Morning Brief 3/27

Iraq A bomb ripped through a U.S. Army base in Mosul. A U.S. raid on a Baghdad mosque on Sunday didn’t go well, leaving 20 dead. Iraqi and American forces attacked Al-Sadr followers. A.C. Grayling says we outta separate the civilians from the insurgents (don’t click if you’re looking for an actual proposal). McCain and ...

Iraq

Iraq

A bomb ripped through a U.S. Army base in Mosul. A U.S. raid on a Baghdad mosque on Sunday didn’t go well, leaving 20 dead. Iraqi and American forces attacked Al-Sadr followers. A.C. Grayling says we outta separate the civilians from the insurgents (don’t click if you’re looking for an actual proposal).

McCain and Feingold go to Baghdad, and take mild jabs at each other at a press conference. An NYT report on waning public support for the war, and the 2006 mid-terms.

Israel Votes Tomorrow

The race is tightening up. Everyone seems to agree these elections are boring. Yossi Klein Halevi says that they’re also Israel’s saddest elections, "the first with barely a mention of peace." The election will test Israel’s grip on the West Bank.

Iran

The WaPo’s Karl Vick echoing other reports, says: "…Iranian politics has shifted so sharply to the right that some traditional conservatives are warning of the dangers of radicalism."

The State Department message to potential grant applicants for its Iranian democratization program.

U.S. Foreign Policy 

Paul Berman considers why Francis Fukuyama is no longer a neocon. Message: "Fukuyama is always worth reading, and his new book contains ideas that I hope the non-neoconservatives of America will adopt. But neither his old arguments nor his new ones offer much insight into this, the most important problem of all — the problem of murderous ideologies and how to combat them." Choice quote: "Nowadays, if you are any kind of political thinker at all, and you haven’t issued a sweeping denunciation of your dearest friends, or haven’t been hanged by them from a lamppost — why, the spirit of the age has somehow passed you by."

Tidbits 

The Afghan Christian convert has been released–but not really. Condi will ask Russia to clarify the Iraq spying report. The opposition leader in Belarus gets no love from the ruling government: no lawyer, no doctor, and no wife. The NYT is glad that Sens Schumer and Graham are moving away from their currency manipulation charges. Why Chavez’s days may be numbered. How George Bush unified Latin America.

More from Foreign Policy

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping give a toast during a reception following their talks at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 21.

Can Russia Get Used to Being China’s Little Brother?

The power dynamic between Beijing and Moscow has switched dramatically.

Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.
Xi and Putin shake hands while carrying red folders.

Xi and Putin Have the Most Consequential Undeclared Alliance in the World

It’s become more important than Washington’s official alliances today.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.
Russian President Vladimir Putin greets Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev.

It’s a New Great Game. Again.

Across Central Asia, Russia’s brand is tainted by Ukraine, China’s got challenges, and Washington senses another opening.

Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.
Kurdish military officers take part in a graduation ceremony in Erbil, the capital of Iraq’s Kurdistan Region, on Jan. 15.

Iraqi Kurdistan’s House of Cards Is Collapsing

The region once seemed a bright spot in the disorder unleashed by U.S. regime change. Today, things look bleak.