US-AFGHANISTAN: Bagram, Worse Than Guantanamo?

While millions know that the administration of George W. Bush has left Barack Obama with the job of closing the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, relatively few are aware that the new president will also face a similar but far larger dilemma 7,000 miles away.

POLITICS-US: Obama Intel Picks Send Mixed Message

Announcing his choices for top intelligence positions on Friday, President-elect Barack Obama was lauded by some for breaking strongly with the policies of the outgoing Pres. George W. Bush administration, while other observers offered sharp criticisms.

U.S.: Economy Goes Down, Congressional Pay Goes Up

U.S. workers are losing jobs in record numbers, scores of businesses are shuttering and hundreds of thousands of families are newly homeless - and Congress just gave itself a generous pay raise.

POLITICS: U.S. Weaponry Facilitates Killings in Gaza

The devastating Israeli firepower, unleashed largely on Palestinian civilians in Gaza during two weeks of fighting, is the product of advanced U.S. military technology.

POLITICS: Obama Enigmatic on Mideast Crisis

As U.S. President-elect Barack Obama settles into Washington and meets with congressional leaders about his stimulus plan, he and his incoming administration remain silent about the intensifying crisis in the Gaza Strip.

U.S.: Networks’ Int’l News Coverage at Record Low in 2008

Despite two wars involving more than 200,000 U.S. troops and a global economic crisis, foreign-related news coverage by the three major U.S. television networks fell to a record low during 2008, according to the latest annual review of network news coverage by the authoritative Tyndall Report.

MIDEAST: Israeli Attack Seen as Complicating Obama’s Plans

Israel’s massive three-day aerial assault on Gaza is likely to complicate President-elect Barack Obama’s hopes of aggressively pursuing Israeli- Palestinian peace negotiations, and risk inflicting greater damage to Washington’s standing in the Arab world, according to most analysts here.

BOOKS-US: Dick Cheney, Master Bureaucrat

While lazier caricatures have always cast Vice-President Dick Cheney as the puppet-master pulling George W. Bush’s strings, it is the image of Cheney as master bureaucrat that provides the real key to understanding his power.

ECONOMY-US: Obama to Inherit Legacy of Free Market Free Fall

Despite hundreds of billions of dollars thrown at banks large and small, the U.S. economy is in a free fall, just weeks before President-elect Barack Obama takes office, analysts say.

MIDEAST: Overcoming the Zero-Sum Hurdle

It seems as if the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has been dissected from every possible angle.

ECONOMY-US: Carmaker Rescue Could Cost Workers

After debating whether it was wise for the Republican administration to let the U.S. automotive industry collapse under its watch, Pres. George W. Bush, who leaves office next January with a battered legacy marked by an unpopular war in Iraq that has consumed billions of tax dollars and an economic meltdown at home, finally came to the aid of General Motors and Chrysler with a 17.4-billion-dollar rescue package.

POLITICS-US: Scientists Hail Return to Fact-Based Policies

Key appointments announced by President-elect Barack Obama suggest that science will soon make a major comeback in the U.S. government.

RIGHTS-US: “Bad Apples” Didn’t Fall Far From the Tree

On the heels of a bipartisan Congressional report blaming high-level officials of the George W. Bush administration for employing harsh interrogation techniques on detainees captured in the "global war on terror", many of the world's most respected civil libertarians are calling for the establishment of an independent commission to investigate the alleged abuses.

MIDEAST: Unity – and Peace – Hinge on U.S., Other Outsiders

Eighteen months after Hamas evicted Fatah forces from Gaza, the prospects for restoring Palestinian unity are more elusive than ever, with both factions believing that time is on their side, according to a new report by the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) released Wednesday.

POLITICS: U.S. Military Defiant on Key Terms of Iraqi Pact

U.S. military leaders and Pentagon officials have made it clear through public statements and deliberately leaked stories in recent weeks that they plan to violate a central provision of the U.S.-Iraq withdrawal agreement requiring the complete withdrawal of all U.S. combat troops from Iraqi cities by mid-2009 by reclassifying combat troops as support troops.

SPECIAL SERIES: Iran's Regional Power Rooted in Shi'a Ties

As Barack Obama's national security team assesses the challenge of Iran's role in the Middle East, it confronts a paradox: Iran is seen as having ambitions of regional hegemony, but it lacks the military power normally associated with such a role.

ENERGY-US: Obama Faces Hungry Nuclear Industry

As Democratic President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office in a few weeks, he faces a hungry nuclear industry that wants to be included in his energy plan.

SPECIAL SERIES: Is a U.S.-Iran Deal on the Middle East Possible?

Would a negotiated agreement between Iran and the Barack Obama administration be feasible if Obama sent the right signals? The answer one gets from Iranian officials and think tank analysts is, "Yes, but..."

SPECIAL SERIES: Analysts Urge Obama Not to Delay Action on Talks

In light of the Iranian presidential election coming in mid-2009 and the U.S. distaste for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President-elect Barack Obama is being advised to avoid any communication with Tehran until after Iranians vote next June.

SPECIAL SERIES: Iranian Leaders Debate Obama's Policy Freedom

Iranian national security officials and political leaders have been carrying out an internal debate over how much freedom President-elect Barack Obama will have to change U.S. policy toward Iran, and those who have argued that he will not be able to do so have gained the upper hand since Obama's announcement of his national security team, interviews with Iranian officials and their advisers reveal.

RIGHTS: Bipartisan U.S. Panel Offers Blueprint to Prevent Genocide

A bipartisan task force of former top national security policymakers is calling on the incoming administration of President-elect Barack Obama to make the prevention of genocide and mass atrocities overseas a top U.S. foreign policy priority.