Archive for February 1st, 2010

In the past eight years the al-Qaida movement has evolved into a very unusual combination of a trans-national revolutionary entity with elements of a loose network, a franchise and even at times just an idea. It retains short and long-term aims. Among the former are opposition to the “near enemy” of unacceptable regimes in Saudi… »

In 2009, after having done prolonged anti-piracy deployments in the Gulf of Aden for a year, a retired Chinese Admiral publicly propounded the need for the Chinese Navy to acquire a base near this strategic region so as to overcome numerous logistics-cum-maintenance problems and also allow some rest to its sailors. At present Chinese warships… »

Two years ago, oil-rich Angola was reckoned to have one of the world’s fastest-growing economies. In both 2006 and 2007 real GDP had surged by around 20%, and double-digit growth rates were widely predicted for at least the next five years. Then oil prices crashed with the global recession. Last year the economy is estimated… »

On November 29, 2009, Manmohan Singh, India’s Prime Minister, stated that India wants to join the NPT as a nuclear-weapons state (NWS) and become the sixth NPT-recognized nuclear power. Although Indian diplomats have raised this idea in private in years past, Singh’s statement represents the first public announcement by a high-ranking official that India wants… »

The semiautonomous region of Kurdistan is the one place in battered Iraq that promised economic boom times, but some of the foreign oil companies that rushed in over the past few years are becoming increasingly restless. Their multibillion-dollar deals are still mired in a bitter political dispute between the Kurdish region and the central government… »

Brazil is gaining ascendancy in Latin America faster than anticipated by its neighbors and is poised to claim its pre-eminence on the continent on the basis of its geographical mass and financial prowess. This week Brazil demonstrated its financial clout by signing agreements to buy $10 billion of International Monetary Fund notes. A longtime and… »

Relations between Israel and the Federated States of Micronesia and the Pacific island nation Nauru have developed a special logic — an alliance that has given Israel a couple of dependable votes in the United Nations and given the two small nations a source of technical aid on agriculture, health and other… »

A large dam being planned in Kachin state will flood an area the size of New York City and displace thousands of local… »

The United States wants to “depoliticize” the proposed Nabucco pipeline project, and might welcome Russia’s participation in the pipeline, Washington’s Eurasian energy envoy, Richard Morningstar, recently announced. The Kremlin, however, is likely to interpret this outwardly magnanimous gesture as a sign of Nabucco’s weakness, some experts… »

These are the men who make up Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s inner circle — and will determine if the Iranian president can strengthen his tenuous grip on… »

The West primarily views the geostrategic significance of ‘Asia’ as a maritime continent – as it has been since World War Two. China has the most ambitious and fastest growing submarine and ship building program in the world; while possession of an operational aircraft carrier is still the ultimate symbol of military power. China’s emphasis… »

Africa’s most famous disasters, many argue, could have been prevented with changes in national land laws or better local conflict resolution but for one problem: Prevention doesn’t sell. What does sell – what gets airtime, aid dollars, and military or other attention – is the violent chaos the world fails to prevent. By the time… »

The US and Russia failed to replace the arms reduction treaty that expired last year. Negotiations should wrap up by the beginning of February, but some nations have used this to stall their nonproliferation… »

Chinese authorities said Monday that the door for contacts and talks remains open to the Dalai Lama, but no concessions would be made on issues concerning national… »

As we mark one year into the Obama era, several realities have become painfully clear. There are limits to what a US president is willing or able to do. Barack Obama began his term in a rush to advance Israeli-Palestinian peace, which he claimed was in “America’s national security interests”. One year later and he… »

Up to 12,000 protesters called on Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to resign in a rare outpouring of anger with the popular leader during a weekend rally in Kaliningrad. The peaceful protest was the largest in a flurry of weekend demonstrations, all of which shared a common thread: growing frustration with the country’s… »

The tentative peace in Nigeria’s oil-rich Niger Delta region appears to have finally ended this weekend, sparking fears of a return to the violence that has cut output of the No. 3 crude oil supplier to the United States by more than 25 percent in recent… »

In the Middle East, Dubai has replaced Beirut as the place where deals are done, secrets are sold and scores are… »

For the past year, China has adopted an increasingly muscular position toward the United States, berating American officials for the global economic crisis, stage-managing President Obama’s visit to China in November, refusing to back a tougher climate change agreement in Copenhagen and standing fast against American demands for tough new Security Council sanctions against Iran…. »

The problem with Clinton’s call for accountability and norms on the global network — a call frequently heard in policy discussions about cybersecurity — is the enormous array of cyberattacks originating from the United States. Until we acknowledge these attacks and signal how we might control them, we cannot make progress on preventing cyberattacks emanating… »

The Indonesian Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa’s trip to London for talks on Afghanistan and the increasing activity of Indonesian state-backed construction companies in the Middle East both reflect the new policy of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that Indonesia must go global and take a lead in the Muslim… »

If Britain wants to remain a global military power, it’s imperative that we cut costs through a new entente… »