US-IRAQ: Unable to Defeat Mahdi Army, U.S. Hopes to Divide It

Although the U.S. military command's frequent assertions that the primary threat to U.S. forces in Iraq comes from Iranian meddling, its real problem is that Shiite cleric Moqtada al Sadr's Mahdi army is determined to end the occupation and is simply too big and too well entrenched to be weakened by military force.

FAR EAST: Koreas in Win-Win Deal

Surpassing all expectations historic talks between the leaders of North and South Korea in Pyongyang have produced a joint declaration that seeks a formal end to the 1950-53 Korean war and bridge distrust, a vestige of the Cold War years.

BURMA: India Shamed Into Revising Stand on Junta

Faced with a pro-democracy popular upsurge in Burma, the Indian government first brazenly sided with the military junta. But it is now reluctantly revising its stand under international and domestic pressure, and trying to salvage what little is left of its credibility.

POLITICS-US: Christian Right Slams Republicans Over Abortion

Despite its oft-written obituary, the Christian right wing in the United States is alive and functioning.

TURKEY: Back in Reconciliation Mode with EU

The European Union and Turkey, engaged over 40 years ago for a marriage that may never take place, are back in reconciliation mode after a period of estrangement.

BURMA: China Has Much at Stake

Jarring against a dearth of official news about the turmoil in Burma, the ‘Southern Weekend’ - one of China’s more liberal official newspapers - has chosen to run a lengthy feature about an ethnic Chinese entrepreneur striking it rich in the jade business in that neighbouring country.

POLITICS: The Man Behind the Iran Curtain

He called for more "research" into the unequivocal facts of the Holocaust, said Iranian women were among the freest in the world, and declared that homosexuality did not exist in his country.

POLITICS-US: Have Hawks Won a Round on Iraq Escalation?

The George W. Bush administration recently concluded that the increase in rocket attacks on coalition targets by Shiite forces over the summer was a deliberate move by Iran to escalate the war in order to put pressure on the United States to accept Iranian influence in Iraq, according to a senior U.S. government official.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Fukuda to Fight Fires at Home First

Japan’s new Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has begun smoothening feathers ruffled in the neighbourhood by his predecessors, Shinzo Abe and Junichiro Koizumi. But what he really needs is goodwill at home until he can lead his battered Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) into a snap poll, expected next year.

INDIA/US: Nuke Deal May Trigger Mid-Term Polls

As India's coalition government tries to complete the controversial nuclear cooperation deal with the United States, it finds itself caught between domestic opposition to the agreement from its Left-wing allies and pressure from Washington to seal the deal.

US-MIDEAST: Bush Peace Confab a Swan Dive or Belly Flop?

This past summer, President George W. Bush extended a hand where he never has before, calling for a Middle East conference to find a solution to the long-moribund Palestinian-Israeli peace process. This time, says U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, her boss expects results.

AFGHANISTAN: Taliban Ready for Talks – Agenda Unknown

Taliban spokesperson, Qari Yusof Ahmadi, has confirmed to the press that the Taliban are ready to directly negotiate with the Afghan government.

BOLIVIA: Morales Gets Boost from UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights

President Evo Morales’ dream of creating a "plurinational" state in Bolivia, with territorial and administrative autonomy for indigenous peoples, has just received an international boost that is as welcome as it is unexpected, arising as it did from what seemed like a never-ending debate.

TURKEY: Now to Jobs and Education

While two-thirds of the country fasts in this holy month of Ramazan, the Turkish version of Ramadan, and activities slow down during the day, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to get to grips with the post-electoral challenges of his government.

MIDEAST: Neocons Tie N. Korea to Israeli Strike on Syria

Nearly two weeks have passed since Israeli warplanes conducted a mysterious raid against an as yet unidentified target in northeast Syria. Details of the incident have been slow to come, as officials from both countries have remained tight-lipped.

POLITICS-US: Petraeus Helps Destroy Bush&#39s "Proxy War" Claim

In his prepared statement to the U.S. House Foreign Affairs and Armed Services committees last week, Gen. David Petraeus claimed that Iran is using the Quds Force to turn Shiite militias into a "Hezbollah-like force" to "fight a proxy war against the Iraqi state and coalition forces in Iraq".

TURKEY: Military and Government in Uneasy Marriage

Despite the verdict at the polls, Turkey's staunchly secular military is far from caving in to the Islamic-rooted civilian authority that is now in full control of parliament, the government and the presidency. At best it appears willing to accept, for the time being, an uneasy co-existence.

POLITICS-RUSSIA: Ahead of Presidential Polls Putin Gains Free Hand

It happened eight years ago when former Russian leader Boris Yeltsin ousted his cabinet and unexpectedly catapulted little known Vladimir Putin to the helm of political affairs.

POLITICS-US: Ahmadinejad as Goldfinger

On the same day General David H. Petraeus delivered to Congress his much anticipated progress report on the U.S. military's "surge strategy" in Iraq, neoconservative ideologues associated with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) took aim at another one of the reputed foes of "freedom" - the Islamic Republic of Iran.

POLITICS-JAPAN: Abe&#39s Exit a Distinct Possibility

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s declaration at a press conference in Sydney on Sunday that he would resign if parliament does not extend refuelling support for the United States-led coalition in Afghanistan showed the country’s first postwar leader failing in his conservative policies.

POLITICS: Five-Nation Naval Drill Presages &#39Asian NATO&#39?

India’s hosting of large-scale military exercises involving four countries led by the United States has triggered spirited protests by left-wing parties that prop up the country's ruling coalition.