The prospect that Europe and Asia might move toward greater independence has troubled US planners since World War II. The concerns have only risen as the ‘tripolar order’ — Europe, North America and Asia — has continued to evolve.

Every day, Latin America, too, is becoming more independent. Now Asia and the Americas are strengthening their ties while the reigning superpower, the odd man out, consumes itself in misadventures in the Middle East.

Regional integration in Asia and Latin America is a crucial and increasingly important issue that, from Washington's perspective, betokens a defiant world gone out of control. Energy, of course, remains a defining factor — the object of contention — everywhere.

China, unlike Europe, refuses to be intimidated by Washington, a primary reason for the fear of China by US planners, which presents a dilemma:

Steps towards confrontation are inhibited by US corporate reliance on China as an export platform and growing market, as well as China's financial reserves, reported to be approaching Japan's in scale.   more »

The white car halted on the outskirts of town and a pretty woman rolled down the window at the sight of a fat man trudging by with a rucksack on his back. 'Are you Steve?' asked Kim Saylor, 26. 'I am such a big fan.'

For Steve Vaught, being stopped in the street is now a daily occurrence. He is an unlikely celebrity: a morbidly obese man who has captured the heart of America by walking alone across the country on a quest to lose weight and find his soul.

Like a real-life Forrest Gump, Vaught's journey from coast to coast is touching the lives of millions. Last month his website had more than 700,000 hits. Fans travel thousands of miles to walk with him for a little way.

He has appeared on TV's Today show and in countless local newspapers. He has a book deal with HarperCollins and a documentary crew is chronicling his walk. Later this month he will receive the ultimate accolade of American fame: an appearance on Oprah

For Vaught, 40, who weighed more than 28 stone when he left California almost a year ago, it has all come as a shock. 'People seem to think I am some kind of American hero, but I am just a guy.'

His walk has touched a nerve in an America struggling with an obesity epidemic and a car-celebrating culture. What started as one man's weight loss has become much more: a symbolic quest for a better way of living.   more »

Sandra Day O'Connor, a Republican-appointed judge who retired last month after 24 years on the supreme court, has said the US is in danger of edging towards dictatorship if the party's rightwingers continue to attack the judiciary.

Linking the words "America" and "dictatorship" is a daily staple of leftwing blogs, which thrive on the idea that Bush administration policies since 9/11 are taking the country ever closer to totalitarian rule.

Liberal fears that democracy is endangered by Republicans in Congress are so widespread, so endemic to the jittery political climate in the US, that they hardly bear repeating.

It'll surprise no one to learn that another voice was added to the chorus last Thursday, warning that recent attacks on the American judiciary were putting the democratic fabric in jeopardy and were the first steps down the treacherous path to dictatorship.

What is surprising - more than that, electrifying - is that the voice belonged to Sandra Day O'Connor, who retired a few weeks ago from the supreme court.

O'Connor is a Republican and a Reagan nominee. Regarded as the "swing vote" on the court, she swung the presidential election to George Bush in 2000.   more »

It was, by all reports, the most heinous terrorist act in history. A ruthless gang of religious extremists, driven by an insatiable hatred for Western civilization, killed multitudes of innocent people in a surprise attack that struck without warning, without mercy.

The perpetrators – who posed as ordinary citizens, members of a law-abiding ethnic minority going about their daily business – took advantage of the burgeoning global economy to move easily across borders as they brought their vast conspiracy to its poisonous fruition.

But Western leaders, though they did sleep, finally roused themselves to action. One by one, terrorist operatives fell into their hands.

In the face of such an unprecedented threat, the "gloves came off": captives were subjected to strenuous interrogation as officials worked feverishly to forestall any further attacks.

Soon the hard evidence of guilt emerged: the words of the conspirators themselves, set down in black and white, confessing all, in copious detail, irrefutable.

That's how 14th-century Europe "learned" that the Black Death – the rat-borne plague that killed 25 million people across the continent in just four years – had been "caused" by the Jews.

Vague rumor and ancient prejudice were "confirmed" by evidence extracted from captured Jews who had been "put to the question" – the medieval spin-word for "torture."   more »

The execution Thursday of 13 Iraqi political prisoners, including a woman, was a calculated act of state terror against the resistance to the US occupation. The executions, all by hanging, were ordered by interim Prime Minister Ibrahim Jafari to underscore his determination to hold onto power amid a political stalemate between rival factions in Baghdad. The death sentences were carried out less than a week after rival Kurdish, Sunni and secular political parties issued a public demand that the ruling Shiite United Iraqi Alliance withdraw Jafari as its candidate for prime minister and name a substitute. A Jafari adviser who witnessed the executions, Bassam Ridha, declared, “The prime minister is not soft.” Ridha suggested that deposed president Saddam Hussein could soon take his place on the gallows. The executions were videotaped, which underscores the aim of using them as a means of state intimidation. The 13 prisoners were all condemned to death for their alleged role in armed actions against the US occupation forces or their Iraqi allies.   more »

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander dismissed on Tuesday threats by the United States over Iran’s nuclear program as “political bluff”, the state-owned news agency Fars reported.

Brigadier General Ali-Reza Afshar, a veteran Revolutionary Guards commander and director of propaganda and cultural affairs in the high command of the Armed Forces, made the remarks on the final day of a conference in Tehran entitled “the West’s Psychological War Against Iran.”

“The bulk of America’s threatening propaganda [against the Islamic Republic of Iran] is just political bluff”, Afshar said.

SPINNING US TO WAR IN IRAN

As the quagmire in Iraq deepens, and Islamophobia becomes both politically correct and encouraged, the same blood-stained figures that led us into Saddam’s lair are now trying to achieve a similar result next door, in Iran.

We live in an environment where Muslims are portrayed as backward, looking for Western assistance and irrationally violent. Take this example from UK columnist Julie Burchill, writing in Haaretz on February 17:   more »

12 MARCH

A Night at the Oscars: The Privileged at Play

US/NATO Charged with Criminal Negligence in Death of Milosevic

Bush: A 'Dead' President

Israel's Settlements Have Always Been Illegal

Maureen Dowd: Bush Bitten by the Hand That Fed Him

Bush and Blair: God's Warmongers

Neo-Conservatism Takes Over Britain [And Most of Europe]

Eleventh Commandent: "Thou Shalt Not Criticize the Zionists!"