ASIA'S BIN LADEN GOES DOWN
Last week's arrest of Riduan Isamuddin, better known by his nom de guerre, Hambali, was a major victory for the U.S. war on al-Qaeda. Southeast Asia has been one of the most dangerous growth areas of the terror network since the defeat of the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the charismatic Hambali -- sometimes known as "the Bin Laden of the East" -- has been at the center of recruiting, training, organizing and funding operatives who have carried out deadly attacks in Indonesia and elsewhere. His capture by U.S. forces deals a body blow to Jemaah Islamiya, the southeast Asian franchise of the Qaeda movement (with whom Hambali was its key liaison). But the Asian movement has other leaders ready to take his place.
(Christian Science Monitor, August 18, 2003)

TENSIONS RISE AS KOREA TALKS LOOM
North Korea is demanding a non-aggression pact with the U.S. as the price for stopping its nuclear weapons program, but that's a price Washington can't meet. Even the more palatable (to Washington) option of offering written security guarantees is under fire from administration hawks. But, at the same time, the U.S. can't convince any of North Korea's neighbors to support a tougher line and help implement new forms of pressure such as sanctions. And the U.S. military sees few good tactical options if the administration opted to confront North Korea. Despite the success of bringing North Korea into six-way talks, the proposals on offer may not break the stalemate.
(BBC, August 18, 2003)

MISSILE STING TRIGGERS ALARMS
It may have been falsely reported as a "terror plot" initially, but last week's arrest of an Anglo-Indian arms dealer who believed he was shipping a surface-to-air missile to terrorists in the U.S. certainly gave Western government cause for concern over the vulnerability of commercial airliners to ground fire.
(BBC, August 18, 2003)

REHABILITATING GHADAFI
On President Reagan's watch, Libyan leader Muammar Ghadafi represented a similar personification of terrorism that Osama bin Laden does in today's Washington. But Ghadafi has long-since ceased waging terror war by proxy, and worked instead on buying his way back to international respectability. He appears to have succeeded with a $2.7 billion compensation deal for the families of the victims of the bombing of Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie. Britain has moved to end UN sanctions imposed on Libya as a result of the incident, although the U.S. insists that it will maintain its own sanctions. But the deal allows Ghadafi back onto the international stage while evading any personal responsibility for Lockerbie, writes the Economist.
(The Economist, August 14, 2003)

KARZAI'S AFGHANISTAN TEETERS
On a single day last week, 65 Afghans were killed in violence pitting Taliban and al-Qaeda fighters against U.S.-backed government troops and police. And this week opened with a firefight at a rural police station in which 22 died. Undeterred by NATO's takeover of the command of the relatively small international peacekeeping operation in the capital, the Taliban are mounting a fierce comeback offensive, relying on Pashtun alienation, weaknesses of the Karzai government and -- diplomats and Afghan authorities suggest -- sanctuaries in Pakistan to sustain them. Diplomats warn that without a substantial expansion of the international security mission, and cooperation from Pakistan, the government that Washington built in Afghanistan may collapse.
(Financial Times, August 18, 2003)

WHAT THE BRITS ARE LEARNING ABOUT BLAIR
An official inquiry into the suicide of a British weapons scientist has turned an uncomfortable spotlight on the inner workings of Tony Blair's government as it sought to make its case for war against Iraq. The picture that emerges from evidence before the Hutton inquiry is of Blair's inner circle worrying that the findings of British intelligence didn't make a strong enough case for going to war, and therefore systematically exaggerating those findings to a point that left intelligence chiefs unhappy. The question is fast becoming how many of Blair's circle will have to fall on their proverbial swords.
(The Scotsman, August 18, 2003)

BUSH SAYS MARINES WILL LEAVE LIBERIA WITHIN WEEKS
Most U.S. peacekeeping deployments are open-ended by nature, renewed as necessary from year to year. Not Liberia. President Bush has made clear that he wants U.S. Marines to leave Liberian soil by October 1, and hand over to UN peacekeepers. And the White House will be hoping that the country's rival armies, and the West African and other foreign peacekeepers will oblige.
(Reuters, August 18, 2003)

WHY THE U.S. NEEDS A BIGGER ARMY
The scale of America's international commitments is growing, placing new strains on an already stretched military. To maintain morale and efficiency, the U.S. military will have to grow, argues Brookings scholar Michael O'Hanlon. The principles of "small government" don't sit well with the demands of maintaining order in America's expanding empire.
(The Brookings Institution, August 14, 2003)

A BUTCHER PASSES UNMOURNED
Idi Amin combined brutality and buffoonery in a mix that created the ultimate caricature of the post-colonial African dictator. He saw out his days in exiled disgrace in Saudi Arabia, lucky to have settled there in the days before international courts of justice. The Observer's Peter Beaumont examines his legacy.
(The Observer, August 14, 2003)

THE SECRET OF MURDOCH'S SUCCESS
His liberal detractors may see News Corporation CEO Rupert Murdoch as the personification of the right-wing media baron they love to hate, but Murdoch didn't get where he is today by being an ideologue. He may, indeed, be a conservative true believer, but business is business, and he built his global empire with his eye firmly focused not on the Holy Grails of the right, but on the bottom line, writes James Fallows.
(The Atlantic, September, 2003)