Archive for August, 2009

Strait of Hormuz… »

Job losses have been most severe in the areas that experienced a big boom in housing, those that depend on manufacturing and those that already had the highest unemployment… »

China will launch an attack on India before 2012. There are multiple reasons for a desperate Beijing to teach India the final lesson, thereby ensuring Chinese supremacy in Asia in this century. The recession that shut the Chinese exports shop is creating an unprecedented internal social unrest. In turn, the vice-like grip of the communists… »

Iran is unlikely to be able to produce the highly enriched uranium (HEU) necessary for a nuclear weapon until at least 2013, according to a U.S. government intelligence estimate made public… »

No other major European economy is suffering as much from the shockwaves of the U.S. financial crisis as Germany. The country’s nominal manufacturing exports plummeted by 29% in April 2009, the largest drop since data were first collected in 1950. After the 43% slump in foreign orders in January and February, the collapse was unsurprising… »

Afghanistan supplies nearly all the world’s opium, the raw ingredient used to make heroin, and while most of the deadly crop is exported, enough is left behind to create a vicious cycle of addiction. There are at least 200,000 opium and heroin addicts in Afghanistan – 50,000 more than in the much bigger, wealthier U.S.,… »

One relatively cheap solution is gaining favour among many different groups and is endorsed today by an independent study that compares the costs and benefits of all the main ideas. A wind-powered fleet of 1,900 ships would criss-cross the oceans, sucking up sea water and spraying it from the top of tall funnels to create… »

Taiwan is a great success story. It is a prosperous, thriving democracy living at peace–and it wants to remain at peace. But in order to maintain that peace, Taipei will have to build a military strong enough to make the use of force against Taiwan… »

In response to Colombian charges that weapons found in a FARC arms cache were supplied by Venezuela, Hugo Chávez withdrew his ambassador from Bogotá and once again froze Venezuela – Colombia… »

Over the past five years President Hamid Karzai has turned Afghanistan into one of the world’s most failed and corrupt states. Instead of leading our country toward democracy, he has formed alliances with criminals. He has appointed governors and police chiefs who openly flout the rule of law. And he has turned a blind eye… »

Joe Biden has caught hell the past couple of weeks for making some fairly obvious observations to a reporter about Russia’s internal problems and for implying that the interests of such a weakened country needn’t worry the United States all that… »

Burma has emerged as a major regional supplier of natural gas in Asia-Pacific. At present, most of this gas is sold to Thailand, but new fields will shortly provide for vast sales to China. Rising gas prices and increasing demand have caused the value of Burma’s gas exports to soar, driving a projected balance-of-payments surplus… »

THE criticisms from some of my fellow Republicans of former President Bill Clinton and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s success in gaining the release of two American journalists from North Korea’s gulag are… »

(PDF) – USG Humanitarian Assistance To Conflict-Afflicted Populations In Pakistan In FY 2008 And To Date In FY… »

(PDF) – World: Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 – Countries, territories and areas with lab confirmed cases and number of deaths as reported to WHO (as of 31 Jul… »

La carta illustra un’ipotesi di attacco israeliana contro l’Iran. Sono indicate le possibili rotte degli attacchi aerei, la gittata dei missili Jericho III, e vengono rappresentati anche i principali obiettivi israeliani in territorio iraniano, come gli impianti per l’acqua e per la lavorazione… »

South Stream is a joint project by the Russian firm Gazprom and the Italian company Eni to develop a pipeline to transport gas to European markets. If it is constructed, the impact of South Stream, projected to be the most expensive pipeline ever built, will be significant not only for Europe’s energy supplies, but also… »

Russia’s command of its so-called “near abroad” has been more or less complete over the past few years as the EU has floundered to find a coherent strategy to counter Moscow’s dominance there, especially in the energy sphere. But recent oil and gas deals in Central Asia show the Kremlin’s grip is… »

Something dramatic has happened to the world’s birthrates. Defying predictions of demographic decline, northern Europeans have started having more babies. Britain and France are now projecting steady population growth through the middle of the century. In North America, the trends are similar. In 2050, according to United Nations projections, it is possible that nearly as… »

Willingly or unwillingly, US debt levels will decline over the next several years. As a result American consumption will grow substantially slower than the US economy, and so the trade deficit will decline. For the rest of the world, even ignoring the possibility of a decline in global investment, a contraction in the US trade… »

During Operation Iraqi Freedom, coalition forces classified the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MeK), an Iranian dissident group dedicated to the violent overthrow of the Iranian government, as an enemy force. The MeK had provided security services to Saddam Hussein from its camps in Iraq and had been listed as a foreign terrorist organization by the Secretary of… »

Amid the widespread relief that American journalists Laura Ling and Euna Lee have avoided the brutal fate meted out to them by a North Korean court, it may seem captious to consider the long-term implications of President Bill Clinton’s trip – By Henry A…. »

A new WorldPublicOpinion.org poll of 19 nations from around the world finds that majorities in 15 think their government should put a higher priority on addressing climate change than it does now. This includes the largest greenhouse gas emitters: China (62% want more action), the US (52%), and Russia… »

There is a yawning political and socioeconomic divide that still threatens the stability of what was once one of the United States’ principal staging grounds in Latin America during the cold… »

Exactly one year after the war over South Ossetia, Georgia’s chances of becoming a NATO member have been reduced to almost zero, but the South Caucasus nation might actually be safer and is putting greater hopes into political integration with the West. Despite the fact that key European powers continue to be skeptical because Tbilisi’s… »

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Angola on Sunday in a bid to bolster opportunities for U.S. business in the major oil… »

It is generally agreed that North Korea and Burma have the two most oppressive regimes in Asia. They rule over two of the poorest countries in the continent, and that is no coincidence… »

For months, we’ve been hearing about deteriorating conditions in Afghanistan. Insurgent attacks are up. Coalition casualties are increasing. Poppy crops are flourishing. The Taliban is expanding its presence. Parts of the country are ungovernable. And where there is government, it’s corrupt. The public perception created by such reports is that Afghanistan is a disaster. The… »

The Pentagon says it’s not worried about a couple of Russian Akula-class attack submarines patrolling some 200 miles off the U.S. East Coast — that it raises no “red” flags at the moment. Fair enough — but the boats should still prompt long-term… »

Since 2006, following Hamas’s rise to power in the Gaza Strip, Israel has applied sanctions – with de facto Egyptian approval) – against the territory. These include stricter border control, withholding public funds from institutions run by Hamas, limiting the import of various foods items such as beef, produce and pasta and restricting the import… »

With a total population of 2.6 million, 95 percent of it ethnic Han Chinese, Shihezi and a string of other settlements created by the military are stable strongholds in a region whose majority non-Han populace has often been unhappy under Beijing’s… »

The year 2008 was paradoxical for nuclear power. Projections of future growth were revised upward, but no new reactors were connected to the grid — the first year since 1955 without at least one new reactor coming on-line. However, construction started on ten new reactors — the largest number in any one year since 1985…. »

(PDF) – The present report contains information received from Member States on their military expenditures for the latest fiscal year for which data are available. The Secretary-General has, to date, received reports from 46… »

Turkish-Russian relations have been transformed in a unique way since the late 1990s. Ever increasing economic relations have paved way for better political relations, bringing cooperation perspectives to fore while having competing agendas at the same… »

Water scarcity grows in urgency in many regions as population growth, climate change, pollution, lack of investment, and management failures restrict the amount of water available relative to demand. The Stockholm International Water Institute calculated in 2008 that 1.4 billion people live in “closed basins”-regions where existing water cannot meet the agricultural, industrial, municipal, and… »

Australia and other countries should redouble their efforts to fix serious gaps in an international arrangement to stop maritime shipments of materials destined for weapons of mass destruction programs, according to the Brief. It argues that heightened concerns over North Korea provide an opportunity to bolster the Proliferation Security Initiative, a 95-country arrangement to promote… »

Colombia is likely to become the regional hub for the Pentagon’s Latin American activities and its Fort Apache as U.S. and Colombia near a cooperation agreement that would expand U.S. military presence in the… »

Member nations approved the first budget rise above inflation for the U.N. atomic watchdog in six years on Monday after heavy U.S. lobbying for more resources to shore up the fight against stealthy nuclear… »

This week it was reported that two Russian Akula-class attack nuclear submarines were recently deployed close to the U.S. East coast. These submarines known in Russia as Shyuka-B (project 971), are the best and most silent nuclear attack… »

The drought that has kept Syria dry for three years has cost more than 800,000 people their livelihoods, Red Cross and Red Crescent officials… »

A fourth figure has entered the political melee in Kiev: a young economist named Arseniy Yatsenyuk, and he is snapping at the heels of populist candidate Yuliya… »

The federal Government has agreed to three international conventions on nuclear safety in preparation for a formal launch of the country’s nuclear power programme, expected within the month. The Government’s representatives at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) gave notice of “accession”, meaning that the UAE would accept IAEA standards on safety and security for… »

Africa is an important target for Iranian President Ahmadinejad’s ambitious foreign policy. In recent months Iran has shown increasing interest in Africa, following its efforts to establish its presence in Latin America, the United States ‘ back yard.Iran is particularly interested in relations with East African countries, especially those in the Horn of… »

The European Union sees itself as offering “a cultural and governance ideal” for nascent and aspiring regional… »

It takes approximately five to six months for the first supplies of approved vaccine to become available once a new strain of influenza virus with pandemic potential is identified and isolated. These months are needed because the process of producing a new vaccine involves many sequential steps, and each of these steps requires a certain… »

This report documents attacks by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups since November 2008 that killed three Israeli civilians and seriously injured dozens of others, damaged property and forced residents to leave their homes. The rockets unlawfully struck populated areas up to 40 kilometers inside Israel, placing roughly 800,000 Israeli civilians at… »

China’s chief climate-change envoy expressed optimism that a comprehensive agreement to reduce greenhouse gases could be reached at U.N. meetings in Copenhagen in December, noting that it “must succeed for the sake of… »

Vladimir Putin’s August 6 visit to Ankara marked a new era for “enhanced multi-dimensional partnership,” between Ankara and Moscow. Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdogan signed some twenty agreements covering energy, trade and other fields. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi also attended part of the talks between Erdogan and Putin, considering the involvement of Italian companies… »

As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton begins a seven-country African trip with a visit to Kenya, the main U.S. foreign aid agency is in limbo, entering its seventh month without a permanent director despite pledges by the Obama administration to expand development assistance and improve its effectiveness in poor… »

The result of the July 25 regional parliamentary and presidential elections in the Kurdish autonomous region is a significant landmark in the history of the Kurds and… »