POLITICS: German Urges Compromise on Iran Enrichment

German Defence Minister Franz Josef Jung's suggestion that Iran should be allowed to carry out a limited enrichment programme under the supervision of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has exposed a fundamental crack in the façade of unity among the six countries that have given Iran a proposal aimed at halting all its enrichment activities.

IRAN: Civil Society Feels Conservatives’ Wrath

Nearly a year has gone by since Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to office, and his establishment is continuing to suppress civil society, intimidate the press and arrest activists.

POLITICS: Indo-US Nuclear Deal Clears First Hurdle

With the House International Relations Committee (HIRC) of the United States House of Representatives gaining overwhelming bipartisan support for a draft bill to allow resumption of civilian nuclear commerce between India and the U.S., the path is clearer for the controversial nuclear deal signed a year ago between President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

DEVELOPMENT: Caught Between Fringe and Mainstream

The content of speeches at the world assembly of civil society groups in Glasgow last week was indication of course of where they stood in relation to the world. But indicative also was where they sat when they spoke.

POLITICS: Defying U.S. Deadline, Iran Recalls 2005 Stall

Iran's announcement that it will not respond to the formal negotiating offer from the six powers until late August was both an expression of confidence and a bit of payback for European stalling in responding to Iran in 2005.

EAST TIMOR: Australia – Peacekeeper or Petroleum Predator?

A two month old rebellion by sacked army officials and police deserters in East Timor, one of the world's newest and poorest countries, has resulted in an Australian-led "peacekeeping" force arrival in its capital Dili, and a media-supported push for ‘regime change'.

EAST TIMOR: Arrest, Weapons Handover Move Crisis Management Forward

Few would have predicted that April's protests in East Timor would spiral into a deadly spree of ethnic and personal settling of scores in yet another blow to the world's youngest country.

FINANCE: At 50, Is the Paris Club a Colonial Relic?

In a recent statement on the 50th anniversary of the Paris Club, a powerful creditors' cartel based in France, anti-debt groups described the club's policies toward borrowing nations as "medieval". But some say the word "colonial" is equally fitting.

POLITICS-US: Strategy Paper Reveals Bush Won’t Attack Iran

In every statement on Iran, officials of the George W. Bush administration routinely repeat the party line that "the president never takes any option off the table".

U.S.: Bush Hitches Republicans’ Political Star to Iraq

With less than six months before the mid-term Congressional elections, U.S. President George W. Bush and his top aides are gambling heavily - some would say recklessly - that Iraq will not be the political liability for Republicans that most pundits have believed it would be.

DEVELOPMENT-LATAM: Toward a New Financial Democracy?

Two multi-billion-dollar industries are converging in Latin America, driven entirely by lower-income citizens trying to improve their economic situations.

POLITICS-US: “New American Century” Project Ends with a Whimper

Is the Project for the New American Century (PNAC), which did so much to promote the invasion of Iraq and an Israel-centred "global war on terror", closing down?

POLITICS: Bush Iran Strategy Suffers Major Diplomatic Defeat

Despite claims that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has regained the diplomatic initiative from Iran with a conditional offer to join multilateral talks with Tehran, the real story behind the policy shift is that the administration has suffered a decisive defeat of its effort to get international sanctions for possible military action against Iran.

POLITICS: Bush Iran Strategy Suffers Major Diplomatic Defeat

Despite claims that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has regained the diplomatic initiative from Iran with a conditional offer to join multilateral talks with Tehran, the real story behind the policy shift is that the administration has suffered a decisive defeat of its effort to get international sanctions for possible military action against Iran.

PERU: Garcia to Seek Neighbourly Relations with Chavez

The government of Peruvian president-elect Alan García will not lead a current of opposition in Latin America to Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, even though his victory was celebrated in Washington as creating a new counterweight in the region to the leftist leader of oil-rich Venezuela.

MIGRATION-US: The Myth of Low-Wage Warfare

How could it be that an influx of less-educated workers from poor countries would not significantly harm low-income U.S. workers?

MIGRATION-US: Statistics Reveal More “Winners” Than “Losers”

Beneath the roar of enormous pro-immigrant rallies across the United States, and behind congressional debates over border walls and guest workers, lurks a knotty question: Who wins and who loses from illegal immigration?

POLITICS: Gulf States Rethink U.S.-Led Security Alliance

Amid increasing tensions between Tehran and Washington over Iran's nuclear programme, the George W. Bush administration is courting the Persian/Arab Gulf monarchies with the same proposal it offered them 15 years ago after the first Gulf War - purchase U.S. armoury in the billions and Washington will protect you against your Persian nemesis.

POLITICS: Gulf States Rethink U.S.-Led Security Alliance

Amid increasing tensions between Tehran and Washington over Iran's nuclear programme, the George W. Bush administration is courting the Persian/Arab Gulf monarchies with the same proposal it offered them 15 years ago after the first Gulf War - purchase U.S. armoury in the billions and Washington will protect you against your Persian nemesis.

IRAQ: Badr Groups Move from Troubled Past to Uncertain Future

It could be instructive to recall that the Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and its armed wing, the Badr Corps, arose from a conference of Iraqi opposition parties called in Iran in 1982.

COLOMBIA: Uribe Only Outdone by Abstention

The polarisation of Colombian society did not curb the decline in voter turnout, as Colombians basically faced the choice of voting for right-wing President Álvaro Uribe and his strong-arm tactics in the armed conflict, or the leftist Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA), which is set to become the second-strongest political force, having shoved aside the Liberal Party.