IRAN: Nuclear Capability After 2013, Says U.S. Intelligence

Iran is unlikely to be able to produce the highly enriched uranium (HEU) necessary for a nuclear weapon until at least 2013, according to a U.S. government intelligence estimate made public Thursday.

IRAQ: Shi’a Unity Deal Explodes U.S. Proxy War Myth

The agreement announced Monday between Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and a Shi’a resistance group called the "League of the Righteous" (Asa'ib al-Haq) formally ended the group’s armed opposition to the regime in return for the release of its leader and eight other Shi’a detainees. This deals a final blow to the U.S. military’s narrative of an Iranian "proxy war" in Iraq.

INDIA: With Nuke Submarine Launch, India Displays its Growing Military Prowess

With the launch of an indigenously made nuclear-powered submarine, India has caused an international uproar. But back home, observers played it down as nothing more than a long-term naval enhancement in a peninsula country with a long coastline.

GERMANY: Nuclear Power Fails, And Nobody Notices

Seven German nuclear plants have failed to generate any electricity this month due to technical breakdowns. They have about half the production capacity of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors, but Germany did not suffer any power shortages.

MIDEAST: As U.S. Winds Down, Iraq Tilts Toward Iran

A raid by Iraqi security forces on a camp of Iranian dissidents is widely seen as a sign that Iraqi authorities are establishing their independence as the U.S. occupation winds down – and tilting instead towards Iran.

US-IRAN: Waiting for the Dust to Settle

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama is stuck between a rock and a hard place in its Iran policy. On the one hand, the recent unrest will take time to percolate into a reformed Islamic Republic. On the other, time is in short supply if the U.S. hopes to stop Iran progress toward a nuclear weapons capability.

INDIA-U.S.: Hurdles Aplenty Before Nuclear Deal Goes Commercial

As U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton began talks with Indian officials in New Delhi on Monday to take a forward a civilian nuclear cooperation agreement, signed by the previous Bush administration, it was apparent that there were many roadblocks to be cleared before deals worth an estimated 10 billion dollars are signed.

DISARMAMENT: N-Britain Goes Uselessly to Sea

Too early yet to call it a victory for anti-nuclear lobbyists, but the British government decision last week to put off an upgrade of its Trident nuclear system is at least denial of immediate victory to those who want newer nuclear weapons.

US-IRAN: To Deal or Not to Deal, That Is the Question

In 2007, after eight months of detention in Iran – four in solitary confinement in Tehran's notorious Evin prison – Iranian-American scholar Haleh Esfandiari returned to the U.S. and held a press conference at the Woodrow Wilson International Centre for Scholars, where she directs the Middle East Programme.

U.S.: Clinton Seeks “Multi-Partner World”, Warns Iran on Time

In her first comprehensive policy address since becoming secretary of state nearly six months ago, Hillary Clinton Wednesday called for a "multi-partner'' - as opposed to a "multi-polar" - world" and defended President Barack Obama's policy of engagement with adversaries, including Iran.

ENERGY: Germany Gets Some Nuclear Jolts

The faults at the nuclear plant at Kruemmel near Hamburg surfaced just three days after Chancellor Angela Merkel declared nuclear energy "indispensable" to Germany.

MIDEAST: Fine-Tuning the Cold War

Ambiguity - is it the watchword for all involved in the issue over whether Iran goes nuclear, especially in light of the ongoing political uncertainties that engulf the Islamic Republic?

POLITICS: Is the Non-Aligned Movement Still Relevant?

When the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) holds its triennial summit meeting in the Red Sea coastal town of Sharm el-Sheikh next week, Cuba will formally hand over the chairmanship of one of the world's largest single political groups to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

POLITICS-INDIA: Waiting to Hear Clinton on AfPak, China

It is hard to say whether U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will find herself being quizzed more on Washington's 'AfPak' strategy to contain global terror or her appeasement of a financially muscular China, when she lands in India mid-July.

U.S.: Obama Discredits 'Green Light' for Israeli Attack on Iran

Seeking to end speculation about whether his administration had eased its opposition to an Israeli military strike against Iran's nuclear facilities, U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday insisted that Washington's position remained unchanged.

RUSSIA: Some Partial Resetting at Last

Russia and the United States have made a breakthrough by signing a new strategic arms reduction agreement after several months of diplomatic negotiations, closing some of the pages of the past and opening a new chapter for the future.

RUSSIA: Hoping for Much, Expecting Little

U.S. President Barack Obama's visit to Russia next week is expected to bring significant but limited improvement in troubled relations between the two giants.

POLITICS: U.S. Uses False Taliban Aid Charge to Pressure Iran

The Barack Obama administration has given new prominence to a Bush administration charge that Iran is providing military training and assistance to the Taliban in Afghanistan, for which no evidence has ever been produced, and which has been discredited by data obtained by IPS from the Pentagon itself.

FRANCE: Ambiguous on Nuclear Disarmament

As the international war of words over nuclear programmes heats up, with North Korea threatening to strengthen its "nuclear deterrence" against the United States, countries such as France are taking a position that some analysts describe as ambiguous and hypocritical.

POLITICS-US: Playing the Hawk with North Korea

If the Obama administration needed a rogue nation to demonstrate its foreign policy resolve, central casting couldn't have supplied a better candidate than North Korea. The government in Pyongyang routinely promises to unleash destruction of biblical proportions on its enemies. It has pulled out of international agreements, such as the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). It has sentenced two U.S. journalists to 12 years of hard labour on the charge of violating its borders. And after conducting two nuclear tests, it now declares itself a nuclear power.

GERMANY: Have no Nuclear Weapons, Just Share Them

Most Germans support nuclear abolition, but the country may still not give up its policy of nuclear sharing.