Iraq

Barack Obama’s widely anticipated speech will see him try to rehabilitate the image of the US in the Middle East by repositioning the country as a solid supporter of newly-emerging Arab democracies. His speech comes amid criticism that the US has been too slow to support the uprisings, and has adopted contradictory approaches in its dealings with different countries.

In comparison to other regions in the world, the Middle East attracts a relatively large part of US foreign policy time and has often presented it with its most enduring challenges. In the last decades, protecting the US interests within the region has become a complicated tasks as America has had to deal with the rise of Iran as a regional and influential power in the region and its illegal nuclear activities, the toppling of Saddam Hussein and his regime, invade Afghanistan, try to fight...

US President Barack Obama yesterday introduced sanctions against Syrian President Bashar Assad and six of his deputies as the regime continued to impose oppressive measures against its own people. The announcement came a day before President Obama is due to make a major policy speech on the recent developments in the Middle East and northern Africa. The sanctions are largely symbolic as Assad has few assets in the US and is unlikely ever to visit the country but come as a reinforcement of pre-ex...

A UK parliament report has questioned whether Osama bin Laden’s death was legal under international law. IBTimes summarises the report here…

The International Criminal Court chief prosecutor has today announced he is seeking the arrest of Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi and two others for crimes against humanity.

Since Scottish independence from the United Kingdom became a real political possibility following the election of a majority Scottish Nationalist Party government to the Scottish Parliament, critics ranging from MPs to generals have shot down SNP plans for an independent Scotland to "share" Britain's armed forces.

What do Sayeeda Warsi, Susan Kramer and Oona King all have in common? All three are from different political parties, but yet they share these characteristics - they are all women, they are all from ethnic/religious minorities and they are all failed politicians - so naturally it makes sense that they should all three be baronesses as well.

The killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. Special Forces came as something of a surprise to the world and many questions have been raised about the circumstances of his death, but there is little doubt that after this life will be different for both the Obama administration and for Pakistan.

Makwaia wa Kuhenga writing for Tanzania's leading English language newspaper, The Citizen, on Sunday 17 April 2011, tells us he witnessed the Libyan troops of Colonel Qaddafi being mowed down, scores of them being buried and the rest rounded up and returned home. This was during a little known war in October 1978, now almost forgotten in the West, when Colonel Qaddafi gave military support to General Idi Amin of Uganda on his invasion and annexation of the Kagera salient in Tanzania.

Looking at the Sun and Daily Star newspapers on Thursday, 31 March 2011, one could be forgiven for being totally unaware of any conflict taking place in Libya. For any news on the current war, the Sun managed an article on page 13. The Daily star was bereft of any comment on the topic.

The civil war in Libya, the length and result of which is of course unknown, has shown the USA and the European powers to be sufferers of what Winston Churchill once described as a "disease of the will".

The chaos and violence currently ravaging Libya has raised questions about the conduct of Britain and especially its former Prime Minister, Tony Blair, towards a regime that now stands accused of killing 400 of its own citizens.

The Chair of the Conservative Party, Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, is to speak out today against prejudice against Muslims, which she claims is the last acceptable form of bigotry in Britain.

Shares in BP were up on the FTSE 100 in afternoon trading after the energy giant said that the Rumaila Operating Organisation had managed to increase production at the super-giant field in Southern Iraq by 10 per cent above the initial production rate agreed in December 2009.

With 2011 well under way it might be worth reflecting on the fact that this year will mark the tenth anniversary of the terrorist attacks on 11 September and the beginning of the still raging war in Afghanistan.

It's not often that an article in the Guardian interests me, but yesterday between the regular complaints about the cuts and the stories of the plight of downtrodden workers in far away places, there was a real gem of a piece about the Chinese dissident and now Nobel Peace Prize winner Liu Xiaobo.

Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables reveal BP suffered a blowout on an Azerbaijan gas platform in September 2008 and was fortunate to evacuate workers safely after a blast that preceded the one that killed 11 workers in the Gulf of Mexico in April, Britain's Guardian newspaper reported. Other cables leaked by the web site Wikileaks claim Azerbaijan's president accused BP of stealing oil from his country and using "mild blackmail" to secure rights to develop vast gas reserves in the Caspian...

Labour's new leader and possible next UK Prime Minister, will be announced on the 25th of this month. The contest started from the moment Gordon Brown conceded defeat and stood down as Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party after May's General Election gave the Conservatives the largest number of seats, though not a clear majority. There are five candidates standing: Diane Abbott, Ed Balls, Andy Burnham, David Miliband and his brother, Ed Miliband. These candidates offer those e...

"After the Allied victory of 1918...the victors divided up the lands of their former enemies. In the space of just seventeen months, they created the borders of...and most of the Middle East. And I have spent my entire career...watching the people within those borders burn".

On Wednesday Richard Dawkins, the world's most famous atheist, appeared on More4 to launch his latest attack on all things God-related by laying into faith schools and their supposedly menacing impact on our society and its children.

Jack Straw has said that he will resign from frontline politics after 30 years as a frontbench politician.