Israel’s Military Fears War This Summer

Posted by Matt in May 31st, 2007 | no comment

Published in Israel, Syria, War, Israel, Syria, War

Israel’s Defense Forces (IDF) fear a war could break out this summer with Syria, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reports.
The IDF has decided not to conduct military operations in the Gaza Strip to clean out terrorist nests, believing “that war might break out with Syria this summer,” military sources told Haaretz.
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Putin’s Assault of BP Shows Why the UK Must Embrace Nuclear Energy

Posted by Matt in May 31st, 2007 | no comment

Published in Britain, Energy, Russia, Britain, Energy, Russia

PERHAPS the greatest paradox in political economy is how countries endowed with the most bountiful natural resources almost invariably end up with deeply unsavoury regimes and the worst economic policies. In many cases, especially in Africa and the Middle East, this â€œresources curseâ€ means that commodity-rich countries are also among the poorest, with many of [...]

Russia: Postcards from the Neo-Soviet Union

Posted by Matt in May 31st, 2007 | no comment

Published in Russia, Russia

Reporting in the Times of London, Moscow correspondent Mark Franchetti adds more evidence that Russians have rejected the concept of democracy and are willingly returning to the dark days of Soviet dictatorship, underlining the extent to which we were misled by the idiots who said, during the first cold war, that ordinary Russians were decent [...]

Iran’s Growing List of Hostages

Posted by Matt in May 31st, 2007 | no comment

Published in Iran, Iran

Iran’s latest round of hostage-taking has netted it four Iranian-American dual nationals and perhaps another American who went missing in Iran. The most prominent hostage is Haleh Esfandiari, director of the Middle East Program at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars, who was arrested May 8 after four months under house arrest [...]

Lack of Women in Eastern Germany Feeds Neo-Nazis

Posted by Matt in May 31st, 2007 | no comment

Published in Demographics, Espionage, Demographics, Espionage, Germany, Neo-Nazis

SHE GOES WEST, HE GOES RIGHT
A new study has found that many more women are leaving economically moribund Eastern Germany. The result is a new, frustrated and largely male underclass. And many of them find succor in the neo-Nazi scene.
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U.S., EU Energy Policies in Eurasia Collapse

Posted by Matt in May 31st, 2007 | no comment

Published in Asia, Energy, Europe, Russia, Asia, Energy, Europe, Russia

Insofar as they existed since 2001 (on the part of the United States) or since 2006 (on the part of a come-lately EU), Western energy policies in Eurasia collapsed in May 2007. During this month, Russia seems to have conclusively defeated all Western-backed projects to bring oil and gas from Central Asia directly to Europe.
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Pentagon: China spending big for weapons to check U.S. defense of Taiwan

Posted by Matt in May 31st, 2007 | no comment

Published in China, Military, Taiwan, U.S., China, Military, Taiwan, U.S.

China is investing vast sums of money in fielding weapons designed to strike U.S. aircraft carriers and ships at great distances, according to the Pentagonâ€™s latest assessment of Chinese military power.
The objective is the capability to attack U.S. ships responding to any Chinese attack on Taiwan.
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Bad Guys

Posted by Matt in May 31st, 2007 | no comment

Published in Off-Topic, Off-Topic

David E. Kaplan is chief investigative correspondent at U.S. News & World Report. His work includes cover stories on intelligence agencies, police spying, Saudi financing of jihad groups, and the growing use of organized crime by terrorists. Among Kaplan’s books are Yakuza and The Cult at the End of the World, on the doomsday sect [...]

Global Incident Map

Posted by Matt in May 31st, 2007 | no comment

Published in Terrorism, Terrorism

Get a global view of terrorism events and other suspicious activity at GlobalIncidentMap.Com.
Here’s a direct link to the map.
Global Counter-Terror “Mashup” (Updated)
The other day, in an interview with Computerworld, Defense Intelligence Agency bigwig Lewis Shepherd talked about all the ways in which the Pentagon’s analysts are trying to work with (sorry for the cliche) “Web [...]

Taiwan drags feet on weapons buys

Posted by Matt in May 31st, 2007 | no comment

Published in Taiwan, Taiwan

WASHINGTON, May 29 (UPI) — Taiwan has yet to acquire major defensive systems the United States offered six years ago that would help defend against China, a new Pentagon report said.
“Taiwan … has allowed its defense spending to decline in real terms over the past decade, creating an increased urgency for the Taiwan authorities [...]