POLITICS-U.S.: There’s No Business Like War Business

When the dust finally settles on post-war Iraq, the United States may have unleashed virtually all of its state-of-the-art weaponry on a country already devastated by 13 years of rigid U.N. sanctions.

IRAQ: Rumsfeld Under Heavy Fire at Home

While the U.S. military continues to explode real bombs over Baghdad, a full-scale guerrilla war centred on President George W. Bush's controversial Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld appears to have broken out in earnest back in Washington.

IRAQ: Saddam Hussein is No Icon for Asian Muslims

The rage boiling over on the streets of Asia's Muslim countries has helped clarify how Iraqi President Saddam Hussien is regarded in this corner of the Islamic world. He is no poster boy around which the faithful will flock.

IRAQ: U.N. Agreed on Aid Role but Skirted Political Minefield

Top Pentagon adviser Richard Perle predicted last week that Iraqi president Saddam Hussein will ''go quickly, but not alone''.

POLITICS-U.S.: Neo-Con Nosedive?

Just a week ago, Richard Perle, the powerful chairman of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board (DPB) and the leader of the neo-conservative hawks who have pushed the drive to war in Iraq, reportedly threw a victory party at his house in celebration of the U.S.-led invasion.

IRAQ: Image of the ‘Ugly American’ Grows across Asia

Nearly a week into the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the political landscape across Asia is opening up to a fresh round of anti-U.S. sentiment that spans the predictable - to the unpredictable - terrain.

IRAQ: Turkey Springs an Unpleasant Surprise

Despite U.S. opposition, Turkish troops are entering northern Iraq, turning the unsettled area into a potential powder keg.

IRAQ: The High Stakes Game of Oil

-As the war on Iraq begins, how much of it is over control of petroleum resources, rather than weapons of mass destruction and regime change?

IRAQ: Latent Split on Post-War Plan Emerges Among Bush Hawks

An almost audible sigh of relief could be heard from a non-descript downtown building here Thursday morning when Iraqi President Saddam Hussein appeared on television some hours after U.S. warplanes and cruise missiles had bombarded a residence in Baghdad.

IRAQ: U.S. Actions in Middle East Spur Unexpected ‘Reforms’

As the administration of President George W. Bush cheered the start of war on Iraq and confidently talked about spurring change in the Middle East, unprecedented events in the Arab and Muslim worlds show that the region is indeed transforming - only in the opposite direction to what Washington advocates.

ENVIRONMENT: Critics Accuse Water Forum of Sidestepping U.N.

Just as the U.S.-led war on Iraq has undermined the significance of the United Nations, an international conference on water here may soon be fighting the same charge.

POLITICS-IRAQ-US: War Looks Lost Even Before First Shot

Regardless of how quickly U.S. troops roll into Baghdad, the second Gulf War already looks like a historic defeat for the United States.

U.S.: Bush’s Unilateralism Threatens Economic Globalisation

'Business Week' raised the key question this week in a lead article headlined 'The High Price of Bad Diplomacy'.

IRAQ: The Sense of History Impending

With the likelihood of a U.S.-led invasion of Iraq by week's end, one can almost hear the hinges of the doors of history creaking open.

IRAQ: War Would be U.S. Design not U.N. Failure, Diplomats say

Former U.N. secretary-general Dag Hammarskjold once remarked that the United Nations was not created to take mankind to paradise, but merely to save humanity from hell.

POLITICS-CYPRUS: A New Gulf Between EU and Turkey

Tensions have risen after Cyprus missed its big chance to join the European Union as a unified state.

POLITICS-MIDEAST: The Praxis of Upheaval

''Whenever I hear policy makers talk about the wonders of 'stability', I get the heebie-jeebies,'' wrote Michael Ledeen, a ''scholar'' at the neo-conservative American Enterprise Institute (AEI) in early 2000. ''That is for tired old Europeans and nervous Asians, not for us.''

POLITICS-IRAQ: Russia Wants Neither Vote nor Veto

The Russian government hopes it will have to use neither its vote nor its veto in the United Nations Security Council over an attack on Iraq. Its best choice is that it is not asked to make a choice.

IRAQ: U.N. Vote on Latest Resolution Still Clouded in Uncertainty

In a desperate attempt to garner nine votes for a U.N. resolution justifying a military attack on Iraq, the United States and Britain have tried every trick in the political cook book: bribe, cajole, arm-twist and even threaten some members of the Security Council with economic reprisals.

IRAQ: Spotlight Turned on Role Played by U.S. Jews in Crisis

The prominence of neo-conservative Jews in the campaign for war against Iraq and the perception that Israel has much to gain from the ouster of Saddam Hussein are fuelling growing debate about anti-Semitism and the power of the so-called "Zionist lobby'' in the United States.

POLITICS-U.S.: All in the Family

When Vice President Dick Cheney's national security adviser and fellow hawk Eric Edelman was promoted to become the new U.S. ambassador to Turkey last month, it was hardly a surprise when Cheney tapped Victoria Nuland to take his place.