In a Moscow meeting today, the US delegation failed to convince the UN Security Council to introduce sanctions against Iran in the ongoing dispute over Iran's insistence on uranium enrichment on its own soil.  According to Spiegel online;

Talks in Moscow between the United Nations Security Council's veto-holding members ended on Tuesday with a failure of the United States to push through its hard line against Iran over its disputed nuclear program. China and Russia repeated their rejection of any proposals to impose sanctions against Tehran.

At the meeting, deputy foreign ministers from the five veto powers as well as Germany failed to come to any agreement over sanctions or any other measures against the mullah state.

The Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo declared a formal state of emergency on Friday 25th as a precaution against what was believed an upcoming coup d'etat.  The Philippine President went on national television explaining the circumstances and underlining the gravity of the plot allegedly unravelled by the armed forces, saying;

"over these past months, elements in the political opposition have conspired with authoritarians of the extreme Left represented by the NDF-CPP-NPA and the extreme Right represented by military adventurists - the historical enemies of the democratic Philippine State - who are now in tactical alliance and engaged in a concerted and systematic conspiracy, over a broad front, to bring down the duly constituted government elected in May 2004."

"These conspirators have repeatedly tried to bring down the President," she continued.

Arroyo added that these rebellious elements had been "recklessly magnified by certain segments of the national media."  The declaration of a state emergency came after opposition forces gathered at the rallying point for two earlier revolts by late Friday morning, calling for Arroyo, who survived allegations of vote-rigging and corruption last year, to step down.

After the hospitalizing of the Israeli PM Ariel Sharon many are questioning the survival of the former general's new political platform "Kadima".   Knowing the dynamics of Israeli politics and the many strong willed political leaders in the country the question is a fair one.  Since its founding on November 21st 2005, the party has presented a political outline, emphasizing a two-state solution and the importance of Israel remaining a predominantly Jewish State based on democratic principles.  

As Prime minister Ariel Sharon, being a "security-first politician", came to realize that in order for Israel to move on and secure its borders for the future the Israeli-Palestinian conflict had to be resolved with a two-state solution. Not having what he perceived, as an authoritative counterpart to negotiate with amongst the Palestinian leadership, he chose to act unilaterally having Israel's security first and foremost in mind. His first step was the disengagement from the Gaza strip and in spring 2004, Sharon presented his disengagement plan in a Likud party referendum, but the plan was rejected by the party members.  Still, Sharon pushed through the disengagement plan against the wishes of the majority of the Likud party.  Once again the former general had chosen to go his own way without the consent or approval of his colleagues in the Likud central committee, as he also had done during his tenure as an officer in the IDF.  In going ahead with his plan Sharon's motivations were strategic, as the Washington Post writes;

Through force of personality, deft tactical decisions and experience dating to the founding of the nation in 1948, Sharon has moved during his nearly five years as prime minister to establish what he believed would be more defensible borders for the Jewish state. By giving up the Gaza Strip and small portions of the West Bank, he also hoped to separate the fast-growing Palestinian population from Israel to ensure that Israel's Jews remain the majority.

(.....)By leaving Gaza, Sharon may have guaranteed a Jewish majority in Israel and the West Bank for another decade.

But in order to be able to continue his unilateral policy, Sharon came to realize that he had to have a broader political base than himself and a few other Likudnicks and decided to break out of the Likud party and form a new centrist party.  He managed to gather supporters both from the Likud, the Israeli Labour party and a few other prominent people within Israeli society and founded the Kadima Party.

This weekend the US President was on a visit to his Chinese counterpart in Beijing, in an effort to improve the two nation's relations in general and to create an understanding of the difficulties arising in relation to the huge imbalance in the trade relations between the two countries in particular.  In the weeks prior to the visit the Chinese President, Hu Jintao, introduced a new phrase of a "harmonious world"in which countries of different outlooks live together in peace.  This should be seen partly as a kind of outstretched hand welcoming the US president in preparation of the upcoming visit and on the other hand partly a rebuff to American "hegemonism".  For as the Economist reports:

Yet America and China offer each other opportunities as well as threats. Mr Bush made little progress on his main demands at the meeting with Mr Hu, but said it was a "good, frank discussion". After carefully trading talking-points, the two men must now return to trying to face down their nationalists at home. The issues between the two countries fall broadly into the categories of security and the economic relationship.

This is not the first time President Bush has visited the  People's Republic of China, and the two countries have been working together as at least nominal allies in the "War on Terror". But still China seems to be what the Bush administration has been focusing on as the next potential threat in the future, as a looming trade dispute hovers over the two giants.

The two countries display the classic tension between an established great power and an emerging one. A bipartisan panel from America's Congress has just issued a gloomy 263-page document saying that "China's methodical and accelerating military modernisation presents a growing threat" to American security interests in the Pacific, though a Pentagon report in July noted that China's ability to project force beyond its periphery is "limited" for now. But as China continues to spend huge sums on its armed forces, including adding around 100 ballistic missiles to the coast facing Taiwan each year, hawks in America are bound to worry. Though America still recognises only one China, it has promised to come to Taiwan's aid if it is attacked from the mainland.