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U.S.: What Is the Greatest Threat of Them All?

By Jim Lobe

This month’s stunning campaign by Sunni insurgents led by the radical Islamic State of Syria and the Levant (ISIL) against the mainly Shi’a government of Iraqi President Nouri Al-Maliki is stoking a growing debate here about the hierarchy of threats facing the United States in the Middle East and beyond. On one side, many foreign […]

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Bolivia Charts Its Own Path on Coca

By Samuel Oakford

A Bolivian cocalero shows his leaf-picking technique. Credit: Diana Cariboni/IPS

This week, the U.N. reported that coca cultivation in Bolivia fell nine percent last year, and a massive 26 percent in the past three years. Two mid-altitude regions – Yungas de La Paz and the Cochabamba Tropics – account for nearly all cultivation in Bolivia and both areas saw significant reductions in 2013. Remarkably, illegal […]

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In Latest Republican Split, Tea Party Takes on Export-Import Bank

By Jim Lobe

U.S. Big Business is going all out to protect a favoured government agency, the 80-year-old Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im), from a full-fledged assault by the populist “Tea Party” wing of the Republican Party. At stake is Congressional re-authorisation of the Bank, which provides loans, guarantees, and credit insurance to foreign buyers of U.S. exports. Last year, […]

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Obama, Rights Groups Protest Egypt Sentencing

By Jim Lobe

Rights groups say the sentences are evidence of the Egyptian regime’s increasingly totalitarian nature. Credit: Cam McGrath/IPS

The administration of President Barack Obama joined international human rights groups around the world in “strongly condemn(ing)” Monday’s conviction and sentencing by an Egyptian court of three Al Jazeera journalists and 15 others for their alleged association with the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. The White House, however, did not indicate what actions it was prepared to […]

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U.S. Looking to Make LGBT Rights a Foreign Policy Priority

By Michelle Tullo

New legislation has been introduced in the U.S. Congress that would make the rights of sexual minorities a foreign policy priority for the United States. The bill, called the International Human Rights Defense Act, would direct U.S. diplomats to devise a global strategy for preventing and responding to violence against the LGBT community. It would […]

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U.S. Economy Will Grow But Not Trickle Down, OECD Warns on Inequality

By Michelle Tullo

Even though the U.S. economy is now expected to grow – albeit sluggishly – over the coming two years, inequality will not improve without policy reforms, a major grouping of rich countries is warning. President Barack Obama has named income inequality the “defining challenge of our time”, and has tried to make the issue a […]

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Zarif Reveals Iran’s Proposal for Ensuring Against “Breakout”*

By Gareth Porter

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. Credit: CC by 2.0/BEHROUZ MEHRI/European External Action Service - EEAS

Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif has revealed for the first time that Iran has made a detailed proposal to the P5+1 group of states aimed at ensuring that no stockpile of low-enriched uranium would be available for “breakout” through enrichment to weapons grade levels. In an exclusive interview with IPS, Zarif described an Iranian plan, […]

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Palestinian Unity Causing Political Ripples in Washington

By Mitchell Plitnick

The announcement this week of a new Palestinian unity government was greeted with cautious optimism by most of the world, outside of Israel. In the United States, however, it set off political rumblings that threaten to swell into a storm. The decision by the Obama Administration to maintain its relationship with the Palestinian Authority for […]

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IPS NORTH AMERICA

News and Views from the Global South

United States

U.S.: What Is the Greatest Threat of Them All?

Bolivia Charts Its Own Path on Coca

In Latest Republican Split, Tea Party Takes on Export-Import Bank

Obama, Rights Groups Protest Egypt Sentencing

U.S. Looking to Make LGBT Rights a Foreign Policy Priority

U.S. Economy Will Grow But Not Trickle Down, OECD Warns on Inequality

Zarif Reveals Iran’s Proposal for Ensuring Against “Breakout”*

Palestinian Unity Causing Political Ripples in Washington

IPS UN: INSIDE THE GLASSHOUSE

News and Views from the Global South

United States

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