POLITICS-U.S.: Loss of Key Aide Marks New Setback for Colin Powell

Thursday's announcement that the State Department's director for policy planning, Richard Haass, is leaving to become the next president of the New York-based Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), marks the latest sign of the eclipse of Secretary of State Colin Powell's influence in the Bush administration.

DEFENCE: NATO, Global Gendarme

NATO claimed for itself the right to act in any part of the world, to judge by remarks by Secretary-General George Robertson at the close Wednesday of a two-day meeting of the alliance's foreign ministers in the Spanish capital.

POLITICS: U.S. ICC Request Again Tests United Caribbean Front

After bending but not breaking when Washington pressed them to back the invasion of Iraq, Caribbean leaders are being called on again to show a united front to a request from the United States.

DEVELOPMENT: Iraq Rift May Harm Africa at G8 Summit

As G8 leaders prepare to meet next Sunday in Evian-les-Bains in the French Alps, the fall-out of the diplomatic rift over Iraq is threatening to push Africa to the fringes.

IRAQ: NGOs Decry ‘Bribes’ and ‘Threats’ Behind U.N. Vote

A coalition of over 150 peace groups and global non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is lashing out at the U.N. Security Council for adopting a resolution that virtually legitimises the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and endorses the foreign occupation of a U.N. member state.

RIGHTS-U.S.: Attorney-General Attacks Key Law

In a move that has provoked outrage from human rights groups here, Attorney General John Ashcroft has asked a federal appeals court to effectively nullify a 214-year-old law that has provided foreign victims of serious abuses access to U.S. courts for redress.

POLITICS-U.S.: Strong Must Rule the Weak, said Neo-Cons’ Muse

Is U.S. foreign policy being run by followers of an obscure German Jewish political philosopher whose views were elitist, amoral and hostile to democratic government?

POLITICS: Rich Nations Continue to Wield Power in Global Bodies

Officials of global organisations and rich nations rarely admit it but civil society groups and developing countries say the sad fact has not changed: multilateral bodies meant to help create a global community are in fact undemocratic.

POLITICS-CANADA: U.S. Military Ties Choke Foreign Policy – Critics

Analysts are warning that Canada cannot both integrate its small armed forces with the giant U.S. military machine and maintain an independent foreign policy.

EUROPEAN UNION: Not as Simple as Big v. Small, New v. Old

The rift created in the European Union by the largely unilateral U.S. decision to invade Iraq has cut into the debate on the bloc's new Constitution, further complicated as preparations are underway to admit new members, including former socialist countries that are today aligned with Washington.

POLITICS-U.S.: Public Still Rejects Unilateralism, Imperial Role

If the unilateralist hawks in the administration of President George W. Bush were hoping that the easier than expected military victory in Iraq would bring the U.S. public closer to their views, they are likely to be very disappointed by the latest polling.

POLITICS: U.S. Undermining Arms Control – Experts

The United States is undermining the international disarmament regime by abandoning multilateralism in favour of unilateralism, according to senior U.N. officials and U.S. arms control experts.

POLITICS: Despite Doubts, U.S.-North Korea Talks Get Underway

Even as doubts linger on whether Washington and Pyongyang have common ground for negotiations, a top U.S. official restarted on Wednesday talks with his North Korean counterpart aimed at resolving a nuclear standoff over the North's suspected nuclear weapons programme.

IRAQ: Bargaining in the Air as Security Council Talks Sanctions

The Bush administration's insistence that the United Nations should immediately remove sanctions against Iraq has led to a new round of diplomatic manoeuvring in the Security Council

POLITICS: Uncle Sam Disappointed with Latin America

Disappointment is a recurring word - with some unsettling connotations - in recent statements by U.S. officials about Latin America, a region that largely resists "backyard" status despite the expanding power of the neighbour to the north.

IRAQ: Caribbean Restores Unified Front Despite U.S. Pressure

After a rupture of their common front on Iraq following constant pressure from Washington, Caribbean leaders this week reasserted their original demand that the United Nations, not the United States or its coalition partners, play the central role in that country.

SRI LANKA: U.S. Shows Tigers It’s the Godfather of Global Affairs

The leader of the Tiger rebels, Vellupillai Prabhakaran, sees himself as the godfather of Tamil politics in Sri Lanka, but he is being forced to learn that the U.S. government revels in having that title when it comes to global politics.

MERCOSUR-EU: War in Iraq Favours Trade Accord

The new global context emerging from the war in Iraq will tend to benefit a trade agreement between Mercosur (Southern Cone Common Market) and the European Union (EU), say experts and business leaders in Brazil, the largest of the South American bloc's partners.

IRAQ: U.S. Pyrrhic Victory Should be a Humbling Experience

The United States' war on Iraq, notwithstanding its predictable military outcome, should serve as a humbling experience for the sole superpower.

POLITICS-U.S.-IRAQ: What Next?

Even as U.S. troops helped bring down Baghdad's most imposing statues of President Saddam Hussein, the big question here on Wednesday was, 'What now?', not just for Iraq and the Mideast in general, but also for the future of international relations.

POLITICS: NATO Aspirants Agree to Combat Terrorism

Seven ex-communist states set to join NATO - Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia, and Slovenia - have agreed to fight international terrorism and weapons of mass destruction more effectively, as well as to work in closer cooperation to combat illegal migration, cross-border crime and human trafficking.