IRAQ

Despair Drives Suicide Attacks by Iraqi Women - Alissa Rubin, New York Times

Why so many women? Why now? In a particularly painful twist, the phenomenon seems to have arisen at least in part because of successes in detaining and killing local members of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a homegrown Sunni insurgent group that American intelligence officials say is led by foreigners. The women who become suicide bombers often have lost close male relatives - a husband, a brother, a son - in fighting, because they became suicide bombers themselves or because they were detained by American or Iraqi security forces.

Iraq's Oil Surge - Wall Street Journal editorial

Here's a thought experiment: Assume that Iraq's democratic government declared it was nationalizing its oil industry, a la Venezuela or Saudi Arabia, while excluding American companies from the country. How do you think US politicians would react? With angry cries of "ingratitude" and "this is what Americans died for"? Of course they would, led no doubt by that critic for all reasons, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York. So it is passing strange that Mr. Schumer and other Senators are now assailing Iraq precisely because it is opening up to foreign oil companies, especially to US majors like Exxon Mobil and Chevron. For some American pols, everything that happens in Iraq is bad news, especially when it's good news for the US.

Big Oil Chutzpah - National Review editorial

We’re surprised that Sen. Chuck Schumer can keep straight which foreign countries he’s haranguing to pump more oil and which he’s haranguing to stop pumping more oil. A few weeks ago the New York senator and aspiring global Petroleum Czar was threatening to block arms sales to Saudi Arabia if it didn’t produce more oil. Now, he’s outraged that the Iraqi government may give modest no-bid service contracts to Western oil companies as a first step toward more fully exploiting the country’s vast oil reserves. Perhaps Sen. Schumer would approve if the Saudis were to agree to pump the Iraq oil?

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN TRIBAL AREAS

2,000 Marines Face Longer Afghan Tour - David Wood, Baltimore Sun

In a decision reflecting the shortage of available combat troops, more than 2,000 Marines fighting the Taliban will be kept in Afghanistan 30 days beyond their original seven-month tour, the Marine Corps said yesterday. The decision by Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates to extend the Marines' tour was confirmed a day after Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that more troops are needed in Afghanistan but that he didn't have more troops to send. Gates had said several times in recent months that he had "no plans" to extend the Marines' tour. But US officials, including Mullen, have said recently that the situation in Afghanistan is worsening and that the Taliban-led insurgency is gaining ground and influence. At present there are 32,000 US troops in Afghanistan, of which 14,000 are assigned to work under the International Security Assistance Force.

Pakistanis and Iranians Blamed - Magnus Linklater, The Times

The Governor of Musa Qala, Mullah Abdul Salaam, gave warning yesterday that infiltrators from Pakistan and Iran were deliberately attempting to escalate the conflict in Afghanistan. The Governor, who was formerly a Taleban commander, said that the insurgency attacks against coalition forces, which have accounted for the worst coalition casualty figures in a single month since the war began, were now principally the work of outsiders rather than the Taleban. “They come from Pakistan, they come from Iran,” Mullah Salaam said in an interview with The Times and two other newspapers. “They are doing their action in Afghanistan against their enemy.”

10 Taliban Killed While Planting Bomb - Associated Press

Gunmen in a dangerous part of southern Afghanistan assassinated an Afghan lawmaker, while a roadside bomb militants were planting detonated prematurely, killing 10 Taliban, officials said Saturday. The gunmen killed parliament member and former military commander Habibullah Jan after he visited an Afghan army compound in the Zhari district of Kandahar late Friday, said Kandahar provincial council member Bismillih Afghanmul.

US at Odds With Afghans on Airstrike - Associated Press

The American military said airstrikes by its attack helicopters in eastern Afghanistan hit two vehicles carrying insurgents on Friday, but a provincial governor said 22 civilians, including a woman and a child, had been killed. Also Friday, gunmen in the southern province of Kandahar assassinated a member of Parliament, a provincial official said. A spokesman for the American-led coalition, First Lt. Nathan Perry, said the airstrikes in Nuristan Province had hit militants involved in an earlier mortar attack on an American military base. The helicopters identified the firing positions of the militants, tracked them down and destroyed the vehicles they were traveling in, he said.

IRAN

Iran Responds Obliquely to Nuclear Plan - Elaine Sciolino, New York Times

Iran formally responded Friday to an international proposal of incentives aimed at resolving the impasse over the country’s nuclear program, but failed to address the central issue of whether it would halt its uranium enrichment activities, according to officials involved in the diplomatic effort. Instead, the response, in a letter by Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, said Iran would be willing to open a comprehensive negotiation with Javier Solana, the European Union foreign policy chief, and the six world powers involved in confronting Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

An Israeli-NATO Pact - Bennett Ramberg, Washington Times opinion

"If Iran continues its plan to develop nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The window of opportunity has closed. The sanctions are not effective.” Whether bluff, bluster, a trial balloon or simply a reflection of Israeli politicking, what makes Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz´s recent statement significant is the pedigree he brings to the declaration as the former well-respected army chief of staff and defense minister. Still the puffing coupled to Israel's continuing military exercising begs the question: Does Jerusalem have the capacity to destroy Iran´s advancing nuclear program? Would an attack be wise? What alternative does the Jewish state have? Israel has a well-established record in applying force to halt proliferation. In September 2007, its air force destroyed a suspect Syrian nuclear site.

Talk to Iran - Bina and Gardiner, Washington Times opinion

Markets have been watching every move of President Bush and the Israeli government to decipher whether war with Iran is in the making. Few expected, however, that the equivalent of a green light for war would come from our Democratic-controlled Congress. That is what Congress is preparing to do through a resolution calling for a de facto naval blockade in the Persian Gulf to prohibit Iran from importing refined petroleum products. The last time the United States imposed a blockade on another country was during the Cuban Missile Crisis. President Kennedy labeled the move “quarantine" because he understood a blockade to be universally regarded as an act of war. Yet, a blockade is exactly what many politicians are considering in Washington and elsewhere.

THE LONG WAR

Gen Y Set to Fight Next War - Patrick Walters, The Australian

When Peter Leahy joined the Australian Army 37 years ago, our soldiers were highly proficient in counterinsurgency warfare. Coming out of the New Guinea campaign in World War II, the army had been engaged continuously in unconventional conflict, including the Malayan emergency in the 1950s and confrontation with Indonesia in the early 1960s, followed by Vietnam. Nearly four decades on, the army is back in the counterinsurgency game in Afghanistan, acquiring new war-fighting skills. Army planners are now writing a new counterinsurgency doctrine that embraces a wholly different battlefield to that experienced in the jungles of South Vietnam. Lieutenant-General Leahy, 55, retired from the army on Thursday as the longest serving army chief since Harry Chauvel 80 years ago. But unlike Chauvel, who stepped down in 1930 at the onset of the Depression, leaving a budget-starved permanent land force of barely 1500 men, Leahy is leaving when the army is flourishing and in the middle of a 10-year, $10 billion rebuilding program.

Might to Ex-Guerrilla’s Words - Jane Perlez, New York Post

Fresh out of Cambridge University in the late 1960s, and steeped in the era’s favorites - Marx, Mao and Che - Ahmed Rashid took off for the hills of Baluchistan, a dry, tough patch of western Pakistan. He stayed for 10 years. He was a guerrilla fighter and political organizer, and with a couple of like-minded Pakistani pals, led peasants seeking autonomy against the Pakistani Army. He emerged, after bouts of hepatitis, malaria and lost teeth, not exactly disillusioned but defeated, he recalled recently from the comfort of his study overlooking a garden of palms. Yet the experience became the launching pad for his real career as a prolific chronicler of Afghanistan, Central Asia and his homeland of Pakistan, places that Western writers have often found difficult to gain access to, let alone comprehend in their full depth and complexity.

Teaching Arabic and Propaganda - Joel Pollak, Washington Post opinion

Since Sept. 11, 2001, the number of Americans studying Arabic has more than doubled. Nearly 24,000 U.S. students enrolled in Arabic classes in the fall of 2006, the Modern Language Association reported in November. In 2002, 264 colleges offered Arabic; as of the 2006-07 academic year, 466 did. Young, ambitious Americans are responding constructively to our country's new challenges by demanding Arabic classes. But there are not enough teachers to meet this demand, and the available textbooks are suffused with the stale prejudices and preoccupations of the pre-Sept. 11 Middle East. To study Arabic in America today is to be inducted into a world of longing, abandonment and regret. And that's before you even touch the political issues.

State Secrets? Who Needs ‘Em? - Andrew Grossman, National Review opinion

If Congress needed a kick in the pants to get moving on intelligence reform, this is it: A San Francisco judge ruled Wednesday that the federal government’s program to spy on terrorists and their affiliates is not protected by the “state secrets” privilege. This means that government officials and companies that helped to implement the program may be forced to testify about its structure and operations. If those aren’t state secrets, what is?

A Good-enough Spy Law - Nancy Soderberg, Los Angeles Times opinion

In their rush to get home for their Fourth of July vacations, the members of the Senate left some important work on their desks -- the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The bill is a rare bit of common sense in this election-year cycle and should be passed first thing upon the Senate's return. After much political rancor, House Republicans and Democrats came together last month and passed a compromise bill that will bring the country's surveillance laws into the 21st century, yet still protect individual civil liberties. The Senate is dragging its feet because the compromise bill's opponents -- mostly Democrats -- want also to punish the telecommunications companies that answered President Bush's order for help with his illegal, warrantless wiretapping program. That is the wrong target.

The Sharia Debate - Matthew Parris, The Times opinion

I thought the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, in a careful speech at the East London Muslim Centre on Thursday, slid too quickly over the trickiest parts of his argument. He was discussing the application of Sharia in England and Wales. The speech has been variously reported as anything from a gentle warning to cultural separatists within Islam, to a craven endorsement of the compromising speech about Sharia made by Dr Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, last year. Lord Phillips took as his theme and title Equality Before the Law. This was shrewder than it was brave. “Equality” is a dummy concept in the philosophy of law. Here it allowed both speaker and audience to overlook real differences between them, because everyone is in favour of equality. But Lord Phillips was wrong to say that only recently has English law developed a respect for equality. Common Law and Statute have always regarded everyone as “equal before the law”, but depending on who and what you are and what you've done, your rights may differ. A cat burglar and a householder are not equal before the law. An under-age teenager and an adult, a British citizen and an illegal immigrant, are not equal.

Cosying Up to Muslim Extremists - Charles Moore, Daily Telegraph opinion

The Lord Chief Justice, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, was nice about sharia this week. It is not "only about mandating sanctions such as stoning, flogging, the cutting off of hands and death to those who do not comply with the law", he said. And the provisions of sharia "do not include the repression of women". Lord Phillips admitted that he did not claim "special expertise" in the field, but he had been to see some sharia chaps in Oman and they had seemed very civilised. Anyway, his main point was that sharia might be useful here in mediating disputes about things such as marriage. And it is true that sharia is not "only" about nasty punishments. But such punishments are indeed part of sharia (40 lashes for drinking alcohol is a widely accepted tariff, for example; 100 lashes for fornication), even if they are not always applied. Lord Phillips also did not mention that sharia upholds polygamy for men, prescribes a lower compensation for injury to a Muslim woman or a non-believer than to a Muslim man, and gives less value to their testimony in court. A little bit of repression of women there, Lord Phillips?

US CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

Secretive Agency Under the Spotlight - Joby Warrick, Washington Post

Soon after accepting the post of CIA director two years ago, Michael V. Hayden set an unusual goal for his scandal-beset agency: virtual invisibility. "CIA needs to get out of the news as source or subject," he said in an internal memo to his staff in 2006. Two years later, that goal is far from met, as Hayden has tacitly acknowledged. In a retirement ceremony last month marking the end of his military career, the Air Force general stressed the need for the agency to "stay in the shadows" while ignoring what he called the "sometimes shrill and uninformed voices of criticism."

UNITED NATIONS

Score One for the NGOs - Ted Piccone, Washington Post opinion

The Bush Administration and other critics of the United Nations' Human Rights Council are quick to decry every slight setback in Geneva or New York as proof that the entire organization should fold up and go home. Since that won't happen, the US State Department has decided to abandon the field to its adversaries. But while the Bush Administration remains missing in action, another story is unfolding -- one that shows the growing influence of the global human rights movement and its ability to strengthen the UN Human Rights Council.

AFRICA

Follow-through on African Aid - John Ward, Washington Times

President Bush will arrive in Japan on Sunday on a mission to hold leading nations at the Group of Eight summit to their past commitments to give aid to sub-Saharan Africa, but will be confronted, at the same time, by his own government's failure to abide by a commitment to the Japanese. ”The last G-8, people came to the table and said, 'OK, we hear you, now we'll all pledge,'” Mr. Bush told a group of Japanese journalists, according to a White House transcript released Friday. “The question is, have people written checks? And I will gently remind people, to the extent I can be gentle, that it's important for people, when they hear us talk, to know that there will be results.”

Solution to Problems More than Aid - Bronwen Maddox, The Times opinion

It has been three years since the Gleneagles summit, when Tony Blair led the world’s most powerful countries in pledging to double aid to Africa within five years. Bob Geldof, enlisted by Mr Blair, provided the soundtrack to the summit with his Live 8 concerts, held under the banner of Make Poverty History. Geldof gave the world leaders almost top marks, with an unfortunate echo of President Bush’s premature claim of victory in Iraq. “A great justice has been done,” he said. “On aid, ten out of ten; on debt, eight out of ten . . . mission accomplished, frankly.” In Tokyo next week, the G8 countries will reaffirm their pledge to have doubled aid by that date. But the old demand from the aid community to pledge more cash does not address the new quandaries about how to help Africa, in which aid seems only a small part of the answer – sometimes none at all. Even in the brief time since Gleneagles, the picture has become much more complicated.

Revival of Tribal Tradition to Help Darfur - Stephanie McCrummen, Washington Post

In the heart of Arab Darfur recently, a who's who of tribal leaders lounged under tents in the sand -- sheiks and sultans, umdas and elders, intellectuals, businessmen and spiritual gurus. In the dry afternoon heat, the men discussed politics and the conflict in this western region of Sudan. There was dancing and a brass band to herald the dignitaries' entrances and exits. A dutiful attendant fanned one of the gurus. But the gathering -- a revival of a traditional festival that brought such leaders together to solve problems -- was hardly as grand as it used to be, back when tribal authorities governed Darfur. Instead of high-profile guests such as King Faisal of Saudi Arabia and Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, the modern-day version scored only a second-tier UN official. Instead of 40 days of revelry, there were three.

Inside Mugabe's Violent Crackdown - Craig Timberg, Washington Post

President Robert Mugabe summoned his top security officials to a government training center near his rural home in central Zimbabwe on the afternoon of March 30. In a voice barely audible at first, he informed the leaders of the state security apparatus that had enforced his rule for 28 years that he had lost the presidential vote held the previous day. Then Mugabe told the gathering he planned to give up power in a televised speech to the nation the next day, according to the written notes of one participant that were corroborated by two other people with direct knowledge of the meeting. But Zimbabwe's military chief, Gen. Constantine Chiwenga, responded that the choice was not Mugabe's alone to make.

Mugabe Uses Food as Weapon - Jan Raath, The Times

Zimbabwe is on the brink of an unprecedented famine after its worst harvest since independence in 1980. The plight of Zimbabweans is compounded by the deliberate starvation of most of the population because of their support for the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC). A crop assessment by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) says that the country that once fed scores of famine-stricken African nations will harvest only 575,000 tonnes of maize, the national staple, from last summer's crop - only 28 per cent of the grain needed to feed the country's estimated 11.8 million people.

Zimbabwe Vote Rigging Filmed - Angus McDowall, Daily Telegraph

New details of vote rigging in Zimbabwe's presidential election have been exposed by a prison guard who filmed the real workings of a prison polling station. Intimidation, violence and the threat of vote rigging were considered so bad in the election that the opposition candidate Morgan Tsvangirai and his party, the Movement for Democratic Change [MDC], withdrew from the vote, allowing Robert Mugabe to be re-elected unopposed. The film shows a senior officer watching his junior colleagues mark their ballot papers and writing down their identity numbers. All the guards had been told that instead of going to local stations they would have to cast postal ballots under the eye of their superior officer Superintendent Shambira, a member of the feared war veterans' association that was responsible for much of the election violence.

Zimbabwe and the Liberal Mind - William Murchison, Washington Times opinion

Imperialists bad; freedom fighters, good. Out of there, you smug, gold-laced Churchillian types with your pith helmets and your gin and tonics. Out of India! Out of Africa! Out! Out! Nor did American liberals alone make up the chorus. Plenty of Brits declaimed against their overseas fiefdoms. Worn-down Frenchmen and Dutchmen called for withdrawal from the plains and jungles of empire. Empire, as we would say nowadays, was so over. The glorious dawn of independence was at hand, bathing in its lustrous rays ... well, for Robert Mugabe, among others.

Congolese Politician Goes Before ICC - Marlise Simons, New York Times

When Jean-Pierre Bemba, a rich and powerful Congolese politician, visited his family in Brussels in late May, he had no inkling that he would be grabbed by the Belgian police, thrown in jail and put before an international tribunal. His arrest warrant had been kept secret by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. On Friday, Mr. Bemba, a former vice president and still a sitting senator in Congo, made his first appearance in court. Mr. Bemba, once a rebel leader, has been accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity in a 2002-2003 campaign by his forces fighting to Congo’s north in the Central African Republic.

AMERICAS

Colombian Rebels Splintering - McDonnell and Kraul, Los Angeles Times

The sensational rescue of 15 hostages from the grip of Latin America's largest rebel group has highlighted the diminished state of an organization that just six years ago threatened to overrun the Colombian government. Once fueled by Marxist ideology and awash in narcotics profits, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, now finds itself facing a more robust Colombian military led by a popular president. The group has suffered the deaths of top leaders, seen large-scale defections of supporters, and is being squeezed for the money it needs to sustain its operations.

Brazen Rescue in Captured on Video - Juan Forero, Washington Post

A video shot by a commando posing as a journalist recorded the rescue of 15 hostages in a daring operation that was celebrated Friday from Colombia to as far away as Paris, where French leaders welcomed the best known of the hostages, Ingrid Betancourt. The video shows Betancourt, a French-Colombian politician and author, looking grim as guerrillas hand her and other hostages over in a grassy field in southeastern Guaviare province. The rebels didn't know it, but those taking custody of the prized prisoners were Colombian soldiers, playing the part of relief workers and fellow guerrillas.

Colombia Releases Video of Jungle Rescue - Simon Romero, New York Times

The captives emerged from a coca field looking confused, despondent even, as the rebels tied plastic handcuffs on their wrists before putting them on a helicopter in a video released here on Friday of the rescue this week of 15 hostages in the Colombian jungle. Seeking to respond to some assertions about the rescue mission that have sprung up internationally since the hostages were freed, Colombian military officials also offered more details on the operation.

Betancourt Details Her Captivity - Erlanger and Cowell, New York Times

Two days after her rescue, six years after being captured by guerrillas in the Colombian jungle, Ingrid Betancourt arrived in Paris on Friday to thank the joyful nation that had championed her cause and to begin to share some of the painful details of her long ordeall. In comments to Europe 1 radio, she said that her captors had chained her day and night for the first three years, but that she was sustained by her Roman Catholic faith and thoughts of her family. “I was in chains all the time, 24 hours a day, for three years,” she said. “I tried to wear those chains with dignity, even if I felt that it was unbearable.”

An Impressive Rescue - Miami Hearld editorial

In 40 long and painful years of war against insurgents, the Colombian government has never scored a bigger or more important success than the daring and perfectly executed rescue of 15 hostages that took place this week. Among the freed captives were the most prominent prisoners ever held by the FARC guerrillas -- one-time presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three Americans employed by a Northrop Grumman Corp. subsidiary that has supported Colombia's fight against drugs. Among other things, this episode shows that Colombian military intelligence has penetrated the FARC's leadership. Placing an agent within the ruling circle allowed the military to carry out a sophisticated ruse that enabled soldiers to snatch the hostages and turn the tables on the rebel captors, who are now in government hands -- reportedly, without killing anyone, and apparently without firing a shot.

Rescuing Colombia - Boston Globe editorial

Screenplays are almost certainly being written about the bold rescue of Ingrid Betancourt, the Colombian presidential candidate who was freed Wednesday after being held hostage for six years by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, the left-wing insurgency group known as FARC. To save Betancourt and 14 other hostages, Colombian commandos posing as rebels herded the prisoners onto a helicopter, purportedly to move them to a new location. Once they were in the air, the hostages learned the truth: They were free. The rescue has generated international joy and relief. But celebrations can only be temporary. This is only one part of an ongoing, decades-long internal struggle. Colombia is beset by insurgency groups and the remains of rightist paramilitary groups. These groups rely on illegal drug trafficking for money and weapons.

Vindication for Uribe - Edward Schumacher-Matos, Washington Post opinion

More politically breathtaking than the dramatic rescue of Ingrid Betancourt this week is the unexpected message that the former presidential candidate delivered after six years of captivity in Colombian jungles. Betancourt, slight but still well-spoken, deftly discredited critics of President Álvaro Uribe's two-pronged approach toward the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. Her support for Uribe's carrot-and-stick policies -- beefing up the military while offering to negotiate with the guerrillas -- countered many of her self-proclaimed supporters, including human rights groups, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, leftist lobbyists in Washington and her own mother.

No Way to Treat an Ally - Mona Charen, National Review opinion

The rescue of three Americans from the jungles of South America is a terrific Fourth of July present to the nation. (And John McCain gets high marks for timing in being present for the happy event.) American contractors Keith Stansell, Thomas Howes, and Marc Gonsalves had been captured by the Colombian communist guerrilla group FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) when their antinarcotics surveillance plane crashed in rebel territory five years ago. At the time, considering the weakness of the Colombian government, the growing strength of the neighborhood bully Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, and the terror that FARC inflicted upon the Colombian people, the future looked grim for them and for the hundreds of hostages held in various remote areas. Ingrid Betancourt, a former presidential candidate who was likewise snatched and held by FARC, was freed with the Americans on July 2.

UN to Feed One in Four People in Haiti - Baptiste Etchegaray, Washington Times

The UN World Food Program is scaling up efforts to feed millions of people in Haiti, where riots over rising food prices have toppled one government in a nation known for chronic malnutrition of its children even in the best of times. The WFP says it is preparing to feed 2.3 million people, more than one in four Haitians, up from the 800,000 who presently receive aid from the United Nations agency.

ASIA PACIFIC

Indonesia Eeeks to Shut Navy Lab - Paul Watson, Los Angeles Times

Threats to shut down a US Navy medical research lab here may undermine the hunt for mutating viruses that could set off the next flu pandemic, Western scientists warn. Indonesia suspended negotiations with the United States over the fate of Naval Medical Research Unit No. 2 last month after senior politicians said it didn't benefit Indonesia and could be a cover for spying. The US Embassy firmly denied that the facility is used to gather intelligence, and said most of the lab's staff members are Indonesians helping with research carried out in cooperation with local health officials.

Talking to Tibet - Wall Street Journal editorial

After the violence this spring in Tibet, countries around the world beseeched China to hold talks with the Dalai Lama's envoys. At long last those talks took place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Beijing. But instead of progress, we're starting to see the limits of Beijing's approach of demanding more concessions while granting none itself. The tack is only emboldening Tibetan extremists. This week's talks are typical of the pattern in place since formal dialogue began in 2002: While meeting with the Dalai Lama's envoys, Chinese leaders simultaneously renew their verbal attacks against him.

EUROPE

Poland Rebuffs US Missile-shield Offer - Associated Press

Poland's prime minister said Friday that the latest US offer to persuade his country to accept a missile-defense facility is unsatisfactory, but stressed that he expects negotiations to continue. Donald Tusk said that any deal must increase Poland's security. He said his government thinks the latest offer, made earlier this week, does not fulfill that requirement. However, Mr. Tusk made clear Warsaw's decision was not a final rejection of the US plan to place 10 missile-defense interceptors in Poland as part of a shield against a possible Iranian attack.

Blast in Belarus Injures Dozens - Michael Schwirtz, New York Times

A bomb exploded during an outdoor concert in the Belarus capital, Minsk, early Friday morning, wounding dozens, three critically, and a second device was found later in the same area, according to the authorities. The blast, near a World War II memorial in the city’s center, occurred at about 1 a.m. as revelers were celebrating the country’s Independence Day, said Aleksandr A. Lastovsky, a spokesman for the Minsk police department. He said investigators considered the bombing “an act of hooliganism.”

SOUTH ASIA

Pakistani Says Army Knew Atomic Parts Were Shipped - Associated Press

Pakistan gave centrifuges to North Korea in a 2000 shipment supervised by the army, Abdul Qadeer Khan, the architect of Pakistan’s nuclear program, said on Friday. Dr. Khan said in a telephone interview that the uranium enrichment equipment was sent from Pakistan in a North Korean plane loaded under the supervision of Pakistani security officials. His claims stood in stark contrast with his 2004 confession that he was solely responsible for spreading nuclear technology to Iran, North Korea and Libya. But Dr. Khan has since renounced that confession, saying he made it to avoid implicating other Pakistani officials.

Indian Leader Rescues Nuclear Deal - Rama Lakshmi, Washington Post

After months of political uncertainty, the Indian government appeared Friday to have saved a beleaguered civil nuclear-energy agreement with the United States. After a flurry of political meetings with allies and adversaries in the past week, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh gained the support of a regional political party that will not only back the deal but prevent his government from falling. On Friday, Shakeel Ahmed, spokesman for the ruling Congress party, thanked its newfound ally, the socialist Samajwadi Party, "for supporting the nuclear deal in the national interest." Singh is to meet President Bush in Japan next week during a summit of the Group of Eight industrialized nations.

India Party Struggling for Nuclear Deal - Timmons and Sengupta, New York Times

India’s governing Congress Party was on the verge of swapping allies on Friday in a last-ditch effort to push through a nuclear deal with the United States. The Congress Party was on the brink of replacing its leftist allies, led by the Communist Party, with a coalition led by the Samajwadi, a North Indian socialist party. The Congress Party’s grip on India is weakening as inflation and fuel prices rise and the economy slows, and securing an ally is crucial to staying in power. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who has been a staunch supporter of the nuclear agreement with the United States, has been rushing to firm up support for the deal in India ahead of the Group of 8 summit meeting in Japan, which starts on Monday.

No Rush, Please - New York Times editorial

Three years ago, President Bush offered India a far-too-generous nuclear deal. India’s illicit pursuit of nuclear weapons would effectively be forgiven. And for the first time in 30 years, it would be allowed to buy nuclear fuel and equipment for its civilian energy program from the United States and other nations. Instead of celebrating a big political win, the deal quickly turned into a political nightmare for Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, nearly toppling his government. India’s Communist Party, his junior coalition partner, is dead set against the agreement and any broader strategic relationship with the United States.

35 Rebels, 1 Soldier Killed in Sri Lanka - Associated Press

Government forces attacked Tamil Tiger rebels along Sri Lanka's northern front lines, triggering a series of gunbattles that killed 35 rebels and one soldier, the military said Saturday. The latest fighting broke out in the Jaffna, Vavuniya, Welioya and Mannar regions bordering the rebels' de facto state in the north on Friday, a defense ministry official said on condition of anonymity because of government regulations.

EVENTS OF INTEREST

22 July - Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare (Public Event). Washington, DC. The Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) is sponsoring a discussion on counterinsurgency on 22 July 2008, at the National Press Club (the Holeman Lounge), Washington, DC. Dr. John Nagl (Center for a New American Security), Dr. Daniel Marston (Australian National University), and Dr. Carter Malkasian (CNA) recently collaborated on Counterinsurgency in Modern Warfare (Osprey, 2008), an edited book that examines 13 of the most important counterinsurgency campaigns of the past 100 years, including the current Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Dr. David Kilcullen (U.S. State Department), the renowned counterinsurgency expert, will moderate the discussion and provide critical commentary. Lunch will be provided. Books will be available to purchase at a discounted rate. For more information, visit the first link above. RSVP at kattm@cna.org or 703.824.2436.

11-15 August - Counterinsurgency Leaders Workshop (Official Event - Workshop). Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The US Army/Marine Corps Counterinsurgency (COIN) Center is hosting a five-day program for prospective counterinsurgency leaders, 11-15 August 2008, at the Combined Arms Center, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. The program is focused on equipping leaders with an understanding of the insurgency and counterinsurgency environments, as well as close consideration of the kinds of persons and organizations that usually emerge from insurgencies in contrast to those of conventional conflicts. This event will be held at the Battle Command Training Center (BCTC) Training Facility on Fort Leavenworth. Seating is limited. However, registration is open to any person who serves in any official capacity with regard to dealing with insurgencies, with priority is given to those applying from invited organizations. Other applicants will be reviewed for eligibility on a space-available, case-by-case basis. The duty is uniform/business casual. Application must completed on-line at the link above. The deadline for application is 1 August 2008. For more information, contact the COIN Center at 913-684-5196.

11-12 September - DNI Open Source Conferece 2008 (Public Event - Conference). Washington, DC. Sponsored by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. The Office of the DNI is pleased to announce the "DNI Open Source Conference 2008" to be held on Thursday, 11 September and Friday, 12 September, 2008 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center in Washington DC. The conference is free; however, all who wish to attend must register online in advance (deadline 31 July). The two-day conference will explore a wide range of open source issues and open source best practices for the Intelligence Community and its partners. We invite participants from the broader open source community of interest including academia, think tanks, private industry, federal, state, local and tribal entities, international partners, and the media to attend. The conference will include speakers from across the broader open source community participating in panel discussions and focus group sessions. Information about the agenda and break-out sessions is now available. The DNI Open Source Conference 2007 was held 16-17 July 2007 at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. More than 900 registered participants and speakers attended. Presentations made at the conference break-out sessions are available on the DNI Open Source Conference 2007 website.

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.