Rockwood House, also referred to by Pakistani critics as the Surrey Palace, was bought for £2.5 million in 1995 when Benazir Bhutto was approaching the end of her second term as prime minister of Pakistan.

After she was deposed from office in 1996 both Benazir and Zardari denied any link to Rockwood, despite a mountain of circumstantial evidence, including the word of a local builder called Paul Keating who regaled newspaper reporters with details of the money he was promised by Zardari for carrying out renovations on the 355 acre estate.

In one interview Keating described how the renovations — like the ownership of the mansion intended as a family home — were supposed to be 'top secret' but word got out after Benazir fell from power and Zardari was arrested for corruption.

Describing Zardari as 'not the subtlest of men', Keating recounted how the future president of Pakistan visited the local pub, The Dog and Pheasant, and was so enamoured of it that he announced he would build a replica of the bar in the basement of Rockwood House.

In 2004, six years after Rockwood was sold by liquidators, Zardari, through his lawyer, finally admitted he was the beneficial owner. Two years later Mr Justice Collins commented in the London High Court how there was a 'reasonable prospect' that Benazir and/or her husband had used the 'fruits or corruption' to buy and refurbish Rockwood.

The outstanding sum after legal fees from the sale of Rockwood now goes directly to Zardari's bank account, as does another £32 million from frozen Benazir/Zardari assets released a month ago by the authorities in Switzerland. Pakistan's per capita income has been estimated at around U.S. $600 per year.

Meanwhile, one of Pakistan's leading economists has leapt to Zardari's defence, describing him as 'charming, easy going and unpretentious.' Dr Meekal Aziz Ahmed, who worked for years at the IMF, recently wrote in a leading Pakistani newspaper, 'All this Zardari-bashing is getting rather tiresome and boring. We “need to move on” as the American's are fond of saying. We need to stop wasting our time reading yellow journalism, where the same thing is said over and over again with the same storyline and sound-bites.'

Dr Ahmed added, 'I am not an apologist for Mr Zardari, his crony or the beneficiary of his well-known generosity with his friends which has earned him so much opprobrium. I have met him thrice, once when he asked me to dinner for no purpose but to meet me and talk, and on two occasions subsequently, also for no specific purpose. I found him charming, easy going, unpretentious and fun to be with. At the dinner I was struck by the simplicity of his taste in food. I asked him no favours. He offered me none.'

Until last year France deployed some 1,000 soldiers in Afghanistan, mainly to help train the Afghan Army. That number has expanded by more than 200 per cent, taking the French military numbers in Afghanistan to more than 3,000.

Sarkozy himself is an avid supporter of Nato and its fight to rid Afghanistan of the Taliban. Before he was elected last year he said France would boost its efforts to help reconstruction in Afghanistan. He also offered to aid Pakistani leaders in pursuing a more active policy against the Taliban.

During his most recent visit to the French base in Kabul, Sarkozy posed a rhetorical question asking, 'Why are we here?' He responded to himself by saying, 'It is because here we play a part in the freedom of the world. Here we are fighting against terrorism. The rise in violence is attributed directly to our lack of attention — the allies and all of us — to the sanctuaries, to the training grounds, to the financial resources of terrorists and the Taliban.'

In an earlier statement he told reporters, 'My determination remains intact. France is resolved to pursue the fight against terrorism, for democracy and liberty. The cause is just; it is the honour of France and its armies to defend it.'

N. Korea's brinkmanship?

U.S. negotiators believe the North Koreans are bluffing in a bid to get more aid from the West. U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Chris Hill told reporters late September: 'The six-party process has had its difficult moments and we are certainly experiencing one now.' He added, 'We don't expect any dramatic developments in the next few days.'

Hill was responding to a statement from chief North Korean negotiator Hyun Hak-Bong who announced in September that scientists were 'thoroughly preparing to restart' the reactor and that the media would 'know soon' when that happened.
A U.S. State Department spokesman subsequently commented, 'North Korea's actions are very disappointing and basically run counter to the expectations of the six-party members and the international community. Their actions serve only to isolate the North Koreans from the rest of the international community.'

Although the Americans have said in private that they are hopeful of the North Koreans returning in due course to the negotiating table, worries about the future dominate the thinking of Pyongyang's immediate neighbours, South Korea and Japan.

The Japanese, in particular, who suffered first hand from the effects of America's use of nuclear bombs against Hiroshima and Nagasaki during the Second World War, have more reason than most to fear North Korea's nuclear preparations.

What also worries the Japanese is North Korea's reluctance to discuss the uranium enrichment facilities it secretly developed with help from Pakistan. These uranium enrichment efforts are the subject of secret bilateral discussions between Pyongyang and Washington. The same is true of North Korea's secret nuclear assistance to Syria. All that the North Koreans will admit to is their plutonium programme, which represents 65 to 70 per cent of their nuclear activities.

If and when the North Koreans return to the negotiating table, the Japanese and other concerned Asian governments hope that Pyongyang may also be prevailed upon to declare the full extent of its nuclear weapons arsenal. Only then, some Asian analysts say, can North Korea be formally removed from what President Bush once declared as the Axis of Evil.

Divided over Iran

The head of Israel's Military Intelligence Research Division, Brigadier-General Yossi Baidatz, recently warned members of the Israeli cabinet how Iran was well on its way to building a nuclear bomb.

In his widely reported assessment General Baidatz was quoted as saying, 'Iran is focusing its efforts in enriching uranium and improving the operational capabilities of its centrifuges. It is mastering the necessary technology and now has one-third of what it needs to create a bomb.'

Members of the international community sympathetic to Israeli concerns have been unable to arrive at a consensus about the best way of tackling Tehran. Given the huge commercial contracts at stake with Iran, Russia in particular has been reluctant to engage in more P5+1 discussions about a fourth round of sanctions.

The Russians have good diplomatic ties with Iran and Russian experts have signed lucrative contracts to finish building the civilian nuclear power plant in Bushehr. Russian state-run Atomstroiexport has been paid more than U.S. $ one billion to complete the 1,000-megawatt light-water reactor that is expected to start operating within the next six months.

In a statement issued prior to the September meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, the Russian Foreign Ministry issued a statement saying it saw no need for urgent discussions about Iran, regardless of a critical report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The P5+1 group was due to discuss a fourth round of sanctions against Iran, but a planned meeting was postponed indefinitely because of Russia's reluctance to participate.

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