On its website Tuesday, ABC News posted a story titled, “Common Misunderstandings About Muslims,” which did its level best to carry water for the radical Islamist, and Jihadist, movement in America, going so far as to cite America’s most notorious radical front group, the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) as the source to define [...]

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The Danish cartoon controversy has had a murderous epilogue. Since Kurt Westergaard acquired dubious fame because of his cartoon drawings depicting the Prophet Muhammad and began receiving death threats, he has been forced to live in hiding and under police protection. By Manfred Ertel in Copenhagen more…

Photo Gallery: A Wave of Anti-Danish Violence
SPIEGEL ONLINE Interview [...]

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The former West Germany’s most-secret place — an underground bunker designed to shelter the government in case of nuclear war — officially opened Thursday in its new incarnation as a Cold war museum.
The bunker complex, which includes a maze of more than 10 miles of tunnel, is tucked into the rolling hills west of the [...]

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An Israeli minister gave warning today that the army may unleash a “holocaust” on the Gaza Strip if Islamists there do not end their daily barrages of home-made Qassam rockets and their increasing use of Iranian-built Grad missiles.
“The more Qassam fire intensifies and the rockets reach a longer range, they will bring upon themselves a [...]

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The Foreign Ministry pointed the finger at Tehran. “The Grad rockets fired today were apparently smuggled into Gaza from Iran via Egypt through tunnels and the breached Rafah border fence,” the dispatch stated. “Israel has repeatedly warned neighboring states and the international community about the arms buildup taking place in Hamas-controlled Gaza. Today’s attacks constitute [...]

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Russian President Vladimir Putin’s favored successor, Dmitry Medvedev, has the support of more than 70 percent of voters and is almost certain to win Sunday’s presidential election.
Following is a timeline of highlights of the Putin presidency:
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Vladimir Putin: Russia’s New Dictatorship

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By examining the five greatest “myths” of Russian energy, this article challenges some of the key assumptions underlying Western policy towards Russia. It reveals the limits of the prevalent argumentative lines on Russian energy, and offers an alternative explanation for some recent Russian policy choices. Finally, it draws some conclusions on foreign policy implications for [...]

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With American officials working to close a deal on a missile defense system in Europe, the head of the U.S. program warned Thursday that Iran was within two or three years of producing a missile that could reach most European capitals.
“They’re already flying missiles that exceed what they would need in a fight with Israel. [...]

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U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates’ visit to Asia this week was aimed at deepening strategic ties with regional leaders and showing that Washington remained engaged, but China’s explosive rise was never far from the surface.
Gates visited three large democracies — Australia, Indonesia and India - all U.S. allies, and offered to help each build its [...]

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The Reichstag fire in Germany was the beginning of a plan to seize political power, and the beginning of Nazi fascism. Apparently, Putin learned a lesson from this episode in history. The articles below examine whether Putin executed his own Reichstag fire with staged bombings.
Back to the future… Russia, a totalitarian regime picking off its [...]

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Some high-resolution images of China’s Type 094 SSBN have shed new light on this mysterious strategic missile nuclear-powered submarine of the People’s Liberation Army Navy. Satellite photos released by Google Earth reveal two of these new submarines at the Huludao Shipyard in northeast China.
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The number of nuclear missiles fitted on board alone indicates that the [...]

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Pollution has turned part of a major river system in central China red and bubbly, forcing authorities to cut water supplies to 200,000 people and close schools, a government news agency reported Wednesday.
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“We are at a crucial juncture. The system is faltering,” ElBaradei told a conference in the Norwegian capital where he and the IAEA received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005.
He said the IAEA was aware of 150 cases per year of nuclear material or weapons gone missing, which could potentially end up in the hands [...]

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Americans like the idea (though not always the reality) of risk more than comfortable Europeans do. To Russians, both lots seem hyper-cautious wimps.
ANYBODY who dabbles in transatlantic affairs has come across one giant stereotype: Americans admire risk-takers, whereas Europeans (at least in the rich, stable parts of the continent) are instinctively risk-averse, expecting the state [...]

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As Vladimir Putin stands aside (sort of), how much has he to do with Russia’s booming economy—and how long can it last?
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Yet the truth is that Russia’s economy began its rebound 18 months before he became president. Behind it lie three factors: a revival of private initiative, oil prices that have risen fourfold during his [...]

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Apostasy — or the formal renunciation of religion — is already punishable in Iran with death. But now, Iran wants to make the death penalty for apostasy part of the penal code. The European Union is concerned and has asked Iran to reconsider. more…

Women’s Emancipation in Iran: Racing against the Mullahs

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With a ludicrous campaign platform that includes plans to flood Great Britain and proclaim a police state, political clown Vladimir Zhirinovsky is roughing up the Russian election campaign. It’s a move entirely to the Kremlin’s liking because it helps to neutralize the potential of right-wing voters. By Benjamin Bidder in Moscow more…

Opinion: Russia’s Dangerous Double [...]

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Russia’s Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) will deploy 11 new silo and mobile-launched Topol-M intercontinental ballistic missiles in 2008, the SMF commander said on Wednesday.
Gen. Nikolai Solovtsov said the weapons would be deployed in the European part of Russia adding, “the SMF will receive 11 up-to-date Topol-M ICBMs in two versions [silo and mobile-launched].”
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A nearly complete ground-breaking study has documented an alarming fact:
It appears that the majority of American mosques are operated by adherents to the doctrine of Shariah law, and in these mosques where compliance to Shariah law is observed, a violent jihadism is preached.
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The recent discovery of offshore energy reserves and the diminishing sway of Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez have been a boon for Brazil’s regional influence.
Initial euphoria over the magnitude of the oil discovery, located in the offshore Tupi field, led Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to announce his intention to join OPEC, the Organization of [...]

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A robotics expert at the University of Sheffield issued stark warnings over the threat posed to humanity by new robot weapons being developed by powers worldwide. In a keynote address to the Royal United Services Institute, Professor Noel Sharkey, from the University’s Department of Computer Science, expressed his concerns that we are beginning to see [...]

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