Articles from the author

So the Bush administration now intends to spread democracy in the Arab world.

As President George W. Bush tries to put his economic house in order - an issue that many Americans believe should have long ago received his top attention - and simultaneously respond to Iraq's new challenge to produce any evidence about their alleged prohibited arsenal, Israel is going about its election campaign willy-nilly.

But the fact that both Close and Hiltermann chose to publish their damaging articles in the Tribune, a paper that is primarily circulated in Europe and now in the Middle East, speaks volumes.

There is no doubt that Secretary Powell had played his hand well on the domestic and the international fronts. His commendable success in securing the unanimous vote served to re-establish him as the country's number one foreign policy adviser, a position that was being challenged by many others within the Bush team.

The American president is, in effect, aping the Israeli pre-emptive strategy of yesteryear that was condemned by another American administration and all members of the Security Council. Be it in Iraq or Palestine, Bush has unwittingly allowed the current Israeli leader, to borrow a line from a recent Washington Post editorial, to "push (him) around." But this time around the stakes are bound to be much higher.

Regardless of the well-rehearsed performances by the hawks within the Bush administration on the Sunday talk shows, where they recited chapter and verse their advocacy of "regime change," scepticism remains abundantly clear.

To my surprise, the lead headlines last Saturday in the country's two leading newspapers, The New York Times and The Washington Post, announced in bold type that a baseball strike has been averted.

The Iraqi decision to accept the unconditional return of United Nations weapons inspectors after an absence of four years was unquestionably a masterful stroke.

Before President Bush takes another step toward his promised war against Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, he owes it to himself and his countrymen to give serious attention to watch how his "man of peace," Israel's hawkish prime minister, Ariel Sharon, is taking advantage of America's preoccupation.

Nine months have passed and Obama's special Mideast envoy has yet to come up with any ideas that may pave the way to a settlement.

It’s time for the P5+1 to turn its eyes on Israel’s secretive nuclear status

Netanyahu’s behaviour has convinced everyone that he has no interest in peace