INTERNATIONAL

Goldstone report is gathering dust in the UN shelf. Israel remains arrogant and lawless as ever. Palestinian sufferings continue unabated.   Three years ago between 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009 Israel unleashed its latest carnage on the starving Palestinians in Gaza.   Gaza is a small beach side strip of around 365 sq miles by the Mediterranean Sea. …

The visit by Arab League observers to Homs, Hama, Idlib, Deraa , the Damascus suburb of Douma and other conflict zones has become the focus of concerted demands for the Western powers to intervene militarily into the ongoing civil war in Syria. The mission was endorsed by Syria, in line with an Arab League plan calling for the withdrawal of …

  The Obama administration is trying to assure Israel privately that it would strike Iran militarily if Tehran’s nuclear program crosses certain “red lines”—while attempting to dissuade the Israelis from acting unilaterally.  When Defense Secretary Leon Panetta opined earlier this month that an Israeli attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities could “consume the Middle East in a confrontation and a conflict …

The U.S. troop withdrawal leaves behind a country embittered by an occupation that's cost thousands of lives and billions of dollars. And as U.S. soldiers return home for Christmas, the mood is far from joyful among veterans struggling to deal with the personal aftermath of the war. With soaring suicide rates, it's still too early to estimate the true cost …

When Russian Ambassador Vitaly Churkin briefed reporters recently, he offered some biting criticisms of the growing political manipulation of the most powerful body at the United Nations: the 15-member Security Council. Implicitly targeting some of the Western nations – specifically the United States, UK and France – he said "words no longer mean what they used to be".  When Security …

  The U.S. assured Iraq Monday that it would sell Iraq a second shipment of 18 F-16 fighter jets. Iraq has indicated it will need a total of 96 F-16s   As the United States withdraws the last of its 50,000 troops after a nearly nine-year military occupation of Iraq, visiting Iraqi President Nuri al-Maliki had one final request: billions of …