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President Bush has pursued an "erroneous policy" that has fostered violence in the Middle East, said former President Jimmy Carter, who brokered the historic Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt. "In my opinion, maybe the worst ally Israel has had in Washington has been the George W. Bush administration, which hasn't worked to bring a permanent peace to Israel," Carter said Friday during a stop in West Michigan. Carter and his wife, Rosalynn, were here as part of a fundraiser for their son, Jack Carter, who is seeking a U.S. Senate seat in Nevada. The $500-a-person event, attended by...

Russia has successfully test launched an intercontinental ballistic missile from its northern space-vehicle launching site, Plesetsk. The intercontinental Topol class ballistic missile (CC-25 under Western standards) was launched on Thursday at 1:38 p.m. Moscow time from a mobile launching installation, sources from the northern cosmodrome told ITAR-TASS news agency. The aim of the test was to assure that the exploitation period of the missile could be extended, a Russian space forces’ press-service representative told Regions.ru online daily. The flight of the missile was strictly controlled by Russian space force devices. The launch and the flight of Topol have met all...

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that Russia had helped his country break a U.S.-imposed "blockade" by agreeing to sell Caracas fighter planes and helicopters worth billions of dollars. Neither Chavez nor Russian leader Vladimir Putin gave details about any new deals signed Thursday, but Russia's defense minister said last week that Moscow had agreed to sell the oil-rich South American nation about 30 Su-30 fighter jets and some 30 military helicopters. Putin said Thursday that Moscow and Caracas would prove "reliable partners" and - in comments clearly aimed at Washington - said their cooperation should not be viewed as...

London: The head of state-owned Sukhoi aircraft manufacturing holding said Tuesday he hoped the talks on the possible sales of Su aircraft to Venezuela would yield positive results. "We will be speaking later about any concrete results but I believe that they [the results] will be positive," Mikhail Pogosyan said at the 2006 Farnborough International Airshow. A source in the talks said the two countries had been negotiating the sales of 24 Su-30MK Flanker C air superiority fighters to replace Venezuelan contingent of U.S. F-16 multi-role fighters after Washington imposed an embargo on arms sales to the country. Venezuelan President...

Russia is holding talks with Venezuela to license the manufacture of Kalashnikov rifles there, Russia's state arms exporter has confirmed. On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Russia planned to build two munitions plants in the country. Moscow has already signed a deal to supply Venezuela with 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles. The move is likely to worry the US, which regards Mr Chavez as a destabilising influence in the region. In May, the US State Department banned arms sales to Venezuela because of concern over its contacts with Iran and Cuba and what it called Venezuela's lack of support for...

MOSCOW -- President Vladimir Putin warned yesterday that the U.S.-Russian arms race is not over and called for a strengthening of his nation's nuclear and conventional forces so Moscow can better resist foreign pressure.     The remarks, in his seventh state of the nation address since taking power in 2000, follow increasingly sharp criticism of Russia's democratic and foreign policy directions from the United States, including a harsh rebuke by Vice President Dick Cheney last week in Lithuania.     "It is premature to speak of the end of the arms race," said Mr. Putin, who pointed out in the nationally televised address...

Vladimir Putin has pledged to build up Russia's military to rival "fortress" America, and insisted the Cold War arms race is far from over. In an unexpectedly belligerent state of the nation address on Russian TV, the Russian president accused the US of putting its own interests before its democratic ideals, and compared the country to a voracious wolf. "We are aware what is going on in the world," he said. "Comrade wolf knows whom to eat, he eats without listening, and he's clearly not going to listen to anyone." He added: "It is premature to speak of the end...

BEHIND the high walls of the Kremlin this weekend the stage was being set for what is likely to be the edgiest summit of the Group of Eight nations in years. As the summit “sherpas”, the top officials who lay the groundwork for these gatherings, flew into Moscow, tensions between the Russian hosts and the remaining G8 members, the Group of Seven big Western economies, were running high. The unease among the G7 powers over their decision to hand President Putin of Russia the honour of presiding over the impending summit in St Petersburg in July surfaced in dramatic fashion...