The introduction is resoundingly bleak: ‘On the outbreak of general nuclear war involving the United Kingdom, it is expected that central government in London would cease to exist from the earliest stage, that a third of Britain’s population and the bulk of her industrial capacity would be destroyed, that communications with overseas posts would be [...]

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Here is an interesting comment about Multiculturalism posted at a website in, of all places, Bangladesh: “Multiculturalism is an unnatural and unhealthy condition that can only afflict countries in national decline. (…) Greed and corruption will characterise the government coupled with oppressive measures directed against its citizens. Lies and deceit will be the stock and [...]

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It is high time for friends of the United States to realise that America’s weakness undermines their international influence too.
America’s power has been so overwhelming for so long that many think it has survived George Bush’s presidency unscathed. That this is untrue is demonstrated by those, from Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez to [...]

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Nicolas Sarkozy risked horrifying the historically anti-American French establishment yesterday by choosing to spend a two-week summer holiday in New Hampshire.
The French president, who has already drawn howls of protests for his unashamedly pro-Anglo-Saxon stance, spurned his homeland and the Francophone destinations favoured by his predecessors when he arrived yesterday in the select lakeside town [...]

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President Vladimir Putin has been eager to restore Moscow’s influence in the Middle East, signing contentious arms deals with Syria and Iran that have upset the United States and Israel.
If the port plan proceeds, Russian vessels and warships from the U.S. 6th Fleet, based in Italy, would face each other in the Mediterranean for the [...]

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New Hezbollah clash `just a question of time’
And, a year after the war, Israeli military officers say they won’t be surprised if Hezbollah launches another attack along the border – not now, but soon.
“They don’t want to escalate the situation today,” says Col. Kobi Marom, until a few years ago Israeli commander of the front [...]

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Important milestones from the early 1600s to the present
Pré - 1600s
Originally, Taiwan was settled by people of Malay-Polynesian descent, who initially inhabited the low-lying coastal plains. They called their island Pakan. Here is a detail of an old Dutch navigational map with this name on it.
During the subsequent settlement by the Dutch and the waves [...]

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Criticizing preceding regimes is a popular pastime of Russian leaders. But in denouncing the “chaos of the 1990s,” the Vladimir Putin regime seems to have an additional purpose: to defame the idea of liberty itself. Part I of this two-part Russian Outlook examines the claim that the revolution was entirely responsible for Russia’s economic woes [...]

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Today’s geopolitical situation is quite different. China and Russia represent a return of economically successful authoritarian capitalist powers, but they are much larger (and thus potentially much stronger) than the defeated authoritarian capitalist great powers of the previous century. The risk is real that a powerful authoritarian capitalist order is emerging in the world that [...]

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Admiral Vladimir Masorin, the commander of the Russian navy, on Friday called for Russia to establish a permanent naval presence in the Mediterranean to protect its strategic interests in the area.
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Russian naval chief calls for Med presence
MSNBC - 16 hours ago
But Pavel Felgenhauer, a Moscow-based military expert, said Admiral Masorin’s remarks were “wishful thinking” [...]

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Instead of Cold war flashbacks, however, the latest developments point to a far more subtle fact that is becoming all too obvious. The West never really trusted Russia. It has previously chosen to mask that distrust with a patronizing insistence that Russia is part of an imaginary country club of nations. On the verge of [...]

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And so, the dollar is on top. Every other currency is below. The dollar’s dominant position is obviously unfair, if one assumes that all currencies should be “created equal” and endowed with certain “rights.” Of course, such assumptions are ridiculous. Currencies are not created equal. Countries are [...]

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Much has been written about current tensions between Russia on the one side with the United States and European Union on the other. The schism is particularly sharp between Russia and Germany. In fact, some pundits have said that a new cold war between the West and Russia could be on the doorstep.
Don’t believe it.
The [...]

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Seoul, South Korea (AHN) - China has renewed its claim over a remote reef-islet in East China Sea that neighboring South Korea regard as part of its territory, a South Korean newspaper reported on Saturday. According to the Korea Herald, a Chinese maritime official has reiterated the claim on Suyan Rock in an article published [...]

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Nicaraguan Vice President Jaime Morales Carazo has termed as “odious” China’s requirement that Nicaragua sever ties with Taiwan first before it can establish formal diplomatic relations with Beijing.
In an interview with the Nicaraguan daily El Neuvo Diario on Wednesday, Morales described China’s high-handed attitude as an act of “yellow imperialism.”
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Although, historically, then China President Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan during the communist regime of Mao Zedong in 1949 and established Taipei as its capital while waiting to reclaim control of China mainland, it is a fact that Taiwan then was a sovereign, independent country, and therefore remains to be such. Moreover, Taiwan has never [...]

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On Jan. 11, 2007, a Chinese medium-range ballistic missile slammed into an aging weather satellite in space. The resulting collision not only marked Beijing’s first successful anti-satellite (ASAT) test but, in the eyes of many, also a head-on collision with the Bush administration’s space policies.
As one analyst phrased it, U.S. policy has compelled China’s leaders [...]

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HONG KONG, Aug. 3 (UPI) — China is flexing its military muscle by exhibiting a model and photos of its new DF31A intercontinental ballistic missile and type 093 nuclear attack submarine, or SSN, at the People’s Liberation Army’s 80th Anniversary exhibition held in Beijing. Also on exhibit are the DF21 intermediate-range ballistic missile and [...]

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The most common measure of capability is the amount of noise that the submarine makes. A noisy submarine is a dead submarine.
I see a lot of comparisons thrown around about how quiet Chin’s 093 and 094 submarines are, with comparisons to the Victor III and Los Angeles-class (USN 688) submarines.
Data for that is hard [...]

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