POLITICS-US: Bush and Hawks Try Pre-Emptive Strike Vs. Iran Vote

A familiar clutch of hardline U.S. hawks who led the march to war against Iraq have tried to carry out yet another pre-emptive strike. But this time it wasn't military.

POLITICS-U.S.: Congress Moves to Cut U.N. Funding

In a move virtually certain to add to strains between the U.S. Congress and the United Nations, the International Relations Committee (HIRC) of the House of Representatives Wednesday approved a sweeping bill that, if passed into law, will require Washington to withhold up to half of assessed U.S. contributions to the world body unless it implements specific reforms.

REPEAT/POLITICS-U.S.: Right’s Hostility to NGOs Glimpsed in Amnesty Flap

The flap over Amnesty International's characterisation of U.S. overseas detention facilities and practices as a "gulag of our times" offers important insights into the deep distrust of the George W. Bush administration and its far-right and neo-conservative supporters towards some non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

POLITICS-U.S.: Right-Wing Hostility to NGOs Glimpsed in Amnesty Flap

This week's flap over Amnesty International's characterisation of U.S. overseas detention facilities and practices as a ''gulag of our times'' offers insights into the Bush administration's and its neo-conservative supporters' deep distrust of some non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

POLITICS-U.S.: ‘Realists’ Press for Bush to Engage Iran, North Korea

Hawks in the administration of President George W. Bush may think that they are tough, but their dreams of ''regime change'' in Iran and North Korea are increasingly deluded, not to say dangerous, according to their hard-edged realist rivals who have become increasingly outspoken in recent weeks.

POLITICS-U.S.: Military Finds Itself in Twilight Zone

On the day that U.S. citizens honoured the nation's war dead, the U.S. armed forces found themselves in a twilight zone somewhere between glory and hell.

POLITICS-U.S.: Bush Raises Stakes with North Korea

Increasingly frustrated over its failure to get North Korea back to the negotiating table, the administration of President George W. Bush is taking new steps virtually certain to escalate tensions with the third spoke in his original ''axis of evil,'' analysts said.

U.S.: New Environmentalism, Or Backdoor to Nuclear Power?

Mainstream U.S. environmental groups, injured by political defeats, public indifference and budget cuts, are weighing alliances with neo-conservatives - improbable rightwing bedfellows in the struggle to rein in global warming who want to reduce U.S. dependence on Middle East oil. In the process, some greens are reconsidering their longstanding opposition to nuclear power.

RIGHTS-IRAN: Exiled Rebel Group Said to Torture Dissidents

An Iranian rebel group that is aggressively campaigning for Washington's support as part of a ''regime change'' strategy in its homeland has committed serious abuses including torture and prolonged isolation, against dissident members, according to a leading human rights watchdog.

MEDIA-U.S.: A Tale of Two Stories

Here's a question for international news hounds. Who is the ''son of a bitch'' referred to in this comment by a U.S. Defence Department spokesman?

POLITICS-U.S.: Bolton Embarrassment Latest Setback for Bush Hawks

The failure of U.S. President George W. Bush's U.N. ambassador-designate to get the unanimous support of Republican members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has dealt a new setback to the coalition of unilateralist hawks that led the drive to war with Iraq and is strongly opposed to diplomatic engagement with Iran and North Korea.

POLITICS-US: Delay on Bolton Vote Marks Defeat for Hawks

Demands by a key Republican senator for a two-week delay in the vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on John Bolton as Washington's next U.N. ambassador mark a significant and potentially strategic defeat for Vice President Dick Cheney and the administration hawks he led during George W. Bush's first presidential term.

POLITICS-US: Pentagon Reaffirms Globocop Role

March has been a bad month for the world's multilateralists who, encouraged by several early appointments to the State Department and a successful presidential tour of Europe, had hoped that George W. Bush would temper his unilateralist instincts in his second term.

POLITICS: Opposition to Wolfowitz Gathers Steam

Several groups from the anti-corporate globalisation movement are joining forces to drum up opposition to the nomination of Paul Wolfowitz, a neo-conservative Pentagon official close to Pres. George W. Bush, to the highest post in the World Bank.

FINANCE: Wolfowitz Pick for World Bank Prompts Head-Scratching

If sending arch-unilateralist John Bolton to the United Nations sent a message of contempt for multilateralism, what does U.S. President George W. Bush mean by sending that ardent advocate of "hard power", Paul Wolfowitz, to the planet's single biggest purveyor of "soft power", the World Bank?

DEVELOPMENT: Bush Nominates Arch-Hawk to Lead World Bank

U.S. Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, a chief architect of one of the most unpopular wars in U.S. history, is President George W. Bush's choice to head the World Bank, the world's largest development agency.

POLITICS-US: Unipolarity Re-Affirmed

Just one week ago, conventional wisdom both here and in European capitals was that President George W. Bush's second term would see a modest turn toward multilateralism and a new readiness to compromise on key issues with traditional U.S. allies.

POLITICS-US: Bush Appoints Right-Wing Extremist to UN Post

In a breathtaking victory for right-wing hawks, U.S. President George W. Bush has nominated Undersecretary of State for Arms Control and International Security John Bolton to become his next ambassador to the United Nations.

POLITICS-MIDDLE EAST: Democratisation or Disintegration?

Feeling vindicated by dramatic events in the Middle East since the Iraqi elections Jan. 30, especially the growing international clamour for Syria to withdraw from Lebanon, neo-conservatives are calling on Pres. George W. Bush to seize the moment by pressing for "regime change" in Damascus and Iran, as well.

POLITICS-U.S.: Jaafari Victory Win for Administration Pragmatists

The choice of Ibrahim Jaafari as candidate for prime minister of the majority United Iraqi Alliance (UIA) is seen as an important advance for the more pragmatic forces in the administration of President George W. Bush against their adversaries among the neo-conservatives and other hawks.

POLITICS-US: Negroponte Pick as Intel Chief a Win for Realists

In choosing Ambassador John Negroponte as the country's first National Director of Intelligence (NDI), U.S. President George W. Bush has opted for a hawkish, tough, ruthless realist who could very well clash with more ideological forces in the administration.