Economist

While Russia and the West fight for the soul of Ukraine, the domestic political storm that followed the election has abated, for now. It has been agreed that a re-run of the second round will take place on December 26th, following a ruling last week by Ukraine’s Supreme Court. [more]

Long-awaited proposals on reforming the United Nations have been unveiled. Backers hope they will rejuvenate the world body. But they come at a time when the UN is under fire—especially from Americans, many of whom think it is irrelevant and corrupt [more]

Imagine you could write cheques that were accepted as payment but never cashed. That is what it amounts to. If you had been granted that ability, you might take care to hang on to it. America is taking no such care, and may come to regret it. [more]

Mr Annan is reported to have said in his letters that: “The threat or actual use of force not only risks deepening the sense of alienation of certain communities, but would also reinforce perceptions among the Iraqi population of a continued military occupation.” [more]

Last December, the United Nations General Assembly voted to ask the UN’s International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule on the legality of the barrier. On Friday July 9th, the court published its ruling, declaring the barrier illegal under international law, demanding the dismantlement of those parts that already encroach on the West Bank and calling for compensation for the many Palestinians whose rights have been “gravely” infringed by it. [more]

A study published on October 29th in the Lancet, a British medical journal, suggests the death toll is quite a lot higher than the newspaper reports suggest. The centre of its estimated range of death tolls—the most probable number according to the data collected and the statistics used—is almost 100,000. [more]

"Mr Powell said on Thursday that he was 'disappointed' at Mr Aristide’s actions since his re-election, but the Haitian leader ought to be allowed to finish his mandate. However, State Department officials had said earlier in the week that 'some fairly thorough changes' would be needed in the way Haiti is governed." [more]

"People nowadays are not willing to bow down before an emperor, even a benevolent one, in order to be democratised. They will protest, and the ensuing pain will be felt by the imperial power as well as by its subjects. For Americans, the pain will not be just a matter of budget deficits and body bags; it will also be a blow to the very heart of what makes them American—their constitutional belief in freedom." [more]

"Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar, the Taliban leader, remain unaccounted for, and the south of the country is getting more dangerous, not less. Major operations ... often result in coralling a few men, who may be terrorists or, just as easily, shepherds. Detainees are spirited off to the Bagram base, north of Kabul, and interrogated. Several have died there. But as major combat dies down, questions are sure to be asked about the cost-effectiveness of what the coalition is up to, given that the Americans are spending $10 billion or so a year on it." [more]

"For Palestinians in Gaza, the key test of whether the new agreement is working will be whether they can resume moving around freely." [more]

"Attempts are being made to close the international divisions over what to do about Iraq. Although new UN resolutions are in the works, the prospects for war remain high." [more]

"Simple solutions to complex problems rarely succeed. Few problems today are thornier than trying to prevent terrorist acts. So pundits have been calling for the use of 'truth serum' for interrogation of suspected terrorists. Alas, no such drugs are known to work." [more]

"Recent studies suggest that even a successful military campaign in Iraq could carry a hefty price tag." [more]

"Congo has been torn apart by fighting in recent years. But now that its smaller neighbours are pulling their armies out, an end is in sight for the world's biggest war." [more]

"A quite distinct sort of claim is also made in the 'double standards' debate. This holds that Israel stands in breach of Security Council resolutions in just the way Iraq does, and therefore deserves to be treated by the UN with equal severity. Not so." [more]

The article deals with the recent narrow victory of Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder of the German Social Democratic Party. It mentions Schroeder's military action in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and now possibly Iraq as evidence of a more assertive or aggressive foreign policy than Germany has had since World War II. [more]

"There is a strong, sometimes hubristic, sense that America has the opportunities, obligations and threats associated in the past with empires: that it can set the rules that govern international relations, while at times operating outside them itself; but also that ultimately it alone can enforce those rules, a role which makes it the prime target of anyone who dislikes them." [more]

"To A world that had been longing for an all-powerful America to rescue the Israelis and Palestinians from their self-inflicted purgatory, it was the dampest of damp squibs. Even Israelis admitted that the peace plan George Bush and his divided administration set forth this week could just as well have been written by their own prime minister, Ariel Sharon." [more]