Council on Foreign Relations

Arab News (Saudi Arabia)

• Gaza Crisis: Ramzy Baroud, author and editor of the PalestineChronicle.com, explores the latest crisis in Gaza. He argues that Hamas is not a fleeting phenomenon because isolation and repression have given strength to the Islamic movement in places like Gaza.

The Australian

• Crossroads: In an editorial, the Australian catalogs the challenges that Pakistan faces at this critical juncture, including a domestic hotbed of terrorism, an army and intelligence unit riddled with Islamic extremism, an al-Qaeda resurgence, a home-grown offshoot of the Taliban, and a fractious government.

Asia Times

• Political Vacuum: Syed Saleem Shahzad, Pakistan Bureau Chief of Asia Times Online, says the resignation of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf will open up a dangerous political vacuum amid the growing clout of a Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan and the rising strength of militants inside Pakistan.

Christian Science Monitor

• War Cry: Former Congressmen Mickey Edwards and David Skaggs warn Congress that its neglect and silent abdication of authority are allowing the executive branch to incrementally usurp the power to declare war.
• Coup d’état: Caroline Baxter, a graduate student at Columbia University, says the recent coup d’état in Mauritania shows what happens when the United States fails to nurture nascent democracies.

Daily Star (Lebanon)

• Divine Right: Raja Kamal, an associate dean at the University of Chicago, says peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is becoming less likely as both sides become dominated by religious extremists who consider their political mandates holy and sacred.

Daily Telegraph

• Token Participants: Despite the recent bombast about Russia and Georgia, NATO's biggest challenge remains in Afghanistan, where most of the alliance has failed to deliver anything more than token participation, writes the Daily Telegraph in an editorial.

Daily Times (Pakistan)

• Greater Good: William B. Milam, a senior policy scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center, compares the resignation of President Musharraf to the end of Casablanca, both of which involve protagonists making sacrifices for a “greater good.” But, he says, the resignation might not be enough to make Pakistan overcome its existential crisis.

Financial Times

• Papal Warning: In an editorial, the Financial Times joins the Pope in criticizing Italian legislators for engaging in inflammatory rhetoric and discriminatory policies as they attempt to curb illegal immigration. The Pope’s criticism followed an outspoken editorial in a popular Roman Catholic weekly that warned about a resurgence of fascism in Italy.
• Indian Summer: In a second editorial, the Financial Times says the dollar’s appreciation may be short-lived, and is based not on the strength of U.S. fundamentals, but on weakness elsewhere and declining oil prices.

Guardian

• Recipe for Conflict: In an editorial, the Guardian says NATO’s decision to create a special consultative council for Georgia and to suspend the one it has with Russia may prove self-defeating, because the exclusion of Russia from security arrangements in the Caucasus is a recipe for conflict.

Jerusalem Post (Israel)

• Special Relationship: Jonathan Weckerle, co-founder of the Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin, argues that Germany’s trade relationship with Iran is irresponsible, and can lead to dire consequences for both the Iranian people and Israel.

Independent (UK)

• All Bark: In an editorial, the Independent says NATO ministers are wise to choose inaction in lieu of overhasty and ill-considered reaction in the case of the Georgia crisis.

New York Times

• Gorbachev Checks In: In a column, Mikhail Gorbachev, former president of the Soviet Union, says Russian leaders did not want a war, but were forced to act by the recklessness of Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili. He describes the political view from Moscow, and suggests a way Russia and the United States can begin to rebuild trust.
• Brutish Stupidity: Columnist Thomas Friedman says President Saakashvili gave Russian Prime Minister Vladamir Putin an excuse to exercise his iron fist, and Putin took the bait with “brutish stupidity.”
• Nuclear India: In a column, Representatives Edward J. Markey (D-MA) and Ellen O. Taucscher (D-CA) argue against relaxing international nuclear rules for India, because doing so would trigger instability in South Asia and allow countries like Iran and North Korea to use the precedent to their advantage.

Times of London

• Hard-Headed: In an editorial, the Times of London says NATO must find the confidence to be more hard-headed with Russia, and should match its rhetoric with real action if Russia continues to occupy Georgia.

Wall Street Journal

• Geopolitical Reality: In a column, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov criticizes the West’s biased portrayal of the Georgia crisis, and says the geopolitical reality is that Russia and the United States will inevitably have to cooperate.
• Empty Words: NATO’s weak response to the continued occupation of Georgia is evidence that Russia can successfully humiliate the West and “Finlandize” Georgia, writes the Wall Street Journal in an editorial.
• Power Sharing: James Kirchick, assistant editor of the New Republic, says Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe has no intention of sharing power with opposition leader Morgan Tsvangirai. Any agreement that gives significant political control to Mugabe would therefore betray the Zimbabweans who risked their lives for democracy, he says.

Washington Post

• Olympic Embarrassment: In an editorial, the Washington Post says the International Olympic Committee should ban Saudi Arabia from participating in the 2012 London Olympics if the team remains all-male.
• China Threat: Robert J. Samuelson, a contributing editor of the Washington Post, says the real “China threat” is not in its overtaking the U.S. economy, but in its ability to destabilize the global economy by distorting trade, fostering huge financial imbalances, and triggering a contentious competition for scarce raw materials.

Washington Times

• Genocide Inquiry: Bruce Fein, a representative of Tamils Against Genocide, says the U.S. Office of Special Investigations should launch an investigation of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, a U.S. citizen serving as Sri Lanka’s Sinhala Buddhist defense secretary, who may be complicit in what Fein describes as an ongoing genocide against Sri Lanka’s Tamils.