John Schulz on India and Pakistan's nuclear powder keg

Sarah Spencer on child slavery in Sirre Leone

Laura Lumpe on the humanitarian risks in U.S. military training in developing countries

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THE RHETORIC CALMS BEFORE MEETING PUTIN IN ALMATY
India's prime minister Vajpayee has dismissed the idea of direct talks with Musharraf, but the presence of both men at a regional conference in Kazakhstan opens the possibility of Putin acting as a peacemaker. (Guardian June 3, 20020)
PAKISTAN ANALYST SEES NUCLEAR WAR AS A POSSIBILITY
An attack from India could drive the Pakistanis to react with a nuclear strike or risk being reduced to a dependant state.(Times of India, June 2, 2002)

PONDERING THE UNTHINKABLE
The best estimate, a war would result in 5 to 30 million casualties, spread nuclear pollution around the globe and change theworld as we see and relate to it. Pakistani Brigadier General Feroz Hassan Khan, Matthew McKinzie and Sumit Ganguly, a specialist in regional security in South Asia discuss the likelihood and details on Jim Lehrer's Newshour. (PB, May 29, 2002)
CRISIS ROADMAP
Is India bluffing? No. What can lead to a nuclear confrontation? Pakistan's sense of insecurity is at the top of the list. Georgetown's Center for Strategic and International Studies provides a quick read of the key questions.
(CSIS, May 29, 2002)
U.S. POLICY TOWARDS INDIA AND PAKISTAN AFTER 9/11
Four essays from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. Since last September’s attacks, the United States has found itself in the unaccustomed position of having good relations with India and Pakistan at the same time. The Afghan crisis is testing whether Delhi and Islamabad can adjust to this new reality. (CEIP, May 29, 2002)
THE INDIA-PAKISTAN MILITARY BALANCE
(Anthony Cordesman, The Center for Strategic and International Studies May 29, 2002)

THE BBC'S NUCLEAR PROLIFERATION TIMELINE
Who developed which bomb when (BBC)

CIA'S TENET LAYS GROUNDWORK FOR INITIATIVE
Tenet remained mum after a two-hour conversation with Sharon, Monday, but it is widely expected that his current trip is setting the foundation for a new Bush initiative on the Middle East. That is likely to be delivered in a speech By Bush or Colin Powell before the upcoming G-8 meeting in Canada. (Jerusalem Post, June 4, 2002)

ISRAEL NOW HAS ITS OWN SPY SATELLITE
The OFEQ-5, launched atop a Shavit rocket, gives Israel the option of running surveillance on its neighbors' activities independently of the U.S. (Space Daily, May 28, 2002)

THE POLITICS OF PICKING AN AMBASSADOR
Washington is a tough town, and an ambassador without pull is likely to be left out in the cold. That may explain why it has taken so long for Israel’s new ambassdor Danny Ayalon to get the green light. Ha’aretz discusses the backroom politicking that went into the choice. (Ha’aretz June 2, 2002)
LIGHTNING RAIDS VS. OCCUPATION
Shinbet Chief Avid Dichter wants to keep Israeli troops in Palestinian centers until the suicide bombs stop completely. The government is opting for a more cautious approach.
(Jerusalem Post, June 2, 20020)

AN ARAB AND AN AMERICAN JOURNALIST COMPARE NOTES ON THE STEREOTYPES GENERATED BY 9/11
Shereen El Wakeel toured the U.S. for her program. "Good Morning Egypt." Mike Cerre, an independent producer based in California, toured the Arab Gulf states. El Wakeel found a dramatically increased urgency in America to understand what Islam is all about. Cerre found an urge to be heard and understood. (Jim Lehrer Newshour, May 27, 2002)
FRENCH ANTI-SEMITISM INCREASES EMIGRATION TO ISRAEL
The emigration rate has increased 60% in the last few months. Not everyone is leaving, but increased attacks by skin heads and neo-nazis and the rising influence of extremists like Jean-Marie Le Pen are beginning to make Israel look attractive despite its problems with suicide bombers.

TIME FOR A FRESH LOOK AT IRAN?
George Bush seems determined to treat Iran as a monolithic terrorist state. The reality is more complex. Europeans are following a far more nuanced strategy, and it seems clear that regardless of what Washington says, Iran will emerge as an important player both in oil and regional politics. More and more analysts suggest that its time to take a closer look at what is going on there. (Center for Defense Information, May 23, 2002)

U.S. DEFENSE

THE TERRORISTS THE CIA FORGOT TO TELL US ABOUT
Senator Warren Rudman, a former member of the Senate's Select Intelligence Committee and Robert Baer, who served 21 years as a case officer in the CIA Directorate of Operations, discuss the implications of stories in the new York Times and Newsweek which reported that the CIA was tracking two key Al Qaeda terrorists prior to 9/11, but neglected to tell the FBI. (PBS. June 3, 2002).
The New York Times' Report
(Monday, June 3, 2002)
Newsweek's story
(Monday, June 3, 2002)
Egypt says it warned the U.S. before 9/11
(The New York Times, Tuesday, June 4, 2002)

GEORGE BUSH WARNS THAT THE U.S. MAY RESORT TO PREEMPTIVE ATTACKS TO PROTECT ITSELF IN THE FUTURE
In a commencement address to cadets at West Point, George Bush warned that because the U.S. is dealing with a shadowy world of international terrorism operating from 60 countries, it can no rely on massive retaliation as a deterrent. From now on preemptive strikes may be an option.(Washington Post, June 2, 2002).
The full text of Bush's speech

RUMSFELD REBORN AS SECRETARY OF WAR
The Defense Secretary seems to be having more success in urging the U.S. to use its military force aggressively. He may be onto something as the U.S. comes to terms with its new role in the world. (By Eliot A. Cohen in Foreign Affairs, June 2002)

THE 'RAMOS' AFFAIR
Over the last decade, the Russian American Observation Satellite (RAMOS) has quietly defused the risk of a nuclear holocaust. Like other hard-won victories of American diplomacy RAMOS is now in danger of termination by a Republican Congress that wants to withhold funding. (The Center for Defense Information May 29, 2002)

GETTING READY TO RESUME NUCLEAR TESTING?
American experts have been paying close attention to unexplained activities at Russia’s Novaya Zemlya nuclear test facility. Washington’s lack of enthusiasm for the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty raises even more questions about American intentions. A new arms race may be jsut around the corner. (Center for Non Proliferation Studies at the Monterey Center for International Studies, May 2002)
MISSILE DEFENSE OR SELF DESTRUCTION?
Anti-ballistic missiles tipped with nuclear warheads might stop incoming warheads, but they would also knock out most commercial satellites in lower-earth orbit, effectively ending much of our daily life as we know it. The result, some critics predict, would be a self-inflicted "Pearl harbor" in outerspace. (Foreign Policy in Focus, May 21, 2002)

HALLIBURTON'S TROUBLES CAST DOUBTS ON CHENEY'S BUSINESS ACUMEN
Michael Kranish in the Boston Globe writes that a merger initiated by Cheney could sink the company, whose stock has fallen to a fraction of its former value. (Boston Globe, June 3, 2002)

CENTRAL ASIA
THE NEXT WAR MAY BE OVER WATER
Under the Soviet Union, water and energy resources were exchanged freely across what were only administrative borders. Moscow provided the funds and management to build and maintain infrastructure. Rising nationalism and competition among the five Central Asia states have hindered the development of a viable regional approach to replace the Soviet system of management. Linked water and energy issues are now second only to Islamic extremism as a source of tension in recent years. (International Crisis Group, May 29, 2002)
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH WRITES TO DONALD RUMSFELD CONCERNING U.S. NON-COMPLIANCE WITH THE GENEVA CONVENTION ON AFGHANISTAN
The Human Rights agency notes in a letter to the Secretary of Defense that in adopting contradictory and strained interpretations of the Geneva Convention, the U.S. is setting dangerous precedents and weakening international law with no real benefit to U.S. security.

AFGHANISTAN: WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENED AT THE BATTLE OF TAKUR GHAR?
Faulty intelligence, ineffective communications, and a series of unexpected mishaps led to the most U.S. fatalities in any action since Somalia. The U.S. Defense Department attempts to explain to reporters what actually happened. (U.S. Defense Department, May 24, 2002)

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