RIGHTS-US: Time to Ratify Women’s Treaty, Groups Urge

Rights activists in the United States are urging their newly-elected government to support global initiatives aimed at protecting women’s rights.

U.S.: Call to “Resist and Deter” Nuclear Iran Gains Key Support

A new report on how the United States should "resist and deter" Iran's alleged ambitions to acquire a nuclear-weapons capability by a think tank closely tied to the so-called "Israel Lobby" has been endorsed by two key officials who are expected to exercise major influence on Iran policy in the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama.

POLITICS-US: Intel Council Head Draws Ire of Israel Lobby

The appointment of a top-ranking retired diplomat and vocal critic of Israel to a key intelligence post has triggered an intense backlash from hawkish Israel supporters in Congress and the media who are pressing the administration of President Barack Obama to reconsider.

POLITICS-US: Senate Committee Weighs “Truth Commission”

In a preview of the heated divisions likely be triggered by the formation of a "truth commission" to investigate detainee interrogation, warrantless wiretapping and other alleged violations during the administration of President George W. Bush, witnesses before a Senate committee Wednesday characterised such a body as either a "profoundly bad idea" or "critically important to avoiding the mistakes of the past."

U.S.-SYRIA: Washington Ends Its Diplomatic Embargo

Ending a four-year diplomatic embargo on Damascus, the administration of U.S. President Barack Obama Tuesday confirmed that it is sending two high-level officials to Syria this week for "preliminary conversations", presumably on improving relations.

RIGHTS-US: Lawsuits Challenge Charity Blacklisting

In two court cases that could test the limits of the Barack Obama administration’s executive authority as well as its commitment to transparency, human rights lawyers are challenging the government’s right to use information obtained through warrantless wiretapping as evidence and to shut down charitable organisations without allowing them to defend themselves.

IRAQ: Stumbling From One Conflict to Another?

When U.S. President Barack Obama announced his plan last week to pull out all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by September 2010, the news did not generate much enthusiasm among Iraqi Kurds.

U.S.: Diplomatic, Aid Spending Set to Rise Under Obama Budget

While most mainstream press reaction to President Barack Obama's whopping 3.5-trillion-dollar 2010 budget has naturally focused on its far-reaching - even historic - implications for the U.S. domestic economy, experts here say it also marks at least the beginning of potentially important shifts in U.S. foreign policy.

POLITICS-US: Drawdown Plan May Leave Combat Brigades in Iraq

President Barack Obama has given military commanders a free hand to determine the size and composition of a residual force in Iraq up to 50,000 troops, apparently including the option of leaving one or more combat brigades or bringing them from the United States, after the August 2010 deadline for the ostensible withdrawal of all combat brigades now in Iraq.

POLITICS: Obama’s New Iran Envoy Met With Scepticism

The appointment of Dennis Ross as a special advisor to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has found a cool reaction in Tehran and some U.S. policy circles.

PAKISTAN: Time Running Out to Restore Stability – U.S. Report

The United States and its allies must act urgently to prevent Pakistan - the only predominantly Muslim nation with nuclear weapons - from descending into a spiral of economic, security, and political crises, according to a new report released here by an influential think tank.

RIGHTS-US: What About Bagram?

While human rights and legal advocacy groups applauded President Barack Obama’s decision to close the military prison at Guantanamo Bay within a year, many immediately raised another thorny question: "What about Bagram?"

ECONOMY-US: Job Creation Key to Recovery, Obama Stresses

In his first speech before a joint session of Congress, U.S. President Barack Obama gave a hopeful assessment of the country’s future and defended his economic recovery plan to get there.

POLITICS: Doomsday Clock May Finally Stop Ticking

The Barack Obama administration’s apparent resolve to take U.S. foreign policy in a new direction is creating ripples of hope for an enhanced U.N. agenda on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament.

US-CUBA: Lugar Report Gives Momentum to Anti-Embargo Push

Monday's call by Sen. Richard Lugar for a major re-assessment of Washington's nearly half-century effort to isolate Cuba increases the likelihood that U.S. President Barack Obama will make substantial changes in policy toward Havana beyond those he promised during his election campaign, according to experts here.

POLITICS-US: Christian Zionist’s Crusade Bears Fruit

During a recent appearance on the Fox News Channel's "Fox and Friends" programme, Mike Evans accused former President Jimmy Carter of everything from helping overthrow the Shah of Iran to causing the Russians to invade Afghanistan and provoking the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat.

US-RUSSIA: Kinder, Gentler Tone, Same Policy Tradeoffs

The relationship between the U.S. and Russia, which reached a nadir this past August during the war in Georgia, appears to have experienced a slight thaw during the first month of the Barack Obama administration.

MIDEAST: Human Rights Defenders Under Siege

The administration of U.S. President Barack Obama must take a leadership position in championing human rights in the Middle East and North Africa by using U.S. economic and trade leverage and confronting the growing global threat of authoritarianism being promoted by Arab regimes, advocates say.

US-AFGHANISTAN: Obama Nixed Full Surge After Quizzing Brass

President Barack Obama decided to approve only 17,000 of the 30,000 troops requested by Gen. David McKiernan, the top commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, and Gen. David Petraeus, the CENTCOM commander, after McKiernan was unable to tell him how they would be used, according to a White House source.

POLITICS: Rhetoric and Reality Clash on Obama’s First Foreign Visit

On his first foreign visit as U.S. president, Barack Obama's rhetoric of "hope" and "change" came face to face with the hard, divisive policy realities of climate change from Canada's tar sands, a growing insurgency in Afghanistan and the sputtering world economy.

POLITICS: The U.S. Is Back in Geneva

United States diplomats are back in force at the U.N., after having distanced themselves from the world body for several years. This week they contributed to successful mediation between Georgia and Russia, although they did not help resolve a stalemate on gay rights.