The World Today: November 2006: November 2006

Five years after an international force smashed the Taliban government in Afghanistan, NATO soldiers are having trouble holding their own. More troops are urgently needed, as well as a determined effort to eliminate Al Qaeda and the Taliban from neighbouring Pakistan where the control of nuclear weapons is also an issue.

NATO faces some challenging choices. Who should it allow as partner countries and, even more important, which will get the ultimate accolade of membership? And then there is the cost. It is deeply involved in an Afghan campaign where the possibility of failure has to be faced, and about to launch a rapid response force, but the Organisation’s expenses and risks fall unevenly.

The World’s largest oil and gas companies are working off Sakhalin Island in Russia’s Far East to develop a new energy province. The Sea of Okhotsk has the potential to become another North Sea, located next door to Asia’s energy-hungry economies.

With the approach of colder weather in Europe there is new nervousness about energy supplies. Russian actions earlier this year created a climate of mistrust, but is the west guilty of hypocrisy? Could the new energy superpower pump its products east rather than west, or are there dangers in getting cosy with China?

Engaging With Russia. The Next Phase, Washington, Paris, Tokyo, The Trilateral Commission,Roderic Lyne, Strobe Talbott and Koji Watanabe, 2006, £15

The eruption of violence between Hamas and Fateh supporters in early October dramatically illustrated the growing tension between the two parties and is another milestone in the deterioration of life in the occupied Palestinian territory. Ten were killed and more than a hundred wounded in clashes in the Gaza Strip while government offices in Ramallah were attacked by Fateh supporters. Reconciliation is essential ahead of the day when international attention turns back to trying to solve the Israel-Palestine issue.