POLITICS-US: FDR Revival?

Sixty years after his death, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the policies he pursued - both at home and abroad - during his record 12-year presidency appear to be enjoying something of a comeback.

POLITICS: North Korea Deal Seen as Starting Point Only

This week's Six-Party agreement on the principles for denuclearising the Korean peninsula is being greeted somewhat warily here, with most experts stressing that the accord marks only the beginning of what is likely to be a protracted negotiating process that could take years, rather than months, to achieve.

POLITICS-US: Uncertain Anniversary for Iraq War Champions

It was four years ago today that a little-known group called the "Project for the New American Century" (PNAC) published an open letter to President George W. Bush advising him on how precisely he should carry out his brand-new "war on terrorism".

POLITICS-US: Sailing Toward Lame Duck Land on Katrina’s Waters

More than two weeks after Hurricane Katrina swamped New Orleans, U.S. President George W. Bush is looking increasingly like a political "lame duck", struggling hard to stay afloat on a rising tide of pessimism and popular discontent.

POLITICS-US: Will Katrina Bring An Isolationist Revival?

It was Jim Hoagland, the Washington's Post's liberal hawk par excellence, who first pondered the possible foreign policy consequences of Hurricane Katrina and the destruction of New Orleans.

POLITICS-US: Pentagon Foresees Pre-emptive Nuclear Strikes

Amid increasing tension between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear programme, and growing concern about overstretched U.S. ground forces, the George W. Bush administration is moving steadily toward adopting the pre-emptive use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear states as an integral part of its global military strategy.

/CORRECTED REPEAT/POLITICS-US: A Hyperpower With Feet of Mud

The United States may not quite yet be perceived as the "pitiful, helpless giant" that haunted the dreams of Richard Nixon 35 years ago, but it's getting close.

POLITICS-US: Anti-Terror Strategy in Doubt on 9/11 Anniversary

If U.S. President George W. Bush was counting on Sunday's "Freedom Walk" and country music festival at the Pentagon to revive the patriotic spirit (and rally his sagging approval ratings) that followed the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on their fourth anniversary, he is likely to be very disappointed.

POLITICS-US: Pro-War Groups’ New Tune – ‘Paint It Red’

Late in the evening of Aug. 24, the Drudge Report, one of the Internet's most frequented websites, featured the headline "Anti-War Protesters Target Wounded at Army Hospital", trumpeting a story from the Cybercast News Service claiming that anti-war protesters were taunting wounded soldiers returning from Iraq.

POLITICS-US: Iraq War Costs Now Exceed Vietnam’s

The U.S. Treasury is paying out more each month to sustain the war in Iraq than it did during the Vietnam War, according to a new report that calls the ongoing conflict "the most expensive military effort in the last 60 years".

POLITICS-IRAQ: Democracy or Disintegration?

One day after the formal presentation by a majority of Iraq's elected leaders of their proposed constitution, opinions here and in Baghdad appeared divided over whether the draft would lead to greater democracy or the virtual, if not actual, disintegration of the country.

POLITICS: Iran’s Growing Sway in Iraq Defies Neocons’ Logic

Anyone who still believes that the U.S. neo-conservatives who led the drive to war in Iraq are diabolically clever geo-strategic masterminds should now consider Iran's vastly improved position vis-a-vis its U.S.-occupied neighbour.

POLITICS-US: Realists Rule?

Is realism finally, definitively, back in the driver's seat of U.S. foreign policy?

POLITICS-US: Has the “Tipping Point” on Iraq Been Reached?

Has the U.S. public lost so much confidence in the George W. Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war that its current strategy - to the extent one actually exists - is unsustainable?

POLITICS-US: Reviving the "Radical Centre"

As U.S. President George W. Bush announced the unprecedented "recess appointment" of ultra-nationalist John Bolton as his next ambassador to the United Nations, a group of diplomatic heavyweights was preparing to launch a bipartisan coalition to promote a return to a more moderate and multilateral foreign policy.

POLITICS-US: Experts Urge More Attention to "Nation-Building"

In light of its continuing travails in Iraq, the U.S. government, particularly the Department of Defence, must place "nation-building" on a par with war-fighting as a top priority in protecting national security, according to a major new report released here Wednesday by a bipartisan task force chaired by two former national security advisers.

POLITICS-US/KOREA: Much at Stake on Eve of Six-Party Talks

Is U.S. President George W. Bush at last ready to deal with the third charter member of his "Axis of Evil," thus giving up his dreams of "regime change" in North Korea?

POLITICS: Iran Sits Pretty in World’s Hottest Region

Despite the best efforts of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush to make Iran an international pariah, the Islamic Republic keeps wracking up one diplomatic victory after another.

POLITICS-US: "PlameGate" Is Hardly a Summer Squall

While to people living outside the Washington "Beltway," the current affair over the disclosure by top White House officials of the identity of a covert intelligence officer may seem somewhat esoteric, the stakes could not be higher.

POLITICS-US: Welcome to RightWorld

It's always difficult to play defence and offence at the same time, but when the geo-political ground is shifting beneath one's feet and damaging leaks are spurting out of the White House and Downing Street plumbing like Fourth of July fireworks, it's more difficult than usual.

POLITICS: Spectres of Militarism, Nationalism Dog Independence Day

As U.S. citizens mark their annual celebration of patriotism, the Fourth of July holiday, they might do well to also ponder the spectre of two other "isms" that threaten the Republic's durability and strength raised by two important books published over the past year.