COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS :

International Herald Tribune, 10 Jul 08, by Steven Lee Myers
A more confident Iraq becomes a tougher negotiating partner for the U.S.
'The Bush administration's quest for a deal with Iraq that would formally authorize an unlimited American troop presence there well beyond President George W. Bush's tenure appears to be unraveling. The irony is that it may be a victim of the administration's successes in the war.'

Human Events, 09 Jul 08, by W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Will Israel Strike Iran?
'... there is an increasing "probability" that the Israeli Air Force (IAF) will soon strike Iranian nuclear facilities. The strikes – if they take place – will be far more extensive than that which occurred during the strike against Iraq's Osirak nuclear facility in 1981. The new strikes will target much more than just the nuclear sites. The extent to which America will or will not provide support will depend on multiple variables. And the strikes will not be over in a single night.'

Asia Times, 10 Jul 08, by Tom Engelhardt
Why the US won't attack Iran
'Despite all the warnings, alarms, rumors and panicky pieces coursing through the international media, an attack on Iran is less likely than ever to happen. For small, vulnerable Israel, an air assault on Iranian nuclear facilities, alone or with the backing of the US, is literally inconceivable, given the disastrous fallout that would follow.'

Christian Science Monitor, 10 Jul 08, by Joshua Foust and Jeb Koogler
Myths in Al Qaeda's 'home'
'... it is not just [Afghan] President Karzai who is concerned about militancy in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). Policymakers in London, New Delhi, and Washington are also worried about a territory increasingly referred to as Al Qaeda's new home.'

Cleveland Plain Dealer, 09 Jul 08, by Elizabeth Sullivan
Star wars goes continental
'The Bush administration's latest missile-defense follies come with the improbable help of Tehran. ... Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pounced on the test to justify the house-of-cards deal she just signed in Prague for a supposed Europe-protecting anti-missile radar station. Missile defenses may seem enticing, particularly as threats proliferate. Yet the Czech deal becomes part of a $150 billion U.S. defense boondoggle.'

International Herald Tribune, 07 Jul 08, by editorial staff
Iraq and Afghanistan: Where do we go from here?
'The resurgence of Al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan makes it even more imperative for the United States to begin planning for a swift and orderly withdrawal from Iraq.'

International Herald Tribune, 09 Jul 08, by editorial staff
Whose national interests? Rich nations, poor policies
'With the price of oil shooting upward, food security in danger for billions of the world's poor, and climate change already taking its toll on crops, water and health, members of the Group of 8 rich nations need to cooperate now - and not make vague promises for the distant future.'

The Independent, 10 Jul 08, by Bronwen Maddox
Little things can mean a lot in the machinations of great nations
'It is easy to knock the G8. Many did so as the summit ended yesterday, saying that the most powerful countries in the world had failed to solve anything. ... One problem is that the expectations have become high and precise. The G8 (which consists of Britain, the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Russia) has ducked the one question it might be expected to answer, however – whether it is a club for the most-powerful democracies, in which case it should leave out Russia, or whether it is for powerful countries of any stripe, in which case it should bring in China.'

The National Interest, 07 Jul 08, by J. Peter Pham
Kabuki Diplomacy
'... the G8, like many multilateral forums, has become more about institutionalized form than substantive utility. ... Most observers expect that, irrespective of which new administration takes office next January, Washington will pursue a more multilateral foreign-policy approach in the post-Bush era.'

International Analyst Network, 05 Jul 08, by Dieter Farwick
General Karl-Heinz Lather: "We are committed to success"
'"NATO is taking important steps to complete its transformation from a static, reactive Alliance focused on territorial defense to an expeditionary, proactive one that works with nations to deter and defeat the spectrum of 21st Century threats confronting our collective security."'

Bangkok Post, 06 Jul 08, by J. Peter Pham
Reverberations in Mongolia
'The dynamic economies of the Pacific – in both Asia and North America – have much at stake if Mongolia is permitted to descend down the road toward resource nationalism and autarky, thus destabilising the broader region.'

Human Events, 09 Jul 08, by Robert Spencer
The Stealth Jihad in Britain
'Three years after the July 7, 2005, jihad terror attacks in London, the jihad in Britain is stronger than ever. It is not proceeding by means of more terrorism, but by stealth and by the preemptive surrender of all too many British officials.'

The National Interest, 01 Jul 08, by J. Peter Pham
Hanoi’s Coming-Out Party
'After meeting with President Bush last week, [Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan] Dung said his government "took note with great pleasure of rapid development in the Vietnam-U.S. relationship toward a friendly and constructive partnership, multifaceted cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect and mutual benefit."� No matter who wins in November, the next administration will need to build on this foundation, reinforcing ties with a country which was a dogged adversary in war but which, in peace, has proven an increasingly significant geopolitical actor.'

Christian Science Monitor, 02 Jul 08, by Shlomo Ben-Ami and Trita Parsi
The alternative to an Israeli attack on Iran
'Serious diplomacy, not military action, will bring regional security.'

AllAfrica.com/The New Times (Kigali), 02 Jul 08
Africa: AU Right on Universal Jurisdictions
'The heads of state should be commended for finally kick-starting a scrutiny campaign that is likely to exert peer pressure on politicians who seem to relish excesses, thereby holding them accountable to their nationals and to Africa as a whole.'

The Guardian, 01 July 08, by Janine di Giovanni
Interventionism's moral imperative
'Foreign policy experts have plenty of reasons not to get involved, but they should try meeting civilians in mortal terror.'

International Herald Tribune, 01 Jul 08, by Stephen F. Cohen
Wrong on Russia
'Neither of the two major American presidential candidates has seriously addressed, or even seems fully aware of, what should be our greatest foreign policy concern - Russia's singular capacity to endanger or enhance our national security.'

The New Yorker, 07 Jul 08 issue, by George Packer
Obama's Iraq Problem
'... The same pragmatism that prompted [Obama] last month to forgo public financing of his campaign will surely lead him, if he becomes President, to recalibrate his stance on Iraq. He doubtless realizes that his original plan, if implemented now, could revive the badly wounded Al Qaeda in Iraq, reënergize the Sunni insurgency, embolden Moqtada al-Sadr to recoup his militia's recent losses to the Iraqi Army, and return the central government to a state of collapse.'

Christian Science Monitor, 03 Jul 08, by editorial staff
High hopes abroad for a new U.S. president
'The rest of the world can't vote for the next American president, but many certainly follow the US campaign as if they could. They also hold high hopes that a new leader – no matter who wins – will change Washington's foreign policy. They may well be disappointed.'

Christian Science Monitor, 30 Jun 08, by editorial staff
France's military about-face
'He may not have de Gaulle's physical stature, but President Nicolas Sarkozy is standing up to Le Général's long-obeyed policy of military independence for France. The US and Europe need to welcome this historic shift.'

Familly Security Matters, 28 Jun 08, by Peter Brookes
Korean Nukes: Don't Get Giddy
'North Korea gave the world some good news this week - finally handing over a declaration about its nuclear program and promising to blow up the cooling tower at its Yongbyon nuclear facility. But don't break out the best bubbly just yet. These moves are only a first step in what is likely to be a drawn-out, slippery, pot-hole-filled road in a (possibly futile) attempt to roll back Kim Jong Il's membership in the nuclear-weapons club.'

The Heritage Foundation, 30 Jun 08, by Baker Spring
U.S. Should Defy Chinese-Russian Attack on Missile Defense
'During their meeting in Beijing on May 23, 2008, Chinese President Hu Jintao and new Russian President Dimitry Medvedev issued a joint statement criticizing the establishment of a global missile defense system. ... This statement was a not-so-veiled criticism of the United States and its allies, which are cooperating in fielding missile defense systems, and should be seen for what it is: an attempt to drive a wedge between the U.S. and its allies.'

World Security Network, 25 Jun 08, by Conn Hallinan
Test of strength for alliances
'Military alliances are always sold as things that produce security. In practice they tend to do the opposite.'

Christian Science Monitor, 25 Jun 08, by John Hughes
The key to a better U.S. image
'USIA helped world views of the US before the cold war; let's revive it.'

International Herald Tribune, 24 Jun 08, by Alan Cowell
Ireland and Zimbabwe: Defying the neighbors
'Simply put, the issue is this: In a globalized era, when so many national frontiers have crumbled, who defines democracy's scope - the nation-states on which modern political systems were conceived, or the newer formations, such as the European Union, designed to shelter and empower the strong and the weak alike?'

International Herald Tribune, 25 Jun 08, by Thomas L. Friedman
Taking ownership of Iraq?
'One of the first things I realized when visiting Iraq after the U.S. invasion was that the very fact that Iraqis did not liberate themselves, but had to be liberated by Americans, was a source of humiliation to them.'

Human Events, 24 Jun 08, by Caspar Weinberger Jr.
Gates and the Air Force
'The Air Force's business has been, since its inception in 1947, to not only fight the current war, but to forsee and plan for the next one, and the one after that. Secretary Gates must not insist on blinding the most forward-looking of the armed forces.'

International Herald Tribune, 24 Jun 08, by editorial staff
Another rebuke on Guantánamo
'... After a hearing before a combatant status review tribunal - a kangaroo court that rules without a real hearing or reliable evidence - [Huzaifa] Parhat was designated an enemy combatant. The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled the designation invalid.'

Middle East Times, 25 Jun 08, by Mark N. Katz
Iraq and America: SOFA Game
'Will events unfold as my class's role playing game predicted? This remains to be seen. The outcome of the game, however, suggests that the Iraqis will come to value the U.S. presence most only when they come to believe that it really might end.'

Christian Science Monitor, 02 Jun 08, by Monica Duffy Toft
Why Islam lies at the heart of Iraq's civil war
'Because it does, US withdrawal may be the surest path to peace.'

Christian Science Monitor, 17 Jun 08, by Robert Dujarric and Andy Zelleke
The death of U.S. strategy in Iraq
'What outcome can justify the costs of fighting on?'

Washington Post, 19 Jun 08, by David Ignatius
The Right Iraq Footprint
'"Don't be afraid of Iraqi sovereignty," Gen. John Abizaid used to say when he was Centcom commander. And that's good advice now as Iraqis and Americans think about the new "status of forces" agreement that will shape the country next year when the Bush administration is gone. America should be looking, as Iraqis are, for a transition to a different kind of relationship.'

Washington Post, 19 Jun 08, by Vali Nasr
Iran on Its Heels
'For the first time since 2003, Iran has stumbled in Iraq. Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's decision to confront Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in Basra and Sadr City last month caught Tehran off guard. The Mahdi Army lost more than face ... Iran wants U.S. forces to leave Iraq and assumes that a friendly Shiite government would then protect Iran's interests.'

Wall Street Journal, 19 Jun 08, by Roger Bate
Mugabe Vows to Hold Power
'The surge of violence and voter intimidation in urban and rural areas is clearly being orchestrated by Mugabe's army. Torture camps, where people are "educated" on how to vote, are widely reported.'

Washington Post, 13 Jun 08, by Eugene Robinson
A Victory for the Rule of the Law
'It shouldn't be necessary for the Supreme Court to tell the president that he can't have people taken into custody, spirited to a remote prison camp and held indefinitely, with no legal right to argue that they've been unjustly imprisoned -- not even on grounds of mistaken identity.'

International Herald Tribune, 16 Jun 08, by Ban Ki Moon
The Real UN: More than just talk
'... the real UN, almost invisible to the general public, is the action-oriented UN. This real UN feeds 90 million people in more than 70 countries - forming a thin blue line between hungry people and starvation. It wipes out debilitating diseases like smallpox and polio and vaccinates 40 percent of the world's children. It provides $2 billion annually in emergency disaster relief and maintains the second-largest army in the world - a global peacekeeping force of 120,000 men and women who go where others can't or won't go.'

International Herald Tribune, 16 Jun 08, by Philip Bowring
A potent, troubling nationalism
'Much has been written about the rise of Chinese nationalism and its implications for the stability of Northeast Asia. But Korean nationalism could prove to be just as destabilizing.'

International Herald Tribune, 17 Jun 08, by Luis Carlos Montalván and Tyler Boudreau
Iraqi Refugees: Help those who helped us
'As combat officers in Iraq, we witnessed the suffering and forced migration of millions of Iraqi civilians. These same people are now struggling to survive as refugees in neighboring countries while millions more have been displaced within Iraq, enduring unimaginable hardship and danger.'

Christian Science Monitor, 17 Jun 08, by editorial staff
Europe's unfinished house
'Building European unity takes time. An Irish vote to halt it should not discourage.'

International Herald Tribune, 11 Jun 08, by Madeleine K. Albright
The end of intervention
'The Burmese government's criminally neglectful response to last month's cyclone, and the world's response to that response, illustrate three grim realities today: Totalitarian governments are alive and well; their neighbors are reluctant to pressure them to change; and the notion of national sovereignty as sacred is gaining ground, helped in no small part by the disastrous results of the American invasion of Iraq. Indeed, many of the world's necessary interventions in the decade before the invasion - in places like Haiti and the Balkans - would seem impossible in today's climate.'

Human Events, 11 Jun 08, by Robert Spencer
The Stealth Jihad in Turkey
'Anyone opposed to the global jihad should be watching recent developments in Turkey very closely – not just for what they reveal about the direction in which that country is headed, but so as to understand nothing less than the new direction of the jihad movement.'

Time Magazine, 11 Jun 08, by Robert Baer
How Iran Has Bush Over a Barrel
'If wasn't clear before it should be now: the Bush administration can't afford to attack Iran. With gas already at $4 a gallon and rising almost every day, Iran figuratively and literally has the United States over a barrel. As much as the administration is tempted, it is not about to test Iran's promise to "explode" the Middle East if it is attacked.'

FOX News, 11 Jun 08, by Bill O'Reilly
War Clouds Over Iran
'A recent U.N. report says that Iran is going full speed ahead with its nuke program and its military is now involved. That prompted Israel to threaten Iran with military action, something that would light up the Middle East with violent flames.'

Wall Street Journal, 10 Jun 08, by Kimberly Kagan and Frederick W. Kagan
How Prime Minister Maliki Pacified Iraq
'America is very close to succeeding in Iraq. The "near-strategic defeat" of al Qaeda in Iraq described by CIA Director Michael Hayden last month in the Washington Post has been followed by the victory of the Iraqi government's security forces over illegal Shiite militias, including Iranian-backed Special Groups. The enemies of Iraq and America now cling desperately to their last bastions, while the political process builds momentum.'

The New Yorker, 09 Jun 08, by Philip Gourevitch
Struggles
'The banishment of white-supremacist rule did not bring an end to South Africa's divisiveness and inequality; the terms were merely reconfigured. In the place of political violence, the nation has been plagued by one of the highest rates of violent crime in the world. Most of the victims, like most of the perpetrators, belong to the vast black underclass ...'

Asia Times, 09 Jun 08, by Jim Lobe
Hawks still circling on Iran
'... rumors - most recently voiced by neo-conservative Daniel Pipes - that the administration plans to carry out a "massive" attack in the window between the November elections and Bush's departure from office, particularly if Democratic Senator Barack Obama is his successor, continue to swirl around the capital.'

New York Times, 12 Jun 08, by editorial staff
Interrogation for Profit
'Congress is finally moving to ban one of the Bush administration's most blatant evasions of accountability in Iraq – the outsourcing of war detainees' interrogation to mercenary private contractors.'

Townhall.com, 06 Jun 08, by Oliver North
D-Day in Context
'This year, the anniversary of their achievement received little notice in the so-called mainstream media. Perhaps that's because it would draw uncomfortable parallels between those who stormed the coast of France in 1944 and those who are fighting now – and winning – a war against radical Islam.'

Asia Times, 05 Jun 08, by Kaveh L Afrasiabi
Obama already mired on Middle East road
'... already the intense pressures on him to tame broad calls for "change" in the US's domestic and external policies have chewed away a good deal of his initial sound and fury, already making him look like a business-as-usual candidate.'

Jerusalem Post, 04 Jun 08, by Limor Simhony and Roni Bart
Analysis: Next president will shape the future of the Middle East
'... the policy of Republican John McCain, if elected president, will in almost all certainty be different from the policy of Democrat Barack Obama should he enter the White House. These candidates' views about American foreign policy are significantly divergent, reflecting the difference between their respective parties.'

Middle East Times, 04 Jun 08, by Rabbi Daniel M. Zucker
Syria lost big in Lebanon
'The truth is that Hezbollah is not subservient to Syria, but rather to the Islamic Republic of Iran. Syria, which dearly desires to regain control of Lebanon, if not to actually swallow the Levantine coastal nation outright, just saw Beirut become a satellite of Iran.'

International Analyst Network, 04 Jun 08, by Haider Mullick
Al Qaeda's strategic chaos
'While Pakistani counterterrorism strategists wrestle with Al-Qaeda and its affiliates in the northwest tribal areas bordering Afghanistan, Al-Qaeda successfully applies strategic chaos to achieve its goals.'

Human Events, 04 Jun 08, by Robert Spencer
War On Terror Ends?
'In the interests of political correctness, official Washington is retreating farther and farther from reality. It’s just whistling in the dark to think that Al-Qaeda’s claim to represent Islamic purity can’t draw on genuine elements of Islamic theology that encourage bellicosity. Fantasy-based policymaking is never wise. America will be paying the price for years to come.'

Human Events, 02 Jun 08, by W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Doing Business with the Devil
'For now GE is in Iran and conducting business, which means products continue to be delivered, money continues to change hands, and this will continue for at least another month. Even more disturbing are the variety of products sold to customers in Iran and the diversity of the Iranian customer base.'

American Congress for Truth, 01 Jun 08, by Jerry Gordon
Charlie Allen, DHS intelligence chief decries ‘war on terror’: tip toes around Islamic war doctrine
'It appears to me that Allen and many others are part of what author and friend Ken Timmerman calls in the title of his book by the same name: "Shadow Warriors". Useful idiots as Lenin would probably say.'

InformationWeek, 03 Jun 08, by George Hulme
Hezbollah Has Hacking Chops
'Michael Chertoff, Homeland Security secretary, recently stated that Hezbollah is the greatest threat to U.S. national security. And Western intelligence agencies are increasingly taking the organization's cyberattack skills more seriously. What do you think their targets would be?'

Family Security Matters, 04 Jun 08, by Douglas Farah
Viktor Bout: Worth Quite a Bit to the Russians
'From my sources in Thailand and elsewhere it seems that Viktor Bout, weapons merchant extraordinaire, is worth quite a bit to the Russians.'

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