Council on Foreign Relations

Arab News (Saudi Arabia)

• Forced Marriage: In an editorial, the paper praises the leader of Zimbabwe’s Movement for Democratic Change, Morgan Tsvangirai, for agreeing to share power with Robert Mugabe. The fact that he has accepted this unfair, forced marriage is to his immense credit, the paper says.

Australian

• No Rescue: In an editorial, the paper approves of the decision by the Federal Reserve not to rescue Lehman Brothers. For too long, the Fed had appeared entranced by Wall Street and the fear that making an investment bank pay for its profligacy would bring the end of the financial world as we know it, it says.

Boston Globe

• Financial Struggle: Columnist Scot Lehigh writes that this week, the country's governmental officials and financial sector titans are struggling to restore faith in the financial system and stave off a panic--and it's clear they are flying by the seat of their pants.

Chosun Ilbo (South Korea)

• Hurricane Threat: In an editorial, the paper says South Korea too must seek the best self-defense measures as it is swept up by a hurricane that began on Wall Street. We must hurry to deal with internal problems such as household debt and instability in the real estate market, it writes.

Christian Science Monitor

• Market Value: In an editorial, the paper says Lehman Brothers had to fall to help return financial markets to the basics of honest market value.

Daily Telegraph

• Fundamental Question: Columnist Simon Heffer says there is one fundamental question to be asked at the moment: whether there is any politician of standing in Britain who understands what has to be done to govern in this time of economic turmoil.
• Getting Sarah: Columnist Irwin Stelzer writes about what he sees as a British obsession with Sarah Palin, and says, “You Brits will never get her.”

Daily Times (Pakistan)

• Danger Signs: The Daily Times writes in an editorial of what it sees as troubling developments in relations between Pakistan and India. There is a danger of lurching back into the old postures of hostility that one thought were being replaced by a new interest in normalization and bilateral trade, it says.

Dawn (Pakistan)

• Knock-On Effect: In an editorial the paper expresses fears about the knock-on effect of the Wall Street crisis for the Pakistani economy.

Financial Times

• Government Rescues: Columnist Martin Wolf, writing on the financial crisis, says the biggest outstanding question is whether government-led rescues of under-capitalized financial systems will be needed. He says this is now looking increasingly likely.
• Liquidity Crisis: Hank Greenberg, a former chairman and chief executive of AIG, writes that the company faces a liquidity crisis, not a solvency problem. Its core insurance operations, both in the US and abroad, are financially sound, he says.
• After Petraeus: In an editorial the FT considers Iraq after Petraeus. It says it is important to understand the enormous task remaining if there is to be any chance of putting a broken Iraq back together again.

Guardian

• No Aberration: In an editorial on the financial crisis, the paper quotes the economist Hyman Minsky, who said said instability was not an aberration in finance, but its core.
• Petraeus Leaves: The paper marks the departure of General Petraeus from Iraq in an editorial, and says the bald fact is that the next U.S. president will still have a major problem coping with the aftermath of a war that should never have been waged.

Haaretz

• Threat To Israel: The paper warns in an editorial that the effects of the crisis on Wall Street are about to be felt in Israel. It says Israeli decision makers must strive to identify its exposure to the crisis and reduce it.

Hindu

• Strong Dollar: The paper praises the resilience of the dollar in an editorial. Irrespective of U.S. policy decisions, the dollar has remained strong as a currency of refuge in troubled times, it says.

Independent (UK)

• Petraeus’ Achievements: In an editorial, the paper describes David Petraeus as a thinking general and says his achievements since he took command in Iraq 18 months ago are considerable.
• Russia Damaged: Columnist Mary Dejevsky says that contrary to popular perception, the Russia-Georgia war has left Russia more damaged in almost every respect than its adversary Georgia.

International Herald Tribune

• Strong System: In an editorial, the papers says the dizzying events on Wall Street suggest, at least for now, that the system may be strong enough to absorb the downfall of Lehman and Merrill and the chaos at AIG.
• Court Dangers: Louise Arbour, the former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, warns of the dangers of the UN Security Council interfering with International Criminal Court proceedings. This will vindicate those who believe politics can trump justice, she writes.

Jerusalem Post

• Third Way: In an editorial, the paper looks forward to today’s contest for the leadership of the Kadima party, but asks whether it can ever offer a genuine third way alternative to Labour and Likud.

New York Times

• McCain’s View: The paper criticizes John McCain in an editorial for describing the U.S. economy as fundamentally sound, and asks if he’d missed the collapse of Lehman Brothers.
• Rove Decision: In a further editorial, the paper calls on the House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, to order a vote to hold President Bush’s former adviser Karl Rove in contempt for his lawless decision to defy a Congressional subpoena to testify about the United States attorneys scandal.
• Changing Values: Mark Mellman, a Democratic pollster, writes about shifting American values. While politicians from both parties ask us to embrace change, Americans already have, he says.

Times of India

• Nightmare: In an editorial, the paper considers the fallout for India from what it calls the nightmare on Wall Street, and says things aren’t too bleak, with an industrial growth rate of 7.1 per cent in July and the global price of oil falling below $95.

Wall Street Journal

• AIG Loan: In an editorial the paper endorses the Federal Reserve’s holding firm on interest rates, and says the decision to lend $85 billion to AIG has manifold implications and will take more time to assess.
• Preventing A Run: Lawrence Lindsey, former assistant to the president for economic policy, calls in an op-ed for a loosening of deposit insurance rules to prevent a bank run.
• Insidious Cycle: Christopher Wood of CSLA Ltd. in Hong Kong writes that by refusing to come to the aid of Lehman Brothers, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has done the right thing, in terms of seeking to end the insidious cycle of federal-government bailouts.
• Sounder Future: Steven Rattner of the private investment firm Quadrangle Group writes that we do not yet know the full cost or even whether we will survive our worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. But the probability is that we will, and if we do, we will emerge with sounder, more prudent financial institutions, he says.

Washington Post

• Wall Street Kaput: Op-ed Columnist Robert Samuelson says Wall Street as we know it is kaput. Its business model has collapsed, he writes.
• Panicky Campaign: CFR Senior Fellow Michael Gerson writes on the contrast between Barack Obama and his campaign. Obama, he says, is cool, firm, and permanently unruffled, while his campaign is rootless, reactive, and panicky.
• Astonishing Petraeus: Op-ed Columnist David Ignatius says General Petraeus did something astonishing in Iraq: he restored confidence and purpose for a military that had begun to think, deep down, that this war was unwinnable and unsustainable.

Washington Times

• Talk To Tehran: Edward Djerejian, a former U.S. ambassador to Syria and Israel, writes of the urgent need to address the relationship between the United States and Iran. The stakes are simply too high to not adopt a comprehensive, strategic and direct dialogue at the highest levels, he says.