MIDEAST: Israel Recognising Obama Means Business

Against all expectations, it's becoming the forerunner of a peace plan. Indeed, it might in the end even surprise the world as Israelis and Palestinians are forced into a peace. Even if, for now, it's shaping up as anything but peaceful.

DEVELOPMENT: EU Playing Aid Politics With Aid Policy

The world's poor appear to have become pawns in a political battle over the European Union's (EU) new diplomatic corps.

MIDEAST: Religion Sways Policy, Now in Israel

There was a time when Israel was held in contempt by its neighbours for its over-liberal ways. They felt it did not "belong" in the Middle East.

BURMA: To Contest or Not? Suu Kyi’s Party Faces Tough Elections Test

Is pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi condemning the opposition party that she heads in military-ruled Burma to political irrelevance or, worse still, a burial ahead of forthcoming elections?

MIDEAST: Israel Hovers Between War and Peace

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s current visit to Washington is not just about trying to smooth over the crisis which has rocked U.S.-Israeli relations over the past fortnight.

IRAN: New Budget May Add to Uncertainties, Political Strains

Iran's 347-billion-dollar budget for the 2010-11 fiscal year, finally approved by the Guardian Council in Tehran Tuesday - just days before its scheduled implementation on the Iranian New Year Mar. 21 - appears likely to add to the tensions and uncertainty that have bedeviled the country since the disputed June 2009 elections.

THAILAND: With Blood Spilt, Political Wounds Far from Healed

A nearly four-kilometre arc of road that cuts through the historic part of the Thai capital, the site of the largest anti-government protests the country has seen in years, has brought into sharp relief a political wound that is far from being healed in this kingdom.

POLITICS: Policy Battle over Afghan Peace Talks Intensifies

The struggle within the Barack Obama administration over Afghanistan policy entered a new phase when the president suggested at a meeting of his "war cabinet" Friday that it might be time to start negotiations with the Taliban, according to a report in the New York Times Saturday.

MIDEAST: An Unlikely Collision Takes Place

In the middle of last week, it seemed that the old cliché about the light at the end of the dark Middle East tunnel was being confirmed: the U.S. had successfully cajoled both Israel and the Palestinian Authority into beginning to talk again.

US-ISRAEL: Tiff or Tipping Point?

"Condemn" is not a word that rolls trippingly off the tongue of a U.S. politician addressing anything having to do with actions, however objectionable, by Israel.

MIDEAST: Iran, Israel Spoiling for a Fight?

Iran and Israel appear to be spoiling for a fight, going by recent belligerent statements emanating from several regional capitals.

MIDEAST: Palestinians Preparing for Statehood Anyhow

Was it Yasser Arafat's biggest political error? A decade ago, the deadline for the creation of an independent Palestinian state alongside Israel as envisaged in the 1993 Oslo peace accords thrust itself into the fruitless Palestinian-Israeli negotiations.

IRAQ: Are Kurds’ Days of Kingmaking Over?

In the run-up to Iraq's parliamentary elections next week, the once-united Kurds are not only suffering deep fissures but are expected to lose their privileged kingmaker position after the polls.

POLITICS: Defying U.S., Pakistan Keeps Custody of Baradar

The refusal of Pakistani intelligence to turn over Taliban leader Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar and as many as six other top Taliban figures to the United States or the Afghan government has dealt a serious blow to the Barack Obama administration's hopes for Pakistani cooperation in weakening the Taliban.

MIDEAST: How to Check Both Iran and Israel

The U.S. is raising the stakes in its bid to halt Iran's nuclear programme, putting the issue on a "pressure track", says top U.S. general David Petraeus. The U.S. and other world powers are drumming up support for a fourth round of UN sanctions against Iran for its refusal to comply with repeated ultimatums to suspend uranium enrichment and to agree to a deal involving UN-backed nuclear fuel.

ENERGY: Coal-Fired Power on the Way Out?

The past two years have witnessed the emergence of a powerful movement opposing the construction of new coal-fired power plants in the United States.

AFGHANISTAN: Marja Offensive Aimed to Shape U.S. Opinion on War

Senior military officials decided to launch the current U.S.-British military campaign to seize Marja in large part to influence domestic U.S. opinion on the war in Afghanistan, the Washington Post reported Monday.

POLITICS: India’s Red Rebels Pose ‘Biggest Internal Threat’

They emerge from the jungles like Robin Hood’s band of merry men. They ambush police posts, kill government supporters, kidnap officials, trigger landmines and disappear in the same forest with a loot of weapons as Indian police suffer like sitting ducks.

ECONOMY: Euro not for Europe’s Poor

For 329 million, people shopping with the euro is a part of everyday life. Since its notes and coins were introduced on New Year's Day 2002, this single currency has made it possible to travel across a 16-country zone stretching from Cyprus to Ireland without having to change the money in one's pocket or handbag.

ECONOMY-EUROPE: Fear of Mediterranean Contagion Grows

The deep economic, fiscal, and trade crises of several Mediterranean countries in the euro zone that is threatening monetary stability in Europe with the possibility of contagion spreading to developing countries, say studies.

POLITICS: Iran’s “Now What” Moment

After eight tumultuous months, during which attention from all sides of Iran's political spectrum as well as anxious watchers around the world focused on a series of street clashes between protesters and the government's security forces, an eerie calm has taken hold in Iran.