IRAQ
War Over Wall Goes on in Sadr City - Michael Gordon, New York Times
Child Bomber Kills 23 In Iraq - Londoño and al-Mokhtar, Washington Post
Iraqi Leader Takes Charge of Offensive in Mosul - Associated Press
'Angry' Iran Sharpens Tone with Baghdad's Leaders - Associated Press
Bombing at Iraq Funeral Kills 20 - BBC News
The McCain Doctrines - Matt Bai, New York Times opinion
The War Over the War - Victor Davis Hanson, San Francisco Chronicle opinion
The Missile Misses - Richard Fernandez, The Belmont Club
The Tangled Web of Allegiances - Herschel Smith, The Captain's Journal
Nobody's Home - Dr. iRack, Abu Muqawama
Iraq Status Report - Iraq Status Report
AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS
UN: Foreign Agents Behind Spate of Afghan Killings - Associated Press
Marines Stay in Afghan Town after Taliban Influx - Associated Press
Pakistan Swaps Prisoners with Taliban Militants - Associated Press
Pakistan in Taleban Prisoner Swap - BBC News
Suspected US Missile Kills 7 in Pakistan - Reuters
Missile Strike Against Taliban Safe House - Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal
Suicide Bomber Kills 15 in Afghanistan - Associated Press
Pakistan's Military Forges Peace Deals - Jonathan Landay, Nukes and Spooks
IRAN
Gates: Engage Iran With Incentives, Pressure - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post
US Says Iran Security Pledge Not On Table - Reuters
Ahmadinejad Says Israel Doomed - Associated Press
Iran Pumps Mid East Iran - Christian Science Monitor editorial
The Iranian Threat is Real - Rami Loya, Washington Times opinion
CHINA
Challenges of War and Peace - Galrahn, Information Dissemination
Chinese Reactions to New Maritime Strategy - Galrahn, Information Dissemination
THE LONG WAR
France: 7 Convicted on Terror Charges - Molly Moore, Washington Post
French Iraq Recruiters are Jailed - BBC News
2,500 Juveniles as Enemy Combatants - Walter Pincus, Washington Post
Nuclear Lab Fails Terrorist Exercise - Bill Gertz, Washington Times
The Government’s Jihad on Jihad - Andrew McCarthy, National Review opinion
Two Real Alternative Models of Development - Max Boot, Contentions
Budgets and Priorities and the War of Ideas - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner
Assessing the Muslim Brotherhood "Firewall" - Marc Lynch, Abu Aardvark
Civilians Missing From Action - Spencer Ackerman, Washington Independent
US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Army's Next Crop of Generals Forged in COIN - Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post
Gates Urges Military to Focus on Current Wars - Josh White, Washington Post
Gates Says New Arms Must Play Role Now - Thom Shanker, New York Times
Gates Urges Focus on Needs in Iraq, Afghanistan - Julian Barnes, Los Angeles Times
Gates on Low-Intensity Warfare - Max Boot, Contentions
Gates’ Speech at Colorado Springs - David Betz, Kings of War
Secretary Gates Gets a Case of Sloppy Thinking - Westhawk, Westhawk
That's Why Abu Muqawama Loves You, Bobby - Abu Muqawama
“Burying the Ghosts of Vietnam” - Bob Cassidy, Small Wars Journal
Which “Ghosts” Should We Be Trying to Bury - Gian Gentile, Small Wars Journal
The Ghosts of Vietnam - Richard Fernandez, The Belmont Club
Vietnam Ghosts - Phillip Carter, Intel Dump
Contracting out Foreign Military Training - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner
Understanding Smith-Mundt's Barriers - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner
US INTELLIGENCE COMMUNITY
Political Clashes Underline Limits to Reform - Greg Miller, Los Angeles Times
AUSTRALIA DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE
Lean Times Ahead for our Armed Services - Mark Dodd, The Australian
UK MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
Brits Buy Aussie Army Vehicles - Mark Dodd, The Australian
AFRICA
New Deadline for Zimbabwe's Vote - BBC News
Mugabe Crosses a Line - James Kirchick, Contentions
Clashes Break Out in Sudan's Abyei Region - Reuters
Top UN Official Warns of Increasing Darfur Violence - Associated Press
Somali Surprise at Ethiopia Aid - BBC News
Ethiopia: Lessons in Counterinsurgency - Clay Varney, Threats Watch
AMERICAS
Venezuela Offered Aid to Colombian Rebels - Juan Forero, Washington Post
Chavez Tells Colombia Not to Build Base for US - Associated Press
Chavez Again to Seek Colombia Hostages Release - Associated Press
Invading Mexico - Mark Safranski, ZenPundit
Mr. Uribe's Send-Off - Washington Post editorial
We Can't Let Cuban Dissidents Down - Francisco Hernandez, Miami Herald opinion
Colombia Turning Point? - Douglas Farah, Counterterrorism
ASIA PACIFIC
China Death Toll Rises to Nearly 15,000 - Edward Cody, Washington Post
Dams Damaged at Quake’s Center - Wong and Schwartz, New York Times
Chinese Citizens Rally for Quake Victims - Magnier and Ni, Los Angeles Times
40,000 Dead or Missing in Earthquake - Hines and Macartney, London Times
China Quake Toll Close to 15,000 - BBC News
China's Testing Times - The Australian editorial
The Terrified Monks - Nicholas Kristof, New York Times opinion
Burma Rejects Large Scale Relief Effort - Kazmin and Branigin, Washington Post
Monsoon Predicted in Burma Delta - Wallace and Farley, Los Angeles Times
Burma Junta Kicks Out Aid Foreign Workers - Kenneth Denby, London Times
UN Raises Burma Cyclone Estimate - BBC News
Pentagon Delivers 100 Tons of Supplies to Battered Burma - Gerry Gilmore, AFPS
Aid at the Point of a Gun - Robert Kaplan, New York Times opinion
Isolating Burma Doesn't Help - Greg Sheridan, The Australian opinion
N. Korea 'Admits Nuclear Details' - BBC News
Good Morning, Vietnam - Duncan Currie, Weekly Standard opinion
EUROPE
ETA Blamed for Spain Bomb Death - BBC News
Estonian Cyber Defence Hub Set Up - BBC News
MIDDLE EAST
In Israel, Bush Speaks Of Hope - Witte and Abramowitz, Washington Post
Rocket Hits as Bush Begins Israel Visit - Stolberg and Bronner, New York Times
Rocket Attack Mars Bush's Israel Visit - Joshua Mitnick, Washington Times
Palestinian Movement Loses Momentum - Joshua Mitnick, Washington Times
Bush Holds Joint Press Conference with Peres - Washington Post transcript
Bush's Farewell Mideast Tour - Boston Globe editorial
Squeeze on the Middle East's Moderates - David Ignatius, Washington Post opinion
Egypt's Economy Soars; So Does Misery - David Lynch, USA Today
Egypt's Unrest in Perspective - Hamzawy and Herzallah, Washington Post opinion
Hamas, Unrepentant - Noah Pollak, Contentions
Lebanon Reverses Decisions - Robert Worth, New York Times
Cabinet Backs Off in Scrap With Hezbollah - Shadid and Alia Ibrahim, Washington Post
Lebanese Cabinet Reverses Decisions - Associated Press
Lebanon Revokes Hezbollah Curbs - BBC News
Lebanon at the Edge - New York Times editorial
Lebanon Model for Peace? - Rami Khouri, Sydney Morning Herald opinion
Hezbollah in Control - Frida Ghitis, Miami Herald opinion
With Apologies To Hezbollah - Steve Schippert, Threats Watch
US Shows Support for Lebanon's Gov. - Nancy Youssef, Nukes and Spooks
SOUTH ASIA
Hopes for Calm in Battered Indian CityAgency - Emily Wax, Washington Post
Rivals Row Over Kashmir Ceasefire - BBC News
UNITED NATIONS
UN Opens Inquiry into Peacekeeper Sex Abuse Charges - Reuters
RECOMMENDED READING
COIN Book Club # 9 - Kip, Abu Muqawama
Iraq Status Report - Iraq Status Report
UK CT & COIN Features - Will Hartley, Insurgency Research Group
EVENTS OF INTEREST
15 May 2008 - Ground Truth: The Future of U.S. Land Power (Public Event). Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute. In Ground Truth: The Future of U.S. Land Power (AEI Press, May 2008), AEI scholars Thomas Donnelly and Frederick W. Kagan pose a series of urgent questions for policymakers: What is the strategic role of American ground forces? What missions will these forces undertake in the future? What is the nature of land warfare in the twenty-first century? What qualities are necessary to succeed on the battlefields of the Long War? What is the ideal size and configuration of the force--and how much will it cost? On Thursday, May 15, Donnelly, Kagan, and Kathleen Hicks of the Center for Strategic and International Studies will discuss these and other questions about the size, shape, and costs of the land forces the United States will require in the years ahead.
4-5 June 208 - 2008 Joint Symposium - Strategic Re-Assessment: From Long-Range Planning to Future Strategy and Forces (Public Event). Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the Institute for National Strategic Studies, the Office of the Secretary of Defense and US Joint Forces Command. Fundamental to the development and implementation of a successful future defense posture is a foundation comprised of a well-reasoned assessment of the future security environment, a clear understanding of the “realm of the possible” for and limitations of military forces, and an understanding of the nation’s security objectives. Developing an appropriate assessment of the future security environment is not something done in a vacuum as it is impossible to fully separate purely military or national security issues from other elements of the national and global environment. This is particularly true for the United States. Technical innovation and adaptation, the rise and decline of other actors on the international stage, domestic politics, globalization and its effects on trade, migration, communications, and the power of nonstate actors all, bear heavily on any security assessment. There is no shortage of assessments of the future security environment. In the last decade, National Defense University itself has produced several, most recently, Strategic Challenges – America’s Global Security Agenda. The objectives of this symposium are to examine some of these strategic assessments, to review our success at incorporating their key elements into strategic and operational plans, and to propose ways to institutionalize best practices into the process for future force development and joint force planning. We will explore these issues through a series of panel discussions and keynote addresses. Featured speakers will include military officers, government officials, and experts from research institutes.
17-19 June 208 - 3rd Annual North American Security Colloquium: Wars Without Borders (Public Event). Kingston, Ontario. Sponsored by the Strategic Studies Institute of the U.S. Army War College, Queen's Centre for International Relations, and Defence Management Studies at Queen's University, and the Canadian 'Forces' Land Doctrine and Training System. The conflicts today in Iraq and in Afghanistan are examples of what some leading scholars and many commanders have termed “continuous wars among the people.” This type of conflict is developing or occurring in other regions of the world, in Africa and in Latin America for example. In many of these situations traditional and legal borders no longer define or contain the conflict, nor do obvious sovereign entities control belligerents. International commitments to control these conflicts necessarily demand complex, multi-dimensional diplomatic, military, police, and humanitarian responses. What has been learned about such conflicts from operations in Iraq and Afghanistan may to some degree be transferable to conflicts in other regions. Assuming that the international community may well face future operations characterized by regional, borderless “wars among the people”, the centres at Queen’s University and their partners propose convening a distinguished group of approximately 200 experts from academic, military, governmental, and international institutions to examine how best to prepare commanders, military units and governments to plan for and conduct complex, multi-dimensional stability campaigns in this new environment.
16-18 September 2008 - The U.S. Army and the Interagency Process: A Historical Perspective (Public Event - Conference / Call for Papers). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Sponsored by the U.S. Army Combat Studies Institute. The symposium will include a variety of guest speakers, panel sessions, and general discussions. This symposium will explore the partnership between the U.S. Army and government agencies in attaining national goals and objectives in peace and war within a historical context. Separate international topics may be presented. The symposium will also examine current issues, dilemmas, problems, trends, and practices associated with U.S. Army operations requiring close interagency cooperation.
