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  A Deal in Zimbabwe, Chinese Restrictions, and an Afghan Surge

  July 22, 2008
  
  

  Age (Australia)

  • Afghan Surge: In an editorial, the paper, in reference to Barack Obama’s remarks about the need for more American troops in Afghanistan, says the mark of a visionary leader will be the articulation of a plan that involves such a surge in Afghanistan with a long-term goal for the country that allows the soldiers to leave.

  Boston Globe

  • Electrical Deaths: In an editorial, the paper is aghast at the news that thirteen members of the U.S. services have died from electrocution because of shoddy wiring at bases in Iraq. The time is past for buck-passing on this issue, it says.

  Christian Science Monitor

  • Don’t Drill: Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) dismisses President Bush and others for what she calls the false promise of offshore oil drilling.

  Daily Star (Lebanon)

  • Diplomatic Willingness: In an editorial, the paper says American diplomats have shown ample willingness to engage in diplomacy, rather than warfare, to solve the dispute with Iran over its nuclear program.

  Daily Telegraph

  • Dodgy Deal: In an editorial on the agreement signed on Monday between Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai in Zimbabwe, the paper says any deal that does not recognize the democratic wishes of the people of Zimbabwe will not be worth the paper it is written on.

  Financial Times

  • Commander Obama: Columnist Gideon Rachman writes that Barack Obama would make a better commander-in-chief than John McCain, because he respects the lesson that nuclear deterrence has worked.
  • Precarious Afghanistan: In an editorial, the FT agrees with Barack Obama’s assessment that the situation in Afghanistan is precarious and dangerous, but warns that there is no military solution to the country’s travails.
  • Expand Investment: Felix Rohatyn, an adviser to Lehman Brothers, and Everett Ehrlich, an economics consultant, offer advice on how the United States can avoid its worst recession for 30 years, and say if the government is going to stimulate the economy, it should start by expanding investment.

  Guardian

  • Troubling Message: Sami Ramadani, an Iraqi political exile in Britain, says Barack Obama’s message on occupied Iraq is deeply troubling, and adds that the Democratic nominee was never in favor of full withdrawal.
  • Zimbabwe’s Deal: In an editorial on Zimbabwe, the Guardian says the onus is on those who promoted Monday's deal to show they are not building a house made of straw.

  Hindu

  • Nuclear Debate: In an editorial on Tuesday’s vote of confidence in the Indian government, the paper says nobody can claim with a straight face that the confidence vote will be exclusively or even predominantly on the merits of the nuclear deal with the United States.

  Independent (UK)

  • Genocidal Karadzic: Marcus Tanner recounts his first meeting with Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader captured on a bus, describing him as the psychiatrist who became a genocidal madman.
  • Progress in Zimbabwe: In an editorial on the deal signed in Zimbabwe, the paper says the fact that a meeting took place at all, that an agreement was signed, and that hands were shaken, if only for the benefit of the cameras, cannot but represent progress.

  International Herald Tribune

  • Saudi Opportunity: Reza Zia-Ebrahami, a commentator on the Middle East, writes that Saudi Arabia is in a unique position to soothe the tensions between Sunni and Shiite Islam.

  Jordan Times

  • Friendly Iran: In an editorial, the paper notes recent friendly remarks by the Iranian vice-president and says it appears that Iran wants to draw a wedge between the governments that are hostile to it and their respective citizens, notably Americans and Israelis.

  New York Times

  • China Criticism: In an editorial, the paper says apart from China, no one deserves criticism on human rights more than the International Olympic Committee, the so-called guardian of the Olympic movement, which, it says, has indulged Beijing at every turn.
  • No Drilling: In a further editorial, the Times recommends President Bush listen to the advice of the Texan oil driller T. Boone Pickens that drilling for more oil is not the answer to the Unites States’ energy problems.
  • Pessimistic On Palestine: Anthony Cordesman of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, just back from the Middle East, says he finds it find it hard to have much optimism about peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

  New Zealand Herald

  • Overseas Tour: In an editorial, the paper says Barack Obama’s overseas tour suggests he is prepared to engage in foreign policy dynamics and detail in a manner that President Bush never contemplated.

  Sydney Morning Herald

  • Real War: In an editorial, the paper says Barack Obama has just, in effect, endorsed the line of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Afghanistan: that this is the real war on terrorism, while Iraq is an irritating diversion.

  Times of India

  • Chinese Opening: In an editorial, the paper says when Beijing won the right to stage the Olympics, some felt that this would be a coming-out party of sorts for China. But expectations for a spectacular opening up of China now seem premature, it adds.

  Times of London

  • Progress In Iraq: In an editorial on Iraq, the paper says that Barack Obama’s trip there shows how far the country has come.

  Wall Street Journal

  • Undeserved Détente: In an editorial, the paper asks what Iran has done to merit détente with the United States.
  • Jackson And Obama: Shelby Steele of Stanford University explains why Jesse Jackson hates Barack Obama, or, as he puts it, why Jackson might have experienced Obama's emergence as something of a stiletto in the heart.
  • No Afghan Surge: Ann Marlowe, a writer who travels to Afghanistan, says that Barack Obama is wrong to call for more troops for the country. Obama should have supported the surge in Iraq, but that doesn't mean that advocating one in Afghanistan makes sense, she says.

  Washington Post

  • Looking Competent: Op-ed Columnist E. J. Dionne Jr. writes that Barack Obama has no need for a great triumph during his trip this week to the Middle East and Europe. His goal, he says, is to look safe, sound, and competent, and that's how he's playing things.
  • Lost Horizon: Eugene Robinson lampoons President Bush’s acknowledgment that there is now a “time horizon” for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, noting that a horizon is, by definition, a line that can never be reached.
  • Political Prisoner: In an editorial, the paper says President Bush should use the leverage of U.S. aid to Egypt to ensure the release from jail there of Ayman Nour, a prominent political prisoner.

  Washington Times

  • Obama Overseas: Tara Wall, the paper’s Deputy Editorial Page Editor, observes that while Barack Obama visits the Middle East, John McCain is doing all he can to muster news coverage, and recommends that the Republican Senator turn his attention too to Israel.

   

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