POLITICS: Security Council Loses Credibility Over Iran, Israel

The 15-member U.N. Security Council (UNSC) is set to lose its credibility once again as it prepares to impose a third set of sanctions on Iran while failing to pass any strictures on Israel for its continued heavy-handed repression of Palestinians in Gaza.

INDIA/US: Nuclear Deal Runs Out of Steam

Has the controversial United States-India nuclear cooperation deal finally run out of steam after tough, and at times tortuous, negotiations spread over two-and-a-half years?

U.S./INDIA: Nuke Deal Opponents Focus on U.S. Congress

The Democratic-led U.S. Congress is coming under heavy pressure from environmental and arms control lobbyists to reject the White House's move to sell U.S. nuclear technologies to India.

Q&A: &#39US Missile System Could Re-Start Cold War, or Worse&#39

The U.S. project to enlarge its missile defence system to Eastern Europe is a wasteful enterprise that will make the world unstable, says Philip Coyle, senior advisor to the independent Centre for Defence Information in Washington, and expert on worldwide military research, defence and security policy.

BULGARIA: On To A New Nuclear Path

The European Commission (EC) has given a positive opinion on construction of a nuclear plant at Belene by Russian Atomstroiexport, controlled by Gazprom.

INDIA/CHINA: ‘Chindia’ May Help Quell Lingering Suspicions

Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived in China this week on the heels of a World Bank report release that thrust the two Asian giants in the role of engines for economic growth in 2008.

ENERGY: Protests Greet Nuclear Power Resurgence in US South

Residents and environmental activists are in a bitter dispute with large U.S. energy corporations and the federal government over the safety of nuclear power, as more than a dozen corporations plan to, or have filed, paperwork to open new nuclear power plants, primarily in the U.S. South.

POLITICS: Will Naval Incident Undermine Bush&#39s Iran Message?

It is by now almost routine. With recurring frequency, U.S. leaders tour the Middle East depicting Iran as the region's greatest threat.

POLITICS-US: Rice and Gates Divided over Iran’s Role in Iraq

A State Department official's assertion in late December that Iran had exerted a restraining influence on Iraqi Shiite militia violence signaled a major divergence of views between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defence Robert Gates over how to portray Iran's role in Iraq.

CHALLENGES 2007-2008: Bush’s Twilight Year Looks Grim

If the last days of 2007 are any indication, U.S. President George W. Bush’s last year in office is shaping up as grim and lonely.

POLITICS: Bhutto’s Killing May Threaten Pakistan’s Stability

The assassination of Pakistan's opposition leader and former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto threatens to de-stabilise a country which the United States describes as a trusted ally and a frontline fighter in the global war on terrorism.

INDIA/US: Nuclear Deal – Vienna Has Reservations

As the window of opportunity to complete the United States-India nuclear cooperation deal narrows, the agreement seems to be running into problems with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Vienna-based United Nations body dealing with nuclear matters.

POLITICS-US: Did Bush Get New Iran Intel Last Winter?

White House officials have now admitted that George W. Bush was told that the intelligence assessment on a covert Iranian nuclear programme might change last August, but they have avoided answering the question of when the president was first informed about the new intelligence that led to that revised assessment.

POLITICS-IRAN: Tame US Intelligence Report Won’t Stop Sanctions

While a United States intelligence report stating that Iran has not pursued making a nuclear bomb since 2003 may blunt Washington’s warlike stance towards Tehran, it is far from being ‘Iran’s biggest victory of the century’, as President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has described it.

POLITICS: U.S. Jews Tilt Rightwards on Israel

U.S. Jews appear to have become more opposed both to Israel's making key concessions in renewed peace talks with Palestinians and to the U.S. carrying out a military attack against Iran's nuclear facilities, according to the latest in an annual series of surveys of Jewish opinion released here this week by the American Jewish Committee (AJC).

POLITICS: White House Fought NIE Over an Old Charge

The reported White House resistance to the National Intelligence Estimate's conclusion that Iran had abandoned a nuclear weapons programme in 2003 was an effort to save a political tactic the George W. Bush administration had been using since early 2004, despite the absence of an intelligence analysis to support it.

POLITICS-US: “Laptop of Death”: Revising the NIE on Iran

Nearly one week after a U.S. intelligence report revealed that Iran halted its nuclear weapons programme in 2003, the sabre-rattling inside the Washington Beltway appears to have receded for the moment, and with it, the George W. Bush administration's strongest pretext for a military confrontation with Iran.

POLITICS: Lawmakers Call a Halt to Indo-US Nuclear Deal

The Manmohan Singh government’s hopes of garnering at least a semblance of support for the controversial United States-India nuclear cooperation deal from elected political representatives outside the ruling United Progressive Alliance (UPA) have crashed.

POLITICS: Is Iran NIE a Blessing in Disguise for Israel?

The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate's assertion that Iran currently does not have a nuclear weapons programme has caused much frustration in Israel. Deputy Defence Minister Ephraim Sneh referred to the report as a lie at a recent breakfast in New York, and Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer reportedly "doesn't buy" its findings.

IRAN: Charges Against &#39Nuclear Spy&#39 Deepen Political Split

Charges of spying for Britain persisting against former nuclear negotiator Hossein Mousavian appear to have intensified rifts within the alliance of conservatives and hardliners that made Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Iran’s President more than two years ago.

POLITICS: Iran NIE Validates 2003 European Diplomacy

Despite the White House spin that the new National Intelligence Estimate (NIE) supports its policy of increasing pressure on Iran, the estimate not only directly contradicts the George W. Bush administration's line on Iranian intentions regarding nuclear weapons, but points to a link between Tehran's 2003 decision to halt research on weaponisation and its decision to negotiate with European foreign ministers on both nuclear and Iranian security concerns.