POLITICS: Iran Awaits Security Council Reaction to N. Korea

In a first reaction to North Korea conducting nuclear tests, Iran has said that the best way to stop proliferation was for the big powers to begin disarmament themselves.

MIDEAST: Appeals Grow For Comprehensive Settlement

Amid signs that the administration of President George W. Bush remains unwilling to take stronger steps to get Israeli-Palestinian peace talks back on track, a growing number of prominent U.S. and foreign figures are calling for a new international mechanism to set the framework for a comprehensive settlement between Israel and its Arab neighbours.

POLITICS-US/MIDEAST: “Strategic Consensus” Redux?

President George W. Bush and his peripatetic secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, may believe that they have broken with 60 years of U.S. policy in order to "transform" the Middle East, but to long-time regional observers, their latest initiatives look painfully familiar.

RIGHTS-US: Groups Unanimously Assail New Detention Law

By enacting new legislation this week governing the treatment and trial of suspects in Washington's "global war on terror", Congress has turned its back on both international law and the U.S. Constitution, according to the country's major human rights groups.

POLITICS-US: Elite Project Proposes Bipartisan Grand Strategy

After two years of consultations with more than 400 members of the U.S. foreign policy elite, a project headed by two leading international relations academics is calling for the adoption of a new U.S. grand strategy designed to address multiple threats and strengthen Washington's commitment to a reformed and reinvigorated multilateral order.

RIGHTS-US: Groups Denounce Deal on Detainee Rights

Human and civil rights groups have broadly denounced a compromise deal on the application of the Geneva Conventions to detainees in the "global war on terror" worked out between the White House and a group of rebellious Republican senators whose efforts have been backed until now by their Democratic colleagues.

POLITICS: U.N. Takes Beating from World Leaders

The United Nations took a severe political beating during the opening week of the 61st session of the General Assembly as several world leaders chastised the organisation - specifically its 15-member Security Council - for its failure to assert its authority in some of the world's battle zones.

POLITICS-US: Top CIA Expert Slams Bush Anti-Terror Actions

The Central Intelligence Agency's (CIA) recently retired top expert on radical Islamists has strongly denounced the conduct of U.S. President George W. Bush's "global war on terrorism" and the continued U.S. military presence in Iraq, which he said is "contributing to the violence".

POLITICS-US/IRAN: War, Diplomacy on Parallel Tracks

If you're feeling increasingly confused about whether the administration of President George W. Bush is determined to go to war with Iran or whether it is instead truly committed to a diplomatic process with its European allies to reach some kind of modus vivendi, you're not alone.

POLITICS: Iran Defends Nuke Programme at General Assembly

"If the governments of the United States or the United Kingdom, who are permanent members of the Security Council, commit aggression, occupation and violation of international law, which of the organs of the United Nations can take them to account?"

POLITICS-US: Bush Clears Task Force to Meet With Iranians

While his handlers worked assiduously Tuesday to ensure that U.S. President George W. Bush did not run into his Iranian nemesis, Mahmood Ahmedinejad, in the corridors of the U.N., a legendary fixer for the Bush family announced that the White House had cleared him to meet with a "high representative" of Tehran's government.

POLITICS-US: Neo-Con Favourite Declares World War III

Two years before the 2008 presidential election, Newt Gingrich, the former Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives, is trying desperately to grab the national spotlight by declaring he'd be a lot tougher than the George W. Bush in prosecuting what he calls "World War III".

POLITICS: ‘Europe, Asia Can Show US the Multilateral Way’

At this week's Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in Helsinki, experts were unanimous that if Europe and Asia keep investing in political and economic cooperation, it could pay huge dividends for a multilateral world.

POLITICS: Non-Aligned Summit Opens Amidst Suspense Over Castro

The week-long 14th summit of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) opened Monday with the usual suspense over whether or not Cuban President Fidel Castro would be participating, although heightened this time by the fact that he is recovering from major surgery and is the leader of the host country.

U.S.-9/11: Five Years In, Bush Is Losing Terror War

To consider whether U.S. President George W. Bush is winning his "global war on terror" (GWOT) five years after al Qaeda's devastating 9/11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon, one has only to look at the news of the past few days.

POLITICS: EU and Iran Find Their Roles Reversed

Scheduled talks between Javier Solana, high representative for the European Union's Common Foreign and Security Policy, and Iran's National Security Advisor Ali Larijani were postponed Wednesday over disagreements on the nature of the exchange - would the parties discuss or negotiate?

RIGHTS-US: Bush Yields to Geneva Conventions on Detainees

In a major victory for the State Department and career military lawyers, the Pentagon Wednesday released a new Army field manual that requires all detainees held by the U.S. military, including suspected terrorists, to be treated according to the Geneva Conventions.

POLITICS-US: Intel Estimate on Iran Blocks Neo-Con Plans

In the struggle over U.S. policy toward Iran, neoconservatives in the George W. Bush administration spoiling for an attack on Iran's nuclear sites have been seeking to convince the public that the United States must strike before an Iranian nuclear weapons capability becomes inevitable.

POLITICS: Diplomacy Intensifies on Iran’s Nuke Programme

As the U.N. Security Council deadline elapsed for Iran to halt its uranium enrichment-related activities Thursday, the United States renewed threats of a possible international economic blockade of Tehran.

POLITICS-US: Neo-Cons Denounce Khatami Visit as “Appeasement”

Next week's visit to the United States of former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami has been strongly denounced by hard-line neo-conservatives and other hawks here as "appeasement".

MIDEAST: U.N. Force Looks More European, Less Multinational

The conventional wisdom at the United Nations is that there are six - not five - veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council.