POLITICS: Bush, U.S. Military Pressure Iraqis on Withdrawal

Instead of moving toward accommodating the demand of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki for a timetable for U.S. military withdrawal, the George W. Bush administration and the U.S. military leadership are continuing to pressure their erstwhile client regime to bow to the U.S. demand for a long-term military presence in the country.

POLITICS: Western Interests Dictate Security Council Agenda

The continued political deadlock over a rash of ongoing crises - including Iran, Myanmar (Burma), Palestine, Kosovo, Zimbabwe and Sudan - is threatening to paralyse one of the world's most powerful political bodies, harking back to the days of the Cold War when it was turned into a battleground for U.S.-Soviet confrontation.

POLITICS-INDIA: Costly Vote of Confidence

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has won a bitterly contested motion of confidence in his government by 275 to 256 votes in Parliament, securing his government's survival for several months.

ENERGY: Solar Thermal Power Coming to a Boil

After emerging in 2006 from 15 years of hibernation, the solar thermal power industry experienced a surge in 2007, with 100 megawatts of new capacity coming online worldwide.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Opposition Leader Unfazed by New Sodomy Charges

Anwar Ibrahim, Malaysia's de facto opposition leader, is locked in a political battle of wills with ruling coalition leaders and determined to wrest federal control despite fresh charges of sodomy brought up against him.

US/IRAQ: McCain Knee-Capped by Al-Maliki

This weekend's surprise endorsement by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki of Sen. Barack Obama's call for U.S. combat forces to leave Iraq by mid-2010 marks a serious setback to Sen. John McCain, who has tried hard to depict his Democratic rival as "naïve" on foreign policy, especially with respect to Iraq.

POLITICS-INDIA: Nuking Democracy

As the parliamentary floor test for the controversial United States-India nuclear cooperation deal approaches, the domestic political odds seem to be turning against India’s ruling United Progressive Alliance government led by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

POLITICS: Seismic Shift or Non-Decision by Bush on Iran?

The U.S. decision to send the State Department's third-ranking official to sit in on the meeting between European Union foreign affairs chief Javier Solana and Iran's nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili Saturday has been hailed as a major diplomatic breakthrough, but it is too soon to pop the champagne cork.

POLITICS-US: Realists Rack Up Another Win

In the seemingly never-ending internal battle between hawks and realists in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush for control of foreign policy, the realists appear to have chalked up another win over their once-dominant foes.

POLITICS-MALAYSIA: Badawi Won’t Quit, Will Pursue Reforms

Malaysia’s beleaguered Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi, who has been under mounting pressure to resign after his 14-party National Front coalition fared its worst in the Mar. 8 polls, has stunned the nation by saying he will stay on till mid-2010.

US/AFGHANISTAN: Deadly Assault Could Alter Campaign Dynamics

If nothing else, the deaths Sunday of nine U.S. soldiers at a remote outpost in eastern Afghanistan close to the Pakistan border are likely to bring home to the U.S. electorate what top national security officials have been saying for much of the past year - that the central front in Washington's "global war on terrorism" has moved eastwards about 1,800 kms from Iraq.

G8: Add Another Five – In a Way

Last week's G8 summit meetings in Toyako on the Japanese island of Hokkaido were critical not only for North-South but also South-South relations and their impact on a globalised world.

INDIA/US: Deceptions Surface in Nuclear Deal

The Indian government has taken a major step towards completing its controversial nuclear cooperation deal with the United States by moving the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency for approving an inspections (safeguards) agreement it signed last year with the IAEA secretariat pertaining to civilian nuclear reactors.

POLITICS-US: Pull-out Demand Signals Final Bush Defeat in Iraq

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's demand for a timetable for complete U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq, confirmed Tuesday by his national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, has signaled the almost certain defeat of the George W. Bush administration's aim of establishing a long-term military presence in the country.

US/IRAN: Despite Fireworks, War Clouds Recede

While Wednesday's test-firing by Iran of nine medium- and long-range missiles was strongly denounced by Israel and the United States, there appears to be a growing consensus here that the chances for war, at least between now and the U.S. elections in November, have actually receded in recent days.

IRAN: Did IAEA Revive Uranium Paper Issue Under Pressure?

A 15-page paper on the process requirements for casting and machining of uranium metal into hemispherical forms - said to be useful only for making the core of a nuclear weapon - has been raised by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in recent months as evidence of an alleged Iranian intention to built nuclear weapons.

POLITICS: Reading Solana in Tehran

Conciliatory noises from Tehran over the nuclear issue have left Washington and Brussels baffled, and unconvinced of Iran's intentions. Having grown accustomed to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's uncompromising language, Tehran's new tone has raised more suspicion than hope among cynics in Western capitals.

POLITICS-US: In Search of a Legacy, Bush Looks to the Past

Before 9/11, before the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, before the suspension of habeas corpus, before the administration's tardy and shameful response to Hurricane Katrina, before cronies and Republican congressional leaders were dropping like flies, before former administration operatives were writing unflattering tell-all books, before Dick Cheney said "So?" in response to a question about public opinion being firmly against the administration, before the Valerie Plame affair, before gas prices were nearly five dollars a gallon, before housing foreclosures hit record numbers, and before his approval rating dipped to all-time lows, there was President George W. Bush's faith-based initiative.

GLOBALISATION: West’s Loss of Gulf Funds East’s Gain

As politically motivated restrictions on investments by oil-rich countries intensify in the West, the sovereign wealth funds (SWFs) of the Gulf countries could opt to invest in Asia and other emerging markets despite attractive valuations in the slowing U.S and European markets.

POLITICS: Does Iran Have Bush Over a Barrel?

If U.S. President George W. Bush wants to boost Republican chances of holding on to the White House and keeping Democratic gains in Congress to a minimum in the November elections, he might consider taking an attack on Iran before the end of his administration "off the table".

HEALTH-SOUTH AFRICA: Bleak Future For the Country's Water

Earlier this month, a private pilot reported to a Johannesburg radio station that while flying over the Kruger National Park, in the far eastern reaches of the country, he had spotted the carcasses of several large crocodiles floating in the Olifants River. This was unusual because the crocodiles within the country's largest game reserve are protected from hunting.