Hugo Chávez’s move to leftist autocracy faces some unexpected opposition from some of his own supporters.
Now he has hit his first speed bump since the election. It is over the new party, provisionally called the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, whose leader will of course be Mr Chávez himself. The largest chavista party, the Fifth [...]

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A new property law is a breakthrough, even though it raises hopes that one-party rule may dash.
To such a party it must be an ideological embarrassment that China has such a large and flourishing private sector, accounting for some two-thirds of GDP. So one law due to receive the NPC’s rubber stamp this month, giving [...]

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But Congress may still have doubts about modernising America’s bombs
WHEN George Bush first took office, he said he wanted to reduce the size of America’s stockpile of nuclear warheads to the lowest number consistent with America’s security and that of its allies. But since then Mr Bush has attracted controversy, rather than committed arms-controllers, to [...]

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Doha: China and Arab countries in the Gulf region are rushing to each other in an increasingly close embrace, throwing money into each other’s economies and starting to discuss security ties.
The growing economic ties are turning political, and that could mean new uncertainty in the United States’ ability to count on steady support from longtime [...]

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A U.S. Navy medical ship, The Comfort, will make port calls in twelve countries in Central and South America this June offering medical care to an expected eighty-five thousand patients. Its deployment—which bears a striking similarity to the medical diplomacy practiced by longtime U.S. foe Cuba—is part of a modest package of aid to Latin [...]

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While most Americans are concentrating on extricating the US government from the debacle in Iraq, and most peace activists are simultaneously concerned that the Bush administration will launch a war against Iran, the leaders of the Pentagon are planning how to win wars 10, 20, and 50 years from now.
Washington is preparing for every contingency, [...]

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AN Iranian general who went missing on a visit to Turkey last month appears to have defected to the US, taking with him a treasure trove of his country¿s most closely guarded secrets.
Ali Resa Asgari, 63, a general in the elite Revolutionary Guards and former deputy defence minister, vanished on February 7 after arriving in [...]

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Taiwan and China have engaged in a new round of verbal sparring aggravated by Beijing’s announcement of increased defense spending and Taipei’s latest call for independence. China said it would increase military spending (LAT) by 18 percent, lifting its defense budget to $45 billion. The announcement came less than two months after a controversial anti-satellite [...]

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BERLIN: It is difficult to understand why Moscow feels more threatened by an American ballistic-missile defense system in Eastern Europe than by Iran’s nuclear and missile program. Iran’s nuclear ambitions and its rapidly advancing missile program threaten not only the Middle East; they also pose great danger to Europe — and to Russia.
Iran is known [...]

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KSG panelists debate whether U.S. will invade Iran.
Panelists at last night’s John F. Kennedy, Jr. Forum panel discussion on whether a United States-Iran conflict is inevitable disagreed about the probability of war, but agreed that the idea that Iran could soon possess a nuclear weapon is “doubtful.”
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A neurotic obsession is like a bone stuck in your throat. You can’t swallow it and you can’t spit it out. That is how the German media are hooked on America. It doesn’t look quite sane.
For Americans, the best web guide to the German media is davids medienkritik. (David’s media critique).
What you find out on [...]

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However, transitions in global order are tricky propositions. Rising powers are reluctant to assume the responsibilities associated with the hegemonic role - such as the provision of global security, brokering differences with nations and intervening in conflicts where it has no national interests.
At the same time, the outgoing hegemonic power is reluctant to surrender the [...]

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Damascus, 6 March (AKI) - Venezuela’s foreign minister Nicolas Maduro is this week visiting Syria and Iran with the aim of firming up several bilateral projects, as Venezuela’s leftwing president Hugo Chavez continues to strengthen ties with the likeminded anti-American states. In meetings with Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad, Maduro will discuss a planned 1.5 billion [...]

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Arab-Israelis represent about 20 percent of the Israeli population of 7 million, and they often face discrimination in the Jewish state. A recent Haifa University study found that three-quarters of Jewish respondents thought Arabs were uneducated, uncivilized and unclean.
Many Jewish residents were shocked last summer when many Arab-Israelis voiced support for Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan [...]

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Last month, two days after Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed with the emir of Qatar the merits of forming an OPEC-style cartel for natural gas, U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman told a Houston crowd, “[E]fforts to manipulate markets, trying to organize the suppliers in such a fashion, over the long term is not going to [...]

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News that the Russian security council is working on a revised version of the country’s military doctrine seems to confirm long-held Western suspicions that Putin’s chauvinistic regime, flush with petrodollars, is going to turn Russia into a military superpower again and challenge the US globally. A new Cold war is nigh.
Or is it? A sober [...]

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U.S. Army Gen. B.B. Bell told lawmakers Wednesday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Il has a long history of manipulating negotiations over his nuclear program for his regime’s gain, often emphasizing symbolism over substantial efforts to abandon bomb-making. He said that while he supported the recent six-nation disarmament deal, he saw no signs that [...]

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The Chinese navy could have its first aircraft carrier as soon as 2010, according to reports which will add to Pentagon concerns about the country’s military expansion.
The claim, made in the Government-backed Wen Wei Po newspaper, will alarm Pentagon hawks who fear China wants to mount a challenge to American dominance of the Pacific.
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The commander of U.S. forces in Asia and the Pacific says North Korea and China are the biggest concerns for regional security, but that overall the potential for conflict in the region is low. Admiral William Fallon spoke to a House of Representatives committee in Washington Wednesday, and VOA’s Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.
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Taiwan is also reportedly developing a short-range ballistic missile capable of striking targets within 1,000 kilometers. Dubbed the Tiching Project, it is based on an advanced version of the Tien Kung (Sky Bow) air defense missile system that is modeled after the U.S.-made Patriot missile. Little is actually known about the program, and there have [...]

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RUSSIA is to replace its military doctrine with a more hawkish version that boldly identifies NATO and the West as its greatest danger.
In a statement posted on its website, Russia’s powerful Security Council said it no longer considered global terrorism to be its biggest danger. Instead, Russia was developing a new national security strategy that [...]

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