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H1 Israel Mulls Military Option Against Iran

ICG - "To Protect or to Project? Iraqi Kurds and Their Future", Joost Hilterman (repeat)

Los Angeles Times Iraq parliament fails to pass elections bill Iraq lawmakers break for vacation, unable to agree on oil-rich Kirkuk, which the Kurds want to annex to the semiautonomous Kurdish region

Weekly Standard The End of Nuclear Diplomacy Iran to the West: Drop dead by Reuel Marc Gerecht

New York Times Iraqis Fail to Agree on Provincial Election Law The failure to reach a deal before Parliament’s recess left the fate of nationwide provincial elections in doubt

Guardian Political games Editorial: President Pervez Musharraf faces threat of impeachment in Pakistan but decides to attend Olympics

US seeks tougher action in Iran nuclear standoff Warning follows Tehran's failure to give clear answer to demands that it halt all nuclear activities

Prepare for global rise of 4C, warns top scientist Exclusive: Defra's chief adviser says we need strategy to adapt to potentially catastrophic increase in temperature

Washington Post Gates's Next Mission By David Ignatius, As Defense Secretary, Robert Gates has gotten results. He could be useful to the next president.

Russia Asks That Iran Be Given More Time No Deadline on Incentives, Envoy Says

Asia Times Syria exploits US loopholes Rather than isolate Syria, the United States' tough line on Damascus has made it an indispensable problem-solver in key regional issues. Washington's flawed perception of Syria as a "weak country" has led to it helping stabilize Iraq and Lebanon while also acting as a mediator with Iran. And for Syria, a peace deal with Israel is now a real possibility. - Sami Moubayed

Stratfor Geopolitical Diary: Oscillation in US Defense Strategy

Andrew Bacevich Redefining the War on Terror - Council on Foreign Relations

Financial Times Hawk vs talk: America’s foreign policy choice

Obama would shift perceptions further, both in Europe and in the poorest parts of the world, where threats coalesce, writes Michael Fullilove

Russia can play a vital role in the west’s security Maurizio Massari says that Georgia’s and Ukraine’s aspiration to join Nato next year could turn a potential spoiler into a win-win situation

Why a bust is boom time for happynomics Jonathan Guthrie on wages and well-being

Russia denies sanctions deal after Iran snub Moscow dismisses reports of agreeing with the US and UK for more economic restrictions after Tehran sidestepped an initiative for negotiations over its nuclear programme

The Big Freeze: Part 4 - Policy Response There is scope for fiscal measures to boost demand; for the financial sector capital is the priority, writes Lawrence Summers

WSJ What McCain Should Do Next By Karl Rove
It's not enough just to feed voters' doubts about Obama

Massimo Calabresi / Time:

Poll: Trouble Signs in Obama's Lead After two weeks of sharpened attacks between the campaigns, Barack Obama is maintaining a narrow 5% lead over John McCain

Salon "We were basically hiring terrorists" The U.S. signed up legions of sketchy Iraqi fighters to help stop sectarian violence. Now, most may lose their security jobs -- but remain armed and angry. By Anna Badkhen

Asia Times Baghdad warms to Sunni awakening
Lured by a promise of 3,000 jobs in the national police, the mostly Sunni Sahwa militia is playing a pivotal role in a joint operation with Iraqi government forces in Diyala province. The deployment underscores the military and political gains of the Sahwa, and even former foe Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has come around. - Ahmed Ali and Dahr Jamai

Daily Telegraph China: a power to be watched, not feared As Beijing prepares to take centre-stage with the Olympics, Malcolm Rifkind argues that there is no need to fear the rise of a new global superpower

Russia threatens to move rockets to EU border Moscow threatens to deploy bombers and missiles on the Polish border if Warsaw agrees to US missile shield.

Christian Science Monitor

U.S. shifts 'hearts and minds' fight

Instead of trying to explain America, it promotes alternatives to extremism.

Can Pakistan clean up its intelligence agency? The US, India, and Afghanistan are pressuring the government to root out pro-Taliban agents.

The Times Time for Musharraf to stand down Pakistan's President and Government are failing to provide effective leadership

Jerusalem Post US calls for 'punitive' measures following Iranian response Six world powers agree to pursue new UN sanctions; Mofaz: Iran "biding their time;" Israeli officials: sanctions not likely until 2009

Civil Fights: Destroying Israel's deterrence [ EVELYN GORDON

Yedioth Ahronoth Beware the Syrians/ Peri Domestic Syrian killings remind us not to expect genuine normalization with Damascus

Trouble on the Ballot in Iraq - Council on Foreign Relations

Asia Times India as a US hedge against China
As the race to conclude the United States-India civil nuclear agreement presses on, its advocates are peddling one selling point that appeals to both sides in the US Congress, which has to approve the deal: America must recruit the Indian tiger to hedge against the rising Chinese dragon. Yet despite its broad popularity, this strategy is completely untested. - Jeff M Smit

EDM - Russian PRIME MINISTER DOMINATES ECONOMIC, FOREIGN AND SECURITY POLICY

Institutionalizing Adaptation: U.S. Counterinsurgency Capabilities Must Improve By: John A. Nagl and Brian M. Burton | World Politics Review The recent clashes in eastern Afghanistan thrust the "forgotten war" back into the public eye. At a time when admittedly fragile stability is taking hold in Iraq, it is also an important reminder that the need for improved counterinsurgency capabilities neither began nor will end there

Iraqi Army Is Willing, but Not Ready, to Fight By: Campbell Robertson | The New York Times While Americans and Iraqi civilians alike are increasingly eager to see combat operations turned over to the Iraqi Army, interviews with more than a dozen Iraqi soldiers and officers in Diyala Province, at the outset of a large-scale operation against insurgents led by Iraqis but backed by Americans, reveal a military confident of its progress but unsure of its readiness.

Iraqi Militia Leader to Order Followers to Lay Down Their Arms By: Ewan MacAskill | The Guardian The leader of one of the most powerful militias in Iraq, Moqtada al-Sadr, is to order his followers to disarm and transform themselves into a purely social and political organisation, according to a new strategy document published yesterday

China and the Enduring Uighurs | Stratfor

Wall Street Journal The New Southern Strategy Spurred by the souring economy and a newfound willingness to embrace conservative candidates, the Democratic Party is running its most competitive campaign across the South in 40 years, fielding potential winners along a rib of states stretching from Louisiana to Virginia, the heart of the Old Confederacy. • At a Glance: Running Closer in the South

We Need a New Think Tank for the War on Terror By Jonathan Stevenson The early Rand Corporation provides a model.

In a confidential memo, a company tells investors McCain's foreign-policy advisor and consultant Randy Scheunemann can help it win Iraqi oil contracts — because he was a "key player" in getting the US to invade.

EurasiaNet Nuclear Negotiations with Iran May Continue Amid Caution Iran is refusing to compromise, but it wants to keep on negotiating with the international community over the fate of the country’s nuclear program. Iranian officials continue to hope that they can revamp a deal, but some experts caution that Tehran may err in pushing too far.

Quick quiz on who supplies American oil

H 2 CSM Editorial Build bridges in Turkey Turkey's Islamist party has escaped being banned. It now must reach out to secularists