BULLETIN No.119

UPI Analysis: What about Israel and Iran?
Oren Taking the offensive The lDF is ready to risk a more offensive approach in order to regain the initiative on both the northern and southern fronts. The successes are tempting; it would be easy to become addicted to them.
Arab states should compel Hamas to endorse peace By Raghida Dergham
Daily Star Olmert says he wants talks with Abbas Israeli Premier Ehud Olmert insisted negotiations with the Palestinians were his top priority after a first meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who urged Fatah and Hamas to resolve their differences. As Egypt launched diplomatic efforts to restart Israeli-Palestinian contacts, the Palestinians were heading toward.
Israel Says It Wants to Hold Talks With Abbas
Jerusalem Post US intel.: Hizbullah could become threat alongside Iran
Critical Currents: The fortieth yearBy NAOMI CHAZANForty years after the Six Day War, Israel needs to get past the road map and out of the desert
Ha’aretz – Akiva Eldar Ha’aretz – Akiva Eldar Is America a strategic liability? Fortunately, on the issue that is considered critical to Israel's existence - Iran's nuclear capabilities - the United States is likely to be an asset to Israel, but that is an exception. It is an exception that does not prove the rule
Where Hamas and Fatah meet Without the principle of the 1967 borders, without East Jerusalem as the capital of the Palestinian state, and without recognition and some form of compromise on the issue of the refugees, there is no chance for a settlement, and probably also not for calm.
Schiff On the origins of targeted assassination The original list of candidates for assassination included 23 Arab leaders and high-ranking officers from all over the country.
Five dead in Hamas-Fatah clashes as deadline nears
Mubarak: If negotiations fail, we will find other solutions
BBC Osirak anniversary Israeli pilots recall how they bombed Iraq's reactor in 1981
Democracy Arsenal Abbas' GambleJerusalem Post Bary Rubin The Region: The missing Mideast moral compass
New York Review of Books What Does Olmert Want?By Amos Elon

New Statesman The secret state Authoritarian and anti-western, Syria stands alongside Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas in defying US ambitions for the Middle East. But a UN report on the assassination of Rafiq Hariri, due out this month, could bring the regime to its knees. Patrick Seale on the linchpin to the battle for a region in turmoil [read article - free to view]
Syria's top ten political power-brokers. Research [read article]
Yedioth Ahronoth Exiles: Syrian regime doomed
The Weekly Standard Assad State of Affairs WHEN HAFEZ AL-ASSAD was president-for-life of Syria, Washington overlooked the misdeeds of his Baathist dictatorship because it always seemed the brass ring of
Times Exiles plan overthrow Syria's Baathist regime and Commonwealth Office insisted was not co-ordinated with any British officials, was led by Abdel Halim Khaddam, who predicted that Syria’s increasingly
Yedioth Ahronoth 'Russia seeking base in Syria' Russia begins work on deepening Syrian port of Tartus, which it plans to use as alternative accommodation for Black Sea fleet, based in Ukrainian port, Russian paper says; Base would be protected by a long-range air defense system Full Story . . .
UPI Russia may be building a naval base in Syria Russia is dredging the Syrian port of Tartus, where a Russian Navy maintenance station is located, according to Kommersant, a Russian business journal.
Is Russia building a naval base in Syria? The paper says that "may be evidence that Russia is considering Syria as a base from which to expand its influence in the Middle East."
Five die as Syria thwarts attack Four gunmen and a security guard die during a "terrorist" attack in the Syrian capital, officials say.
Al-Manar US companies are seeking to invest in the oil sector in Syria between Washington and Damascus have dramatically worsened in the past year, with the Bush administration leading a tough campaign against Syria mainly over
Detroit Free Press Syria warms up to Islamists as political winds change of gross domestic product. DAMASCUS, Syria -- The regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad has found religion.
Syria Comment
National Salvation Front Meeting in London
Could Syria's GDP Growth be 5.5%?!
News Round UP (June 2, 2006)
Ha’aretz – U.S. intelligence: Iran could guide Hezbollah to attack U.S. Officials: Hezbollah has well-embedded operatives who could provide logistical help to terror groups

Washington Post Bush's Gamble On Iran Jim Hoagland
Iran Guardedly Considers Offer : Despite Fiery Rhetoric, Officials Make No Definitive...
Guardian A giant awakes Reza Aslan: The major powers yesterday ruled out military action against Iran, but in truth it has never been an option against the Middle East's most influential force.
IHT Iran's volatile ethnic mix By BRENDA SHAFFER Western policy makers need to know that half of Iran's population is non-Persian
New York Times Editorial What Counts on Iran Whether or not Iran ultimately agrees to talk, the United States has already strengthened its hand with European allies, Russia and China.
CNS Ethnic Upheaval Boosts Calls to Oust Iranian Regime
Who Will Lose the War in Iran? - Brian Doherty, Reason
Al Hayat US-Iran: Possible Deal, Possible Confrontation Raghida Dergham
Cengiz Çandar Radical US shift on Iran is good news for Turkey

The Atlantic Monthly July/August 2006 War in Iraq The Atlantic recently asked a group of foreign-policy authorities about the conflict in Iraq
NYT Insurgency Out, Anarchy In By Thomas L. Friedman here - Iraqi insurgency is in its last throes in Iraq, soon to be replaced by an anarchy of sectarian militias, criminal gangs, and Al Qaeda cells. American public will not support US troops involved in an anarchic situation for the rest of the Bush Administration, and the government needs to talk about deadlines for withdrawal to force political compromise in Iraq. The situation in Iraq will be resolved only when Iraqis support a common future.
Pentagon - Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq - Quarterly Reports .
UPI Analysis: Sunni strategy succeeding By Martin Sieff
CSIS Measuring Stability and Security in Iraq: "Fact, Fallacy, and an Overall Grade of "F"-Anthony H. Cordesman
Outside View: Iraq's hard truths By Anthony H. Cordesman
Sustainment of Army Forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom: Battlefield Logistics and Effects on Operations Rand Corporation
Iraq Is Europe's Business, Too
George Robertson
Der Spiegel INTERVIEW WITH MADELEINE ALBRIGHT "Iraq Was a Really Badly Planned Operation"
A plan for Iraq and a way out for US By Richard Parr Three autonomous regions would seem to be the best answer for now, at least until things cool down and reason prevails

Turkey in Europe:Changes and Challenges - Report from the Conference organized by the Joint Center's Turkey Initiative in cooperation with the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
How to Boost Middle East Democracy - Dennis Ross, Miami Herald
Newsweek How Long Will America Lead the World? - Fareed Zakaria