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H1 IHT FALLING BEHIND

By HENRY A. KISSINGER The growing gap between the world's political and economic orders must be closed.

TLS The Jewish key to Henry Kissinger Is the ferocity of criticism for Kissinger related to the fact that he is Jewish?, asks Niall Ferguson

New York Times DAVID BROOKS The Reality Situation We don’t understand the Iranians because the Iranians don’t understand themselves. Until they resolve their internal ambiguity, they won’t be able to make a strategic shift.

Help Russia Help Us By RICHARD LUGAR and SAM NUNN The priority of our national security policy must be to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. This task is impossible without the cooperation of Russia

Asia Times Now it's a blockade against Iran The call this week in a US media report for the George W Bush administration to drop its diplomatic efforts to get Tehran to freeze its uranium-enrichment program and instead mount a "month-long naval blockade of Iran's imports of refined gasoline" is as much a threat to Iran as it is to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. - Jim Lobe

Syrian talks offer more than hot air Reaction to the tentative peace talks between Syria and Israel ranges from high optimism that an accord will be signed this year to skepticism that no deal can ever be brokered as long as the George W Bush administration remains cool to the idea. Beyond any tangible deal, though, the talks send a message from the Syrians to the Iranians, as well as to the wider world, that they want to move forward. - Sami Moubayed

Washington Post U.S. Cites Big Gains Against Al-Qaeda Group Is Facing Setbacks Globally, CIA Chief Says

Food Prices Predicted to Ease Before Entering Steady Climb Biofuels and Development Among Contributors

Israel's Olmert Loses Key Support Minister Urges Party To Prepare for Change

Carbon Chastity The First Commandment of the Church of the Environment By Charles Krauthammer

Soli Özel – America and the Middle East Alternatives Internationale

Guardian The road to peace in Iraq runs directly through Tehran

Jonathan Steele: Hysteria over this week's arms report is misplaced, and US attempts to cast Iran as the villain of the region can only backfire

Once, 'international' sounded saintly. Now it means bureaucracy and waste Simon Jenkins: From Eurovision and the Olympics to the UN and the World Bank, a deficit of accountability drains all true legitimacy

Time to focus on Pakistan Colin Cookman: US intelligence officials agree al-Qaida has found a safe haven in Pakistan, yet US politicians remain preoccupied with Iraq and Iran

McCain makes his multilateral mark Simon Tisdall US elections 08: The Arizona senator's belief in international citizenship makes him a partner for those seeking a common global security policy

China: handle with care Hari Kunzru: Beijing's human rights record does need to be challenged - but, given the strength of nationalist feeling, we have to be careful about how

Atomic scientist disowns confession Disgraced 76-year-old says Pakistan admission was forced upon him by President Pervez Musharraf Interview: Why should I talk to the IAEA?

Financial Times Uncomfortable truths for a new world of them and us The politics of globalisation lags ever further behind the economics, writes Philip Stephens. For all its tacit recognition that power has been flowing eastwards, the west still wants to imagine things as they used to be - when financial crises were something that happened somewhere else

Iran on track for nuclear milestone

The country has made big strides in recent months and is on course to pass an important threshold for nuclear weapons capability next year, scientists and analysts say

A 10-point plan for tackling the food crisis Robert Zoellick looks at how best to help those in danger

France hoping to broker EU deal with Russia France hopes the European Union can reach a deal with Russia on a new strategic partnership by the end of 2008, the French prime minister said after talks with Vladimir Putin

It’s curtains for Olmert The latest corruption probe is another vivid enaction of how difficult it has become to govern an Israel whose fragmented politics are in danger of turning into a spoils system

Britain is better off outside the euro Martin Wolf looks at the case against joining If a country is to join the eurozone, its people must be willing to cope with the consequences forever, writes Martin Wolf

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: 'Dwarfs' of Europe band together to form substantial geopolitical force

Ahmadi-Nejad’s right-hand man

Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi rejects the view put forward by analysts and opponents of Iran’s fundamentalist government that he is the éminence grise of the president Interview transcript: Mojtaba Samareh-Hashemi

US to woo Gulf investors Hank Paulson, the US Treasury secretary, will invite oil producers to invest their petrodollars in the US while urging them to take steps to curb the price of oil in the medium term on a tour of the Gulf that begins

America cannot afford to drive away talent Overseas students are vital for the US, says Bob Greifeld Many companies rely on inventors, scientists, engineers and academics who are foreign-born but trained in America, writes Bob Greifeld

The Times Iran will be first test for the new president

How to respond to Iran’s nuclear ambitions looks like being the first difficult decision facing the next president of the United States

Bronwen Maddox

Britain, the new banana republic

Economic crises... unelected cabals kicking out the Prime Minister: the signs are all there

Gerard Baker

Christian Science Monitor US-Iran regional power plays shift Iran's 'axis of resistance' may seem ascendant, but new chances for peace could redefine game in US's favor.

A one-state solution for Palestinians and IsraelisIf the aim of the peace process is to resolve the conflict properly, then only this approach tackles the root of the problem. By Ghada Karmi

A critical mess over Iran Obama and McCain say Iran must not get the bomb. They should read a new UN report.

Rogue Sadr militias roam Baghdad

A Mahdi Army truce holds most of the Shiite cleric's forces in check. But some terrorize residents of Risala, a Baghdad neighborhood

Arab states still wary of investing in Iraq At a United Nations conference in Sweden Thursday, Iraq appealed for debt forgiveness to boost development.

Asia Times A giant backward step on Iran The International Atomic Energy Agency's latest report on Iran - like previous ones - gives no evidence of safeguard breaches by Tehran in its nuclear program, that is, there is no move towards it making nuclear weapons. Yet the uncharacteristic - and sudden - negative tone of the report has played right into the hands of those who thirst in their desire to accuse Iran of nuclear proliferation. - Kaveh L Afrasiabi (

The Economist A special report on EU enlargement In the nick of time If the recent entry of 12 new EU members had been delayed much longer, it might never have happened, argues David Rennie (interviewed here). That would have been an historic error

The oil price Recoil Painful though it is, this oil shock will eventually spur enormous change. Until then, beware the hunt for scapegoats

Energy Double, double, oil and trouble Is it “peak oil” or a speculative bubble? Neither, really

The Economist Lebanon The prospect of a wider peace If Lebanon's latest deal holds, why not bring in Syria and Israel?

Nuclear proliferation

Iran's endless filibuster The world must once again ratchet up its efforts to stop Iran from enriching uranium

Iran Smoke and mirrors Iran makes it hard even for benevolent outsiders to understand it

Daily Star As things look, Israel may well attack Iran soon
By Joschka Fischer

Hassan Nasrallah is trapping himself By Michael Young

Iran-Asia: Pipeline Politics: Iran Looks to Send Natural Gas East By: Peter Kiernan | World Politics Review Iran's huge natural gas reserves are getting greater attention from Asian energy-consuming nations, and this poses a dilemma for the American strategy to economically isolate Iran as part of a larger effort to pressure Tehran to cease its nuclear activities

EurasiaNet Azerbaijan Sees Positive Signs for Energy Partnership with Turkmenistan Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has recently stepped up his ongoing campaign to promote Azerbaijan as the key to Europe’s energy security at a recent energy summit in Kyiv. But this is a role in which Baku needs a supporting actor. Azerbaijani experts believe that the Aliyev administration now has agreements with Turkmenistan to play that part.

RFE/RLCentral Asia: Beijing Flexes Economic Muscle Across Region

Daily Telegraph Israel massacred Palestinians, says Tutu Apartheid struggle leader Desmond Tutu completed his Gaza mission describing Israel's killing of 18 Palestinians as massacre

Cheap Dollar Means Expensive Oil By: David King | The Moscow Times Back in December 2002, one dollar equaled one euro. But that exchange rate didn't last. The dollar was on its way down, a trend that had started more than a year earlier, and has lasted, with occasional oscillations, to this day.

BBC Long era of cheap food over

Q&A: Rising food prices

Lord Chris Patten writes that countries whose sole policy for dealing with the world's problems is to blame Bush and Cheney fail to realize that once the current U.S. administration leaves office, pressing economic and environmental problems will still need solutions.

Al Awsat Taqiyah Made in USA : Amir Taheri

Ha’aretz – Peres: If Assad wants peace, he should come to Jerusalem

Britain looked to Israel for lessons in military deception Newly released documents show U.K. military studied IDF techniques of complex, intertwined deceptions

Jonathan Spyer: Iran and their friends are winning

Shimon Peres' blog: 28 thoughts on politics, power and wisdom

Source: Messer evidence could help indict Olmert

PA Demanding U.S.-Led International Force after Peace Agreement

Senior advisor to presidential candidate: get used to nuclear Iran (WTR)

Guest: "pro-Israel" groups hurt the American Jewish community

Murdoch says 'rock star' Obama will win election

Enlarging the European Union

Chicken or Kiev? The European Union must not abandon its most successful policy when it comes to Ukraine

ForaTv Michael Scheuer on Missed Chances to Get Bin Laden

Charlie Rose - A conversation with author Tony Judt A conversation with author Philip Bobbitt

Asia Times Europe's Asian love misplaced
The recent history of Europe's ties with India shows little enthusiasm for the would-be superpower, and neither India nor the European Union seems to be in a hurry to bolster the relationship. Such indifference, however, will soon prove to have been a strategic error. And so will Europe's obsession with China. - Andrew Bishop

Wall Street Journal General McClellan's War
Iraq, and the real lessons of the press secretary's memoir.

But Is It True?By Peggy Noonan
Declarations: Scott McClellan isn't admirable, but he is believable.

The President Has Kept Us Safe
By Thane Rosenbaum
It's preposterous to think Bush policy has nothing to do with why we haven't been attacked again

Walt and Mearsheimer Take ‘The Israel Lobby’ to Israel
By Daniel Treiman

H 2 The Economist Enlargement enriches old as well as new members Will Turkey ever join the union?

Jet fighters hit 16 PKK targets in N. Iraq

ABD’den Türkiye’ye İran-Irak uzmanı büyükelçi geliyor

Turkey attacks Kurdish rebels in Iraq

"Suriye'ye su sözü verildi"ye yalanlama

Iraqi Kurd Paper Outlines UN Plan to Solve Status of Ethnically Disputed Areas

A dilemma for Turkish secularism
Daily Star James D. Lamond

EurasiaNet Turkey: Examining the Nuances of the Mosque-State Debate BY NICHOLAS BIRCH In early May, Olli Rehn, the European Union’s enlargement commissioner, characterized the ongoing domestic political struggle in Turkey as pitting "extreme secularists" against "Muslim democrats." There are numerous experts in Turkey who are disputing Rehn’s analysis. They contend that the political struggle -- which is now centering on a Supreme Court case on a possible ban of the governing Justice and Development Party (AKP) -- is more nuanced than what appears to be the perception from Brussels

Time Postcard: Istanbul Persecution drove them underground for centuries, but the ultraliberal Alevis are finally having their say. Worshipping with Turkey's unconventional Muslim minority

EDM TURKEY PREPARES TO PAY THE PRICE FOR DROUGHT, POOR PLANNING AND ECONOMIC POPULISM

Turkey in the EU - What the public thinks EurActiv

Sami Kohen Bizim için farkı ne?

Ferai Tınç Türkmenlerde ’ihmal’ tedirginliği

Tarihi imza: Kazak petrolleri Türkiye'ye akacak

Kurds wary of October elections in Iraq Middle East Times

U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff’s Speaks to the Press Outside the Prime Ministry Ankara, Turkey (May 28, 2008)

You Must Remember This By: Clifford D. May | National Review There’s an anniversary this week we might do well to recall. On May 29, 1453 -- just 555 short years ago -- troops led by Mehmed II broke through the walls of the ancient Christian capital of Constantinople.