POLITICS: U.S. Shuts Eyes to Abuses of Key Ally, Egypt

The George W. Bush administration has called on the U.S. Congress to keep annual aid to Egypt of nearly two billion dollars intact for the next fiscal year, despite a massive crackdown on pro-democracy activists and suppression of political dissent in the country.

POLITICS: Iran Proposal to U.S. Offered Peace with Israel

Iran offered in 2003 to accept peace with Israel and to cut off material assistance to Palestinian armed groups and pressure them to halt terrorist attacks within Israel's 1967 borders, according to the secret Iranian proposal to the United States.

POLITICS-US: Bush Democracy Doctrine, 2003(?)-2006, R.I.P.

Less than 18 months after U.S. President George W. Bush declared in his 2005 Inaugural Address his unequivocal commitment to the "ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world", tyrants, particularly in the Islamic world, are taking heart.

RIGHTS: War Provoking Terror, Amnesty Says

The war on terror is provoking more terror, Amnesty International secretary-general Irene Khan told IPS in an interview Tuesday at the launch of the human rights group's 2005 annual report.

POLITICS: Iran Target of Apparent Disinformation Ploy

A story authored by a prominent U.S. neo-conservative regarding new legislation in Iran allegedly requiring Jews and other religious minorities to wear distinctive colour badges circulated around the world this weekend before it was exposed as false.

POLITICS: Reversing Policy, U.S. “Froze” Iran Talks in March

In yet another apparent episode of the inability of the White House to steer a consistent diplomatic course in the Middle East, a new report says that the George W. Bush administration ordered U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad in March to postpone indefinitely the talks with Iran on Iraq for which Khalilzad had previously gotten White House approval.

RIGHTS: U.S. Groups Hail Censure of Washington’s “Terror War”

Human rights organisations here are hailing the recommendations of the United Nations Committee Against Torture that the United States close its Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, detention centre, cease holding detainees in secret prisons, and stop the practice of "rendering" prisoners to countries where they are likely to be tortured.

RIGHTS: U.S. Fights Redress for CIA Kidnapping “Mistake”

The U.S. government has again invoked the "state secrets" privilege, arguing that a public trial of a lawsuit against a former head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) for abducting and imprisoning a German citizen would lead to disclosure of information harmful to U.S. national security.

POLITICS: Iran Nuclear Conflict Is About U.S. Dominance

As the George W. Bush administration pushes for a showdown over Iran's nuclear programme in the U.N. Security Council, it has presented the issue as a matter of global security - an Iranian nuclear threat in defiance of the international community.

POLITICS-US: Jewish Community Worried About Iran Backlash

Amid growing tensions between the United States and Iran, leaders of the U.S. Jewish community are expressing concern over Pres. George W. Bush's recent statements that his main concern in any possible military action would be protecting Israel.

IRAN: Activists Fear U.S. “Help” Could Spur Crackdown

The United States is struggling with Iran's fundamentalist government on two fronts - while U.S. diplomats are negotiating with other members of the U.N. Security Council to impose sanctions on Tehran, Washington has allocated 75 million dollars to inspire "regime change".

POLITICS-US: Cui Bono? Negroponte or Rumsfeld

Monday's nomination by U.S. President George W. Bush of Air Force Gen. Michael Hayden to take over the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) from the hapless Porter Goss has predictably intensified speculation over what is really going on behind the scenes.

POLITICS-US: Hawks Looking for New and Bigger Enemies?

As if rallying fading public support for keeping more than 100,000 U.S. troops in a disintegrating Iraq and preparing the ground for a possible military attack on Iran were not enough, some influential hawks are now promoting a more confrontational stance against Russia and China, as well.

IRAQ/US: Bush’s Wavering Halts Insurgent Peace Talks

The United States has backed away from high-level peace negotiations with Sunni insurgent groups after meeting with them regularly over several weeks in January and February, according to an insurgent leader.

POLITICS-US: “Terror War” Begets Devil’s Bargains

U.S. Pres. George W. Bush's "global war on terror" has produced the unintended consequence of bringing the United States ever-closer to some of the world's most repressive regimes.

POLITICS-US: Groups Urge Overhaul of Pentagon Budget

With Congress on the verge of approving yet another record Pentagon budget, a task force of nearly two dozen progressive policy analysts is calling for major changes in the way the United States allocates money for its common defence.

CORRUPTION: The Enron-isation of Afghanistan?

"Contractors in Afghanistan are making big money for bad work" - that is the conclusion reached in a new report from CorpWatch written by an Afghan-American journalist who returned to her native country to examine the progress of reconstruction.

WORLD PRESS FREEDOM DAY-US: A Chill in the Air

As the world reflects on the best and worst places to practice journalism on Press Freedom Day Wednesday, independent writers' groups and civil liberties advocates warn that Washington's "war on terror" is putting a growing chill on the basic democratic right of free expression.

RIGHTS-US: Gitmo Releases Suggest Numerous Mistakes

News that the Pentagon will soon release about a third of the prisoners still detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba has prompted the U.S. media and many in the blogosphere to recall Defence Secretary Rumsfeld's 2002 statement referring to Guantanamo prisoners as "the worst of the worst".

POLITICS-US: Give Me That Old-Time Geo-Politics

However much President George W. Bush's "Freedom Agenda" asserted itself into U.S. foreign policy in the wake of the Iraq invasion three years ago, traditional geo-politics - and the Realpolitik that goes with it - is making a remarkably strong comeback.

POLITICS: Iran Pushes for Talks With U.S. on Nukes, Security

Iranian leaders have been signaling to Washington since late 2005 that Iran wanted direct negotiations with the United States on Tehran's nuclear programme and other outstanding issues between the two countries.