UPI International Intelligence articles from December 2006

UPI International Intelligence archives from December 2006

Analysis: Shock and awe about-face.
December 1, 2006... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- President Bush promoted Pakistan in 2004 to MNNA, the same status enjoyed by close allies Israel, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Egypt and Jordan. Major Non-NATO allies get...

Policy Watch: Help from Syria and Iran?
December 1, 2006... Byline: MARK N. KATZ WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- One idea being floated for resolving the conflict in Iraq is for the United States to get help in doing this from Iran and Syria -- two governments that Washington has long had hostile...

Analysis: PA coalition talks 'fail'.
December 1, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT JERUSALEM, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said he has failed to form a national unity government that the international community would aid and appealed for U.S. help in easing his people's...

Analysis: Can Iraq be split?
December 1, 2006... Byline: LAURA HEATON WASHINGTON, Dec. 1 (UPI) -- Washington is abuzz with theories offering a potential way out of Iraq, one risk expert poses a new option: split Iraq in two. "We need radical thinking. The military situation (in Iraq)...

Analysis: Shock & awe about-face.
December 4, 2006... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- President Bush promoted Pakistan in 2004 to MNNA, the same status enjoyed by close allies Israel, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Egypt and Jordan. Major Non-NATO allies get...

Walker's World: Europe's limping army.
December 4, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- As the European Union's 1,400-strong military mission to the Congo packed their bags to leave after their successful mission guarding the election process, French General Christian Damay...

Politics & Policies: Three Mideast fires.
December 4, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The Middle East is facing the unprecedented danger of three potential civil wars erupting -- Iraq, Lebanon and the Palestinian Territories -- with each dragging some of its neighbors into...

Analysis: Europe to step up Mideast role.
December 4, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Europe should become more active in the Middle East to counter the U.S. role there and protect its own domestic security, according to experts. "The Arab-Israeli conflict is making its way...

Outside View: Russia and Afghan drugs.
December 4, 2006... Byline: PYOTR GONCHAROV MOSCOW, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- It will take more than two or three years to fight drug trafficking from Afghanistan, according to a joint report of the World Bank and the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime published recently....

U.N. OKs series of Mideast resolutions.
December 4, 2006... UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- The 192-member U.N. General Assembly has approved by the usual lopsided majorities six non-binding Middle East resolutions. One of the measures Friday, approved by 157-7, welcomed the recent Palestinian...

Outside View: The meaning of global NATO.
December 4, 2006... Byline: IRA STRAUS WASHINGTON, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- NATO's tag line for last week's Riga summit, "Going Global," is a phrase that invites misunderstanding. It is often taken to mean indiscriminate globalization of NATO. Herewith a primer on its...

Analysis: Israel, PA discuss prisoner swap.
December 4, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 4 (UPI) -- Israeli officials provide different figures when asked how many Palestinian security prisoners are in their jails. The Prison's Service says "about 10,000," while a well-placed...

Review of the Arab press.
December 5, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Dec. 5: Arab newspapers commented Tuesday on the massive protests in Beirut seeking a change of the pro-Western Lebanese government. Lebanon's as-Safir said in a commentary the worst...

Analysis: N.Korea's next move.
December 5, 2006... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- What will North Korea's next move be over the ongoing nuclear standoff? Officials and analysts here are waiting for the North's response to U.S. proposals put forward late last week to resolve...

Analysis: Litvinenko affair widens.
December 5, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The mysterious radioactive poisoning of a former Russian spy continues to strain European Union-Russia relations with almost daily revelations, prompting EU interior security ministers to put...

Realpolitik: A year of tragic defiance.
December 5, 2006... Byline: ALON BEN-MEIR NEW YORK, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- I admit that I find myself struggling to find a way or a phrase to summarize the sorry state of affairs in the Middle East in 2006; they seem to defy not only logic but the instinct to...

Analysis: Israeli-PA cease-fire is fragile.
December 5, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT JERUSALEM, Dec. 5 (UPI) -- The cease-fire in and around the Gaza Strip has been holding, more or less, but remains extremely fragile as low-intensity hostilities continue. Since it went into effect on Nov. 26,...

Analysis: SCIRI meeting in Washington.
December 6, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The Bush administration continues to look for ways out of the Iraqi conundrum amid rising violence pitting the country's Sunni minority against the Shiite majority with the specter of a...

Review of the Arab press.
December 6, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Dec. 6: Lebanon's independent Daily Star warned in its editorial Wednesday if the rival Lebanese factions fail to strike a deal before foreign diplomacy becomes pre-occupied with Iraq,...

Analysis: More needed to fight sex abuse.
December 6, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- Recent reports of sexual abuse and exploitation among international personnel working in conflict zones, particularly U.N. peacekeepers, have returned despite a zero-tolerance...

Analysis: Rabbis fight German neo-Nazism.
December 6, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA ORANIENBURG, Germany, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- A group of New York rabbis traveled to Berlin and met with German students to campaign against anti-semitism. The trip is well-timed: Neo-Nazi crimes have surged to new highs in...

Outside View: Litvinenko's death.
December 6, 2006... Byline: VLADIMIR SIMONOV MOSCOW, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The stories of crime and spy writers Arthur Conan Doyle, Georges Simenon and John le Carre pale before the intricate plot of Alexander Litvinenko's death puzzle. Russian defector...

Analysis: N.Korea focuses on economy.
December 6, 2006... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- North Korea has decided to focus national efforts on reviving a battered economy because security fears were resolved after the nuclear test in October, according to a North Korean document...

Analysis: ISG urges return to diplomacy.
December 6, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Dec. 6 (UPI) -- The much-anticipated report from the Iraq Study Group stresses a "responsible transition" of power from U.S. to Iraqi forces, allowing for an honorable and organized retreat from Iraq. ...

Commentary: Iraq exit via Iran -- Act II.
December 7, 2006... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- The audience at the Arab World Strategy 2006 conference in Dubai suddenly parted like the Red Sea. Iran's national security adviser and chief nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani strode...

Walker's World: A new Pearl Harbor?
December 7, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- It was a curious coincidence of history that saw the publication of the eagerly-awaited report of the Iraq Study Group on Dec. 6, the day before the anniversary of the attack on Pearl...

Review of the Arab press.
December 7, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Dec. 7: The report of the U.S. Iraq Study Group, led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton, dominated front-page headlines in Arab...

Analysis: Palestinian economy in free fall.
December 7, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT JERUSALEM, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- During a recent press conference with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees on the economic conditions in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, briefer Salem...

Analysis: EU wants new Mideast strategy.
December 7, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Observers say Europe will have to do more to help the United States find and implement a fresh security strategy in the Middle East, and the findings of the Iraq Study Group have already...

Outside View: Chavez's new era no threat.
December 7, 2006... Byline: PYOTR ROMANOV MOSCOW, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Hugo Chavez and Cuba, which is worried about Fidel's illness and its own future, are celebrating victory in Venezuela's presidential election. It was a predictable win, as pre-election...

Analysis: Olmert opposes talks with Syria.
December 7, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 7 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert seemed reluctant to go along with proposals to advance peace with Syria but eager to move on the Israeli-Palestinian track. Olmert said he...

Policy Watch: What now in Iraq?
December 8, 2006... Byline: MARK N. KATZ WASHINGTON, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The recently released Iraq Study Group report has warned against "an open-ended commitment to keep large numbers of (U.S.) troops in Iraq." It calls for the withdrawal of all American combat...

Common Ground: Terrorists, not activists.
December 8, 2006... Byline: SHAYKH ALI GOMAA CAMBRIDGE, England, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- The rise of extremism in the Muslim world has led to the widespread view of Islam as a religion of violence, retribution and war. This is in complete opposition to the truth of...

Analysis: Israeli slams ISG ideas.
December 8, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 8 (UPI) -- A prominent Israeli analyst has warned that the new U.S. Middle Eastern policy proposed by the Iraq Study Group Wednesday poses "serious problems" to vital Israeli interests and...

Walker's World: India could say 'No'.
December 11, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- The United States-India Peaceful Atomic Energy Cooperation Act of 2006 that was passed by the U.S. Congress Saturday is likely to be stillborn because of Indian opposition to "the...

Review of the Arab press.
December 11, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Dec. 11: The Palestinian al-Quds commented in its editorial Monday on the Palestine Liberation Organization's recommendation to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas to call for early...

Analysis: Darfur still deteriorating.
December 11, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has again said he "is deeply concerned about the worsening security situation in Darfur and its consequences for the wider region" of Sudan. But...

Realpolitik: There is no victory strategy.
December 11, 2006... Byline: ALON BEN-MEIR NEW YORK, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- After nearly four years of successive disasters in Iraq, which unleashed a civil war and brought the country to its knees, not to speak of the monumental American losses, there are still...

Analysis: 'The Third Man' in Germany.
December 11, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- The investigation surrounding the mysterious death of a former Russian spy has extended into Germany, where security experts and politicians have expressed concern over the activities of...

Analysis: U.N. appeal for U.S. leadership.
December 11, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan gave a farewell address Monday that some observers called an attack on U.S. foreign policy. But he denies the accusation, countering it was...

Analysis: Jews slam Iranian conference.
December 11, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 11 (UPI) -- A Holocaust denial conference that the Iranian government opened in Tehran, Monday, elicited emotional reactions among Jews around the world: An Israeli legislator choked with...

Commentary: Watching America.
December 12, 2006... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- In much of the world, friends and foes alike are challenging America's preeminence. Pakistan's "Frontier Post," reflecting the euphoria of Muslim fundamentalism, asked, "Which...

Analysis: ISG report irks Iraqi president.
December 12, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- George W. Bush is not the only president annoyed by the Iraq Study Group's report made public last week. Jalal Talabani, Iraq's own president, is equally upset, if not all the more so....

Review of the Arab press.
December 12, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Dec. 12: Arab newspapers condemned Tuesday the killing of three Palestinian school children in Gaza by unidentified gunmen amid political tension between rival Fatah and Hamas factions....

Analysis: Prospects dim for N.Korea talks.
December 12, 2006... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- North Korea has agreed to return to the stalled six-nation talks on its nuclear program next week, ending its 13-month-long boycott of the multilateral negotiations over U.S. financial...

Analysis: Olmert's nuclear slip took over.
December 12, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- The meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and German Chancellor Angela Merkel Tuesday in Berlin was overshadowed by what was interpreted as an Olmert concession that Israel has...

Analysis: U.N. plea for Mideast peace.
December 12, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 12 (UPI) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in has last report to the Security Council before retiring at the end of the year, made an impassioned plea for Arab-Israeli peace, saying it was...

Analysis: Israeli-Arab dispute feeds ire.
December 13, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Less than a week after the Iraq Study Group report emphasized that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would help settle other disputes in the Middle East, a UPI-Zogby...

Review of the Arab press.
December 13, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Dec. 13: Iraq's al-Sabah reported Wednesday that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and two of his aides will be put to death immediately after an appeals court endorses the special...

Analysis: Courts open to Arab claims.
December 13, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 13 (UPI) -- Israel's High Court of Justice has annulled legislation that imposed special restrictions on Palestinians' ability to sue the government for damages caused by security forces. ...

Analysis: Poll adds to pressure on Israel.
December 14, 2006... Byline: MARTIN SIEFF WASHINGTON, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The findings of the new UPI-Zogby poll could not come at a worse time for Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and the powerful pro-Israel lobby in the United States. As United Press...

Review of the Arab press.
December 14, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Dec. 14: The Palestinian al-Hayat al-Jadeeda commented Thursday that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's indication that his country was a nuclear power was not surprising since the...

Analysis: N.Korea's Kim focuses on economy.
December 14, 2006... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, who almost vanished from public view for several months amid strong outside pressures following the country's missile and nuclear tests, has recently increased...

Atlantic Eye: Solving the insolvable.
December 14, 2006... Byline: MARC S. ELLENBOGEN PRAGUE, Czech Republic, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- The previous night's discussions at the Prague residence of the Hungarian ambassador crisscrossed my mind. Istvan Szabo, a good and smart man, and his elegant wife, hosted...

Analysis: Court OKs some targeted killing.
December 14, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Israel's High Court of Justice Thursday approved targeted killings but demanded the security authorities adhere to international law when carrying them out. Some 500...

Analysis: The CIA's German victim.
December 14, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Germany's foreign minister and his predecessor Thursday told a parliamentary inquiry that the German government did not assist the Central Intelligence Agency in its abduction of...

Analysis: New U.N. chief sworn in.
December 14, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 14 (UPI) -- Ban Ki-moon, taking the oath of office to become the eighth U.N. secretary-general starting Jan. 1, 2007, placed his left hand on the 61-year-old world organization's charter,...

Walker's World: EU-U.S. agree on Mideast.
December 15, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The striking feature of the UPI-Zogby poll on American attitudes toward the Israel-Palestine dispute is the similarity with views in Europe. This suggests that the transatlantic political...

Policy Watch: Saudi Arabia and Iraq.
December 15, 2006... Byline: MARK N. KATZ WASHINGTON, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- In a Nov. 29 Washington Post op-ed piece, the well-connected Saudi analyst, Nawaf Obaid, warned that the Kingdom would provide aid to Iraqi Sunnis if American forces withdrew from Iraq. The...

Analysis: Palestinian infighting escalates.
December 15, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- Clashes among Palestinian militants spread Friday after gunmen attacked Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh's convoy, killing his bodyguard and wounding Haniyeh's son and a close...

Analysis: Clooney expands Darfur effort.
December 15, 2006... Byline: EDITH HONAN UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 15 (UPI) -- The actor George Clooney has stepped up his efforts on behalf of people in the violence-ravaged Darfur region of Sudan, traveling to China and Egypt and meeting Friday with U.N....

Politics& Policies: Democracy, yes but...
December 18, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The kindling is set in the Palestinian territories and ready to ignite the Middle East's third of three civil wars, as predicted recently by the Jordanian monarch. King Abdullah of...

Walker's World: Here comes China, warns U.K.
December 18, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER LONDON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The United States will cease to be the lone superpower within thirteen years, and both the European Union and Britain will have to accept that the transatlantic strategic partnership will no...

Review of the Arab press.
December 18, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Dec. 18: Arab newspapers commented Monday on the inter-Palestinian fighting between rivals Fatah and Hamas, with many blaming both sides for the deteriorating conditions in the West...

Outside View: Russia, EU and Iran sanctions.
December 18, 2006... Byline: PYOTR GONCHAROV MOSCOW, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council plans to vote on a draft Iranian resolution on Dec. 24. The five permanent members of the Council -- the United States, Britain, Russia, China and France -- and...

Review of the Arab press.
December 19, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Dec. 19: Jordan's al-Ghad reported Tuesday that Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has instructed Palestinian diplomatic missions to stop dealing with Farouk Kaddoumi, the...

Analysis: Blair tries to help PA moderates.
December 19, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair visited the West Bank and Israel to try and bolster Palestinian moderates and advance the peace process, but it was not clear whether he made any...

Analysis: N.Korea tactics over nuke talks.
December 19, 2006... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- As North Korea is standing firmer in the ongoing six-party talks on its nuclear weapons program, analysts in Seoul have grown more skeptical about a major breakthrough in the years-long nuclear...

Outside View: 100 years of Brezhnev.
December 19, 2006... Byline: ANDREI KOLESNIKOV MOSCOW, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- There were many jokes about Leonid Brezhnev, the Soviet leader whose centenary is observed on Dec. 19. Many people look back on the Brezhnev era with nostalgia and believe that it was...

Analysis: Jordan's king warns of war.
December 19, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- After holding talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmnet in the Jordanian capital, Amman, Tuesday, King Abdullah of Jordan warned that in the absence of a prompt resolution to the...

Analysis: EU says Congo mission a success.
December 19, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The European Union's recently completed mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo was a military, political and social success that proved Europe has the leadership qualities it was said...

Analysis: U.N. top concerns Mideast, Darfur.
December 19, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Retiring U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan says he is working closely with his successor, former South Korea Foreign Minister Ban Ki-moon, on keeping him up to date on top...

Outside View: Latin America's Left swing.
December 20, 2006... Byline: MUAZZAM GILL ANAHEIM HILLS, Calif., Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Latin America's political pendulum has swung firmly to the left, and there's little evidence it will swing back soon. Seven of the region's eight most populous nations held...

Outside View: Changing course in Iraq.
December 20, 2006... Byline: FRANK KAUFMANN WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- The Bush campaign in Iraq was defeated on Nov. 7. At the end of the day 17 percent of Americans stand with the president in pursuit of an imaginary "victory in Iraq" (see whitehouse.gov)....

Review of the Arab press.
December 20, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Dec. 20: The London-based al-Hayat commented Wednesday on a Libyan court's death sentence against a Palestinian doctor and five Bulgarian nurses on charges of infecting 426 Libyan...

Outside View: Many faces of Robert Gates.
December 20, 2006... Byline: VLADIMIR SIMONOV MOSCOW, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Robert Gates has been through fire and water. He took part in the first Gulf war, helped deal with the hostage crises in Iran when the United States suffered a shameful fiasco, and...

Analysis: Korea truce village at peace.
December 20, 2006... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON PANMUNJOM, South Korea, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Just an hour's drive north of Seoul takes you to the world's most heavily fortified Cold War frontier, where South Korean soldiers face off against North Korean troops. ...

Analysis: A tipping point in Afghanistan?
December 20, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Dec. 20 (UPI) -- Messages coming out of Afghanistan increasingly resemble those that have come out of Iraq: NATO claims it is winning the war against the Taliban while critics say the military missions must be...

Analysis: Olmert hit for snubbing Syria.
December 21, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT JERUASLEM, Israel, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is facing heavy criticism for cold-shouldering Syrian peace overtures. Over the past three years Syrian President Bashar Assad has been signaling a...

Analysis: Three crises pileup?
December 21, 2006... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- The year 2006 was the year the Bush administration reluctantly concluded al-Qaida was only a small part of a global challenge, which is as ideologically motivated as communism was...

Review of the Arab press.
December 21, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Dec. 21: The United Arab Emirates' al-Khaleej said Thursday that President George W. Bush has finally admitted for the first time that his forces are not winning in Iraq after having...

Analysis: Bush's last attempt in Iraq.
December 21, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- There is a nasty premonition circulating inside the Washington Beltway that President George W. Bush will attempt one final stab at the heart of the Iraqi conundrum as a last-ditch effort...

Walker's World: France's mental ills.
December 21, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER PERIGUEUX, France, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Every two years since 1985, the celebrated French sociologist Gerard Mermet has published a detailed assessment of his nation's mood, and the new edition of 'Francoscopie 2007' says...

Analysis:Can Hamas be reined-in?
December 21, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT ASHKELON, Israel, Dec. 21 (UPI) -- Egypt is said to have quietly agreed not to let the Hamas-led Palestinian government circumvent an international boycott by carrying millions of dollars in suitcases across its...