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According to the AIVD, the Dutch secret service, the terrorist threat from radical Islamic quarters is increasing, both in the Netherlands and elsewhere in the world. In its annual report for 2007 the AIVD also confirms what other intelligence sources have said previously: al-Qaeda is gaining influence after being effectively out of action for years. Each year the secret service presents a central theme in its annual report. This year it's international cooperation and the exchange of information between intelligence services. The AIVD explains that such cooperation might be necessary but it isn't without its complications. The identities of intelligence...

ZHUHAI, China — Russia's aerospace companies were out in force as the world's aircraft makers gathered Monday for China's biggest air show, looking to the booming Chinese market to drive sales as their industry's growth slows elsewhere. Boeing Co., Airbus Industrie and other companies from 18 countries were displaying aircraft, engines and other equipment at the five-day exhibition, which starts Tuesday in this southern Chinese boomtown near Hong Kong. Russian companies were displaying warplanes and civilian aircraft, as well as missiles and military electronics, reflecting China's status as Moscow's leading arms export market and Russian ambitions to expand in commercial...

World briefing Irresistible rise of the dictators' club Simon Tisdall Tuesday June 6, 2006 Guardian Tony Blair's promotion of shared global values and inclusive institutions in his Georgetown speech last month took little account of the rise and rise of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. Few may yet have heard of it. But out of the east comes a radically different paradigm for 21st-century international organisation, short on idealism and long on hard-headed self-interest. The "universal" principles of "liberty, democracy and justice" lauded by Mr Blair are hardly its driving force. Founded by China, the five-year-old SCO groups together like-minded authoritarian...

Russian President Vladimir Putin has praised the growing international stature of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization -- but it may also soon become more controversial, as its members consider whether to welcome Iran into the fold.

Former CIA undercover agent: KGB and GRU former intelligence operators assist Hezbollah to penetrate the US Hezbollah - the Iranian-backed Lebanese terrorist organization - has more American blood on its hands than any Islamic terrorist ring with the sole exception of al-Qaeda, The American Spectator writes. Last week FBI Director Robert Muller announced that though the FBI and Customs had caught others, Hezbollah had succeeded in smuggling some operatives across the Mexican border into the US, he said. "This was an occasion in which Hezbollah operatives were assisting others with some association with Hezbollah in coming to the United States....

CARACAS, April 4 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his country is ready to buy Russian-built fighter jets, as the United States refuses to supply spare parts for its F-16 jets. At a military ceremony on Monday, Chavez expressed his appreciation for Russia's help, saying Venezuela will buy fighter jets from Russia and "keep them here to protect this land." He also thanked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for approving the sale of 33 military helicopters and 100,000 AK-47 assault rifles to Venezuela. Chavez also blamed Washington for forbidding Brazilian manufacturers from selling training aircraft to his country on...

Venezuela has become an important customer of Russian weapons, a senior government official said when announcing a record sale of armament in 2005, AP reported. Mikhail Dmitriyev, the head of the Federal Service for Military and Technical Cooperation, advised that Russia could sell MiG strike aircraft to Venezuela. Queried about Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez' remarks on the possibility of buying MiG's, Dmitriyev answered that no concrete deal has been made. However, "if Venezuela desires to procure MiG's, we are ready to cooperate," he noted. According to the official, Russia is also determined to open a maintenance site for any weapons...

RUSSIA and China have bowed to pressure from the US and Europe to send Iran to the UN Security Council for possible sanctions over its nuclear program. After months of resistance, the Russian and Chinese foreign ministers abandoned their softly-softly approach towards Tehran's nuclear ambitions at a late-night private dinner in London at the home of British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw. They signed a joint statement yesterday asking the International Atomic Energy Agency to formally refer all issues related to Iran's nuclear capacity and compliance to the Security Council, where sanctions and other penalties could be imposed. Bush administration officials...

MOSCOW - Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday boasted that Russia has missiles capable of penetrating any missile defense system, the ITAR-Tass and RIA-Novosti news agencies reported. "Russia last year tested missile systems that no one in the world has and won't have for a long time," the news agencies quoted him as telling a news conference. "These missile systems don't represent a response to a missile defense system, but they are immune to that. They are hypersonic and capable of changing their flight path." Putin said he had shown the working principles of the missile systems to French President...

Putin Touts Russia's Missile CapabilitiesPutin Boasts That Russia's Missiles Can Penetrate Any Missile Defense System, News Agencies Report By VLADIMIR ISACHENKOV Associated Press Writer The Associated Press MOSCOW Jan 31, 2006 — President Vladimir Putin boasted Tuesday that Russia has missiles capable of penetrating any missile defense system, Russian news reports said. "Russia … has tested missile systems that no one in the world has," the ITAR-Tass, Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies quoted him as saying at a news conference. "These missile systems don't represent a response to a missile defense system, but they are immune to that. They...

Deputies of the Parliamentary Assembly of Europe (PACE) gathered for a meeting today in an attempt to organize another Nuremberg trial over communism. The draft resolution to internationally condemn "the crimes of totalitarian communist regimes" will become one of the key points of discussion during the PACE session which opened on January 23rd. It goes without saying that the resolution touches upon Russia directly because Russia was destined to inherit the biggest communist regime in history. The author of the project, Swedish deputy Joran Lindblad, does not see any fundamental differences between the communist regime in the USSR and the...

The unpredictable flight trajectory of the Russian missile makes it immune to destruction The successful test launch of the Topol-M missile has proved that the up-to-date Russian warhead is capable of subduing the USA's air defense, Russian military specialists say. Russian strategic troops performed the test launch of the intercontinental ballistic missile RS-12M Topol on November 1. The chairman of the press service of the troops, Colonel Alexander Vovk, stated after the test launch that the missile successfully hit the conditional target on the Balkhash range ground in Kazakhstan. It is worthy of note that yesterday's launch of the Topol-M...

U.S. and European security experts have become increasingly alarmed by the actions of Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko -- in particular, his growing diplomatic, economic and military ties to global antagonists China, Iran and Russia. With the support of this new "axis of evil," Mr. Lukashenko -- Europe's last remaining dictator -- has initiated a Cold War campaign against the West and the United States Over the past year, Mr. Lukashenko has made a determined effort to strengthen his contacts with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an avowed anti-Semite and self-proclaimed enemy of the West. Since 1993, Iran has been a key...

Venezuela is planning a "buying spree" for military equipment that goes beyond the country's legitimate needs, the State Department said Friday. In recent days, the United States has sought to block proposed sales of military planes and other equipment to Venezuela by Spain and Brazil. The transactions are part of what "we would consider an outsized military buildup in Venezuela," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

Today, in Severodvinsk there will be a ceremony of delivery to China’s Naval Forces a submarine of project 636. Before the end of this year, China will receive another submarine and destroyer of project 956EM. The naval contracts for China amounted to almost half of Russian arms export this year. Russian state mediator Rosoboronexport signed with the Chinese Defense Ministry the $2 billion contract for eight submarines of project 636 armed with missile complex Club-S on May 3, 2002. The contracts for building five subs were given to “Admiralty Shipyards,” to Sevmashpredpriyatie (two), and to Krasnoye Sormovo (one). The main...

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) accused the United States on Friday of pursuing a dictatorial foreign policy and said mounting violence could derail progress toward bringing peace and democracy to Iraq. Putin also criticized the West for setting double-standards on terrorism, pursuing Islamic fundamentalists in Afghanistan and Iraq while giving refuge to "terrorists" demanding Chechnya's independence from Russia. The Kremlin leader's tough remarks came on a visit to former Cold War ally India, where he and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh issued a joint call for greater cooperation in stabilizing and rebuilding Iraq....