COMMENTARY & ANALYSIS :

Washington Post, 15 May 08, by David Ignatius
The Squeeze on the Middle East's Moderates
'The [Arab] center is under siege in Lebanon and across the Middle East as the region becomes more polarized between Iranian-backed extremists and U.S.-backed forces. Iran's proxies strike at will: seizing control of Beirut neighborhoods in a naked show of defiance; lobbing missiles into Israel from Gaza to disrupt peace talks; creating havoc in southern Iraq and Baghdad.'

International Herald Tribune, 14 May 08, by Thomas L. Friedman
The new Cold War
'The next American president will inherit many foreign policy challenges, but surely one of the biggest will be the Cold War. Yes, the next U.S. president is going to be a Cold War president - but this Cold War is with Iran.'

Los Angeles Times 'Babylon and Beyond' blog, 12 May 08, by Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran and Borzou Daragahi in Beirut
Iran: Watching Lebanon from Tehran
'... though Hezbollah might have discreetly sought its backers' OK before taking over West Beirut, the move came as a shock to most Iranians.'

Council on Foreign Relations, 12 May 08, by Bernard Gwertzman
'Prolonged Crisis' in Lebanon Reflects ‘Cold War' in Region
'Michael Young, a political analyst in Beirut, says Hezbollah's efforts to impose its will in Lebanon have led to "a prolonged crisis that is a reflection of the cold war in the region" between Iran and the United States and their respective allies.'

International Herald Tribune, 13 May 08, by editorial staff
Pakistan's coalition can't afford a split
'After an auspicious start, the leaders of Pakistan's new coalition government have let political rivalries thwart their efforts to rebuild their battered country.'

International Herald Tribune, 12 May 08, by editorial staff
The mental suffering of American soldiers
'The Department of Veterans Affairs is struggling to cope with a task for which it was tragically unready: the care of soldiers who left Afghanistan and Iraq with an extra burden of brain injury and psychic anguish. The last thing they need is the blend of secrecy and heedlessness that helped to send many of them into harm's way.'

International Herald Tribune, 12 May 08, by editorial staff
The lucrative arts of war and not paying taxes
'Congress is finally moving to shut one of the more egregious forms of Iraq war profiteering: defense contractors using offshore shell companies to avoid paying their fair share of payroll taxes. The practice is widespread and congressional investigators have been dispatched to one of the prime tax refuges, the Cayman Islands, to seek a firsthand estimate of how much the U.S. Treasury is being shorted.'

International Herald Tribune, 08 May 08, by Alex Rondos
What side are we on?
'Georgia is under threat of partial occupation by Russia and thus has become a moral lightning rod for the West. All the demons of our 20th-century history are bubbling up again in this embattled outpost of Western interests.'

International Herald Tribune, 07 May 08, by editorial staff
Medvedev's first crisis
'Russia is playing a game of cat-and-mouse with Georgia that could quickly turn deadly.'

Christian Science Monitor, 07 May 08, by editorial staff
Burma's Katrina moment
'A cyclone's ruin exposes a need for the kind of democracy that responds well to disasters.'

Washington Times, 07 May 08, by J. Peter Pham
Ships of fools?
'To fully appreciate the complications and dangers America faces in the post Sept. 11, 2001, world, consider recent actions taken by the government of one of America's strategic allies. ... the Mongolian government in recent years has encouraged the development of a fleet of ships. It now has a significant and a growing maritime presence. ... Despite receiving millions of dollars from America's public purse, Mongolia appears to have no problem renting out its flag to weapons proliferators, criminals and other shady figures who endanger the security of the United States and its allies.'

Los Angeles Times 'Babylon and Beyond' blog, 07 May 08, by Tina Susman
IRAQ: The language of war
'The United States' language toward Sadr and his Mahdi Army has undergone a radical change since last year when, at news conferences and in interviews, U.S. military and political leaders freely referred to it by its Arabic acronym, JAM. Splinter groups were known as Rogue JAM. When Sadr last August called on JAM to cease armed activities, ostensibly so he could sort out the Rogue JAM from the real JAM, some began referring to his truce-abiding fighters as Frozen JAM.'

Christian Science Monitor, 02 May 08, by Ben White
In praise of Palestinian steadfastness
'Despite 60 years of hardship, real achievement, too.'

Asia Times, 01 May 08, by Sami Moubayed
The heat is on Muqtada
'The fierce battle raging in Baghdad's Sadr City between Muqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army and United States and Iraqi forces has claimed more than 1,000 lives over the past few weeks. What is not clear is the motive behind the offensive against the Shi'ite militia. It could be the Americans, trying to nip in the bud any united front between Muqtada and Sunnis. Or the Iranians, wanting to eliminate a potential thorn in their side. Either way, Muqtada has a fight on his hands.'

Christian Science Monitor, 30 Apr 08, by Russell D. Howard and Erik Iverson
Fight Al Qaeda's plan, not its ideas
'The cold war showed it's easier to fight strategy than ideology.'

Christian Science Monitor, 28 Apr 08, by editorial staff
New ways to quell Al Qaeda?
'Pakistan's new leaders go soft with jihadists. But that takes hard tactics to pull off.'

Stratfor, 29 Apr 08, by George Friedman and Peter Zeihan
The Shift Toward an Israeli-Syrian Agreement
'The Middle East, already monstrously complex, grew more complex last week. First, there were strong indications that both Israel and Syria were prepared to engage in discussions on peace. That alone is startling enough. But with the indicators arising in the same week that the United States decided to reveal that the purpose behind Israel's raid on Syria in September 2007 was to destroy a North Korean-supplied nuclear reactor, the situation becomes even more baffling.'

Human Events, 29 Apr 08, by John Gizzi
Why Won't White House Deal With North Korean 'Identity Crisis' in Syrian Caper?
'One thing is certain: this is not going away, no matter how much the President's top spokesman refers me or any other reporter to another outlet of information.'

Christian Science Monitor, 30 Apr 08, by Mark Lange
The only way to alter China's hand in Darfur
'Shame won't work. But enlisting its self-interest can.'

Townhall.com, 30 Apr 08, by Austin Bay
Darfur: Facing the Peacekeeping Conundrum
'Motivated people who really want to have an effect on the ground in Darfur should call for reform of the entire United Nations. Huge job? Yes. One that challenges the "politically correct" and "transnational" (usually anti-American) elites who always demand "international action" and look to the United Nations as a great "force for good"? Yes again. But reform needs to happen if effective peacekeeping is to occur.'

Human Events, 29 Apr 08, by Robert Spencer
No Jihadis Here!
'Last week the State Department, the Department of Homeland Security and the National Counter Terrorism Center issued new guidelines forbidding personnel from using the words "jihad" or "jihadist" in reference to Islamic terrorism and its perpetrators.'

Christian Science Monitor, 28 Apr 08, by Helena Cobban
America's apartheid mentality toward the world
'What kind of relationship do Americans want to build with the world's 6 billion other people in the years ahead? This question is urgent, since the past seven years have seen an unprecedented drop in our country's global favorability rating. In today's hyper-connected world, that has huge consequences for Washington's ability to protect American interests.'

The Heritage Foundation, 26 Apr 08, by James Jay Carafano
Weapons Wal-Mart
'Intelligence officials yesterday briefed key members of Congress on evidence that North Korea was helping Syria build a nuclear reactor like the one that cranks out plutonium for Kim Jong-Il's nuke factory. US and Israeli evidence even includes a damning covert video.'

Townhall.com, 28 Apr 08, by Frank J. Gaffney, Jr.
Incoherence on Deterrence
'Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama and John McCain – and, for that matter, every other candidate for federal office – must address forthrightly their views on the need for U.S. nuclear deterrence.'

International Herald Tribune, 23 Apr 08, by editorial staff
The despot of Zimbabwe and his enablers
'Prevented from unloading its cargo by dock workers acting in solidarity with the people of Zimbabwe, a Chinese ship loaded with weapons for Zimbabwe's despot, Robert Mugabe, has been sailing from port to port along the coast of southern Africa. The rejection of the Chinese vessel and its lethal cargo is a tale about the power of commoners when they act in concert, about the corruption of onetime liberation leaders, and the involvement of China's communist rulers with the world's worst dictators.'

International Herald Tribune, 21 Apr 08, by Rami G. Khouri
America through Arab eyes
'One of the paradoxes of the complex relationship between the Arab world and the United States relates to the rhetoric and reality of democratic values. The Bush administration has made democracy promotion a central pillar of its foreign policy in the Middle East at the level of rhetoric, but in practice it pays little heed to behaving democratically in its interaction with the Arab people.'

Washington Post, 22 apr 08, by editorial staff
Aggression in Georgia
'Vladimir Putin steps up his campaign against Russia's democratic neighbor -- and bets that NATO won't respond.'

International Herald Tribune, 21 Apr 08, by editorial staff
China's new nationalists revealed
'As the Summer Olympics approach, some disturbing aspects of contemporary China are coming into view. A worldwide audience has learned what human rights activists have long known about Beijing's complicity with dictatorships in Sudan and Burma.'

International Herald Tribune, 21 Apr 08, by Jeff Jacoby
One man's misrule
'In retrospect, it was an exercise in naïveté to have imagined that Zimbabwe's brutal strongman, Robert Mugabe, would relinquish power just because he had lost an election.'

International Herald Tribune, 21 Apr 08, by Martin Neil Baily
Don't blame the war for the economy
'The war in Iraq and the poor state of the U.S. economy are often viewed as cause and effect. In fact, they are two very different messes.'

Christian Science Monitor, 18 Apr 08, by editorial staff
China bends on Taiwan, why not Tibet?
'If Beijing can talk with Taiwan about ties, it can talk with the Dalai Lama about Tibet's future.'

International Herald Tribune, 08 Apr 08, by editorial staff
Back from Iraq, again facing fire
'General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, America's top two men in Iraq, are in Washington to testify before the U.S. Congress. Three military and diplomatic experts were asked to suggest the questions they would like to have asked.'

Asia Times, 09 Apr 08, by Patrick Cockburn
Muqtada rides the tiger
'Muqtada al-Sadr is the most important and surprising figure to emerge in Iraq since the US invasion. He is the Messianic leader of the religious and political movement of the impoverished Shi'ite underclass whose lives were ruined by a quarter of a century of war, repression, and sanctions.'

International Herald Tribune, 09 Apr 08, by Maureen Dowd
Toil and trouble
'The guardians of Iraq offer more of the same - a post-Surge Pause or "consolidation and evaluation," as the general generically puts it - and no answers about how we can stop our ward from aligning with our enemy.'

Asia Times, 09 Apr 08, by Sami Moubayed
War and peace, Israeli style
'Israel's massive military exercises on the Syrian border have significantly raised tension between the two countries, even as their leaders downplay the development. At first glance, it is in nobody's interest to see yet another war. Yet in their relentless pursuit of Hezbollah, the Israelis have good reason to wage a limited battle on the group's natural ally, Syria - and then seek peace on their own terms.'

International Herald Tribune, 07 Apr 08, by John Vinocur
Are NATO promises backed by anything?
'Delivered directly to the alliance leaders, Putin said: "The presence of a powerful military bloc on our borders would be seen in Russia as a direct threat to the security of our country."'

Der Spiegel, 09 Apr 08, by Erich Follath
Tibet Has Caught China by Surprise
'... in the past few, dramatic weeks, the People's Republic has entered the international spotlight under completely different circumstances than the Communist Party strategists in Beijing had planned.'

Asia Times, 10 apr 08, by Francesco Sisci
Tibet a defining issue for China
'The uprising in Lhasa and the ensuing demonstrations in areas of China populated by ethnic Tibetans created a series of issues for the future of the country. These challenges go beyond the simple scope of the protests and far beyond the pressing issue of assuring the peaceful completion of the Beijing Olympic Games in August. The issues are radical - those of history, geography and the role of China in the world.'

Family Security Matters, 10 Apr 08, by Douglas Farah
What Does Iran Want from Latin America?
'My concern is that Iran, which has little real interest in Latin America in a substantive way, is positioning its favorite quasi-state actor, Hezbollah, around the region in order to be prepared to strike the United States, should it deem such a strike necessary or desirable.'

Turkish Weekly, 25 Mar 08, by Caglar Dolek
The US Hegemony, Failed State and the War on Terrorism: Implications for Africa?
'... when it comes to especially the African continent, the notion of "failed state" has been utilized in order to explain the problems of Africa without any critical reasoning. Considering this rather complex and broad set of questions, it seems vital to critically revaluate those notions with particular focus on Africa. Within in such a critique, however, the place of the US seems to be central especially with the recently initiated project of AFRICOM.'

International Herald Tribune, 09 Apr 08, by Geoffrey Wheatcroft
Belfast's Peace: Misplaced praise for a misbegotten peace
'... All those who defend the settlement must attempt to distinguish between the IRA and other terrorists, not to say between Ulster and pretty much everywhere else, a question which has been addressed on this page. The "irony," Michael Goldfarb writes in "Peace is not about justice" (Views, Dec. 8, 2007), is that "the price of conjuring peace out of conflict is that justice is not done; most crimes go unpunished." That has surely been the case in Northern Ireland.'

Family Security Matters, 10 Apr 08, by W. Thomas Smith Jr.
J-Roc Insults Combat Aircrews
'So here we have a United States Senator – who sits on the Senate Veterans Affairs committee – essentially damning military pilots as combatants who, and I'm paraphrasing, "don't know what happens" when their munitions strike their targets. In his words, McCain "was [which means all combat pilots are] long gone when they [the missiles] hit."'

Washington Post, 09 Apr 08, by editorial staff
Obama's Iraq Weakness
'At some point, most foreign policy debates, especially during a war, come down to a binary determination: Is a candidate strong or weak? Voters can disagree with a nominee on many things and still find him stronger than his opponent.'

Townhall.com, 06 Apr 08, by W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Why the MSM is dumbfounded by McCain's refusal to go home
'McCain's rejection of the enemy offer seems remarkable to many journalists who have recently been covering the presidential campaign of the now 71-year-old U.S. senator from Arizona.'

Christian Science Monitor, 01 Apr 08, by editorial staff
The Battle of Basra
'Lessons from this six-day conflict may decide if Iraq is to have a strong government.'

Christian Science Monitor, 01 Apr 08, by Eugene Rumer
NATO's message to Russia
'It mustn't let Putin's challenge go unanswered.'

International Herald Tribune, 01 Apr 08, by Karl F. Inderfurth
A New Compact: Afghanistan, Pakistan and NATO
'The NATO summit meeting in Bucharest this week comes at a critical time for the 26-member alliance and its mission in Afghanistan. It also comes at a critical time for the one country that can make or break that mission: Pakistan.'

International Herald Tribune, 02 Apr 08, by Jaap de Hoop Scheffer
NATO and Afghanistan: A new phase
'The NATO summit meeting in Bucharest ... It will set out the path to a new phase in our Afghanistan engagement: What used to be a predominantly military effort will begin to shift toward a more balanced approach, with a stronger emphasis on civilian efforts and on Afghan ownership.'

Christian Science Monitor, 03 Apr 08, by Benjamin H. Friedman
Don't 'pull an Iraq' in Afghanistan
'... what US involvement in Iraq principally demonstrates is the limitation of American military power in reordering foreign societies. US troops can check violence in areas they occupy, but cannot repair the tensions that produce such violence. Those tensions stem from political problems that only Iraqis can solve, as the current unrest in the Shiite south indicates. If Iraq teaches Americans that flooding troops into other states racked by civil war and that undertaking massive state-building efforts is a good use of tax dollars, they are misguided.'

International Herald Tribune, 02 Apr 08, by Anthony H. Cordesman
Shiite on Shiite: A civil war Iraq can't win
'Even if American and Iraqi forces are able to eliminate Al Qaeda in Iraq, there are still three worrisome possibilities of new forms of fighting that could divide Iraq and deny the United States any form of "victory."'

Human Events, 03 Apr 08, by Walid Phares
The Winning Side of the Iraq Campaign
'In his latest assessment of the state of the campaign in Iraq President Bush drew strategic assertions regarding the measurement of success and the risks of failure on that battlefield, in what we can coin as the next stage in the confrontation against the forces of terror in the region.'

Asia Times, 02 Apr 08, by M K Bhadrakumar
Iran torpedoes US plans for Iraqi oil
'By all accounts, Iran played a decisive role in hammering out the peace deal among the Shi'ite factions in Iraq.

International Herald Tribune, 02 Apr 08, by editorial staff
Wasting and wanting at the Pentagon
'If ever there was an indictment of the wanton ways that the Pentagon wastes money, a new report by U.S. government auditors is it. Dozens of the Pentagon's most costly weapons programs are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule. ... Now, in stark terms, we see that an unseemly percentage of that money has gone to wasteful cost overruns and delays. Even when weapons systems are finally delivered, investigators say, far too many fail to deliver the capabilities promised.'

Human Events, 03 Apr 08, by W. Thomas Smith, Jr.
U.S. Ground Forces Wearing Out
'Designers, engineers, contractors, maintenance personnel, and budget planners have always had to consider everything from handguns to howitzers to tactical missiles for U.S. ground forces and every imaginable soldier’s weapon in between. Those considerations have only increased with the current pace of ground combat operations.'

International Herald Tribune, 01 Apr 08, by H.D.S. Greenway
Greenway: Dith Pran: A gallant guide
'The world got to know of Dith Pran, who died of cancer Sunday, through the power of movies, specifically "The Killing Fields," in which he was played by Haing Ngor, who won an Oscar for his performance.'

PBS 'Frontline', Mar 08
Bush's War
'More than anything else the Iraq war will be the lasting legacy of this administration. Here is the epic story of how it began and how it has been fought.'

New York Times, 23 Mar 08, by Nicholas D. Kristof
Iraq, $5,000 Per Second?
'For all the disagreement, there appears to be at least a modest connection between spending in Iraq and the economic difficulties at home. So as we debate whether to bring our troops home, one central question should be whether Iraq is really the best place to invest $411 million every day in present spending alone.'

New York Times, 23 Mar 08, by Paul Berman
Why Radical Islam Just Won’t Die
'... extremist ideologies have prospered because of their own ability to adapt and survive — their strength, in a word.'

Globe and Mail, 21 Mar 08, Geoffrey York
Why Tibet is boiling over
'As protests spread beyond Lhasa, The Globe examines the environmental, economic and demographic grievances at the root of the bitter conflict.'

International Herald Tribune, 26 Mar 08, by H.D.S. Greenway
Prayer onto the wind
'Seldom has the world seen such a stark clash between soft power and hard power as the current confrontation between the Dalai Lama and the might of the People's Republic of China. In a real sense, both have failed.'

International Herald Tribune, 26 Mar 08, by Roger Cohen
Imaginary snipers, real challenges
'What's needed ... is some new, creative thinking about a changed world in which authoritarianism is enjoying a renaissance and America and its allies need to work together to spread peace, prosperity, freedom, equity, security and, yes, democracy.'

Washington Post, 13 Mar 08, by David Ignatius
A Centcom Chief Who Spoke His Mind
'The first thing that many of Adm. William Fallon's colleagues note about him is that he's a Navy officer. By that, they mean he has the stubborn self-confidence, some would say arrogance, that is part of command at sea.'

International Herald Tribune, 12 Mar 08, by editorial staff
Helping Iraqi refugees who helped America
'Federal efforts should focus on helping Iraqis who come here build new lives. One challenge for some professionals from Iraq (and other countries) is finding jobs that match their abilities.'

Stratfor, 11 Mar 08, by Rodger Baker
Asia's Security Role Goes Global
'Over the last few decades, China, Japan and South Korea have dabbled on the international stage mainly via "soft" tools such as cultural and economic exchanges. But as the global trading system has evolved – along with the East Asian trio's stature within that system – the three countries' hunger for resources and markets has grown to an all-time high. This has pushed them into increasingly bold experiments on the international stage with "harder" tools such as military and security exchanges.'

International Herald Tribune, 12 Mar 08, by editorial staff
Serbia's choice: Isolation or the EU
'Kosovo made a historic choice for independence last month. Serbia will soon have a chance to make its own historic choice - either for a better future as part of the European Union or for isolation, stagnation and decline.'

Washington Post, 11 Mar 08, by Christopher Hitchens
Iraq: Worth the Price
'A few years ago, we had armed forces that were quite able to remove a ramshackle yet horrific government in Kabul or Baghdad but were quite unprepared to tackle the much more agonizing and tenacious enemies -- a Baathist/Al Quaeda alliance, or a Pakistani Pushtun/Bin Laden coalition -- that had partly emerged under those ex-governments' shadows. Now, after infinite labor, we have armed forces who have learned in practice how to smash Islamist terrorism on the battlefield, and also how to isolate and discredit it in the slums and the villages. This is what we needed in the first place and still need, as it happens, in both Iraq and Afghanistan, and will also need in the future.'

World Affairs Council of Northern California, 05 Feb 08, with Ivan Eland and David Henderson
Iraq End Game
[video] 'A recurring question found in most public opinion polls and on the 2008 presidential campaign trail: What will be the end-game for the U.S. in Iraq? How will U.S. decisions about continued engagement affect Iraq itself, and the Middle East?'

The National Interest, 05 Mar 08, by J. Peter Pham
Inside Track: Helping Taiwan Help Itself
'On Monday, the Pentagon released the 2008 edition of its legislatively mandated Annual Report to Congress: Military Power of the People's Republic of China. ... overall the report passed unnoticed, especially when one contrasts the attention it received with the headlines generated by some of its predecessors.'

Washington Post, 06 Mar 08, by
Homeland Security's Struggle
'Five years on, the department is very much a work in progress -- still struggling to mesh the 22 agencies that were combined to create a sprawling security establishment with about 208,000 employees. Critics say it remains more a collection of bureaucratic parts than a unitary Cabinet department.'

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