The low quality of the ruling elite thus constitutes the main driver of the “state curse” that condemns the Russian economy to declining growth, which currently camouflages the accumulation of deep structural flaws. According to Illarionov, up to 77% of top positions in the state service are currently occupied by “professionals” with a background in [...]

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It appears that the EU is quite happy about this situation. On Jan. 29, Laurence Nardon, director of the space policy program at the French Institute of International Relations, told Newsweek that a Russian revival would give the EU a better hand during talks with NASA because it would allow them to say they wanted [...]

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Iran may be just a year away from having the capacity to build a nuclear bomb - if its claims that it has stepped up production of enriched uranium to an industrial scale are to be believed.
However, Western nuclear analysts reacted with a mixture of apprehension and scepticism to Tehran’s announcement yesterday that it had [...]

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It’s good business for them, but the Kremlin’s customer list is controversial: Venezuela, Iran, and China have received shipments.
For President Vladimir Putin, reviving defense exports is a good way to boost international respect for Russia. He also considers it good business. Russian arms sales have risen steadily since 2001, the year after Putin came to [...]

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Iran’s direct investment in Syria is at an all-time high, reaching $1.5 billion over the past year, according to Iran’s ambassador to Damascus, Mohammad Hassan Akhtari. That figure could increase to as much as $3 billion in the coming year.
By the end of this year, 1 in 10 cars sold in Syria will be Iranian. [...]

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WASHINGTON, April 9 (UPI) — According to the British counter-intelligence group MI-5, over 360 private companies, university departments, and government organizations in eight countries, including Israel, Syria, Pakistan, Iran, India, Egypt, the Pakistani High Commission in London, and the United Arab Emirates, have been procuring nuclear technology and equipment for use in nuclear weapons construction.
At [...]

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Europe gets forty percent of its oil through the Persian Gulf. But by an accident of history (and civilized policy — ours, that is) it is the United States that guards the Gulf from madmen like Ahmadinejad. Well, so be it. We gain from world peace and free trade, and it is better to keep [...]

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A bid by natural gas-producing nations for an OPEC-style alliance could actually undermine prices for exporters. Why? Oversupply and easy alternatives.
To anyone who recalls OPEC’s rise to global economic importance in the 1970s, the prospect of a similar cartel among natural gas exporters has become a cause for concern.
An oil embargo by the Organization [...]

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However, the fifth Arab nation contiguous to Israel, Saudi Arabia, now the dominant nation in the Arab League, remains in a formal state of war with Israel, having never agreed to any armistice or any semblance of a peace accord.
Instead, Saudi Arabia has consistently funded all terror groups at war with Israel, from Hamas to [...]

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Several issues between China and the United States put the relationship between these two major powers at risk. China greatly wants to calm the waters before the 2008 Olympic Games, which Beijing will host. China’s goal is to stand tall and alone on the world stage for that event, demonstrating Chinese greatness. The U.S. wants [...]

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Information chips implanted in the brain. Electromagnetic pulse weapons. The middle classes becoming revolutionary, taking on the role of Marx’s proletariat. The population of countries in the Middle East increasing by 132%, while Europe’s drops as fertility falls. “Flashmobs” - groups rapidly mobilised by criminal gangs or terrorists groups.
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The report also says that ‘Peak oil’ theorists have erroneously cautioned for decades that world oil reserves are dwindling.
The Cato Institute, a US-based Libertarian think tank, argues that from U.S. President Bush’s worry about America’s “addiction to oil” to the debate surrounding alternative fuels, “our alleged vulnerability to foreign oil producers is a major part [...]

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MOSCOW, April 9 (RIA Novosti) - A fourth-generation strategic nuclear submarine will be launched during a special ceremony at a shipbuilding yard in northern Russia Sunday, a first deputy prime minister said Monday.
The Yury Dolgoruky, a Borey-class nuclear missile submarine, was built at the Sevmash plant in the northern Arkhangelsk Region. It will be equipped [...]

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