‘The Regime has gone,” the White House told Americans at the end of last week. Iraqis too heard President George Bush’s voice on the radio and television last week, promising not to stop fighting until the whole “corrupt gang” is gone, promising to keep order, promising freedom. Read on »

When the fog of war eventually lifts, how different will the post-war landscape really be? Baghdad will be transformed, whatever happens. The rest of the Arab world might be altered too. But whether the war lasts six days or six months or six years, the international stalemate - the diplomatic quagmire - will still be there when it is over. Read on »

Practically nobody is willing to say it, so let us be as frank as possible: the decision to conduct the invasion of Iraq in consultation with the United Nations - a decision taken by President George W Bush partly to mollify his friend Tony Blair - has been utterly disastrous. Read on »

This weekend, Colin Powell, the American Secretary of State, is not in Israel or in Jordan, preparing for imminent war with Iraq. He is not in Europe, mollifying allies. Instead, he is in Japan and South Korea, quietly dealing with the other weapons-of-mass-destruction crisis, the one we have heard much less about. Read on »

Living on islands, the British find it very difficult to understand the permanent identity crisis experienced by the Russians. Read on »

A few days ago, I negotiated a service contract for the boiler in my new house in Washington DC. At the end of a long telephone exchange, I had to make a decision: did I want a fixed oil price, or a variable one? The variable price was lower. Nevertheless, I preferred the fixed price. Read on »

Not one, not two, but three articles quoting from “secret” plans to invade Iraq have appeared on the front page of the New York Times in the past month. One version of events calls for 250,000 US troops to attack Iraq from three sides. Read on »

As I write this, I have before me the “Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security Between Nato and the Russian Federation”, and a very optimistic document it is too. Read on »

Cherie Blair is in big trouble. The Prime Minister’s wife has chaired a series of supposedly important seminars in Downing Street, thereby bringing the wrath of the British press down upon her head. Read on »

London — Some years ago, a French friend of mine predicted the rise of Jean-Marie Le Pen, the man who is today challenging Jacques Chirac in the second round of France’s presidential elections. Read on »