'Cablegate' has provided the Arab public with an insightful peek into the inner circles of their respective states.        Western diplomats may or may not always be lying for their own country. But could Western diplomacy, in the case of the Middle East, serve to make non-Western rulers lie to their own countries? The Wikileaks revelatory cables shed some light on …

  To find an analogy to General Petraeus, one must look back to the 19th century and the British General 'Chinese' Gordon.   Robert Grenier Will General Petraeus' military reputation survive the war in Afghanistan? [GALLO/GETTY]     The US government's policy review on Afghanistan is proceeding in an atmosphere of preternatural calm. Just a few months ago, as controversy continued …

Vatican diplomats also lobbied against Venezuela's Hugo Chávez and wanted 'Christian roots' enshrined in EU constitution By Heather Brooke and Andrew Brown A WikiLeaks cable reports that Pope Benedict XVI, seen here being received by Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Ankara in 2006, 'might prefer to see Turkey develop a special relationship short of EU membership'. Photograph: Dylan …

  Tony Blair’s sister-in-law announced her conversion to Islam last weekend. Journalist Lauren Booth embraced the faith after what she describes as a ‘holy experience’ in Iran.    She is just one of a growing number of modern British career women to do so. Here, writer EVE AHMED, who was raised as a Muslim before rejecting the faith, explores the …

Morally bankrupt U.S. media buries facts that counter the case for war. By MUHAMMAD SAHIMI   Supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad rejoiced over the cable in which a British official opined that he had actually won the rigged June 2009 presidential election. They could not see the irony in taking the opinion of an official of a foreign government that their president routinely …

  Is the realisation finally dawning in Ramallah, Tel Aviv and Washington that the peace process is dead? (Photo Warrick Page/Getty) Future historians will no doubt argue over the precise moment when the Arab-Israeli peace process died, when the last glimmer of hope for a two-state solution was irrevocably extinguished. When all is said and done, and the forensics have …