Opinion
Because his administration is ignoring the altered international order that has emerged in the wake of the global financial crisis triggered by Wall Street's excesses.
Web | Oct 30, 2009
Opinion
Until the June 12th election, post-Shah Iran seemed to indicate that Islam and democracy could work in harmony. The upheaval since then has demonstrated that when strains between the two concepts develop, it is democracy that gets short shrift.
Web | Jun 29, 2009
Opinion
Feeling cheated of their votes, Iranians fill the streets to reclaim their right as the world watches. But whichever way the Iranian protests turn, Obama's job is getting tougher
Web | Jun 18, 2009
Opinion
In the coming years, US will have to face reality and concede, however reluctantly, that the economic tectonic plates are shifting -- and that it is losing financial power to the thriving regions of the Earth, the foremost of which is China.
Web | May 05, 2009
View From LONDON
As American financial giants collapsed and blue chip corporations sent out distress signals, many on the Wall Street expected super-rich Middle Eastern Sovereign Wealth Funds (SWF) to swoop down to acquire stakes in some of them. But such thinking has proved to be a mirage.
Web | Oct 22, 2008
View From London
No matter when the US or Israel accomplishes its self-appointed mission, the key question remains: What then? Given the catastrophic consequences, the US may have to live with an Iranian nuclear program
Web | Jul 31, 2008
Opinion
The current oil shock, the fourth of its kind in the past three-and-a-half decades, and the deadliest so far, shows every sign of continuing for a long, long stretch.
Web | Jul 16, 2008
View From Britain
With no magic wand in hand, the only way out is to emulate the Japanese way, and supplement energy efficiency with alternative sources
Web | Jun 04, 2008
Opinion
A political vacuum in Iraq strengthens Iraqi militia forces and Iran. By switching enemies midstream, the US has antagonized the Shiites without winning the Sunnis
Web | Apr 14, 2008
Opinion
No, it wasn't "international scrutiny and pressure" as NIE and Bush would have us believe, that was responsible for Teheran's decision to end its nuke programme. It was related to Saddam Hussein's nuclear plans.
Web | Dec 14, 2007
Opinion
Washington once played off Tehran against Baghdad, while involved in a superpower zero-sum game with the Soviet Union. But now the USA is engaged in a zero-sum game, as a virtual equal, with Iran. America's loss has become Iran's automatic gain, and vice-versa.
Web | Dec 06, 2007
Opinion
Iran's technological advance, the rocketing price of oil and the split among the Security Council's permanent members may converge to foil the sanctions, inducing the international community to scale down its demand.
Web | Nov 21, 2007
Opinion
The Kurdish problem has been a running sore for Iraq and Turkey since their emergence as modern states, but was little more than a local irritant--until now. American failure to rein in the restive Kurds has reignited a long-simmering conflict
Web | Oct 25, 2007
Opinion
"I am saddened that it is politically inconvenient to acknowledge what everyone knows: the Iraq war is largely about oil." So wrote Allan Greenspan, only to find himself the target of a White House attack. But what went wrong with the oil grab?
Web | Sep 26, 2007
Opinion
Not Vietnam or Japan, but a few elements of what happened in India provide useful clues. Partition of Iraq into three independent states will create more problems than it will solve
Web | Sep 06, 2007
Opinion
The fast rising demand for oil by China and India, sharply declining fresh discoveries, and high prices are empowering the countries with large reserves of oil as never before -- but this oil card is good for only a few rounds in the long-term game of international diplomacy
Web | Jul 06, 2007
Opinion
The Iranian response, despite public denials, has been to play the single card that history has stamped "effective" since 1949 -- raising the specter of becoming nuclear-armed.
Web | Jun 11, 2007
Opinion
Recently Turkey came close to experiencing a soft military coup, demonstrating in the process how secularists are not invariably the good guys engaged in a struggle with the irredeemably bad guys from the Islamic camp.
Web | May 15, 2007
IRAQ
The prospect of Sadr's appeal extending to a section of the Sunni community, with the tacit support of Sistani, is the nightmare scenario that the Bush administration most dreads. Yet it may come to pass.
Web | Apr 19, 2007
Opinion
Peaceful resolution of the latest Iranian hostage crisis offers a key lesson in diplomacy. Will Tehran and Washington draw the right lesson from this episode, and seek fresh and innovative ways to find a solution through direct talks?
Web | Apr 10, 2007