EU Takes On Chinese Currency, Softly

The European Union is riding in the middle of an escalating currency spat between China and the United States, perceived by many in Beijing as a smokescreen for Washington's efforts to sap China's growth and contain its rise.

MIDEAST: Syria in the Catbird Seat

As the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama struggles to salvage Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, Syria is well positioned to benefit no matter the outcome.

BALKANS: Kosovo Talks Bring Hope

Serbia has lost all its military and legal battles over Kosovo, but there is hope that the internationally sponsored talks between Belgrade and Pristina in October may bring some normalisation in relations between Serbia and its breakaway province.

U.S. Defence Spending Set for Downward Course

Although U.S. military spending will reach an all-time high next year, the Pentagon budget almost certainly faces steady cuts over the medium to long term, mainly as a result of increasing pressure to reduce the ballooning national debt, according to a growing consensus among defence experts.

CHINA: Second Richest Plays Poor

As China basks in international praise for its spectacular economic transformation over the last 30 years, some shadow sides of this story of triumph have begun to emerge.

IRAN: Ahmadinejad Aims to Provoke Constitutional Overhaul

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's confrontational approach towards the Iranian parliament could turn into a wider systemic crisis and is provoking appeals for a much more resolute intervention by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

LEBANON: Twin Visions, Twin Enemies Tearing the Country Apart

Last month's bloody gun battle in the streets of a heavily populated Beirut neighbourhood may have been triggered by an individual incident; its sectarian dimension, however, has once again highlighted the underlying battle of two currents – two visions of Lebanon that have been tearing the country apart for the last four years.

MIDEAST: PA has its Back to the Wall

The village of Bani Naim, near Hebron in the southern West Bank, was under curfew and sealed off by Israeli soldiers stationed in troop carriers and jeeps, as peace talks continued in Washington.

US-AFGHANISTAN: Calls for Change of Strategy Grow Louder

Amid continued high levels of violence and a steady stream of reports of high-level government corruption in Kabul, a growing number of foreign policy specialists are urging President Barack Obama to reconsider his counterinsurgency (COIN) strategy in Afghanistan.

RUSSIA: New START May End With a Whimper

Efforts by the U.S. and Russian governments to move speedily towards the abolition of strategic nuclear weapons have hit stumbling blocks and continue to generate debates among experts about the practicality of achieving a nuclear- free world in the near future.

MIDEAST: Scepticism Marks Peace Talks Launch

While all parties maintained a spirit of cordiality and mutual understanding, no new promises emerged from this week’s talks between the leaders of Israel and the Palestine Authority (PA) that offered tangible hope for a major breakthrough in resolving the more than 60-year-old conflict.

ASIA: Japan Watches As China Passes It By

China’s stepping up as the world’s second largest economy drives home to Japan the point that after decades of ruling the roost in Asia, it will have to share the leadership stage with a new, powerful contender that is here to stay.

RWANDA: Genocide Ideology and Sectarianism Laws Silencing Critics?

Among its unstable and conflict-ridden neighbours, Rwanda stands out. It has been pegged as a model of development and one of Africa’s success stories: Since the 1990’s, when a civil war ravaged the country, average incomes have doubled, its people have become healthier and less hungry and it has the highest proportion of women parliamentarians worldwide. Yet, maintaining this stability is a government accused of muzzling its opponents and committing human rights abuses.

US-MIDEAST: Light At End of Tunnel Elusive, Despite Obama’s Efforts

President Barack Obama will try this week to underline his progress in extricating the United States from the morass his predecessor's "global war on terror" in the Greater Middle East.

MIDEAST: ‘McCarthyism’ Rises in Israel

Rightwing Israeli groups financially supported by Jewish and fundamentalist Christian groups from abroad are on a campaign to undermine free thought in Israeli universities. Collaterally, a move is under way by right-wing parties in the Knesset, Israel's parliament, to limit the freedom of action of civil and human rights-minded NGOs.

ENVIRONMENT-INDIA: Green Activists Gain Ground with Successive Victories

Green activists in India have chalked up a series of successes recently and feel heartened that the central government is heeding their call. A number of mega projects which would have displaced vulnerable communities or caused damage to the environment were recently scrapped by the government.

AFRICA: Maputo Protocol a Work in Progress

Kenyans are still euphoric over the referendum endorsing a progressive new constitution; but the heat generated by its opponents around their main rallying point - abortion rights - is a reminder of the wide gap between law and implementation in Africa, particularly when it concerns women's rights.

PHILIPPINES: Past Starting to Haunt New President

The past, centred around the democratic records of his popular politician parents, may have sent Benigno Aquino III to the Philippine presidency, but it is now also biting at his heels, less than two months after he assumed office.

Ruling Against US Access to Bases Helps Ease Colombia’s Isolation

When the Colombian government announced in November that it had reached a deal to give the U.S. armed forces access to seven military bases, the news provoked surprise and protests, like when an unfair clause is discovered in a contract that was blindly signed.

INDIA: Moving On to a ‘Backward’ Step

Strident voices are rising against the Indian coalition government's move to identify people by their caste background in the ongoing census.

MIDEAST: Towards ‘Deja vu All Over Again’

"If you come to a fork in the road, take it." Sometimes, the nonsensical quote of the legendary New York Yankees baseball catcher Yogi Berra has a real message. It can pointedly be applied to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on peace with the Palestinians.