POLITICS: Why Is the United States Going to War Against Iraq?

Why is the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush preparing to go to war against Iraq?

POLITICS-U.S.: Bush Revives Alleged Al-Qaeda-Baghdad Link

Of all the assertions about Iraqi wickedness catalogued in U.S. President George W. Bush's State of the Union Address Tuesday night, the most intriguing was his unexpected revival of an alleged connection between Baghdad and al-Qaeda.

POLITICS-ISRAEL: Sharon’s Stunning Victory – But What Next?

Despite the stunning victory of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's right-wing Likud party in Israel's elections Tuesday, the question persists: 'what next?'.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: A Not So Little Leap Forward

The final triumphs of the World Social Forum (WSF) were the questions with which it ended: When next? and Where? They affirmed that after three years, Porto Alegre is no longer an event but a process. There is a new eagerness to those questions now, arising from the victory of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in the Brazil elections last October. The Left is in.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: A Not So Little Leap Forward

The final triumphs of the World Social Forum (WSF) were the questions with which it ended: When next? and Where? They affirmed that after two years, Porto Alegre is no longer an event but a process.

POLITICS-U.S.: Hawks Flap Frantically as Polls Slip

''Now, you should know that I'm an ultra-conservative Baptist preacher,'' Tom, a support technician at a major Internet Service Provider (ISP) in Dallas, Texas, told a reporter who was having problems with his email service this week.

POLITICS: Recent Moves Reveal Uncertainty in U.S. Venezuela Policy

On the eve of the first ministerial meeting of the newly formed six-nation ''friends'' group created to back mediation efforts in Venezuela, U.S. policy towards Caracas, and Latin America in general, remains fuzzy and largely undefined.

POLITICS-U.S.: Ghost of Lebanon Looms Over Iraq Occupation

''What I saw from my perch in the Pentagon," wrote Colin Powell, a major general in 1982, in his memoirs about Washington's brief but disastrous sojourn in Lebanon 20 years ago, ''was America sticking its hand into a thousand-year-old hornet's nest''.

POLITICS-U.S.: Hawks Reveal Isolationist Impulses Over Korea

That the hawks in the administration of President George W. Bush along with their cheerleaders in the media and Washington think tanks are unilateralist has become conventional wisdom.

POLITICS: Russian-U.S. Ties Strained Over Peace Corps Activities

. The Russian government's decision to put an end to the activities of the Peace Corps (PC) volunteers in Russia has become a source of irritation in relations with the U.S.

POLITICS-U.S.: The Unreality of Imminent War

There is something very unreal about being in Washington at the present time. On the one hand, there is a general assumption that the United States is going to invade Iraq - perhaps with U.N. Security Council approval, perhaps not - no later than mid- to late-March, and possibly as early as next month.

POLITICS-U.S.: The Unreality of Imminent War

There is something very unreal about being in Washington at the present time.

POLITICS-SRI LANKA: Blueprint Emerges for Future Peace Talks

In the agreements reached during the just-concluded round of Sri Lankan peace talks here, the negotiators laid out the route they wish to use to cross the political minefields that lie ahead.

POLITICS-KOREA: Is U.S. Willingness to Talk Real or a Tactic?

Does the Bush administration's new willingness to ''talk'' with North Korea mark a major policy shift or a tactical manoeuvre designed to put Pyongyang on a back burner while Washington focuses world attention on Iraq?

POLITICS-U.S.: Korea is Iraq Spelled Backwards

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must be green with envy. Not only has North Korean President Kim Jong Il eclipsed him in the U.S. mass media, but his fellow evil-doer in the infamous ''axis of evil'' is also defying the world's dominant power on a daily basis, and getting away with it.

POLITICS-U.S.: Korea is Iraq Spelled Backwards

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein must be green with envy.

RUSSIA-ENERGY: Nuclear Cooperation With Iran Strains Ties With U.S.

Russia's plans to intensify non-military nuclear cooperation with Iran, despite plea by the U.S. government to end it, has strained Moscow-Washington ties. The move also underlines President Vladimir Putin's determination to pursue Russia's national interests, even if that should irk President George W. Bush.

RUSSIA-ENERGY: Nuclear Cooperation With Iran Strains Ties With U.S.

Russia's plans to intensify non-military nuclear cooperation with Iran, despite plea by the U.S. government to end it, has strained Moscow-Washington ties. The move also underlines President Vladimir Putin's determination to pursue Russia's national interests, even if that should irk President George W. Bush.

/2002-2003/CHINA: Social Tensions Could Spoil Economic Success

Capitalising on a year of stellar growth, and with expecting even more success in 2003, China's policymakers are bracing to tackle a host of irksome social issues that if ignored further could spoil the economic success of Asia's star performer.

2002-2003/POLITICS-U.S.: War Within Bush Camp to Shape External Conflicts

As in 2002, war looks poised to top the 2003 foreign-policy agenda - not only Washington's war against al-Qaeda, probably Iraq, and possibly even North Korea - but also the wars within the administration of President George W. Bush.

POLITICS-NEPAL: ‘War for Peace’ Approach Promises More Bloodshed

International backing for a 'war for peace' strategy to contain Nepal's Maoist rebels reached a new threshold, as Washington officials began this week the process of putting them on the U.S. terrorist list.