A group of about 20 North Korean guards at the Sino-North Korean border have fled to China after being accused of bribery for helping defectors, a South Korean news outlet reported Monday.
“The runaway officers, mostly noncommissioned officers, were suspected of taking money for helping defectors flee to China during a recent audit by the North [...]

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Although he is 63 years old, Beijing retiree Du Shuzhan is not afraid to try something new. He has just discovered the stock market. A few weeks ago, he deposited $1,500 in his first share-trading account, and on a January afternoon he visited a local broker to buy shares of seven Chinese companies. “All my [...]

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If China shooting down one of its old satellites in a ballistic missile test isn’t a shot heard round the world, it should be. The question every politician and consumer of cheap Chinese goods should be asking themselves is: Just what kind of military monster are we creating by supporting the Chinese economy?
The answer: A [...]

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India’s defense minister declared the country’s intention to be able to project maritime force throughout the Indian Ocean, underscoring the shift toward a littoral-warfare capability.
“India has the potential and the capability to be a significant maritime player. I would even venture to say that the Indian Ocean could, in fact, be India’s ‘new Silk Route,’” [...]

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On the political front, Iran was given a permanent status in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). The SCO’s warm reception for Iranian President Ahmadinejad would strengthen perceptions of the organization as a new challenge to Washington’s interests in Central Asia.
In the words of a British scholar: “The West does practice double standards with regards to [...]

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Fears that the West may stumble towards another messy military confrontation in the Middle East.
But some are worrying that increasing tension makes an unplanned war more likely. America has certainly piled on the pressure. The American government has made increasingly assertive remarks, notably about the influence of Iran inside Iraq. On Friday an American intelligence [...]

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New Delhi: Russia will deliver over one thousand BrahMos missiles to the three services of the Indian armed forces within the next few years.
Russia’s NPO Mashinostroyenie, which has developed the missile in partnership with India’s DRDO, said on Monday that along with India, it will also deliver the missiles to some other countries.
These orders, adding [...]

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That Iran stands today able to challenge or even defy the United States in every sphere of American influence in the Middle East, attests to the dismal failure of the Bush administration’s policy toward it during the last six years. Feeling emboldened and unrestrained, Tehran may, however, miscalculate the consequences of its own actions, which [...]

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DEBKAfile’s sources report the French president’s purported “gaffe” was in fact a backhanded admission of a proposition official quarters in Europe and some in the United States are quietly beginning to accept, that a nuclear-armed Iran is inevitable.
Most Israeli officials preferred to dismiss Chirac’s statement as the meandering of a president heading for retirement after [...]

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JAKARTA: Indonesia will pursue its plans to develop nuclear power as part of efforts to find alternative energy sources to address its growing needs, Environment Minister Rachmat Witoelar has said.
Jakarta shelved atomic energy plans in 1997 in the face of mounting public opposition and the discovery and exploitation of the large Natuna gas field. But [...]

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Deep beneath Wiltshire lies an abandoned fortress, strewn with old bedding, rusting machinery and stationery marked ‘top secret’. This is the Corsham bunker, where the nation’s elite would have retreated in the event of nuclear war. Built at the height of cold war paranoia, it has since been left to crumble. So is the government [...]

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DANIEL PIPES, MIDDLE EAST FORUM DIRECTOR: In Britain we have a pretty good idea because there have been 10 or 11 opinion surveys, and 50 percent of British Muslims consistently suggest that they would like to see the Sharia Islamic law applied in Britain. That to me says 50 percent of British Muslims are Islamist. [...]

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Shin Bet chief says group interested in maintaining calm to smuggle arms into Gaza, showing no signs of compromise regarding its anti-Israel positions. ‘We failed to come up with solution for Qassam attacks,’ he adds
Hamas continues to show no sign on compromise regarding its positions against Israel and is interested in maintaining the calm [...]

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MOSCOW: Russia needs to radically modernize its air defense systems to protect itself adequately, military experts said Monday.
Retired Gen. Makhmut Gareyev, the president of the government-funded Academy of Military Research, urged the Kremlin to concentrate its resources on revamping the nation’s electronics industries and improving the military’s intelligence and surveillance capabilities.
Link to this article.

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The IHT picks up on the idea, first mooted by EURSOC last week, that Jacques Chirac’s comments on Iran were the first public admission by a western leader that the world was going to have to live with an Iranian bomb.
The newspaper quotes arms experts who agree that the west is failing to prevent Tehran [...]

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The report warns that US or Israeli attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities could lead to civilian deaths, radioactive contamination, heightened conflict in neighbouring Iraq and Afghanistan, al-Qaeda attacks stemming from intensified anti-western feeling, higher oil prices and an acceleration of Tehran’s nuclear programme.
Link to this article.
Time to Talk: the Case for Diplomatic Solutions on Iran

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China has started to develop more advanced fighter jets in a move to compete with the state-of-the-art F-22 U.S. combat aircraft, sparking a regional arms race, according to a recent report.
Taiwan plans to acquire 60 F-16 C/Ds from the United States while Japan is preparing to buy a number of F-22s, he said.
Link to this [...]

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In the run up to Chinese President Hu Jintao’s trip to Africa, there was much talk in the Western media that China’s “honeymoon” with Africa was coming to an end. The International Monetary Fund (I.M.F.), World Bank, and G7 leveled sharp criticisms at Beijing’s lending practices to Africa last year, claiming that China’s soft loans [...]

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