Archive for February 9th, 2010

Sudan and Chad agreed on Tuesday to end their proxy wars and engage in direct talks and joint development projects to rebuild their war-affected border… »

Space experts from around the world will discuss ways of tackling the growing problem of space debris in orbit around the Earth. It comes just a year after an American satellite collided with a Russian satellite. There are thought to be more than 19,000 pieces of debris larger than 4 inches across racing around the… »

Ever since the collapse of the Soviet Union and consequent disappearance of the U.S. military’s one superpower rival, Western defense strategists have speculated about China’s emergence as the next great military threat. The cynical view of warnings about a mounting Chinese threat is that they are largely Pentagon budget-building ploys: if the U.S. military is… »

The past 10 days have seen several developments connected to Iran’s nuclear program. These developments reveal deception by both parties – Iran and the West – vis-à-vis Iran’s nuclear program. Iran under the NPT advanced step by step towards military nuclear status, disguising its intentions all along the way. As for the West, it is… »

(PDF) – The combined market capitalization of the 50 largest energy companies fell 46% from $5.2 trillion a year ago to $2.8 trillion, the worst decline in the lists history and substantially more than the 12% and 7% declines seen in 2001 and 2002. The biggest losers in last years PFC Energy 50 were the… »

The global economic recovery that is now underway will slow later this year as the impact of fiscal stimulus wanes. Financial markets remain troubled and private sector demand lags amid high unemployment. Global GDP, which declined by 2.2 percent in 2009, is expected to grow 2.7 percent this year and 3.2 percent in 2011. Prospects… »

Informal talks began this week on a proposal to market the Falkland Islands to tourists as the “Gateway to… »

Across predominantly Muslim nations, there is little enthusiasm for the extremist Islamic organizations Hamas and Hezbollah, although there are pockets of support for both groups, especially in the Middle East. There is limited enthusiasm for most of the Muslim political figures tested on the survey, with the exception of Saudi King Abdullah, who is easily… »

They were Tokyo’s worst-kept diplomatic secrets: clandestine cold war era agreements with Washington that obligated Japan to shoulder the costs of United States bases and allow nuclear-armed American ships to sail into Japanese ports. Now, the so-called secret treaties are causing problems again, this time in how Japan is handling its suddenly rocky relationship with… »

China has overtaken the European Union to become Iran’s largest trading partner, according to a new analysis of the commercial ties between the two countries. Official figures say the EU remains Tehran’s largest commercial partner, with trade totalling $35bn in 2008, compared with $29bn with China. But this number disguises the fact that much of… »

Both houses of Nigeria’s National Assembly have passed a motion for sick President Umaru Yar’Adua to hand power to his deputy until he… »

Ukraine has cast its vote for the guy who was on the wrong side of the barricades in the Orange Revolution five years… »

India successfully tested a nuclear-capable missile on Sunday, a defence ministry spokesman said, days after the government proposed a resumption of talks with arch-rival Pakistan. The surface-to-surface Agni-III missile with a range of more than 3,000 kilometres (2,000 miles) was fired from Wheeler Island, off the coast of the eastern state of… »

The European Parliament has given the green light to the new European Commission, ending an eight month hiatus in the governance of the union at the height of the economic crisis. European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso and his 26-member college received 488 votes in favour, 137 against while 72 MEPs… »

Newcomers to France will be made to sign a declaration of values as part of a new campaign to define national… »

Farmers’ fields are a far bigger source of water contamination in China than factory effluent, the Chinese government revealed today in its first census on pollution. Senior officials said the disclosure, after a two-year study involving 570,000 people, would require a partial realignment of environmental policy from smoke stacks to chicken coops, cow sheds and… »

Britain’s inquiry into the Iraq war will seek meetings with former members of the Bush administration after taking evidence from Tony Blair and other key British officials, the panel’s chairman said. John Chilcot, head of the inquiry, confirmed that he hopes to obtain evidence from officials in the United States, but did not name specific… »

Electricity cuts last month were revoked in the capital Caracas after a bout of public outrage, but Chavez said the massive Guri Dam hydroelectric complex on the Orinoco River, which supplies 44% of Venezuela’s power needs, is still falling well below critical levels. Chavez said that “We’re ready to declare an electricity emergency, because it… »

The Obama administration has called for a second Tennessee nuclear plant to begin producing tritium for use in U.S. nuclear weapons. The Energy Department said its fiscal 2011 budget calls for the Tennessee Valley Authority’s Sequoyah Nuclear Plant to start generating tritium gas — a hydrogen isotope used to boost the explosive power of all… »

Réélu le 26 janvier, le président Mahinda Rajapakse a dissous le Parlement et appelé à la tenue d’élections législatives le 8 avril. Cette décision intervient au lendemain de l’arrestation de son principal rival, Sarath… »

While rising government debt is a growing concern in Europe and the United States, Asia’s economies remain remarkably resilient, even buoyant, underscoring how economic might is shifting from West to… »

German Foreign minister Guido Westerwelle has called for the EU to proceed with plans for a European army under the Lisbon Treaty, which he dubbed “the beginning and not the end” of a common security and defence… »

The Obama team may get modest benefits from ending a five-year chill with Damascus but will find it hard, if not impossible to peel Syria way from hardline ally Iran and break the Arab-Israeli stalemate, analysts… »

The Yemen-based wing of al Qaeda called for a regional Muslim holy war and a blockade of the Red Sea to cut off U.S. shipments to Israel, a further sign of the group’s ambitions to mount new strikes outside its… »

You need to turn the clock back to another American war, four decades earlier, to March 18, 1969, to be exact. The target was an area of Cambodia known as the Fish Hook that jutted into South Vietnam, and Operation Breakfast would be but the first of dozens of top secret bombing raids. In… »

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Sunday expressed his determination to resolve a territorial dispute with Russia at an annual rally to press for the early return of four Russian-held islands off Hokkaido, describing settlement of the issue as “the biggest wish” of his… »

In the four years since it swept Palestinian parliamentary elections, Hamas has neither moderated its policies nor adopted democratic principles. Constantly torn between its ideology as an Islamist jihadi movement and its responsibilities as a governing authority in the Gaza Strip, Hamas has proven unwilling to transform itself. The result has been an ongoing ideological… »

ENI SpA’s chief executive said Thursday that the Italian energy company will pull out of Iran after current contracts to develop two gas fields there run out, as international pressure grows to isolate the country over its disputed nuclear program. ENI also said Thursday that it would sell shares in three pipelines to settle an… »

The real reason behind a recent large-scale operation to shut down a radical Wahhabi village in Bosnia has more to do with an ongoing terrorism investigation than official statements about ethnic intolerance and territorial… »

By definition of a failed state, Somalia has no single legitimate governing authority and is divided among numerous constituent factions that are relatively strong and have control of some lucrative sources of revenue. These factions are well organized and function more or less as independent states. Yet no single faction has a monopoly on violence,… »

The so-called Emasya Protocol, much criticised by the EU, had given the generals the right to intervene domestically without the permission of civilian authorities if they thought it necessary to do so. Now the protocol has been cancelled with the army’s… »

The problems facing Greece are just the beginning. The countries belonging to Europe’s common currency zone are drifting further and further apart, and national bankruptcies are a distinct possibility. Brussels is faced with a number of choices, none of them… »

Is Obama reacting to political trouble at home by turning his back on foreign affairs? The White House could fairly argue that he is not. Though he skimped on foreign policy in the State of the Union and has been visibly focused on domestic affairs since Scott Brown’s election to the Senate, Obama’s diplomacy still… »

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko launched action on Tuesday to call rival Viktor Yanukovich’s election as president into question. But there was some unease among Tymoshenko supporters over the move, which flew in the face of international monitors. They hailed the election as an “impressive display” of democracy and urged her to accept defeat and… »

Every year since 1979, millions of Iranians have celebrated Dahe-ye Fajr, the 10 days of dawn, by proclaiming their loyalty to the Islamic revolution. The festival marks the period between the triumphant return of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the revolution’s founding father, from exile in Paris on February 1, 1979 and the establishment of the Islamic… »

In the early days of jihad in Kashmir, between 1988 and 1990, more than 150 groups surfaced on the jihadist scene. Some of these groups united to form bigger groups such as Hizb ul-Mujahideen, but most of them simply disappeared. Some of those which still exist are mere shadows of their past and have very… »

A un año de su elección como presidente, parece necesario indagar cual es la doctrina o el principal corpus teórico que guía su política exterior. Esta guía teórica fue relativamente clara en sus principales predecesores, pero no en el propio Obama, que no ha hecho públicas tales indicaciones. En este documento de trabajo trataremos de… »

What if Iran’s hardline leadership emerges from the current confrontations at home strengthened and emboldened? If so, the nuclear issue will be back with a vengeance. And three recent war games focused on the Iranian nuclear weapons issue suggest that the prospects for halting the regime’s progress toward nuclear weapons are not good. The games… »

This 20th annual World Report summarizes human rights conditions in more than 90 countries and territories worldwide. It reflects extensive investigative work undertaken in 2009 by Human Rights Watch staff, usually in close partnership with human rights activists in the country in… »

(PDF) – On November 3, 2009, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell became the highest ranking American official to travel to Myanmar since the 1995 visit of then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Madeleine Albright. To reinforce this message of outreach, President Obama later engaged Prime Minister Thein… »

Secondo l’ultimo rapporto del “Think Tank and Foreign Policy Program” del Foreign Policy Research Institute (Fpri) di Filadelfia, il numero dei think tank nel mondo è in costante e vertiginosa ascesa. Rispetto all’anno scorso – quando venne pubblicato il secondo rapporto globale – i centri di ricerca che si possono definire come think tank sono… »

From January 29 to January 31, the National Committee on Border and Coastal Defense of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) held its fourth meeting in Beijing. Charged with the coordination of China’s vast border and coastal defense with different military regions, border or coastal provinces, and border police authorities assigned to protect China’s homeland… »

Carte du Viet Nam dans son espace… »

The Islamic administration of Al-Shabaab that controls Somalia’s southern regions of Jubba has on Sunday declared holy war on Kenya over reports that Nairobi is training Somali… »

Afghanistan’s president has demanded that Nato forces in his country stop all military raids on local villages. Speaking on Sunday at the annual Munich Security Conference, Hamid Karzai said civilian deaths and injuries inflicted during operations by international forces had caused deep anger among… »

In yet another step towards full implementation of the India-US civil nuclear deal, President Barack Obama has certified that India has placed its nuclear facilities under the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)… »