Foreign Press Review

022108f - 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 - FPR Table - Subscribe to FPR

H1 New York Times For McCain, Self-Confidence on Ethics Poses Its Own Risk As his relationship with a female lobbyist underscores, John McCain’s confidence in his own integrity has sometimes seemed to blind him to potential conflicts of interest.

Kevin Drum John McCain and the Telecom Lobbyist

The Times Petraeus reveals plans to scale back Iraq troops The US commander in Iraq told The Times he is putting together proposals which will be put before Congress by early April

General Patreaus: The Times interview

Patraeus profile: a man changed by Iraq

Analysis: Musharraf is finished and should quit To call the President a lame duck is an evasion, writes Bronwen Maddox. He should be following Fidel Castro's example

Financial Times Clinton must step aside today to win tomorrow Become senior Senate ally, urges Stephen Graubard

CNAS-Foreign Policy Magazine U.S. Military Index - Center for a New American Security: CNAS and Foreign Policy Magazine set out to address some of the most challenging questions facing the U.S. military in the 21st century: What is the actual state of America's military? How healthy are the armed forces? How prepared are they for future conflicts? How confident are they in civilian leaders and government institutions? And what impact have the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan really had on them?

CFR Cordesman: US Making ‘Major’ Security Gains in Iraq but Needs to Stay for Years to Come

The Situation in Iraq: A Briefing from the Battlefield Source: Center for Strategic & International Studies Full Document (PDF; 7.3 MB)

William Arkin Pause in Iraq? Try Permanent Bases in the Region

Washington Post Making Markets Murky By David Ignatius, Not even the banks trading them fully understand today's complicated financial products.

Our Man in Islamabad By Robert D. Novak Why does the Bush administration continue to support Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf?

U.S. Payments To Pakistan Face New Scrutiny Little Accounting for Costs To Support Ally's Troops

Sadr's Militia Enforces Cease-Fire With a Deadly Purge

Iran Affirms Its Defiance On Nuclear Program Ahmadinejad Restates Intent to Ignore U.N.

From Quadrant, a look at why the recognition of complexity and uncertainty that has been the key to the success of the West

Robert Kagan The United States - Dangerous Nation?

CFR Splitting Hairs on Foreign Policy

Policy Review Resurgent Russia? A Still-Faltering Military Reports of its return have been greatly exaggerated By Zoltan Barany

Resurgent Russia? Rethinking Energy Inc. Five myths about the “energy superpower” Andreas Goldthau

USIP Online Press Kit: Negotiating Arab-Israeli Peace

NYT Rising Inflation Limits the Fed as Growth Lags The central bank found itself facing a problem that the United States has not seen in decades: stagflation, the mix of slumping growth and sharp spikes in oil and food prices

Clinton Aides Split on How to Take On Obama Hillary Rodham Clinton has been repeatedly stymied by the challenge of how to discredit her popular opponent without hurting herself.

ROGER COHEN A Change to Believe In Sovereignty, in a globalized world, is more than authority over territory and people. It is also responsibility.

Kosovar Independence and the Russian Reaction | Stratfor

McClatchy Exclusive: U.S. urges Pakistanis to keep Musharraf, despite election defeat

Ha’aretz – Israel fears Europe will break boycott of Hamas EU warns Foreign Ministry it may change policy due to int'l frustration over pace of peace talks

ANALYSIS: The West Bank should be the next Kosovo Senior PA minister rocks the seemingly dormant peace process with a call to declare independence

Kosovo is already here Kosovo's declaration of independence has sparked concern in certain circles in Israel.

BBC Palestinians 'may declare state' A top official says Palestinians could unilaterally declare statehood, as Kosovo did, if talks with Israel fail.

International Recognition of a Unilaterally Declared Palestinian State: Legal and Policy Dilemmas - Tal Becker (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs)

Guardian Labour used the law to keep criticism of Israel secret

Exclusive: Concern over nuclear arsenal removed from Iraq dossier

This dependent independence is the least worst solution for Kosovo

Timothy Garton Ash: It is unique in its wider European framework, but all would-be states will still take this Balkan solution for a precedent

Refitting Global Organization for New Order By: Fyodor Lukyanov | The Moscow Times
Kosovo's proclamation of independence has sparked a storm of debate. The main topic of discussion is how Kosovo's decision will influence other regional conflicts. More interesting, though, is what role the events in the Balkans will play in the overall weakening of international institutions.

EurasiaNet Disinformation flies as US raises Iran bar US efforts are in overdrive to ward off a clean bill of health for Iran's nuclear program when the International Atomic Energy Agency issues a new report later this week. The American diplomats as usual have the help of compliant media, which are making much of supposed US intelligence newly "shared" with the atomic agency. Just don't believe everything you read; the IAEA does not. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi

Slouching towards Petroeurostan The Iranian International Petroleum Exchange started business this week. It was a low-key affair, yet it could mark a key point in the decline of the US dollar as a world currency while offering oil producers a vital option to using existing middlemen and exchanges that at present control the global oil market. - Pepe Escobar

From Policy Review, the advantage to Islam of Mosque-State separation: What the American Founders can teach.

Sovereign Wealth Funds (PDF; 97 KB) Source: U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee

Mehdi Khalaji of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, in a commentary on the stand-off between the West and Iran, says to resolve outstanding issues, the West should be dealing with the only person powerful enough to make deals and deliver concessions. That person, he says, is the supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, and not the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Clinton Faces Daunting Delegate Deficit...

OBAMA OPENS UP 14-POINT LEAD...

Bush job approval rating bottoms out Research group reports Bush approval rating among Americans at 19%.

Can Barack Obama Be Stopped? - Chuck Todd, NBC News

Obama's New Vulnerability - Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal

Candidates' Reinstatements Could Spell Trouble for Ahmadinejad

Time Can Musharraf Survive?

Al-Sadr's Fragile Peace

Carnegie Tellis: An 'absolutely devastating' result for Musharraf

Richard Perle Claims We’ve ‘Already Won’ The Iraq War But Its Also ‘Far From Over’

H 2 Washington Institute Headscarf Dilemma: Implications for Turkey and the United States

US elections and Turkey by FARUK LOĞOĞLU