On Dec. 16, al Qaeda’s As-Sahab media branch released a 97-minute video message from al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri. In the message, titled “A Review of Events,” al-Zawahiri readdressed a number of his favorite topics at length.
This video appeared just two days after As-Sahab released a 20-minute al-Zawahiri message titled “Annapolis — The Treason.” In [...]

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Tiny copper structures with pores at both the nanometer and micron size scales could play a key role in the next generation of detonators used to improve the reliability, reduce the size and lower the cost of certain military munitions. Developed by a team of scientists from the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and [...]

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Pakistan has pardoned atomic guru Dr Abdul Khan for trading nuclear secrets, but Khan’s Dutch business partner is under investigation in the Netherlands. What exactly was the Dutch connection? Aaron Gray-Block reports.
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“I have no doubt that the most senior Iranian leadership, with the help of Hezbollah, is responsible for the attacks in Buenos Aires against AMIA [the community center in 1994] and the Israeli Embassy [in 1992],” Nisman said Tuesday night at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism of the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya.
While investigating the two attacks, [...]

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US to cut nuclear weapons stockpile
Los Angeles Times, CA - 5 hours ago
The overall size of the nation’s nuclear inventory is classified. But under the terms of a 2002 treaty, the US and Russia are committed to reducing deployed …
White House Announces (Secret) Nuclear Weapons Cuts FAS Strategic Security Project Blog
US accelerates nuclear stockpile cuts: White [...]

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What do the Russians see in him?
Order, prosperity, and a reminder of Russia’s glory days. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Russians were thrilled with their new freedoms. But the elation soon gave way to frustration over rampant corruption, soaring crime and poverty, and the dramatic diminishment of Russia’s status as a [...]

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Russia will operate 48 fixed-site Topol-M (NATO reporting name SS-27) ballistic missiles by the start of 2008, a Strategic Missile Forces spokesman said on Monday.
The missile forces said previously that the system will be equipped with MIRV in the next two or three years, and that the new system will help penetrate missile defenses more [...]

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AP Interview: Ultranationalist leader calls for Russian military …
International Herald Tribune, France - 23 hours ago
Serbia needs Russian military bases established inside its borders to counter the US “threat” over Kosovo, he said. And if Kosovo declares independence, …
Serb radical wants Russia military base United Press International
Russia: Kosovo and the Asymmetry of Perceptions Stratfor (subscription)
Kosovo, Serbia to [...]

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They are superpowers past and present, sharing a common border as well as a wariness of the U.S. But they have long skirmished with each other over trade and territory. Even today big questions remain unresolved: Should the two giants stand against the U.S. together? How long can Russia control nearly one-third of the Asian [...]

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Time’s person of the year.
No one is born with a stare like Vladimir Putin’s. The Russian President’s pale blue eyes are so cool, so devoid of emotion that the stare must have begun as an affect, the gesture of someone who understood that power might be achieved by the suppression of ordinary needs, like blinking. [...]

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