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In spite of the fact that the United States faces no enemy anywhere in the world capable of opposing it on a battlefield, the Defense budget for 2011 will go up 7.1 percent from current levels.  A lot of the new spending will be on drones, America’s latest contribution to western civilization, capable of surveilling large areas on the ground …

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, has accused the US of playing a “double game” in Afghanistan, following talks in the country with his counterpart Hamid Karzai. The accusation, made in the capital Kabul on Wednesday, was the same as that made against Iran by Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, on a trip to Afghanistan this week. Asked at a news …

March 11, 2010 “Information Clearing House” — The unceasing building of settlements on Palestinian land underscores the need for Palestinians to take a more definite action regarding their future and their rightful desire to have their own state. They should declare statehood. While condemning Israel’s decision to build more settlements in east Jerusalem as a move that could “inflame” tensions, …

The national madness known as “McCarthyism” began 60 years ago in Wheeling, W.V., when Joseph R. McCarthy held up a scrap of paper that supposedly listed the names of 57 State Department officials he said were actually Communists and traitors. Eventually, America learned that the Wisconsin Republican’s famous list was a fabrication, that he was a liar and a demagogue …

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton presented the “Women of Courage” award to Sri Lanka’s Jansila Majeed at a ceremony held at the US State Department in Washington on Wednesday This prestigious award goes to women who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for human rights and women’s equality. Majeed is the managing trustee of Community Trust Fund …

They met and they talked —  no they barked. The much-hyped Indo-Pakistan talks at Foreign Secretaries level last week, we were told, ended on a note of optimism. Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna described the talks as an “encouraging step towards restoring dialogue” while Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said the talks were exploratory. But soon the atmosphere changed, with …