Picture the scene: The president is about to make a speech to a conference of international delegates. Conference organizers scurry to take down the flag of a nation deemed hostile to the host country so that the president does not have to see it.

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By Chen Lung-chu 陳隆志
President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) sent an official letter of application for UN membership using the name "Taiwan" to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on July 19. However, Ban ignored realities and UN procedure and had the UN legal department return the letter.

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By Lai I-chung 賴怡忠
Senior Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) officials have described the Democratic Progressive Party's (DPP) efforts to apply for UN membership under the name "Taiwan" as "pushing the Taiwanese people in front of an oncoming car."

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Baghdad wants to ressert central control over oil reserves run by Kurdish authorities who have opened the door to foreign investors
By Michael Howard
At the end of a rough dirt track, on a sun-baked hillock once the domain of scorpions and snakes, squats an odd settlement of caravans, generators and drilling rigs that is at the heart of the battle for Iraq's oil.

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By Damien Cave
Saleh al-Mutlak, a senior Sunni leader in Iraq's parliament, is spending his summer vacation in Amman at a well-appointed apartment that his wife and son moved into last year.

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In the past decade, China has rapidly emerged to play a part on the international stage. China's growing economic and military power has already expanded its political influence and distinctive diplomatic voice and increased its involvement in regional multilateral institutions. This phenomenon has been called a "peaceful rising," but there is something else that has been rising at the same time and that is China's military budget.

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