en-uk Tue, 30 Oct 2007 15:37:29 GMT Copyright 2007 Times Newspapers Ltd. custserv@timesonline.co.uk http://www.timesonline.co.uk Sat, 07 Nov 2009 04:10:12 GMT Newspapers 144 21 http://www.timesonline.co.uk http://images.thetimes.co.uk/TGD/picture/0,,116979,00.gif Bronwen Maddox: World Briefing Wed, 04 Nov 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-11-03T10:15:14Z With the price of oil close to a new high for 2009, even if it slipped a fraction yesterday, it’s no surprise that Iran is confident enough to try to bend the terms of the supposed new deal to send its most sensitive nuclear material to Russia and France. Of course, to claim a simple motive for the actions of the many-headed Iranian regime would be wrong. But in the seven-year wrangle over its nuclear work, there has been an extraordinary correlation between the regime’s taste for antagonism and the level of oil futures. Bronwen Maddox: World Briefing Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:00:22 GMT 2009-11-03T12:18:03Z For $48 billion you would think you could buy the right to pick the Afghan Interior Minister. Or the Governor of Helmand province. Or, come to that, the President$’s pledge that he would fight a clean election. One mystery in America’s struggles in Afghanistan is the failure to put real pressure on Hamid Karzai to act in a way that might command popular respect and give the coalition strategy a chance of success. Bronwen Maddox: World Briefing Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-10-22T11:54:18Z For President Obama, the debacle of the first round of the Afghan elections has had a silver lining: it has bought him more time before he has to say what his plan for the country is. It has not made his options any more attractive, but it is very likely to produce a demand for President Karzai to be much more helpful to the US — and a refusal to commit many (or any) more US troops if he is not. Bronwen Maddox: World Briefing Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:01:00 GMT 2009-10-14T11:07:24Z The collapse of the Romanian Government means that quite a bit of Central and Eastern Europe is now without steady leadership. Blame the financial crisis if you like, but that’s just the catalyst. We’ve been taking their stability for granted for too long. President Obama still is, with the result that the region is one of the few places that prefers George W. Bush. Bronwen Maddox: World Briefing Tue, 13 Oct 2009 00:01:53 GMT 2009-10-12T08:57:13Z Hillary Clinton is proving an immensely good Secretary of State. Better than Condoleezza Rice — although it is easier to be the emissary of a president that much of the world adores. It doesn’t hurt, too, not to have to defend a war the world loathes, although that may yet come.