We're here to mark that day in history when the Allied armies joined in battle to reclaim this continent to liberty. For four long years, much of Europe had been under a terrible shadow. Free nations had fallen, Jews cried out in the camps, millions cried out for liberation. Europe was enslaved, and the world prayed for its rescue. Here in Normandy, the rescue began. Here the Allies stood and fought against tyranny in a giant undertaking unparalleled in human history. We stand on a lonely, windswept point on the northern shore of France. The air is soft, but 40 years ago at this moment, the air was dense with smoke and the cries of men, and the air was filled with the crack of rifle fire and the roar of cannon.

--President Ronald Reagan, 1984

AFGHANISTAN / PAKISTAN

Erratic Afghan Forces Pose Challenge to US Goals - C. J. Chivers, New York Times. The Afghan foot patrol descended a mountain and slipped through a canyon. Then things went wrong. One Afghan soldier insulted another. And there, exposed on dangerous ground, a scuffle erupted. The soldiers turned on each other with shoves, punches and kicks. One swung an ammunition can in a slow-motion haymaker. The patrol had already been hapless: a display of errant marksmanship, dud ammunition and lackluster technique. “For months I’ve been telling everyone how proud I am of you,” seethed an American captain, yanking the Afghans apart. “Today you embarrassed me.” The Obama administration has put a priority on expanding the size and abilities of Afghanistan’s security forces, first to help fight an expanding war and eventually to allow the Pentagon to draw down its troops. The task was inherited from the Bush administration, and the United States has helped to field roughly 170,000 Afghan soldiers and police officers in units created from scratch. In plans now under review, these numbers could double.

Pakistan Military Campaign has Broad Support, but for How Long? - Alex Rodriguez, Los Angeles Times. Support for the military offensive against the Pakistani Taliban in the northwest has been widespread, cutting across economic and ethnic lines. But that support hinges precariously on how Pakistan manages the massive humanitarian crisis created by the war's displacement of an estimated 3 million Pakistanis. About 200,000 of the displaced people, nearly all ethnic Pashtuns, are crammed into sprawling tent camps in Mardan and elsewhere in the country. The rest have sought refuge with relatives or friends. At Sheikh Yaseen, more than 7,600 people live in 1,485 tents. The Pakistani military launched the offensive in April after Taliban militants based in Swat began to assert control over adjoining districts, one of them just 60 miles from the capital, Islamabad. The broad support for the military campaign could be undermined if the flow of displaced Pashtuns to other regions and cities triggers ethnic tensions.

Why the Taliban Won't Take Over Pakistan - Ben Arnoldy, Christian Science Monitor. It has become the statistic heard round the world. The Taliban are within 60 miles of Islamabad. Just 60 miles. Every dispatch about the insurgents' recent advance into the Pakistani district of Buner carried the ominous number. Washington quivered, too. A top counterinsurgency expert, David Kilcullen, reiterated that Pakistan could collapse within six months. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said flatly if the country were to fall, the Taliban would have the "keys to the nuclear arsenal." On a visit to Islamabad, Sen. John Kerry - the proctor of $7.5 billion in Pakistani aid as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee- warned bluntly: "The government has to ratchet up the urgency." The Pakistani military did launch a major counteroffensive that has sent 2 million people fleeing their homes. For now, both the US and many Pakistanis appear to be relieved that the military has drawn a line at least somewhere, in this case in the fruit orchards of the Swat Valley and the city of Mingora, north of Islamabad.

Two Militant Prisoners Killed in Ambush in Northwest Pakstian - Catherine Maddux, Voice of America. Two detained aides of a radical Islamic cleric in Pakistan were killed early Saturday when a military convoy carrying prisoners hit a roadside bomb and came under fire in the northwest of the country. The Pakistani military says it is possible the prisoners were the target of the attack. As soon as news of the attack was reported, there was speculation among Pakistan political analysts and reporters that the prisoners - Muhammad Alam and Ameer Izzat - were killed to prevent them from being interrogated. Abbas said the prisoners were provided as much security as possible given the circumstances of the region and the resources of the army. The prisoners were arrested Thursday. Their leader, Sufi Mohammed, was also reported to have been detained this week, but the military denied that report. Mohammed negotiated the failed agreement with the government to impose strict Islamic law in Swat, which was criticized as a capitulation to Pakistan's extremists. The capture of Alam and Izzat was heralded as good news from Pakistan's security forces, who have claimed key gains in their month-long effort to eject Taliban militants from the region. But Abbas said that total victory in Swat could only be declared when top Taliban leaders have been killed - something that has not yet happened.

Measuring Success in Afghanistan - New York Times editorial. Lt. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, President Obama’s choice to be the next military commander in Afghanistan, has defined America’s essential goals there in a way that represents an overdue change in military strategy. He told senators last week that “the measure of effectiveness will not be the number of enemy killed. It will be the number of Afghans shielded from violence.” If General McChrystal can carry it off, he will have a far better chance of turning around a war America has not been winning - but must. It isn’t just Taliban violence that Afghans need shielding from. Errant American fire has taken an unacceptably high toll, especially from the airstrikes that American commanders came to rely on because they lacked sufficient ground troops. One particularly deadly episode last month killed dozens of civilians (the Pentagon says 20 to 30; the Afghan government says 140).

IRAQ

Iraqi Security Forces Arrest Five American Civilians - Nada Bakri, Washington Post. Iraqi security forces have arrested five Americans in connection with the killing of a contractor last month in Baghdad's Green Zone, Iraqi officials said Sunday. It could be the first case in which Americans face local justice under a security pact signed last year. The Americans were detained Wednesday, although US and Iraqi officials say no charges have been filed. James Fennell, a US Embassy spokesman, said Sunday that consular officials had visited the men a day after their arrest to make sure "they're being afforded their rights under Iraqi law." Maj. Gen. Abdul-Karim Khalaf, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the men were being held at a police station in the Green Zone as part of a joint US-Iraqi investigation. He said FBI agents had provided a tip to Iraqi forces, then accompanied them on a raid at a house where they had uncovered weapons and drugs.

5 Americans Arrested in Death of Iraq Contractor - Marc Santora and Alissa J. Rubin, New York Times. Five American contractors have been detained in Baghdad in connection with the killing of another American contractor, a senior Interior Ministry official said Sunday. An American Embassy official confirmed the arrests. The American official emphasized that the contractors had not been formally charged with a crime. Under Iraqi law, charges are not made until a court appearance. For a person to be detained there must be sufficient evidence for a judge to issue an arrest warrant. If the case proceeds to an Iraqi court, the five men will be the first Americans to be tried under Iraqi law. Before a new security agreement between Iraq and the United States took effect on Jan. 1, American contractors were immune from prosecution under Iraqi law. That immunity was stripped in the security deal.

Victory In Iraq - Fareed Zakaria, Newsweek opinion. "America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire," said President Obama in his Cairo speech. There are many in the Muslim world who would disagree, convinced that America has imperial ambitions. They should track the media coverage of the Iraq War. America conquered and occupied an ancient land of crucial strategic import. For years, Washington has had the power to shape the destiny of 25 million Muslims. And yet the average American's question about the endeavor from the start has been: when can we leave (and still claim some degree of success)? From 2003 to 2007, it seemed that the answer to that question was "Not for a long time," which deeply frustrated most Americans. Then came the surge. And as levels of violence declined, so did interest in the war. Once it became clear that Iraq was reasonably - just reasonably - stable and that US casualties were low, Americans promptly lost interest in the war and the country. You would have to search long and far to find much coverage of Iraq now outside of a few elite publications. At the peak of Britain's empire, its popular culture was filled with songs and verse extolling the glories of its imperial destiny. Across the world, thousands of young Britons delighted in governing India, Malaya, Kenya and other exotic lands. Americans, by contrast, particularly most American soldiers, cannot wait to leave the deserts of the Middle East and the mountains of Central Asia and get back to their suburban homes. As the economic crisis at home has deepened, the problems of Fallujah, Kirkuk and Mosul seem very distant.

IRAN

In Iran, Campaigns Heat Up - Farnaz Fassihi, Wall Street Journal. The campaign leading up to Iran's presidential election Friday has turned the country on its head in terms of political debate and public discourse. It also has offered a glimpse of what a freer Iran might look like. In a country where the regime never brings its infighting into public view, candidates have turned debates into spectacles. Candidates from across the political spectrum are ripping one another apart, targeting wives and personal wealth during heated debates aired live on state-run television and in news articles published in newspapers and on Web sites. Many Iranian voters - also from across the spectrum - are mesmerized and invigorated by the sparring.

In Iran, Harsh Talk as Election Nears - Robert F. Worth, New York Times. The leading candidates are accusing each other of corruption, bribery and torture. The wife of the strongest challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has threatened to sue him for defaming her. And every night, parts of the capital become a screaming, honking bacchanal, with thousands of young men dancing and brawling in the streets until dawn. The presidential campaign, now in its final week, has reached a level of passion and acrimony almost unheard-of in Iran. In part, that appears to be because of a surge of energy in the campaign of Mir Hussein Moussavi, a reformist who is the leading contender to defeat Mr. Ahmadinejad in the election, set for Friday. Rallies for Mr. Moussavi have drawn tens of thousands of people in recent days, and a new unofficial poll suggests his support has markedly increased, with 54 percent of respondents saying they would vote for him compared with 39 percent for Mr. Ahmadinejad.

A Relative Unknown Leads Challenge in Iran - Thomas Erdbrink, Washington Post. The main challenger to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Friday's presidential election is a relatively unknown candidate who says he joined the race to save Iran from his opponent's "destructive" policies. Mir Hossein Mousavi, 67, who served as prime minister in the early years of the Islamic revolution, had stayed away from politics for the past 20 years. But he entered the race on a main promise to stand up to Ahmadinejad, which has earned him the support of influential clerics, politicians and young people alike. Each night, tens of thousands of youths gather in Tehran's main squares to cheer their support for a man who just a month ago they barely knew by name. Mousavi has emerged as the only serious alternative for those who oppose the policies of Ahmadinejad, who has the support a small group of hard-line clerics and some influential members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps.

Iranian Presidential Candidate Mohsen Rezai Calls for Peace - Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times. Like so many of his generation, Mohsen Rezai is a fighter. Before Iran's Islamic Revolution, he was a member of an underground organization fighting against Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi's regime. Afterward, Rezai helped found and lead the Revolutionary Guard, and he was a warrior in the 1980s war against Saddam Hussein's Iraqi army. In recent years, he launched two of Iran's most acclaimed news websites, which spoke out against the country's feuding conservative and reformist factions. Now, he's the only conservative among three candidates running against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is seeking reelection to the presidency of the Islamic Republic. Although Rezai was long a man of war, he's convinced he is the person to calm relations between Iran and the international community.

Don’t Discount Israel Pre-emptive Strike, Hillary Clinton Warns Iran - Tim Reid, The Times. Hillary Clinton refused yesterday to rule out a pre-emptive Israeli military strike on Iran. It was the first time that a senior member of the Obama Administration had openly discussed such a possibility. The US Secretary Of State, speaking a few days before elections in Iran that will determine the fate of President Ahmadinejad, also warned that the country would face retaliation if it launched a nuclear attack on Israel. As President Obama extends “an open hand”, seeking direct talks with Tehran in his attempt to halt its nuclear programme, Mrs Clinton appeared ready to unnerve the Iranian leadership with talk of a pre-emptive strike “the way that we did attack Iraq”.

LEBANON

Pro-Western Coalition Claims Victory in Lebanon's Parliamentary Election - Voice of America. Lebanon's pro-Western coalition has claimed victory in Sunday's parliamentary election. In a speech to supporters, the majority leader in Lebanon's parliament, Saad al-Hariri, declared victory over a Hezbollah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran. Hariri called it a big day for democracy in Lebanon. Representatives of Hezbollah's main Christian ally acknowledged the party's defeat. It is not clear how many seats each coalition won because official returns have not been released. Hezbollah and its allies had hoped to reverse the pro-Western coalition's small majority in the 128-member outgoing parliament.

Lebanon Deals Hezbollah Blow as Moderates Hang On - Chip Cummins, Wall Street Journal. A Western-leaning coalition of candidates appears to have held onto its parliamentary majority in Lebanon's Sunday polls, beating back a challenge by a Hezbollah-led bloc that some polls had indicated would come out on top. Official results weren't expected until Monday. But unofficial results from some key battleground contests suggested the Hezbollah-led opposition did not capture enough votes to win a majority. The head of the Western-backed coalition announced victory early Monday. The outcome came as a surprise because some had predicted a victory here for Hezbollah, which receives significant funding from Iran and is allied with Syria. A Hezbollah-led victory would have been deeply troubling for Israel and U.S.-allied Arab neighbors, who are loath to see Tehran boost its regional influence.

Lebanon Retains Coalition Leadership - Howard Schneider and Alia Ibrahim, Washington Post. Heavy turnout in Christian districts returned to power a Western-backed coalition in the Lebanese parliament on Sunday, thwarting a bid by the Islamist Hezbollah party to increase its influence. Preliminary results Monday showed that the March 14 coalition of Sunni Muslims and Christians won at least 70 seats in the country's 128-member parliament. The group currently holds 70 seats, but vote-counting in several closely contested districts continued through the early morning and could add to the total. In brief victory remarks, coalition leader Saad Hariri said the country's competing factions must "give a hand to each other and have the will to go back to work." Hariri is the son of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri, a Sunni whose 2005 assassination helped sweep the March 14 group to power.

US-Backed Alliance Appears to Win in Lebanon - Michael Slackman, New York Times. An American-backed alliance appeared to retain control of the Lebanese Parliament on Sunday in a hotly contested election that had been billed as a showdown between Tehran and Washington for influence in the Middle East. Preliminary results reported on Lebanese television showed the alliance, known as the March 14 coalition, had managed to preserve its majority in Parliament. If those results are confirmed, they would represent a significant and unexpected defeat for Hezbollah and its allies, Iran and Syria. Most polls had showed a tight race, but one in which the Hezbollah-led group would win. The tentative victory may have been aided by nearly unprecedented turnout.

Pro-US March 14 Coalition Wins in Lebanon - Raed Rafei and Borzou Daragahi, Los Angeles Times. The American-backed political alliance of Lebanese parties fended off a strong challenge from a coalition led by Hezbollah on Sunday in a closely watched election that could have major repercussions, Lebanese news media reported, citing unofficial preliminary figures. After a peaceful day of voting amid heavy turnout, the Western-backed March 14 coalition of Sunni, Maronite Christian and Druze political parties managed an upset victory over Hezbollah's alliance, maintaining control over parliament and the process of choosing a new government, according to reports today in news media loyal to both camps. "Congratulations to freedom," Saad Hariri, leader of the March 14 coalition and a close ally of the United States, said from his campaign headquarters in West Beirut. "The main winner is Lebanon."

Hezbollah Loses Lebanon Vote - Brooke Anderson, Washington Times. Lebanon's pro-Western coalition claimed victory Sunday night after an election that appeared to douse fears of a militant Islamist takeover in the tiny nation known for sectarian conflict and as a proxy for Iranian and Syrian interests. Official results won't be available until Monday, and the militant Islamist group Hezbollah refused to concede defeat. Hezbollah, labeled a terrorist group by the United States and European Union, appeared to suffer from a high voter turnout that exceeded 50 percent -- the largest since the end of Lebanon's 1975-91 civil war.

Pro-Western Bloc Defeats Hezbollah in Crucial Poll - Nicholas Blanford, The Times. A Western-backed coalition appeared to have retained its parliamentary majority in the face of a strong challenge by the Hezbollah-led opposition, according to preliminary results early this morning in Lebanon’s closely fought election. Fireworks exploded in the night sky above Beirut as motorcades of jubilant supporters of the US-backed March 14 bloc celebrated. Early results from yesterday’s election indicated that the March 14 candidates had fared well in the key Christian constituencies north of Beirut, which were widely seen as the decisive battleground in what has been the closest-fought elec-tion in more than three decades. A source close to the opposition conceded defeat. “We’ve lost the election,” the source told Reuters. “We accept the result as the will of the people.”

ISRAEL

Israel's Netanyahu to Give 'Major' Speech on Mideast Peace Plan - Robert Berger, Voice of America. Israel could be responding to American pressure to advance the Middle East peace process. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Cabinet, that he will lay out his plan for Middle East peace in a major policy speech next week. He said that Israel seeks peace with the Palestinians and the Arab world, while "trying to reach as much of an understanding as possible with the United States." Tensions have risen between the United States and Israel, after Mr. Netanyahu rejected repeated demands by President Barack Obama to halt construction in Jewish settlements. The prime minister insists building in existing settlements will continue to accommodate "natural growth." He also has not endorsed US calls for the creation of a Palestinian state, which he sees as a serious threat to Israel's security. Mr. Netanyahu gave no indication that his opposition to those key issues is going to change.

Netanyahu to Outline Talks - Joshua Mitnick, Wall Street Journal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he plans an address next week on how he will advance negotiations with the Palestinians, following two weeks of US pressure over Jewish settlement growth that have put him on the defensive. President Barack Obama's public diplomacy, culminating with last week's speech at Cairo University, has gotten favorable coverage in Israel - even though he is demanding Mr. Netanyahu buck the base of his coalition and become the first Israeli leader to freeze settlement construction in the West Bank and Arab East Jerusalem. Mr. Netanyahu is insisting Israel continue with a "natural expansion" of the settlements. This stance is coming under criticism in Israel, not for the actual policy but for not being diplomatically nuanced enough to satisfy to both the US and Mr. Netanyahu's hard-line coalition partners.

Israel’s Premier Promises Major Peace Plan - Isabel Kershner, New York Times. Under mounting American pressure to define his intentions regarding peace efforts, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said Sunday that he would make a major policy speech next week mapping out the government’s “principles for achieving peace and security.” The announcement came against the background of rising tensions with the Obama administration, which has demanded that Israel freeze all settlement construction in the West Bank. The Netanyahu government insists that construction within existing settlements should continue. In another point of contention, Mr. Netanyahu has refused to endorse explicitly the notion of establishing an independent Palestinian state, a cornerstone of American and European policy on the Middle East.

THE LONG WAR

Report: Top US Lawyers Thought Harsh Interrogation Legal - Voice of America. A report in a top US newspaper says US Justice Department lawyers in 2005 thought the Central Intelligence Agency's harsh interrogation tactics were a mistake, but legal. The New York Times says that conclusion can be drawn from previously undisclosed Justice Department email messages, interviews, and newly declassified documents it has obtained. The Justice Department opinion gave the CIA the go-ahead to use 13 methods in interrogating terrorism suspects, including waterboarding and sleep deprivation. But the newspaper reports that former deputy attorney general James Comey tried to convince Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to argue at a White House meeting in 2005 that the interrogation techniques were "wrong."

AMERICAS

'Blood Wires' over the Mexican Border - Josh Meyer, Los Angeles Times. The bleeding body of Mexican immigrant Javier Resendiz Martinez was the first thing police noticed when they raided the bungalow on North 63rd Avenue here four years ago after reports of gunshots. Soon afterward, however, they found payment logs of more than 100 wire transfers to Western Unions in the border town of Caborca, Mexico - which state and federal officials cite as evidence that the financial services company and other money transmittersare used by Mexican crime syndicates to help facilitate the smuggling of people into the United States. Arizona Atty. Gen. Terry Goddard said human smuggling has become a $2-billion-a-year business in his state alone, thanks in large part to what he calls "blood wires," the payments from family members, friends and employers to smugglers via Western Union and other companies. Goddard and other Arizona officials have not accused Western Union of a crime. But in interviews and court documents they say the company consistently has rejected requests for cooperation, undermining efforts in Arizona to go after the crime cartels that control much of the increasingly violent trade in humans, drugs, weapons and laundered cash from their havens in Mexico.

Acapulco Gun Battle Leaves 18 Dead - William Booth, Washington Post. Suspected drug traffickers trapped in a safe house fought a furious gun battle with Mexican soldiers early Sunday in the beach resort city of Acapulco. As terrified residents and tourists cowered in their rooms, the firefight raged for two hours, leaving 16 gunmen dead. Two soldiers were also killed and several bystanders were wounded. The gunmen, suspected members of one of Mexico's major cartels, threw as many as 50 grenades at the advancing soldiers, and both sides fired thousands of rounds from assault rifles. After the battle ended, soldiers found at the house nearly 50 guns, two grenade launchers, 3,500 rounds of ammunition, luxury cars - and four bound and gagged state police officers who said they had been kidnapped earlier.

Shootout in Acapulco Leaves 18 Dead - Reuters. Eighteen people were killed in a shootout between drug gangs and soldiers in the Mexican beach resort of Acapulco, the army said Sunday. The gun battle, near tourist hotels in the Pacific Ocean resort, was a further blow to Mexico’s tourism industry, already reeling from cancellations by foreigners scared away by the swine flu epidemic. Gunmen battled troops from a cartel safe house, throwing hand grenades at soldiers who had surrounded them and spraying gunfire into military vehicles and nearby homes. The shooting began late Saturday and ended after midnight.

Castro Calls US Spy Case 'Ridiculous' - Voice of America. Former Cuban President Fidel Castro says the case of the two Americans accused of spying for Cuba is "ridiculous." In an essay posted on a Cuban Web site, Mr. Castro neither confirmed nor denied the veracity of the spy charges brought by US authorities against a former State Department official with a top secret security clearance, and his wife. US officials have accused the couple of spying for Cuba for nearly 30 years and meeting with then-Cuban President Castro in 1995. Mr. Castro says he does not recall meeting the couple. Walter Kendall Myers and Gwendolyn Steingraber Myers pleaded not guilty Friday in federal court in Washington to charges, including conspiracy to act as illegal agents of the Cuban government and to communicate classified information to authorities in Havana. The charges carry sentences of up to 20 years in prison. The two have been ordered held until a detention hearing Wednesday.

Nine Peruvian Police Killed in Rescue Attempt - Voice of America. Police in Peru have imposed a curfew over an Amazon jungle region after battles between indigenous protesters and government forces killed at least 39 people. The afternoon to dawn curfew was imposed Saturday after nine police officers were killed during an attempt to rescue 38 police officers held hostage by protesters at a remote Amazon oil facility. Of the 38, officials said 22 officers were rescued when police stormed the state-owned facility. They said nine were killed and seven are missing. The latest deaths follow clashes Friday that killed more than 30 people and wounded 50. The violence erupted as indigenous people protested against energy exploration on their lands in the Amazon.

Peru Struggles to Defuse Amazon Violence With 50 Dead - Robert Kozak and Matt Moffett, Wall Street Journal. President Alan García struggled over the weekend to defuse a protest by Amazon indigenous groups that left more than 50 police and Indians dead. The demonstrations against government plans to develop oil, natural gas and forestry resources turned violent Friday, resulting in the deaths of 23 police, some of whom were stabbed with spears or had their throats slit, the government said. Indian leaders said more than 30 protesters were killed. Mr. García tried to restore order over the weekend by sending in troops and declaring a curfew in the northern Peruvian city of Bagua, which has been at the center of the protests. The president is facing his worst crisis since 2006, when he took office for a second term. The protesters are demanding that the government backtrack on decrees that the indigenous groups say would weaken their traditional communal land system by breaking up land into parcels of private property. The García government has been moving aggressively to grant concessions for oil and natural gas exploration in the Amazon.

Suspicions Link Chavez to Peru Revolt - Kelly Hearn, Washington Times. Some Peruvian officials see the onset of a nationwide insurgency backed by Venzuelan President Hugo Chavez, a socialist leader who is using his country's oil wealth to back like-minded politicians and activists throughout the region. "We have evidence that Venezuela is supporting the protesters," Peruvian Congressman Edgar Nunez told The Washington Times. "These people are extremely poor, so you have to ask how they can afford to travel large distances, camp and feed themselves for weeks at a time," said Mr. Nunez, chairman of the Peruvian Congress' national defense committee. Mr. Nunez said his committee has evidence that Venezuelan funds appear to be flowing to the protesters through ALBA houses, grass-roots support centers named after Mr. Chavez's alternative trading bloc, known as the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA).

Latin America's Brave New World - May Anastasia O'Grady, Wall Street Journal opinion. In a post-bubble world that vilifies the private sector and elevates government as humanity's best hope, two events in Latin America last week deserve attention. The first was a meeting of the Organization of American States in Honduras. The OAS voted to lift the 1962 ban on Cuba's membership. The second was the 25th anniversary celebration of the Venezuelan, pro-liberty think-tank Cedice Libertad in Caracas. The former, state-sponsored event, sided with tyranny. The latter, held by private citizens in the most repressive country in South America, took a stand for liberty. This dichotomy may well be the region's future.

ASIA PACIFIC

US to Weigh Returning North Korea to Terror List - Peter Finn, Washington Post. The United States will consider reinstating North Korea to a list of state sponsors of terrorism, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said in an interview broadcast yesterday as the Obama administration looks for ways to ratchet up pressure on Pyongyang after recent nuclear and missile tests. "We're going to look at it," Clinton said on ABC's "This Week" when asked about a letter last week from Republican senators demanding that North Korea be put back on the list. "There's a process for it. Obviously we would want to see recent evidence of their support for international terrorism." The administration is also pushing for a UN Security Council resolution that would punish the country financially and give the international community the power to interdict suspect North Korean cargo, but Clinton acknowledged that some countries have "legitimate concerns" about targeting international shipments.

US Weighs Intercepting North Korean Shipments - David E. Sanger, New York Times. The Obama administration signaled Sunday that it was seeking a way to interdict, possibly with China’s help, North Korean sea and air shipments suspected of carrying weapons or nuclear technology. The administration also said it was examining whether there was a legal basis to reverse former President George W. Bush’s decision last year to remove the North from a list of states that sponsor terrorism. The reference to interdictions - preferably at ports or airfields in countries like China, but possibly involving riskier confrontations on the high seas - was made by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. She was the highest-ranking official to talk publicly about such a potentially provocative step as a response to North Korea’s second nuclear test, conducted two weeks ago.

North Korea Sentences 2 US Journalists to 12 Years - Voice of America. North Korea's state news agency says a court has sentenced two female American journalists to 12 years of hard labor. The Korean Central News Agency said Monday that the court found the two women guilty of committing an unspecified "grave crime" and illegally crossing into North Korea. Last Thursday, North Korean state media announced the start of the trial of Euna Lee and Laura Ling, reporters for the US media company Current TV. North Korean authorities arrested Lee and Ling in March while they were working on a story near the Chinese-North Korean border. U.S. State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said Monday the United States is deeply concerned by the reported sentencing and is engaged through all possible channels to secure the journalists' release. Last week, before the trial began, relatives and supporters of Lee and Ling held candlelight vigils in several US cities and pleaded for leniency.

N. Korea Sentences 2 US Journalists to 12 Years Jail - Vijay Joshi, Associated Press. North Korea's top court convicted two American journalists and sentenced them to 12 years in labor prison Monday, intensifying the reclusive nation's confrontation with the United States. The North's Central Court tried TV reporters Laura Ling and Euna Lee during proceedings running from last Thursday to Monday and found them guilty of a "grave crime" against the nation, and of illegally crossing into North Korea, the country's state-run Korean Central News Agency said. It said the court "sentenced each of them to 12 years of reform through labor." The KCNA report gave no other details.

Reining In Pyongyang - Henry A. Kissinger, Washington Post opinion. The Obama administration entered office determined to give negotiations with North Korea every opportunity. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hinted that she was seriously considering a visit to Pyongyang. Stephen Bosworth, a distinguished scholar and moderate diplomat, was appointed principal negotiator. These overtures were vituperatively rejected. Pyongyang refuses to return to the negotiating table and has revoked all its previous concessions. It has restarted the nuclear reprocessing plant it had mothballed and has conducted nuclear weapons and missile tests. It has said the Korean Armistice Agreement of 1953 no longer applies. The explanation for this may lie in a domestic struggle for succession to the clearly ailing "Dear Leader," Kim Jong Il. North Korea's leaders also seem to have recognized that no matter how conciliatory US diplomacy, its goal of the abandonment of North Korea's nuclear weapons capability cannot be accepted.

EUROPE

Conservatives Post Gains In European Elections - Constant Brand and Robert Wielaard, Associated Press. Conservatives scored victories in some of Europe's largest economies Sunday as voters punished left-leaning parties in European parliament elections in France, Germany and elsewhere. Some right-leaning parties said the results vindicated their reluctance to spend more on company bailouts and fiscal stimulus to combat the global economic crisis. The European Union said center-right parties were expected to take the most seats - 267 - in the 736-member parliament. Center-left parties were headed for 159 seats. The remainder were expected to go to smaller groupings. Right-leaning governments were ahead of the opposition in Germany, France, Italy and Belgium, while conservative opposition parties were leading in Britain and Spain.

Europe Vote Deepens Gloom for Brown - John F. Burns and Alan Cowell, New York Times. After outmaneuvering what amounted to an attempted coup last week by members of his own cabinet, Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain faced a new and major challenge Monday, confronting disastrous European election results that could amplify calls within his party for his ouster. According to results tabulated early Monday, Mr. Brown’s Labor Party has been beaten into a humiliating third place behind the fringe right-wing United Kingdom Independence Party in second place and the opposition Conservatives in first place, according to the Press Association news agency. The election for the European Parliament took place in Britain on June 4, but results began to emerge only late on Sunday when polls closed elsewhere in Europe. Results from local elections in Britain on the same day as the European vote, announced 48 hours earlier, had already showed a dismal outcome for Labor.

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.