IRAQ

The Iraq War: Key Trends and Developments - Anthony Cordesman, CSIS
Drive in Basra by Iraqi Army Makes Gains - Farrell and Karim, New York Times
Deal Decreases Violence in Sadr City - Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post
Cease-Fire Put to the Test, Fails - Gordon and Farrell, New York Times
Fighting Eases Under Short-term Truce - Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times
Hasty Sadr Truce Tests Sway - Howard Lafranchi, Christian Science Monitor
Violence Eases in Baghdad Slum After Truce - Reuters
Operations Continue in Sadr City - Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal
Turkey Hits Kurdish Rebel Bases in Iraq - Associated Press
Turkish Military Says Hit Kurdish Rebels in Iraq - Reuters
US Military Orders Court-martial for Contractor - Associated Press
Strange Bedfellows in Iraq - Boston Globe editorial
Quietly Surviving in A Not-So-New Iraq - Cameron Barr, Washington Post opinion
Before and After Iraq - Michael Hastings, Los Angeles Times opinion
The Limits of COIN in Sadr City - Dr. iRack, Abu Muqawama
Losing Ground - Abe Greenwald, Contentions
Iraq Status Report - Iraq Status Report

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS

Key al Qaeda Member Killed in Afghanistan - Reuters
A Counterinsurgency Grows in Khost - Ann Marlowe, Weekly Standard opinion
Pakistani Taliban, Iraqi al Qaeda Killed - Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal
Taliban Spring Offensive: Pointless Bickering - Herschel Smith, The Captain's Journal

IRAN

Smuggling to Iran Rife in Dangerous Gulf Waters - Reuters
Iran, IAEA to Resume Nuclear Talks on Monday - Reuters
Iran Looks to Tap Key Oil Field with Homegrown Crews - Associated Press
Why Six Powers Can't Stop Iran - Amir Taheri, New York Post opinion
Tehran, Damascus Ascendant - Washington Times editorial

THE LONG WAR

Spying Outpaces Terrorism Prosecutions - Richard Schmitt, Los Angeles Times
Let the Sunshine In - Nat Hentoff, Washington Times opinion
The Grim Truth on Gitmo - Mark Goldblatt, New York Post opinion
Regulating Complex Terrain in COIN - Michael Innes, Complex Terrain Laboratory
Blood Debts and Exotic Others - Patrick Porter, Kings of War
Prisons in Counterinsurgency - Herschel Smith, The Captain's Journal
Media Power and Terrorists - Brigitte Nacos, Complex Terrain Laboratory
State Secrets - Phillip Carter, Intel Dump
Gitmo Out of Bounds - Phillip Carter, Intel Dump

US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Top US Commando Says Strain of War Limits Forces - Associated Press
Gates Praises MRAPs as Lifesavers - Tom Vanden Brook, USA Today
Air Combat by Remote Control - Brian Carney, Wall Street Journal opinion
Preventing an Arms Race in Outer Space - James Carroll, Boston Globe opinion
Webb Veterans Bill Misses the Mark - Washington Times editorial
Vietnam Ghosts - Phillip Carter, Intel Dump
Personal Responsibility - Phillip Carter, Intel Dump

AFRICA

Sudan Cuts Ties with Chad Over Darfur Rebels - Rob Crilly, London Times
Sudan Severs Ties With Chad - Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post
Sudan Police Arrest Opposition Leader - Edmund Sanders, Los Angeles Times
Sudan Cuts Chad Ties Over Attack - BBC News
Sudan Cuts Ties with Chad after Rebel Attack - Reuters
Sudan Arrests Politician Alleging Links to Rebels - Associated Press
A Quixotic Attack in Sudan, Why? - Jeffrey Gettleman, New York Times
Up-close View of Brutality in Darfur - Eric Reeves, Christian Science Monitor opinion
Further Violence as Zimbabwe Prepares to Vote - Jan Raath, London Times
Electoral Official: Zimbabwe Runoff will be Delayed - Associated Press
Zimbabwe Police Arrest Activists - BBC News
South Africa's Unseemly Alliance - James Kirchick, Los Angeles Times opinion
Rare Somalia Talks Make Slow Start, UN Hopeful - Reuters

AMERICAS

Documents Indicate that Chavez Helped Colombia Rebels - Associated Press
Chavez say Colombia's Uribe Trying to Spark War - Reuters
Storied Paper Bets on a Daily Future in Colombia - Juan Forero, Washington Post
Venezuela's Chavez to Buy Chinese K-8 Planes - Reuters
Chavez Scorned by Bitter Political Foe - Simon Romero, New York Times
Thousands Protest Violence in Mexico - Associated Press
US Role in Mexico Assassination - Mary O'Grady, Wall Street Journal opinion

ASIA PACIFIC

US to Mine N. Korea Papers for Answers - Donald Kirk, Christian Science Monitor
Relief Stuck on Wrong Side of Burmese Border - Lewis and Baldwin, London Times
Unbending Regime Blocks Aid - Simon Montlake, Christian Science Monitor
When Burmese Offer a Hand, Rulers Slap It - New York Times
Burma Eases Restrictions on Aid - BBC News
First US Relief Airlift Heads to Burma - Associated Press
Tear Down Burma's Bamboo Curtain - The Australian editorial
In Burma, a U.N. Promise Not Kept - Fred Hiatt, Washington Post opinion
Burma: Test of UN's Moral Authority - Rosemary Righter, London Times opinion

EUROPE

Pro-EU Reformers Surprise Victors in Serbia - David Charter, London Times
Tilt to West Is Seen in Elections in Serbia - Dan Bilefsky, New York Times
Serbian President's Party Victory - Cirjakovic and Wilkinson, Los Angeles Times
Serbian Reformers Claim Victory - BBC News
Serbia in Coalition Scramble After Ambivalent Vote - Reuters
Serbia's pro-Western President Declares Victory - Associated Press
Tough Talks Loom After Serb Polls - BBC News

MIDDLE EAST

Lebanese Groups Clash In Villages Near Capital - Alia Ibrahim, Washington Post
Fierce Fighting Breaks Out East of Beirut - Nada Bakri, New York Times
Lebanese Army Steps into the Fray - Nicholas Blanford, Christian Science Monitor
Lebanon's Sunni Bloc Built Militia - Daragahi and Rafei, Los Angeles Times
Hezbollah 'Redrawing' Mideast Map - Joshua Mitnick, Washington Times
Lebanese Army Deploys in Mountains Outside Beirut - Associated Press
Hezbollah Rocks Eastern Villages - BBC News
Thirty Six Killed in Lebanon Mountain Battle - Reuters
Lebanese Army Caught in Crossfire - Nicholas Blanford, London Times
Lebanese Violence Spreads to Mountains Outside Capital - Associated Press
Fighting Spreads East of Beirut - BBC News
Hezbollah Battles Druze East of Beirut - Reuters
Arab League Tries to Broker Lebanon Settlement - Associated Press
Yemen Court Sentences Four Shi'ite Rebels to Death - Reuters
Experience With Syria Exemplifies Challenge - Joby Warrick, Washington Post
Scandal Threatens Olmert's Premiership - Griff Witte, Washington Post
A Talk With President Peres - Washington Post interview
A Talk With Prime Minister Fayyad - Washington Post interview
Priority: Statehood - Daoud Kuttab - Washington Post opinion
Gaza Power Plant Shut Down Reducing Electricity Supply - Associated Press
Israel at 60 - London Times editorial
The Jewish State at 60 - William Kristol, New York Times opinion
And Many More to Come - Mark Steyn, Washington Times opinion
Tehran, Damascus Ascendant - Washington Times editorial
Arab Assimilation - David Hazony, Contentions

SOUTH ASIA

Pakistan Changes, Should US Policy? - Gordon Lubold, Christian Science Monitor
Attack in Kashmir Leaves 7 Dead - New York TImes
6 Killed in Clashes with Militants in Indian Kashmir - Associated Press
Suspected Rebels Kill 8 Railroad Workers in India - Associated Press
Pakistan Leaders Fail to Reach Accord on Restoring Judges - Associated Press
Pakistan Coalition Crisis Talks - BBC News
Sri Lankan Government Wins Vote - BBC News
Ruling Party Wins Sri Lanka Polls - Reuters
Nepal Police Detain More than 600 Female Tibetan Protesters - Associated Press

RECOMMENDED READING

COIN Book Club # 9 - Kip, Abu Muqawama
Recommended Reading - Mark Safranski, ZenPundit
Sunday Reading - Chris Blattman, Chris Blattman
Iraq Status Report - Iraq Status Report
UK CT & COIN Features - Will Hartley, Insurgency Research Group

EVENTS OF INTEREST

13 May 2008 - After the Iraqi Offensive: An Address by Colonel H. R. McMaster (Public Event). Washington, D.C. Sponsored by the American Enterprise Institute. The government of Iraq has made great strides both militarily and politically over the past year and a half. After dramatically reducing al Qaeda in Iraq’s operational capability, the Iraqi Security Forces have successfully undertaken operations to reclaim segments of Basra and Sadr City from Shiite extremist elements. Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al Maliki has won increasing support from the major Sunni, Kurdish, and Shiite blocs due to his leadership in this offensive. Moreover, in a sign of bottom-up reconciliation, nearly 90 percent of Sunnis polled declared their intention to participate in the October provincial elections. How will Iraqi political dynamics evolve as operations against Shiite extremists continue? How will the security situation in Iraq evolve as the July drawdown in U.S. forces approaches? How have recent events in Iraq influenced our understanding of nation-building strategy? Having recently returned from working with Ambassador Ryan Crocker and General David Petraeus in Iraq, Colonel H. R. McMaster will address these and other questions at AEI on May 13. Following his address, Michèle Flournoy of the Center for a New American Security and AEI’s Thomas Donnelly will join Colonel McMaster for a discussion of these issues.

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.