The pro-war left
Writing in Dissent, the New York-based left-wing magazine, Johann Hari uses Nic Cohen's "What's Left?" to launch into a wider meditation on the logical inconsistencies of leftist intellectuals who stand-by their support for the invasion of Iraq.
Keep up to date with the latest developments and sharpest perspectives in a world of strife and struggle.
Sign up for toD's daily security briefings by clicking here
Iraq: second guessing and estimating
The latest US National Intelligence Estimate of progress in Iraq - an update on the January report - suggests that there have been "measurable but uneven improvements" in the security situation, but that violence remains high, factions unreconciled, and structural problems constrain economic rejuvenation. Read the full report here.
Foreign Policy magazine lists the numerous false dawns since the invasion of Iraq, where unwarranted optimism got the better of cold appraisal.
Abdul Jabbar al-Wagga, the Iraqi deputy oil minister, has been released by his captors. The deputy minister and three other oil officials were abducted in a sophisticated operation involving 100 men two weeks ago.
The rate of displacement in Iraq has risen from 50,000 people per month to 60,000, bringing the total of displaced people in Iraq upwards to 4.2 million.
Fighting has broken out in the holy city of Karbala, where hundreds of thousands of Shia pilgrims have come to observe a religious festival.
Close the door behind you
US attorney-general Alberto Gonzales resigned his post over the weekend after months of controversy over the firing of eight US attorneys. Gonzales will be remembered for his aggressive stance on fighting terrorism, particularly his push for the expansion of warrantless surveillance measures. An "architect" of the Bush administration's counterterrorist policies, Gonzales leaves a White House in the grips of uncertain renovation and a Justice Department in disarray.
Drugs and terrorism: happy bedfellows
This year's opium harvest in Afghanistan is predicted to reach a record high, thanks in part to a 17 percent increase in land under cultivation. 8,400 tonnes of opium are thought to be harvested in 2007, 34 percent more than the 2006 total.
Writing in the right-of-centre Counterterrorism blog, Douglas Farah casts a stern eye at the nexus of drug production and terrorism in Afghanistan.
Energy bridging east and west
At the risk of eroding its close relationship with Washington, Turkey has invested in gas projects in Iran in a bid to become an "energy bridge" between west and east. Ankara hopes that such a key economic role will advance its bid to enter the European Union.
Olmert-Abbas talks
Israeli and Palestinian leaders Ehud Olmert and Mahmoud Abbas have held talks in Jerusalem on strengthening Abbas' fledgling government. Palestinian politics are crippled at the moment, with Hamas in control of Gaza, and Abbas' Fatah largely in control in the West Bank.
A rocket fired by suspected Hamas militants landed in the southern Israeli city of Sderot.
Norwegian expulsion from Ethiopia
Addis Ababa has thrown out six Norwegian diplomats from the country for "pampering" Islamist insurgents and other separatists within the country. The Scandinavian envoys are trying to iron out lingering disputes between Ethiopia and its neighbour Eritrea.
