North Korea's announcement of its second nuclear detonation triggered a wave of international condemnation today and sent diplomats scrambling to coordinate a response that could include new sanctions. "By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community," Obama said in a brief statement outside the White House. "North Korea's behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in Northeast Asia. Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea's isolation."

--Washington Post

NORTH KOREA

N. Korea Conducts 'Successful' Underground Nuclear Test - Blaine Harden - Washington Post. North Korea exploded a nuclear device Monday morning, startling the world with its second underground test in three years and vexing the Obama administration, which has said it wants to solve the nuclear impasse with North Korea. The test, described as "successful" by the communist state's official Korean Central News Agency, escalates a pattern of provocation that this spring has included a long-range missile launch, detention of two US journalists, kicking out UN nuclear inspectors, restarting a plutonium factory and halting six-nation nuclear negotiations. On Monday afternoon, North Korea fired three surface-to-air missiles into the sea, according to South Korea's defense minister, Lee Sang-hee. It was an apparent effort to chase off US spy planes monitoring the nuclear test site, according to Yonhap, the South Korean news agency, which quoted an unnamed South Korean official. The missiles, with a range of about 80 miles, were launched from near a coastal base where last month North Korea launched a long-range missile. In Washington, President Obama accused North Korea of "recklessly challenging the international community" with its nuclear and missiles tests. He added in an early morning statement that "the danger posed by North Korea's threatening activities warrants action by the international community."

North Korean Nuclear Claim Draws Global Criticism - Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times. North Korea’s announcement that it had successfully conducted its second nuclear test on Monday drew condemnation and criticism around the world, including the United Nations Security Council. The dimensions of the test were not immediately verifiable, but estimates ranged upwards of the nearly one kiloton of the North’s first nuclear test, in 2006. President Obama said: “North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs pose a grave threat to the peace and security of the world, and I strongly condemn their reckless action.” “The United States and the international community must take action in response,” he added. China, by far North Korea’s largest trading partner, said it was “resolutely opposed” to the test, according to a Foreign Ministry statement carried by the official Xinhua news agency.

UN Condemns North Korea Over Nuclear Test - Tim Reid, The Times. The UN Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea last night for carrying out a powerful underground nuclear test. It appeared paralysed on whether to impose further sanctions on the communist regime. President Obama said that the test was a threat to world peace. The atomic bomb - up to 20 times more powerful than the previous one detonated by North Korea in 2006 - was comparable with the one that flattened Hiroshima. It put the world on notice that Pyongyang is accelerating quickly towards a military nuclear capability. Three short-range missiles were also tested, prompting South Korea to put its army on alert. The provocative test sparked global condemnation, even from China, the reclusive state’s only ally. It was clear, however, that the West was increasingly powerless to halt the nuclear programme.

Ignoring Criticism, N. Korea Is Said to Test More Missiles - Choe Sang-Hun, New York Times. One day after a surprise nuclear test drew angry and widespread condemnation, North Korea continued its defiance of the international community on Tuesday by test-firing two more short-range missiles, according to the South Korean news agency Yonhap, which cited unidentified government sources in Seoul. The reported missile firings came just hours after South Korea said it would join an American-led operation to stop the global trafficking in weapons of mass destruction, an action bound to further damage the South’s already deteriorating relationship with North Korea. The missiles launched Tuesday were surface-to-ship and surface-to-air projectiles, each with a range of 80 miles, according to the Yonhap sources. They were apparently launched from a base on the central eastern coast into the sea opposite Japan, further rattling nerves in the region.

UN Security Council Condemns North Korea Nuclear Test - Toby Harnden and Malcolm Moore, The Times. The United Nations Security Council unanimously condemned North Korea’s latest nuclear test at an emergency session in New York last night after Pyongyang tested a nuclear device as powerful as the bomb that destroyed Nagasaki. Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, said it represented "a clear violation" of a 2006 resolution that followed the country's first nuclear test. The blast, which caused a 5.3 magnitude earthquake, demonstrated that Pyongyang had continued to develop its weapons programme despite economic sanctions, aid promises and international outrage. North Korea had been threatening to carry out a second nuclear test since the UN Security Council tightened economic sanctions after a test missile launch in April. Monday night's meeting included the US, Britain, Russia, China and France, the five permanent veto-wielding countries, as part of the full 15-member council. President Barack Obama called the test a "matter of grave concern", accusing North Korea of "directly and recklessly challenging the international community".

President Obama Condemns North Korean Nuclear Test - Paula Wolfson, Voice of America. US President Barack Obama has condemned North Korea's latest nuclear test, saying the international community must stand up to Pyongyang. Mr. Obama says North Korea's actions endanger its neighbors, and are a blatant violation of international law. President Obama appeared before television cameras at the White House to deliver a blunt message to North Korea's leaders. "North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs pose a grave threat to the peace and security of the world, and I strongly condemn their reckless action," he said. Speaking just hours before the UN Security Council was due to meet in emergency session on North Korea, the president stressed the need for international solidarity.

North Korean Nuclear Blast Draws Global Condemnation - Blaine Harden, Washington Post. North Korea's detonation of a nuclear device Monday appears not to have been a significant technical advance over its first underground test three years ago. But it has triggered a swifter, stronger and more uniform wave of international condemnation, most notably from the isolated nation's historical allies, China and Russia. The UN Security Council moved quickly in an emergency meeting Monday to condemn the test, saying it constituted a clear violation of a 2006 UN resolution barring the communist state from exploding a nuclear weapon. The council's speedy response contrasted with protracted discussions that followed North Korea's April 5 launch of a long-range missile and reflected what analysts called deep displeasure by Russia and China. Earlier, the Chinese government, North Korea's main economic patron, said it was "resolutely opposed" to the test and told Pyongyang to avoid actions that heighten tensions and return to multi-nation talks focused on dismantling its nuclear program. China's response Monday was significantly more pointed than it was to North Korea's first nuclear test, in October 2006.

Tested Early by North Korea, Obama Has Few Options - David E. Sanger, New York Times. Facing the first direct challenge to his administration by an emerging nuclear weapons state, President Obama declared Monday that the United States and its allies would “stand up” to North Korea, hours after that country defied international sanctions and conducted what appeared to be its second nuclear test. Mr. Obama reacted to the underground blast as White House officials scrambled to coordinate an international response to a North Korean nuclear capacity that none of his predecessors had proved able to reverse. Acutely aware that their response to the explosion in the mountains of Kilju, not far from the Chinese border, would be seen as an early test of a new administration, Mr. Obama’s aides said they were determined to organize a significantly stronger response than the Bush administration had managed after the North’s first nuclear test, in October 2006.

President, Top US Military Denounce North Korean Nuclear Test - Fred W. Baker III, American Forces Press Service. The president and the nation’s top military officer today denounced North Korea's claim that it carried out a powerful underground nuclear test, much larger than previous such tests, to “bolster its nuclear deterrent for self-defense." "North Korea's nuclear ballistic missile programs pose a great threat to the peace and security of the world and I strongly condemn their reckless action," Obama told reporters this morning in the White House Rose Garden. North Korea's actions they are a blatant violation of international law, and they contradict North Korea's own prior commitments, he said.

From Washington to Beijing, World Leaders Denounce Test - Colum Lynch and Joby Warrick, Washington Post. North Korea's announcement of its second nuclear detonation triggered a wave of international condemnation today and sent diplomats scrambling to coordinate a response that could include new sanctions. "By acting in blatant defiance of the United Nations Security Council, North Korea is directly and recklessly challenging the international community," Obama said in a brief statement outside the White House. "North Korea's behavior increases tensions and undermines stability in Northeast Asia. Such provocations will only serve to deepen North Korea's isolation."

S.Korea to Seek Security Council Response to North's Test - Kurt Achin, Voice of America. South Korea says it wants a strong UN Security Council response to North Korea's latest nuclear test, which the United States has characterized as a direct and reckless challenge to the international community. Meantime, President Barack Obama has condemned North Korea's nuclear test, saying the international community must stand up to North Korea on the nuclear issue. A White House statement is calling North Korea's nuclear test "a matter of grave concern" that "warrants action by the international community."

China Opposes N. Korean Nuclear Test - Stephanie Ho, Voice of America. China said it opposes the North Korean nuclear test, but refrained from any harsh language in its statement issued late Monday. Meanwhile, the visiting head of the US Senate's Foreign Relations committee said the North Korean nuclear test is a reckless act that further isolates the Asian nation. The Chinese government issued a statement saying it resolutely opposes North Korea's nuclear test. The statement voiced a "strong demand" that Pyongyang live up to its commitment to a non-nuclear Korean peninsula and refrain from taking any actions that could worsen the situation. The Chinese statement also called for a "calm response" from all parties concerned and expressed hope the issue would be resolved through dialogue and consultation.

Japan Poised to Ease its Ban Again on Export of Weapons - Peter Alford, The Australian. The Japanese Government is about to ease its universal embargo on weapons exports in a move that may foreshadow Japan joining the US-controlled F-35 joint strike fighter project. The decision is another whittling-away of Japan's long-standing policy of standing apart from foreign military engagements and co-operation. It would allow Japanese companies to join international weapons development programs, such as the F-35 program, by removing the ban on exporting components to other participants. Tokyo has already lifted one corner of the 33-year-old embargo to participate in the US's Pacific ballistic missile defence program - Japan is developing an advanced nose-cone for the SM-3 high-altitude interceptor missile.

Test Delivers a Message for Domestic Consumption - Martin Fackler, New York Times. When North Korea suddenly announced Monday that it had conducted a second nuclear test, the initial view across the region was that this had been yet another defiant gambit by the North to extract more concessions from Washington. That has been the oft-repeated pattern in the past, and is likely to be one motivation now as well, say North Korea watchers. But this time around, North Korea’s succession crisis is the primary impetus, many experts believe, suggesting that the audience for the test is its own population as much as the United States. Monday’s test is the culmination of a shift toward a more assertive foreign policy, which some analysts say seems to have begun not long after the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-il, is believed to have suffered a stroke in August. Speculation about a successor has focused on his youngest son, Kim Jong-un, which would continue the family dynasty to the third generation - one unique among Communist nations.

An Early Test for Obama's Engagement Policy - Glenn Kessler, Washington Post. President Obama came into office saying he wanted to demonstrate that engagement with hostile nations is more effective than antagonism, but North Korea's nuclear test now leaves the young administration with critical choices about its response. Does it ramp up the pressure with new and tougher sanctions? Does it not overreact and essentially stand pat? Or will it, like the Bush administration after North Korea's first test in 2006, shift course and redouble efforts at engagement and diplomacy? A key variable is an assessment of what North Korea is hoping to gain. Is it ratcheting up the pressure to win new concessions from the United States and nations in the region? Or should the United States take its rhetoric at face value - that it is aiming to become a full-fledged nuclear power, no matter what the cost in diplomatic isolation?

No Crisis for North Korea - Washington Post editorial. North Korea's detonation of a nuclear warhead in an underground test yesterday is, of course, cause for serious concern -- particularly as the blast appears to have been considerably larger than the regime's first test nearly three years ago. It is certainly cause for swift action by the UN Security Council, which issued a statement condemning Pyongyang's blatant violations of previous council resolutions, and promised to prepare yet another resolution - though, as always, the prospect that truly tough sanctions will be adopted is not bright. What Kim Jong Il's latest provocation should not cause, however, is the response he is seeking: a rush by the Obama administration to lavish attention on his regime and offer it economic and political favors.

What to Do About North Korea - Dan Blumenthal and Robert Kagan, Washington Post opinion. The North Korean launch of its Taeopodong-2 missile and its second nuclear test have laid bare the paucity of President Obama's policy options. They have exposed the futility of the six-party talks and, in particular, the much-hyped myth of China's value as a partner on strategic matters. The Obama administration claims that it wants to break with the policies of its predecessor. This is one area where it ought to. After decades of diplomacy and "probing" Pyongyang's intentions, one thing is clear: Kim Jong Il and his cronies want nuclear weapons and the means to deliver them. What will dissuade them? Isolation and more punitive sanctions would make sense if China and Russia would go along. But they haven't, and they won't.

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN

Pakistan Taliban Says It Will Stop Fighting in Swat Valley - Voice of America. The Taliban says it will stop attacking security forces in the main city of Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley. Taliban Spokesman Muslim Khan says militants will stop their resistance in Swat's main town of Mingora out of concern for the safety of civilians and their property. Khan did not describe the fighting as a cease-fire. He says the Taliban will not create any obstacles for civilians wishing to return to the area. Pakistan's army said Monday that it has captured several key sites around Mingora including Maalam Jabba, a nearby ski resort which militants converted into a training center.

Pakistani Refugee Crisis Poses Peril - Griff Witte, Washington Post. Bacha Zab, a 32-year-old fruit salesman, dodged army shelling and Taliban sniper fire to escape his native Swat Valley. But when he reached the safety of a government-run refugee camp in this northwestern Pakistani city, he was told there was no more room. Instead, for the past 16 days, Zab, his wife and their four children have been in the care of a private Islamic charity with close ties to a banned militant organization. "We are asking for help from the government, but they won't give it," Zab said. "In the government camps, there are only problems." The government has been overwhelmed by the human tide that has washed over the northwest as about 2 million people have fled fierce clashes in Swat. With Pakistan experiencing its largest exodus since the nation's partition from India in 1947, only a fraction of the displaced civilians are receiving assistance in government-run camps. The rest are fending for themselves or getting help from private charities, including some that are allied with the very forces the Pakistani army is fighting in Swat.

3 Soldiers Killed in Afghan Bombing - Reuters. Three soldiers fighting with NATO-led forces and three civilians were killed by a suicide car bomb attack on a military convoy in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, Afghan officials and a spokesman for the alliance said. One foreign soldier and two civilians were also injured when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into the convoy in the northern Sayat district of Kapisa province, a spokesman for the provincial governor and the Interior Ministry said. A spokesman for fugitive pro-Taliban insurgency leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, who rarely claims responsibility for suicide attacks, said his Hezb-e-Islami group had planned the attack. Waliullah, who uses only one name, also said that the foreign commander of the Provincial Reconstruction Team in Kapisa province was among the dead.

Nomination of US Afghan Commander Revives Questions in Tillman Case - Thom Shanker, New York Times. One was a football hero who roused the nation when he quit a high-paying job as star safety for the Arizona Cardinals to join the Army and become a Ranger after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The other is a three-star Special Operations general who has spent most of his career in the shadows, commanding secret counterterrorism missions carried out by the military’s most elite capture-or-kill units. But the lives of Cpl. Pat Tillman and Lt. Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal became entwined in a most public way after Corporal Tillman died in Afghanistan in 2004. General McChrystal, commander of a Special Operations task force in Afghanistan at the time, was among 10 officers singled out for scrutiny after details belatedly emerged that Corporal Tillman was killed not by an insurgent ambush, as the Army originally asserted, but by fire from his own team of Rangers.

IRAQ

Who Should Patrol Samarra? - Heath Druzin, Stars and Stripes. This rambling, riverside city is used to outsiders. Until the 2006 bombing of its most famous site - the golden-domed al-Askari mosque - religious pilgrims were the life blood of the local economy, filling local hotels, restaurants and markets. But the visitors always went home at the end of their journey. Now, with each passing day, residents worry the heavily armed visitors sent by the central government are here to stay. Samarra is as remarkable a security success story as you’ll find in Iraq. Eighteen months after members of al-Qaida in Iraq paraded openly through the city, carrying out public executions and systematically destroying the infrastructure, attacks are rare and tens of thousands of religious pilgrims stream into the city each week without incident. But local Sunni residents and members of the Shiite-dominated security forces differ on what chapter of the security story they have reached. Demilitarizing what is now one of the most heavily-soldiered cities in Iraq is proving tricky and controversial. "Who should be in control? Our people," said retired army officer Saleh Abed, reflecting the call of many Samarrans for national troops to leave security to locals.

IRAN

Iran Sends Warships to Gulf of Aden - Reuters. Iran has sent six warships to international waters, including the Gulf of Aden, to show its ability to confront any foreign threats, its naval commander said on Monday. Admiral Habibollah Sayyari, quoted by the ISNA news agency, made the announcement five days after Iran said it test-fired a surface-to-surface missile with a range of 2,000 km (1,200 miles), putting Israel and US bases in the area within reach. Iran said on May 14 it had sent two warships to the Gulf of Aden to protect oil tankers from the world's fifth-largest crude exporter against attacks by pirates but ISNA did not make clear whether they were among the six Sayyari talked about. Iranian waters stretch along the Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman. Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 40 percent of the world's traded oil is shipped, if it were attacked over its nuclear programme.

Iran Blocks Facebook, Outlet for Opposition - Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post. Iran blocked access to Facebook on Saturday in what opposition candidates said was an effort to sabotage their challenges to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Facebook has become hugely popular in Iran, where young urbanites use it to connect with friends, play online games and share photographs. Recently, lively discussions had taken place on the social-networking Web site among Iranians who wondered whether voting in the June 12 presidential election meant supporting Iran's system of clerical rule, or, as some argued, could be used to remove Ahmadinejad. Ahmadinejad's three opponents also used the site to spread campaign messages that, until recently, had been ignored by Iran's government-controlled national broadcaster. On Sunday afternoon, when Iranian Shiite cleric Mohammad Ali Abtahi wanted to check the latest election discussions on Facebook, he found that it had been blocked by authorities.

US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Autopsies of War Dead Reveal Ways to Save Others - Denise Grady, New York Times. Within an hour after the bodies arrive in their flag-draped coffins at Dover Air Force Base, they go through a process that has never been used on the dead from any other war. Since 2004, every service man and woman killed in Iraq or Afghanistan has been given a CT scan, and since 2001, when the fighting began in Afghanistan, all have had autopsies, performed by pathologists in the Armed Forces Medical Examiner System. In previous wars, autopsies on people killed in combat were uncommon, and scans were never done. The combined procedures have yielded a wealth of details about injuries from bullets, blasts, shrapnel and burns - information that has revealed deficiencies in body armor and vehicle shielding and led to improvements in helmets and medical equipment used on the battlefield.

UNITED STATES

Showdown Looming On 'State Secrets' - Carrie Johnson, Washington Post. President Obama vowed last week to rein in the use of a legal privilege that allows the administration to discard lawsuits that involve "state secrets," promising that a new policy is in the works that will quell criticism by civil libertarians. But hours after Obama's speech laid out a "delicate balance" on national security, his Justice Department was criticized by a federal judge in California overseeing a case that has delved deeper than any other into one of the government's most highly classified data-gathering programs. The Obama administration has invoked the state-secrets privilege in resisting a lawsuit filed by an Oregon charity whose attorneys may have been subjected to warrantless wiretapping. Late Friday, Chief US District Judge Vaughn R. Walker issued a terse order that raised the prospect of "sanctions" for government lawyers who have not responded to his order for a plan for how the case should proceed. The sanctions may include awarding monetary damages to the charity, the al-Haramain Islamic Foundation.

A Fast Way to Lose the Arms Race - John R. Bolton, New York Times opinion. President Obama has called for a world without nuclear weapons, not as a distant goal, but as something imminently achievable. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton followed up, saying that American and Russian “leadership” in arms control and nonproliferation was “at the top of the list” of her priorities. Although the administration may be counting on the eyelid-lowering effect of arms-control terminology to minimize Congressional and public scrutiny, its plans are deeply troubling for America. First, the administration’s bilateral objectives with Russia play almost entirely to Moscow’s advantage, as in arms-control days of yore. Hurrying to negotiate a successor to the second Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty by year’s end, which Secretary Clinton has committed to, reflects a “zeal for the deal” approach that benefits only Russia. We need not be rushed, since simply extending the existing treaty’s verification provisions would preserve the status quo. Fortunately, Russia seems likely to save us from the dangerously low warhead levels proposed by Senator John Kerry and others, but the risks of foolish, unnecessary concessions remain high.

AUSTRALIA

Donald Rumsfeld 'Kept ADF in Dark' - Patrick Walters, The Australian. Former US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld deliberately blocked Australian access to top-secret Pentagon intelligence on Iraq and Afghanistan in defiance of an order from George W. Bush, according to former top US officials. The Pentagon stalled for nearly two years on the presidential directive of July 2004 giving Australian military planners access to its classified internet system, prompting a formal complaint from John Howard to Mr Bush in 2006. In a critical assessment of Mr Rumsfeld's tenure at the Pentagon, author and journalist Robert Draper cites a number of instances of the Pentagon boss finding ways to stall decisions made by the administration. Writing in GQ magazine, Draper asserts that Mr Rumsfeld held up the implementation of the 2004 presidential order granting the US's two closest allies, Australia and Britain, access to the Pentagon's SIPRNet or classified internet system. Mr Bush signed the directive which stipulated that laws preventing foreign powers from seeing highly classified intelligence would no longer apply to Australia and Britain when they were planning for combat operations, training with the Americans or engaged in counter-terrorism activities. The Pentagon's Secret Internet Protocol Router Network contains intelligence assessments, detailed operational plans and other classified data on US military planning, and normally carries the security warning "NOFORN", or not for foreigners.

AFRICA

Italy to Host Conference on Somalia’s Instability - Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes. Italy will host a conference in June to focus attention on ways to stabilize the Somali government and curb incidents of piracy that have plagued commercial shipping. The increase in incidents where pirates are seizing ships and holding them and their crews for ransom reflects Somalia’s poverty and governmental instability, East African experts have said. Italy’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Franco Frattini, said the upcoming summit, called "International Group of Contacts on Somalia," is aimed at stabilizing the UN-backed government and battling Islamic insurgents. The summit will be held in Rome on June 9 and 10. "The meeting will allow us to examine the most recent political developments on the situation in Somalia, of the security, the fight against piracy, and humanitarian and economic aid," Frattini said in a statement posted on the ministry’s Web site. In April, the United Nations and European Union co-sponsored an international conference in Brussels that raised $213 million to help finance African Union forces in Somalia and the development and training of a Somali security force. Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported a NATO warship from Canada intercepted two boats carrying suspected pirates in the Gulf of Aden, seizing a large amount of firearms, rocket-propelled grenades and hook ladders.

Islamist Militia Claims Responsibility for Somalia Suicide Attack - Derek Kilner, Voice of America. In Somalia, the Islamist al-Shabab militia has claimed responsibility for a suicide attack that killed six guards at a government base in the capital Mogadishu. The group says the attacker was a Somali, denying earlier reports that the attack was carried out by a foreign fighter. On Sunday, a vehicle exploded outside a government base near the port in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Six guards were killed in the attack, as well as at least one civilian. A leader of the al-Shabab militia, Sheikh Hussein Ali Fidow, speaking to a news conference via telephone, said his group organized the attack. The attack was a success, he said, and more attacks will follow in the coming days and weeks. He identified the attacker as a young Somali man.

Nigerian Militants Attack Oil Pipelines - Voice of America. Nigeria's main militant group says it has attacked major oil pipelines in the oil-rich Niger Delta, preventing five flow-stations from feeding Chevron tanks. The Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta, or MEND, said (in a statement) Monday that the out-of-operation stations are Alero Creek, Otunana, Abiteye, Makaraba, and Dibi. There was no immediate confirmation from Chevron. The attack on the pipelines comes as the Nigerian military expands its operation against the rebels in the oil-rich south. Sunday Nigerian soldiers rescued three Filipino hostages being held by rebels. The Nigerian state minister for petroleum said recently that three-and-a-half years of violence in the Niger Delta has reduced Nigeria's oil production to less than half of its total capacity. Niger Delta militant groups began a campaign against the government in 2006. MEND, the largest of the groups, says it wants more of the region's oil wealth directed to impoverished local residents The Nigerian government dismisses the militants as criminals.

ASIA PACIFIC

Trial May Further Isolate Burma - Tim Johnston, Washington Post. The decision by Burma's government to put Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader and Nobel Peace laureate, on trial has chilled relations with some of the ruling military junta's traditional allies and made it less like likely that international sanctions against the nation will be eased, according to US, European and Asian officials. The issue has dominated the two-day Asia-Europe Meeting, which is being held in Hanoi this week. Benita-Maria Ferrero-Waldner, the European Union's External Affairs Commissioner, said she would press for the release of Suu Kyi and the 2,100 other political prisoners held in the country when she meets with Burmese Foreign Minister Nyan Win.

Pro-Democracy Leader to Testify at Her Trial in Myanmar - Reuters. Myanmar democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi will take the stand at her trial on Tuesday, her lawyers said, after prosecutors raced to wrap up a case that has drawn international outrage. The Nobel Peace laureate, who faces up to five years in jail, was set to launch her defense after prosecutors abruptly dropped their eight remaining witnesses on Monday, fuelling speculation that the trial could end within days. Suu Kyi's latest house arrest order expires on Wednesday and the 63-year-old is widely expected to be found guilty on charges of violating her detention after allowing an uninvited American intruder to stay in her home.

EUROPE

PKK Leader Offers Turkey an Olive Branch to End War - Anthony Loyd, The Times. The Kurdish leader proposing to end a 25-year-long conflict with Turkey that has cost 30,000 lives believes his peace offer is a once in a generation opportunity that must be grasped by both sides. In a unilateral gesture that has prompted a re-examination of strategy in Ankara, Baghdad and Washington, the guerrilla leadership of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, has extended an olive branch, offering to drop its aim of an independent state in return for a negotiated settlement to end its war with Turkey. “We are at a turning point,” said Murad Karayilan, acting head of the PKK, in an interview with The Times at a secret location in the mountains of northern Iraq.“Kurds do not want to continue the war. We believe we can solve the Kurdish question without spilling more blood. We are ready for a peaceful and democratic solution in Turkey - to be solved within Turkey’s borders.” The potential breakthrough in the conflict came this month when Mr Karayilan, 52, deputy to the PKK’s imprisoned supremo, Abdullah Ocalan, agreed to meet a Turkish journalist in northern Iraq. During the meeting he highlighted the PKK’s willingness to drop its central demand for an independent state for Turkey’s 12 million Kurds, and proposed key steps towards peace, including an immediate ceasefire and negotiations to end the war.

Discontent Rises Sharply Among Russian Troops - Philip P. Pan, Washington Post. Low morale over pay and housing has afflicted the Russian military since the fall of the Soviet Union, but grumbling in the ranks is rising sharply as President Dmitry Medvedev attempts to carry out the most ambitious restructuring of the nation's armed forces since World War II in the face of a severe economic downturn. The plan seeks to transform an impoverished, unwieldy conscript army built to fight a protracted war in Europe into a more nimble, battle-ready force that can respond quickly to regional conflicts. Key to the overhaul is a drastic reduction in the number of officers, who now account for nearly one in three Russian servicemen. By eliminating thousands of officer-only units that were designed to call up draftees in wartime, and moving to a leaner, brigade-based structure, Medvedev intends to cut Russia's officer corps from 355,000 to 150,000, dismissing more than 200 generals, 15,000 colonels and 70,000 majors.

MIDDLE EAST

Big Crowd for Moderate Reflects Serious Challenge to Iran’s Leader - Naxila Fathi, New York Times. The strongest challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attracted an unusually large and exuberant crowd of supporters on Monday during a campaign speech in this northwest city near the candidate’s birthplace, with only a few weeks before national elections that the incumbent stands a serious chance of losing. The crowd for the challenger, Mir Hussein Moussavi, was extraordinary not only for its size - an estimated 30,000 - but also because the supporters were not paid, given free food, bused in or ordered by their workplaces to attend, a tactic sometimes used by Mr. Ahmadinejad’s campaign. Many traveled here in private cars and learned about the rally despite new government restrictions on Facebook, the social networking site, which Mr. Moussavi’s campaign had been using to spread word of his candidacy among the country’s predominantly young electorate. The supporters gave a rousing welcome to Mr. Moussavi, who was born in Khameneh, a small town in the Azerbaijan area of Iran.

Iran: No More Nuclear Talks With World Powers - Voice of America. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Iran will not hold any further talks with world powers on its controversial nuclear program. Mr. Ahmadinejad told a news conference in Tehran Monday Iran will only agree to discussions with major powers about cooperating in managing global problems. He said Iran will not participate in talks about nuclear issues outside the framework of the UN nuclear agency. Six world powers have offered Iran a package of incentives to suspend uranium enrichment. Western nations fear Iran will use the enrichment process to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran says its nuclear program is peaceful.

Jerusalem is Not on the Table, Says Israel - John Lyons, The Australian. Israel and the US now appear to be on a collision course after the announcement yesterday by Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel would continue expanding its existing settlements. Mr Netanyahu told the first cabinet meeting since his meeting with US President Barack Obama that Israel would not begin new settlements on the West Bank but that it would allow "natural growth" in existing settlements. This was clearly at odds with Mr Obama's request last week that Israel should stop settlement activity, a request reinforced the following day by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who specifically said there should be an end to "natural growth" after Israeli officials had been using the term following the meeting with Mr Obama. Mr Netanyahu said to his colleagues at yesterday's cabinet meeting: "The demand for a total stop to building is not something that can be justified and I don't think that anyone here at this table accepts it. "We won't establish new settlements, but there's no logic in not providing an answer to natural growth."

Israel's Ultra-Nationalist Party to Propose Loyalty Oath - Voice of America. Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's ultra-nationalist party says it plans to introduce a bill that would require Israelis to pledge loyalty to Israel as a "Jewish, Zionist and democratic" state. The Yisrael Beitenu party says it will seek Cabinet approval for the bill on Sunday before presenting the proposed legislation to parliament. The bill mainly targets the country's Arab citizens, who are perceived as disloyal by some Jewish Israelis. Many Arabs each year mark the anniversary of the founding of Israel as the Naqba, which means catastrophe in Arabic.

In Lebanon’s Patchwork, a Focus on Armenians’ Political Might - Robert F. Worth, New York Times. Their political apparatus is a model of discipline. Their vast array of social services is a virtual state within a state. Their enemies accuse them of being pawns of Syria and Iran. They are the Armenian Christians of Lebanon, one of the Middle East’s most singular and least-understood communities. And if they sound a bit like Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group based here, that is no accident. Last month, the main Armenian political bloc decided to support Hezbollah’s alliance in the coming parliamentary elections in Lebanon against the pro-American parliamentary majority. Because of their role as a crucial swing vote, the Armenians could end up deciding who wins and who loses in what is often described as a proxy battle between Iran, Hezbollah’s patron, and the West.

SOUTH ASIA

Riots Break Out in India Over Sikh Temple Shooting in Austria - Voice of America. Police in northern India say two people were killed Monday during rioting triggered by the killing of a Sikh preacher at a temple in Austria. Police say one person died in the town of Jalandhar when police fired on protesters. Another person was killed by an army bullet during protests in Lambra village, about 30 kilometers from Jalandhar. Several other people have been injured in the mayhem. Officials in India's Punjab state imposed a curfew in the district around Jalandhar and called in troops Sunday to quell rioting by a Sikh group whose members are mainly low-caste Dalits, or "untouchables." Followers of the group turned violent after attackers in Vienna killed one of their religious leaders. The preacher, identified as Sant Rama Nand, was visiting a temple in Austria Sunday when he was shot dead by rival Sikhs from a higher caste.

Riots Across Punjab After Sikh Murdered in Vienna - Barney Henderson, Daily Telegraph. Riots have broken out across the north Indian state of Punjab following the killing of a Sikh guru by a rival sect in Austria. Thousands of protesters brandishing swords flooded the streets of several of major towns in the region. They burned trains, blocked roads and smashed public buildings and vehicles - including police cars – as anger spread over the Vienna clash. Sant Ramanand, 57, was attacked by six men with knifes and a pistol at a ceremony in a Vienna gurdwara on Sunday. It is thought that Ramanand, from the Dera Sach Khand sect - a low caste Sikh sect that is widespread in Punjab and made up largely of Untouchables or Dalits – was targeted by Jat Sikhs – a higher caste, landowning sect – who accused him of disrespecting the religion when he visited the gurdwara. Sant Nirajnan Dass, a fellow preacher, was among 30 other people injured in Vienna, but he is recovering in hospital. The six accused men were arrested at the gurdwara.

Sri Lanka to Hold Local Elections in North - Voice of America. Sri Lanka says it will hold elections in northern areas that were caught up in the devastating war between the military and Tamil rebels. Government officials announced Monday that local council elections will be held inin early August. They will be the first elections in the area in more than a decade. Parts of the region were held by the rebels before they admitted defeat last week in their quarter-century-long war. The rebels' chief of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, announced Sunday that the group has given up violence, and will pursue independence through peaceful means. He told the BBC the rebels have agreed to enter a democratic process to achieve the rights for the self-determination of the Tamil people. The rebel spokesman acknowledged for the first time that the Tamil Tiger leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, died last week during the final battles against government forces. The United Nations estimates that more than 7,000 civilians were killed during the final months of the war. About 300,000 people have been displaced. The rebels began their fight for a separate homeland for the ethnic Tamil minority in 1983. The UN estimates that the civil war resulted in up to 100,000 deaths.

UN Faces Fierce Clash Over Call for Sri Lanka War Crimes Inquiry - Catherine Philp, The Times. Sri Lanka is to clash with Western powers at the United Nations Human Rights Council today in an effort to ward off any investigation into alleged war crimes committed during its military offensive against the Tamil Tigers. The country has marshalled a team of powerful allies led by China, Russia and India to fight off a European-backed resolution at today’s special session on Sri Lanka calling for an inquiry into abuses on both sides of the conflict. Observers at yesterday’s preliminary meeting in Geneva, which was described as acrimonious, said that the 47-member Council was divided over the European resolution, with 18 countries for and 18 against. The other nine are undecided. The division sets the stage for a session today that will test the very purpose of the Human Rights Council. Israel, which had an investigation into its Gaza offensive forced on to it by the Council, is furious at the prospect of Sri Lanka escaping the same fate.

Help Us, Imprisoned Tamils Implore From Camp - Catherine Philp, The Australian. "We are in an open jail," Kumar whispers, his skinny shoulders shaking as he looks around to check who is watching. "Help us, we want to be free." He is one of the 220,000 Tamil civilians being held against their will behind the razor-wire coils that surround Manik Farm, the largest displacement camp in Sri Lanka and one of the largest in the world. Camp is not the word its inmates use for it. A prison and a concentration camp were two of the descriptions made to outsiders on a rare visit to the camp on the sidelines of the visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. Squalor is less the defining feature of Manik Farm than militarism. The presence of armed soldiers around the camp and its perimeter is overwhelming. New armoured patrol vehicles sit at the entrance to the side of a sandbagged bunker. The entire camp is surrounded by 2m-high wooden posts, strung with barbed wire and wreathed with coils of razor wire. From the air, the nearby site of the final battle reveals itself one clue at a time - the scorched patches of earth, blasted palm trees, burnt-out skeletal houses.

BOOK REVIEWS

The Battlefield Can Be an Unforgiving Teacher - Janet Maslin, New York Times book review of The Unforgiving Minute by Craig M. Mullaney.

Soldiers of Misfortune - James Glanz, New York Times book review of Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage by Donovan Campbell.

A Counterinsurgency Primer - Max Boot, Wall Street Journal book review of The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One by David Kilcullen.

Reluctant Warriors - The Economist book review of both The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 by Thomas Ricks and The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One by David Kilcullen.

BOOKS

Journey into Darkness: Genocide in Rwanda - Thomas P. Odom.

In July 1994, Thomas P. Odom was part of the US Embassy team that responded to the Goma refugee crisis. He witnessed the deaths of 70,000 refugees in a single week. In the previous three months of escalating violence, the Rwandan genocide had claimed 800,000 dead. Now, in this vivid and unsettling new book, Odom offers the first insider look at these devastating events before, during, and after the genocide.

Joker One: A Marine Platoon’s Story of Courage - Donovan Campbell.

Donovan Campbell, first as a Marine and then as a writer, shows us that the dominant emotion in war isn’t hatred or anger or fear. It’s love. His story stands as a poignant tribute to his men–their courage, their dedication, their skill, and their love for one another, even unto death.

The Battle for Peace: A Frontline Vision of America's Power and Purpose - Anthony Zinni and Tony Koltz

The intellectual complement to Zinni and Clancy's bestselling Battle Ready (2004), a narrative memoir salted with specific policy recommendations, this volume provides the former US Central Command chief's analysis of America's current global position. Zinni begins by asserting that America's status as "the most powerful nation in the history of the planet" has created a de facto empire. The US has no choice: if it fails to take the lead, nothing significant happens. At the same time, Americans must recognize that, in a global age, there can be no zero-sum games.

The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier's Education - Craig Mullaney

The Unforgiving Minute is the ultimate's soldier's book - universal in its raw emotion and its understanding of the larger issues of life and death. Mullaney, a master storyteller, plunges the depths of self-doubt, endurance, and courage. The result: a riveting, suspenseful human story, beautifully told. This is a book written under fire - a lyrical, spellbinding tale of war, love, and courage. The Unforgiving Minute is the Three Cups of Tea of soldiering.

Great Powers: America and the World after Bush - Thomas P.M. Barnett

In civilian and military circles alike, The Pentagon’s New Map became one of the most talked about books of 2004. “A combination of Tom Friedman on globalization and Carl von Clausewitz on war, [it is] the red-hot book among the nation’s admirals and generals,” wrote David Ignatius in The Washington Post. Barnett’s second book, Blueprint for Action, demonstrated how to put the first book’s principles to work. Now, in Great Powers, Barnett delivers his most sweeping - and important - book of all.

The Accidental Guerrilla: Fighting Small Wars in the Midst of a Big One - David Kilcullen

A remarkably fresh perspective on the War on Terror. Kilcullen takes us "on the ground" to uncover the face of modern warfare, illuminating both the big global war (the "War on Terrorism") and its relation to the associated "small wars" across the globe: Iraq, Afghanistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Chechnya, Pakistan and North Africa.

The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006-2008 - Thomas Ricks

Thomas E. Ricks uses hundreds of hours of exclusive interviews with top officers in Iraq and extraordinary on-the-ground reportage to document the inside story of the Iraq War since late 2005 as only he can, examining the events that took place as the military was forced to reckon with itself, the surge was launched, and a very different war began.

Why Vietnam Matters: An Eyewitness Account of Lessons Not Learned - Rufus Phillips

Phillips details how the legendary Edward G. Lansdale helped the South Vietnamese gain and consolidate their independence between 1954 and 1956, and how this later changed to a reliance on American conventional warfare with its highly destructive firepower. He reasons that our failure to understand the Communists, our South Vietnamese allies, or even ourselves took us down the wrong road. In summing up US errors in Vietnam, Phillips draws parallels with the American experience in Iraq and Afghanistan and suggests changes in the US approach. Known for his intellectual integrity and firsthand, long-term knowledge of what went on in Vietnam, the author offers lessons for today in this trenchant account.

Baghdad at Sunrise: A Brigade Commander's War in Iraq - Peter Mansoor

This is a unique contribution to the burgeoning literature on the Iraq war, analyzing the day-to-day performance of a US brigade in Baghdad during 2004-2005. Mansoor uses a broad spectrum of sources to address the military, political and cultural aspects of an operation undertaken with almost no relevant preparation, which tested officers and men to their limits and generated mistakes and misjudgments on a daily basis. The critique is balanced, perceptive and merciless - and Mansoor was the brigade commander. Military history is replete with command memoirs. Most are more or less self-exculpatory. Even the honest ones rarely achieve this level of analysis. The effect is like watching a surgeon perform an operation on himself. Mansoor has been simultaneously a soldier and a scholar, able to synergize directly his military and academic experiences.

The Strongest Tribe: War, Politics, and the Endgame in Iraq - Bing West

From a universally respected combat journalist, a gripping history based on five years of front-line reporting about how the war was turned around - and the choice now facing America. We interpret reality through the clouded prism of our own experience, so it is unsurprising that Bing West sees Iraq through the lens of Vietnam. He served as a Marine officer there, and he thinks politicians and the media caused the American public to turn against a war that could have been won. Now a correspondent for the Atlantic, West has made 15 reporting trips to Iraq over the last six years and is almost as personally invested in the current conflict as he was in Vietnam; this book, his third on Iraq, is his attempt to ensure that the "endgame" in Iraq turns out better than in his last war.

Tell Me How This Ends: General David Petraeus and the Search for a Way Out of Iraq - Linda Robinson

After a series of disastrous missteps in its conduct of the war, the White House in 2006 appointed General David Petraeus as the Commanding General of the coalition forces. Tell Me How This Ends is an inside account of his attempt to turn around a failing war. Linda Robinson conducted extensive interviews with Petraeus and his subordinate commanders and spent weeks with key US and Iraqi divisions. The result is the only book that ties together military operations in Iraq and the internecine political drama that is at the heart of the civil war. Replete with dramatic battles, behind-doors confrontations, and astute analysis, the book tells the full story of the Iraq War’s endgame, and lays out the options that will be facing the next president.

The War Within: A Secret White House History 2006-2008 - Bob Woodward

Woodward interviewed key players, obtained dozens of never-before-published documents, and had nearly three hours of exclusive interviews with President Bush. The result is a stunning, firsthand history of the years from mid-2006, when the White House realizes the Iraq strategy is not working, through the decision to surge another 30,000 US troops in 2007, and into mid-2008, when the war becomes a fault line in the presidential election. As violence in Iraq reaches unnerving levels in 2006, a second front in the war rages at the highest levels of the Bush administration. In his fourth book on President George W. Bush, Bob Woodward takes readers deep inside the tensions, secret debates, unofficial backchannels, distrust and determination within the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department, the intelligence agencies and the US military headquarters in Iraq. With unparalleled intimacy and detail, this gripping account of a president at war describes a period of distress and uncertainty within the US government from 2006 through mid-2008. The White House launches a secret strategy review that excludes the military. General George Casey, the commander in Iraq, believes that President Bush does not understand the war and eventually concludes he has lost the president's confidence. The Joint Chiefs of Staff also conduct a secret strategy review that goes nowhere. On the verge of revolt, they worry that the military will be blamed for a failure in Iraq.

We Are Soldiers Still: A Journey Back to the Battlefields of Vietnam - Harold Moore and Joe Galloway

In their stunning follow-up to the classic bestseller We Were Soldiers Once... and Young, Lt. Gen. Hal Moore and Joe Galloway return to Vietnam and reflect on how the war changed them, their men, their enemies, and both countries - often with surprising results. It would be a monumental task for Moore and Galloway to top their classic 1992 memoir. But they come close in this sterling sequel, which tells the backstory of two of the Vietnam War's bloodiest battles (in which Moore participated as a lieutenant colonel), their first book and a 1993 ABC-TV documentary that brought them back to the battlefield. Moore's strong first-person voice reviews the basics of the November 1965 battles, part of the 34-day Battle of the Ia Drang Valley. Among other things, Moore and Galloway (who covered the battle for UPI) offer portraits of two former enemy commanders, generals Nguyen Huu An and Chu Huy Man, whom the authors met - and bonded with - nearly three decades after the battle. This book proves again that Moore is an exceptionally thoughtful, compassionate and courageous leader (he was one of a handful of army officers who studied the history of the Vietnam wars before he arrived) and a strong voice for reconciliation and for honoring the men with whom he served.

In a Time of War: The Proud and Perilous Journey of West Point' Class of 2002 - Bill Murphy

The West Point cadets Murphy follows through their baptism by fire are an admirable sample of young American men and women: intelligent, ambitious and intensely patriotic. Most come from career military families and hold conservative opinions. Murphy describes their four years at West Point with respect even when discussing their love lives and marriages. All yearn for battle, and most get their wish. The book's best passages describe the confusion of moving to Iraq or Afghanistan and fighting insurgents, for which they lack both training and equipment. All feel something is not right but concentrate on the job at hand; some inevitably die or are grievously wounded.

Iraq and the Evolution of American Strategy - Steven Metz

Today the US military is more nimble, mobile, and focused on rapid responses against smaller powers than ever before. One could argue that the Gulf War and the postwar standoff with Saddam Hussein hastened needed military transformation and strategic reassessments in the post–Cold War era. But the preoccupation with Iraq also mired the United States in the Middle East and led to a bloody occupation. What will American strategy look like after US troops leave Iraq? Metz concludes that the United States has a long-standing, continuing problem “developing sound assumptions when the opponent operates within a different psychological and cultural framework.” He sees a pattern of misjudgments about Saddam and Iraq based on Western cultural and historical bias and a pervasive faith in the superiority of America’s worldview and institutions. This myopia contributed to America being caught off guard by Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait in 1990, then underestimating his longevity, and finally miscalculating the likelihood of a stable and democratic Iraq after he was toppled. With lessons for all readers concerned about America’s role in the world, Dr. Metz’s important new work will especially appeal to scholars and students of strategy and international security studies, as well as to military professionals and DOD civilians. With a foreword by Colin S. Gray.