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H1 Washington Post The Squeeze on the Middle East's Moderates By David Ignatius

Growing polarization has not produced positive changes in the region.

Gates: U.S. Should Engage Iran With Incentives, Pressure

Cabinet Backs Off in Scrap With Hezbollah Shiite Group Sees Victory as Government Rescinds Moves That Sparked Violence

Edwards Throws Support to Obama With Long-Coveted Endorsement, Former Rival Sends Signal to Clinton

Army's Next Crop of Generals Forged in Counterinsurgency

William Arkin Gates the Substitute Teacher

NYT New York Times Editorial Lebanon at the Edge If President Bush really wants to do more to help Lebanon, he will need to talk with Hezbollah’s masters in Syria and Iran.

Financial Times The downside of joining the superpower clubChina is feeling some of the political heat that has been directed exclusively at the US since the end of the Soviet Union, writes Victor Mallet

Israel at 60 Even though a majority of its citizens back a two-states solution, the country appears politically incapable of producing leaders who can close the deal

Oil Demand to Weaken as Prices Soar Signs that countries are buckling under the burden of $120 oil prices became clearer on Tuesday as the International Energy Agency slashed its forecasts of oil demand for this year

Signs of an end to soaring food prices UN index shows decline

Wall Street Journal The Tehran-Berlin Axis
By Matthias Küntzel
Germany's foreign policy establishment pushes a 'strategic partnership' with Iran

Maliki Stalls US Plan to Frame Iran

Four Policy Planning Stories in Search of a Theory Stephen Krasner, former State Department Director of Policy Planning

Matt Bai / New York Times:

The McCain Doctrines

Defense Issues for the Next Administration Source: National Security Outlook (American Enterprise Institute)

MEMRI Hizbullah's Victory in Lebanon and its Regional Implications

Enabling Hezbollah - Ralph Peters, New York Post opinion

How Iran Conquered Lebanon By: Frida Ghitis | World Politics Review While the world's diplomatic and media attention focused on the natural disaster in Burma, a major political and strategic move reshaped the Middle East, handing yet another defeat to the West and a crucial victory to Iran: In the blink of an eye, the Islamic Republic of Iran conquered Lebanon

Long Delays for Iran's LNG Projects The Economist
The indications that Shell and, most likely, Total will not meet Iran's mid-June deadline for them to commit themselves to going ahead with their long-standing liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects reflect both the difficulties of doing business in sanctions-hit Iran and the broader problem of escalating global costs of energy schemes of this sort

Russia's Oil Treasure Shows Signs of Decline By: Michael Richardson | The Japan Times
It's not just Russia that should be worried about signs of the oil-rich nation losing its economic clout.

WINEP Bush's Last Middle East Trip Could Be More Than Just Farewells Given the urgency of the issues facing the United States and its allies, President Bush's second trip to the Middle East in 2008 may produce substantive results. David Pollock and Simon Henderson write

China’s political colours: from monochrome to palette, Jeffrey N Wasserstrom

Russia's foreign policy: the choice, Dmitri Trenin

IHT Disasters, natural and man-made By PHILIP BOWRING What combination of nature, chance, human activity and government competence determines the death toll in natural disasters?

Road map to nowhere

By DANIEL LEVY The flawed logic of the Annapolis process is increasingly transparent

Guardian Expulsion and dispossession can't be cause for celebration Seumas Milne: The demand to make Palestinian rights a reality is no longer simply a matter of justice but also of self-interest

EU and the army now David Cronin A union-wide army would be expensive - and subordinate to Nato. Is that really what Europeans want?

World already hit by warming - study 90% of environmental damage around explained by rising temperatures driven by human activity

UPI Online warfare research outlined Procurement documents released by the U.S. Air Force give a rare glimpse into Pentagon plans for developing an offensive cyber-war capacity that can infiltrate, steal data from and, if necessary, take down enemy information-technology networks

Christian Science Monitor

Iran pumps iron in the Middle East Through its terrorist proxy Hezbollah, Iran builds up its Shiite influence in the region.

Independent Adrian Hamilton: Should we still view Israel as a 'special friend'?

Ha’aretz – Bradley Burston: We owe the Palestinians a state

Guest: "Jews need America as much as Israel"

Foreign Policy Will Bush Get Engaged? When it comes to the Middle East peace process, the Bush administration has held firm on its refusal to talk to its enemies. Now, though, in the waning days of office, engagement with radicals doesn’t look nearly as bad as it once did. And if it works, Bush would have Israel to thank Laura Rozen

Iraqi Leader Takes Charge of Offensive in Mosul - Associated Press

Sadr retains clout, analyst says

'Angry' Iran Sharpens Tone with Baghdad's Leaders - Associated Press

US Says Iran Security Pledge Not On Table - Reuters

Iraqi Forces to Infiltrate Mahdi Army Stronghold

CFR The Israeli-Palestinian Conflict - Council on Foreign Relations

Israel’s 60th Anniversary Issue Guide - Council on Foreign Relations

Europeans Want Continued US Involvement in Iraq, Middle East - Council on Foreign Relations

Foreign Policy Seven Questions: When Disaster Strikes

Wind Energy Could Produce 20 Percent of U.S. Electricity By 2030 Source: U.S. Department of Energy

Innovation in emerging markets: 2008 annual study
Source: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu

U.S. Response to the Global Food Crisis: New Approaches

Void of leadership, Palestinian movement loses momentum (By Joshua Mitnick)

The Palestinian Narrative Is Here to Stay By: Rami G. Khouri | The Daily Star That both Israeli independence and the Palestinian catastrophe, or nakba, of 1948 are now acknowledged virtually simultaneously around the world is a great achievement for the Palestinians, just as the creation of Israel was a miracle in the eyes of the world's Jews

From Le Monde diplomatique, a review of The Holocaust Is Over: We Must Rise from Its Ashes by Avraham Burg

A Strategy to Promote Healthy Globalization

Strategic Agreement with US is in the Interest of Iraq - Official

H 2 The Times Leader Britain and Turkey - a strategic bridge The Queen's state visit should reinforce ties between the two countries

Jamestown Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish Rapprochement Ominous for PKK

"Russo-Turkish Rapprochement through the Idea of Eurasia: Alexander Dugin's Networks in Turkey"

Morgan Stanley Turkey The ‘Art’ Side of Monetary Policy

Asia Times Turkey combines dialogue with bullets In a significant change of policy, Turkey has held high-level talks with the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq in an attempt to isolate Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq. Both Ankara and the regional government recognize the benefits - especially trade - of working closer together, but Turkey's military option is still very much alive By David Romano

Turkey says its mediation could result in direct talks between Syria and Israel - International Herald Tribune

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