VENEZUELA: US Neo-Cons Accuse Chavez of Anti-Semitism

Despite objections by major Jewish organisations in Venezuela and the United States, some influential U.S. neo-conservatives are charging President Hugo Chavez with anti-Semitism, which they say is consistent with the country's friendly relations with Iran.

DEVELOPMENT-US/IRAQ: Bush’s New Multilateralism

With the billions of dollars appropriated by the United States for Iraqi reconstruction almost spent, Japan, Australia and other nations in U.S. President George W. Bush's "coalition of the willing" are likely to be asked to shoulder much of the burden for funding the large number of unfinished projects.

WORLD SOCIAL FORUM: US Activists Study Bolivarian Revolution

U.S. activists are heading to the Sixth World Social Forum (WSF) with a renewed sense of optimism and international solidarity, despite Washington's animosity toward the hemisphere's growing slate of leftist governments.

AFGHANISTAN: Broad Support Found for Govt, Foreign Troops

If U.S. President George W. Bush is looking for good news, he should be talking less about Iraq and more about Afghanistan, according to the latest survey results from that country.

POLITICS-US: Bush Nominee Probed on Executive Powers

The limits of U.S. presidential power emerged as a central issue in the Senate confirmation hearings for Samuel A. Alito to become a new associate justice on the Supreme Court - even as Pres. George W. Bush and Vice Pres. Dick Cheney continued to vigorously defend their use of secret electronic surveillance of U.S. citizens.

MEDIA-US: Iraq, Natural Disasters Dominated TV News in 2005

Led by Hurricane Katrina, natural disasters and Iraq dominated the U.S. television news during 2005, accounting for almost half of the content of the three major network news shows over the course of the year, according to the latest annual round-up of the weekday evening news by the New York-based Tyndall Report.

POLITICS-US: Sharon’s Demise Gives Analysts the Jitters

Nearly a week after a massive stroke effectively removed Prime Minister Ariel Sharon from Israeli politics, the outlook in Washington is mostly worried and pessimistic.

IRAQ: Shiites Escalate Conflict with US Over Sunni Strategy

In escalating their conflict with the United States over its efforts to weaken the Iraqi insurgency by coopting Sunni political figures, Shiite party leaders may have delivered a fatal blow to that strategy.

POLITICS-US: Bush Bypasses Senate on Two Crony Appointments

Resorting once more to controversial "recess" appointments, U.S. President George W. Bush has named two political cronies to key administration positions without Senate approval.

POLITICS-US: Military Confidence in Bush Hits New Low

Although morale among members of the professional corps of the U.S. military remains generally high, their confidence in U.S. President George W. Bush and other civilian government leaders slipped substantially during 2005, according to major new survey released Monday by the "Military Times".

CHALLENGES 2005-2006: For Bush, January May Be the Cruellest Month

If U.S. President George W. Bush had high hopes of resuscitating his second term in office this month, he is likely to be disappointed by growing bipartisan opposition to many of his policy initiatives and the challenges of completing the leftover work of the last session of Congress.

IRAQ: US Military Still Runs With Dreaded Wolf Brigade

Despite the U.S. command's announcement last week that it would seek to curb abuses by Iraqi commando units, the U.S. military has been extremely tolerant of the most abusive unit of all - the notorious Wolf Brigade - because it regards it as highly effective against the insurgents.

MEDIA-US: The Freest Press Money Can Buy?

Amid undenied charges that the Pentagon is paying Iraqi journalists to write "good news" stories about the country's progress, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has announced a new international exchange programme for journalists named for famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and emphasising "the democratic principles that guided Mr. Murrow's practice of his craft - integrity and ethics and courage and social responsibility".

POLITICS-US: Anti-Imperialists Beware – Bush Is Reading Again

The Reader-in-Chief is at it again, and anti-imperialists around the world have reason to be concerned.

US/NORTH KOREA: Reform Rollback May Bolster Bush Hardliners

Growing indications that North Korea's central government is reasserting its control over the national economy may be strengthening hardliners in the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush who have long favoured a policy of "regime change" in Pyongyang.

POLITICS: Nour Case Strains US-Egypt Ties

U.S. government officials, foreign policy experts, newspaper editorial writers and human rights advocates were virtually unanimous in condemning the sentencing last week of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's chief political opponent to a five-year prison term, but divided on what can be done about it.

POLITICS-IRAQ: US-Shiite Struggle Could Spin out of Control

The George W. Bush administration has embarked on a new effort to pressure Iraq's militant Shiite party leaders to give up their control over internal security affairs that could lead the Shiites to reconsider their reliance on U.S. troops.

CHALLENGES 2005-2006: A “Conservative” Identity Crisis

One of the most misleading U.S. journalistic conventions has been the use of "conservative" to describe right-wing Republicans, like President George W. Bush and the party's leadership in Congress. More than four years into the "war on terrorism", it is clear to all but the blindest observers that they are anything but.

POLITICS: Emblem of Apartheid Resurfaces in Iraq

Black South Africans gave them a slang term, recalls Les Switzer, naming them the "Saracens". And when they were called in to break up a protest, he also remembers the terror they brought.

CHALLENGES 2005-2006: Scandal Soup Nears Boiling Point

If the fact that millions turned out to vote in the recent elections in Iraq was considered a victory for the George W. Bush administration, the joy was short-lived in Washington, as early election returns showed that the country will likely be in the hands of Shiite and Sunni religious parties for at least the next four years.

POLITICS-US/IRAQ: Pentagon Flunks Rebuilding 101

After a thousand days of widely acknowledged failure in the job of rebuilding Iraq, the U.S. Department of Defence has been quietly relieved of that responsibility, with the State Department taking over as Washington's lead reconstruction agency and coordinating the work of all other government departments.