US-EUROPE: An Ocean Apart in More Ways Than One

As a delegation of European Union leaders descends on Washington Tuesday, a new report argues that "European governments prefer to fetishise transatlantic relations, valuing closeness and harmony as ends in themselves, and seeking influence with Washington through various strategies of seduction or ingratiation".

POLITICS: On Nuke Disarmament, It’s Still “You First”

Is the ongoing controversy over Iran's nuclear programme helping to advance the United Nations' agenda on nuclear disarmament? To a number of diplomats and experts who have participated in past U.N. discussions on the spread of nuclear weapons, the answer is, yes – although not necessarily for the expected reasons.

RIGHTS-US: NGOs Praise End to HIV Travel Ban

Global health and U.S. AIDS activists are hailing President Barack Obama's announcement Friday that the government will end a 22-year-old ban on the entry into the United States of HIV-positive visitors.

POLITICS: Obama Scores Regional Points with Zelaya’s Return

Following months of dithering on the part of the U.S., a delegation from the U.S. State Department brokered a deal Thursday between the ousted and interim governments of Honduras.

U.S.: Secret Bailouts for Giant Failing Banks of the Future?

Big banks will not be forced to downsize and the public will be the last to know when they fail, a controversial bill unveiled by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Congressman Barney Frank proposes.

AFGHANISTAN: NATO Supporting Insurgents? Not Exactly

The U.S. and NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) have spent billions of dollars, sacrificed hundreds of lives and worked for years to fight insurgents and foster democracy in Afghanistan.

HEALTH: U.S. Urged to Double Aid to Global Projects

As the effort to achieve universal health coverage within the U.S. crawls forward in Washington, a new report by a coalition of global health organisations details how the U.S. can "help lead the world to universal access to comprehensive health care in developing countries".

US-MIDEAST: J Street Meet Draws Foreign Policy Heavyweights

J Street, the relatively new "pro-Israel, pro-Peace" advocacy group, exceeded expectations for its inaugural conference here in Washington with over 1,500 participants attending the four-day event.

POLITICS: U.S. Blasted for Sustaining Embargo on Cuba

The administration of President Barack Obama, which has vowed to improve relations with sanctions-hit Cuba, refused to break away from the traditional stand taken by successive U.S. governments and voted against a U.N. resolution calling for an end to the 47-year-old U.S. economic, commercial and financial embargo against the Caribbean island nation.

US-AFGHANISTAN: Kerry Argues for Counterinsurgency Lite

Amid growing speculation and partisan bickering over what President Barack Obama will do about the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, an influential Democratic senator Monday warned against deploying tens of thousands more U.S. troops there.

RIGHTS: Obama Urged to Fully Comply with Anti-Torture Treaty

The fifteenth anniversary of the U.S. ratification of the United Nations Convention Against Torture passed last week with little fanfare and virtually no press attention from the mainstream media here.

AFGHANISTAN: No Refuge For Victims of Violence

The rate of civilian casualties in Afghanistan during 2009 has increased exponentially if compared with previous years.

POLITICS: NIE Reveals Qom Facility Followed 2007 Bush Threats

The Barack Obama administration claims that construction of a second Iranian uranium enrichment facility at Qom began before Tehran's decision to withdraw from a previous agreement to inform the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in advance of such construction. But the November 2007 U.S. intelligence estimate on Iran's nuclear programme tells a different story.

US-HONDURAS: Republicans Take Up Banner of De Facto Govt

While negotiations stall between the ousted and de facto governments of Honduras on the issue of whether former president Manuel Zelaya will be reinstated prior to the country's elections next month, an increasingly relevant question is whether the international community would be willing to recognise the results of elections that occur under the unelected, interim government's watch.

U.S.: Clinton Calls for Strengthened IAEA Powers

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday called for strengthening the authority of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect suspected nuclear-related facilities and ruled out lifting sanctions against North Korea until it took "verifiable and irreversible" steps toward denuclearisation.

US-SUDAN: Activist Groups Cautiously Praise New Policy

Activist groups that have long urged a tougher U.S. policy toward Khartoum praised the new "comprehensive approach" toward Sudan announced here Monday by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, even as they expressed concern that it will not be fully implemented.

US-PAKISTAN: Obama Signs Controversial Aid Bill

After 10 days of raging controversy centred in Islamabad, U.S. President Barack Obama Thursday signed a major aid bill for Pakistan authorising some 7.5 billion dollars in non-military assistance for the increasingly beleaguered country over the next five years.

POLITICS: U.S. Berated for Shielding Israel on Gaza Killings

A U.S. decision to stall Security Council action against Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas for war crimes during the 22-day conflict in Gaza last December has come under heavy fire both from inside and outside the United Nations.

U.S.: Foreign Policy Hawks Launch New Campaign Against Obama

Just days after the Nobel Committee in Oslo awarded Barack Obama its coveted peace prize, two of Washington's most prominent foreign policy hawks launched a new group and ad campaign designed to depict the president as weak and defend the more aggressive policies of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

/CORRECTED REPEAT*/POLITICS: Pakistan’s Offensive, Afghanistan’s Risk

For generations, Pakistan's southern Waziristan region has been a launching pad for insurgent military operations in Afghanistan

POLITICS: Obama (and Everyone Else) "Surprised" by Nobel

Friday's announcement that U.S. President Barack Obama had been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize barely nine months into his presidency drew an outpouring of formal congratulations from around the world, amid scepticism and speculation over whether the prize would ultimately prove an asset or liability.