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Romania has agreed to base American anti-missile systems on its territory. These will probably be land based Aegis systems. So far, Aegis has achieved an 83 percent success rate during live test firings. So now everyone wants an Aegis ABM (Anti-Ballistic Missile) ship for protection. The Aegis system was designed to operate aboard warships (cruisers and destroyers that have been equipped with the special software that enables the AEGIS radar system to detect and track incoming ballistic missiles). However, there is also a land based version that Israel is interested in buying. The development version of AEGIS was land based,...

Russian president Dmitry Medvedev on Friday signed a new version of its main military strategy document which named NATO expansion as one of the chief threats to the country's security. The document, published on the Kremlin web site, listed first among "chief outside military threats" the fact that NATO is attempting to "globalise its functions in contravention of international law." It also cited attempts to bring "military infrastructure of NATO members closer to Russian borders, including by expanding the bloc." Russia has bristled at moves by former Soviet republics such as Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO and relations between...

In an unexpected announcement, the president of Romania said Thursday his country would host missile interceptors as part of a new U.S. defense shield. President Traian Basescu said the Supreme Defense Council, Romania's top military and security body, had agreed to such a plan after a request by Washington. "Terrestrial interceptors will be placed on Romania's territory as part of the anti-missile system," Basescu was quoted as saying by Radio Free Europe. "According to the calendar agreed with the American side, the components located on Romania's territory will become operational in 2015." He said the missile defense system would "protect...

The first year of Barack Obama’s presidency was marked by a series of embarrassing and groveling apologies for his country on the world stage. From his apology to the French for America’s supposed “arrogance”, to his massive mea culpa before the Muslim world in Egypt, President Obama succeeded in elevating national humiliation into an art form. In his second year, I would strongly encourage the president to stop apologising for his country, and project more pride in his great nation’s past. The United States, together with Great Britain, have done more to advance the cause of liberty and freedom on...

The December of 1989 marked the end of one of the most extraordinary six months of the century. Over that short period of time all of the communist-run dictatorships in Eastern Europe collapsed as the people of those countries sought freedom. The execution of the Romanian tyrant Nicolae CeauÅŸescu on Christmas Day of that year brought the revolutions to an end with a bang. An ideologically and economically exhausted Soviet Union stood by and did not do what it had done so many times in the past: send in tanks to crush these rebellions. That countryÂ’s Communist Party boss, Mikhail...

On Christmas day 20 years ago, Nicolae Ceausescu – long time dictator of Romania – was, along with his wife Elena, executed by firing squad just days after fleeing Bucharest, while his tyrannical regime unraveled before the eyes of a watching world.  His demise and the surrounding events are etched in the memory of those of us who watched it all unfold via various news reports. The look on the once strong-man’s face as a massive crowd began to boo during a speech on December 21st, was one of the defining moments of the fall of Communism in Eastern Europe. ...

Lutheran Churches in Eastern Europe have added their voices to those of Lutherans worldwide who are critical of the decisions of the 2009 ELCA Churchwide Assembly to endorse same-sex unions and to allow pastors to be in same-sex sexual relationships. The leaders of the Lutheran Churches in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania met Nov. 3-4. The bishops issued a message noting the crisis of faith and fellowship caused by the actions of the ELCA and the Church of Sweden in endorsing same-sex sexual relationships. These churches are all members of the Lutheran World Federation. “At the present time a common witness...

The weapons laden plane seized in Bangkok en route from North Korea at the weekend has been linked to two renowned East European arms traffickers by a respected Swedish think-tank in the latest twist in the mysterious saga. The Ilyushin-76 aircraft, which was found to be carrying 35 tons of weapons including rockets and grenades, was most recently registered under a company called Beibars, linked to Serbian arms dealer Tomislav Dmanjanovic. It had previously been registered with three companies identified by the US Department of the Treasury as firms controlled by the notorious Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout, according to...

Nov 10, 2009 — When the Berlin wall fell 20 years ago, Dorothee Hubner first dared to think, “Are we allowed to leave and finally be free?” Her story and that of her parents Gerhard and Gertraude, scientists trapped in East Germany, was told by Andrew Curry, a freelance writer, in Science.[1] Dorothee was 23 years old in 1989. Her parents, also biochemists, “had spent decades struggling to do research in East Germany without compromising their personal ideals with allegiance to the ruling Communist Party.” By not pledging allegiance to the ruling Communist Party, the Hubners faced a life of...

The collapse of communism: Reagan, Thatcher and the pope By Joseph A. Cannon Deseret News Published: Sunday, Nov. 8, 2009 12:12 a.m. MST Twenty years ago, my wife, Jan, and I were in what was then called West Berlin for a conference. One pleasant afternoon we walked along the Berlin Wall from the Brandenburg Gate to Checkpoint Charlie. During that time, there were significant rancorous anti-Communist demonstrations in East Germany, primarily in the southern part. A German friend, with typical Prussian hubris, dismissed them. "Nothing will come of this, these are just the ineffective rumblings of a bunch of Bavarians."...

So now the cat is well and truly out of the bag. For years, as the number of immigrants to Britain shot up apparently uncontrollably, the question was how exactly this had happened. Was it through a fit of absent-mindedness or gross incompetence? Or was it not inadvertent at all, but deliberate? The latter explanation seemed just too outrageous. After all, a deliberate policy of mass immigration would have amounted to nothing less than an attempt to change the very make-up of this country without telling the electorate. There could not have been a more grave abuse of the entire...

Some of you may have read my article on cities with the most beautiful women, this however is about the countries with the most beautiful women. It's always possible to find a city with beautiful women in a land of not-so-amazingly beautiful women. These places on the other hand, are entirecountries with beautiful women. 10. Denmark I've been to Denmark many times, & I can say that I've not found anything rotten there to date. And definitely not the women, the women here are as striking as they come. A lot like their Swedish neighbours, the women of Denmark are...

With an ambitious new pipeline planned to run along the bed of the Baltic Sea, the Russian natural gas giant Gazprom is driving a political wedge between Eastern and Western Europe. While the Russian-German pipeline offers clear energy benefits to Western Europe, Central and Eastern European leaders fear it could lead to a new era of gas-leveraged Russian domination of the former Soviet bloc. With its gas wealth and eyebrow-raising network of personal ties, Russia has divided members of the European Union that have vowed to act collectively to protect their security. Currently, Russian gas has to be piped through...

A recent report of an ancient textile facility, of sorts, is turning heads.[1] Sifting through the debris on a cave floor in the Republic of Georgia, scientists recently discovered evidence that the early cave dwellers processed textiles in the cave. While searching for ancient pollen grains, they found tiny flax fibers in the dirt. Some of these fibers were woven, some were cut, and some were dyed black, gray, turquoise, or pink. They also discovered evidence that these people were processing fur (for clothing) and animal hides. What is surprising about the find is that this was supposedly happening 30,000...

Czechs are used to betrayal by their Western allies. It was at Munich in 1938 that British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain sealed their doom in exchange for a piece of paper promising "peace in our time." The fact that this further gutting of missile defense came on the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of Poland on Sept. 17, 1939, is an eerie coincidence. "Just after midnight I was informed in a telephone call by President Barack Obama that (his) administration had decided to pull out from the planned missile defense shield installations" in the Czech Republic and Poland, the...

I was reading an article from The New York Times and this jumped out at me: Although the White House denied that its decision was made to curry favor with the Kremlin, it took some satisfaction in comments by Russian leaders suggesting more flexibility. Obama advisers pointed to a few specific areas where they have won concessions from other countries. Russia, for example, has agreed to a framework for nuclear arms cuts and gave permission for American troops to fly to Afghanistan through its airspace.(emphasis added) Then I read an article on RFERL that had the following: BISHKEK -- A...

When Barack Obama was running for the White House, he posed as a man with a cool head in a crisis who would display calm resolve in the face of any thuggery from the world's rogue states. The candidate described by his aides as "no drama Obama" would have despised the label of a gambler. Yet his decision to abandon plans for a missile defence shield in central Europe amounts to nothing less than a colossal gamble – and one that history may yet condemn as irresponsible and reckless. Be in no doubt about the stakes: the defensive system that...

OBAMA ABANDONS OUR ALLIES This Morning, In “Move Likely To Cheer Moscow And Roil The Security Debate In Europe,” Obama “Told East European States He Is Backing Away From Plans For An Anti-Missile Shield There.” (Peter Spiegel, "U.S. Shelves Nuclear-Missile Shield," The Wall Street Journal, 9/17/09; Jana Mlcochova and Gabriela Baczynska, "U.S. Backs Away From Missile Shield In Europe," Reuters, 9/17/09) Today Is 70th Anniversary Of Soviet Invasion Of Poland. “For Poland, the timing of the announcement is particularly sensitive. Thursday marked the 70th anniversary of the Soviet invasion of eastern Poland following a pact between Moscow and Nazi Germany,...

Security: An Iranian mullah once said "a world without America and Zionism" was a real possibility. Our sellout of Eastern Europe and missile defense brings that dream closer to reality. It would take only one warhead."Is it possible for us to witness a world without America and Zionism?" Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad asked at a "World Without Zionism" conference in Tehran in 2005. "But you had best know that this slogan and this goal are attainable, and surely can be achieved." He added that Iran had a strategic "war preparation plan" for what it called "the destruction of Anglo-Saxon civilization." A...

Senator Inhofe was on Savage show tonight. He said the Star Wars missile defense for Poland and the Czech Republic were also for protection of the United States. Inhofe said there are three stages of an ICBM flight. Launch, midflight and terminal phase.