POLITICS-US: Bush’s War Hawks Edged Out of the Nest

Although still united in pushing for confrontation with Iran, the coalition of hawks that propelled U.S. troops toward Baghdad three years ago appears to have finally run out of steam.

THAILAND: Elections to Test Elections

When Thais go to the polls on Sunday, they will be doing more than endorse candidates in a snap parliamentary election. Their ballots will attest how much faith this country has in a key pillar of its young democracy - the electoral exercise itself.

IRAQ: Are U.S. Intentions More “Base” Than Honourable?

Pres. George W. Bush has long assured the world that his intentions in Iraq are strictly honourable - to set the country on a clear and stable path toward democracy and withdraw U.S. troops as soon as Iraqi forces can take control, "and not one day more".

POLITICS: Iran, Iraq Crises Converge Despite U.S. Hardliners

The agreement last week between Washington and Iran to hold direct talks on Iraq has forged a new linkage between the Iraq and Iran crises.

POLITICS: Iran, Iraq Crises Converge Despite U.S. Hardliners

The agreement last week between Washington and Iran to hold direct talks on Iraq has forged a new linkage between the Iraq and Iran crises.

ELECTIONS-PERU: Rightwing and Anti-Establishment Candidates Neck and Neck

Twenty candidates are contesting Peru's Apr. 9 elections, the largest number since democracy was restored in 1980. Quantity, however, does not guarantee quality, and it looks like voters plan to keep their preferences to themselves until the last minute.

MIDEAST: Sharon’s Successor Comes In From the Shadows

After months of flattering opinion polls, the first sign of nerves was beginning to show in the camp of acting Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert. In the space of a month, his front-running Kadima (Forward) party had lost 15 percent support, and the acting prime minister's popularity had also dived in the polls in the wake of a series of unflattering articles.

POLITICS-US: Forum Over Substance

If the medium is the message, then U.S. President George W. Bush's choice of forum to launch a new public campaign to defend his beleaguered Iraq policy should be troubling to those, particularly in Europe, who had hoped that his administration was moving toward a more even-handed stance in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

POLITICS-US: Forum Over Substance

If the medium is the message, then U.S. Pres. George W. Bush's choice of forum to launch a new public campaign to defend his beleaguered Iraq policy should be troubling to those, particularly in Europe, who had hoped that his administration was moving toward a more even-handed stance in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

POLITICS: Can Iran Debate Bridge the Continental Divide?

As the United States began making the case in the U.N. Security Council this week for what its Ambassador John Bolton calls "painful consequences" if Iran continues with its controversial nuclear programme, Washington is facing a familiar dilemma: What to do if the rest of the world refuses to go along?

POLITICS-US: Mass Casualties in Collapse of Port Deal

Thursday's effective collapse of the deal to sell operations in six major U.S. ports to a Dubai-owned company following a strident three-week Congressional campaign against it threatens so many different important interests that it is difficult to make a full accounting.

CHINA: Uneasy Over US Nuclear Policies in Iran and India

With the dispute over Iran's controversial nuclear programme moving this week to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), the stage is set for a perilous confrontation between the Islamic republic and the international community - a showdown that not only Tehran but also world powers like China and Russia have fought to avoid.

POLITICS-US: Old Divides Resurface as Bush Sinks

As U.S. President George W. Bush's standing in public opinion polls plumbs new depths, his fellow Republicans are finding it ever more difficult to maintain their unity on key hot-button issues, such as foreign policy, immigration and civil liberties.

IRAQ: U.S. Officials Downplay Civil War Threat

The George W. Bush administration deliberately played down the seriousness of the threat of sectarian civil war in Iraq following the mass killings of Sunnis in revenge for the destruction of a revered Shiite shrine in Samarra, despite abundant evidence that even worse sectarian violence is certain to follow the next terrorist bombing.

PAKISTAN: Anxiety Ahead of Bush Visit

Apprehension and expectation are uppermost in the minds of Pakistani leaders as United States President George W. Bush begins, Thursday, the business end of a four-day tour of India and Pakistan.

POLITICS: Bush Seeks to Draw India, Pakistan Closer to U.S.

U.S. President George W. Bush hopes his maiden tour of India and Pakistan this week will draw both South Asian giants more firmly into Washington's orbit, as well as help restore his battered foreign policy image back home.

KYRGYZSTAN: Independence Brings an Uneasy Neighbourhood

As the only country in the world to provide bases both to Russian and U.S. forces, balancing external relations was always going to be a delicate task for Kyrgzstan.

THAILAND: Thaksin Fights Back With Real People Power

Is democracy only about elections or is it much more? That question has come into relief as the countdown begins for a snap parliamentary poll that Thailand faces early April.

JAPAN: Playing Bad Neighbour

Japan's sagging ties with its Asian neighbours plunged to a new low, this month, when foreign minister Taro Aso said Japanese pre-World War II colonisation of Taiwan resulted in a raising of education levels in that country.

POLITICS-US: Rumsfeld Declares War on Bad Press

Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld has signaled that he plans to intensify a campaign to influence global media coverage of the United States, a move that is likely to heighten the debate over press freedom and propaganda-free reporting.

POLITICS-US: Rumsfeld Declares War on Bad Press

Pentagon chief Donald Rumsfeld has signaled that he plans to intensify a campaign to influence global media coverage of the United States, a move that is likely to heighten the debate over press freedom and propaganda-free reporting.