Global Archive

Some selected charts from the briefing slides that accompanied Gen. David Petraeus’ Sept. 10 testimony before two House committees:

Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker testified before a joint hearing of the House Armed Services and Foreign Relations committees Monday. A transcript of Petraeus’ testimony is here, and the briefing slides that accompanied the testimony are here (both pdf files). More from the slides later. For now, here’s a somewhat random sampling of the coverage of the testimony:Petraeus Backs Partial Pullout | The Washington Post (AP video on WashingtonPost.com)Petraeus Warns Against Quick Pullout in Iraq | The New York TimesPetraeus Upbeat Over Reducing Troop Levels | The Guardian (Reuters video on Guardian.co.uk)Turning Point for America […]

The New York Times today (Sept. 9), has a story on the increasing cultivation of jatropha, a potential source of biofuel, by farmers in Mali, where the plant has long been used as a natural fence in the country: . . . a plant called jatropha is being hailed by scientists and policy makers as a potentially ideal source of biofuel, a plant that can grow in marginal soil or beside food crops, that does not require a lot of fertilizer and yields many times as much biofuel per acre planted as corn and many other potential biofuels. . . […]

It is well documented that the Chinese government attempts to use (a very small minority of) ethnic Chinese living in other countries as instruments of its foreign policy. This includes using them as intelligence sources as well as agents of influence. Almost any experts on Chinese strategy will say so. Joshua Kurlantzick, author of “Charm Offensive,” touched on the subject in his book, and discussed it in a recent podcast interview, although he was careful to preface his statement with a disclaimer clearly meant to preempt critics who would accuse him of prejudice toward ethnic Chinese: It’s not right necessarily […]

The Commentary Week in Review is posted on the blog every Friday. Drawing from more than two dozen English-language news outlets worldwide, the column highlights notable op-eds on major issues from the past week. The Stage Is Set With the much anticipated September report due this week by U.S. Army Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker on the status of the Iraq war, there was little surprise last week’s opinion pages were dominated by claims of what’s gone wrong, what’s gone right and what the U.S. should do now in Iraq. Leading the charge was Madeleine K. Albright, […]

RABAT, Morocco — Getting people on the streets and in the cafés to talk about today’s elections in Rabat has been difficult. Nobody seems to have strong opinions about the candidates; and fewer than I expected planned to go to the polls. Perhaps it is the fact that true power rest with the king, no matter what the parliament looks like. Suprisingly though, about half of the people I talked with over the past couple of days here have been very eager to talk about politics in Libya. It seems that the freeing of the Belgian nurses did notplay well […]

September is the month of Iraq reports. The Government Accountability Office issued a poor report card to the Iraqi government Sept. 4, and Multinational Forces-Iraq Commander Gen. David Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker will give Congress their progress reports early next week. In the interim, we just received in our inbox a link to the just-released “Report of the Independent Commission on the Security Forces of Iraq.” The bipartisan commission, chaired by Ret. Marine Corps Gen. James Jones (former Supreme Allied Commander, Europe), was created in legislation in May and charged with examining progress in building Iraq’s […]

If you’re reading this blog post, then you’ve no doubt noticed our site’s new look. (Unless you’ve never been here before, of course. If that’s the case, welcome to WPR, and please come back often; we’re only going to keep getting better.) In addition to our new color scheme and a number of aesthetic upgrades designed to make existing features more of a pleasure to use, we also have some new features you’ll want to check out. See especially the new dedicated video section. New original videos are coming soon. And our new about page has links to more in-depth […]

As German authorities continue the hunt for suspects in the foiled plot to car-bomb Americans in Germany, many might be wondering about the U.S. military presence there. Ramstein Air Base, which was reportedly the main target of the German plot, is one of the most important U.S. military bases outside of the United States and the largest Air Force base anywhere in the world, serving as a key transport hub for troops and materiel from the United States through Europe to “down-range” locations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The base has taken on greater importance in the couple of years after […]

From this week’s Rights & Wrongs: CHINA COPS EXPAND VIRTUAL BEAT — Chinese authorities are once again poised to demonstrate their aptitude for creating programs to monitor even the most minute details of Chinese citizens’ lives. When the people of Beijing turn on their computers this weekend, they will be greeted by two new faces — one male and one female — cybercops designed to remind Internet users to avoid sites featuring “objectionable” material and encouraging them to report any illicit activity. The two cartoon characters will bike, walk or drive across a user’s screen every 30 minutes as a […]

The Commentary Week in Review is posted on the blog every Friday. Drawing from more than two dozen English-language news outlets worldwide, the column highlights notable op-eds on major issues from the past week. Headscarves and Military Uniforms;What Gul Means for Turkey The Aug. 28 ascension of Justice and Development Party member and former Islamist Abdullah Gul to the Turkish presidency (here’s a CNN report on it) prompted a barrage of op-eds about what the near and distant future will hold for Turkey, which enjoys a border with Iran, Syria and Iraq. Claiming Gul’s election “marks a watershed in the […]