It takes 1000 tons of water to produce 1 ton of grain and agriculture consumes almost 70 percent of the world’s water – though only less than 30 percent in OECD countries. It takes more than the entire throughput of the Nile to grow the grain imported annually by Middle Eastern and North African countries [...]

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Ambassador Young brought a blunt message from the Bush Administration: Taiwan’s lawmakers “need” to pass a “robust defense budget” in the current legislative session. The United States is not concerned about specific systems but is concerned by the general malaise among Taiwan’s political parties concerning the island’s defenses. Taiwan’s defenses are collapsing while China’s are [...]

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While America’s attention is focused on the November elections and on North Korea and Iraq, tensions are mounting between Israel and Iran. Iran’s nuclear program, its patron-client relationship with Hezbollah, and its nihilistic rhetoric against Israel are combining with a politically and militarily shaken Israel into a potentially volatile mix.
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China helped North Korea develop nuclear weapons and in the past year increased its support to Pyongyang, rather than pressing the regime to halt nuclear arms and missile activities, according to a congressional report.
The final draft report of the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission also says that Chinese government-run companies are [...]

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Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. It also appears to run through Israel and into South Korea.
Let’s start with the latter. Despite the apparently successful nuclear test carried out by the minions of Kim Jong-Il, the government of South Korea seems to be intent on continuing its “Sunshine” policy of engaging the North.
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Mohamed ElBaradei, director-general of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, makes it very plain why the U.N. has become the Trojan horse of nuclear proliferation. In an interview with Newsweek magazine on Oct. 20, Mr. ElBaradei laid bare his plan — guaranteed to lead the international community into nuclear war.
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New pipeline has the potential to increase the dependence of the European Union (EU) on Rus­sia, thereby making Russia even more powerful and, possibly, more assertive in the international arena.
Russia is building a strategic new pipeline to Europe that will affect European energy security for years to come. Called the North European Gas Pipe­line (NEGP), [...]

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(IsraelNN.com) Israel is the world’s seventh largest arms exporter and the world second biggest arms importer – after Saudi Arabia – according to the Congressional Research Service’s annual report.
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Despite its rising power and wealth, China may not be willing or ready to play a responsible role in an international system aimed at encouraging peace and stability, a commission set up by Congress said in a report released yesterday.
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DISPLAY OF STRENGTH IS SEEN AS MESSAGE AFTER N. KOREA TEST
ABOARD THE KURAMA – Nearly 50 warships crowded the bay just south of Tokyo, all flying the Rising Sun flag. Sea-to-sea missiles roared off the decks of several destroyers, and submarines emerged like a pod of whales from the surf.
More than an exercise, this was [...]

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