In its own understated way, the Congressional Research Service in Washington has waved a red flag in front of the new Congress and urged it to pay attention to the rise of China, Islamist militancy and other troubles in Asia.
The CRS warns, in a fresh report, that the preoccupation with Iraq and the Middle East [...]

read more....

The United States and Russia were locked in a bitter war of words yesterday as officials reacted furiously to a speech by Vladimir Putin that represented the most ferocious attack on US policy by a Russian leader since the Cold War.
Although Mr Gates sought to cool some of the angry rhetoric flying between the two [...]

read more....

Israel Electric Corporation CEO Uri Ben-Noon said on Sunday that Israel was considering building a nuclear power station to generate electricity.
At an IEC conference in Ramat Gan, Ben-Noon said that Gideon Frank, director of the Atomic Energy Commission, had told him that the possibility of generating electricity from a nuclear power plant was on the [...]

read more....

ran said on Saturday it has started mass producing and using a stealth drone with a range of 700 kilometres (420 miles) that it claims is undetectable to radars. “We have built a drone with a more than 700-kilometre range which can collect information and shoot films,” the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards, General [...]

read more....

(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - Adults in five predominantly Arab countries are divided on which nation should dominate global affairs, according to a poll by Zogby International released by the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. 19 per cent of respondents would prefer to have France as the only world superpower, [...]

read more....

Feb 11 (Reuters) - Many Middle Eastern countries, including some which are worried about Iran’s nuclear programme, have declared an interest in developing atomic energy resources.
Arab states have long advocated turning the region into a nuclear weapons-free zone, a proposal aimed mainly at Israel, widely believed to hold the Middle East’s only nuclear arsenal.
Here [...]

read more....

The Middle East is currently in the throes of a comprehensive crisis that manifests itself in three main modes of conflict - political-military, economic, and religious - and in three main arenas - Lebanon, Iraq, and Iran. Since the election of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his intransigent religious-ideological line, all of these conflicts have [...]

read more....

“Medium range missile pact outdated”
MUNICH (Germany): Russian Defence Minister Sergei Ivanov on Sunday called for the repeal of a 1987 treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union eliminating medium-range missiles, describing it as “a relic of the Cold War.”
“Today, North Korea, China, India, Pakistan, Iran and Israel all have short-range or intermediate-range missiles,” [...]

read more....

New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS) India, Russia and China have a near identical approach towards resolving the Iranian nuclear impasse and will advocate a negotiated solution within the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) at the trilateral meeting of their foreign ministers here Feb 14, a top Chinese expert said.
‘China demands Iran should follow international rules. [...]

read more....

Six Persian Gulf Arab states’ representatives plan to seek help from UN’s nuclear watchdog later this month, secretary- general of Gulf Cooperation Council says
The six Gulf Arab states are moving ahead with plans to explore development of their first nuclear energy plants, with representatives planning to seek help from the UN’s nuclear watchdog later this [...]

read more....

“Korea’s image in Europe is extremely monotonous. It has either got to do with the economy or North Korea. What we need to do is to fortify our brand name in terms of culture, among other things,” said Kim Heung-chong, head of European Studies at the Korea Institute for International Economic Policy.
Link to this article.

read more....

Today’s visit is Chinese Foreign Minister Li Zhaoxing’s first trip to India. Even as a standalone journey it merits enormous interest, given China’s contiguity with its southern neighbour and the unspoken rivalry that permeates this less- than-perfect relationship.
Overshadowed by rival claims over each other’s territory, and a spectacular anti-satellite kill in space that set Beijing’s [...]

read more....

Arab experts say that Russian President Vladimir Putin’s Middle East trip that starts Sunday has the primary aim of “sending a message” to the United States that Moscow has a key role to play in this vital region and that it is high time for Washington to quit its policies of domination.
“By carrying out this [...]

read more....

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - After decades of worrying about whether the Arab world would try to catch up with its nuclear capabilities, Israel may finally be facing the arms race it feared — triggered by arch-foe Iran.
A slew of Arab nations, from North Africa to the Gulf, have declared recently they want to pursue peaceful [...]

read more....

BEIRUT - Revived Arab interest in nuclear power has prompted fears that Iran’s atomic ambitions might ignite a new arms race in an already unstable Middle East.
Sunni Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan, which are all US allies, do not hide their worries about rising Iranian and Shia Muslim influence in the [...]

read more....

Many historians will agree the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of the Cold War, but in Switzerland the threat of nuclear war has left an unexpected legacy.
If you are driving through Switzerland, south to Italy, you are likely to take the route via the charming town of Lucerne and that means driving [...]

read more....

MUNICH: Defense Secretary Robert Gates, taking the high road to dispute aggressive criticism of American power from the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, told a European security conference here: “One Cold war was quite enough.”
While government leaders, legislative members and military officials here continued dissecting the speech Putin gave Saturday to divine its motivation and impact, [...]

read more....