Recently, an advisor to former German chancellor Helmut Kohl spoke out in favor of seeking a close strategic collaboration with Russia. Ulrich Weisser, a retired vice-admiral and former head of the German Defense Ministry’s planning staff, said it would be wrong to side with Germany’s Central European allies in their support of the planned American [...]

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Germany’s role in the crisis caused by Iran’s nuclear program typifies a kind of split national personality. On the one hand, already in early 2006 Chancellor Angela Merkel, of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), drew a diplomatic line in the sand when she declared, “A president who questions Israel’s right to exist, a president who [...]

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The explosion at Mayak was the real nuclear disaster of 50 years ago, says robert matthews
Around this time, 50 years ago, scientists were desperately trying to cope with a blunder that had triggered a nuclear catastrophe. No, it was not the Windscale accident of October 1957 in which a fire broke out in a reactor [...]

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China plans to relocate 4m people from the hillsides around the Three Gorges Dam, the world’s largest, in an unprecedented effort to stave off an environmental disaster.
See a satellite view of the dam from Google
The huge project will take between 10-15 years to complete, but was necessary as the area’s “ecological safety” was at risk, [...]

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A few years ago, Chris Devonshire-Ellis, a Beijing-based business and tax consultant, was in the bar at Pyongyang’s Koryo Hotel when he ran into another foreigner. “The guy’s name was Vlad,” Devonshire-Ellis says. “He’d come from Moscow on a train to sell tractors to the North Koreans. He had all these guys around him. Turns [...]

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Is it possible to sustain hysterical economic growth and a one-party authoritarian state? What will China look like 20 years from now, and what should the U.S. do to help it get there?
Today, Andrés Martinez and Joseph Farah look at whether a one-party state is sustainable during a long-running boom. Yesterday, they debated whether China [...]

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“It is unfortunate that various threats in the world against us (Russia and China) have not decreased,” said the deputy foreign minister, indicating that maintaining a high-level defense capability is in line with the common interests of the two countries.
The arms deals between Russia and China “will not become a threat to any third country, [...]

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It has become a commonplace of international diplomacy that Russia and China often work together on key issues. They have frustrated western hopes for sanctions or other tough action on disputes ranging from Burma and Darfur to Iran. They are blocking a solution on Kosovo. What few in the west have spotted is that Sino-Russian [...]

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Illegal Weapons Exports Up, US Says
The Associated Press - 11 hours ago
WASHINGTON (AP) — US missile technology, fighter jet parts and other wartime equipment increasingly are being illegally smuggled to China and Iran, …
US to keep tighter rein on military exports CNN
US targets illegal sales to enemies Los Angeles Times
Prepared Remarks of Kenneth L. Wainstein, Assistant [...]

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Editorial: Chen renews attitude of defiance
Taipei Times, Taiwan - 1 hour ago
Turning his attention to China Chen demanded that Beijing “immediately withdraw missiles deployed along its southeastern coast and targeted at Taiwan, …
Taiwan Flexes Military Muscles at China AHN
Taiwan Military Parade Is Revived After 16 Years Wall Street Journal
American woman to run station HollandSentinel.com
China Post
all 283 news [...]

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Norway’s military has felt it necessary to dispatch fighter jets 29 times so far this year, to monitor Russian military flights offshore. Now it’s emerged that at least one of the Russian aircraft was equipped with a cruise missile.
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The new configuration is, however, scarcely more propitious for peace. Following the strike, it is now weakness on the Syrian side that is likely to prevent a resumption of negotiations. Furthermore, the obstacles posed by external actors, including the U.S. desire to isolate Syria over its activities in Lebanon, remain in place. Given these factors, [...]

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Israel’s Military Intelligence has said that the upcoming summit in November is likely to be a failure, echoing criticism from MKs across the political spectrum. The aim of the summit is to achieve agreements between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, although the PA is demanding far more than Israel is like to agree to.
MI reports [...]

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The American Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile, or JASSM is in big trouble.
Against Tomahawk-type cruise missiles, Russia’s supersonic S-300PMU’s kill ratio is listed as 0.8-0.98. The ad brochure claim may be excessively high, but a U.S. Government Accountability Office report highlighted a six-Tomahawk “stream raid” against the Rasheed airfield in which only two arrived over target [...]

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Prominent Muslim scholars are warning that the “survival of the world” is at stake if Muslims and Christians do not make peace with each other.
In an unprecedented open letter signed by 138 leading Muslim scholars from every sect of Islam, the Muslims plead with Christian leaders “to come together with us on the common essentials [...]

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Terrorists may be mad, but they are not stupid. FSM Contributing Editor Adrian Morgan reveals shocking details of how a murdering, admitted threat to Norway’s national security lives off the largesse of taxpayers while claiming to be victimized. It’s a good gig if you can get it.
Mullah Krekar is designated as an [...]

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