What are the reasons for holding the Iberian-American summits? And for not holding them. Where does the skepticism come from? What was expected of Summit XVII in Santiago de Chile? Are these Summits justified? The Parallel Summit. The importance of face-to-face meetings. The debate about institutional quality in Latin America. Next, the first part of the analysis.

It is an outcry of hope that Annapolis meeting will be an opening for shifting paradigms towards a comprehensive Middle Eastern peace, otherwise the meeting participants will go there in order to loose their time, while any partial solution reached to one or more problem, will dwindle then vanish, in the new strong cycle of vicious violence that will prevail.

• The Middle East "peace question", again to debate
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• The Next Steps for Peace in the Middle East and West Asia
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The crisis between the Turkish army and the Kurdish rebels of the PKK seems to be mitigated thanks to the offers guaranteed to Turkey on behalf of the United States and Iraq, but the chaos that devastated the latter, predicts that the conflict will continue in the short term, and possibly the long term as well. Turkey has emerged victorious from its first incursion but the future is no more flattering for its interests. A large part of the solution the crisis is thanks to the United States.

Álvaro Colom is the new president of Guatemala after elections that were clean but marked by absenteeism and an elevated number of intentionally null votes. The principal objectives of the new legislature are to overcome the criminality rate, lack of security, poverty and low levels of production. Right now the key lies in governability.

The rejection of certain models that are not conducive to integration, overcoming the idea that ideological affinities like We can do it, decreasing the democratic deficit and carefully assimilating the potential of Venezuela: the story of the work that should be done to resolve the Mercosur crisis in order to escape stagnation.

The discovery of an important oil reserve situated in the Gulf of Guinea between Santo Tomé and Príncipe and Guinea Ecuatorial has piqued American, French and Chinese interest in this African region. By 2010, daily production could surpass the current 3 million barrels and eventually reach 6 million, while the reserves are estimated to contain 24 billion barrels’ worth of oil. Let’s examine why it is so important that control and openness prevail in the exploitation agreements.

The conflict with the Kurdish guerrillas of the Workers’ Party that confronts the Turkish army could culminate in a large-scale, dangerous war operative that would end the fragile balance of the new Iraqi State. Meanwhile, the relationship between Washington and Ankara is going through a period of strong and unusual turbulence. It is worth asking whether this is due to a simple situational uneasiness or if it is the accumulation of negative signals presaging a confrontation between the two strategic allies.

Soul searching, an atmosphere of toleration and respect and a dialogue among the civilizations (the West and Islam). Mutual respect, justice and equity and the rejection of bigotry and hatred; all basic humans values that the West and Islam have in common. Why then is a dialogue between these two civilizations so hard?

The author discusses his views about a form of new anti-Iranianism referring to a general attitude of disrespect and vengefulness supported by the American media post 9-11, sighting examples such as the visit of Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, to New York.

• The Cold War with Iran
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