The zealous attitudes and fevered misjudgments that drove United States policy towards Iraq in 2003 could yet have a second life over Iran.

With voting in the Labour leadership contest underway, David Wearing examines why the Iraq war was such a fundamental call which has much to teach us about a future leader's judgement.

Messeh Kamara issues an emotional call for reconciliation, courage and openness as Sierra Leone reexamines its past in a proposed Commission of Inquiry.

Tehran’s ‘three Persian speaking countries’ project is aimed at subjugating Afghanistan

Avni Dogru summarises the middle east's falling in and out of love with US President Barack Obama. Without a rapid reversal of US policy, it looks as if the downward trend will only accelerate.

There are other players to take into account apart from Gianfranco Fini in the latest challenge to Berlusconi’s reign, not least a fickle Italian public and the small matter of parliamentary retirement pensions

The Balkans are the next chapter in a quintessentially European story about competing claims for identity, sovereignty, and independence; and the European Union (backed by the United States) has a key role to play in it

Six months into office, Yanukovych has moved swiftly to strengthen government. Indications are mounting that his intention is comprehensively to curtail the freedoms won by Ukraine since the fall of communism. But there is reason to hope that civil society may prove robust enough to withstand the pressure

The increasingly militarised confrontation between the United States, Israel and Iran only strengthens the Ahmadinejad regime's intransigence, allowing it to side step an ongoing crisis of legitimacy.

The concept of the ‘clash of civilisations’ is usually traced back to Classical Greece. In Classical times as today, this idea of an unbridgeable gap between the West and the Rest does not describe reality, but is instead a line of political rhetoric. The article continues our series Lest we forget, an editorial project in association with History & Policy, asking historians to reflect on wars gone by and the light they shed on present conflicts.

Mark Thompson's MacTaggart lecture was a blinkered attempt to skewer Sky while ignoring the BBC's own culpability in the crisis of investment in public service broadcasting, argues David Elstein.

Rwanda responds angrily to allegations of genocide; Iran tests new generation of ballistic missile guidance system, but maintains it remains committed to terms of nuclear non-proliferation treaty. Ukrainian Security Service accused of adopting Soviet-style tactics against political opposition. CIA worries about wider effects of US citizens' involvement in terrorist activity. India and China contemplate suspending defence exchanges. All this and more in today's security briefing.

Professor Pierre de Vos, South African constitutional law expert, in conversation with Tony Curzon Price on the Information Bill; the ANC is a complex coalition that will ultimately act in a trustworthy way with freedom of the press

In attempting to suffocate a separate Kashmiri identity, India reveals the cracks in its own idea of nationhood, argues Nitasha Kaul.

Despite commitments by the World Bank to significantly reduce conditions attached to its loans, research from Eurodad reveals that a massive 57 conditions were attached to three loans given to Ghana in 2009. 12 out of the 57 conditions were stipulated in a side document, and not made explicit in loan agreements themselves, contravening responsible financing principles.

These economic policy conditions restrict the right of Ghana - a country with good democratic credentials - to decide for itself how to recover from the global crisis and boost sustainable investment. The reforms that the World Bank imposes may hinder not help Ghana's development and democratic institutions.

The UK Labour party, on the brink of electing a new leader, needs a complete reassessment of its values and purpose. But it is just this that is difficult for those closely associated with the old regime.

The proposed Information BiIl and Media Tribunals are a serious assault on press freedom in South Africa. They ultimately come out of the internal wranglings of a party that needs not fear the loss of office

Netanyahu distances himself from Yosef remarks before Israeli-Palestinian talks are set to begin in Washington. Chinese and North Korean media confirm Kim Jong-il visit. Campaign continues against female parliamentary candidates as five are killed in western Afghanistan. Chechen president heads operation that kills nineteen in his home village. All this and more in today's security briefing.

The one-time head of Downing Street security strategy and an academic expert set out their views on how the authorities should respond to terrorism. One appeals to the 'genius' of the UK's system the other sets out some basic rules.

The Afghan mission continues to flounder without direction, over a month after the "future of Afghanistan" was discussed at the Kabul Conference.