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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