VIENNA, Aug. 30 — Iran is expanding its nuclear program in defiance of United Nations’ resolutions, even as it has promised to answer questions about an array of suspicious nuclear activities in the past, the International Atomic Energy Agency said Thursday.
The assessment by the nuclear agency states that Iran is now simultaneously operating nearly 2,000 [...]

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August 31, 2007: Taking into account all of the high tech weapons China is developing, or producing, you can make a case that their actual defense budget is about $100 billion a year. It’s long been common practice in communist countries to hide defense spending in other areas of government activity.
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During the past seven to 10 years China’s rapid buildup of military power has tipped the balance in the Taiwan Strait strongly in its favor.
Since 1999, when former Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui announced his “two states” theory — daring to say that the People’s Republic of China and the Republic [...]

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The central question this study raises and that Americans must answer is what costs and benefits come with having a much larger population and a more densely settled country. Some foresee a deteriorating quality of life with a larger population, including its impact on such things as pollution, congestion, loss of open spaces, and sprawl. [...]

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WASHINGTON, Aug. 31 (UPI) — The diesel submarine may be the leading “Cinderella weapon” of the 21st century. It gets no respect in the United States or Russia. But China, India, France, Germany and Israel are all betting on it big time.
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But the biggest enthusiast for diesel subs is China, which is building its own: [...]

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The European Union is looking at measures to prevent foreign investors from snatching up European energy companies. Gazprom has accused Europe of “economic nationalism” and the Kremlin warns it will fight any discrimination against Russian companies. more…

An Offer You Can’t Refuse: Russia’s Very Hostile Takeovers
Brussels Takes On the Big Boys: EU Wants to Break Up [...]

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With the end of the summer recess, a new political season begins on Saturday. It will probably be the last season for President Vladimir Putin, and it promises to be stormy.
A curious pattern emerges when examining Russia’s politics over the last quarter century. Fundamental changes come in eight-year cycles, and the transitions from the end [...]

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However, the Syrian ballistic missile threat to Israel, while non-nuclear, adds an ominous level of complexity to the threat that defense planners in Tel Aviv must deal with.
The Syrians do not have nuclear weapons, and there appears to be no likelihood that either Russia or Iran will trust them with such devastating weapons in the [...]

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Russia is also planning a massive upgrade of its Rybachiy submarine base on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
However, the most ambitious program announced this year aims at restoring the Russian Pacific Fleet’s fallen power. Russia has indicated that its rebuilt Pacific fleet would have three nuclear-powered aircraft carriers, Dr Muraviev said.
He said there was growing concern in [...]

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Russia is expanding its military presence in Syria, developing an advanced naval port at Tartus and providing Syria with sophisticated missile technology.
The story of Russia’s return to Tartus, Syria’s second most important port after Latakia, broke a year ago. It is Moscow’s only foreign naval outpost situated outside the former Soviet Union.
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Today, few appear to have noticed that a second “scramble for Africa” is under way. This time, only one giant country is involved, but its ambitions are every bit as momentous as those of Rhodes and company. With every day that passes, China’s economic tentacles extend deeper into Africa. While Europe sought direct political control, [...]

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U.S. workers are under no obligation to sacrifice their job opportunities in return for problematic Chinese products that harm U.S. consumers. U.S. enterprises are under no obligation to sacrifice their own benefits in return for dealing with corrupt Chinese bureaucrats and rich people. The U.S. government is under no obligation to sacrifice its country’s interests [...]

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China is missing some Uranium and they have no idea where it has gone.
Seventeen pounds of highly radioactive uranium was stolen in an attempt to resell the deadly element on the black market.
Four Chinese citizens have been charged with an attempt to sell enriched uranium between 2005 and 2007. The men were arrested in [...]

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August 28, 2007 The Cold war might be over, but the underlying strategy that arose with Reagan’s Star Wars missile defense program in the 1980s lives on as the threat of long-range missile attack remains a global concern. Lockheed Martin have just announced successful testing of part of the Missile Defense Agency’s “Multiple Kill Vehicle” [...]

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THE WORLD’S great powers are growing old. Steep declines in birthrates over the last century and major increases in life expectancy have caused the populations of Britain, China, France, Germany, Japan, Russia, and the United States to age at a substantial rate. This phenomenon will hinder the other major powers challenging America’s economic and military [...]

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One hundred years of technological progress can be erased in minutes by nature’s fury. Recent disasters have left not only destruction, but also heroism in their wake, and we can learn from the experiences of the survivors. The right tools, skills and mind-set—the survival worldview—will help you withstand the worst.
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BEIJING: Diplomatic tension this week over reported Chinese computer attacks on German government networks comes as security experts warn that China is expanding its capacity to wage cyberwar as part of its rapid military buildup.
U.S. and other foreign military analysts say that Chinese defense planners have identified the heavy dependence on computers of most modern [...]

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CARACAS (Reuters) - Iran is gaining influence in Latin America as the region turns away from Washington and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad courts new allies to counter U.S. efforts to isolate his government.
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez and other leftist leaders from Cuba to Ecuador, many of them sympathetic to Chavez’s anti-U.S. rhetoric, have struck energy, trade [...]

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In hindsight, the one regret Damascus has is not having exploited the opportunity for a Syrian land grab in the Golan. Indeed, as Hezbollah fighters skillfully tied the Israeli army down, Syrian land forces were in an ideal position to storm Israel’s Golan defenses. A successful Syrian thrust into the Golan would have boosted Syria’s [...]

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But was there ever a real threat of a conflagration this summer? According to senior sources in the Foreign Ministry, the whole summer 2007 Syrian-war threat was overblown from the beginning - the product of confusing statements from Damascus, an inability to properly read what was happening in Syria, and a Syrian inability to read [...]

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On his visit to India, Japanese Premier Shinzo Abe talked about his idea of establishing an “arc of freedom and prosperity” consisting of Japan, India, the US and Australia. It is no accident that this concept doesn’t include China.
It is worth noting that the fact he brought up this idea demonstrates Japan’s intention to [...]

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