BULLETIN No.106

Washington Institute Olmert's Unilateral Option: An Early Assessment David Makovsky
Washington Post Never Again? By Charles Krauthammer, When Iran's mullahs acquire their coveted nukes in the next few years, the number of Jews in Israel will just be reaching 6 million. Never again?
Gulf News Israel's convergence plan is on the way
Olmert's meeting with Bush later this month will explore how best his pre-election policy can be implemented during the current US administration's term.
A deliberate and dangerous act
Starving Palestinians into submission or death serves no just purpose
Dar Al-Hayat Surely Hamas is Capable Jihad el-Khazen - Threatened by the US, national and international banks refuse to deal with Hamas or even the PA. Arab countries' aids are frozen under US pressure. The chances for peace are increasingly shrinking with Abu Mazen in power. The problem is not with a man or two, but with the US policy that supports Israel. It also lies in Arab weakness and inability. This means that the situation will worsen and will include every Arab country.
Not peace, but not war either JERROLD KESSEL For Israel and Palestine, perhaps the best way out of conflict is not absolute peace but an alternative.
Ha’aretz – PM: The division of the land is Zionism's lifeline
BBC Analysis: Israel's new coalition
Fears and doubts Palestinians wary as Olmert outlines plan for Israel
His Coalition in Place, Olmert Turns to Setting Israeli Borders
Olmert vows to fix Israel's borders with or without the Palestinians
Gulf News EU aid through Abbas
The European Commission is proposing to "avert or delay" the Palestinian Authority's collapse by using President Mahmoud Abbas's office to funnel donor funds, a Commission document shows.
Al-Ahram Government non grata Pressure is building on the Palestinian Hamas-led government with banks fearing legal consequences if seen dealing with those deemed "terrorists", writes Erica Silverman
Dire consequences The rise of the Palestinian Hamas movement to power has been difficult for Jordan, reports Sana Abdallah from Amman
Jerusalem Post Bush: US has powerful duty to ensure Israel's security

Dar Al-Hayat The Syrian-Lebanese War of Barriers! Zouheir Kseibati - Damascus has the right to question the Lebanese about their change of heart. What hurts the 'elder Syrian brother' is that he cannot bring himself, after 30 years, to accept the notion that brotherhood and sovereignty are not incompatible.
Al-Ahram The devil is in the details Serene Assir assesses the challenges facing the restart of the Lebanese National Dialogue
ChamPress
Old Damascus attracts capital, will charm survive?
Lebanon's Jumblatt offers to help Syrian opposition
Shia of Lebanon emerge from poverty to face charges of overstepping their powers

The Economist Iran and the bomb A government that thrives on defiance
Managing the Atom Nuclear Decision-Making in Iran
Playing to the Home Crowd in Iran By MARK BOWDEN Today's confrontation with Iran over nuclear research is an example of how, as the saying goes, history rhymes.
Mother Jones This Is Our Destiny On bombing Iran and other fantasies of American power.
Financial Times COMMENT: The west needs a strategy to coax as well as coerce Iran
U.S. pressured to talk with Iran As crisis looms, many urge direct U.S.-Iran contacts, resisted by administration
Al-Ahram 'We can' Iran will not budge in its quest for nuclear energy and the signs are it will not have to, reports Amira Howeidy from Tehran
Nuclear dynamics The coming days are critical for thereafter Iran will be able to do little to reverse the momentum towards sanctions or worse, writes Mustafa El-Labbad
Solving the Tehran dilemma
İran, operasyon kararını Türkiye ile almış
What will Iran's message to Turkey be?Zeynep Gurcanli
Independent UN to threaten Iranians with sanctions over nuclear plans

The Pragmatism of Iraqi Kurds Stratfor.com
Christian Science Monitor
US seeks options for Iraq, finds few answers Senator Biden's 'third way' – divide Iraq in order to save it – gets little support.
Los Angeles Times Iraq: Just pull out By William E. Odom Invading Iraq was not in our national interest, says Reagan's NSA chief.
Gulf News Illusions of US democracy
It appears that the American invasion has replaced one tyranny in Iraq with another.
Der Spiegel The World from Berlin: The Cost of Doing Business in Iraq
Biden's Plan for Iraq FrontPage
Iraq, Whose Model? Reason Online

Is Saudi Arabia Running Out of Oil? - Matthew Simmons, The Globalist
Turkey ‘ideal mediator’ between Arabs, Israelis Gulf Times
The Economist Turkey and Europe Coming apart?
Knight-Ridder Bush administration refuses to talk directly with its main foes
How Not to Fight Terrorism By David Cole
Radical Islam Takes Root in the Balkans - Risto Karajkov, World Press
Japan foreign chief warns of nationalism in Asia
Al-Ahram Looking east A red sun rises in the Middle East: the prospect of Asian surpassing American commerce and investment, writes Ibrahim Nafie
The Nation - The next big threat? If you look at the boiling cauldron of China today, with its unmoored, angry people, the prospect seems unlikely... ARTICLE