Russia has overtaken Niger to become the world’s fourth largest uranium producer, after Canada, Australia, and Kazakhstan. Russia received its new rating in 2007, when it produced 3,527 tons of uranium.
It has ambitious plans to mover even further up the league, based on promising deposits in Eastern Siberia and other regions, and opportunities for mutually [...]

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Iran believed to test missiles for attack on U.S.
Graham warned in 2005 that Iran was not only covertly developing nuclear weapons, but was already testing ballistic missiles specifically designed to destroy America’s technical infrastructure with the aim of neutralizing the world’s lone superpower.
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Russia threatened to retaliate by military means after a deal with the Czech Republic brought the US missile defence system in Europe a step closer.
The threat followed quickly on from the announcement that Condoleezza Rice signed a formal agreement with the Czech Republic to host the radar for the controversial project.
Moscow argues that the missile [...]

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Analysts see a host of reasons to keep away from full-scale violence. Shlomo Ben-Ami, former Israeli foreign minister, and Trita Parsi, president of the National Iranian American Council, write in the Christian Science Monitor that bombing runs alone won’t destroy “any potential clandestine facilities in Iran nor Iran’s knowledge of the enrichment process.” Mohamad ElBaradei, [...]

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Americans would cringe at some of things going on in Europe today.
From the article.
A Cambridge-educated attorney seated next to me on a recent flight lamented seeing Pakistanis and Africans throughout Europe. Of course, “it’s not racism,” she insisted, “but as a European you just like to see European people in European cities.”
Italy’s highest appeals court [...]

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The Christian Science Monitor surveys the usual experts, and declares that a U.S. attack on Iran is “not coming soon.” So does that mean the Israelis might bomb Iran’s nuclear facilities on their own? They might be able to pull off a preventive strike. But Robert Kaplan, writing for the Atlantic, doesn’t think the Israelis [...]

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IRAN has issued a strident warning that it would “set on fire” Israel and target the US navy in the Persian Gulf as its first response to any American attack over its nuclear programme.
Rising tension in the area where Iran and the United States are both carrying out military exercises have contributed to driving oil [...]

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Argentina raised the prospect of posting military forces in the Antarctic region yesterday, with the announcement of plans to use troops to defend its interests.
President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner told defence chiefs that Argentina must be prepared to assert its sovereignty and protect its natural resources, as nations compete to claim areas of the region [...]

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A Global Approach to Iranian Nuclear Ambitions
Over the last few years, the United States has lost considerable influence and trust in the Middle East and other regions, undermining the expectations and power of US leadership in the eyes of the world. Today, Iraq remains mired in political discord combined with a tenuous security situation. At [...]

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A new study assesses both commercial and potential military implications
Keidel forecasts that China’s economy will double by midcentury, fueled by domestic demand, not exports. Potential stumbling blocks to sustained Chinese growth—export concerns, domestic economic instability, inequality and poverty, pollution, social unrest, or even corruption and slow political reform—are unlikely to undermine China’s long-term success, according [...]

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Traditionally, analysts have cautioned that Chinese growth figures should be greeted with skepticism, but according to one school of economic thought, there may be something to the idea that the quake served as a brutal stimulus. In fact, some economists argue that despite the widespread destruction they leave behind, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, volcanic eruptions and [...]

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Assessing Israeli Capabilities to Destroy Iranian Nuclear Facilities
Orginally published in April 2006.
This paper will attempt to fill this gap in the existing literature by providing a rough net assessment of an Israeli strike on known Iranian nuclear facilities. It will do so by taking the strike on Osirak as a generic template for the strike [...]

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Sun Tzu said: The art of war is of vital importance to the state. It is a matter of life and death, a road either to safety or to ruin.
What is the Role of Nuclear Weapons in China’s grand strategy? The paper will also discuss how the ancient writings of Sun Tzu have informed China’s [...]

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