The Bush administration announced in 2004 that it had decided to cut the nuclear weapons stockpile “nearly in half” by 2012, but has refused to disclose the actual numbers. Yet a fact sheet published by the Federation of American Scientists and Natural Resources Defense Council estimates that the stockpile will decline from approximately 9,938 warheads [...]

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But the ambassador dwelled on what he called a major buildup of Syrian missiles that could reach any part of Israel “and create major damage” and a “preparedness” along the border “that we have not seen since 1973.”
Meridor said Russia was contributing to Syria’s arsenal by providing the country with missiles.
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As China has continued its impressive entry onto the world stage, a number of American commentators have raised alarmist warning flags. They warn of a challenge to America’s Pacific hegemony, of betrayal by U.S. companies and officials that help China’s military buildup, and of a coming military conflict. Prominent political science theorists point to the [...]

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From a low of 73 percent in Indonesia to a high of 92 percent in Egypt the Muslims believe that America’s goal is “to weaken and divide the Islamic world.” Fairly assuming that these four countries’ populations represent worldwide Muslim views in Islamic countries, in other words, about 80 percent of the 1.4 billion Muslims [...]

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LONDON - Pakistan’s nuclear scientist AQ Khan clandestinely provided Iran with centrifuges, technical designs, components and an ‘address book’ of suppliers which helped Tehran to make significant advances in its secret nuclear programme, a leading London-based think-tank revealed on Wednesday.
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Finland’s membership in Nato would not improve the country’s security standing but pose additional risks, Colonel-General Valeri Manilov, an adviser to the speaker of the Russian senate, was quoted as saying on Wednesday.
Gen Manilov’s comment comes shortly after Jyri Häkämies (cons), the defence minister of Finland’s new centre-right government, said he was in favour of [...]

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MOSCOW (Reuters) - Deliveries of Russian oil products to Estonia may be disrupted, Russia’s state railway operator said on Wednesday against the backdrop of a furious political row with the Baltic state over a World war Two monument.
Russian state railways said planned maintenance on the railway link could lead to disruption in the delivery of [...]

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BELTSVILLE, Md. - Unless someone or something stops it soon, the mysterious killer that is wiping out many of the nation’s honeybees could have a devastating effect on America’s dinner plate, perhaps even reducing us to a glorified bread-and-water diet.
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Professor Marshall Goldman, whose new book Putin, Petroleum, Power and Patronage is soon to be released, began by concurring with Vladimir Socor’s main points about Russia’s motives behind a potential gas cartel and offering a more detailed picture of Gazprom and President Putin. Since Putin assumed the presidency in 2000, he has not only revamped [...]

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The Kremlin’s assault on Estonia is intensifying on four levels of varying sophistication. These include: cyber attacks from within Russia’s Presidential Administration against the Estonian presidency’s and government’s electronic communications; political demands, backed by economic sanctions threats, to change the Estonian government; siege laid by Kremlin-created organizations to the Estonian Embassy in Moscow; and instigatory [...]

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A Saudi school has recently been caught teaching that Jews and Christians are apes and pigs. This is nothing new, of course, since the teaching of Jews and Chrsitians being apes and pigs is widespread in the Arab Middle East.
Published on April 6, 2007
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Since the US invasion of Iraq, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Iran has taken on the behavior of a regional hegemon. Indeed, Ahmadinejad speaks and acts as if he is the new leader of the Third World. Iran is setting itself up as the leader of a Mideast “axis of evil” with radical proxies and allies. An important [...]

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For many Palestinians and Arabs, the results of the report are an indication of Israel’s “bankruptcy on all levels, especially the security and political level.” Political commentators throughout the Arab world said the report was also a sign of Israel’s military weakness and hailed Hizbullah for defeating the “invincible” IDF.
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Germans accustomed to Angela Merkel’s domestic track record are hard-pressed to recognize the chancellor as she re-orients German foreign policy and takes it back toward its rightful place: at America’s side. Thank goodness!
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MIAMI, May 1 (UPI) — Venezuela assumed majority control Tuesday over its most bountiful oilfields — the Orinoco Belt — from foreign investors, the latest effort by President Hugo Chavez to retake control of the country’s petroleum industry.
In a ceremony held on International Workers’ Day, Energy Minister Rafael Ramirez announced Venezuelan oil workers were [...]

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China’s rise as a global economic power is one of the major events of our time. And with China’s economic strength has come increased political and diplomatic influence within and beyond the Asia Pacific region.
The United States acknowledges and accepts these developments. Our strategic presence and bilateral alliances remain the unshakeable bedrock of our strong [...]

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Story Highlights
• China should be more open about military budget, intentions, Negroponte says
• Motives behind China’s military buildup unclear and a concern, Negroponte says
• Negroponte: China’s “skillful diplomacy … a positive development”
• 96 U.S. senators signed letter to Hu urging pressure on Sudan
WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Congress members rebuked China on a range of issues, [...]

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Even a housing slump and the subprime debt mess can’t seem to hobble a resilient U.S. economy.
But a trade war with China could.
More than two dozen anti-China bills were floated in the last session of Congress. The most incendiary, sponsored by Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), would have penalized all Chinese imports [...]

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Despite setbacks, al-Qaeda is not broken.
ON PAPER, it has been a bad few days for al-Qaeda. Western and Arab counter-terrorist teams that have been trying to hunt it down seem to be enjoying a rare streak of success, with a string of recent arrests, killings and convictions. Does this suggest that al-Qaeda is on the [...]

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Blink for a moment and you can imagine that–as many Chinese would tell the tale–after nearly 200 years of foreign humiliation, invasion, civil war, revolution and unspeakable horrors, China is preparing for a date with destiny. “The Chinese wouldn’t put it this way themselves,” says Lieberthal. “But in their hearts I think they believe that [...]

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