The Davos question: Is America history?

Posted by Matt in January 23rd, 2008 | no comment

But here’s what is different this year: The rich and the powerful at Davos are already looking beyond the United States as present and future global leader. The talk is about whether emerging economies, primarily China, India, and resource-rich Russia, can pick up the economic slack if America falters and maintain global growth.
No one underestimates [...]

New Russian space base to send manned flights by 2018

Posted by Matt in January 23rd, 2008 | no comment

Published in Russia, Space, Vostochny_Space_Center

Russia, whose space programme relies heavily on a base in neighbouring Kazakhstan, is to build its own launch site for manned flights by 2018, First Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov was quoted as saying Wednesday.
The new Vostochny base in the Amur region of southeast Russia, bordering China, will be an alternative to the Baikonur base, [...]

Russia calls NATO expansion a Cold war relic

Posted by Matt in January 23rd, 2008 | no comment

Published in Europe, Russia, NATO

NATO’s military expansion towards Russia’s borders is a throwback to the Cold War that only serves to cause antagonism, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday.
In an usually tough attack on the alliance, Lavrov told a news conference there was no security justification for the enlargement and he warned ex-Soviet states they could hurt [...]

Is the Collective Security Treaty Organization the Real Anti-NATO?

Posted by Matt in January 23rd, 2008 | no comment

Published in Europe, CSTO, NATO

Although Western attention has focused on the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) as a potential threat to Western influence in Eurasia, another institution, the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), currently represents a more serious near-term challenge.
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One practical way to improve the state of the world: turn G8 into G14

Posted by Matt in January 23rd, 2008 | no comment

Published in Economy, Davos, G8

As power shifts from the old west, it is absurd that the world’s economic top table has a seat for Italy but no place for China
Wherever you turn in Davos, you see the World Economic Forum’s modest motto: “Committed to improving the state of the world.” Well, it needs it. So here’s one practical step: [...]

Intransigent face of the Chinese superpower

Posted by Matt in January 23rd, 2008 | no comment

Published in China, superpower

But China’s behaviour over the past year – military, diplomatic and political – testifies to an increasingly assertive and confident mood among Chinese leaders in their dealings with Asia and the rest of the world.
China did not warn other users of space when it fired a ballistic missile to destroy an old weather satellite in [...]

Gauging Pyongyangâ€™s Missed Deadline

Posted by Matt in January 23rd, 2008 | no comment

Published in Koreas, Nuclear, north_korea

North Koreaâ€™s missed deadline on its denuclearization pact and new tough rhetoric revive diplomatic concerns about the regimeâ€™s sincerity and stability.
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Where will the next disaster strike?

Posted by Matt in January 23rd, 2008 | no comment

Published in Russia, general, Disasters

Viktor Osipov, director of the Institute of Helioecology at the Russian Academy of Sciences, believes that natural and man-made disasters will become one of the main threats for humankind in the 21st century. A dangerous trend has become evident recently – damage from disasters and expenses involved in their cleanup are implacably growing. In an [...]

Iran prepared to supply gas to EU’s Nabucco pipeline

Posted by Matt in January 23rd, 2008 | no comment

Published in Energy, Europe, Iran, gas

Iran is prepared to supply gas to the EU’s flagpship Nabucco gas pipeline, which is aimed at reducing the bloc’s reliance on Russia, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said here Tuesday.
“The EU has already pointed out the need to diversify its gas supplies. One of the areas in which Iran can cooperate with Europe in the [...]

The World Without US – With Niall Ferguson

Posted by Matt in January 23rd, 2008 | no comment

Published in Amazon.Com, Niall Ferguson, general, Amazon Asin, American Presence, British Historian, College Oxford, Depth Investigation, Global Dominance, Harvard University, Hegemonic Role, Hoover Institution Stanford, J P Taylor, Jesus College, Journalistic Integrity, Mitch Anderson, Niall-Ferguson, Ordinary Citizens, Oxford University, Stanford University, Three Continents, World War One, Youtube

From an isolationist nation at the end of World War One, the US today has bases in over ninety countries. No other nation has been able to project military power as the US does today. But is such an involvement sustainable? Despite its might, the US is shrinking in terms of population and economic power [...]