Aug. 15 (Bloomberg) — Denmark, one of five countries claiming control of North Pole waters and natural resources, called Russia’s flag planting on the Arctic seabed a “joke.”
“I see the Russian stunt as a summer joke,” Danish Minister of Science and Technology Helge Sander said today in an e-mailed response to questions from Bloomberg [...]

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Russian bombers have resumed the Cold war practice of flying close to North American airspace, providing the latest manifestation of the Kremlin’s determination to project Moscow’s growing military might.
An American general said that US fighter jets have had to scramble to intercept Russian bombers on an increasingly regular basis.
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But who really cares to calibrate all the reasons why the Germans hated us when Ronald Reagan deployed Pershing missiles to protect them, or why the Greeks hated us when Madeline Albright tried to stop Balkan genocide, or why the French hated us for ending the once lucrative Baathist regime in Iraq? Instead, at some [...]

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Military sources said Syria has been deploying short- and medium-range missiles and rockets in southern and central Syria. They said the Assad regime has been engaged in accelerated deployment of the Scud C and D missiles, with ranges of 550 and 700 kilometers, respectively.
“There are more than 100 mobile Syrian launchers in the Golan Heights,” [...]

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Robot warriors have already seen action in Iraq, and the US Army plans to replace one-third of its armored vehicles and weapons with robots by 2015. These killing machines may one day come equipped with an artificial conscience — even to the extent of disobeying immoral orders.
The US Army’s latest recruits are 1 meter (about [...]

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The rifle in question is the latest variant of the Dragunov, a long-barreled, semi-automatic design with an optical sight. It is derived in part from the much more widely circulated Kalashnikov assault rifle.
First manufactured in 1963 for use by militaries and intelligence agencies in the Soviet Union and Warsaw Pact, the Dragunov and its clones [...]

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Saraa wants to be a doctor. If she can’t, the young star of Hamas television’s best-known children’s show said, she would be proud to become a martyr. Saraa says little Jewish girls should be forced from their homes in Israel so that Palestinians can return to their land.
With the show’s producer helpfully offering written tips [...]

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Russia and China have continued to build momentum. They are in the process of solidifying closer military and security cooperation under the auspices of the SCO. Russian interest in finding new security arrangements has been accelerated by U.S. determination to install missile defense systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. This could spur Russia and [...]

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According to Fyodorov, the Russian aircraft industry will shift the future focus from manufacturing military aircraft to building civilian planes, including passenger planes and heavy transport aircraft.
“While the current manufacturing ratio is seven military aircraft to every civilian aircraft, by 2025 we will be making two civilian planes to each military plane,” the official said.
Fyodorov, [...]

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The praise from British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for President Bush’s strong policy on global terror is frightfully at odds with the UK’s dangerous coddling of terrorists. FSM Contributing Editor Adrian Morgan’s report is disheartening. What are the Brits thinking?
The unelected prime minister of Britain, Gordon Brown, assumed his office on June 27. Within [...]

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U.S. law enforcement officials say they have identified more than two dozen “clusters” of young Muslim men in the northeast United States who are on a path that could lead to homegrown terror, ABC News has learned.”Any one of those clusters may be capable of carrying out a terrorist action that will result in fatalities,” [...]

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By favoring merchants over clerics, Abdullah is making crucial reforms.
Brussels; and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia - When Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud was crown prince of Saudi Arabia, one of his most infamous decisions was banning the use of camera phones in 2004 – a demand from the country’s Wahhabi clergy who claimed the devices [...]

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Drawing parallels with the end of the Roman empire, Mr Walker warned there were “striking similarities” between America’s current situation and the factors that brought down Rome, including “declining moral values and political civility at home, an over-confident and over-extended military in foreign lands and fiscal irresponsibility by the central government”.
“Sound familiar?” Mr Walker said. [...]

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America should not live in fear. As Peter Morici, economics professor at the University of Maryland”s Robert H. Smith School of Business, has argued, “If the Peoples Bank of China were to sell enough Treasury securities to disrupt financial markets and cast the U.S. economy into recession, where would China’s factories sell all their stuff? [...]

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Is the Russian fleet about to find a home in the warm waters of the Mediterranean in the Syrian ports of Tartous and Latakia? Yes, says one opposition official, citing multiple sources — all anonymous. No, says with a laugh, Syria’s ambassador to Washington.
The Russian navy — and before it the Soviet navy — has [...]

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DEBKAfile’s Iran sources note that the Bush administration would in effect be declaring economic war on Iran. The Revolutionary Guards Corps’ ground, air and naval corps, numbering 125,000 men, are in charge of Iran’s nuclear program and missile units and form the military backbone of the Islamic Republic. Iran will not pass up any chance [...]

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