OK, what’s the capital of Comoros, and how many coup attempts has it suffered since gaining independence in 1975? What’s the life expectancy in Burkina Faso, and how many kilometres of roads does it have, both paved and unpaved? What’s the highest point in Hungary, and when does the country next hold elections? If you [...]

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At the center of both issues is Germany’s newly assertive nationalism that first found widespread public expression during the summer 2006 World Cup. Divisions over Afghanistan and NATO enlargement reflect an organization fundamentally divided between Old Europe led by Germany and New Europe led by the United States.
Standing behind Germany is Russia in a [...]

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In this contest is the danger that Lebanon may turn into a full-fledged battleground in the ongoing conflict between the U.S. and Iran, which is allied with Syria to derail Lebanon’s fragile democracy.
The possibility of bloodshed within Lebanon’s sensitive patchwork of Sunnis, Shiites and Christians recalls the civil war that savaged Beirut from 1975 [...]

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US weapons analyst Gregg Bergersen admits leak to China
Telegraph.co.uk, United Kingdom - 3 hours ago
Prosecutors alleged he divulged military secrets to New Orleans businessman Kuo Tai, who turned over the information to a Chinese foreign agent. …
Pentagon staffer guilty of handing secrets to China agent AFP
Guilty Plea in China Spy Case The Associated Press
Pentagon analyst admits selling [...]

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Tokyo has shown keen interest in the disclosure as it suggests Pyongyang was providing nuclear technology to Damascus in violation of an agreement made at six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue not to transfer nuclear materials, technology or know-how.
According to the sources, Olmert told Fukuda that the site was a nuclear-related facility that [...]

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From the article, the annualized probability of a Cuban Missile Type Crisis (CMTC) resulting in World war III during the 50 years of the Cold war =
Low Estimate: 2 in 10,000 = .02% = .0002 = [3/50][1/3][.1][.1]
High Estimate: 5 in 1,000 = .5% = .005 = [3/50][1/3][.5][.5]
[annualized probability that an initiating event (such as the [...]

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The value of the Chinese yuan, or RMB, has been a sore spot in U.S.-China relations in recent years. Faced with a massive $256.3 billion trade deficit with China for 2007 that has increased over three times since 2000 ($83.8 billion) and continues to increase annually, Washington has called on Beijing to revalue its currency [...]

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In an article published in Taiwan-based newspaper China Times, a staff news reporter in Shanghai asked the views of China’s Generation Y—those born between 1981 and 1995—in China’s bustling metropolis, following Taiwan’s presidential election on March 22, about their views toward Taiwan and Tibet. The interviews revealed some dramatic changes in perceptions held by the [...]

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Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, more than 90 per cent of China’s imports of major conventional weapons have been supplied by the Russian Federation. In this period China has become one of Russia’s most valued customers, accounting for 39% of Russian exports of major conventional weapons. However, the SIPRI online Arms Transfers Database, [...]

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Right-wing Dutch politician Geert Wilders wanted to provoke an international scandal with his anti-Islam film “Fitna.” He succeeded. He talks to SPIEGEL about his crusade against Islam. more…

Photo Gallery: Muslims Protest against Wilders’ Film
‘Fitna’ Review: Not Hyperbole or Metaphor, but Repetition
Dutch Anti-Koran Video Released: Wilders Sparks Political Protest
Islam Critic Wilders: A Missionary with Dark Visions
SPIEGEL [...]

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After September 11, 2001, when the 341st Space Wing locked down Montana’s 23,500-acre missile field, security upgrades to the Minuteman III defense system began in earnest. Thicker concrete around the silo, security cameras around the perimeter and a beefed up rapid-response team have been implemented at all 200 missile sites around Montana — the largest [...]

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Russian President Vladimir Putin will be the elephant in the room at NATO’s summit this week, capable of steering East-West relations into further acrimony - or surprising harmony.
Leaders of the 26 NATO countries gather from Wednesday to Friday (local time) in the Romanian capital Bucharest.
But the unpredictable Kremlin boss, set to hand power to his [...]

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This is the fifth and final installment in a series of reports from several countries looking at the question of how to cope with China–a nation that has rapidly grown into a military and economic power, while also ruling its people with an iron fist.
With her dark hair and dark eyes, 22-year-old Jin Jin [...]

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An escalating war of words across the world’s last Cold War, nuclear-armed border spiraled dramatically yesterday when North Korea threatened to wreak total destruction on its neighbour to the south.
“Our military will not sit idle until warmongers launch a pre-emptive strike,” the official news agency in Pyongyang reported a senior military commander as saing, “everything [...]

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I got an interesting e-mail from one of my readers. EG from Britain didn’t particularly like my article, “<a href=”http://www.1913intel.com/2008/03/29/the-coming-nuclear-war-in-2012/”>The Coming Nuclear war in 2012</a>”. He really let me have it:
I’ve read your blog with interest for over a year - the articles, although spattered with alarmist, narrow sources (such as familysecuritymatters), are usually balanced.
But [...]

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Q: What is your book about?
A: Well, “Comrade J” is about the highest ranking Russian intelligence officer to defect after the end of the Cold War. In other words, Sergei Tretyakov worked for us. He defected in 2000 after working secretly for us for at least three years. He worked for the Yeltsin and Putin [...]

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This is the fourth installment of a series of reports from several countries looking at the question of how to cope with China–a nation that has rapidly grown into a military and economic power, while ruling its people with an iron fist.
Employees of Gabon’s Ivindo National Park, about 400 kilometers east of the capital [...]

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Now, a young, well-traveled, multilingual foreign-policy scholar, Parag Khanna, suggests in “The Second World” that we are on the cusp of a new new world order — “a multipolar and multicivilizational world of three distinct superpowers competing on a planet of shrinking resources.” The three are the United States, the European Union and China. The [...]

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West Bank factories can’t compete with cheap imports—even of the signature head scarf, the kaffiyeh
Yasser Herbawi once supplied much of the West Bank and Gaza Strip with black-and-white checkered scarves, the proud emblem of Palestinian identity made famous by the late Yasser Arafat.
But most of his looms now stand idle, his product edged out by [...]

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US President George W. Bush wants to bring more Eastern European countries into the military alliance at the upcoming NATO summit. But Germany is thwarting his plans, because of concerns about Ukraine and Georgia — and in deference to Russia. By Gregor Peter Schmitz in Washington D.C. more…

Greece Blocking NATO Expansion: Which Macedonia Was Alexander [...]

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India and China are booming and will shape the 21st century, but old tensions between the two could spell disaster for the region
An array of disputes, historical bitternesses and regional flashpoints weigh down on all three countries [China, India and Japan]. Conflict is not inevitable but nor is it inconceivable. If it were to occur [...]

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