IRAQ
The Iraqi Upturn - Washington Post editorial
Iraq Rising - New York Post editorial
Month Ends with Lowest US Death Toll Yet - Alexandra Zavis, Los Angeles Times
US Troop Deaths Lowest in Four Years - Associated Press
Sadr City: Urban Warfare to Reconstruction - Ernesto Londoño. Washington Post
Iraqi Military Extends Control in Mosul - Andrew Kramer, New York Times
Basra's Wary Rebirth - Sudarsan Raghavan, Washington Post
Car Bomb Kills 2 Near Iranian Embassy - Associated Press
Insurgents Killed in Iraq Clashes - BBC News
Suicide Bomber Kills at Least 10 West of Baghdad - Associated Press
Baghdad Jews Have Become a Fearful Few - Stephen Farrell, New York Times
Australian Troops Pull Out of Iraq - Reuters
Convoy Safety - Thomas Ricks, Washington Post
Win the War? Yes, We Can! - Matthew Continetti, Weekly Standard opinion
Stuck in Syria, With No Way Home - Finer and Rikoski, Washington Post opinion
Iraq Casualties - Max Boot, Contentions
The Surge Has Spillover - Galrahn, Information Dissemination
Visit Sunni Iraq - Jules Crittenden, Forward Movement
Operation to Clear Mahdi Army on Hold - Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal
Pelosi, Iranian Goodwill and Dead Americans - Steve Schippert, The Tank
Parsing Pelosi: Military Usefulness - Steve Schippert, Threats Watch
Al-Qaida Continues Defiance on Mosul - Evan Kohlmann, Counterterrorism
Iraq Status Report - Iraq Status Report
AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS
'About as Raw as You Can Get' - Rosie Dimanno, Toronto Star
Pakistan's Appeasement - Gartenstein-Ross and Roggio, Weekly Standard opinion
Negotiations Underway with Taliban in Mardan - Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal
Of Insurgents, Poppy and Gizmos - Herschel Smith, The Captain's Journal
Taliban Commander Spends $45m Yearly - Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal
‘These Will be Wars Unlike Any We Have Ever Fought...' - Westhawk, Westhawk
IRAN
France Calls on Iran to Open Nuclear Plants for Scrutiny - Reuters
Stars (and Stripes) in Their Eyes - Azadeh Moaveni, Washington Post opinion
Iran, Al Qaeda in Talks? - Noah Shachtman, Danger Room
THE LONG WAR
S. Asia 'Focus for al-Qaeda Fight' - BBC News
Al-Qaida's Stance on Women Sparks Extremist Debate - Associated Press
Al Qaeda on the Run - Wall Street Journal editorial
Al-Qaeda's Potency is Exaggerated - Simon Jenkins, London Times opinion
Who’s Winning the War of Ideas? - Stephen Tankel, Kings of War
US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Pentagon Overseer Calls for Larger Staff - Walter Pincus, Washington Post
US Africa Command Trims Its Aspirations - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post
The Hidden Casualties - Baltimore Sun editorial
Indefensible Spending - Robert Scheer, Los Angeles Times opinion
Pentagon's Internet 'Civil War' - David Axe, Danger Room
UK MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
Navy Bans Prince from Danger Zone - Michael Smith, London Times
William to Take on Caribbean Drug Lords - Sean Rayment, London Daily Telegraph
US FOREIGN POLICY
Closing the Gulf with Our Allies - Mark Brzezinski, Boston Globe opinion
It’s All About Leverage - Thomas Friedman, New York Times opinion
US PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION
The Orthodoxy of Hope - Jim Hoagland, Washington Post opinion
UNITED NATIONS
UNbelievable - Oliver North, Washington Times opinion
AFRICA
US Africa Command Trims Its Aspirations - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post
Violence Tars S. Africa's Image - David Sands, Washington Times
S. Africa Houses Migrants as Toll Rises - Associated Press
Zimbabwe: Troops 'Must Back Mugabe or Quit' - BBC News
Rwanda Anger at Genocide Tribunal - BBC News
Clashes at Nairobi Food Protest - BBC News
Uganda's Costliest Export - Donald MacGillis, Boston Globe opinion
Axe, Anne Do Chad - David Axe, Danger Room
AMERICAS
Encountering Real Pirates of the Caribbean - Carol Williams, Los Angeles Times
Chavez: Colombian Border Skirmish Kills 1 - Associated Press
Bolivia States to Vote on Split - BBC News
Peru's Shining Path Guerrillas On the Rise Again - Associated Press
Castro's Memoirs? - Brian Latell, Miami Herald opinion
ASIA PACIFIC
Chinese Officials Ignored Quake Warnings - Michael Sheridan, London Times
Burma Wants 'No Strings Attached' Aid - The Australian
Gates Blames Burma Junta for Deaths - Colin Freeman, London Daily Telegraph
N. Korea Nuclear Declaration Nearly Done - Cara Anna, Washington Times
North Korean Nuclear Theater - Henry Sokolski, National Review opinion
EUROPE
Putin Backs Abkhazia Autonomy, Russian Troops Sent - Reuters
Macedonians Vote in Crucial Election - Testorides and Becatoros, Washington Times
Troubled Macedonia Goes to Polls - BBC News
Macedonians Vote in Shadow of Violence - Reuters
Putin’s Poodle - Max Boot, Contentions
CAUCASUS
PKK Headache #599 - Jeni Mitchell, Kings of War
MIDDLE EAST
Tzipi Livni: Terrorist-Hunter - Uzi Mahnaimi, London Times
Israel to Send Back Hezbollah Spy - BBC News
Arab Women Push Boundaries Gently - Jeffrey Fleishman, Los Angeles Times
Lebanese Troops Shoot Suspected Suicide Bomber - Associated Press
Egyptian Christians, Muslims Clash - Reuters
Blair Unfazed by Mideast Peace Obstacles - Haroon Siddiqui, Toronto Star opinion
Mideast Won't Change from Within - Mohammed Fadhil, Wall Street Journal opinion
Olmert: Nothing to Lose - Amir Taheri, New York Post opinion
Gaza Breakdown Is The Regional Aim - Steve Schippert, Threats Watch
Palestinian Al-Qaida Faction in Gaza Strip - Evan Kohlmann, Counterterrorism
SOUTH ASIA
Musharraf Given Ultimatum to Quit - Nelson and Hasna, London Times
Bhutto Dealt Nuclear Secrets to N. Korea - Glenn Kessler, Washington Post
Pakistani Boy Killed by Religion Teacher - BBC News
Military: 13 Killed in Sri Lanka Clashes - Associated Press
WORLD
Cluster Bombs, Made in America - New York Times editorial
Bombs in Bad Company - Boston Globe editorial
RECOMMENDED READING
Turkey: Two Good Reads - Tom Barnett, Thomas PM Barnett
Recommended Reading - Matt Armstrong, MountainRunner
Propaganda Is Now Officially Hip - 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
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.
