Council on Foreign Relations

Age (Australia)

• Pradeep Taneja of the University of Melbourne comments on rising Chinese nationalism, which he says the Communist Party is now using as an alternative to Marxism as a source of legitimacy.

Arab News (Saudi Arabia)

• In an editorial, the paper says a lack of obvious accomplishments in talks U.S. President George Bush began with lofty ideals six months ago could change as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits the region yet again.

Daily Telegraph

• The Telegraph says in an editorial that after a relaxed and confident performance on American television on Sunday, it seems Barack Obama has successfully put the embarrassment caused by his former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, behind him.

Financial Times

• Columnist Clive Crook writes that as a presidential nominee for the Democrats, Hillary Clinton would be the bigger gamble.
• In an editorial on Israel-Palestine, the FT says the choice has never been clearer, for Israel and the U.S.: it is either peace or the settlements. It will never be both.
• In a further editorial, on rising inflation in India, the paper says the solutions lie not in short-term monetary policy but in longer-term efforts to promote investment in agricultural productivity, energy efficiency and the country’s woefully inadequate transport infrastructure.
• Wolfgang Ischinger, until recently Germany’s ambassador to London, writes that 2009 promises to be a crucial year for relations between the United States and Europe.
• Lawrence Summers of Harvard University presents a strategy to promote healthy globalization, saying the international component of this must focus on the interests of working people in all countries, in addition to the current emphasis on the priorities of global corporations.

Guardian

• Columnist Michael Tomasky, writing on Tuesday’s Democratic primaries, says that Barack Obama might have won already if he had confronted potential problems head-on.

Herald (Zimbabwe)

• An editorial in the government-run newspaper on the announcement of the presidential election result says Zimbabweans were the winners for the maturity they showed in patiently waiting for official results in the face of sustained pressure from the West to go the Kenyan way, which would have justified external intervention.

Hindu

• In an editorial on local elections in Britain, the paper judges that the governing Labour Party looks like lemmings headed for the cliff.

Independent (London)

• In an editorial, the paper says the Zimbabwean opposition leader, Morgan Tsvangirai, should take part in an election run-off and that his party should insist that all those with an interest in Zimbabwe's future should join forces to ensure that the run-off is as free and fair as possible.

International Herald Tribune

• In an editorial on Iraq, the paper says the only mission that needs to be accomplished is an orderly exit, and Bush is no closer to acknowledging that reality.
• In a further editorial, the paper comments on a survey released on Wednesday that finds that millions of Latino immigrants have stopped sending money to their home countries, which it says is bad news for a lot of people.

Jordan Times

• In an editorial on new visa requirements for Iraqi nationals travelling to Jordan, the paper says the half million Iraqis now living in Jordan require a permanent solution to which the international community must contribute.

Los Angeles Times

• In an editorial, the paper warns that Russia and Georgia are moving precariously close to war over the separatist Georgian republic of Abkhazia.

New York Times

• Op-ed columnist Paul Krugman writes that as markets stabilize, chances for fundamental financial reform may be slipping away. As a result, he says, the next crisis will probably be worse than this one.
• Op-ed columnist William Kristol speculates on the possibility of John McCain choosing the 36-year-old governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal, as his running mate.
• In an editorial on unemployment in the United States, the Times says what is needed — now — is for Congress to extend jobless benefits for people who exhaust their initial 26 weeks of payment.

Times of India

• In an editorial, the paper enjoins its readers not to panic about rising inflation. The monetary and fiscal steps announced by the government will yield results soon, it says.

Times of London

• The Times, in an editorial, says another ballot in Zimbabwe will only be credible if the outside world, particularly South Africa, insists that it is run in a manner that is fundamentally different from Robert Mugabe's notion of democracy.

Wall Street Journal

• Haruhiko Kuroda, the president of the Asian Development Bank, writing on the food crisis, says he believes government subsidies, price controls and export caps are likely to be counter-productive and calls instead for targeted income and cash-support measures for the poor.
• Richard D. Fisher of the International Assessment and Strategy Center, writing about what he calls China’s aggressive military expansion, says the country is equipping itself to assert its longstanding and expansive territorial claims in the South China Sea, and this plan could raise tensions well beyond the region.
• In an editorial on local election results in Britain, the paper says last week's results may foreshadow a political and generational realignment in Britain.
• Fouad Ajami of Johns Hopkins University traces the history of the United States’ relationship with Iran and says that three decades of playing cat-and-mouse with American power have emboldened Iran's rulers.
• Scott Gottlieb of the American Enterprise Institute says that Barack Obama is partly responsible for why health insurance is too expensive.

Washington Post

• The CFR’s Sebastian Mallaby writes that if the once formidable Obama campaign is knocked off course by the "revelations" about his relationship with Jeremiah Wright in Tuesday’s primaries, it will be a travesty.
• Op-ed columnist Jackson Diehl, writing about Iran’s strategy in the Middle East, says that the rockets fired from Gaza and from Sadr City are two prongs of an offensive aimed at forcing the United States out of Iraq, putting Israel on the defensive -- and leaving Iran as the region's preeminent power.
• Yang Jianli, who has been jailed in China, says it is critical that people distinguish among the four types of nationalism in China today to determine how best to pressure the regime to make improvements on human rights.
• In an editorial, the Post says the Bush administration took a positive step last week by announcing that it would make available to certain lawmakers memos and correspondence that lay out the legal underpinnings of the CIA interrogation program involving terrorism suspects.

Washington Times

• In an editorial, the paper says it’s past time for all of the relevant national security committees of the House and Senate to begin to take a very careful look at the ramifications of the North Korea nuclear deal and what the United States will be getting in return for taking North Korea off the terrorism list.
• Daniel Davis, a cavalry officer, says that facts on the ground demand urgent, robust and sustained action at the highest levels of government to address what will happen after oil supply peaks.