The USA is often described by its critics as a global empire. Those who are less critical of its role in the world sometimes prefer to describe it as the world’s sole superpower.

Almost two months after the US began its bombing of Afghanistan, the Taliban remain defiant in substantial parts of the country. As we go to press, the Northern Alliance and the US are claiming to be about to capture the northern town of Kunduz...

During a conversation with a friend whose father had served in the US Foreign Service in Morocco during the 1960s, she mentioned how easy life in Morocco had been for her mother compared to life in the United States. This ease she attributed to the domestic service one could purchase in Morocco for very little money. She told me that the first thing the wives of foreign diplomats would do, on arrival in Morocco, was inquire about “Fatmas,”...

In an audacious and defiant move, Lebanon has refused to bow to America’s demand that Hizbullah’s bank accounts be frozen as part of Washington’s “war on terrorism.”

As Palestinians marked the 48th anniversary of the massacre of Qibya a few weeks ago, they provided another reminder of the blood-soaked history of Ariel Sharon, Israel’s current prime minister.

According to some observers, it has almost become a crime to be a Muslim in the US since September 11. Only those Muslims are tolerated who submit to US supremacy.

Journalists working for British newspapers have been grumbling recently about the way the British government is leaning on editors to fall behind its phony war in Afghanistan. Even staff at the left-of-centre qualities have noticed a definite reduction in the anti-war tone struck in the days immediately after September 11...

General Pervez Musharraf must feel that he has shot himself in the foot. His decision to join America’s war on Afghanistan and ditch the Taliban, because of George W. Bush’s infamous threat...

John Danforth, the US president’s peace envoy to Sudan, arrived in Khartoum on November 12 with four proposals that favour the southern warlords and seem to be designed for partition of the country rather than for the peace his mission is supposed to be working for.

The United Nations conference on Afghanistan, scheduled for November 24 in Berlin, has been postponed until November 27 and the venue shifted to Bonn without explanation.

Delegates at the World Trade Organization (WTO) conference in Doha, Qatar, emerged on November 14 from six days of intense haggling to announce a compromise agreement that sets out an agenda for a new round of talks.