TurcoPundit

22 July 2008

July 22, 2008

072108f - 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 Iraq Points to Pullout by 2010 Senior Official Is Second in Recent Days to Back Timetable Similar to Obama's

ANALYSIS Obama Makes War Gains Maliki's Embrace of Withdrawal Timeline Confounds McCain By Dan Balz

Bosnian Serb Captured; Sought for War Crimes Radovan Karadzic Hid for a Decade

Russian Bombers Could Be Deployed to Cuba Move Would Be Response to U.S. Missile Defense System, Newspaper Izvestia Says

Financial Times Back Obama for commander-in-chief While Washington’s armchair generals will denounce the Democratic candidate for weakness on Iran, the real generals support his position. The US top brass has no appetite for launching yet another war in the Middle East. Bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq, the last thing the US military needs is a third front, writes Gideon Rachman

Obama to widen focus beyond Europe Barack Obama is ready to revive the transatlantic relationship, but he expects Europe to pull its weight on Afghanistan and he would deepen Washington’s engagement with other regions

Daily Star The end of the globalization consensus is upon us
By Dani Rodrik

NYT Unilateral Action by U.S. a Growing Fear in Pakistan

Iran Offers 2 Pages and No Ground in Nuclear Talks

News Analysis: A New Openness to Talks With That ‘Axis of Evil’

Guardian Bush blinks first as oil price dazzles Dilip Hiro: What explains Washington's sudden softening attitude on Iran? Could it possibly be the economy?

No U-turn. Obama's stance on Iraq is chillingly consistent Sami Ramadani: The presidential hopeful has been accused of flip-flopping over the occupation, but he was never for full withdrawal

Iraqi government backs Obama timetable Nouri al-Maliki endorses democratic candidate's proposal to pull out all forces by April 2010

Out of Iraq, into the White House? Michael Tomasky: The Iraqi prime minister's support of Barack Obama's troop exit plan is the biggest story of the election campaign so far

Los Angeles Times Easy-to-find oil: Has peak been reached? Behind today's oil mania lies a deeper dread: that the world has found all the easy-to-reach oil

A presidential primer on the Middle East conflict Regardless of who wins, McCain and Obama face a tough situation in trying to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians

NYT DAVID BROOKS The Culture of Debt America once had a culture of thrift. But over the past decades, that unspoken code has been silently eroded

Help the Palestinians Help Us

By ANTHONY H. CORDESMAN Unless there are effective Palestinian security forces, Israel will never trust in a Palestinian state or be able to act on the quiet progress being made toward reaching a final settlement

MESH Summer reading 2008

Ha’aretz – U.S. official preparing scathing report on Israel's West Bank policies Sources say U.S. coordinator James Jones' report would be 'very harsh, and make Israel look very bad.'

Christian Science Monitor

Obama and McCain diverge on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Obama likely to return US to role of 'honest broker.' McCain sees fighting Islamic extremists as paramount

IHT SUNNI-SHIITE RELATIONS

Mending a Muslim divide

By REZA ZIA-EBRAHIMI

Saudi Arabia is in a unique position to soothe the tensions between Sunni and Shiite Islam.

AMERICA'S IMAGE

How to electrify the world

By STANLEY A. WEISS

Nearly 100 opinion leaders give their advice to the next U.S. president

Stirrings in the Suburbs By: Geoff Dyer | Financial Times
The biggest potential threat to China's Communist party the party comes from the educated urban middle class. Although there are daily protests by poor farmers who claim their land has been stolen or poisoned by a nearby factory, rural protests tend to be isolated and local police are often not afraid to crack heads, far away from probing eyes. A restive middle class in the country’s international cities is a different matter

FT Measures to avoid the recession

America should learn from its mistakes and act pragmatically to regulate markets as they exist in fact, not theory, write Felix Rohatyn and Everett Ehrlich

Changing tack in Afghanistan The military must make clear that its presence is aimed at supporting Afghans in their efforts to develop a system of good government

Fed seems focused on inflation over growth This inflation bias comes in spite of the continuing troubles at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, extreme volatility in bank stocks and the recent dip in the price of oil

Independence, then accountability,
for ECB Sarkozy’s reform proposals may not be utterly in vain – by giving the bank something to disregard, his plan could strengthen its independence

A ‘menu Europe’ will prove more palatable Vivien Schmidt advocates graduated membership

Wall Street Journal Iran Has Earned Nothing
What has Tehran done to merit a détente with the United States?

Corrupt in Sofia
By Antoinette Primatarova
State of the Union: Ordinary Bulgarians welcome EU help in the fight against graft

Daily Star Iran is still moving in millimeters while the US is going the full distance

Contrasting Goals in Iraq By: Lawrence J. Korb | The Boston Globe With Friday's announcement by the White House that the United States and Iraq have agreed to set a "general time horizon" for a US troop withdrawal, it is increasingly obvious that Iraqi political leaders are calling the shots when it comes to a future role for the United States, and that President Bush has not learned anything about Iraq in the last five years

H 2

Daily Star Two court cases in Turkey and the republic's future By Soli Ozel

TURKISH FOREIGN MINISTER HOSTS HEADS OF MISSION CONFERENCE IN ANKARA

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

Kurds back U.S.-Iraq security deal

HAKAN ALBAYRAK

Altan Tan'la ufuk turu

Lebanon to invest in Iraqi Kurdistan

Iraqi Kurdistan Region President, US Ambassador Discuss Kirkuk ...

Cevdet Aşkın Barzani'den siyasi çözüm ısrarı, PKK'dan rehine teslimat planı

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

Hedo Okur Tuncay Nihat Altintop

Guardian Forced gentrification plan spells end for old Roma Gypsy district in Istanbul 550-year-old community and Unesco battle city's blueprint for urban renewal

Son Dakika Milliyet Hürriyet Zaman

Cengiz Çandar Yüzde 47'den 'siyasi kriz'e; kim sorumlu

Ahmet Taşgetiren Ordu ve Ergenekon davası

Ruşen - Çakır

Taha Akyol CHP ve sol

Fikret Bila DTP’nin pazarlık politikası

Hasan Cemal Kriz zamanları toz olan tatlı su demokratları!

Murat Yetkin

İsmet Berkan

Fehmi Koru Duygu fırtınası

Taha Kıvanç Kışlalı suikastının izinde

Şamil Tayyar

Ali Bayramoğlu

Yasemin Çongar

Ekrem Dumanlı Kapatılsa ne olur kapatılmasa ne olur?

Nuray Başaran Fethullah Gülen ile 1 saat 15 dakika (1)

Ertuğrul Özkök Zatürree mi Genelkurmay mı

Ahmet Hakan

M Ali Birand Gül, Milli maç için Erivan'a gitmeli...

Şahin Alpay Muhalefet boşluğu ve nedenleri

İhsan Dağı Darbeciler ne zamandır Batı düşmanı?

Mümtazer Türköne Ergenekon Cephesi

Cüneyt Ülsever Ölüm mü, sıtma mı?

Enis Berberoğlu Tolon-Aygün, TOBB-TSK

Oktay EkşiKıbrıs’ta tango

Özdemir İnce

Mehmet Y Yılmaz

MUHARREM SARIKAYA

ERDAL ŞAFAK

ENGİN ARDIÇ

ERGUN BABAHAN

EMRE AKÖZ Ergenekon dostunu nesinden tanırsınız?

Umur Talu

HASAN BÜLENT KAHRAMAN

NAZLI ILICAK Pazarlık mı var?

Sakın ha, kuşkulanmayın…

KÜRŞAT BUMİN

Bugünlere dair eski bir söyleşi

İBRAHİM KARAGÜL

Türkiye neoconları, mezar evler,'İslamcı terör' keşfi

Ekonomi

ABDURRAHMAN YILDIRIM

Ercan Kumcu

Erdal Sağlam Dış ilişkilerde tehlikeli eğilimler

H4 New York Times Bosnian Serb Under Arrest in War Crimes Radovan Karadzic, one of the world’s most wanted war criminals for his part in the massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys, was arrested Monday, ending a 13-year hunt.

Man in the News: A Leader Turned Ghost

Unilateral Action by U.S. a Growing Fear in Pakistan

Iran Offers 2 Pages and No Ground in Nuclear Talks

News Analysis: A New Openness to Talks With That ‘Axis of Evil’

DAVID BROOKS The Culture of Debt America once had a culture of thrift. But over the past decades, that unspoken code has been silently eroded

Help the Palestinians Help Us

For Obama, a First Step Is Not a Misstep After meeting Iraqi leaders and American officials, Barack Obama seemed to have navigated the riskiest part of an international trip without a hitch.

BOB HERBERTMadness and Shame When the constraints of the law are unlocked by people at the pinnacle of power, terrible things happen in the real world.

Editorial China’s Unreality TV

Apart from China, no one deserves criticism more than the International Olympic Committee, which has indulged Beijing at every turn

Court in Pakistan Muzzles Disgraced Nuclear Scientist

Sarkozy Ekes Out Victory on Constitutional Changes

Upstart Party Gains Power as Major Vote Nears in India

1,600-Year-Old Bible to Go Online

Mideast Sees More of the Same if Obama Is Elected

Women Are Now Equal as Victims of Poor Economy Women in the workplace are being afflicted by the same troubles as men. And they are responding as men have, by dropping out or disappearing for a while

Military Trial Begins for Guantánamo Detainee

H5 Washington Post Iraq Points to Pullout by 2010 Senior Official Is Second in Recent Days to Back Timetable Similar to Obama's

ANALYSIS Obama Makes War Gains Maliki's Embrace of Withdrawal Timeline Confounds McCain By Dan Balz

Bosnian Serb Captured; Sought for War Crimes Radovan Karadzic Hid for a Decade

Russian Bombers Could Be Deployed to Cuba Move Would Be Response to U.S. Missile Defense System, Newspaper Izvestia Says

Indian Legislators Begin Key Debate

U.S. Nuclear Deal Hangs in Balance

Obama's Iraq Mission By E. J. Dionne Jr., To win, Obama needs only to battle McCain to a tie on foreign policy and national security

Obama, Foreign Policy Realist

Fareed Zakaria | Obama's world view contrasts sharply with McCain's exuberant idealism.

Timelines in the Sand By Eugene Robinson, Bush is now amenable to a 'time horizon' for Iraq. This is apparently not at all like a timeline

The Saudi Guide To Piety

By Anne Applebaum, 'Revised' Saudi textbooks have been designed to be less harsh on infidels. It's hard to tell.

Judge in Detainee Trial Bars Some Evidence Prosecutors at Guantanamo trial of Osama bin Laden's driver cannot use statements that were obtained under "highly coercive" conditions

Editorial Captive to a Discarded Cause Egyptian dissident Ayman Nour embraced the president's 'freedom agenda' in 2005. He is still in jail.

Rush-Hour Blasts Kill at Least Two In South China Officials Fear Attacks in Run-Up to Games

Portrait of a Predicament: Putin's Face, or Medvedev's?

H6 Guardian Bush blinks first as oil price dazzles Dilip Hiro: What explains Washington's sudden softening attitude on Iran? Could it possibly be the economy?

No U-turn. Obama's stance on Iraq is chillingly consistent Sami Ramadani: The presidential hopeful has been accused of flip-flopping over the occupation, but he was never for full withdrawal

Iraqi government backs Obama timetable Nouri al-Maliki endorses democratic candidate's proposal to pull out all forces by April 2010

Out of Iraq, into the White House?

Michael Tomasky: The Iraqi prime minister's support of Barack Obama's troop exit plan is the biggest story of the election campaign so far

Nuclear brinksmanship in India

Randeep Ramesh: The result of the Indian government's confidence vote this week will shape the country's future – and global geopolitics

A missed opportunity at the Knesset Jonathan Steele: The slip in Gordon Brown's speech in Israel about Iran's nuclear 'weapons' programme was symptomatic of a misjudged message

Seize chance of peace, Brown urges Israel Withdrawing from illegal West Bank settlements would bring security, says prime minister

What the next US president means for Europe Derek Chollet and James Goldgeier: Barack Obama's transatlantic trip should remind Europe that it must assume more responsibility for Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan

A dangerous fiction Misha Glenny: The war on drugs is a non sequitur - and is equally harmful to both producers and consumers

Down but not out Anton La Guardia: Military efforts to destroy al-Qaida have achieved partial successes; a wiser strategy is to help Muslim governments confront and neuter the jihadists

War crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic arrested The former Bosnian Serb wartime leader who orchestrated the massacre at Srebrenica in 1995 has been arrested

The leader whose campaign left 100,000 dead

Excerpts from the 1995 UN tribunal indictment

Why a Doha breakdown wouldn't spell disaster Paul Rayment: Ignore the urgent rhetoric surrounding the Doha round of trade talks. It's time for a rethink

Sarko's flying visit to Dublin won't reverse the 'no' vote David Cronin: Nicolas Sarkozy is not interested in respecting the result of the Irish referendum – and Ireland certainly shouldn't apologise for it

Charles Harb: Hizbullah's steadfast resitance to Israel has paid off

Nuclear vote threatens India government Vote is so finely balanced that several infirm MPs will be brought in from hospital

80% fear recession is coming - poll

Latest Guardian/ICM poll shows sharp drop in consumer confidence, with 60% trying to spend less

H 7 Daily Star Iran is still moving in millimeters while the US is going the full distance

The Missiles of July By: Richard Lourie | The Moscow Times
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has done the impossible. He's made U.S. President George W. Bush look intelligent

Maliki, Obama Hedge Their Bets on U.S. Troops in Iraq By: Charles Crain | World Politics Review
Barack Obama seized on Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's statement about a timetable for withdrawal of U.S. troops as an opportunity to argue that his plan is in line with the thinking of the Iraqi government. But, just as other Iraqi government officials subsequently qualified Maliki's statements, Obama this week slipped in enough caveats to make his "plan" difficult to discern

The Future of Iraq By: Kimberly Kagan | The Weekly Standard
I step out of a Humvee onto a quiet, semi-residential street in central Baghdad, lined with trees that shade us from the bright sun. The only U.S. military personnel in sight are our escorts. We Americans are incongruously dressed in the body armor and helmets required outside the Green Zone, while our host, who comes out to greet us, is wearing a fine suit. We look as ridiculous in our protective gear as we would if we dressed like this to walk into a foreign embassy just off 16th Street in Washington

The Arab Elite and the Double Standard By: Mshari Al-Zaydi | Asharq Alawsat
This is truly baffling: On the one hand, we find these Arab intellectuals calling for and propagating the need for criticism, enlightenment and reform whilst being infuriated over their governments’ hindrance of development, progress, democracy, tolerance and the tackling of women’s and minorities’ issues, while on the other; it is those same people that chant their loyalties to fundamentalist groups.

Course correction in Iran

THERE WAS no breakthrough, but this dangerous summer got a little less so last week with the inclusion of Undersecretary of State William Burns in the Geneva meeting with Iran, alongside the other confronting powers, China, Britain, France, Germany, and Russia. Until now it has been a mano-a-mano season with Israel and the United States both in the running to ... (By H.D.S. Greenway, Boston Globe)

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

Iraq Hopes for US Troop Withdrawal by 2010

On the Front - Delay Proposed in Iraq Election -- Frustration Growing Over Political Impasse

Hezbollah's Formidable Weapons Arsenal Under Fresh Scrutiny By: Nicholas Blanford | The Christian Science Monitor Lebanon's new government is slated to review the militant Shiite party's weapons as part of a national defense strategy once it takes office. The prisoner swap with Israel has given Hezbollah new leverage

Lebanon Deal Eases Tensions By: Dominic Moran | ISN Security Watch
The Lebanese political settlement has eased tensions both domestically and in the wider Middle East, promoting movement on a number of diplomatic fronts while contributing to prospects for a potential regional realignment

Hezbollah Brigades propaganda specialist captured in Baghdad

H9 Ha’aretz – U.S. official preparing scathing report on Israel's West Bank policies Sources say U.S. coordinator James Jones' report would be 'very harsh, and make Israel look very bad.'

If Israel attacks Iran, 42% of Americans say U.S. should help (WTR)

Yoav Orgad: Before the Muslim minority becomes a majority

Yossi Sarid: Obama has already changed things for the better

Report: Israel willing to free Barghouti for Shalit

Arens No margin for error? In the years of the Olmert government the fortunes of Hezbollah and Hamas have improved as a result of mistakes made by Israel

Jerusalem Post US official to meet Syrian negotiator

Washington downplays suggestions of further shift in US attitudes toward Middle Eastern adversaries.

A measure of the distance of peace [ BARRY RUBIN,

'We're not surprised officer blaming soldier for shooting'

Troops write letter to Barak, Ashkenazi protesting about officer involved in shooting of unarmed and bound Palestinian in West Bank.

Yedioth Ahronoth McCain: US will protect Israel
Republican presidential hopeful tells Channel 2 'stiffer sanctions may stop Iranian threats against Israel; US can never allow second Holocaust'. Adds: Many options to explore before we seriously consider military strike on Tehran

Bush changing course/ Steinberg US hoping Iran will respond to combination of diplomacy, military threats

Hizbullah’s capitulation

Despite ‘Hizbullah veto power’ claims, it only has one government minister, Guy Bechor says

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

Have Saddle, Will Travel: Why Dennis Ross Keeps His Job While Presidents Come and Go

'Compared to Us, Hamas Is Islamism Lite' By: Ulrike Putz | Der Spiegel
Global power is their goal, and they are willing to slaughter innocents to get there. A group of ultra-radical Islamists are training in the Gaza Strip

Obama Under the Microscope in Israel - Nathan Diament, RealClearPolitics

Beyond a cease-fire, Gaza needs help By Rayyan al-Shawaf

H1 0 Christian Science Monitor

Obama and McCain diverge on Israeli-Palestinian conflict

Obama likely to return US to role of 'honest broker.' McCain sees fighting Islamic extremists as paramount

Barack who? Arabs weigh in

Senator Obama is an unknown quantity as he tours the Middle East.

Picking a No. 2 in the glare of the Internet age More than ever, vice presidential wannabes must maneuver between groveling and remaining cool.

Obama talks to U.S. commanders and Iraqi officials

The presidential candidate has said he will draw down troops in Iraq if elected.

ASIA

A Civil Nuclear Power By: M.R. Srinivasan | The Wall Street Journal
Of the world's 25,000 nuclear warheads, over 90% are in the United States and the former Soviet Union. The nuclear and missile activities of North Korea and Iran have created considerable apprehension in certain national capitals. Amid these genuine concerns, the proposed U.S.-India nuclear deal has become a flashpoint of anxiety over proliferation

Can Hu Ease Up to Enjoy the World's Wishes? By: Kevin Rafferty | The Japan Times If President Hu Jintao dared to look, he would see plenty of evidence that the rest of the world wishes the best for China's coming of age and integration as a world player

Territorial Issue Finally Resolved Between Russia, China

Birth of a Massacre Myth By: Gregory Clark | The Japan Times
As the Beijing Olympics approach, we see more attempts to remind the world of the myth that democracy-seeking students were massacred in Tiananmen Square in 1989.

H11 IHT Opening soon in Tehran: A U.S. interests section The U.S. plan for an interests section in Tehran should be only the first of many moves toward better relations with Iran

SUNNI-SHIITE RELATIONS

Mending a Muslim divide

By REZA ZIA-EBRAHIMI

Saudi Arabia is in a unique position to soothe the tensions between Sunni and Shiite Islam.

AMERICA'S IMAGE

How to electrify the world

By STANLEY A. WEISS

Nearly 100 opinion leaders give their advice to the next U.S. president

Bosnian Serb under arrest in war crimes Radovan Karadzic, one of the world's most wanted war criminals for his part in the massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys, was arrested Monday, ending a 13-year hunt

Sarkozy ekes out victory on constitutional changes The changes will limit presidents to two five-year terms, eliminate presidential power to issue collective pardons and make certain appointments subject to parliamentary approval.

American businesses begin to fight immigration laws American Employers have finally begun to engage in the fight against the U.S.'s merciless campaign of immigration enforcement

EUROPE European press review

Serbia captures fugitive Karadzic

Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic, one of the world's most wanted men, is captured in Serbia.

Profile: Radovan Karadzic

Walker's World: European economies unravel

No Substitute for Victory By: William Kristol | The New York Times
We’re an awfully long way from the European wars of the 19th century, and from the National Socialist regime of the 20th. Nonetheless, as the newsmagazine Der Spiegel reported Sunday in its online edition, some German politicians are concerned about the location of Obama’s speech.

Bulgaria Under Fire for Corruption Levels By: Elitsa Vucheva | EU Observer
The European Commission is next week to release a report harshly criticising Bulgaria for the way it has been handling EU funds, and suspend payments to two of the country's agencies charged with managing EU projects

H12 RFE/RLThe 'Open Question' Of Russia's Role

RFE/RL speaks with Matthew Bryza, the U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs, about recent developments in the South Caucasus

Germany Steps Into Georgian-Abkhaz Fray

As temperatures rise in Georgia's conflict over breakaway Abkhazia and South Ossetia, EU powerhouse Germany is the latest to enter the fray. The goal? Convincing Tbilisi, Sukhumi, and Moscow to consider Berlin's new peace initiative.

A Georgian-Abkhaz Dialogue

Georgia's dispute with its breakaway region of Abkhazia is often seen as part of Tbilisi's larger dispute with Moscow. But it is the relations between Georgians and Abkhaz where the tensions are often most raw. Andrei Shary of RFE/RL's Russian Service recently hosted a roundtable discussion bringing together Georgian parliamentarian Petre Mamradze in Tbilisi and Natella Akaba, chairwoman of the Association of Abkhaz Women, in Sukhumi

EDM MEDVEDEV’S FOREIGN POLICY TAKES INDEFINITE SHAPE

PAVEL VOSHCHANOV: DISSATISFACTION ON THE RISE IN PROVINCIAL RUSSIA

- A POLITICAL SUMMIT MIGHT RESUSCITATE THE NABUCCO PROJECT

Azerbaijan: President Hardens Rhetoric on Democratization, Human Rights Energy profits are emboldening the government of Azerbaijan. As a result, officials in Baku are now more likely to disregard the advice of Western states, in particular the United States, on matters concerning democratization and human rights.

Abkhazia: Blame for Blast Skirts Ethnic Ties It started off as a child's birthday party. But a recent late night celebration at an outdoor café in Georgia's separatist region of Abkhazia ended up becoming the latest indicator of brewing trouble between Sukhumi and Tbilisi.

Google News Azerbaijan

Saudi-Russian Military Cooperation By: John C. K. Daly | Eurasia Daily Monitor A simple, one-sentence Russian language news item published by Russia's Interfax on July 14 seemingly signals yet another tectonic shift in the Middle East's volatile mixture of oil, religion and weaponry.

Steinmeier Promotes Plan for Abkhazia By: NIcholas Von Twickel | The Moscow Times A German-sponsored peace plan for Abkhazia has raised fresh hopes that the worsening crisis over the breakaway Caucasus republic can be defused, despite its immediate rejection by the Abkhaz leadership and a critical reception in Moscow

Moscow Concerned About Ukrainian Intent to Use Odesa-Brody Pipeline Directly

H13 The Times Eventually, we will all hate Obama too

What makes the US such an indispensable power is also what makes anti-Americanism inevitable David Aaronovitch

The Iraq Campaign Obama's trip to Iraq shows how far the country has come

War crimes fugitive Karadzic arrested in Serbia The Bosnian Serb wartime leader could now face genocide charges over the siege of Sarajevo and massacre in Srebrenica

Iraq: we want US troops out in two years Iraq's vision of all US troops being out by 2010 gives boost to Democrat Barack Obama and angers Republican John McCain

Sarkozy cajoles his way to narrow victory French Parliament back overhaul of the 50-year-old Constitution in a Bill that will curtail some of the President's power

Vladimir Putin's youth army loses purpose Ideologues behind the youth movement Nashi (Ours) admit it has run out of steam now that Dmitri Medvedev is in the Kremlin

British troops in Iraq set for withdrawal Senior commanders warn that Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns running simultaneously create problems for the Armed Forces

Wall Street Journal Iran Has Earned Nothing
What has Tehran done to merit a détente with the United States?

Corrupt in Sofia
By Antoinette Primatarova
State of the Union: Ordinary Bulgarians welcome EU help in the fight against graft

Exile Alleges Kazakh CorruptionA former member of the first family of oil-rich Kazakhstan is accusing its authoritarian ruler of extensive corruption, potentially complicating U.S. efforts to improve relations with the strategically important Central Asian state

Why Jesse Jackson Hates Obama
By Shelby Steele The senator offers blacks an end to perceptions of inferiority, and whites an end to guilt.

Afghanistan Doesn't Need a 'Surge'
By Ann Marlowe Obama can't fix his Iraq mistake by posing tough there.

George Soros Global Economic Trends: The Credit Crunch

H14 Financial Times Back Obama for commander-in-chief While Washington’s armchair generals will denounce the Democratic candidate for weakness on Iran, the real generals support his position. The US top brass has no appetite for launching yet another war in the Middle East. Bogged down in Afghanistan and Iraq, the last thing the US military needs is a third front, writes Gideon Rachman

Bosnian Serb leader Karadzic arrested Radovan Karadzic, the wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs wanted for genocide and crimes against humanity, was arrested after more than a decade on the run from international justice

Sarkozy victory as reforms are approved France’s parliament narrowly approves controversial institutional reforms, a victory for President Nicolas Sarkozy, who campaigned on a promise to update the constitution

Measures to avoid the recession

America should learn from its mistakes and act pragmatically to regulate markets as they exist in fact, not theory, write Felix Rohatyn and Everett Ehrlich

Changing tack in Afghanistan The military must make clear that its presence is aimed at supporting Afghans in their efforts to develop a system of good government

Independence, then accountability,
for ECB Sarkozy’s reform proposals may not be utterly in vain – by giving the bank something to disregard, his plan could strengthen its independence

A ‘menu Europe’ will prove more palatable Vivien Schmidt advocates graduated membership

America between the wars An astute analysis of post cold war America reminds us that US politicians are still fighting the same foreign policy battles, writes Philip Stephens

Sarkozy all discretion on Dublin visit

France’s president put on an uncharacteristic display of diplomatic discretion on a lightning visit to Dublin to learn the reasons behind Irish rejection of the EU Lisbon treaty

Shock arrest helps lift shadow of war

With his shock of grey hair, Radovan Karadzic was a familiar figure on television screens during the Yugoslav wars, to his supporters among Serbs in Bosnia and Serbia, to his Bosnian Muslim and Croat enemies

Russia and China settle border spat

Moscow and Beijing have finalised a protocol, formally demarcating their 4,300km international border – a significant step towards friendship between the two large military powers

WORLD NEWS: Austria's eurosceptics flex their muscles

H15 Los Angeles Times Easy-to-find oil: Has peak been reached? Behind today's oil mania lies a deeper dread: that the world has found all the easy-to-reach oil

A presidential primer on the Middle East conflict Regardless of who wins, McCain and Obama face a tough situation in trying to bring peace between Israel and the Palestinians

Among Iraqis, Obama is not Topic No. 1 Ordinary citizens appear skeptical that the differences between the U.S. presidential candidates have anything to do with them

Israel's Ehud Olmert survives 3 no-confidence votes One is a majority vote, but the prime minister's government remains intact. He is under police investigation for allegedly taking bribes.

China takes up war footing ahead of Olympic Games Fearing terrorism, Beijing deploys tens of thousands of security personnel and puts surface-to-air missiles near stadiums

Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic arrested The man accused of overseeing the massacre of more than 7,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica had been sought for more than a decade

Iraq spokesman expresses hope for U.S. withdrawal by 2010 That's similar to timing suggested by Barack Obama, who meets with Prime Minister Maliki in Baghdad under heavy security. McCain again attacks his rival's resistance to the troop 'surge.'

Obama's audacity of hope hits the reality of race Gregory Rodriguez: The candidate isn't optimistic that his election as president would signal the end of the civil rights era

Editorial

Condoleezza Rice says Iran is stalling about its nuclear position

The secretary of state, speaking in Ireland, says Iran faces sanctions if it does not comply with international demands

H16 American Politics

Gallup Daily: Obama Leads McCain by Six Points

Obama Won't ‘Rubber Stamp’ Military Decisions

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

New York Times rejects McCain essay

National Review: A Strategy For McCain — EDITOR'S NOTE: A longer version

H17 Daily Telegraph Forces less ready for war than any time in history New figures reveal how the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have damaged recruitment to the Armed Forces.

Sarkozy wins constitution battle by single vote President Nicolas Sarkozy has narrowly won a high-risk bid to rewrite France's constitution

H18 Independent Fugitive Karadzic is arrested after 13-year hunt The former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, the man accused of masterminding the Srebrenica massacre, has been arrested in Serbia.

Marcus Tanner: Karadzic, the psychiatrist who became a genocidal madman

Boost for Obama over Iraq withdrawal Barack Obama has paid his first visit to Iraq, just as the Iraqi government explicitly matched the Democratic presidential candidate's 16-month timetable for the removal of American combat troops.

H19 Military Intelligence Terrorism

When Spies Don't Play Well With Their Allies By: Mark Mazzetti | The New York Times Most C.I.A. veterans agree that no relationship between the spy agency and a foreign intelligence service is quite as byzantine, or as maddening, as that between the C.I.A. and Pakistan’s Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence, or I.S.I

H20 Slate