MIDEAST: New Poll Underlines Gloom Shrouding “Peace Process”

Hope among both Jewish and Palestinian Israelis that a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians can ever be achieved appears to be fading, according to two major new polls released here Thursday.

Senate Hawks Push Obama on ‘Zero Enrichment’ for Tehran

Five senators sent a letter to U.S. President Barack Obama Monday warning the administration not to offer concessions in upcoming talks with Iran over its nuclear programme. If Obama takes the advice, experts say, it could sink his engagement efforts with Tehran.

Mideast Peace Key to Countering Iran, Arabs Told U.S. Diplomats

Gleeful Israeli leaders and their neo-conservative supporters here have spent much of the past week insisting that the State Department cables published by Wikileaks prove that Sunni Arab leaders in the Middle East are far more preoccupied with the threat posed by an ascendant and possibly nuclear Iran than with a resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Judge Declines to Rule on Targeted Killings of U.S. Citizens

A federal judge Tuesday dismissed a court challenge to the policy of the administration of Barack Obama to target and execute U.S. citizens outside combat zones who do not pose an imminent threat.

Time Runs Short for Progress on Iran Nuke Talks

The first meeting between Iran and the world's major powers in more than a year ended Tuesday with little to show apart from a vague promise to meet again next month in Turkey.

Cables Belie Gulf States’ Backing for Strikes on Iran

The dominant theme that emerged in U.S. media coverage of the first round of Wikileaks diplomatic cables last week was that Arab regimes in the Gulf - led by Saudi Arabia - shared Israel's view that Iran's nuclear programme had to be stopped by military force, if necessary.

U.S.: Govt Forced to Release Docs on Spying Programme

Last week's release of 900 pages of U.S. government documents dealing with the implementation of the nation's primary surveillance law suggests that the government has been systematically violating the privacy rights of U.S. citizens.

U.S.-WEST AFRICA: Report Urges Enhanced Maritime Security

The United States and its allies should give much more attention - and resources - to ensuring that weak West African governments along the oil- and gas-rich Gulf of Guinea can protect their territory and coastal regions from terrorists, drug and human traffickers, and other threats, according to new report by an influential think tank released here this week.

Obama Pushes START Treaty to Top of Legislative Agenda

With time running out before he faces a much more hostile and Republican Congress, President Barack Obama appears to have made Senate ratification of the pending New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) with Russia his top legislative priority.

In the End, U.S. Gets (Partial) Offshore Drilling Ban

As negotiators meet in Cancún to discuss how to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, the impacts of the oil spill disaster that unfolded earlier this year on the other side of the Gulf of Mexico are still rippling through Washington.

Wikileaks Bolsters Claim of Deadly U.S. Attack in Yemen

A diplomatic cable published by Wikileaks corroborates images released earlier by Amnesty International (AI) showing that the U.S. military carried out a missile strike in south Yemen in December 2009 that killed dozens of local residents, including women and children, the rights group says.

U.S.: Senate Democrats Push for Vote on DREAM Act

As immigrant advocate groups held marches, demonstrations and hunger strikes across the U.S. and feverishly lobbied lawmakers in Washington, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, announced he would file a motion Wednesday to permit the Senate to take up the DREAM Act, thus setting up a showdown over the controversial immigration bill.

U.S.: Military’s Anti-Gay Policy May Be in Final Days

The ongoing effort to repeal the policy banning gays and lesbians from openly serving in the U.S. military got more ammunition Tuesday when the U.S. Department of Defence released a report finding that its repeal would cause only minimal short-term disruption to the military.

Russians Refuted U.S. Claim of Iranian Missile Threat to Europe

A diplomatic cable from last February released by Wikileaks provides a detailed account of how Russian specialists on the Iranian ballistic missile programme refuted the U.S. suggestion that Iran has missiles that could target European capitals or intends to develop such a capability.

From DREAM to Nightmare, Deportations Soar in U.S.

While the U.S. Congress idles on the passage of the DREAM Act, immigrants here face ever harsher treatment. The rate of deportations has increased by 1,200 percent since 1990, from 30,000 per year then to a staggering 360,000 under the Barack Obama administration.

U.S.: Wikileaks Reveals Treacherous Terrain for Iran Policy

The leaked reports sent by U.S. officials abroad to Washington reveal a treacherous playing field for the United States in the Middle East.

Leaked Cables Cast Light on Bungled CIA Kidnapping

Wikileaks' spectacular paper dump of U.S. diplomatic cables may not yet have produced any blockbusters, but many of the restricted or secret documents released to the world on Sunday have served to peel back the scabs of serious injuries inflicted by the administration of George W. Bush.

U.S.: Clock Ticks on Immigration Reform Bill

Democratic lawmakers will attempt to summon up their waning power by using the so-called "lame duck" session of Congress to pass what will likely be the closest they will get to comprehensive immigration reform.

U.S.-KOREAS: Hawks, Doves Aflutter Over Pyongyang’s Latest Moves

Given all the other foreign policy challenges he is dealing with, the last thing U.S. President Barack Obama needed three weeks after Republicans swept mid-term elections was the outbreak of a major new crisis on the Korean Peninsula.

U.S.: Going Hungry in the Richest Nation on Earth

While many U.S. residents prepare for their annual Thanksgiving feast Thursday, one in six are at risk of hunger – including a quarter of all children in the country.

An Overeager Petraeus Ignored Danger Signs on Taliban Imposter

The revelation that the man presumed to be a high-ranking Taliban leader who had met with top Afghan officials was an imposter sheds new light on Gen. David Petraeus's aggressive propaganda about the supposed Taliban approach to the Hamid Karzai regime.