POLITICS-JAPAN: Aiming For Middle Power Status?

Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is nose-diving in the polls, its gaffe-prone prime minister Taro Aso has acquired a reputation as his party’s funeral director, and a pivotal election may transform the Japanese political landscape before September.

EUROPE: Criticising Bush, And Copying Him

Outgoing U.S. President George W. Bush has been unpopular in Europe, but his policies in fighting the 'war on terror' have found many takers.

MIDEAST: Palestinian Split Deepens

Palestinian resistance factions were roundly blamed in the mainstream media for their last-minute decision to boycott last week's Egypt-sponsored "comprehensive dialogue" summit, ostensibly aimed at Palestinian national reconciliation. But some independent commentators say the move, led by Gaza-based resistance faction Hamas, was justified.

POLITICS: Pact Will End Iraqi Dependence on U.S. Military

The text of the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed by U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari Monday closes the door to a further U.S. military presence beyond 2011 even more tightly than the previous draft and locks in a swift end to Iraqi dependence on the U.S. military that appears to be irreversible.

INDIA: Uneasy About Obama Victory

Unlike the rest of the world, which has welcomed the election of Barack Obama as president of the United States, Indian policymakers have misgivings, rooted in his campaign statements on Kashmir, nuclear non-proliferation and business process outsourcing from the U.S. to India.

EU-RUSSIA: Arms Overshadow Talks

Brinkmanship over weapons overshadowed a summit between the European Union and Russia held in the French city Nice Nov. 14.

EGYPT: Ruling Party Delivers More Disappointment

The ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) of President Hosni Mubarak promised a "new style of thinking" at its fifth annual party congress last week, but critics in the opposition say they saw little of it.

U.S.: Obama Foreign Policy May Not Require a Clean Break

While much of the world and many of his U.S. supporters are expecting a sharp break with his predecessor's foreign policy after President-elect Barack Obama takes office Jan. 20, they may be surprised by the degree of continuity between the two administrations.

POLITICS-US: Religious Right Down but Not Out

The election of Sen. Barack Obama as the first African American president of the United States will not mark the end of the religious right.

U.S.: Obama to Seek Global Re-engagement, But How Much?

While a President Barack Hussein Obama will present a strikingly different face of the United States to the rest of the world, how different his actual foreign policy will be remains unclear.

MIDEAST: For Peace, the U.S. Will Have to Change

Barack Obama has been elected U.S. President at a time when the number of extremists has risen dramatically since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003, going by the resistance to Western forces in the region. The U.S.-led 'war on terror' has itself now become a threat to peace.

POLITICS: ‘New US President Must Review Pakistan Policy’

Tensions between the United States and Pakistan - on the eve of the keenly-watched U.S. Presidential elections - accompanying a visit by U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus over unabated air strikes into Pakistani territory bode ill for peace in the region say analysts.

RIGHTS: Security Council Could Produce Insecurity

International institutions like the World Trade Organisation or the International Monetary Fund are slowly adapting to the growing economic impact of emerging countries. Even the informal club par excellence, the G8, is bound to open its doors for developing countries. There is one powerful institution though, that seems unable to adapt to the changing realities: the Security Council of the United Nations.

AFGHANISTAN: ‘If Talks With Taliban Bring Peace, I’ll Support It’

Western officials are increasingly turning to new strategies in an effort to stabilise Afghanistan and defeat the insurgency here, according to U.S. and Afghan officials. The various initiatives - from negotiating with the Taliban to arming tribal militias - have differing degrees of support from Afghans.

POLITICS-US: Top Obama Advisor Has Long Ties to Neocons

With the 2008 presidential campaign at its end, pundits have begun to discuss in earnest what expected winner Barack Obama's administration might look like. An important piece of evidence is Obama's campaign team, which largely escaped the harsh scrutiny that his opponent's lobbyist-laden team received.

POLITICS-US: Two, Three, Many Grand Bargains?

As the United States waded ever deeper into the Indochinese quagmire in the early 1960s, the Argentine revolutionary Che Guevara called for "two, three, many Vietnams" to bog down the superpower in unwinnable Third World conflicts that would drain its treasury and overstretch its military.

POLITICS-THAILAND: Anti-Coup Sentiment Gaining Popularity

With military takeovers enjoying a certain popularity, Thailand could easily be called ‘’the land of coups’’. But anti-coup sentiments, now building up, may work to thwart the country’s 19th putsch since becoming a constitutional monarchy in 1932.

POLITICS: U.S. Cutoff Threat Unlikely to Save Iraq Troop Pact

The threat by the George W. Bush administration last week to withdraw all economic and military support from the Iraqi government if it does not accept the U.S.-Iraq status of forces agreement has raised the stakes in the political-diplomatic struggle over the issue.

TRADE: A Democratised WTO in Pause Mode

The breakdown of the July talks on a trade agreement, for the third time in a row, is testimony that the World Trade Organisation(WTO) has changed.

COLOMBIA: Where Dialogue Seems Impossible

Dialogue - or, more accurately, the lack thereof - was the common denominator in two high-profile events Sunday in the western Colombian city of Cali, demonstrating to what extent this vehicle of mutual understanding is missing in this civil war-torn South American country.

DEVELOPMENT: Bretton Woods II: New Lifeline for Ailing Giants

Europe, by way of the hyperactive French President Nicolas Sarkozy, demands a Bretton Woods II, that is, a major shake-up of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. This is as much a rescue operation for two organisations that have lost muscle as a call for a new financial architecture.