Want to know how a U.S. strike on a newly nuclearized Iran might actually work? Turn to page 154 of Francois Heisbourg’s extraordinary new book, Iran, the Choice of Arms, published in Paris but, alas, not yet in the English-speaking world.
It’s frightening, but as accurate as only an insider’s insider can possibly be–down to [...]

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The Iranians’ nuclear strategy is simple: it’s to talk and build.
Why does Iran want nuclear weapons? First, as an insurance policy for the regime, which fully understands that it is more difficult to destabilize a country armed with nuclear weapons. Outsiders do not know what kind of people will get their hands on the weapons [...]

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For months, Sayed Hassan Nasrallah, the Hizbollah leader, has been warning Israel that his organisation has a “surprise” new weapon in its armoury and there are few in Lebanon who do not suspect that this is a new Iranian-developed ground-to-air missile – rockets which may at last challenge Israel’s air supremacy over Lebanon. For more [...]

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Devastation of a regional nuclear war would be far from confined to the countries that started it. Plants and animals, including humans, would be endangered by a global ozone hole that would result and persist for years after all the bombs were exhausted, a new study suggests.
The layer of ozone high up in the Earth’s [...]

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North Korea Monday renewed its attacks on South Korea’s new President Lee Myung-Bak, accusing him of pushing the peninsula closer to nuclear war.
The communist party newspaper Rodong Sinmun poured scorn on his decision to link economic aid to the North’s nuclear disarmament, and said he should order the United States to withdraw “its nuclear weapons [...]

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As tensions rise with Syria, fears have mounted in the defense establishment that Hizbullah may fly an explosives-packed drone into Israel in retaliation for the February assassination of Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
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But officials portray Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Ehud Barak as having little interest in a deal with Hamas. They acknowledge that a suspension of attacks by both sides might make the ongoing peace talks easier — and that the outbreak of an all-out conflict would almost certainly kill the Annapolis process. Yet, [...]

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“An Iranian attack will prompt a severe reaction from Israel, which will destroy the Iranian nation,” National Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer (Labor) said on Monday. Teheran, he added, “is definitely aware of our strength. Even so, they are teasing us with their alliances with Syria and Hizbullah, and supplying them with many weapons, and we [...]

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Well, “Nanny” President Bush traveled to Europe recently to try and persuade our security-dependent allies and erstwhile strategic partner Russia to swallow bitter medicine — an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system. His spoon full of sugar included an offer of aid, promises and a new “strategic framework.” Now, however, the lame duck president needs to magically [...]

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Making a surprise appearance at a news conference Friday, Putin also said he was “in general satisfied with the discussion” with world leaders at the NATO summit in Bucharest, where diplomats had feared that Putin would harshly criticize their governments’ support of U.S. plans to place components of a missile-defense system in Central Europe and [...]

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If you look at the Google Earth map and follow the route A-212 to the west of the Russian town Pskov, you can notice a secret Russian military base not far from the border with Estonia. The Economist magazine states that to the north of the road you can see an oval that is nothing [...]

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The drawn conclusion in the Middle East after the Gulf war is that the acquisition of nuclear weapons confront the United States with a much more awkward situation than in the past. The proliferation of nuclear weapons will - above and beyond the far-reaching missiles already at the
disposal of some Middle East countries - [...]

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Many of the causes for China’s being a failed state in the early twentieth century had their roots in China’s disadvantageous relations with the West.
I am going to look at the history of China’s encounters with the West in reverse order, beginning with the more familiar storyline of China as a weak and battered power [...]

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China on Monday hailed a new military hot line with Russia as a sign of strengthened cooperation, in sharp contrast with sluggish efforts to set up a similar link with Washington.
The hot line with Moscow “reflects the level of political trust and strategic coordination between the two countries,” state media quoted Chinese Defense Minister Liang [...]

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Unscathed by international criticism, Beijing projects a benign view of its military budget arguing that, in terms of GDP, it is still lower than other major powers like the US, Russia, UK and France. Most Western analysts, however, do not agree with Chinese assertions, as they believe that the actual military spending by China is [...]

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The United States and Israel seek to pressure North Korea to cease its nuclear cooperation with Iran, which is one of the motives behind their agreement to disclose details on the air-force strike in Syria last September. According to foreign press reports, the strike targeted a nuclear installation built with North Korean assistance.
According to information [...]

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These days you hear a lot about the world financial crisis. But there’s another world crisis under way — and it’s hurting a lot more people.
I’m talking about the food crisis. Over the past few years the prices of wheat, corn, rice and other basic foodstuffs have doubled or tripled, with much of the increase [...]

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Geert Wilders’ anti-Islamic film “Fitna” was designed to provoke. And it seems to be working. A protest in Karachi on Sunday drew thousands, railing against Netherlands, Denmark and the US. more…

Photo Gallery: Protest in Pakistan
A Muslim Responds to ‘Fitna’: ‘I’m Not the Least Bit Offended’
SPIEGEL Interview with Dutch Populist Geert Wilders: ‘Moderate Islam Is a [...]

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