WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (UPI) -- As Hillary Clinton starts her first foreign trip, her diplomatic role is being eroded by Joe Biden, Jim Jones and the special envoys.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama has picked another vastly experienced Washington insider to run the $60 billion a year U.S. intelligence community, but in choosing former White House Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, he has uncharacteristically gambled big on an outsider with no direct experience of working in intelligence. This could prove disastrous.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England said Tuesday he will not serve in the Obama administration.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- Rep. Rahm Emanuel, D-Ill., Thursday said he wanted to be President-elect Barack Obama's chief of staff so he could "help deliver the change America needs."

CHICAGO, Nov. 5 (UPI) -- U.S. President-elect Barack Obama named Valerie Jarrett, a friend and adviser, to head his transition team, WLS-TV, Chicago, reported Wednesday.

WASHINGTON, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- Denials notwithstanding, secret talks were held in Mecca and in Pakistan between Taliban reps and secret emissaries from the Afghan government, including an Iftar dinner hosted by Saudi King Abdullah. The Saudis estimate the Afghan war is unwinnable for NATO. Donor fatigue is rampant. And the world's financial support system is crumbling.

WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Teetering on the edge of financial disaster, the United States is seen by many abroad as Gulliver tied down by millions of subprime Lilliputian mortgages held by Wall Street's overcompensated "Masters of the Universe."

WASHINGTON, April 30 (UPI) -- "Every lie contains a truth and every truth contains a lie" is a safe rule of thumb when Shakespeare's powers of observation are applied to the Middle East. With each shake of the kaleidoscope, the configuration of the key players becomes a wilderness of mirrors.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 13 (UPI) -- America’s European allies have fallen into the paralyzing embrace of appeasement. Only one German parliamentarian out of 613 openly favors putting German troops in Afghanistan in harm’s way. The Bush administration’s appeals for more European troops fall on deaf ears. Europeans do not believe democracy is attainable in Afghanistan, which is now seen as a failed narco-state. They also blame Iraq for the current geopolitical dilemma.