IRAQ
The Iraqi Upturn - Washington Post editorial
Iraq Rising - New York Post editorial
US Deaths in Iraq Fell Sharply in May - Andrew Kramer, New York Times
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
Iraq Hits Milestones on US Troop Deaths and Oil - Reuters
City of Samarra United by Shrine Reconstruction - Deborah Haynes, London Times
US Remakes Jails in Iraq - Alissa Rubin, New York Times
Pullout Begins for Diggers in Iraq - Patrick Walters, The Australian
Australia Ends Combat Role in Southern Iraq - Ned Parker, Los Angeles Times
Australia Ends Iraq Combat Operations - Associated Press
Cash Flow Analysis in Sadr City - Westhawk, Westhawk
Iraq Casualties - Max Boot, Contentions
Iraq Cites Problems with US Security Pact - Associated Press
Win the War? Yes, We Can! - Matthew Continetti, Weekly Standard opinion
Islam Lies at Heart of Civil War - Monica Toft, Christian Science Monitor opinion
Iraqi Army Interdicting Iranian Operations - Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal
Mosul Update: Victory or Squeezing the Balloon? - Dr. iRack, Abu Muqawama
Iraq Status Report - Iraq Status Report
AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS
Afghan Insurgents 'On Brink of Defeat' - Thomas Harding, London Daily Telegraph
Taliban Leader Flaunts Power Inside Pakistan - Jame Perlez, New York Times
NATO: 10 Militants Killed in Afghan Battle - Associated Press
Scores of Taliban Killed in Operation - Reuters
Afghan Blood Feud Ends After 30 Years - Tom Coghlan, London Daily Telegraph
Negotiations Under Way with Taliban - Bill Roggio, The Long War Journal
IRAN
Iran Warns IAEA on Nuclear Cooperation - Reuters
Iranian Parliament Chooses Larijani as Speaker - Reuters
Iran Temporarily Closes Semi-official News Agency - Associated Press
A Bell Tolls for Ahmadinejad - Boston Globe editorial
THE LONG WAR
Homeland Security Chief: No al-Qaida Negotiations - Associated Press
Darool-Uloom Deoband's Fatwa Against Terrorism - Rhys Blakely, London Times
Women Plead with al-Qa'eda to Join Jihad - London Daily Telegraph
What Do You Call a Terror(Jihad)ist? - Singer and Noor, New York Times opinion
Bush Must Confront Rogue States - Rivkin and Casey, Wall Street Journal opinion
The Axis of Weakness - Daniel Freedman, Wall Street Journal opinion
UK: 42-day Detention; A Fair Solution - Gordon Brown, London Times opinion
A Fateful Election for Liberty - Nate Hentoff, Washington Times opinion
Conversation with a Jihadi - Herschel Smith, The Captain's Journal
US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE
Pentagon Overseer Calls for Larger Staff - Walter Pincus, Washington Post
US Africa Command Trims Its Aspirations - Karen DeYoung, Washington Post
Combat Robots and Perception Management - Matt Armstrong, SERVIAM
Should Marines Have Special Ops Forces? - Herschel Smith, The Captain's Journal
US STATE DEPARTMENT
A Few (Hundred) Good Men (and Women) - Washington Times editorial
US FOREIGN POLICY
A Return to Arms Control - Washington Post editorial
No Big Change in US Foreign Policy - Lynch and Singh, Wall Street Journal opinion
AFRICA
Children Held Over Khartoum Attack in Good Health - Reuters
Algeria Riots Pose Risk of Wider Unrest - Reuters
Zimbabwean Migrants Limp Back Into Mugabe's Arms - Philip Pank, London Times
Zimbabwe's Mugabe in Rome for Food Summit - Reuters
Mugabe Arrests Opposition Leaders - Peta Thornycroft, London Daily Telegraph
Two Zimbabwe Opposition Figures Arrested - Reuters
Uganda's Children Work on Dangerous Rock Pile - Associated Press
High Food Prices, Drought Threaten Ethiopia Again - Reuters
South Africa Camps Not Fit for Displaced Migrants - Reuters
Apartheid 'Not Root of S. Africa Riots' - BBC News
UN Security Council in Djibouti for Somalia Talks - Associated Press
UN Security Council to Meet Somalia Government, Opposition - Reuters
British Taxpayer Funds Somalia's Militia Police - Rob Crilly, London Times
Somali Gunmen Attack Kenya Police, Free Prisoners - Reuters
AMERICAS
Mexicans Believe Drug Gangs Winning War With Government - Reuters
Haiti's Tourism Dreams Deferred by Riots - Associated Press
The FARC's Foreign Friends - Mary Anatasia O'Grady, Wall Street Journal opinion
ASIA PACIFIC
Gates in Warning on Beijing Bellicosity - Yochi Dreazen, The Australian
Gates, Chinese Defense Official Spar Over Military - Associated Press
Tangled Blame in Quake Deaths - Jill Drew, Washington Post
Gates Accuses Burma of ‘Criminal Neglect’ - Eric Schmitt, New York Times
Gates Rules Out Forcing Aid on Burma - Peter Spiegel, Los Angeles Times
Amid Aid Delays, Locals in Burma Rebuild - Christian Science Monitor
Burma Junta Defends Cyclone Response as Prompt - Associated Press
North Korea Nuclear Declaration Nearly Done - Associated Press
US Tells Thailand it Wants Democracy, Not Coup - Reuters
Thai Protesters Defy PM's Warning - BBC News
Thai Anti-government Protesters Vow to Go On - Associated Press
Thai Army Chief Rules Out Coup as Shares Slide - Reuters
Indonesia Advisory Alarmist - Greg Sheridan, The Australian opinion
EUROPE
Macedonia's Prime Minister Declares Victory - Associated Press
PM Claims Win in Macedonian Poll - BBC News
Macedonia PM Wins Election in Shadow of Violence - Reuters
Command Responsibility in Croatia - Phillip Carter, Intel Dump
MIDDLE EAST
Saudi Clerics Criticize Shiites for Destabilizing - Associated Press
Kuwait Hardliners Walk Out of Parliament - Associated Press
A Year Later, Hamas Rule Deepens in Gaza - Associated Press
Palestinian Authority PM Pessimistic About Peace - Associated Press
State Dept. Reinstates Gaza Fulbright Grants - Ethan Bronner, New York Times
Israeli Bodies Exchanged for Hezbollah Spy - James Hider, London Times
Hezbollah Hands Over Purported Israeli Remains - Isabel Kirshner, New York Times
Swap Rekindles Hope for Two Soldiers - Joshua Mitnick, Washington Times
Israel Frees Hezbollah Spy, Gets Soldiers' Remains - Associated Press
Israel Plans More Settler Homes - Tim Franks, BBC News
Arabs Hail Olmert Probe - Abraham Rabinovich, Washington Times
Syria to Allow Probe of Nuclear Allegations - Associated Press
Egypt: 'Dramatic' Push for Women's Voices - Liam Stack, Christian Science Monitor
Mideast Oil Changed the World - Tom Hundley, Chicago Tribune opinion
Egypt's Facebook Showdown - Sherif Mansour, Los Angeles Times opinion
SOUTH ASIA
In Pakistan, 'Open Season for Musharraf-bashing' - Laura King, Los Angeles Times
Pakistan Party Tells Leader to Quit - The Australian
Pakistan Partner Party Gets Reform Draft - Associated Press
Pakistan Blast Kills Embassy Worker - Associated Press
Nepal Back to Work After Republic - Reuters
WORLD
UN Chief to Prod Nations On Food Crisis - Colum Lynch, Washington Post
It's Time to Ban Cluster Bombs - San Francisco Chronicle editorial
Cluster Bombs, Made in America - New York Times editorial
Bombs in Bad Company - Boston Globe editorial
The World Is Upside Down - Roger Cohen, New York Times opinion
RECOMMENDED READING
A Framework For Strategic Cultural Analysis - Mark Safranski, ZenPundit
COIN Book Club #10 : Three Cups of Tea - Kip, Abu Muqawama
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.
