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Quote: October 27, 2009 MAYBE MULLAH OMAR IS SIMPLY AFRAID OF THE CHINESE Vahid Brown has the lowdown on the dustup between al-Qaida Core and the Afghan Taliban Posted on 27 October 2009 @ 13:11 GMT

Since you're probably not a regular reader of the trade publication Nucleonics Week, let me summarize an article that appeared in its Oct. 8 issue. It reported that Iran's supply of low-enriched uranium -- the potential feedstock for nuclear bombs -- appears to have certain "impurities" that "could cause centrifuges to fail" if the Iranians try to boost it to weapons grade. Now that's interesting. The seeming breakthrough in negotiations on Oct. 1 in Geneva -- where Iran agreed to send most of its estimated 1,500 kilograms of low-enriched uranium abroad for further enrichment -- may not have been exactly...

The next 100 years George Friedman Published 27 August 2009 Japan and Turkey form an alliance to attack the US. Poland becomes America’s closest ally. Mexico makes a bid for global supremacy, and a third world war takes place in space. Sounds strange? It could all happen. . . In 1492, Columbus sailed west. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed. These two events bracketed the European age. Once, Mayans lived unaware that there were Mongols, who were unaware there were Zulus. From the 15th century onwards, European powers collectively overwhelmed the world, creating the first truly global geopolitical system in...

Don't believe the hype about the decline of America and the dawn of a new Asian age. It will be many decades before China, India, and the rest of the region take over the world, if they ever do. "Power Is Shifting from West to East." Not really. Dine on a steady diet of books like The New Asian Hemisphere: The Irresistible Shift of Global Power to the East or When China Rules the World, and it's easy to think that the future belongs to Asia. As one prominent herald of the region's rise put it, "We are entering a...

Russia's energy giant Gazprom has signed a $2.5bn (£1.53bn) deal with Nigeria's state operated NNPC, to invest in a new joint venture. The new firm, to be called Nigaz, is set to build refineries, pipelines and gas power stations in Nigeria. Analysts say the move could further strengthen Russia's role in supplying natural gas to Europe. The agreement comes during a four-day African tour by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. As well as forming Nigaz, Russia is keen on developing a trans-African pipeline to transport Nigerian gas to Europe. This could further reinforce Gazprom's already-strong influence over Europe's energy supplies. 'Commodity-rich'...

<p>We are on the edge of one of those periods of history when the gimbals on which the established order is mounted shift and a new world order begins to emerge. And these are, almost always, the most frightening and turbulent of times.</p>

“We are very concerned about the economic developments in the U.S. economy,” the Chinese leader told reporters late last week. “We have lent a huge amount of money to the United States and of course we’re concerned about the security of our assets and, to be honest, I am a little bit worried.” In the rarefied and reserved world of public diplomacy, this is a smackdown. It’s like your banker calling you into his corner office and saying: “Cool it on the spending. Now.”

The soon-to-be prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu believes that "a national emergency" such as Israel's involvement in a major war would help him in his frantic attempts to form a new ruling coalition. Netanyahu, who is known as "Mr. Iran" in Israeli circles, has so far failed to gain the trust and support of opposition parties of Kadima and Labor. According to a report carried by Debka, which is believed to have close links to the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, Netanyahu is planning to settle for a provisional administration before calling for another early election in six months. "His main consideration...

JERUSALEM - An Israeli politician who based his election campaign on baiting the country's Arab minority, drawing accusations that he is racist demagogue, now seems likely to become the Jewish state's top diplomat. U.S., European and moderate Arab officials have maintained public silence on the issue of Avigdor Lieberman's ascent, but privately acknowledge serious concern. An emerging coalition deal expected to be wrapped up in the coming days would anoint Lieberman foreign minister at a time when Israel's international image is suffering from its bloody war in Gaza and last month's election of a hawkish government likely to be at...

Economic Crisis Poses Threat To Global Stability by Tom Gjelten Morning Edition, February 18, 2009 · Around the world, unemployment is rising and incomes are falling, and it isn't clear how long the recession will last or how deep it will get. The global economic situation is so serious that the head of U.S. intelligence agencies now says it has surpassed terrorism as the top threat to national security. National Intelligence Director Dennis Blair's dramatic report last week — that the economic crisis is now the United States' top "near-term security concern" — caught some members of Congress by surprise....

In a move likely to stoke concerns in Tokyo, Washington and throughout Asia, China plans to greatly expand the reach and firepower of its navy by building at least two nuclear-powered aircraft carriers. Analysts believe China is expanding its naval power as part of a push toward strategic dominance over the western Pacific, including the waters that surround Japan. Military sources said the first nuclear-powered flattops would be constructed in 2020 or later. China will begin construction of two conventional aircraft carriers this year. According to sources, a meeting was held in Beijing on Dec. 30 among military officials. A...

HERZLIYA -- Israel has a year or so in which to attack Iran's nuclear facilities preemptively, an Israeli legislator and weapons expert said on Wednesday. Israeli forces could pull off successful strikes independently, Isaac Ben-Israel said, though these would only delay, rather than end, Iran's progress towards atomic weaponry. Echoing government assessments that Iran is about a year away from making enough enriched uranium for a bomb, Ben-Israel, a member of parliament's Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, said the window for last-ditch military action was closing. "Last resort means when you reach the stage when everything else failed. When is...

MOSCOW - The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday Georgia's expanding military presence on the borders of Abkhazia and South Ossetia continued to be a matter for grave concern. It said the Georgian military and police presence called for "special attention on the part of the UN and other international organizations operating in the region." A week ago, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference that, "EU monitors working in areas adjacent to South Ossetia and Abkhazia have been reporting a buildup of Georgian military units and special forces near the borders with South Ossetia and Abkhazia, and...

Western powers believe that Iran is running short of the raw material required to manufacture nuclear weapons, triggering an international race to prevent it from importing more, The Times has learnt. Diplomatic sources believe that Iran's stockpile of yellow cake uranium, produced from uranium ore, is close to running out and could be exhausted within months. Countries including Britain, the US, France and Germany have started intensive diplomatic efforts to dissuade major uranium producers from selling to Iran.

US and Egyptian warships were scouring the Gulf of Aden and Red Sea Tuesday, Jan. 20 to waylay an Iranian freighter carrying scores of heavy rockets for delivery to Hamas. DEBKAfile's exclusive sources report they were acting on intellligence that a ship loaded with an estimated 60 tons of arms to replenish Hamas depleted war stocks had set out from the Iranian Persian Gulf port of Bandar Abbas on Jan. 17. Our sources reveal that the arms-smuggling vessel started its voyage as the Iran-Hedayat and changed its name in mid sea to Famagustus registered to Panama. The captain was ordered...

Commander in Chief, a PC game that puts players in President Obama’s shoes, launches tomorrow, Inauguration Day. Just like the President, players immediately face the same problems and challenges as in the real world – the economy, controlling the military, national security and terrorism, natural disasters, alternative energy sources, and many others – all with the persistent threat of a terrorist attack on a major U.S. city. A game trailer can be seen at www.commander-in-chief.net. The game can be played alone, or, with an Internet connection up to 16 friends. Commander in Chief is played on a detailed 3D world...

Venezuela's Chavez says Obama has "stench" of Bush Sat Jan 17, 2009 4:44pm EST CAMPO CARABOBO, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday Barack Obama had the "stench" of his predecessor as U.S. president and was at risk of being killed if he tries to change the American "empire." Most world leaders expect a new era of U.S. foreign relations when Obama, a Democrat, is sworn in as president on Tuesday after Republican George W. Bush's eight years in the White House. But Chavez said frayed ties with Washington were unlikely to improve despite the departure of...

WASHINGTON -- U.S. security and law-enforcement officials say they have fresh evidence of recent efforts by Iran to evade sanctions and acquire metals from China used in high-tech weaponry, including long-range nuclear missiles, the Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Iran's efforts are detailed in a series of recent emails and letters between Iranian companies and foreign suppliers seen by The Wall Street Journal.

U.S. security and law-enforcement officials say they have fresh evidence of recent efforts by Iran to evade sanctions and acquire metals from China used in high-tech weaponry, including long-range nuclear missiles. Iran's efforts are detailed in a series of recent emails and letters between Iranian companies and foreign suppliers seen by The Wall Street Journal. Business records show one Iranian company, ABAN Commercial & Industrial Ltd., has contracted through an intermediary for more than 30,000 kilograms (about 66,000 pounds) of tungsten copper -- which can be used in missile guidance systems -- from Advanced Technology & Materials Co. Ltd. of...

Israel Police and the Shin Bet on Thursday indicted an Israeli citizen living in Argentina for allegedly attempting to spy on Israel on behalf of Iran. Mauricio Segel, who is a resident of Argentina, was arrested three weeks ago. He has been indicted on charges of holding contact with a foreign agent. According to the indictment, Segel went to Tehran's embassy in Argentina in 2006 and offered to help Iranian nationals gain access to Israeli documents. The defendant allegedly supplied the Iranians with his own passport and identification card and offered to provide more information in return for money

CARACAS: President Hugo Chávez, buffeted by falling oil prices that threaten to damage his efforts to establish a Socialist-inspired state, is quietly courting Western oil companies once again.

WASHINGTON — After focusing on the ailing economy, President-elect Barack Obama stepped into some of the hottest foreign policy issues this weekend, confirming a clear policy of engagement with Iran, vowing to press immediately for Middle East peace and saying flatly that “we are going to close Guantanamo.” Speaking on ABC’s “This Week,” Mr. Obama reiterated his intention to work directly with Iran — a country whose president has called for Israel’s destruction — to improve relations and halt a nuclear program that Tehran describes as peaceful but which the West believes is not. But he added that Iran would...

<p>A secret Israeli plan for airstrikes on Iran's nuclear facility was scuttled last year when the United States rebuffed Israel in its request to fly through Iraqi airspace, according to a New York Times report on a covert U.S. program.</p>

U.S. Rejected Aid for Israeli Raid on Iranian Nuclear Site By DAVID E. SANGER WASHINGTON — President Bush deflected a secret request by Israel last year for specialized bunker-busting bombs it wanted for an attack on Iran’s main nuclear complex and told the Israelis that he had authorized new covert action intended to sabotage Iran’s suspected effort to develop nuclear weapons, according to senior American and foreign officials. White House officials never conclusively determined whether Israel had decided to go ahead with the strike before the United States protested, or whether Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel was trying to...

excerpt: 'Yes We Can' — Change for the Americas Coming from Below Hemispheric resistance to the first attempt by the U.S. to force the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) on every nation on this continent led to its eventual defeat at the IV Summit of the Americas, held in Argentina in 2005. The organizers of the April 2009 V Summit of the Americas had hoped to focus on a social agenda of providing a decent living for all those who call the “Americas” their home. The emergence of the PPA, or Bush’s Plan B for the FTAA, represents...

OPEC's top producer says oil-producing states in the Middle East will not respond to Iran's call to halt crude supplies to Israeli supporters. "The oil producers who need their income ... are not going to do that," Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal said at a Wednesday news conference. "The use of oil, especially at this time, is an idea that is at least past its worth, he said. "The important thing, oil is not a weapon. You can't reverse a conflict by using oil."

Iran has told Egypt it is ready to treat people wounded in the Israeli assault on Gaza and is seeking permission to set up a field hospital nearby, the Iranian Foreign Ministry said Monday. Iranian officials have condemned Israel for its attacks and expressed support for the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, criticizing what they say is the silence of some Arab states. Egypt, the only Arab state to border Gaza, has been a focus for protests by hardline Iranians who say Cairo has not done enough to help the Palestinians. Egypt has partly blamed Hamas for the violence because it...

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia's military leaders approved a plan by the navy on Sunday to station warships permanently in friendly ports across the globe. Underfunded since the 1991 break up of the Soviet Union , the Russian navy has been reasserting itself over the last year by chasing Somali pirates around the coast of east Africa and steaming across the Atlantic to visit allies in South America. "The General Staff has given its position on this issue and it fully supports the position of the (Navy's) main committee," deputy chief of staff Colonel-General Anatoly Nogovitsyn told RIA Novosti news agency....

Nothing Screams "Drill Here Drill Now" more than this story. Mirfeysal Bagherzadeh, a brigadier-general of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards and head of one of the country's "Islamic Police" called for a repeat of the 1972 Oil Embargo. He demanded that OPEC Countries should cut off of Oil Supplies to Israel's allies. Thirty-six years ago, the Islamic countries shut off Oil supplies to the US because of friendship with Israel. In the intervening years we have done nothing to prevent another embargo. We have enough Oil reserves to supply the US with fuel for over 100 years, yet we still refuse...

DAMASCUS (AFP) – Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Saturday met Iran's Supreme National Security Council chief Saeed Jalili to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, the official SANA news agency reported. It said Jalili, who arrived in Damascus on Friday night, and Assad held talks on "the dangerous situation the Palestinian people of Gaza are going through because of the Israeli aggression." They discussed the "consequences on security and stability in the region of the Israel's aggression continuing" and "ways Islamic countries can force Israel to immediately stop the massacres against the Palestinian people, end the Gaza blockade and...

For the first time since the operation in Gaza got underway, IDF artillery cannons started to shell targets in the Strip. IDF artillery cannons began pounding the eastern sector of the Gaza Strip around 4 pm Saturday. Ynet correspondent Ron Ben-Yishai reported that portable artillery batteries are engaging in a heavy bombardment of the area. This is the first time in three years that the IDF has fired artillery shells at Gaza targets. Most shells are landing in what the Palestinians characterize as the "security zone" adjacent to the Gaza Strip fence. The IDF is targeting rocket launching sites in...

The truth of the matter is that when it comes to her enemies, Israel has a very tiny margin of error. What makes that particularly dangerous is the most radical of its Hamas, Hezballah and Iran, enemies do not hate Israel because they want to live on the land, they hate Israel because they are a non-Muslim contamination of their caliphate and their society. These are societies that are trying to build an earth that is ruled by Shariah Law and Israel is a constant reminder of the freedom and democracy that is NOT offered in a Muslim society. Hell,...

NEW DELHI: Pakistan on Friday was back to its intransigent ways, batting aside India's demand for action against perpetrators of 26/11 and putting paid to any hope that it might bend under international pressure. The defiance came through clearly through the statements of Pakistan's foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi who ruled out extradition of any terrorist to India, while audaciously declaring that Pakistan had not detained the wanted jihadi leader Maulana Masood Azhar. Not just that, he claimed that Pakistan did not even know where Azhar was. In fact, Qureshi had the gall to declare, "There is no terrorist infrastructure...

Little coverage has been given to Israel's REAL opponent in this conflict IRAN. The Islamic Republic created by Jimmy Carter is described as one of the chief arms provider of Hamas, but their control of the terrorist group go WAY beyond giving them weapons to kill with. Dr. Walid Phares believes that Iran deliberately pushed Hamas to provoke Israel at a time "between" the two Presidential administrations and before the Israeli and Palestinian elections: Timing the Hamas end to the cease fire between two American presidencies in Washington and just before the Israeli and Palestinian elections, the Iranian Mullahs thought...

ISRAEL has taken out its most senior Hamas scalp, Nizar Rayan, dispensing with efforts to avoid civilian casualties to kill him at home with family, as its bombardment of the Gaza Strip entered a seventh day. Israeli warplanes yesterday pounded about 20 targets, including a mosque in Gaza, as Hamas ordered a "day of wrath" against Israel over the killing of Rayan, who died with his four wives and 11 of his children. Officials warned Hamas had acquired dozens of Iranian-made Fajr-3 missiles, raising fears the nuclear warheads at Dimona, 30km east of Beersheba, had fallen within the Islamic militants'...

That's a view emerging from the conservative end of the spectrum of Middle East policy thinkers here at a time when the pro-Israel community is grappling with how to deal with the issue between presidential administrations. John Bolton, the former Bush administration U.N. ambassador and nuclear proliferation negotiator, raised eyebrows when he said as much at a forum two weeks ago at the American Enterprise Institute, where he is a fellow. This week he elaborated in a conference call organized by The Israel Project. "I think unfortunately it's pretty close to inevitable," Bolton said, referring to Tehran's developing a nuclear...

<p>Russia faces a particularly nasty version of the global recession (at a minimum), and perhaps an economic "perfect storm." Regardless of how bad its economy gets, two broad political trends, each carrying profound implications for Russia's foreign policy and U.S.-Russian relations, are bound to emerge.</p>

BEIJING, Dec. 28 (Xinhua) -- The world has undergone remarkable changes this year, but international security situation on the whole remained stable with "peace" and "development" prevailing as the themes of the times. In 2008, the world has continued moving toward multi-polarization, resulting in a distinctive shift of international forces. Globalization is developing in depth and regional cooperation is gathering momentum. The world has been confronted with one hotspot issue after another and non-traditional threats are increasing. The world economic growth took a turn for the worse due to the outbreak of the global financial crisis. WORLD MULTI-POLARIZATION STRENGTHENED In...

The United States and Russia are bidding hard against each other to give the Lebanese army heavy weapons, a contest which Israeli diplomacy has failed to deter, DEBKAfile's military sources report. Defense ministry official Amos Gilead arrived in Moscow Friday, Dec. 19 only to watch his train leaving the station: Sophisticated Russian S-300 air defense systems were already speeding toward Tehran to guard its nuclear sites and MiG-29 fighter jets had been pledged to Lebanon. In Washington, too, Israeli diplomats pleaded in vain with Bush administration leaders to refrain from giving Lebanon tanks and a fleet of combat helicopters. Ten...

The Bush administration moved Wednesday to clamp down financially on a New York City business suspected of acting as a front company for Iran's Bank Melli, which has been accused of providing support to Iran's nuclear program. "This scheme to use a front company set up by Bank Melli - a known proliferator - to funnel money from the United States to Iran is yet another example of Iran's duplicity," said Stuart Levey, the Treasury Department's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence.

MOSCOW - Russia's top military officer warned that Moscow felt threatened by U.S. policy in ex-Soviet Central Asia and claimed that Washington was attempting to establish new military bases there, news agencies reported Tuesday. Gen. Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the Russian military's general staff, said Washington planned to establish a foothold in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, Interfax and ITAR-Tass reported. U.S. officials denied there were plans. Makarov also said U.S. support for bids by Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO made Russia feel threatened. He cast doubt that relations between the countries would improve under Barack Obama. "According to our...

Unless effective measures are taken soon, Iran will have a nuclear bomb within a year according to worst-case assessments, or a few years under more optimistic ones. President-elect Barack Obama is publicly committed to a policy of engagement with Iran. The question is no longer whether to engage, but how to do so. Iran has good strategic reasons for seeking a nuclear capability and it is questionable whether any combination of inducements, positive or negative, can elicit a change in its policies. We will only know, however, if a sincere and comprehensive attempt is made. Time is the biggest problem.

TBILISI (Reuters) – Georgia said on Saturday hundreds of Russian soldiers had moved into a disputed Georgian village near breakaway South Ossetia and had pushed out Georgian police, fuelling fears of confrontation. A regional police official and an interior ministry spokesman said between 500 and 600 Russian soldiers were in the village of Perevi, close to the de facto border with the region.

Tel Aviv is planning to buy a new generation of "smart bombs" that would "easily hit targets in Lebanon and Syria from Israel's airspace". "This would provide Israel with unprecedented stand-off capabilities," the Israeli daily Jerusalem Post quoted an industry source as saying. "Planes would not even have to leave Israeli airspace to be able to hit targets in Syria and Lebanon." The smart bomb which is called JDAM-ER (Joint Direct Attack Munitions-Extended Range) is being built by Boeing and the Royal Australian Air Force. According to the report, the JDAM is a low-cost guidance kit that converts existing unguided...

TBILISI, Georgia (AP) -- Russian troops retook a village near the breakaway region of South Ossetia Saturday just hours after withdrawing, Georgia's Interior Ministry and European Union peace observers said. Georgian police had already moved into Perevi on Saturday to remove Russian-built roadblocks when Russian troops and helicopters unexpectedly returned, said Shota Utiashvili, a ministry spokesman. "They left, and we went in with about 40 people to remove the roadblocks," he said. "While they were doing this, the Russians deployed a battalion of special forces with helicopters and armor and told the Georgian policemen to get out immediately," he said.

The French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, made his reputation as a fierce proponent of human rights, founding Doctors Without Borders and famously helping to carry rice up the beach in Mogadishu, Somalia, in the middle of severe civil warfare in 1992. Mr. Kouchner, a Socialist, shocked many supporters when he agreed to join the center-right cabinet of President Nicolas Sarkozy. But he shocked them again on Wednesday when he admitted in an interview that “there is permanent contradiction between human rights and the foreign policy of a state, even in France.” Speaking to the newspaper Le Parisien for the 60th...

Iranian ships and submarines have deployed an undisclosed number of Iranian troops and weapons at the Eritrean port town of Assab, according to opposition groups, foreign diplomats, and NGOs in the area. The city of Assab sits at the Horn of Africa in the Arabian Sea. As such, Assab offers a strategic position as the world nervously eyes the precarious routes through which a seaborne oil traverses daily. Local sources have reported that Iran recently sent soldiers and a large number of long-range and ballistic missiles. The military basing came after Iran signed an accord with Eritrea to revamp the...

The remarks by Pakistan's foreign minister, Shah Mehmood Qureshi, who also insisted he would not hand over any suspects in the Mumbai attacks, come amid mounting tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours. India has said it is keeping all options open following last month's carnage by the Mumbai terrorists, who killed more than 170 people. "We do not want to impose war, but we are fully prepared in case war is imposed on us," said Mr Qureshi.........."

BEIJING: China on Thursday called upon India and Pakistan to intensify the process of dialogue and cooperation in order to safeguard peace and stability in South Asia. "It is also in line with the requirements for regional peace and stability and the common expectation of the international community," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao while responding to a question regarding last week's terrorist attack in Mumbai. China is showing signs it is worried about heightening of tensions between India and Pakistan because it might affect the delicate diplomatic balance in the region, sources said. Worsening of conditions between India and...

Israel is drawing up plans to attack Iran's nuclear facilities and is prepared to launch a strike without backing from the US, it has been reported. Officials in the Israeli Defence Ministry told the Jerusalem Post that while they prefer to act in consultation with the US, they were preparing plans that would allow them to act in isolation. "It is always better to coordinate," a senior Defence Ministry official told the newspaper. "But we are also preparing options that do not include coordination."