UPI International Intelligence articles from October 2006

UPI International Intelligence archives from October 2006

Walker's World: Downside of Dowd thesis.
October 2, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- The mid-term elections that will decide whether or not the Bush administration continues to have the support of Republican majorities in both Houses of the U.S. Congress are now just five...

Analysis: Naming of new U.N. head close.
October 2, 2006... Byline: EDITH HONAN UNITED NATIONS, Sept. 29 (UPI) -- The race for the next U.N. secretary-general could be in its final phase, barring the introduction of any new contenders. That means the window for introducing new candidates is down to...

Analysis: Turkey, unifier of East & West.
October 2, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Sunday that "global peace is under the threat of global terrorism." Mankind is suffering greatly because of a serious lack of...

Review of the Arab press.
October 2, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Oct. 2: Arab newspapers commented Monday on the violent clashes that erupted Sunday between Palestinian faction supporters in Gaza and riots in the West Bank, criticizing the fighting...

Analysis: If and when Bush 'Iraqs' Iran.
October 2, 2006... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- A strategic thinker who called all the correct diplomatic and military plays preceding Operation Iraqi Freedom now sees diplomatic failure and air strikes against Iran's nuclear...

Analysis: Upset win in Austrian election.
October 2, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Oct. 2 (UPI) -- Sunday's federal elections in Austria ended with an upset victory marked with the troublesome rise of far-right parties. The Social Democrats, coming from behind, took 35.7 percent of the...

Review of the Arab press.
October 3, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Oct. 3: Arab newspapers commented Tuesday on Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's Middle East tour that started in Saudi Arabia Monday, with many expecting her visit to fail in reviving...

Analysis: N. Korea close to nuke test.
October 3, 2006... Byline: JONG-HEON LEE SEOUL, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- North Korea Tuesday announced its plan to conduct a nuclear test to bolster its deterrent against U.S.-led moves to "isolate and stifle" the communist regime, referring to financial sanctions....

Analysis: Germany at 16.
October 3, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Tuesday marks the 16th anniversary of Germany's reunification, a celebration overshadowed by a dire economy and an upsurge of right-wing extremism in what was once former communist East...

Outside View: Iranian deadlock permanent.
October 3, 2006... Byline: PYOTR GONCHAROV MOSCOW, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- The Iranian nuclear problem has been in a deadlock, and, to all intents and purposes, is not going to be resolved for some time. The meeting of EU High Representative for the Common Foreign...

Politics & Policies: Beware false prophets.
October 3, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Is U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to the so-called moderate Arab countries a precursor to stiffer action against the regime in Iran? Is the scenario currently unfolding...

Analysis: NATO steps to Taliban threat.
October 3, 2006... Byline: JASON MOTLAGH KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- As NATO forces prepare to take over security duties across Afghanistan insurgents have stepped up attacks in once quiet corners of the country, punctuated by a spike in suicide...

Analysis: U.S. takes N. Korea to U.N.
October 4, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Within hours of North Korea's announcement Tuesday it would conduct a nuclear weapons test in the face of a U.N. resolution, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton called on the U.N. Security...

Analysis: Vote on U.N. head a week away.
October 4, 2006... Byline: EDITH HONAN UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- A formal vote by the U.N. Security Council will not be held until next week, but it seems all but certain the South Korean candidate for U.N. secretary-general, Ban Ki-moon, has clinched...

Analysis: Fatah and Hamas battle again.
October 4, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 3 (UPI) -- Tensions between supporters of the nationalist Palestinian Fatah and the Islamic Hamas erupted into bloody clashes in which 12 people were killed and as many as 150 were wounded in...

Review of the Arab press.
October 4, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Oct. 4: Egypt's al-Ahram said Wednesday the meeting between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the foreign ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Egypt and Jordan in Cairo...

Analysis: N.Korea serious over nuke test?
October 4, 2006... Byline: JONG-HEON LEE SEOUL, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Is North Korea actually moving toward a nuclear test, sending tensions with the United States to a boiling point? Or is it bluffing again for direct negotiations with Washington? South Korea...

Common Ground: The Yemen election model.
October 4, 2006... Byline: OUSSAMA K. SAFA AND KHALIL GEBARA BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Amid the setbacks inflicted on democratic progress in the Middle East by recent or ongoing conflicts in Iraq, Palestine and Lebanon, and the threat of religious...

Analysis: Will U.S. sell out Kurds again?
October 4, 2006... Byline: LAURA HEATON WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush pledged U.S. support for anti-terrorism efforts in Turkey, but concrete U.S. action seems a remote possibility, given America's split allegiances in the region. ...

Analysis: Iranian offer falls short.
October 4, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Iran has proposed that France should help enrich uranium inside Iran, a move that has been met with suspicion in the West. "There is nothing substantive behind it," a senior French...

Outside View: The Tbilisi circus.
October 4, 2006... Byline: VIKTOR LITOVKIN MOSCOW, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- The circus show, poorly orchestrated and performed by the Georgian security services, is over. The four arrested Russian officers were deported to Russia after five days in prison, and...

Walker's World: The Sunni-Shiite divide.
October 4, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- For the first time a senior Saudi official has spoken out publicly before a Western audience on the tensions between Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam and acknowledged that the Shiite...

Review of the Arab press.
October 5, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Oct. 5: Palestinian al-Quds said Thursday it was not sure whether Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's vow for U.S. administration support to Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas meant...

Analysis: Airbus sinks into chaos.
October 5, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- European air and space firm EADS is planning drastic changes for Airbus, which has been plunged into further chaos after announcing yet more delays for its super jumbo A380. Behind the scenes,...

Analysis: Palestinian president's dilemma.
October 5, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT JERUSALEM, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- Gaza journalist Khaled Azeizeh Tuesday described life there: "You don't know who is shooting whom. Fatah, Hamas, or armed (bands). Everyone has a weapon. We've become accustomed to... the...

Common Ground: Bring Islam down to Earth.
October 5, 2006... Byline: CHOIRUL MAHFUD SURABAYA, Indonesia, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently visited Indonesia to promote better bilateral cooperation between the two countries. In addition to this agenda, his visit was also...

Outside View: The Russia-Georgia divorce.
October 6, 2006... Byline: YURI FILIPPOV MOSCOW, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The high-profile scandal in Georgia, accompanied by the arrest and subsequent release of Russian officers, the blocking of a Russian military base, Moscow's recall of diplomats in Tbilisi, and...

Analysis: Syria still holds the key.
October 6, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- This Friday, Oct. 6, marks the 33rd anniversary of the fourth Arab-Israeli Middle East war; four wars fought in as many decades. It was also the last time Israel fought more than one Arab...

Atlantic Eye: Vaclav Havel's milestone.
October 6, 2006... Byline: MARC S. ELLENBOGEN WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- The Communists imprisoned him, but he would not bend. For the Czech and Slovak dissident movement, he was their iron will. Like Gandhi, he refused to use violence. He became the leader...

Outside View: Georgia goes too far.
October 6, 2006... Byline: LEV DZUGAYEV MOSCOW, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- Georgia has used every opportunity it has had in the past few years to push relations with Russia to the edge. Social and economic problems and growing unrest in Georgia, which have pushed...

Analysis:Lessons from Palestinian fighting.
October 6, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- A prominent Israeli defense analyst has drawn eight lessons from the ongoing confrontations between Fatah and Hamas in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. The analyst, Ha'aretz...

Analysis: Hezbollah may attack -- experts.
October 6, 2006... Byline: ANNE DECECCO WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- As tension between Iran and the United States continues to mount over the Islamic republic's nuclear program, some experts speculate that the United States should be on guard for possible...

Analysis: Iranian student OKs intervention.
October 6, 2006... Byline: JACOB RUSSELL WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Amir Abbas Fakhravar may be the "Ahmad Chalabi" of Iran, said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, founder and director of the Syracuse University's Middle Eastern Studies program and Associate Professor of...

Analysis: Annihilation from within.
October 9, 2006... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Google's supremo stunned the British Conservative party's annual conference -- and thousands of politicians in Western democracies -- when he said the next step in cyberspace was the...

Analysis: Wind of change in Iraq?
October 9, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Is a wind of change about to blow over Iraq, or is it more likely to be a desert storm bringing greater chaos? With violence reaching new heights every week -- this past week alone...

S.Korea economy hit by nuke fallout.
October 9, 2006... Byline: JONG-HEON LEE SEOUL, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- South Korea's financial markets were jolted Monday in the aftermath of North Korea's stunning announcement of a nuclear test, another reminder of geopolitical risks emanating from the communist...

Walker's World: Bring back the Tsar?
October 9, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Russia's ruling elite should be feeling rather pleased with themselves. The high oil prices have inspired an economic boom, and the proud Western oil corporations who demanded highly...

Review of the Arab press.
October 9, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Oct. 9: The Palestinian al-Quds said Monday the Palestinian people are desperate for a clear decision from their leadership for an agreement between the Hamas government and President...

Policy Watch: Raul Castro and Hugo Chavez.
October 9, 2006... Byline: MARK N. KATZ WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- A lot of people don't like Hugo Chavez, the elected revolutionary leader of oil-rich Venezuela. At the top of the list, of course, is President George W. Bush, whom Chavez recently described...

Analysis: N.Korea conducts nuclear test.
October 9, 2006... Byline: JONG-HEON LEE SEOUL, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Defying worldwide appeals and threats of tougher sanctions, North Korea announced that it carried out a nuclear weapon test Monday morning which could change the security landscape on the Korean...

Analysis: Extend Sudan U.N. mission.
October 9, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council once again has taken up Sudan's embattled western region of Darfur and the question of international peacekeepers, not only to quell conflict but to...

Analysis: Is Syria preventing peace?
October 9, 2006... Byline: MICHAEL STOTHARD WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The failure of the Middle East peace process shows the failure of unilateralism as a policy, says a specialist on Syrian affairs. Volker Perthes, director of the German Institute for...

Outside View: Anna Politkovskaya's death.
October 9, 2006... Byline: ANDREI KOLESNIKOV MOSCOW, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Anna Politkovskaya's assassination resembles other high-profile murders of journalists, from Dmitry Kholodov to Paul Khlebnikov. They were all investigative reporters. Politkovskaya had a...

Analysis: North Korea's nuclear gamble.
October 9, 2006... Byline: MICHAEL MARSHALL WASHINGTON, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- In an historic summit meeting in Beijing on Sunday, Japan's new prime minister, Shinzo Abe, and Chinese President Hu Jintao agreed that a nuclear test by North Korea "cannot be...

Analysis: U.N. reacts to N. Korea.
October 9, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The U.N. Security Council was unusually busy Monday morning, nominating South Korea Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon for confirmation by the General Assembly as the world organization's...

Analysis: What N. Korea wants from nukes.
October 10, 2006... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The question is on everyone's mind: Why did North Korea carry out a nuclear test which would trigger global sanctions, deepen its isolation and possibly cause a military reaction? Many...

Review of the Arab press.
October 10, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Oct. 10: Arab newspapers commented Tuesday on North Korea's first nuclear test, with many saying it was time for the world to deal comprehensively with nuclear proliferation. The...

Realpolitik: The Palestinian crisis.
October 10, 2006... Byline: ALON BEN-MEIR NEW YORK, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- The failure of Fatah and Hamas to reach an agreement on a unity government that recognizes Israel and begins to deal with the desperate needs of their people is just another in a string of...

Walker's World: The new nuke game.
October 10, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The worst that could happen is that North Korea decides, for some lunatic reason, to use the nuclear weapon it now claims to have, whether on Tokyo, Beijing, Vladivostok or the American...

Outside View: North Korea joins nuke club?
October 10, 2006... Byline: DMITRY KOSYREV MOSCOW, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The answers to the host of questions created by North Korea's nuclear tests can be found in the events of the spring of 1998, when Pakistan and India, which had been at loggerheads for ages,...

Analysis: Inter-Korean projects in jeopardy.
October 10, 2006... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- South Korea's 15-year-long efforts to engage North Korea by pushing for cross-border economic projects are facing a critical challenge in the wake of the communist partner's alleged nuclear...

Analysis: Mideast crisis worsens with time.
October 10, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Memo to the Bush administration: solve the Middle East crisis now before it gets even more complicated -- and deadly. Since the creation of the state of Israel in 1948 and in the...

Analysis: Qatari efforts in Palestine fail.
October 10, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- A Qatari attempt to help Palestinians form a national unity government and remove an international embargo preventing aid to reach the Palestinian Authority, failed. Qatar's...

Analysis: N. Korea braces for sanctions.
October 11, 2006... Byline: JONG-HEON LEE SEOUL, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Shortly after it announced its nuclear bomb test earlier this week, North Korea convened a Cabinet meeting to discuss the country's economic situation, in an apparent bid to cope with tougher...

Review of the Arab press.
October 11, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Oct. 11: The Palestinian al-Hayat al-Jadeeda warned in a commentary Wednesday that the longer it takes for rival Hamas and Fatah leaders to reach an agreement to end the political...

Analysis: What makes female bombers tick?
October 11, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Arin Ahmad, 20, was sitting with friends who talked about their desire to kill Israelis. It was the peak of the intifada and her thoughts drifted to her boyfriend, Jad. Jad...

Analysis: Can justice come from Russia.
October 11, 2006... Byline: ANNE DECECCO WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- The murder of Anna Politkovskaya has resulted in international alarm as rallies for an autonomous enquiry into her shooting continue to take place in major cities worldwide. Attendance at...

Analysis: Public opinion surveys trusted?
October 11, 2006... Byline: MICHAEL STOTHARD WASHINGTON, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- A growing number of Muslims are rejecting terrorism, according to recent public opinion polls conducted by Pew Global Attitudes Project and Terror Free Tomorrow. Given the...

Outside View: Putin's difficult visit.
October 11, 2006... Byline: BORIS KAIMAKOV MOSCOW, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Early October turned out to be a trying time for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The murder of investigative journalist and his staunch critic Anna Politkovskaya, who was gunned down in...

Analysis: U.N. council mulls N.Korea.
October 11, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 11 (UPI) -- Members of the U.N. Security Council Wednesday considered sanctions against North Korea following its testing of a nuclear device but have yet to come up with a resolution...

Review of the Arab press.
October 12, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Oct. 12: London-based al-Hayat Thursday quoted Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshaal as saying Hamas will not release Israeli Cpl. Gilad Shalit unless he is exchanged for Palestinian...

Outside View: Cutting the life line.
October 12, 2006... Byline: VITALY DYMARSKY MOSCOW, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- A sharp deterioration in Russian-Georgian relations, which have quickly turned into an irrational conflict, is fraught with dangers for both sides. These relations were far from friendly...

Outside View: Politkovskaya a professional.
October 12, 2006... Byline: ANDREI KOLESNIKOV MOSCOW, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Anna Politkovskaya, a leading Russian journalist writing on explosive subjects, was murdered Oct. 7. She did not have political views, at least in what is traditionally implied by this...

Analysis: What was North Korea thinking?
October 12, 2006... Byline: MICHAEL MARSHALL WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- It is not every day that a country attracts "global condemnation" for its actions as did North Korea for announcing it had conducted a nuclear test last Monday. Intelligence analysts in...

Keep Arabs away from us,settlers urge.
October 12, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT KARNEI SHOMRON, West Bank, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- For decades Israeli nationalists have been establishing settlements all over the West Bank. They wanted to ensure Jewish control over it. Now they are complaining...

Analysis: N. Korea's next challenges.
October 13, 2006... Byline: LEE JONG-HEON SEOUL, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- After conducting its alleged nuclear weapon test, what will North Korea's next move be? This is the question of the moment, as the defiant communist country has vowed to take "a series of...

Feature: U.N. says end child violence.
October 13, 2006... Byline: ALEXIS M. MATSUI UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Thirty children from around the world gathered with U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan Thursday at UNICEF's headquarters in New York to mark the launch of his "Study on Violence...

Analysis: Gallic intifada.
October 13, 2006... Byline: ARNAUD DE BORCHGRAVE BRUSSELS, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Turf conscious bloggers in Paris' rundown, mostly Muslim, suburban immigrant housing estates rival in violent messages that threaten to beat senseless and even kill any intruder...

Analysis: N.Korea U.N. resolution.
October 13, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- The United States has circulated its latest version of a U.N. Security Council draft resolution calling for sanctions against North Korea following its claim of testing a nuclear...

Analysis:Largest U.S. pension fund divests.
October 13, 2006... Byline: JACOB RUSSELL WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- The two largest pension funds in the United States recently decided to prohibit investment of funds from nine companies identified as having business in Sudan by the University of...

Outside View: No need for nuclear N.Korea.
October 13, 2006... Byline: DANIIL KOBYAKOV MOSCOW, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Logic and common sense tell us that what North Korea has detonated was not a nuclear bomb but an explosive device. Experts say detonating a nuclear bomb calls for higher technologies, which...

Analysis: Olmert govt may edge to center.
October 13, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT TEL AVIV, Israel, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is trying to expand his coalition by co-opting the right-wing nationalist Israel Beitenu Party. Talks with Israel Beitenu's ("Israel is Our Home")...

Outside View: W. The Man.
October 13, 2006... Byline: XIMENA ORTIZ - NATIONAL INTEREST ONLINE WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- W. had his own supermarket check-out moment this week, only this variety of eerie, presidential dysfunction and detachment comes at a considerable (and...

Politics & Policies: And now James Baker.
October 16, 2006... Byline: CLAUDE SALHANI WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Maybe now that President George W. Bush is hearing it from his father's former secretary of state, James A. Baker III, will he and his secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice, give serious...

Analysis: Next U.N. secretary-general.
October 16, 2006... Byline: WILLIAM M. REILLY UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Ban Ki-moon, foreign minister of South Korea, career diplomat, entered the U.N. General Assembly's great hall to enthusiastic applause, walking down the center aisle toward the...

Policy Watch: Will Kim Jong Il fall?
October 16, 2006... Byline: MARK N. KATZ WASHINGTON, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- North Korea's missile tests on July 4, 2006, briefly succeeded in capturing the world's attention, but this was quickly overshadowed a little over a week later by the conflict that erupted...

Analysis: Georgia, Russia spat continues.
October 16, 2006... Byline: EDITH HONAN UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 13 (UPI) -- The latest spat between Georgia and Russia -- this one occurring before the U.N. Security Council -- passed peacefully enough, but not before each country had made clear the larger...

Review of the Arab press.
October 16, 2006... AMMAN, Jordan, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Arab press roundup for Oct. 16: Jordan's al-Rai commented Monday on the implications of North Korea's underground nuclear test, saying that political will is the essence of achievement since the country is...

Outside View: Moscow-Jerusalem cooperation.
October 16, 2006... Byline: YEVGENY SATANOVSKY MOSCOW, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- This year marks the 15th anniversary of the restoration of diplomatic relations between Russia and Israel. The history of bilateral cooperation was anything but simple. The period of...

Walker's World: Ban's tough U.N. start.
October 16, 2006... Byline: MARTIN WALKER WASHINGTON, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- It is triply unfortunate that the Korean nuclear crisis should have reached the United Nations at this time as such a seminal test of its powers to enforce collective security against a...

Analysis: Al-Qaida in chat rooms.
October 16, 2006... Byline: STEFAN NICOLA BERLIN, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- The German government wants to spend roughly $165 million over the next three years to combat Internet-related terrorism activities, in the wake of an arrest of a terror suspect who used the...

Analysis: Olmert outlines peace terms.
October 16, 2006... Byline: JOSHUA BRILLIANT JERUSALEM, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Monday called for peace talks with Lebanon but set conditions for accepting Syria's calls to negotiate peace that could prove an insurmountable hurdle....

U.N.: Golden Triangle opium declines.
October 16, 2006... UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- The U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime says there has been an 85 percent decline in opium production in Southeast Asia's Golden Triangle region since 1998. The Golden Triangle, comprising parts of Laos, Myanmar...

REALPOLITIK: Raising the stakes.
October 16, 2006... Byline: ALON BEN-MEIR NEW YORK, Oct. 16 (UPI) -- North Korea has finally played its trump card by testing a nuclear weapon. In doing so, it has challenged the United States, shook South Korea, deeply alarmed Japan, paid little heed to...