BOOKS: Guarding the Empire from Four Miles Up

They are unpopular all over the world, with one exception. According to a new Pew Research Center poll, the only country where a majority of citizens support drone strikes is the country that uses the new technology most regularly: the United States.

Activists Aren’t Mourning Obama’s Absence at Rio Summit

When a reluctant George H.W. Bush, Sr., then U.S. president, changed his mind and decided at the eleventh hour to address the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio, he sounded defensive in his strong response to charges that the United States was one of the major powers responsible for the some of the world's worst environmental ills - from greenhouse gases to conspicuous consumption.

Election Year Sees Increasingly Polarised U.S. Congress

All signs are pointing to a more polarised, less moderate U.S. Congress in the near future.

Washington’s Asia Pivot Gains Momentum

The much-anticipated U.S. "pivot" from the Greater Middle East to the Asia/Pacific accelerated this week, which began with Pentagon chief Leon Panetta's high-profile, nine-day swing through the region and ended with a White House summit between Barack Obama and Philippine President Benigno Aquino.

Quebec Student Strike Ignites Broader Protest Movement

The student movement that erupted in February following the announcement of a 75-percent rise in university tuition fees is now becoming a violent struggle for democracy in Quebec.

U.S.: Obama Resists Growing Pressure to Intervene in Syria

While reports of two mass killings in Syria by pro-regime forces in the past week have increased pressure on President Barack Obama to intervene more directly in support of the opposition, his administration appears determined to avoid any military involvement.

U.S.: Law of the Sea Treaty Ratification Faces Unsettled Waters

Given the wide range of its supporters – everyone from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the U.S. Armed Forces to Greenpeace – one would think that Senate ratification of the 1982 Law of the Sea Treaty (LOST) would be a slam dunk.

For Minorities in U.S. Public Schools, Risk of a Dismal Future

As the United States struggles to level the racial disparities in its education system, the birth rate of minorities has been rising steadily. Experts say this confluence of statistics should compel Americans to seriously address the flaws and failures of the country's public education system.

Activists from Many Nations Condemn Chevron

More than 100 people gathered Wednesday outside the gates of Chevron's sprawling headquarters in upscale San Ramon in the San Francisco Bay area of California, where police and security barred those without passes to the shareholder meeting from entering.

U.S. Corporations Send Mixed Messages on Climate Science

According to a report released by the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) here on Wednesday, at least half of the U.S. corporations under review have actively supported the misrepresentation of the science around climate change.

Canadian Banks Navigate Treacherous Waters

Potential storms are on the horizon for much praised, regulated and privately-owned Canadian banks which survived the 2008 financial meltdown unscathed, unlike some of their larger counterparts in the United States.

Native Canadians See Way of Life Under Assault

Canada's West Coast First Nations are feeling overwhelmed by crises affecting their land rights, economic well-being and health, prompting warnings in one territorial dispute with a local energy company that the country risks a degeneration of Aboriginal-federal government relations to a level unseen in two decades.

U.S. Urged to Follow Own Human Rights Reporting

The U.S. State Department on Thursday released the government's annual compendium of country-by-country human rights reports, but ran into criticism from rights groups for holding double standards.

Targeting Right-Wing Extremism, Citizens Challenge Corporate Ties

A coalition of advocacy groups is targeting corporate support for the right-wing Heartland Institute after the organisation took out a controversial billboard in Chicago comparing people who believe in global warming to a serial killer and mass murderer.

U.S. Neo-Conservatives Assail Possible Compromise on Iran Talks

As at least two days of talks on the future of Iran's nuclear programme got underway in Baghdad Wednesday, neo-conservatives and other hawks escalated their campaign against any compromise agreement, particularly one that would permit Tehran to continue enriching uranium on its territory.

Action Needed Now to Prepare for Severe Drought

Mexico and Central America look like they are covered in dried blood on maps projecting future soil moisture conditions.

Green Groups Urge Obama to Attend Rio+20

With a month to go before the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, nearly two dozen NGOs are calling on President Barack Obama to confirm his attendance at the event, known as Rio+20.

U.S.: Tea Party Loses in Fight with Big Business

For leaders of the right-wing populist "Tea Party" who have bragged about their growing influence – if not domination – of the Republican Party, the past week's battle over the future of the U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) has been a humbling experience.

OP-ED: Bullying, Leadership and the Presidency of the United States

The 1965 bullying incident at Michigan's elite Cranbrook School that came to light this week has kicked off a series of conversations about bullying and about the extent to which we should hold our nation's leaders accountable for past behaviour.

U.S.: Occupiers Reclaim Land for Sustainable Farming

With hoes, shovels, some 15,000 seedlings and a bolt cutter to break the locks that kept them out, students, community members and participants from nearby Occupy movements have laid claim to an undeveloped 10-acre parcel since Earth Day, Apr. 22, in Albany, California.

U.S.: Obama Comes Out For Same-Sex Marriage

U.S. President Barack Obama Wednesday declared his support for same-sex marriage, becoming the first sitting president to do so and thrusting the issue into the centre of his campaign for re-election.