, New and Improved - The Economist

Likely Rise In Voter Turnout Bodes Well For Democrats

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

Andrew Sullivan / The Daily Dish:

The Hubris Of Obama?

Morton M. Kondracke / Roll Call:
Obama's Changes Raise Issue: Can You Believe in Him?

McCain breaks with adviser for calling U.S. a 'nation of whiners'

H17 Daily Telegraph Russia needs friends in the West Dmitri Medvedev may come to regret having played tough with Gordon Brown, argues Con Coughlin.

Iran's dangerous game

Iran must reflect on the risks of cockiness and compromise over its nuclear programme

Israel will 'not hesitate if threatened'

Defence minister warns Iran his country was ready to act if threatened, after Tehran tested missiles capable of hitting the state.

Profile: Ahmadinejad revels in belligerence

Americans 'whine', says McCain aide

Economic adviser says US suffers from "mental recession".

£3m payout for Iraqi 'torture' victims

MOD to pay out nearly £3m to the family of an Iraqi who died after being beaten by British troops and nine other men who were detained and interrogated.

Only third of Scots want independence

America losing its lead in the space race

'Green' taxes will hit the poorest hardest

H18 Independent Leading article: Do not play into the hands of the hardliners

Israel hints at pre-emptive attack on Iran

The sabre-rattling over Iran's nuclear progamme has grown louder as a defiant Tehran claimed to have conducted missile tests for a second day running, the US warned that it would defend its interests and its allies in the region, and Israel hinted it was ready to stage a preventive attack to destroy Iranian nuclear installations.

Adrian Hamilton: The West still isn't taking the Iraqis into account

Armed forces survey reveals morale crisis

The Big Question: Why is morale in the British military so low, and is the mood justified?

Georgia recalls envoy after Russian incursion

The Big Question: Have sanctions ever worked, and should they be applied to Zimbabwe?

Black power struggle: 'I want to cut his nuts out' Jesse Jackson's outburst against Barack Obama has laid bare the jealousy felt by a generation of civil rights leaders towards the man who would be President.

Leading article: The tired politics of racial division

'This is like apartheid': ANC veterans visit West Bank

Veterans of the anti-apartheid struggle said last night that the segregation endured by Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories was in some respects worse than that imposed on the black majority under white rule in South Africa.

Russians accuse British diplomat of spying

H19 Military Intelligence Terrorism

James Baker, Warren Christopher and War Powers

H20 Slate

The Nuclear Solution By: Sergei Kirienko | The Guardian
All the major issues that were on the G8 agenda -- the food crisis, global warming and uneven distribution of development resources among countries -- are closely interlinked, first and foremost, to a shortage of energy and resulting price hikes.

H21

No Harm, No Foul: The Outcome Bias in Ethical Judgments (PDF; 216 KB) Source: Harvard Business School Working Papers

Philosopher Peter Sloterdijk on the Tour de France: 'The Riders are Just Regular Employees'

Colloquium: The Future of Social Enterprise Source: Harvard Business School Working Papers

An Overview of the Development of U.S. Congressional Committees (PDF; 96 KB)
Source: Law Librarians’ Society of Washington, D.C

Shoppers at farmers markets have ten times as many conversations with other people as those at supermarkets. And as for the food... more»

Mental Activity May Affect Autism-Linked Genes Study Suggests That Altering Ill Children's Experiences Could Change the Disease - New research suggests that some cases of autism arise from defects in genes that can be turned on or off by mental activity, a finding that sheds light on the devastating condition and might eventually lead to strategies to treat it.

In the 2020s, perhaps 10% of Chinese males will not find wives. By then, China will be no country for young men... more»

Move over, Noam. A new survey of the world’s top intellectuals shows they are mostly Muslims you never heard of... more» ... more»

Dirty jokes can’t really do much harm, says Jim Holt. They don’t so much corrupt us as remind us that we are already corrupted... more»

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