IRAQ

Al-Qaida in Iraq Is On the Run, Officials Say - AFPS
US Makes Progress in Iraq's `Triangle of Death' - Associated Press
Sunni Bloc Pulls Back on Rejoining Cabinet - Oppel and Mizher, New York Times
Iraq's Main Sunni Bloc Suspends Government Talks - Reuters
Iraq Reopens Bombed Bridge, Vows to Defeat Militants - Reuters
Brigade Stabilizes Iraqi Province, Moves Into Support Role - AFPS
Militant Cleric Urges Protests on US-Iraq Deal - Associated Press
Diplomats Eyed for Iraq Duty - Associated Press
Ex-Press Aide Writes That Bush Misled US - Michael Shear, Washington Post
Doug Feith and Strategic Communications - Charlie, Abu Muqawama
Iraq Status Report - Iraq Status Report

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS

Pakistan: New Peace Deal with Militants - Associated Press
Britain Defense Minister Endorses Talks with Taliban - Reuters
Afghan Police Transform Into Professional, Equipped Force - AFPS
Bombs, Attacks Kill 24 in Afghanistan - Associated Press
UK: Failing the Troops in Afghanistan - London Daily Telegraph editorial
Following the Marines Through Helmand III - Herschel Smith, The Captain's Journal

IRAN

Iranian Aid Seen Growing Among Militants on Israel's Flanks - Associated Press
Western Powers Pressure Iran Over Nuclear Program - Reuters
New Conservative-dominated Parliament Opens - Associated Press
Iran and the Inspectors - New York Times editorial
Punxsutawney Condi - Wall Street Journal editorial
Reining in Iran - Boston Globe editorial
The Problem With Talking to Iran - Amir Taheri, Wall Street Journal opinion
Mythmaking for the Next War - Steve Chpaman, Baltimore Sun opinion
What About Regime Change? - Steve Schippert, Threats Watch

THE LONG WAR

AQ Supporters' Tape to Call for Use of WMD - Thomas and Cook, ABC News
Osama bin Laden 'Hiding in North Pakistan' - AFP
AQ Warrior Uses Internet to Rally Women - Sciolino and Mekhennet, New York Times
Internet Warrior Rallies Women to Support al-Qaeda - Gregory McNeal, The Tank
She Wages Online Jihad - Noah Shachtman, Danger Room
"See You in Court" - Richard Fernandez, The Belmont Club
How to Win the ‘War of Ideas’ - David Betz, Kings of War
Good Jihadists v. Bad Jihadists - Walid Phares, Counterterrorism
Patterns of Piracy, Potential for New Partners - Galrahn, Information Dissemination

US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

More Post-Traumatic Stress Diagnosed - Ann Scott Tyson, Washington Post
Embracing Opportunity With Soft Power - Galrahn, Information Dissemination
The Tactical Node and the Strategic Network - Galrahn, Information Dissemination
Watchdogs Swamped by Military Spending - Noah Shachtman, Danger Room
Fleet Constitution Evolution For 2009 QDR - Galrahn, Information Dissemination
Tom's Ideas in Naval Strategy Circles - Sean Meade, Thomas PM Barnett
Clueless as a Hog Looking at a Wristwatch - Uncle Jimbo, Blackfive

AUSTRALIA DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE

Troops 'Ashamed' to Wear Aussie Uniform - Sydney Morning Herald
Australian Soldiers 'Ashamed' at Lack of Action - Paul Larter, London Times

US FOREIGN POLICY

McCain's Position on Nuclear Nonproliferation - Glenn Kessler, Washington Post
Democracy in Theory - Baltimore Sun editorial
What About the Bush Doctrine? - Jeff Jacoby, Boston Globe opinion

UNITED NATIONS

More Action Needed to Combat Civilian Deaths - Reuters
Report Details UN Peacekeeper Child Abuse - Colum Lynch, Washington Post
Child Sex Abuse Still Dogging UN - Betsy Pisik, Washington Times
Ban Promises UN Probe of Sex Abuse by Peacekeepers - Associated Press

AFRICA

S. Africa to Set Up Refugee Camps - BBC News
South Africa's Immigration Shame - James Kirchick, Wall Street Journal opinion
Zimbabwe's Tsvangirai Says 50 Killed in Poll Violence - Reuters
South Sudan Ministers Pull Out of Talks with US - Reuters
Japan Vows to Double Africa Aid, Investment - Reuters
Pirates Seize Ship Off Coast of Somalia - Associated Press
The Despots' Democracy - Michael Gerson, Washington Post opinion

AMERICAS

Canada: PM Dumps Maxime Bernier - Smith and Whittington, Toronto Star
Canadian FM Left Classified NATO Documents - Associated Press
Opposition Parties Demand Bernier Inquiry - Toronto Star
Emergency Funding for Latin America - Nicole Gaouette, Los Angeles Times
Shootout in Mexico Kills 7 Federal Police - Associated Press
Drug Gangs Kill Seven Police Officers in Mexico - Reuters
Venezuela Information Minister Resigns - Associated Press
Early Panama Election Favorite Has anti-U.S. Past - Reuters
Colombia Offers Bounty for FARC Founder's Body - Reuters
Democrats' Colombia Disconnect - Los Angeles Times editorial
The Future of the FARC - Douglas Farah, Counterterrorism
Politics as Usual Endangers Haiti - Miami Herald editorial
Life After Fidel More Comfortable - Fiona Govan, London Daily Telegraph opinion

ASIA PACIFIC

Burma's Beggars Being Forced Off the Roads - Sydney Morning Telegraph
Detention of Burmese Activist Extended - Amy Kazmin, Washington Post
Burma: Aung San Suu Kyi's Detention Extended a Year - The Australian
Burma Government Too Helpful in Politics - New York Times
China Faces Aftershocks, Flood Fears - Jill Drew, Washington Post
China Aftershocks Injure 63 - Don Lee, Los Angeles Times
China Quake: 80,000 Being Evacuated - Richard Spencer, London Daily Telegraph
Chinese Order Evacuations in Quake Area - Howard French, New York Times
Chinese Troops Blast Rock Dams - The Australian
Parents’ Grief Turns to Rage at Chinese Officials - Andrew Jacobs, New York Times
New Town Springing Up in Quake-Hit Province - Jill Drew, Washington Post
US Reopens Talks With Chinese On Rights - Edward Cody, Washington Post
US Seeks Progress from North Korea Talks - Reuters
US Seeking N. Korea Accord on Nuclear Declaration - Associated Press
Watching Indonesia - The Australian editorial
Japan’s Strategic Choices - Westhawk, Westhawk

EUROPE

EU to Seek New Pact with Russia - BBC News
Georgia Demands Russian Apology Over Spy Plane - Reuters
Turkish Court Case Highlights Deep Divide - Laura King, Los Angeles Times

MIDDLE EAST

Syria's Assad Dismisses Israeli Demand on Iran - Reuters
Lebanese MPs Want Siniora for PM - BBC News
Lebanon Majority Backs Saniora for Prime Minister - Associated Press
Lebanon: Cedar Losing - National Review editorial
Lebanon's Man in the Middle - Amir Taheri, New York Post opinion
A Look at Lebanon's New Leader - Firas Maksad, Boston Globe opinion
Cedars Losing, World Watching - Steve Schippert, Threats Watch
American Says Olmert Took Envelopes of Cash - Griff Witte, Washington Post
American Gave Olmert $150,000 Over 13 Years - Isabel Kirshner, New York Times
Olmert Received Money in Envelopes - James Hider, London Times
Kidnapped IDF Soldiers Could be Freed - Jason Koutsoukis, Sydney Morning Herald
Palestinian Police Get Training in Riot Control - Associated Press
Carter Right to Say the Unsayable - Bronwen Maddox, London Times opinion
Who Gets the Golan? - Yossi Klein Halevi, Los Angeles Times opinion

SOUTH ASIA

Nepal is Set to Become a Republic - BBC News
Nepalese Monarchy Set for Abolition Today - AFP
Nepal's King to Lose Palace - Matt Wade, Sydney Morning Telegraph
Sri Lanka Fighting Kills 16 Tamil Rebels - Associated Press

WORLD

Red Cross Warns of Food Riots Over Soaring Prices - Associated Press
An Unwanted League - Thomas Carothers, Washington Post opinion
Rx for Global Poverty - Robert Samuelson, Washington Post opinion

RECOMMENDED READING

Recommended Reading - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner
Whose Face to the World? - Marc Lynch, Abu Aardvark
Recommended Reading - Mark Safranski, ZenPundit
Adding to My “Antilibrary” - Mark Safranski, ZenPundit
UK CT & COIN Features - Will Hartley, Insurgency Research Group

EVENTS OF INTEREST

29 May 2008 - Occupational Hazards: Success and Failure in Military Occupation (Public Event). Washington, D.C. Book forum hosted by The Cato Institute. Featuring the author David M. Edelstein, Assistant Professor, Georgetown University, with comments by Robert M. Perito, U.S. Institute of Peace and Christopher Preble, Cato Institute. What makes military occupations more or less likely to succeed? Drawing on 26 cases since 1815 where outside powers have seized territory without a claim to its sovereignty, David Edelstein attempts to determine why some occupations succeed and why so many seem doomed to failure. Edelstein combines detailed case studies with a theoretical approach and concludes that occupations face a paradox: Success requires a long-term and massive commitment of resources and attention; however, such large-scale occupations can elicit nationalist responses from the occupied populace. Further, as the occupier faces difficulty, discontent grows at home, and pressure builds to remove occupying forces. Examining the history of occupation as a component of grand strategy, Edelstein offers warnings for today’s policymakers, who seem tempted to include military occupations as part of the approach to countering terrorism. Please join the author and our distinguished commentators for a discussion of this timely and pathbreaking book.

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.