A Hyperpower With Feet of Mud

Developments in Iraq and the Middle East are having a telling impact on politics and policies the world over. IPS is keeping track of them through its network of correspondents, providing independent accounts rather than those that suit governments. Following are the latest IPS reports from the region.
====================================================================

US: A Hyperpower With Feet of Mud

Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON – The United States may not quite yet be perceived as the “pitiful, helpless giant” that haunted the dreams of Richard Nixon 35 years ago, but it’s getting close.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30214

***
IRAQ: Vicious Circle Rings Constitution

Commentary by Ferry Biedermann
BEIRUT – Iraq is starting to find itself in a sectarian bind. Disagreement over the new constitution, mainly between the Shias and the Sunnis, has been blamed for increasing tensions. But there is ample evidence that militants are targeting the very idea of a new constitution, rather than its content.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30198

====================================================================
IPS at the United Nations World Summit – September 14-16
============================================
Read our special coverage as more than 170 heads of state and government debate the illennium Development Goals. Number 8 – building global partnerships for development – will be put to the test. IPS gives you a front seat in the discussion that the UN has billed a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to make a difference in development.
www.ipsnews.net/new_focus/devdeadline/index.asp

TerraViva, the IPS conference newspaper published daily at the UN headquarters during the summit, is a must-read for participants and observers alike. Read it at: www.ipsterraviva.net/tv/ny/default.asp
====================================================================

EGYPT: Choose the Crescent or Be Fined

Emad Mekay
KAFR SHAABAN, Egypt – The residents of Kafr Shaaban, a tiny village in northeastern Egypt, were abruptly roused the evening before election day by a voice roaring through loudspeakers mounted on the high minarets of the town’s mosques.
www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=30190

***
RIGHTS-US: Gitmo Cases May Go to Civilian Courts

William Fisher
NEW YORK – Media coverage of Hurricane Katrina has all but drowned out what may well be two of the most consequential human rights court decisions in recent U.S. history.
www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=30227

***
TRADE: Saudi-U.S. Pact Eases Israeli Boycott

Emad Mekay
CAIRO – The United States and Saudi Arabia have concluded a trade deal that will help Riyadh join the World Trade Organisation, further open Saudi markets to U.S. goods, and partially lift the kingdom’s decades-long boycott of the Israeli economy.
www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=30250

***
Despite Strictures, U.N. Chief Refuses to Yield

Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS – A beleaguered U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan stood his ground despite charges of corruption, inefficiency and mismanagement of the 34-billion-dollar now-defunct Iraqi oil-for-food-programme run by the U.N. Secretariat which he administers.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30179

***
US: Anti-Terror Strategy in Doubt on 9/11 Anniversary

Jim Lobe
WASHINGTON – If U.S. President George W. Bush was counting on Sunday’s “Freedom Walk” and country music festival at the Pentagon to revive the patriotic spirit (and rally his sagging approval ratings) that followed the Sep. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on their fourth anniversary, he is likely to be very disappointed.
www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=30193

***
EGYPT: Public Assets Sold at Bargain Prices, Critics Complain

Emad Mekay
CAIRO – Egypt has some real deals these days. For example, a historic hotel built on its own island in the Nile River not far from the country’s fabulous ancient pharaonic monuments was recently sold for less than three million dollars, although local real estate experts value it at closer to 10 million.
www.ipsnews.net/new_nota.asp?idnews=30204

====================================================================
More IPS Special Coverage – ipsnews.net/middle.asp
====================================================================

Inter Press Service News Agency (IPS), the world’s leading provider of information on global issues, is backed by a network of journalists in more than 100 countries. Its clients include more than 3,000 media organizations and tens of thousands of civil society groups, academics, and other users.

IPS focuses its news coverage on the events and global processes affecting the economic, social and political development of peoples and nations.

*****
Visit Inter Press Service at www.ipsnews.net