By the start of 2007, reports about major upgrades to the Syrian military, including advances in missile technology, with Iranian help were widespread in Israel. [1] The impression of an imminent war existed across much of the Middle East. Syria, Hezbollah, and Iran were reported in Israel to be preparing for a war to spark [...]

read more....

The Bin Ladens were Yemeni tribesmen who migrated to Saudi Arabia to make their fortune. As oil revenues began to flow in the 1950s, Mohamed and his brother made themselves indispensable to the ruling family, building their hideous palaces and the kingdom’s first significant infrastructure projects. In 1952, the royal family went on a car-buying [...]

read more....

In recent years, China has voted in favor of several U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran. But, working with Russia, Beijing has blocked more expansive sanctions that might have proved effective, arguing that they were not convinced Iran was pursuing nuclear weapons.
But then earlier this month, Iran announced that it is tripling the number [...]

read more....

A Chinese ship loaded with armaments for Zimbabwe steamed into the port of Durban this week and set off a political firefight, putting newfound pressure on South Africa — and now China — to reduce support for Zimbabwe’s government as it cracks down on its rivals after a disputed election.
Dock workers at the port, backed [...]

read more....

AN AGREEMENT between China and 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to tamp down the Spratly Islands dispute is unraveling as soaring food and fuel prices force nations to step up the race to find new resources offshore and beat a deadline for extended maritime claims under the new United Nations [...]

read more....

High-resolution satellite imagery from Digital Globe has enabled Jane’s to confirm the construction of a major underground nuclear submarine base at Sanya, on Hainan Island off the southern coast of China.
Although Asian military sources first suggested the existence of the base to Jane’s in 2002, the satellite imagery has allowed independent verification for the [...]

read more....

Benjamin Netanyahu, the former and possibly future prime minister of Israel, said the “civilized community of nations” must not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
“This is not merely a local problem, this is a global problem. If Iran acquires nuclear weapons everything we have been talking about will pale in comparison,” Netanyahu said on [...]

read more....

Global food shortages have taken everyone by surprise. What is to be done?
“World agriculture has entered a new, unsustainable and politically risky period,” says Joachim von Braun, the head of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) in Washington, DC. To prove it, food riots have erupted in countries all along the equator. In Haiti, [...]

read more....