Over the past 15 years, the Chinese navy’s East Sea Fleet has been fortifying its military hardware in preparation for a fight against Taiwan. Along with the steady expansion of the fleet, huge investments have gone into modernizing and upgrading navy bases.
In particular, submarine bases and airport facilities have undergone major revamping. Satellite photos have [...]

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Soviet military policies never called for building full-fledged aircraft carriers operating multi-role warplanes. Nor did Russia draft any clear carrier construction program at the turn of the century.
On July 4, Admiral Viktor Kravchenko, former chief of the Russian Navy’s Main Headquarters, said the country had to build a carrier fleet in the near future. This [...]

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China faces its worst power shortage in at least four years as soaring coal prices and government-set electricity tariffs force dozens of small power plants to shut rather than face mounting losses.
Almost half of China’s provinces have started to ration electricity as the country enters the peak summer season, facing what analysts describe as its [...]

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“If you look at the assessment by the Intel community, they say that by about 2015, 2017, in that timeframe, they may even have a missile that can reach the United States, which is an ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) class missile,” he added as quoted by Reuters.
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Russia’s use of companies such as OAO Gazprom, the world’s largest natural gas producer, to buy energy assets in Africa may thwart U.S. efforts to limit the role of oil and gas as political weapons wielded from Moscow.

Getty Images Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (left) and Gazprom chief Alexei Miller visit the Sevmash shipyard in [...]

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The Pentagon said on Tuesday that Iran has the ability to launch a ballistic missile capable of hitting sections of eastern and southern Europe.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Trey Obering, director of the Missile Defence Agency, told reporters he believes Iran now has a missile with a range of 2,000 km, but he declined to say [...]

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The planned construction of over 180 mosques in Germany is mobilizing right-wing xenophobes but also an increasing number of leftist critics. They fear the Muslim places of worship will facilitate the establishment of a completely parallel society. By Jochen Bölsche more…

Photo Gallery: The Call to Prayers
New Front for the German Far Right: Anti-Islamic Party Is [...]

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The Bush administration let it be known last week that it is prepared to start reducing the number of troops in Iraq, indicating that three brigades out of 15 might be withdrawn before Inauguration Day in 2009. There are many dimensions to the announcements, some political and some strategic. But perhaps the single most important [...]

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