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  Changing Tack on Iran, Unstable Pakistan, and the Pope in Australia

  July 18, 2008
  
  

  Age (Australia)

  • Australian Abuse: In an editorial marking the Pope’s visit to Australia, the paper says he should apologize for sexual abuse by Roman Catholic priests, but adds that there seems to be scant evidence that the church's handling of the sexual-abuse crisis is changing for the better.

  Australian

  • Papal Apology: In an editorial, the paper says if the Pope's apology to abuse victims is meaningful and heartfelt, it should be accepted.

  Boston Globe

  • Repulsive: The Globe, in an editorial, says there is something morally repulsive in the hero's welcome given the most famous--or notorious--of the Lebanese prisoners released by Israel earlier this week.

  Christian Science Monitor

  • Tarnished China: In an editorial, the paper looks ahead three weeks to the opening of the Olympic Games in Beijing and says China’s coming-out party is already tarnished by a worsening human rights record.

  Daily Star (Lebanon)

  • Lebanon’s Honeymoon: In an editorial, the paper says if there is to be any hope that the current political honeymoon in Lebanon will last, the politicians need to get a process of reform and transformation started.

  Daily Telegraph

  • Important Test: Columnist Con Coughlin describes the unprecedented decision by the ICC's prosecutor to seek charges against Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity as an important test case.

  Economist

  • Obamamania: In an editorial previewing Barack Obama’s imminent trip overseas, the paper warns that foreigners would be wise to temper their Obamamania, if only to limit future disappointment.
  • High Stakes: In a further editorial on the Doha round of trade talks, which resume next week, the Economist says the stakes are higher than at any time since the round began, in the wake of an economic slowdown and a terrorist catastrophe, in November 2001.
  • Bashing Bashir: Also in an editorial, the paper questions whether justice or expediency has been served by the request of the ICC prosecutor to seek the arrest of the Sudanese President, Omar Al-Bashir.

  Financial Times

  • Obama’s Strategy: Columnist Philip Stephens writes of Barack Obama that there is little Europe can quarrel with in the broad thrust of the national security strategy he set out in a speech in Washington this week.
  • Pakistan Risk: In an editorial, the paper says Pakistan is rising rapidly up the global risk register and calls on its politicians to bury their differences and work together for the sake of the country.
  • More Rescues: John Eatwell of Queen's College, Cambridge, and Avinash Persaud of Gresham College write of this week’s rescue  of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that unless regulators change track, there will be more rescues to come.

  Guardian

  • U.S. Softening: Abbas Edalat, who campaigns against military action against Iran, writes that U.S. policy on Iran seems to be softening, but the world must stay vigilant to avert the threat of war.
  • Policy Change: In an editorial, the Guardian says America's decision to send a senior official, William Burns, to international talks with Iran in Geneva on Saturday marks a major, and long overdue, policy change.

  Independent (UK)

  • Changing Tack: In an editorial, the paper says the surest reason for believing that America really has reversed its policy on Iran, to the pursuit of face-to-face negotiations and the establishment of a US office in Tehran, is the outrage it has caused among hardliners in Washington.

  International Herald Tribune

  • Old Rivalries: Karl Inderfurth of George Washington University and Wendy Chamberlin of the Middle East Institute write that India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan need to engage in active, high-level diplomacy aimed at stemming the spread of extremism in their common neighborhood.
  • Arab Reckoning: Rami Khouri of the American University of Beirut says the call to prosecute Omar Al-Bashir is a moment of historical reckoning for the leaders and people of the Arab world.

  Jerusalem Post

  • Lebanese Unity: In an editorial, the paper says a vital lesson Israeli strategists must draw from the display of unity in Lebanon following the exchange of Lebanese prisoners for the remains of Israeli soldiers is that Lebanon and Hizbullah are one and the same.

  Jordan Times

  • New Chapter: In an editorial, the paper says it is hard to tell who has blinked first in the standoff between Iran and the United States over its nuclear program, but it appears that the two sides are now poised to open a new chapter, albeit slowly.

  National (UAE)

  • Iran Optimism: Political editor Emile Hokayem writes there may be something real in the current measured optimism about U.S.-Iran relations.

  New York Times

  • More Credible: In an editorial, the paper says President Bush’s decision to send one of his top diplomats to join the European Union’s diplomats in talks with Iran makes any incentives package look more credible.
  • Conservative Chance: Op-ed Columnist David Brooks writes that the United States is entering a period of epic legislation and says historically periods of great governmental change have often been periods of conservative rule.
  • Nuclear Risk: Benny Morris of Ben-Gurion University writes that Israel will almost certainly attack Iran’s nuclear facilities within the next few months, and if the attack fails, the Middle East will almost certainly face a nuclear war.

  Sydney Morning Herald

  • Israeli Vulnerability: In an editorial, the paper says Israel’s military has become a point of vulnerability in the deadly asymmetric warfare waged by Israel's enemies, as illustrated by the bargain exacted by Lebanon's Hezbollah for the return of two dead soldiers.

  Times of India

  • Washington Thaw: In an editorial, the paper says the announcement that the United States will be sending a high-ranking diplomat to attend nuclear negotiations with Iran is a sign that Washington is thawing its hardline stance.

  Times of London

  • Battle For Turkey: In an editorial on the current dispute between secularists and Islamists in Turkey, the paper says angry secularist generals are a threat to democracy, and that headscarves are not.

  Wall Street Journal

  • Obama’s Error: In an editorial, the paper says Barack Obama’s visit to Iraq is a chance to learn how wrong he was about the surge.
  • Support Taiwan: Ed Ross, a defense consultant, says that it is time to demonstrate clearly that, while the U.S. supports Taiwan-China détente, it stands firmly behind Taiwan's democracy.
  • Democracy Threatened: In an editorial on the arrest of opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim in Malaysia, the paper says Malaysia's democratic institutions and the credibility of the prime minister, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, are now threatened by his government's treatment of Mr. Anwar.

  Washington Post

  • Elevated Opinion: Op-ed Columnist Charles Krauthammer asks who Barack Obama thinks he is, adding that Americans are beginning to notice Obama's elevated opinion of himself.
  • Arctic Survival: CFR Senior Fellow Michael Gerson, writing from the Arctic Circle, asks whether the environment will survive the environmentalists.
  • Turkey’s Turmoil: Aliza Marcus, a writer, and Andrew Apostolou of Freedom House ask if the United States will stand up for the democratic model in Turkey.

  Washington Times

  • Obama’s Obfuscation: In an editorial, the paper says Barack Obama's recent obfuscation on foreign affairs calls into question his ability to be an effective commander-in-chief.

   

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