Douglas Alexander, the International Development Secretary, used a speech in Washington last night to rebuke what many in Labour’s ranks regard as Mr Bush’s unilateralist and high-handed approach. Mr Alexander said that a country’s might was “too often measured in what \ could destroy” and that “in the 21st century, strength should be measured by [...]

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A senior U.S. intelligence analyst said political maneuvering in Russia is intensifying as the country approaches presidential elections in March 2008. Speaking before U.S. lawmakers, Thomas Fingar, National Intelligence Council deputy director for analysis, gave an analytical assessment of the current situation in Russia as part of a report about global security threats facing the [...]

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In Venezuela and Bolivia, Presidents Hugo Chávez and Evo Morales “are taking advantage of their popularity to undercut the opposition and eliminate checks on their authority,” said Fingar.
According to Fingar’s report, Ecuadorian and Nicaraguan Presidents Rafael Correa and Daniel Ortega, respectively, are “critical of free market economics and have friendly relations with Venezuela’s President Chavez.”
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Nasrallah’s control over south Lebanon complete despite presence of UN troops.
A year has passed since the outbreak of the Second Lebanon War, yet it appears that nothing has changed in south Lebanon. The entire region still belongs to Hizbullah. Nothing happens there without the organization’s approval.
Even weddings are coordinated with Hizbullah activists so that everything [...]

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MOSCOW, July 13 (Xinhua) — Russia’s Strategic Missile Troops said on Friday that they will be armed with 48 silo launchers of the Topol-M missiles by the end of this year.
Some 40 silo-based Topol-M missile systems have been deployed in the Russian military since 1997. The Topol-M missiles can hit targets as far as 10,000 [...]

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A U.S. official says China is failing to do all it should to stop militarily significant supplies from reaching Iran, even though it voted for U.N. sanctions aimed at preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons. VOA’s Stephanie Ho reports from Washington.
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WASHINGTON, July 12 (UPI) — A U.S. expert said Thursday China had updated some of its key nuclear ICBM sites that could threaten the United States.
The Federation of American Scientists said in a statement that Hans M. Kristensen, the director of its Nuclear Information Project, had “analyzed commercial satellite images that show China has [...]

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In a nutshell, it seems that all of the potential challengers of American global dominance in the next few decades — China, India, the European Union, Russia, Japan — will also be shouldering huge new financial burdens from state pension systems as their populations age. Those costs will be a major drag on their economies [...]

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POTSDAM, Germany (AFP) – German prosecutors on Thursday said they are investigating some 50 companies suspected of smuggling technology to Iran’s Bushehr nuclear power plant via Russia.
Berlin-based company Vero is suspected of having smuggled material to build the nuclear reactor through Poland to Moscow, from where it was taken to Iran, said Christoph Lange from [...]

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Opatija on the Istrian Peninsula in Croatia was a popular upscale holiday location in the days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Now the resort is seeing its fortunes rise again as Austrian’s flock to buy real estate along Croatia’s Adriatic coast.
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