While the Pentagon's budget has risen to heights not seen since World War II, US diplomatic and foreign aid assets have largely atrophied and must be quickly rebuilt by any new administration that takes office in January, according to a new report released here this...
Bush Set to Go With a Whimper, Not a Bang
With only three months left in office, U.S. President George W. Bush appears increasingly determined to calm the international waters he so vigorously churned up, especially during his first term. In just the last several days, he has effectively rehabilitated a...
Pakistan ‘Greatest Single Challenge’ to Next President
Calling Pakistan the "greatest single challenge" to the next U.S. administration, a bipartisan group of South Asia experts recommends cutting aid to the Pakistani army unless it commits itself to the counter-insurgency struggle against the Taliban and...
Senate Passes Nuke Deal Over Escalation Fears
While the US Senate's approval of a controversial nuclear deal with India was hailed by the White House Thursday as a major advance in Washington's "strategic relationship" with the South Asian giant, weapons experts warned that it dealt a serious blow to...
Brief Talks With Syria Spur Speculation
A series of meetings between U.S. and Syrian diplomats, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her counterpart, Foreign Minister Walid Moallem, at the United Nations over the past week is stirring speculation that Washington may at last be moving toward...
Iran Resolution Shelved in Rare Defeat for AIPAC
In a significant and highly unusual defeat for the so-called "Israel Lobby," the Democratic leadership of the House of Representatives has decided to shelve a long-pending, albeit nonbinding, resolution that called for President George W. Bush to launch what...
Bipartisan Group Urges Deeper Diplomacy with Muslim World
In an implicit indictment of President George W. Bush's "global war on terror" and the hawkish pronouncements by Republican candidate John McCain, a bipartisan group of nearly three dozen U.S. leaders called here Wednesday for Bush's successor to place much...
White House Still Cautious on Georgia
As if the outgoing administration of U.S. President George W. Bush didn't already have enough on its plate, the question of whether and how to rearm Georgia in the aftermath of its thrashing last month by Russia is moving steadily up its increasingly crowded foreign...
US’ Somalia Policy Likely to Bring Blowback
US counterterrorism policies and support for the Ethiopian-backed Transitional Federal Government (TFG) in Somalia have helped create an increasingly desperate humanitarian and security situation in the East African nation, whose population has become increasingly...
Iran Could Reap Benefits of U.S.-Russian Tensions
Iran could emerge as a big winner, at least in the short term, from the rapidly escalating tensions between the United States and Russia over Moscow's intervention in Georgia, according to analysts. Whatever waning chances remained of a U.S. military attack on Iran...


