POLITICS: UN Paralysed Over Israeli Attacks on Lebanon

As Israel continues to unleash its deadly firepower on a hapless Lebanon for a second week running, the United Nations remains paralysed and unable to take any action because of an indisputable fact of international politics: the unrestrained U.S. support for an intransigent Israel.

SOUTH AMERICA: Andean Bloc – Venezuela Out; Chile In?

Chilean President Michelle Bachelet is looking to this week's Mercosur summit in Argentina to revive the integration agenda, currently overshadowed by the region's increasing focus on domestic interests and the resulting bilateral economic disputes.

POLITICS-US: Bringing On “World War III”

If you thought that a global conflagration on the order of a World War was more the stuff of Biblical prophecy, science fiction and apocalyptic end-times novels, think again.

POLITICS: Mideast Conflict Boosts Chances of Iran-US Showdown

The week-old Israeli-Hezbollah conflict is likely to boost the chances of U.S. military action against Iran, according to a number of regional experts who see a broad consensus among the U.S. political elite that the ongoing hostilities are part of a broader offensive being waged by Tehran against Washington across the region.

POLITICS-US: Mideast Conflict Boosts Chances of Iran-US Showdown

The week-old Israeli-Hezbollah conflict is likely to boost the chances of U.S. military action against Iran, according to a number of regional experts who see a broad consensus among the U.S. political elite that the ongoing hostilities are part of a broader offensive being waged by Tehran against Washington across the region.

POLITICS-US: Senate Seizes on Detainee Issue to Rein in Bush

The recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that President George W. Bush does not have the authority to try suspected terrorist detainees without statutory approval - and must adhere to the Geneva Conventions' prohibitions against torture - has opened a widening chasm among members of the president's own party.

RIGHTS-IRAN: No Winners in False Confession Game

On Jul. 15, a conservative Iranian newspaper with strong ties to the Iranian Intelligence Ministry reported that Ramin Jahanbegoo, a prominent scholar, had confessed to having collaborated with foreigners to spark a "Velvet Revolution" in Iran.

INDIA: Mulling Tough Responses to Mumbai Bombings

After securing sympathy and support for fighting terrorism from the G8 grouping of the world's wealthiest countries in St. Petersburg, the Indian government is coming under pressure to harden its response to last week's Mumbai serial bombings, which killed 200 people.

POLITICS-US: Back to Sunni Authoritarians?

After posing as the champion of democratic reform and the long oppressed Shia minority in the Arab world, the administration of President George W. Bush appears to be scurrying back to Washington's traditional policy of strong support for the region's Sunni-dominated, pro-U.S. authoritarian governments.

MIDEAST: In U.S., Not All Casualties Are Equal

Numerous U.S. groups, intellectuals, politicians and media outlets are mobilising in the United States to back Israel in its ongoing assault on neighbouring Lebanon with one main idea to promote - that Israel is always the victim.

POLITICS: Bush’s Double Game on an Iraq Withdrawal Timetable

Caught between the need to explore a possible diplomatic way out of an otherwise hopeless mess in Iraq and the domestic political need to keep the Democrats on the defensive, U.S. President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney are playing a double game on the issue of timetable for withdrawal.

MIDEAST: In U.S., Not All Casualties Are Equal

Numerous U.S. groups, intellectuals, politicians and media outlets are mobilising in the United States to back Israel in its ongoing assault on neighbouring Lebanon with one main idea to promote - that Israel is always the victim.

/REPEAT/POLITICS-US: Cowboy Diplomacy Is Not Dead Yet

"We don't negotiate with evil; we defeat it."

MIDEAST: Israel Readies for Iran Showdown by Attacking Lebanon

As the fighting between Israel and the Hezbollah persists, an Israeli strategy of enlarging the conflict seems to be crystallising.

MIDEAST: Bush Faces Major Choice Amid Escalation

The sudden opening Wednesday by Lebanon's Hezbollah militia of a second front in Israel's ongoing campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza presents the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush with an escalating crisis that, until now, it has preferred to ignore.

POLITICS-MIDEAST: Bush Faces Major Choice Amid Escalation

The sudden opening Wednesday by Lebanon's Hezbollah militia of a second front in Israel's ongoing campaign against Hamas militants in Gaza presents the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush with an escalating crisis that, until now, it has preferred to ignore.

POLITICS: No Evidence of Secret Enrichment by Iran

U.S. and European officials have been saying for years that Iran is using its publicly declared nuclear programme as a cover for a clandestine nuclear weapons programme, but has never produced concrete evidence to support that argument.

NEPAL: Will UN Involvement Help Peace Process?

The collective sigh of relief heard around the capital last week, as reports of possible United Nations involvement in a tenuous peace process came in, is a sign of just how much faith ordinary Nepalis place in the world body.

POLITICS-US: Requiem for Bush’s Unipolar Dream?

A week before the Group of Eight (G8) summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, U.S. President George W. Bush finds his power and authority - both at home and abroad - at their lowest ebb.

POLITICS: Israel Fears High Price for U.S. Strike on Iran

Israel has seldom been as quiet on Iran as in the last three months.

POLITICS-US: “Decent Respect” Might Help Image Woes Abroad

It was in 1776 that a group of British colonists living along the Atlantic seaboard of North America felt compelled to offer a public justification for their "Declaration of Independence" from their mother country out of "a decent Respect to the Opinions of Mankind".