Oman Observer - Analysis

Chances of success for a Nato offensive in the last big Taliban bastion in Afghanistan’s Helmand province may depend on ensuring the operation doesn’t repeat the destruction of Fallujah in Iraq in 2004. US commanders have built up expectations the operation may help deliver stability to a deeply troubled country — just as they did before fighter jets and tanks pulverised...

Britain must keep supporting the economy for now, and the opposition Conservatives are wrong to talk down the country by warning it could lose its triple-A credit rating, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said. Interviewed flying back from an EU summit in Brussels late on Thursday, Brown set out his stall for an election expected on May 6 where he is very much the underdog.

President Barack Obama jumped in to help Haiti after its disastrous earthquake, but with experts saying it will take 10 years &
billions of dollars to fix the shattered country, the US faces another long-term commitment in a foreign country. Haiti was the
Western Hemisphere’s poorest state even before last month’s quake, with 80% of its people surviving on under $2 per day...

Colombian President Alvaro Uribe says only God, the people and the courts will decide whether he can seek re-election for
a third term in May, but he also faces a race against time even if he wins support to run again. Uribe, who is Washington’s
staunchest ally in South America, faces a March 12 deadline to register as a candidate with several legal hurdles still to cross...

Fiscal position

Although France is in the forefront of moves to shore up Greek finances, it can ill-afford to throw much money Athens’s way and should rapidly look to strengthen its own fragile fiscal position. France’s financial problems are nowhere near as serious as those of Greece, but a hard look at its latest budget forecasts suggests Paris is closer to the so-called European periphery...

Climate bill

A plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions in the heart of Tokyo, one of the world’s biggest and richest metropolitan areas, may prompt political action on a stalled national effort. Tokyo city proper will set emission limits for 1,400 large factories and offices to meet by using technology like solar panels and advanced fuel-saving devices starting in April.

Sanctions risk

Madagascar’s diplomatically isolated leader risks sanctions and the possible cancellation of critical foreign aid if he sticks to
his hardline stance on how to end his country’s year-long political crisis. Foreign diplomats warn the Indian Ocean island could
become a pariah state if Andry Rajoelina fails to compromise on a road map for holding elections that appeases opposition...