THERE IS NEVER GOING TO BE A NATO VICTORY IN AFGHANISTAN - JONATHAN STEELE (GUARDIAN, OCTOBER 20/COMMON DREAMS)
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1020-22.htm

RADICAL ISLAM FINDS US 'STERILE GROUND': HOME-GROWN TERROR CELLS ARE LARGELY MISSING IN ACTION, A CONTRAST TO EUROPE'S SITUATION - ALEXANDRA MARKS (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 23)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1023/p01s04-ussc.htm

EUROPE'S IMMIGRATION QUAGMIRE: THE CONTINENT NEEDS MORE REALISTIC POLICIES THAT RECOGNIZE BOTH IMMIGRATION'S ECONOMIC BENEFIT AND THE DANGERS OF ISLAMISM - AYAAN HIRSI ALI (LOS ANGELES TIMES, OCTOBER 22)
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-op-...inion-rightrail

A POLITE BUT FIRM REBUFF FOR RICE - DONALD KIRK (ASIA TIMES, OCTOBER 21): Try as they might to sound tough in their mutual affirmations of the US-Korean alliance and denunciations of the North Korean nuclear test, Rice's mission made unmistakably clear the South Koreans and Americans are just not going to see eye-to-eye on North Korea.
http://atimes.com/atimes/Korea/HJ21Dg01.html
SEE ALSO
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1020/p06s02-woap.htm

SEND IN THE FAT GUYS - NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF (NEW YORK TIMES, OCTOBER 22): The biggest threat to North Korea's regime isnt from American warships, but from the sight of other Koreans dieting, or listening on iPods to love songs, or watching decadent television comedies. So let's stop helping the Dear Leader isolate his own people.
http://select.nytimes.com/2006/10/22/opini...s%20D%20Kristof
PAID SUBSCRIPTION

CHINA'S CAMP DAVID MOMENT - ANNE WU AND JASON QIAN (BOSTON GLOBE, OCTOBER 21): The chance to negotiate away Pyongyang's nukes remains only if China can make a strategic choice to move beyond its mediator role and act as a pro-active negotiator, complemented by a strategic choice on Washington's part to pursue genuine engagement and one-to-one substantive talks with Pyongyang.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial..._moment?mode=PF

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE... ALA BOCK (ANTIWAR.COM, OCTOBER 21): There are reasons to be concerned beyond the neighborhood in that North Korea could be proliferators of weapons systems and for the right price might make weapons available to a regime like Iran or even to terrorist groups. But the genuine threat is nowhere near so dire as the headlines and the frantic diplomacy might suggest.
http://www.antiwar.com/bock/?articleid=9899

THE PRICE OF PAST US THREATS AGAINST NORTH KOREA: AMERICAN POLICIES DATING FROM THE 1950S MIGHT HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO KIM JONG IL'S OBSESSION WITH DEVELOPING NUCLEAR WEAPONS - DANIEL SCHORR (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 20)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1020/p09s01-cods.html

"WE DON'T NEGOTIATE WITH EVIL": HOW THE US DECLARED WAR ON NORTH KOREA - GARY LEUPP (COUNTERPUNCH, OCTOBER 20/22): North Korea proclaims UNSC Resolution 1718 "a declaration of war." One could dismiss this description as just another of Pyongyang's exercises in hyperbolic bluster, but in fact it may be right on target.
http://www.counterpunch.org/leupp10202006.html

IS RUSSIA'S PRESS FREEDOM DEAD? - MATTHIAS SCHEPP, CHRISTIAN NEEF AND UWE KLUSSMANN (SPIEGEL INTERNATIONAL, OCTOBER 22)
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiege...,443543,00.html

THE DARKNESS SPREADING OVER RUSSIA - CARL GERSHMAN (WASHINGTONPOST.COM, OCTOBER 21): Despite growing repression, there are still people in Russia who are trying to avert a looming disaster. We would be kidding ourselves to think that we don't have a stake in their survival.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2001242_pf.html

CALMING THE CAUCASUS - MONITOR'S VIEW (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 23): Unless the US and Europe try seriously to address Russia's real fears about NATO encroachment, they may not -- in the long run -- be able to prevent Russian maneuvering to buttress its periphery. But in the short term, the West can help defuse Georgian-Russian tensions by pointing to the dangers of escalation and a potential war over Georgia's breakaways.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1023/p08s02-comv.html

BLOWBACK FOR CHAVEZ - EDITORIAL (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 22): While the United States hardly commands universal love, most members would rather have Washington working with the UN than spurning it.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...newsopinion-hed

BUSH'S PYONGYANG BOOMERANG: A NUCLEAR KOREA, A FUTILE IRAQ WAR, AND AN AGGRESSIVE IRAN -- SUCH IS BUSH'S PROGRESS ON THE "AXIS OF EVIL" - PAUL STARR (AMERICAN PROSPECT, OCTOBER 20)
http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?sectio...articleId=12134

THE HUMBLING OF THE HEGEMON - LEON HADAR (ANTIWAR.COM, OCTOBER 21): There are no indications that President Bush is willing to pay the costs of the necessary adjustments to the evolving balance of power in the same way that his predecessors did.
http://www.antiwar.com/hadar/?articleid=9894

CAPITAL KILLED COMMUNISM. IT CAN KILL TERRORISM TOO - TREY ELLIS (HUFFINGTON POST, OCTOBER 22): Michael Jackson, Rocky and McDonald's are unstoppable forces that conquered Europe, conquered Asia and will eventually conquer every corner of the globe.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/trey-ellis/c...sm_b_32266.html

A NADIR OF U.S. POWER - SEBASTIAN MALLABY (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 23): "The U.S. business culture is as pragmatic and effective as its political culture is dysfunctional. But has there been a worse moment for American power since Ronald Reagan celebrated morning in America almost a quarter of a century ago? I can't think of one."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2200716_pf.html

NEW US EMBASSY NEARING COMPLETION: FORTRESS AMERICA ARRIVES IN BERLIN - SEBASTIAN KNAUER (SPIEGEL INTERNATIONAL, OCTOBER 20): One thing was clear at the topping out ceremony for the new United States Embassy in Berlin. The new building is a modern-day fortress. Even the new kitchen for the embassy's top floor was delivered under tarps, as if the Americans were in fact crowning their new embassy with some top-secret missile defense system.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiege...,442772,00.html

SENIOR US DIPLOMAT'S CANDOR GETS PLAY IN THE MIDDLE EAST, IRE AT HOME: ALBERTO FERNANDEZ [DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC DIPLOMACY IN THE BUREAU OF NEAR EASTERN AFFAIRS AT THE STATE DEPARTMENT] HAS RECANTED COMMENTS THAT US MOVES IN IRAQ SHOW 'ARROGANCE' AND 'STUPIDITY' - DAN MURPHY (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 24)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1024/p10s01-woiq.html

THE FERNANDEZ 'STUPIDSTORM': MISUNDERSTANDING A DIPLOMAT'S CANDOR - CRAIG HAYDEN (PUBLIC DIPLOMACY BLOG, USC CENTER ON PUBLIC DIPLOMACY, OCTOBER 23): Fernandez may have offended certain segments of the U.S. media market, but his words where exactly what U.S. public diplomacy in the Middle East still needs.
http://uscpublicdiplomacy.com/index.php/ne...plomats_candor/

TRUTH AND ARROGANCE - NANCY SNOW (COMMON DREAMS, OCTOBER 23): Finally, a U.S. Government official stated the obvious. It is possible for the worlds sole superpower to be arrogant and stupid in its policy.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1024-31.htm

SERIOUSLY MISSPOKEN - EUGENE ROBINSON (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 24): "I imagine Fernandez is already packing for his new job as deputy assistant consul general somewhere in the hinterlands of Kyrgyzstan."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...2301037_pf.html

SNATCHING PR DEFEAT FROM THE JAWS OF VICTORY - (HOLMES REPORT BLOG, OCTOBER 23): Fernandez has the instincts of a great public relations person. Too bad he's working for an organization that views his ability as a liability.
http://holmesreport.blogspot.com/2006/10/s...om-jaws-of.html

BUSH'S LATEST CUT-AND-PASTE WAR PLAN: TRUTH AND CONSEQUENCES ON IRAQ - DAVE LINDORFF (COUNTERPUNCH, OCTOBER 24): If the US has been "stupid and arrogant" in its Iraq policies, as administration sources are finally admitting, just who are the stupid and arrogant people we are talking about here? If those "stupid and arrogant" people are the president, the vice president, the secretary of defense and the national security adviser/secretary of state, what is to be the consequence of their stupidity and arrogance -- particularly given that this stupidity and arrogance has cause the deaths of as many as 600,000 innocent Iraqi civilians and 3000 Americans? Enough of the game playing.
http://www.counterpunch.org/lindorff10242006.html

U.S. DIPLOMAT SHARPLY CRITICIZES U.S. MISSTEPS IN IRAQ - DAVID EISENBERG (JOHN BIRCH SOCIETY, WI, OCTOBER 23): The administration had told the American people that our forces invaded Iraq to depose Saddam Hussein because of his possession of weapons of mass destruction, his affiliation with Al Qaeda, and his buildup toward nuclear weapon capability. None of those reasons for the war have been demonstrated to be accurate.
http://www.jbs.org/node/1463

STATE OF CONFUSION - EDITORIAL (INVESTOR'S BUSINESS DAILY, OCTOBER 23): It says something when a top U.S. diplomat accuses America of "arrogance" and "stupidity" in an interview with an overtly hostile news agency. Can you imagine a diplomat in any other nation saying such a thing and still having a job the next morning? We can't. It's easy to accept an earnest apology, but not so easy when one suspects the error represents not a personal foible, but an institutional norm.
http://www.investors.com/editorial/editori...246497059159225

THE ROTTEN STATE OF STATE [ON FERNANDEZ] - MR. BINGLEY (COALITION OF THE SWILLING, OCTOBER 23): The problem with State is they forget who they work for. The analysts and career "diplomats" at State feel that it is they and they alone who have the special insights and should set US foreign policy, regardless of what the elected officials, let alone those mindless sheep of us who elected them, feel or desire.
http://www.coalitionoftheswilling.net/arch...otten_stat.html

AND THEN THERE'S THIS ASSHOLE... - BILESNARKSNEER (BILE, SNARK, AND SNEER, OCTOBER 23): And speaking of people who should be FIRED -- never mind the fact that he [Fernandez] shot off his mouth and gave aid and comfort to the enemy -- just what, exactly, was this jackass doing on terrorist TV in the first place?
http://bilesnarksneer.typepad.com/bile_sna...n_theres_2.html

AL-JAZEERA TARGETS BUSH FOR DEATH - CLIFF KINCAID (AMERICAN DAILY, OCTOBER 24): Al-Jazeera is a mouthpiece for anti-American al-Qaeda terrorists. Yet State Department official Karen Hughes thinks U.S. officials should go on the channel, in order to persuade Muslims who watch to come around to our point of view, whatever that is.
http://americandaily.com/article/16175

THOSE VIETNAM PARALLELS - DANNY SCHECHTER (COMMON DREAMS, OCTOBER 24): The Voice of America, the government's own propaganda station which calls itself "A trusted source of news and information since 1942," cited New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman comparing the recent spike in violence in Iraq to the Vietnam-era Tet offensive and quoted Mr. Bush saying "He could be right ... There certainly is a stepped-up level of violence, and we are heading into an election."
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1024-34.htm

EHUD OLMERT STEPS UP ANTI-TEHERAN RHETORIC - HERB KEINON (JERUSALEM POST, OCTOBER 24): Over the last week, Israeli PM Olmert has moved sharply away from Israel's public diplomacy policy of not making overheated comments about Teheran and stressing that a nuclear Iran is the world's problem, not just Israel's.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...ticle%2FPrinter

U.S. RANK ON PRESS FREEDOM SLIDES LOWER - NORA BOUSTANY (WASHINGTON POST, OCTOBER 24): Although it ranked 17th on the first Worldwide Press Freedom Index list, published in 2002, the United States now stands at 53, having fallen nine places since last year.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6102301148.html

EMBEDDED ONLY WHILE IN BED WITH THE U.S. GOVERNMENT - SPIN OF THE DAY (PR WATCH, CENTER FOR MEDIA AND DEMOCRACY, OCTOBER 24): Apparently the U.S. government is only in favor of embedded reporters when it serves its own purposes.
http://www.prwatch.org/node/5329

THIS IS CNN - EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, OCTOBER 24): By airing footage it obtained from terrorists showing U.S. soldiers being killed with sniper fire, CNN and its defenders have the goal of undermining the war effort, even if that means being a mouthpiece for terrorist propaganda.
http://www.washtimes.com/functions/print.p...23-095019-2377r

BLACKOUT OCCURS WHILE GEN. CASEY AND AMB. KHALILZAD HOLD PRESS CONFERENCE ON IRAQ'S PROGRESS... - (HUFFINGTON POST, OCTOBER 24): Click below for CNN video.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2006/10/24/b...en_n_32391.html

CONTRACTORS USE "ASIAN LABOR TRAFFICKING" TO BUILD THE WORLD'S LARGEST EMBASSY: A US FORTRESS RISES IN BAGHDAD - DAVID PHINNEY (COUNTERPUNCH, OCTOBER 24): No journalist has ever been allowed access to the sprawling 104-acre site with towering construction cranes raising their necks along the skyline.
http://www.counterpunch.org/phinney10242006.html

HE IRAQ WAR IN 8 MINUTES: A NEW VIDEO SHOT FOR A LONDON NEWSPAPER AND THE BBC BY AN EMBED WITH THE U.S. ARMY, SUGGESTS, IN CHILLING WORDS AND IMAGES, THE ABSURD POSITION OF THE U.S. IN IRAQ, AS THE PEOPLE WE TRY TO TRAIN -- YOU KNOW, OUR COMRADES IN ARMS -- SEEM MORE INTENT ON LOBBING GRENADES AT US - GREG MITCHELL (EDITOR AND PUBLISHER, OCTOBER 25): Click below for video.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/co...t_id=1003286588

THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION'S WAR OF THE IMAGES - TOM ENGELHARDT (TOMDISPATCH, OCTOBER 24): How do you even begin to imagine such levels of suffering, death, and destruction, or the increasingly chaotic and degraded conditions in which so many Iraqis now live and for which we are certainly responsible?
http://www.tomdispatch.com/index.mhtml?pid=131651

THE FORGOTTEN WOUNDED OF IRAQ - RON KOVIC (TRUTHDIG): The physical and psychological battles from the war in Iraq will rage on for decades, deeply impacting the lives of citizens in both our countries.
http://www.truthdig.com/dig/item/forgotten_wounded_20060117/

BUSH'S PETRO-CARTEL ALMOST HAS IRAQ'S OIL - JOSHUA HOLLAND, ALTERNET (OCTOBER 16): Even as Iraq verges on splintering into a sectarian civil war, four big oil companies are on the verge of locking up its massive, profitable reserves, known to everyone in the petroleum industry as "the prize."
http://alternet.org/story/43045/

CONTAINING A SHIITE SYMBOL OF HOPE - ROBERT MALLEY AND PETER HARLING (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 24): Iraq and the US should focus on limiting the militias' role to protecting civilians in places where government forces cannot.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1024/p09s01-coop.html

IS

IRAQ A WORTHY CAUSE?: THE IRAQIS STILL NEED OUR HELP AND THEY DESERVE IT - MARIO LOYOLA (NATIONAL REVIEW, OCTOBER 24): Let's give the Iraqi government a chance.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=ODA4N...WM1NDkzZjhjODY=

CLAMOR RISES FOR A US SHIFT ON IRAQ: THE WHITE HOUSE RESISTS ALTERING COURSE, EVEN AS ITS EXASPERATION WITH THE IRAQI LEADERSHIP GROWS - PETER GRIER (CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR, OCTOBER 24)
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1024/p01s01-uspo.html

BUSH AS HAMLET: TO STAY -- OR NOT TO STAY -- THE COURSE IN IRAQ - EDWARD M. GOMEZ (WORLD VIEWS, SF GATE, OCTOBER 24)
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/sfgate/det...&entry_id=10153

A NEW PATH FOR IRAQ EDITORIAL (CHICAGO TRIBUNE, OCTOBER 23): Tactics and strategies need to change, but the goal in Iraq won't --and shouldn't: Prevailing in the war is vital to the security of this country and its allies -- and to the potential for peace in the Middle East.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion...newsopinion-hed

COURSE CORRECTION: PRESIDENT BUSH RENAMES HIS IRAQ PLAN, BUT DOESN'T TRY TO FIX IT - JOHN DICKERSON (SLATE, OCTOBER 24)
http://www.slate.com/id/2152122/

CHANGE THE COURSE: DOES THE DECIDER SEE WHAT WE SEE? - RICH LOWRY (NATIONAL REVIEW): There is a crisis in Iraq for all to see. Bush has to make it plain that he sees it too, and that his government is going to react to it.
http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=OGM0Y...TczY2RhODdhZDQ=

ALTERNATIVE REALITIES - GEORGE PACKER (NEW YORKER, OCTOBER 23): Between the President's resolve to persist in folly and the public's instinct to be rid of Iraq there is a range of choices that could prevent the disaster from inflicting permanent damage on American interests.
http://www.newyorker.com/printables/talk/0...0ta_talk_packer

TALKING TO THE RESISTANCE - ROBERT DREYFUSS (TOMPAINE.COM, OCTOBER 24): A political solution in Iraq involves two parts: first, an agreement among Iraq's neighbors -- including Iran and Syria -- to participate in building a stable Iraq; and second, a political settlement that trades an agreement for a U.S. withdrawal for a ceasefire by the armed resistance and their participation in a national unity government.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/10/2..._resistance.php

ENDGAME IN IRAQ - WILLIAM GREIDER (NATION, OCTOBER 24/COMMON DREAMS): Let's have one more election in Iraq -- a referendum where the Iraqi people get to decide whether America's armed forces withdraw and when.
http://www.commondreams.org/views06/1024-26.htm