The U.S. Congress is moving forward with a bill to sanction companies that do business in Iran despite the White House's efforts to build international support for U.N. sanctions against the Islamic Republic. U.S. business organizations and a number of experts here in...
US-Japan Airbase Spat May Have Regional Ripples
A protest of more than 90,000 Okinawans Sunday over the proposed relocation of a U.S. Marine Corps airbase in the southern Japanese prefecture has fueled speculation in Washington that the U.S.-Japanese alliance may be facing a serious test with the election of the...
US Nonprofit Targeted Rights Group Over Goldstone
A campaign of attacks against the New Israel Fund (NIF), a U.S.-based progressive organization that supports human rights groups in Israel, has gained attention in both the Israeli and U.S. media, raising questions about the role played by foreign nonprofits and...
Taiwan Arms Sale Heats Up Simmering Row
Trade relations between the U.S. and China appear to be hitting a rough patch, with China publicly threatening to impose sanctions on U.S. companies participating in the arms sales to Taiwan, leading some observers to express concern over the growing war of words...
Suicide Rate Surged Among Veterans
Suicides among United States military veterans ballooned by 26 percent from 2005 to 2007, according to new statistics released by the Veterans Affairs (VA) department. "Of the more than 30,000 suicides in this country each year, fully 20 percent of them are acts...
One Step Closer to Unilateral Sanctions Against Iran
Congress has given new momentum to a bill imposing unilateral sanctions on Iran -- a move seen by many as an ineffective form of sanctions and potentially antagonistic against valuable U.S. allies on the U.N. Security Council. This comes ahead of the end of the year...
Neocons Get Warm and Fuzzy Over ‘War President’
U.S. President Barack Obama's plan for a 30,000-troop surge and a troop withdrawal timeline beginning in 18 months has caught criticism from both Democrat and Republican lawmakers. But a small group of hawkish foreign policy experts – who have lobbied the White...
Obama’s Afghan Plan Has Something for Everyone… to Hate
President Barack Obama's speech Tuesday night at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point laid out his administration's plan to deploy an additional 30,000 troops to Afghanistan and start a phased withdrawal beginning in 18 months, but the plan has won the White House...
Hawkish ‘Israel Lobby’ More Bark Than Bite?
The Nov. 25 announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of a "moratorium" on settlement construction brought very different responses from the Jewish American "pro-Israel" groups J Street and the heavyweight American Israel Public...
Settlements ‘Moratorium’ Still Short of Freeze
U.S. special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton welcomed an announcement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Wednesday that Israel will impose a 10-month "moratorium" on settlements, but warned that the...