Fiery rhetoric fuels Mideast war fears – UPI.com

Posted by Matt in February 10th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Middle East, War, damascus, Foreign Minister, hezbollah, Inflammatory Rhetoric, Lebanon, Lieberman, Many Fear, Middle East, Mideast War, Militia, Regime, Regional Conflict, Syria, Upi

Tough-talking Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has raised the temperature in the Middle East by warning the Damascus regime it will fall if Syria gets involved in the regional conflict that many fear is now brewing.
As the inflammatory rhetoric on both sides becomes more strident, the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in Lebanon has gone on alert.
Fiery rhetoric [...]

War Games Explore Military Options for Iran

Posted by Matt in February 7th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Iran, War, Confrontations, Hardline, Iran, Iranian Nuclear Threat, Leadership, Military Options, Nuclear Issue, Nuclear Weapons Issue, Prospects, Regime, Serious Games, tanks, Vengeance, War Games

What if Iran’s hardline leadership emerges from the current confrontations at home strengthened and emboldened? If so, the nuclear issue will be back with a vengeance. And three recent war games focused on the Iranian nuclear weapons issue suggest that the prospects for halting the regime’s progress toward nuclear weapons are not good.
The games — [...]

S.Korea’s Military Capability ‘Inadequate’

Posted by Matt in January 28th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Koreas, Bruce Bennett, Catastrophic, Chosun Ilbo, Collapse, Daily News, Face, invasion, Korean People, Military Action, Military Capabilities, Military Capability, Modernization, North-Korea, Policy Analyst, Rand Corporation, Regime, South-Korea

This is South Korea’s problem, so why should we care? I certainly wouldn’t lift a finger to help the South Korean people if North Korea invades.
An American academic says South Korea’s military capabilities are inadequate to handle a North Korean invasion or other North Korean military action or regime collapse there. In an article entitled [...]

Rand: 400,000 troops needed to secure N. Korea and its ‘loose nukes’

Posted by Matt in January 25th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Koreas, Address, Brigades, Collapse, Defense Establishment, Estimates, Exact Number, Korean Defense, Lead, Lind, Loose Nukes, North-Korea, Nuclear Facilities, Paramount, Prevention, Raft, Rand, Regime, Vacuum

Lind offers specific estimates of what it would take to seize North Korea’s nuclear facilities and disarm the entire North Korean defense establishment as if the collapse of the North Korean regime were almost certain and the U.S. had to lead the charge to fill the vacuum. The study offers a raft of figures on [...]

Israeli intel: Hamas has amassed 5,000 rockets since 2009 war

Posted by Matt in January 18th, 2010 | 1 comment

Published in Israel, Middle East, Capability, Gaza Strip, Hamas, Intel, Israel, Military Sources, Regime, Rockets And Missiles, Succession

“Hamas wants to develop a capability where it could use its missiles and rockets to stop an Israeli ground advance,” the source said. “Firing one or two rockets is insufficient. Instead, you have to fire 10 to 20 rockets toward a specific area.”
Israeli military sources said the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip was developing [...]

Iran’s political winds are shifting – latimes.com

Posted by Matt in January 17th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Iran, Anthropology, Former President, Hierarchical Society, Inferior Position, Iran, Latimes, Middle East Section, Opposition Movement, Political Winds, Regime, Signs, Social Bonds, Superior Position, University Of Minnesota

The opposition movement is gaining strength, and signs are emerging that the government could collapse.
“The current regime has broken the social bonds that tie it to the public and thus is eventually due to fall,” Bill Beeman, a Persian-speaking professor of anthropology at the University of Minnesota and former president of the Middle East section [...]

Ukraine Sliding Backwards

Posted by Matt in January 15th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Geopolitical, American Spectator, Former Soviet Union, kremlin, Leverage, Maneuver, Medvedev, Military-Threat, moscow, NATO, Neighbor, Orbit, putin, Regime, Russia, Russian Federation, Ukraine

Word has long made the rounds in Moscow that the Kremlin would consider expansion of NATO that includes Ukraine to be an outright military threat to the Russian Federation.
This threat of a threat plays well with the current effort by the Medvedev/Putin regime to nudge Ukraine back into Russia’s orbit. In more direct [...]

Top Risk No. 2: Iran | The Call

Posted by Matt in January 13th, 2010 | no comment

Published in Geopolitical, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Elections In Lebanon, Hizbullah, Ian Bremmer, Iran Government, Nationalism, Outpost, Presidential Election, Protests, Regime, Risk 2, tehran

By far the biggest purely geopolitical risk in 2010 comes from Iran. Its government now faces growing pressure on three fronts. At home, the regime has had a tough time since last June’s presidential election; hardliners had initially consolidated, but are now under intensifying pressure as domestic protests continue. Regionally, Tehran has lost considerable influence, [...]

Happy Birthday, Joe: Russia’s Rehabilitation of Stalin – TIME

Posted by Matt in December 22nd, 2009 | no comment

Published in Favorites, Russia, Anniversary, Happy Birthday, Leadership Qualities, Personal Attributes, Popularity, Purges, Regime, Respondents, Russia, Russians, Soviet Citizens, Stalin, Starvation, Summary Executions

What may be more surreal, however, is the resurgent popularity that Stalin is enjoying at the moment in Russia. Just in time for the 130th anniversary of his birth on Dec. 21, the state-run polling agency VTsIOM released a survey showing that despite the millions of Soviet citizens who fell victim to purges, starvation and [...]

China blamed as anger mounts over climate deal | Environment | The Observer

Posted by Matt in December 19th, 2009 | no comment

Published in Climate, Anger, Carbon Emissions, China Climate, Climate Deal, Deep Cuts, Environment, International China, Regime

The deal, finally hammered out early yesterday, had been expected to commit countries to deep cuts in carbon emissions. In the end, it fell short of this goal after China fought hard against strong US pressure to submit to a regime of international monitoring.
China blamed as anger mounts over climate deal | Environment | The [...]