News stories by Barbara Slavin

WASHINGTON, Apr 03 (IPS) - With U.S.-mediated Israel-Palestinian peace talks once again dangling over the abyss, a new book has kicked up controversy over the roots of U.S. policy toward Israelis and Palestinians.

WASHINGTON, Dic 06 (IPS) - A new poll following the election of President Hassan Rouhani says that a majority of Iranians oppose Iran's intervention in Syria and Iraq and believe that Iran is seeking nuclear weapons despite their government's claims to the contrary.

WASHINGTON, Jul 08 (IPS) - During the decades when Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood was a barely tolerated opposition party, it campaigned against the reigning secular autocrats under the banner "Islam is the solution."

WASHINGTON, Apr 24 (IPS) - It's no wonder that Egypt has floundered in its efforts to create a more democratic system from the ruins of the Mubarak regime.

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (IPS) - A lack of Israeli pressure for the U.S. to intervene and Israel's ability to go after sensitive targets in Syria on its own are factors in the Barack Obama administration's reluctance to get more deeply involved in the Syrian civil war.

European countries are imposing unprecedented sanctions against Iran in part in hopes of preventing an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear installations that could further destabilise the Middle East and wreak havoc on the global economy.

The Barack Obama administration is increasingly giving the impression that it supports a policy of regime change against Iran - a policy that could backfire and convince Iran to build nuclear weapons.

The recent escalation in Iranian threats to blockade oil shipments and attack U.S. Navy vessels are meant to push up the price of oil and divert domestic opinion from an economic crisis but are not likely to lead to a war in the Persian Gulf, in the view of Iran experts.

Veteran observers of U.S.-Iran relations know better than to be optimistic about the chances for reconciliation between the two countries. It has long been the pattern - indeed the curse - that when one side was ready to engage, the other was not.

The Barack Obama administration and the United Nations are struggling to convince the leadership of the Mujaheddin-e Khalq (MEK), an Iranian opposition group with cult-like characteristics, to vacate a camp in Iraq and allow residents to move to another location in the country or risk the lives of as many as 3,200 people.