072408f - 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 - Subscribe to FPR FPR Table - H4 NYT WP GU H7 ME Isr H10 CSM IHT Eur FSU Asia H13 Times WSJ FT LAT H16 USP DT Ind H19 Mil Int Ter Wonk H21 Misc

H1 Financial Times Timing Iraq troop withdrawals Politicians are beginning to look at the world after Iraq. A timetable for US troop withdrawal has been the hottest issue in the US presidential campaign

Israel's Slap in the Face From America By: Aluf Benn | Haaretz The American "detente" with Iran has one obvious consequence: As long as the diplomatic game continues, there is not the slightest chance in the world of any aggressive action being taken against Iran's nuclear program

New York Times NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF Tough Love for Israel? Barack Obama gave ritual affirmations of his support for Israeli policy, but what Israel needs from America isn’t more love, but tougher love

Washington Post Talking Into the Sunset By David Ignatius As Bush's influence fades, diplomatic intrigue in the Middle East rises.

Iraqi President Vows Veto of Election Bill Measure Passed After Kurdish Boycott; Balloting Is Now Unlikely Until 2009

U.S. Voters: Kinda Out of It?

Political scientists ponder whether citizens are ill-informed or only interested in certain issues

Ha’aretz – Bradley Burston: Ten Mideast traps for Obama to avoid

Obama tells Haaretz: Two states for two peoples Aides say candidate would rather advance existing U.S. peace initiatives than waste time forging new plan

CSIS A Diplomatic Path between the US and Iran (audio, video, text

• 'An Israeli Watershed: Strike on Syria' by Eyal Zisser, Middle East Quarterly

TNI Opportunity Knocked

by Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett America has an opportunity to forge an historic deal with Iran, but the Bush administration seems determined to quash it. Why everything you know about Tehran is wrong.

Asia Times Al-Qaeda's got a brand new bag
United States Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama has got it right - Afghanistan, and not Iraq, is "the central front in the war on terror". Al-Qaeda couldn't agree more. That is exactly where they want the war to be fought, and then extended into Pakistan. - Pepe Escobar

Foreign Policy Seven Questions: When Nuri Met Barack

Guardian Weapons of mass distrust Khaled Diab: Will the conciliatory tones coming out of Washington and Tehran really be enough to bring Iran's nuclear

standoff to an end?

Power and morality Martin Jacques: Foreign policy is often dressed up in moral rhetoric, but ultimately might is stronger than right

Aggressive Azerbajan The Economist Having spent heavily on its military, Azerbaijan has raised the possibility of recovering Nagorno-Karabakh and its other occupied territories by force. Although the forthcoming presidential election is a factor, this more aggressive stance is not mere bluster.

Iraq: Local difficulty Iraq's prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, has at long last managed to push the local election law through parliament, but at the expense of alienating the Kurds.

Fareed Zakaria The Post American World (audio)

CFR Israel's View on the US Elections

NBC/WSJ Poll: Obama keeps lead over McCain — Voters see Democrat as riskier pick, but rival has negatives of his own — WASHINGTON - A majority of Americans think Barack Obama is a riskier choice for the presidency, but he maintains a six-point lead over Republican John McCain

• 'Saber Rattling and Demonstrations of Missile Power' by Yiftah Shapir, Institute for National Security Studies, Israel

Juan Cole / Salon: Obama is saying the wrong things about Afghanistan

Christian Science Monitor Military revisits Afghanistan plan

A key component is likely to be more troops, but the strategy must go beyond that, experts say

Rising costs of financial turmoil

The multibillion-dollar cost of government bailouts is just the start

Obama tries to balance solidarity and neutrality The latest stops in his Mideast tour included the rocket-besieged Israeli town of Sderot and the West Bank town of Ramallah

Jerusalem Post Obama to Post: I'll do all I can to foil Iranian nuke race

If Teheran fails to respond to "tough diplomacy," Democratic frontrunner says in interview, its excuses will have been "stripped away."

Ashkenazi in Washington for Iran talks IDF Chief of Staff: Sanctions are preferable, but both sides agree that every option must be prepared for

Time McCain's Foreign Policy Frustration

Daily Telegraph Disarming strategy In 2002, George W. Bush declared Iran, Iraq and North Korea to be an "axis of evil". Since then, he has invaded the second and agreed to talk to the other two

Asia Times Wary of China, Russians look West Medvedev made all the right noises during his recent visit to China. But for many Russians back home, China, with its vast potentially expansionist population, is viewed with fear, and they see their natural allies in Europe. - Dmitry Shlapentokh

Is the Party Over in China? By: Sam Baker | Asia Sentinel China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) reported today that unsold inventories of cars rose 50 percent from the beginning of the year to a four-year high; this suggests that macro challenges in China have finally reached a crisis point. The future may have finally caught up with China.

A Tale of Two Flip-Floppers - Karl Rove, Wall Street Journal

Keeping Promises Among Partners - Condoleezza Rice, RealClearPolitics

Nathan Gardels / The Huffington Post: Abizaid: Iran Is Not a Suicide State; Deterrence Will Work.

Baker Institute Policy Report 37: The Global Energy Market: Comprehensive Strategies to Meet Geopolitical and Financial Risks - The G8, Energy Security, and Global Climate Issues

CSIS EU Sanctions on Bulgaria

US Strategy in the Arctic

CEPS Are Skyrocketing Oil Prices justified by Fundamentals?

H 2 CSM Turkey's dangerous message to the Muslim world A court ban on the most pro-Western party would be a big mistake By Alex Taurel and Shadi Hamid

Guardian Last chance for peace in Cyprus Costas Pitas Outside interference isn't helping in the quest for a solution to the island's north-south divide

Turkey bombs Kurdish targets in northern Iraq

EDM TURKEY PONDERS RUSSIAN MISSILE OFFER

Ahmedinejad, ağustosta Ankara'ya geliyor

Turkey Detains 20 In Coup Plan Investigation: Agency

Los Angeles Times Iraq Presidency Council vetoes provincial election bill President Talabani objects to a provision delaying voting in Kirkuk, the northern city that Kurds seek to incorporate in their semiautonomous Kurdish region

Uncertainty, chaos and anger waiting in the wings over AK Party closure

Ahmedinecad ağustosta Türkiye’de

Yahudi kuruluşu yöneticilerinin Ankara ziyareti