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H1 New York Times Obama Expected to Hit Milestone in Tuesday’s Votes Barack Obama is poised to have a majority of pledged delegates after balloting in Kentucky and Oregon, but the situation is delicate as he tries to unify his party.

CRS “The National Security Council: An Organizational Assessment,” updated April 21, 2008.

Who's The Real Appeaser? - Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek This administration's few successes have come when it's agreed to engage with adversaries

IDF Intelligence Briefing - Ari Shavit (Ha'aretz)

Christian Science Monitor The heart of Lebanon's strife Violence is rooted in the flawed 1943 power-sharing pact. By Mohamad Bazzi

Bush's Nazi-Iran Analogy Makes Attack Seem More Likely by Jim Lobe

Will Jewish Votes Cost Obama the White House? - Mike Madden, Salon

WSJ Obama and the Jews By Bret Stephens Global View: Does he really believe he understands Israel better than Israelis themselves?

Jerusalem Post Obama's unique appeasement style

[ CAROLINE GLICK

Self-made Nakba [ BARRY RUBIN

Financial Times Irrelevance, Europe’s logical choice Europe’s political leaders are forever swearing to turn a united Europe into a new superpower. But European citizens seem unconvinced. Being a superpower can be a burdensome and bloody business and many Europeans want to keep their heads down, writes Gideon Rachman

US begins to break foreign oil ‘addiction’ High prices, more efficient cars and the use of ethanol significantly cut the share of oil imported into the US for the first time since 1977

A transatlantic opportunity for Britain Philip Stephens sees a chance to review ties

US, Russia among least peaceful nations Iceland ranks first on the Global Peace Index, an annual study analysing countries in terms of international policy and domestic conditions

Running on empty? Even oil executives are voicing concern over future output levels. Yet high prices could bring compensating changes

Need for Religion in Foreign Policy - Adrian Wooldridge, World Affairs

Afghanistan: State and Society, Great Power Politics, and the Way Ahead: Findings from an International Conference, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2007
Source: RAND Corporation Full Document (PDF; 839 KB)

Wall Street Journal The Democrats' Dangerous Trade Games
By C. Fred Bergsten Nancy Pelosi has damaged the credibility of the U.S. .

Los Angeles Times Food crisis creates an opening for Muslim fundamentalists

In the Middle East, Islamist charity programs fill a gap by feeding the hungry as prices soar - and their political allies gain ground

Sons of Iraq? Or Baghdad's Sopranos?

Working with a U.S.-funded Sunni guard force can be a lot like dealing with the mob. Some of the armed men act like the dons of their neighborhood

Bush criticizes Arab nations for repression

The president wraps up his five-day trip by calling on Middle East nations to embrace economic reforms and women's rights

Save Us From the Rescuers By: David Rieff | Los Angeles Times
We should be skeptical of the aid agencies' claims that, without their intervention, an earthquake or cyclone will be followed by an additional disaster of equal scope because of disease and hunger. The fact is that populations in disaster zones tend to be much more resilient than foreign aid groups often make them out to be. And though the claim that only they can prevent a second catastrophe is unprovable, it serves the agencies' institutional interests -- such interventions are, after all, the reason they exist in the first place.

IHT Israel's 'American problem' By JEFFREY GOLDBERG

U.S. political leaders and American Jews need to rethink what it means to be pro-Israel.

Obama and Israel By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN The notion that a President Barack Obama would have a desire to walk away from America's bipartisan consensus on Arab-Israeli peace is ludicrous.

France acknowledges contacts with Hamas Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner emphasized that there were no negotiations with Hamas, labeled a terrorist group by both the United States and the European Union

As China opens up, it keeps a wary eye on the former U.S.S.R.

By PHILIP TAUBMAN

China's Communist Party has long worried about losing power and having the country split up like the former Soviet Union. With openness about earthquake coverage, the comparison is more pressing.

Shaping a Nuclear Iran By: Ray Takeyh | The Washington Post
If Washington is going to mitigate the Iranian nuclear danger, it must discard the formula of exchanging commercial contracts for nuclear rights and seek more imaginative solutions.

Asia Times The mythical post-American era There is increasing talk of the decline of the United States and what the post-American world will look like. The ground realities are that the US's economic dominance will be challenged, notably by China and India. But there is no conclusive evidence that America's decline is "inevitable", or even that a new world is emerging with power centers that are capable of counterbalancing the United States. - Ehsan Ahrari

SPENGLER The monster and the sausages Call it the missing "link" in deciphering German President Horst Koehler's denouncement of the world financial market as a monster for making "massive leveraged investments with minimal capital". Think of a sausage: the gross parts of a pig are ground into an appetizing package. Just don't blame the sausage-maker, Koehler, when it is time for financial heartburn.

Guardian Free trade escapes US onslaught Bill Emmott: Fears of a protectionist backlash by economic nationalists have proved unfounded on both sides of the Atlantic

Past Problems Threaten Future Russian-Indian Arms Deals By: Richard Weitz | World Politics Review Russian defense firms have been counting on continuing orders from India to help cushion the decreasing opportunities in China. Although the Indian market appears to have some growth potential, major problems with past deals could lead New Delhi to decrease its future purchase of Russian weapons.

Bring on the Foreign Policy Debate By: John R. Bolton | The Wall Street Journal The Obama view of negotiations as the alpha and the omega of U.S. foreign policy highlights a fundamental conceptual divide between the major parties and their putative presidential nominees. This divide also opened in 2004, when John Kerry insisted that our foreign policy pass a "global test" to be considered legitimate.

Round One to the Dove with the Dodgy Name By: Michael Tomasky | The Guardian Republicans used to beat Democrats on foreign policy every time. But now Obama is changing the nature of the fight.

U.N.: Six million children in Ethiopia face malnutrition risk

RFE/RLPresidential Summit To Explore Gas Options

Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov comes to Azerbaijan for the first visit by a sitting Turkmen president in more than a decade, highlighting recent fence mending and shared interests

H2 Turkey's AK Party expects to be closed - sources

AKP'li bir bakan: Bizi kapatacaklar

ALİ H. ASLAN - ABD'nin, çileden çıkaran Türkiye politikası

ÖMER TAŞPINAR Türkiye ABD'nin gündeminde değil

WSJ We Are Making Progress in Iraq
By Nechirvan Barzani The oil law is moving in parliament

Barzani Rice ve CIA Direktörü ile görüştü

Israeli Source Says USA Asked Turkey to Assist Syrian-Israeli Talks

Rubin fights the ‘dark side’ in his ‘wonderland’: bad advice on Turkey for the US administrationby ŞABAN KARDAŞ*

Newsweek: Türkiye'de siyasi durum istikrarsızlaştı

EDM FIGHTING THEM ON THE BEACHES: TURKISH SECULARISTS AND ISLAMISTS PREPARE FOR THE VACATION SEASON

Babacan planning to visit Washington early next month

US companies battle for Turkish helicopter project