Russia and the Middle East
· 1 hour ago by Matthew Wilson

Where does Moscow stand in the fight against Islamism and the global war against terror? Facing the Chechen threat at home, the Russian government might be sympathetic to U.S. and even Israeli concerns. Not so. Despite U.S. declarations that Washington and Moscow were “increasingly united by common values” and that Russia was “a partner in the war on terror,”[1] examination of Russian president Vladimir Putin’s policy toward the Middle East suggests that Moscow has become an impediment both to the fight against Islamist terror and Washington’s desire to promote democracy in the Middle East. The 2006 U.S. National Security Strategy reinforces that U.S. policymakers should not only “encourage Russia to respect the values of freedom and democracy at home” but also cease “imped[ing] the cause of freedom and democracy” in regions vital to the war on terror.[2] While Russian officials denounce U.S. criticism, the Kremlin’s coddling of Iranian hard-liners, its reaction to the “cartoon jihad,” its invitation to Hamas to Moscow, and its flawed Chechen policy all cast doubt on Moscow’s motivations.

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Get Yer Cheap Nukes Now
· 1 day ago by Matthew Wilson

Russia is following the IKEA model, promising reliable, inexpensive goods that are easy to assemble. Only in this case, the goods are nuclear-power plants.

Are discount nuclear plants a good idea? Russia thinks so. The Kremlin has set about recasting Russia’s once top-secret nuclear industry as the world’s leading mass marketer of cheap, reliable reactors. As energy prices soar, nuclear power has been gaining in popularity, and Russia is the market leader in cut-price reactors. Current models of its VVER1000 cold-water reactors cost just $750 per kilowatt of capacity, compared with $1,900 to $2,300 for a French reactor. Russia also offers small reactors of 300 to 400 megawatts for countries with small budgets. “Our power stations are not a bit worse than anyone else’s,” says Sergei Shmatko, the president of Atomstroyexport, Russia’s atomic-power-station construction company. “My dream,” he adds, “is to make the export and construction of our nuclear stations as simple and as fast as putting IKEA furniture together.”

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General Gareyev: Russia changing its military doctrine
· 2 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti military commentator Viktor Litovkin) – The Academy of Military Sciences will hold a conference in the Defense Ministry in Moscow on January 20. Its president, Army General Makhmut Gareyev, will deliver a report on Russia’s new military doctrine. Military leaders and academics will discuss the changes and amendments to this key document, which will be presented to the military community.

General Gareyev discusses the new doctrine in an interview with Viktor Litovkin.

Question: Why is Russia going to adopt a new military doctrine? What new features will it have? Why does it concern the Academy of Military Sciences, a public organization?

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The Bear is back in business
· 2 days ago by Matthew Wilson

In the last seven years, he has brought Russia back into international reckoning. Today, the Russians feel sufficiently confident to be able to cancel their production sharing agreement with Royal Dutch Shell in Sakhalin-2 and, Gazprom, the Russian energy giant has taken over. There is steely determination in approach, bordering on ruthlessness at times. Chechnya and the Dubrovka theatre hostage episode are indications of the latter; the manner in which the vast energy resources have been used as a strategic and tactical weapon is a sign of a single-minded desire — to protect Russia’s national interests.

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Russia: Back to the future?
· 3 days ago by Matthew Wilson

It’s no longer politically incorrect to be skeptical about Vladimir Putin’s Russia. In fact, said a leading European expert on Russia, speaking privately in Washington, “Russia is a far different political construct than the one we Europeans thought we were dealing with for the past five years.”

The authority’s other conclusions:

Parts of Russia are still stuck in mid-19th century while other parts of the economy are already globalized. Nothing indicates Russia’s new nomenklatura wishes to emulate the political democracies of the rest of Europe. After the Cold War, it was a “huge mistake” to assume otherwise. Besides, no democracy is possible without a vibrant middle class, and Russia is yet to develop one, let alone a satisfied strata in the middle between extreme wealth and extreme poverty.

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Beware Russia, energy superpower
· 3 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Putin’s control of oil and gas may bring the West to its knees.

In a world concerned with terrorism, genocide and nuclear-powered despots, Vladimir Putin’s Russia is assembling an economic machine powerful enough to force Europe, the US and Asia to their knees.

It does not involve uranium, explosives or suicide bombers, but the natural resources that power the global economy. Russia will soon exert such sway over the supply of oil and natural gas that the OPEC crisis of the mid-1970s could seem trivial. Its pipelines will flow east into Asia and west into Europe and tankers will sail from Siberia to California.

Russia will soon have such control over energy supply and pricing that it will be able to do anything it wants politically.

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Russia Delivers Missiles to Syria
· 3 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Moscow, Jan 16 (Prensa Latina) One of the Russian companies recently sanctioned by the US, the Machine-building Design Bureau, handed over to Syria the Strelets missile systems it had contracted, Valeri Kashin, chief designer of that firm said Tuesday.

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Russia Pledges Military Cooperation to Ortega’s Nicaragua
· 3 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Russia will resume military and technical cooperation with Nicaragua, the head of the Russian Audit Chamber, former Prime Minister Sergei Stepashin, told journalists Jan. 12 in Managua.

“The whole Nicaraguan Army and other power agencies use arms and vehicles mostly of the Soviet and Russian production,” Stepashin said. “We do not return to a bare field in Nicaragua, but resume our relations on a very serious basis, both technological and human.”

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Ivanov: Russian Missiles Delivered to Iran
· 3 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov has confirmed that Russia has sold new anti-aircraft missiles to Iran.

Ivanov told reporters in Moscow Tuesday that Russia has supplied the TOR-M1 air defense missiles, in keeping with a contract between the two countries.

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Cold War was paradise compared with modern threats - Ivanov
· 3 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW, January 16 (Itar-Tass) – The world is changing dynamically, and threats to it are increasing at kaleidoscopic rate, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said at the first session of the Public Council on Tuesday.

“The times of the “Cold War” compared with today were a paradise; all was predictable and calculated in advance then,” he said.

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Moscow's Mideast myopia
· 4 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Russia sees its relations with Iran as leverage to influence diplomacy in the wider Middle East, where the U.S. has successfully sought to exclude the Kremlin since the end of the Cold War. Russia’s other self-interest has been to exempt from sanctions the Bushehr nuclear reactor that it is building for Iran (to be in operation later this year), and to ward off a UN-sponsored financial squeeze on Iran that might put at risk the profits Russia hopes to earn from providing nuclear fuel for the reactor.

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Overtones ominous for 2007 global woes
· 5 days ago by Matthew Wilson

In the realm of foreign affairs, many issues will appear to be the same in 2007: the threat of global terrorism, the struggle in Iraq, tension in the Middle East, global warming, international drug trafficking, the spread of infectious diseases, the U.S trade deficit, etc.
The most pressing issues, however, and the ones most likely to plunge the world into crisis in the next year or two are interconnected:

? the spread of nuclear weapons;
? the ambitions of Russia and China; and
? the competition for energy resources.

A cloud over Putin

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“Freedom vs. Non-Freedom: A View from Russia”
· 5 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The story of the destruction of freedom in my own country, Russia, is sad. But this story should be told, should be known, and should be remembered—to avoid repeating it and in order one day to reverse it.

First, there was an assault on the people of Chechnya. Many Russian people thought that it was not their business to defend the freedom of the Chechen people. People in Chechnya lost their independence, their political rights and—many of them—their lives. Many Russians lost their lives as well.

Then there was an assault on the Russian media. This time many Russian people thought that it was not their business to defend the freedom of the media. As a result, the media lost its independence—first television channels, then radio stations and newspapers. And now the censors are turning their attention to the Internet.

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Russia Wields A Crude Weapon
· 5 days ago by Matthew Wilson

It seems no longer in doubt: Post-Soviet Russia, under President Vladimir Putin, sees its immense energy resources not merely as a means to economic advancement, but as a weapon to get back in the Superpower game with the U.S.

Make no mistake, Russia’s energy weapon is indeed formidable. It has the largest national gas reserves in the world and is thought to be No. 3 in oil assets. But last year’s production of 9.2 million barrels a day was more than any other country’s, including Saudi Arabia.

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Hugging Russian bear may lead to a mauling for EU
· 5 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Not for the first or last time, Europe ignored American warnings. Now EU free-traders who believe in the efficiency-enhancing effects of the free flow of capital see their theoretical belief foundering on the rock of their energy dependence. Russia has billions available to invest in overseas companies. It refuses to allow foreign investment in its own renationalised energy infrastructure, but insists on its right to buy up the energy infrastructure of other countries. Result: the Russians have pipeline monopolies into Europe, and want to extend the reach of those monopolies beyond Russia’s borders, deep into the heart of Europe.

Gazprom is believed to be planning to make a bid for Centrica, the British gas distributor that also supplies gas and electricity to 1.5m customers in nine American states. It will then move on to attempt takeovers of key energy infrastructure projects in America.

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The Middle East Press Cheers the Rise of Russia
· 5 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Many articles in the Middle Eastern press have been discussing Russia’s growing influence and activities in the region, which are in direct opposition to American policy and are playing a negative role in the war on terror. To date, it is unclear what the American government is doing about it. One thing is for certain: Russia has big plans for itself in the Middle East.

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Reporting from the Russian Front
· 17 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Russia is no longer Russia. It is now “Putin’s Russia,” a country ruled by Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, whose centralization of power and crackdown on the press have alarmed the West and all but stifled dissent.

Who is to blame for the former KGB spy’s election, in 2000, as president of one-sixth of the world’s landmass, and his re-election, with a stunning 70% of the vote, in 2004? Whose fault is it that, as Anna Politkovskaya writes in “ Putin’s Russia” (Henry Holt & Company, 255 pages, $25), “more than six thousand ex-KGB/FSB people followed Putin to power and now occupy the highest offices” in Russia?

According to Politkovskaya, the responsibility lies squarely on the shoulders of the Russian people: “It is we who are responsible for Putin’s policies, we first and foremost, not Putin. The fact that our reactions to him and his cynical manipulation of Russia have been confined to gossiping in the kitchen has enabled him to do all the things he has done in the past four years.”

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Russia to assist China in space
· 18 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW – Russia will cooperate with China on space projects, but will not transfer sensitive technologies that could enable Beijing to become a rival in a space race, the head of Russia?s space agency announced last week.

Anatoly Perminov, chief of Russia?s Federal Space Agency, said Moscow and Beijing would cooperate in robotic missions to the moon. He added, however, that Russia would maintain restrictions on sharing technology.

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Belarus-Russia gas dispute threatens Poland, Europe: officials
· 20 days ago by Matthew Wilson

WARSAW (AFP) – The dispute between Belarus and Moscow over natural gas prices threatens the energy security of Poland and the rest of Europe, an official at the Polish foreign ministry has said.
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“This problem poses a threat to us and this is why we have had heated debate in the past few months about Polish-Russian relations and relations between Europe and Russia,” Deputy Foreign Minister Pawel Kowal said Wednesday.

“Energy security today is a fundamental issue for Poland and we want to convince the rest of the world that it is also fundamental to Europe. This example is yet another illustration,” he said.

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tags: belarus , energy , europe , gas , poland , russia

The Kremlin's oil grab
· 29 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Big oil has a long history of having assets appropriated by hostile governments. Yet no one has been quite prepared for the land grab by Gazprom of a 50% stake in the Sakhalin-2 project.

This will come as a nasty blow to all overseas investors in President Putin’s Russia and emphasises the vulnerability of European energy supplies to the whims of the Kremlin.

The way in which the Russian authorities slowly tightened the noose on Shell can be seen as carefully orchestrated blackmail.

It will send shivers down the spine of BP investors who are heavily exposed to Russia through the TNKBP joint venture.

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Motherless Russia - Muslims and Chinese Vie For Huge Assets of Dying Nation
· 29 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Some think that France will be the first European country in modern times to be taken over by Muslims due to her very large, violent immigrant population and effeminate native populace. Others point to the Netherlands, from which native Dutch people are beginning to flee in the face of hostile Islamism among the immigrants in that densely-populated nation. But Russia—a huge nation with vast natural resources, thousands of nuclear warheads, and until recently a global superpower—-may be the first to go under. This seems possible even though Russia suffers little from the suicidal tolerance and multiculturalism that afflicts Western Europeans.

All the would-be conquerors, tyrannical tsars, and sinister Communists could not destroy Russia. Yet there is a force more powerful than all these, a force which can overcome comparatively minor factors such as wealth, size, and military power, and that is demographics. And it is demographics that will deliver Russia into the hands of chaos, Islam, China, or most likely a combination of all three.

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Lavrov Lashes Out at the West
· 30 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Wednesday blasted Western leaders for criticizing President Vladimir Putin to score points at home and contain Russian power.

Speaking at his traditional, end-of-the-year news conference, Lavrov stressed that Russia’s resurgence to the status of global player would continue and defended Russian policy in the former Soviet Union.

“We very often take into account recommendations when our partners pose concrete questions that are rooted in the conviction that we have something wrong somewhere, or when these questions are posed with an eye toward helping us correct ourselves in the international arena or domestically,” Lavrov told reporters at the Foreign Ministry’s offices in central Moscow.

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The Rise of Russia and the Coming Resource Wars
· 30 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Russia’s move in rejecting all outside help for the development of the Shtokmas field is a small subtle but potentially dangerous long term warning signal to nations that are low in natural resources, especially to the United States which imports the bulk of its oil. Let’s take this move one step further. If a nation or for that matter certain companies start to feel that the price of the commodity is too low they can hold back on developing new fields or maybe even drastically cut down production in anticipation of much higher prices in the future. Essentially oil, natural gas, coal etc can now be considered as money in the bank and the longer someone holds out the higher the rate of return (interest). Russia is loaded with dollars and it wants to drastically reduce its holdings and come up with an alternative currency to price oil and other natural resources. Don’t be surprised if they start of by giving the appearance that they want to embrace other currencies but actually make a push for their own resources to be priced in Russian Rubles.

Putin made the following comments on May 10, 2006

Our goods are traded on global markets. Why are not they traded in Russia?” Putin said. “The ruble must become a more widespread means of international transactions. To this end, we need to open a stock exchange in Russia to trade in oil, gas, and other goods to be paid for with rubles,” Putin said Wednesday.

In his Wednesday’s address, Putin urged work on achieving ruble convertibility sped up and completed by July, six months ahead of the original January 1, 2007 deadline.

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Assad Is in Moscow with Half-Billion Iranian Dollars to Upgrade His Army
· 31 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Syrian president Bashar Asad arrived in Moscow Monday night, Dec. 18, with two items for his host, President Vladimir Putin: A shopping list for weapons and half a billion dollars put up by Iran – in cash if needed – to purchase Russian arms.

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U.S. Relations With Russia Chill Despite Bush Eyeing Putin's Soul
· 31 days ago by Matthew Wilson

WASHINGTON — The now familiar face of deceased Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, the victim of a lethal dose of radiation poisoning, has left many Americans wondering if Russia today is as alien to them as it was during the Cold War.

Before dying, Litvinenko pointed his finger directly at Russian President Vladimir Putin, who denied committing any crime, and while the case will likely never be resolved, at least two U.S. senators say the former KGB colonel is moving the country away from democracy and other U.S. ideals.

“I think this guy is taking Russia backward,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C.

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The Kremlin’s Shell Game
· 31 days ago by Matthew Wilson

President Vladimir Putin believes that a powerful, state-controlled energy sector is the key to Russia’s economic future, even if he has to strong-arm foreign investors to get it. But trampling property rights is risky. It is as likely to leave Russia an economic pariah as an energy superpower.

The latest intrigue centers on a huge oil and natural-gas project off of Russia’s eastern coast. The project, Sakhalin 2, includes offshore platforms and the world’s biggest liquefied natural gas plant. It is also the single largest foreign investment in Russia. Royal Dutch Shell owns a 55 percent stake, but won’t for much longer from the looks of things.

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The Russians Have Never Stopped Spying on Us
· 32 days ago by Matthew Wilson

It is not for nothing that Vladimir Putin, the president of the Russian Republic, is a former member of the KGB. From its earliest days, Soviet Russia maintained a vast army of spies around the world and penetrating the United States remained high on its list of priorities.

In 2001, the Federal Bureau of Investigation arrested Robert Hanssen, a FBI special agent who was a Russian spy, judged to be one of the most damaging moles in U.S. history. As Bill Gertz, a Washington Times reporter, notes in his latest book, “Enemies: How America’s Foes Steal Our Vital Secrets—and How We Let It Happen”, “Today, nearly 140 nations and some 35 known and suspected terrorist groups target the United States through espionage, according to intelligence officials.”

“Over the past several decades, foreign agents have penetrated every U.S. national security agency except the Coast Guard. That includes the CIA, the FBI, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, the Defense Department, the State Department, and the Energy Department.”

My thoughts turned to espionage as the saga of the murder of Alexander Litvenko, a former member of the KGB’s counterintelligence now known as the Federal Security Service (FSB) unfolded. In 2000, he had fled with his wife and son to Great Britain where he was granted asylum. He became an author and outspoken critic of the Putin regime.

Silencing the enemies of Russian ambitions has a very long history including the famed ghulags of the Stalinist era.

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Report: Russia to refit nuclear missiles
· 32 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW — Russia will replace single nuclear warheads on some of its strategic missiles with multiple warheads, Russian news agencies reported Friday, allowing Moscow to modernize its nuclear arsenal while building fewer new missiles – and spending less.

In theory, the shift would also make it easier for Russian nuclear weapons to evade a U.S. missile defense system.

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Brazil close to purchase of Russian military gear, possibly helicopters
· 36 days ago by Matthew Wilson

BRASILIA, Brazil: Brazil is close to buying more Russian military equipment, including helicopters, Foreign Minister Celso Amorim said Thursday.

Amorim met Thursday with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov for talks ranging from the Middle East conflict to increasing bilateral trade, now at around US$4 billion (€3 billion) a year.

Amorim said the two nations plan to raise trade to US$10 billion (€7.5 billion) a year by 2010.

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tags: brazil , military , russia

The Resurgent Bear
· 36 days ago by Matthew Wilson

“I shall be an autocrat, that’s my trade.” Thus quipped the Empress of Russia, Catherine the Great, who stamped Russian authority onto the international stage, seizing vast swathes of territory and establishing Russia as a formidable power in the middle of the eighteenth century. It appears that Vladimir Putin has taken her example to heart.

Buoyed up by high energy prices, Putin has embarked on an aggressive foreign policy agenda which seeks to re-establish Russia as a pre-eminent international power in opposition to what it perceives to be American and European hegemony. This foreign policy agenda is based around two primary goals, namely tightening Russian control over the former Soviet Republics and tightening alliances and friendships with like-minded states and in areas of strategic importance.

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Russia's Great Gas Grab
· 36 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Russia is in effect muscling in on the highly promising but very expensive natural gas field Shell Oil and its Japanese partners Mitsui & Company and Mitsubishi Corporation have developed off Sakhalin Island, east of Siberia and north of Japan. Much of the construction work is done, but further work has been delayed by administrative considerations. The project had experienced substantial cost overruns. [Full disclosure: the author has worked as a consultant for both Mitsui and Mitsubishi over a considerable period of years in the past.]

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Russia, Argentina to move from words to action – Lavrov
· 37 days ago by Matthew Wilson BUENOS AIRES, December 13 (Itar-Tass) – Russia and Argentina will move from words to action in their bilateral relations, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said after talks with his Argentine counterpart Jorge Taiana on Wednesday.

“We have a large package of important agreements, which we have agreed to put on a practical footing,” Lavrov said.

He said, “The agreement on military-technical cooperation was signed in 2004. … Argentina has already ratified it. Russia is completing the procedure for making the document effective.”

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Syria President Bashar al-Assad Summoned to Moscow
· 37 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Night Watch: MOSCOW – Syria President Bashar al-Assad has been summoned by Moscow to meet Russia President Vladmir Putin on December 19. RIA reports the two are to discuss regional developments and bilateral issues, but for obvious reasons gives no details. So much can happen between now and then. The details revolve around Moscow’s concern over the Damascus-Tehran security axis as they prepare for next wave of fighting against Israel while at the same time Syria-Iran are increasing their control over Lebanon through the expanded coalition parties demonstrating in Beirut. Moscow knows the next wave of war will engulf the European forces in UNIFIL since Tehran had al-Qaeda designate them to be an enemy of Islam (Iran). [RIA]

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Russian general staff chief warns NATO against embracing Georgia, Ukraine
· 37 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW: NATO’s efforts to embrace Ukraine and Georgia would result in “serious problems and risks,” Russia’s military general staff chief said Wednesday, according to news reports.

Gen. Yuri Baluyevsky warned the alliance that putting Ukraine and Georgia on a fast accession track “will not strengthen regional security, the security of the Russian Federation or security of those nations,” the ITAR-Tass, Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies reported.

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tags: georgia , military , nato , russia , ukraine

The Nightmare Scenario
· 38 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Editor’s note: A former arms control expert in the Soviet Union argues that Bush, in his obsession with North Korea and Iran’s relatively minuscule nuclear threat, has effectively ignored the much more perilous threat of Russia’s 10,000-strong nuclear arsenal.

This is the gist of the scenario, called Vigilant Shield ‘07, for this year’s Homeland Defense Exercise, currently being conducted by the U.S. Northern Command:

This week, the international crisis that started in September with U.S. discovery of stepped-up uranium enrichment activities in Iran is expected to trigger a nuclear war between Russia and the United States. In the past few weeks, international attempts to defuse the crisis failed, as Russia, supported by China and North Korea, increased the readiness of its armed forces and made several threatening moves. In his address to the citizens of Russia, President Valdimir Putin called the situation “grave” and expelled U.S. diplomats from Moscow. President Bush invoked the War Powers Act. A Russian reconnaissance plane collided in midair with a U.S. plane in the vicinity of U.S. ballistic missile defense installations. It is expected that in the next few days, Russia will launch a strategic nuclear strike at American command centers and armed forces. The U.S. will retaliate.

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$20bn gas project seized by Russia
· 38 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Shell is being forced by the Russian government to hand over its controlling stake in the world’s biggest liquefied gas project, provoking fresh fears about the Kremlin’s willingness to use the country’s growing strength in natural resources as a political weapon.

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Budding Alliance: Iran-Russia Cooperation Deepens
· 39 days ago by Matthew Wilson

In the Face of UN Sanctions Over Weapons Fears, Russia and Iran Are Expanding Their Partnership Beyond Just Nuclear Ties.

While the United States, Britain and France are said to begin a push to finally bring a sanctions vote on Iran before the United Nations Security Council, Russia and Iran today announced the deepening nature of their nuclear partnership. In meetings between the head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, Golam Reza Agazade, and his Russian counterpart, Sergei Kiriyenko, the two increasingly close countries discussed ways to move forward and solidify their existing nuclear bond.

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Russia Has Energy Stranglehold Over Europe
· 43 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Marshall Goldman, a long-time student of Russia, says energy wealth and control over export pipelines have made Russia more powerful than at any time in its history. VOA’s Barry Wood reports the Harvard University professor spoke at a forum Thursday in Washington.

Professor Goldman told the Jamestown Foundation that Russia’s post-cold war power is built on its oil and gas resources. He said both eastern and western Europe have become dependent on Russia for oil and gas and that alternative supplies are not available. The recent boom in oil and gas prices, said Professor Goldman, has greatly boosted Russia’s economic and political clout.

“I end up arguing, and I’m putting my neck out, that Russia is more powerful now than it ever was during the czarist era or the Soviet era,” he noted. “In the Soviet era there was mutually assured destruction. They had nuclear weapons. We had nuclear weapons. We didn’t use them, because we were worried they would and vice versa. Here you don’t have that kind of restraint.”

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tags: energy , europe , oil , russia

Russia Successfully Tests Own Missile Defense
· 44 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The Russian military on Tuesday conducted a successful test launch of an interceptor missile used in the nation’s missile defense system, officials are quoted by the Associated Press news agency.

The missile was launched from the Sary-Shagan testing range, which Russia leases from Kazakhstan, Russian space forces spokesman Col. Alexei Kuznetsov told The Associated Press.

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Don't play dead for Putin
· 44 days ago by Matthew Wilson

What the West can do help stop the authoritarian Russian president from garnering too much influence in the world.

THERE ARE A lot of ways to make a man’s death look like an accident, suicide or a street crime. That wasn’t the intent of whoever murdered former KGB agent Alexander Litvinenko in London. By using such an exotic murder weapon — a radioactive isotope known as polonium-210 — his killers sent a message: Don’t mess with the powers that be in Russia.

The identity of his murderers is likely to remain unknown, but in all probability Litvinenko was poisoned because of his campaign against Russian President Vladimir V. Putin and the KGB’s successor, the FSB. He is only the latest to pay with his life for offending Russia’s ruling clique. The list of prominent people murdered in the last few years includes crusading journalists such as Anna Politkovskaya (whose death Litvinenko was investigating), politicians, executives and government officials. Others, such as Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko, have narrowly survived assassination attempts or have been exiled or silenced with threats of violence or legal charges.

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The Unexpected New World: Russia and China against America
· 49 days ago by Matthew Wilson

In the aftermath of the recent Middle East war, it is not difficult to imagine that the map of the recent world, but after the Lebanon war, has, like an undeveloped photographic print, just been dipped into a pan of solution, and we are watching as an image emerges before our eyes. That image is very different both to what we have known and what we have expected.

The new map, now out of the developer and drying, shows new problems and new international configurations that will pose serious issues for the United States, her democratic allies, and even her undemocratic allies.

Above all we see the two powers that we have tried hardest of all to befriend over past decades, China and Russia, working actively against us, strategically and militarily, and not just in the Middle East, but effectively everywhere.

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U.S. may risk breach with Russia on Iran sanctions
· 50 days ago by Matthew Wilson

DEAD SEA, Jordan — Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signaled Thursday that the United States is willing to risk a breach with Russia if the Russians do not soon sign on to a U.N. Security Council resolution to punish Iran for its nuclear activities.

“I am all for maintaining unity, but I am also in favor of action,” Rice told reporters as she devoted much of her day to other Middle East crises: trying to nurture a fledging truce between Israel and the Palestinians, and attending talks in Amman, Jordan, between President Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

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Russia On The Brink
· 50 days ago by Matthew Wilson

American Jews have a lot on their communal plate right now, what with Lebanon, Iran and the chaos in Gaza. But the situation in Russia cries out for our attention, as well. With more than a half-million vulnerable Jews remaining in the country, Russia’s turn back to authoritarian rule should be a matter of worldwide Jewish concern.

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Blood and Oil
· 51 days ago by Matthew Wilson

With the gruesome killing of former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, Vladimir Putin’s Russia stands accused of poisoning yet another critic.

Meanwhile, Syria continues to mastermind the murders of Lebanese democrats. Israeli-free Gaza is as violent as ever. Hezbollah is busy replenishing its stock of Iranian missiles. The theocracy in Iran keeps promising an end to Israel. Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez is slowly strangling democracy in Latin America in a manner that an impoverished Fidel Castro never could.

And then, of course, there’s Afghanistan and Iraq.

It’s easy to think that all of this violent instability across the globe is unconnected. But, in fact, in one way or another, oil and its huge profits are at the bottom of a lot of it.

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Russia's Interest in Litvinenko
· 51 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The recent death of a former Russian intelligence agent, Alexander Litvinenko, apparently after being poisoned with polonium-210, raises three interesting questions. First: Was he poisoned by the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), the successor to the KGB? Second: If so, what were they trying to achieve? Third: Why were they using polonium-210, instead of other poisons the KGB used in the past? In short, the question is, what in the world is going on?

Litvinenko would seem to have cut a traditional figure in Russian
and Soviet history, at least on the surface. The first part of his
life was spent as a functionary of the state. Then, for reasons
that are not altogether clear, he became an exile and a strident
critic of the state he had served. He published two books that made explosive allegations about the FSB and President Vladimir Putin, and he recently had been investigating the shooting death of a Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, who also was a critic of the Putin government. Clearly, he was intent on stirring up trouble for Moscow.

Russian and Soviet tradition on this is clear: Turncoats like
Litvinenko must be dealt with, for two reasons. First, they
represent an ongoing embarrassment to the state. And second, if
they are permitted to continue with their criticisms, they will
encourage other dissidents — making it appear that, having once
worked for the FSB, you can settle safely in a city like London and
hurl thunderbolts at the motherland with impunity. The state must
demonstrate that this will not be permitted — that turncoats will
be dealt with no matter what the circumstances.

The death of Litvinenko, then, certainly makes sense from a
political perspective. But it is the perspective of the old Soviet
Union — not of the new Russia that many believed was being born,
slowly and painfully, with economic opening some 15 years ago. This does not mean, however, that the killing would not serve a purpose for the Russian administration, in the current geopolitical
context.

For years, we have been forecasting and following the
transformation of Russia under Vladimir Putin. Putin became
president of Russia to reverse the catastrophe of the Yeltsin
years. Under communism, Russia led an empire that was relatively poor but enormously powerful in the international system. After the fall of communism, Russia lost its empire, stopped being enormously powerful, and became even poorer than before. Though Westerners celebrated the fall of communism and the Soviet Union, these turned out to be, for most Russians, a catastrophe with few mitigating tradeoffs.

Obviously, the new Russia was of enormous benefit to a small class of entrepreneurs, led by what became known as the oligarchs. These men appeared to be the cutting edge of capitalism in Russia. They were nothing of the sort. They were simply people who knew how to game the chaos of the fall of communism, figuring out how to reverse Soviet expropriation with private expropriation. The ability to turn state property into their own property represented free enterprise only to the most superficial or cynical viewers.

The West was filled with both in the 1990s. Many academics and
journalists saw the process going on in Russia as the painful birth
of a new liberal democracy. Western financial interests saw it as a
tremendous opportunity to tap into the enormous value of a
collapsing empire. The critical thing is that the creation of
value, the justification of capitalism, was not what was going on.
Rather, the expropriation of existing value was the name of the
game. Bankers loved it, analysts misunderstood it and the Russians were crushed by it.

It was this kind of chaos into which Putin stepped when he became
president, and which he has slowly, inexorably, been bringing to
heel for several years. This is the context in which Litvinenko’s
death — which, admittedly, raises many questions — must be
understood.

The Andropov Doctrine

Let’s go back to Yuri Andropov, who was the legendary head of the KGB in the 1970s and early 1980s, and the man who first realized that the Soviet Union was in massive trouble. Of all the
institutions in the world, the KGB alone had the clearest idea of
the condition of the Soviet Union. Andropov realized in the early
1980s that the Soviet economy was failing and that, with economic
failure, it would collapse. Andropov knew that the exploitation of
Western innovation had always been vital to the Soviet economy. The KGB had been tasked with economic and technical espionage in the West. Rather than developing their own technology, in many
instances, the Soviets innovated by stealing Western technology via the KGB, essentially using the KGB as an research and development system. Andropov understood just how badly the Soviet Union needed this innovation and how inefficient the Soviet kleptocracy was.

Andropov engineered a new concept. If the Soviet Union was to
survive, it had to forge a new relationship with the West. The
regime needed not only Western technology, but also Western-style management systems and, above all, Western capital. Andropov realized that so long as the Soviet Union was perceived as a geopolitical threat to the West and, particularly, to the United
States, this transfer was not going to take place. Therefore, the
Soviet Union had to shift its global strategy and stop threatening
Western geopolitical interests.

The Andropov doctrine argued that the Soviet Union could not
survive if it did not end, or at least mitigate, the Cold War.
Furthermore, if it was to entice Western investment and utilize
that investment efficiently, it needed to do two things. First,
there had to be a restructuring of the Soviet economy
(perestroika). Second, the Soviet system had to be opened to accept innovation (glasnost). Andropov’s dream for the Soviet Union never really took hold during his lifetime, as he died several months after becoming the Soviet leader. He was replaced by a nonentity, Konstantin Chernenko, who also died after a short time in office. And then there was Mikhail Gorbachev, who came to embody the KGB’s strategy.

Gorbachev was clearly perceived by the West as a reformer, which he certainly was. But less clear to the West were his motives for reform. He was in favor of glasnost and perestroika, but not because he rejected the Soviet system. Rather, Gorbachev embraced these because, like the KGB, he was desperately trying to save the system. Gorbachev pursued the core vision of Yuri Andropov — and by the time he took over, he was the last hope for that vision. His task was to end the Cold War and trade geopolitical concessions for economic relations with the West.

It was a well-thought-out policy, but it was ultimately a desperate
one — and it failed. In conceding Central Europe, allowing it to
break away without Soviet resistance, Gorbachev lost control of the entire empire, and it collapsed. At that point, the economic
restructuring went out of control, and openness became the cover
for chaos — with the rising oligarchs and others looting the state
for personal gain. But one thing remained: The KGB, both as an
institution and as a group of individuals, continued to operate.

Saving the System: A Motive for Murder?

As a young KGB operative, Vladimir Putin was a follower of
Andropov. Like Andropov, Putin was committed to the restructuring of the Soviet Union in order to save it. He was a foot soldier in that process.

Putin and his FSB faction realized in the late 1990s that, however
lucrative the economic opening process might have been for some, the net effect on Russia was catastrophic. Unlike the oligarchs, many of whom were indifferent to the fate of Russia, Putin understood that the path they were on would only lead to another revolution — one even more catastrophic than the first. Outside of Moscow and St. Petersburg, there was hunger and desperation. The conditions for disaster were all there.

Putin also realized that Russia had not reaped the sought-after
payoff with its loss of prestige and power in the world. Russia had
traded geopolitics but had not gotten sufficient benefits in
return. This was driven home during the Kosovo crisis, when the
United States treated fundamental Russian interests in the Balkans
with indifference and contempt. It was clear to Putin by then that
Boris Yeltsin had to go. And go he did, with Putin taking over.

Putin is a creation of Andropov. In his bones, he believes in the
need for a close economic relationship with the West. But his
motives are not those of the oligarchs, and certainly not those of
the West. His goal, like that of the KGB, is the preservation and
reconstruction of the Russian state. For Putin, perestroika and
glasnost were tactical necessities that caused a strategic
disaster. He came into office with the intention of reversing that
disaster. He continued to believe in the need for openness and
restructuring, but only as a means toward the end of Russian power, not as an end in itself.

For Putin, the only solution to Russian chaos was the reassertion
of Russian value. The state was the center of Russian society, and
the intelligence apparatus was the center of the Russian state.
Thus, Putin embarked on a new, slowly implemented policy. First,
bring the oligarchs under control; don’t necessarily destroy them,
but compel them to work in parallel with the state. Second,
increase Moscow’s control over the outlying regions. Third,
recreate a Russian sphere of influence in the former Soviet Union.
Fourth, use the intelligence services internally to achieve these
ends and externally to reassert Russian global authority.

None of these goals could be accomplished if a former intelligence
officer could betray the organs of the state and sit in London
hurling insults at Putin, the FSB and Russia. For a KGB man trained
by Andropov, this would show how far Russia had fallen. Something would have to be done about it. Litvinenko’s death, seen from this standpoint, was a necessary and inevitable step if Putin’s new strategy to save the Russian state is to have meaning.

Anomaly

That, at least, is the logic. It makes sense that Litvinenko would
have been killed by the FSB. But there is an oddity: The KGB/FSB
have tended to use poison mostly in cases where they wanted someone dead, but wanted to leave it unclear how he died and who killed him. Poison traditionally has been used when someone wants to leave a corpse in a way that would not incur an autopsy or, if a normal autopsy is conducted, the real cause of death would not be discovered (as the poisons used would rapidly degrade or leave the body). When the KGB/FSB wanted someone dead, and wanted the world to know why he had been killed — or by whom — they would use two bullets to the brain. A professional hit leaves no ambiguity.

The use of polonium-210 in this case, then, is very odd. First, it
took a long time to kill Litvinenko — giving him plenty of time to
give interviews to the press and level charges against the Kremlin.
Second, there was no way to rationalize his death as a heart attack or brain aneurysm. Radiation poisoning doesn’t look like anything but what it is. Third, polonium-210 is not widely available. It is not something you pick up at your local pharmacy. The average homicidal maniac would not be able to get hold of it or use it.

So, we have a poisoning that was unmistakably deliberate.
Litvinenko was killed slowly, leaving him plenty of time to confirm
that he thought Putin did it. And the poison would be very
difficult to obtain by anyone other than a state agency. Whether it
was delivered from Russia — something the Russians have denied — or stolen and deployed in the United Kingdom, this is not something to be tried at home, kids. So, there was a killing, designed to look like what it was — a sophisticated hit.

This certainly raises questions among conspiracy theorists and
others. The linkage back to the Russian state appears so direct
that some might argue it points to other actors or factions out to
stir up trouble for Putin, rather than to Putin himself. Others
might say that Litvinenko was killed slowly, yet with an obvious
poisoning signature, so that he in effect could help broadcast the
Kremlin’s message — and cause other dissidents to think seriously
about their actions.

We know only what everyone else knows about this case, and we are working deductively. For all we know, Litvinenko had a very angry former girlfriend who worked in a nuclear lab. But while that’s possible, one cannot dismiss the fact that his death — in so
public a manner — fits in directly with the logic of today’s
Russia and the interests of Vladimir Putin and his group. It is not
that we know or necessarily believe Putin personally ordered a
killing, but we do know that, in the vast apparatus of the FSB,
giving such an order would not have been contrary to the current
inclinations of the leadership.

And whatever the public’s impression of the case might be, the
KGB/FSB has not suddenly returned to the scene. In fact, it never
left. Putin has been getting the system back under control for
years. The free-for-all over economic matters has ended, and Putin has been restructuring the Russian economy for several years to increase state control, without totally reversing openness. This process, however, requires the existence of a highly disciplined FSB — and that is not compatible with someone like a Litvinenko publicly criticizing the Kremlin from London. Litvinenko’s death would certainly make that point very clear.

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Russia-NATO relations remain difficult
· 52 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW. (Andrei Kokoshin for RIA Novosti) – One of the reasons behind Russia’s difficult relations with NATO is the latter’s expansion to the east.

We believe that NATO’s decision to invite former Warsaw Treaty and Baltic countries to join it is unjustified. Moreover, this decision contradicted the repeated assurances given by the Western leaders to their Soviet counterparts in the late 1980s, and in 1991.

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Report: Russian defense minister says U.S. missile defense in Europe meant to weaken Russian deterrence
· 52 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW: The planned deployment of a U.S. missile defense system in Europe is intended to weaken Russia’s capacity for deterrence, the defense minister said, according to a report Tuesday by the Interfax news agency.

“We are told that this system is allegedly intended to intercept Iranian ballistic missiles. But Iran has no missiles of this class and is unlikely to obtain them in the foreseeable future,” Interfax quoted Ivanov as saying in Belarus’ Soyuznoye Gosudarstvo magazine.

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What Does Putin Want?
· 52 days ago by Matthew Wilson

By now, however, it has become evident that Putin is taking Russia in a direction not only unmistakably different from the one pursued by Yeltsin but, in many regards, its opposite. For the United States no less than for the Russian people, this turn of events carries profoundly unsettling implications. Not only is the survival of Russian democracy at stake, but so too is Russia’s reliability as a key oil producer and as an actor in the world.

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America: Open your eyes to the evil
· 52 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The American left will never open its eyes with regard to Russia. As for the so-called neo-conservatives and traditional conservatives (plus the attending libertarians), to the extent that it’s worth noting at all, neither side knows its country’s real enemy. All are addicted to their respective “conservative” ideologies, considering only those facts that support their own preconceptions. What follows is a conscious decision to put any facts about Russia aside.

For the neo-cons it’s simply too much to realize that we are at war with a combination of countries that can turn America into a heap of rubble overnight. The only reason the neo-cons propose such bold projects in Iraq and now Iran has to do with their belief that America is the unchallengeable superpower, that Russia is no longer a factor, that American military superiority is axiomatic. If they recognized the actual situation, given Russia and China’s actual military buildup, they would be screaming for 30 Army divisions and a draft. But the neo-cons live in a sheltered reality, worried about the advance of al Qaeda when a larger enemy is at work. The adventure in Iraq shows that they do not know how to make basic measurements. Their fantasies dovetail with their ambitions, simultaneously blotting out any realistic analysis of the actual situation.

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The Grand Chess Masters: The Bear and the Dragon
· 53 days ago by Matthew Wilson

While the Iraq crisis continues, the strategy of the Grand Chess Masters—Russia the bear and China the dragon along with their pawns the Leftists, Marxists and Islamists continue to develop and put in place their strategy for the ultimate goal of world domination.

General John Abizaid, the top US commander in the Middle East and John McCain argue about toop strengths. Many Democrats, including Carl Levin, who will become chairman of the Senate armed services committee in January, argue that the US needs to pressure the Iraqis by announcing a timetable to start withdrawing troops within four to six months. The Baker-Hamilton “Iraq Study Group” (ISG) is deciding whether to talk to Syria and Iran to request assistance in establishing stability in Iraq. And most are attempting to wage the war on the basis of Political Correctness and Social Justice. Few are addressing who are the enemies and what are their goal. In effect the West is still rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, deciding how may tables to have and what time the games should start and of course when they should end.

The game has started, the strategies for “Checkmate” are in place. It is time for the America and the West to wake up. The “Cold War” has not ended, the nuclear armed totalitarian regimes have united, and this time they have added the Isalmists who are willing to die for the cause.

Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Novemeber 13 drew a direct analogy between Iran and Nazi Germany.

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Russia’s soaring corruption ‘puts investors off’
· 53 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Russia’s inefficient and corrupt state administration is a key impediment to investment – both foreign and domestic – as well as to the government’s ability to implement any of its policies, according to the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation.

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Who Killed Litvinenko?
· 54 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Try asking Vladimir Putin.

MOSCOW— Until a week ago, Alexander Litvinenko, a former colonel in the Russian Federal Security Service, the FSB, was virtually unknown outside the murky world of Russian intelligence. With his death in London from a massive dose of the radioactive element polonium 210, however, his fate may lead to a fundamentally different relationship between Russia and the West.

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The 1939 parallel?
· 54 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Sixty-seven years later it seems that once again Russia has yielded to the destructive ambitions of a tyrant and an anti-Semite. By refusing to support tough sanctions on Iran over its dangerous nuclear enrichment program, Russia is once again exposing the world to unimaginable carnage, certainly much worse than that of World War II. While Russia’s failure to learn from history is particularly shocking, and has made it the chief stumbling block to the U.N. confronting Iran, it is not alone in averting its gaze from the pending disaster, as detailed below.

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Russia must remain a major nuclear power
· 54 days ago by Matthew Wilson

An all-out war or armed conflict between the great powers no longer seems possible. However, the five official nuclear powers are in no hurry to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in their policy, a fact attested to by the US’s new nuclear doctrine, loose rules of engagement for using nuclear weapons in the event of a crisis and greater regional tensions.

Russia therefore has no choice but to remain a major nuclear power in the foreseeable future.

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Russia-China Security Cooperation
· 54 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Russia and China have joined together in a strategic partnership aimed at countering the U.S. and Western “monopoly in world affairs,” as was made clear in a joint statement released by the Chinese and Russian presidents in July 2005. The long standing border disputes between the two countries were settled in agreements in 2005, and joint military exercises were carried out in the same year. Furthermore, Russia, in addition to its arms exports, has been increasing its oil and gas commitments to China. Clearly, the recent comprehensive improvement of bilateral relations between China and Russia is a remarkable development. What is the meaning of this military and security related cooperation, and is the Sino-Russian military liaison likely to expand? Should this rapprochement be considered as a structural shift of power with the goal of repelling Western influence from Central Asia and the adjacent areas?

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What is polonium-210 and how can it kill you?
· 54 days ago by Matthew Wilson

LONDON — Polonium-210 — the radioactive substance that killed a former Russian spy in London — is one of the world’s rarest elements, first discovered in the 19th century by scientists Marie and Pierre Curie.

It is highly lethal when ingested and extremely hard to detect, experts said Friday.

For days doctors struggled to identify the poison that led to the rapid deterioration of Alexander Litvinenko’s health, and ultimately his death late Thursday.

Britain’s Health Protection Agency said Friday that polonium-210 was found in his urine.

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Sino-Russian Cooperation in Killing Putin's Enemies?
· 54 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MI6 believe the Polonium 210, which killed former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, could have come from China. It is one of the few countries – the United States is another – with the specialist laboratory to produce Polonium 210 as a deadly weapon. It is normally used in the Chinese space programme.

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Report: Russia Supplying Iran With Advanced Defense System
· 54 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Iran’s news agency reported that Russia is providing Tehran with TOR-M1 ground-to-air missiles. The move is seen as preparing Iran for a strike by Israel or the U.S. against its nuclear program.

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DEBKAfile reports: Russia sells Iran sophisticated missile systems capable of repelling US or Israeli air or missile assaults
· 55 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The first of 29 Tor-M1 systems in the $700m deal have been delivered to Iran by Moscow despite US opposition to their sale of a weapon widely regarded as the most advanced of its kind in the world. Some Iranian and Russian air defense experts say its full deployment at Iran’s nuclear installations will make them virtually invulnerable to American or Israeli attack in the foreseeable future. Therefore, no more than six months remain, until the Russian Tor-M1 systems are in place, for any attempt to knock out Iran’s nuclear weapons industry.

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If not the EU, then who?
· 55 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW: During the Soviet era, Russian human-rights defenders looked to the West as our only hope for leverage on a government that was utterly unaccountable to its people. It is surreal to find myself in that position again today.

Outside pressure is now the only hope of stopping President Vladimir Putin from leading Russia back to the past, but the governments of the European Union don’t seem keen to exert such pressure. The EU-Russia summit on Friday, which comes after a particularly bleak period for human rights in Russia, is a test of the EU’s mettle. As a Russian working in human rights since the Soviet era, I am watching closely with hope that the EU will reverse years of speaking softly to Russia, and use a big stick.

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PUTIN'S KILLED ME
· 56 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Ex-spy’s dramatic deathbed blast at Russian president

POISONED ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko yesterday accused Russia’s President Vladimir Putin of murdering him – in a scathing denunciation written on his deathbed.

Litvinenko, who dictated the statement as he lay in a London hospital dying from a massive dose of powerful radioactive poison, said Putin had proved he was “ruthless and barbaric”.

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Cold War History Lessons
· 56 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A rogue Russian spy is killed in mysterious circumstances in London. Some of the Russian president’s leading domestic opponents are exiled, imprisoned or murdered. The Kremlin, in the grip of a steely former KGB colonel, destabilises unfriendly neighbouring countries, temporarily severing gas supplies to Ukraine and bullying Georgia.

Is this the start of a new cold war?

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The Return of the KGB
· 56 days ago by Matthew Wilson

November 25, 2006: The recent opening of a $300 million headquarters for GRU (Russian military intelligence), was but another demonstration of Russia’s increased interest in espionage. The 670,000 square foot GRU complex contains the latest of everything for one of the smallest of Russia’s intelligence services (the domestic, and foreign, intelligence services are larger). Over the past five years, the increasing flood of oil revenue has made it possible to rebuild the intelligence services. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, there followed a decade of decline for the intelligence services. The feared KGB became the threadbare SVB, with domestic intelligence taken over by the FSB. Many Soviet spies defected, and sold their secrets to Western intelligence agencies.

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Putin issues veiled warning to Poland on EU talks
· 59 days ago by Matthew Wilson

LONDON (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said in a veiled warning to Poland and other East European nations on Wednesday they risked creating fresh divisions in Europe by treating Russia as an enemy instead of a strategic partner.

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GLONASS to be fully operational in Russia by late 2007
· 59 days ago by Matthew Wilson MOSCOW, November 22 (Itar-Tass) – Russia’s satellite navigation system GLONASS will become fully operational by the end of 2007, Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said on Wednesday.

“We have to secure the functioning of the whole system in the territory of Russia by the end of 2007,” Ivanov said at a meeting with Krasnoyarsk territory governor Alexander Khloponin.

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Nuclear strikes from 'rogue states' possible - Russian Air Force
· 59 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW, November 22 (RIA Novosti) – Russia’s Air Force commander said Wednesday he considers nuclear missile launches by terrorists or ‘rogue states’ to be a genuine threat.

“Increasingly probable and dangerous for the U.S., Russia and European countries are single or multiple missile strikes from third countries, known as rogue states, countries with unstable, non-democratic regimes, or terrorist organizations with access to missile technology,” Vladimir Mikhailov said.

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tags: missiles , nuclear , rogue-states , russia

Russia tips the balance
· 59 days ago by Matthew Wilson

THE NEW WORLD OIL ORDER, Part 2

Russia has set the agenda for the global transition to an entirely new model of international energy security designed to address intensifying concerns, especially those of the rising East.

Russia, possessing unequaled energy-based leverage, has taken the leadership among the world’s producers and the rising powerhouse economies of the East to promote a vast worldwide web of alliances and ties prominently featuring rigid bilateral, private long-term supply contracts.

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tags: oil , russia , west

Russia attacks the West's Achilles' heel
· 59 days ago by Matthew Wilson

THE NEW WORLD OIL ORDER, Part 1

Russia has found the Achilles’ heel of the US colossus. In concert with its oil-producing partners and the rising powerhouse economies of the East, Russia is altering the foundations of the current US-led liberal global oil-market order, insidiously working to undermine its US-centric nature and slanting it toward serving first and foremost the energy-security needs and the geopolitical aspirations of the rising East.

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tags: energy , oil , russia , west

Russia may aid Hanoi on nuclear energy
· 60 days ago by Matthew Wilson

HANOI: Russia and Vietnam agreed Monday to step up economic cooperation and work together to combat terrorism during a visit by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, meant to fortify ties between the two Cold War allies.

Russia could extend cooperation in the energy sector to include nuclear power, Putin said.

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tags: asia , nuclear , russia , vietnam

Russia Implementing Arms Contract With Iran: Official
· 60 days ago by Matthew Wilson Russia is going ahead with a contract to deliver sophisticated air defense systems to Iran, a Russian Defense Ministry official said Nov. 17, despite appeals from Washington to reconsider.

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tags: arms , iran , military , russia

FROM RUSSIA WITH RAT POISON
· 60 days ago by Matthew Wilson

On Sunday, the British press exploded with reports about the poisoning in London of KGB defector Colonel Alexander Litvinenko (pictured above, circa 2002), who had been in the process of investigating the murder of Anna Politkovskaya to see whether the KGB (now called the FSB) was involved. The Associated Press reported that “Toxicologist Dr. John Henry, who has been treating Litvinenko, told the BBC that the former agent had been poisoned by thallium — a toxic metal commonly found in rat poison. ‘It points to that in his blood stream,’ he said.” The Times of London reported that the symptoms appeared just after a meal at a restaurant with a former friend who ate nothing and had promised leads on the investigation. The New York Times explains:

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tags: britain , russia

Muslim birthrate worries Russia
· 60 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW — Low domestic birthrates and rising immigration from the former Soviet republics are producing explosive growth in Russia’s Muslim community, which is on a track to account for more than half the population by midcentury.

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tags: demographics , muslim , russia

NATO warning over Russian power
· 61 days ago by Matthew Wilson

NATO needs to guard against Russian attempts to establish an “OPEC for gas” as a means of increasing its power in Europe, advisors to the military alliance have warned in a confidential report, British daily the Financial Times said last week.

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tags: energy , europe , gas , nato , russia

Message from Ottawa to Russia: We're watching you
· 63 days ago by Matthew Wilson

His arrest, based on information gathered by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, amounts to a clear message from Ottawa to Russia and other spying nations: We’re watching you and we know what you’re doing.

Similar scenes have played out in many cities of late. In Prague this September, authorities kicked out an alleged Russian spy for trying to steal NATO and European Union secrets. A year earlier, in Japan, another alleged Russian spy — posing as an Italian consultant — was arrested for trying to steal semi-conductors that could be used in military guidance systems. Not long before that, an Irish businessman was arrested at Los Angeles airport, the FBI accusing him of touring Silicon Valley to buy electronic eavesdropping equipment for Russia.

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tags: canada , russia , spying

Russia is Asking for It
· 63 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Just as Poland and Lithuania are sending a message to Russia on the EU, Georgia is doing the same with the WTO.

It has been a week that the Kremlin probably would prefer to forget.

First, Poland held up a new partnership agreement between Russia and the European Union as Lithuania sent strong signals that it supported Warsaw’s efforts. Then, Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Noghaideli reiterated Tbilisi’s threat to veto Russia’s accession to the World Trade Organization. And if that wasn’t enough, Moldovan President Vladimir Voronin and Georgian Foreign Minister Gela Bezhuashvili pledged to cooperate in resolving “frozen conflicts” in the pro-Moscow enclaves of Transdniester, Abkhazia, and South Ossetia.

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Sweden Afraid of Russian Spooks
· 65 days ago by Matthew Wilson

First it was Poland which came out against the planned Baltic Sea pipeline from Russia to Germany. Now, though, Sweden says it is worried that the Russians will use the installation for spying.

The public relations operation is impeccable. Nord Stream AG has given every assurance that its planned gas pipeline in the Baltic Sea will respect not only the environment, but also the socio-economic and military sensibilities of every country en route from Vyborg, Russia to Greifswald, Germany.

Nice try.

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tags: energy , russia , sweden

The rebirth of Russian power
· 66 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Recent leaders of the lone superpower, the United States, are increasingly criticised for allowing the economies of East Asia to hollow out its industry, siphon off much of its technological superiority and build a dangerous American dependency on imports and financial borrowings from East Asia.

Will they soon be criticised for allowing a much diminished, erstwhile major rival, Russia, to make the most unlikely comeback after the disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991? Will they be criticised for allowing the American military industrial complex to lag behind the military technology of its old adversary and for being inept in developing and preserving America’s own strategic alliances?

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NATO report says Russia aims to form a gas cartel
· 66 days ago by Matthew Wilson

BRUSSELS: NATO advisers have warned that Russia may be seeking to create a natural gas cartel stretching from Algeria to Central Asia to use as a political weapon in dealings with Europe, alliance sources said Tuesday.

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tags: energy , gas , russia

Doubts about Russia's strategic missile
· 68 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The second failed test launch of Russia’s experimental Bulava (R-30 SS-NX-30) submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) has renewed doubts about the viability of the country’s strategic nuclear deterrent.

The Bulava is a three-staged missile designed to carry up to six individually targeted nuclear warheads for a range of approximately 8,000-10,000 kilometers. It is currently scheduled to enter service in 2008 after completing at least 10 additional test launches, though continuing failures could easily delay matters.

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Oil fuels national ambitions
· 68 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Iran, Russia and Venezuela have swollen treasuries

LONDON – Iran maintains a costly nuclear program while spending billions to subsidize everything from apartments to gasoline. Russia defies international demands to give up a monopoly on oil pipelines to Europe. Venezuela sends aid to countries around the globe in an effort to expand its influence.

What all three have in common are treasuries swollen by the high price of oil.

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tags: iran , oil , russia , venezuela

RUSSIA'S SHIFTING NUCLEAR STRATEGY
· 69 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Amid growing concern in Moscow about the potential impact of a U.S. missile defense deployment in Europe, Russian strategists are retooling their country’s nuclear posture and warfighting strategy. “NATO is so close to the Russian borders nowadays that strategic bombers cannot hope to take off in case of a sudden attack (the order will take too long reaching them, and besides, they will have to be fuelled and outfitted first),” writes analyst Aleksei Vaschenko in the November 10th edition of Defense and Security. Likewise, although “[r]ailroad missile complexes posed a bona fide threat to the Americans,” these systems have been largely dismantled over the past two decades thanks to the policies of Presidents Gorbachev and Yeltsin.

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An outer-space war of words escalates
· 70 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Russians overreacting on the basis of overwrought reports on U.S. policy

International frictions over space policy took a rising turn this week, with Russian President Vladimir Putin accusing unnamed countries — clearly meaning the United States and perhaps Israel — of “seeking to untie their hands in order to take weapons to outer space, including nuclear weapons.”

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tags: russia , space , u.s.

Futuristic Novel Explores Possibility of World War III
· 70 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Set in the not-so-distant future, Jaden’s novel focuses on what could happen in the next decade. On Jan. 24, 2012, the world changes forever. After a massive attack on Iranian nuclear/chemical facilities in October 2006 and the bombing of Turkey’s military in December, the leaders of China orchestrate a secret world coalition against the United States, including Russia, radical Islamic sects, North Korea and Indonesia. The plan is to enact Operation Dragon’s Claw, a sprawling plan to invade four continents and take over the world after weakening them with Operation Dragon’s Breath.

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tags: china , nuclear , russia , u.s. , war

Russia: U.S. Election Expected To Chill Relations Further
· 70 days ago by Matthew Wilson

PRAGUE, November 9, 2006 (RFE/RL) — Russian media today are predicting a chill in U.S.-Russia ties following the results of the November 7 U.S. elections, which appeared to hand both chambers of Congress to the opposition Democrats and have led to the surprise resignation of U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld. Many Russian newspapers predict the changes to the U.S. Congress will mean increased criticism of Russia’s human rights standards, and a deterioration in cooperation on foreign-policy issues like Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. RFE/RL correspondent Claire Bigg spoke to Aleksandr Golts, a political and defense expert for the Moscow-based “Yezhednevny zhurnal.”

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France, Russia test missiles
· 71 days ago by Matthew Wilson

France carried out a first test on its new M-51 ballistic missile which is to carry submarine-based nuclear weapons, the Defence Ministry said. The unarmed missile was fired over the Bay of Biscay from a launch test centre on France’s southern Atlantic coast. The M51, with a range of some 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles), is to replace France’s existing submarine-based missiles by 2010.

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tags: france , missiles , russia

THE SINO-RUSSIAN ARMS DILEMMA
· 71 days ago by Matthew Wilson

For over a decade, Russian military exports to China have constituted the most important dimension of the two countries’ security relationship. Since the two governments signed an agreement on military-technical cooperation in December 1992, China has purchased more weapons platforms and hardware-related items from Russia than from all other countries combined. During the 1990s, the value of these deliveries ranged up to US$1 billion annually. In recent years, this figure has approached $2 billion per year. Through these dealings, the various branches of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have acquired Su-27 and Su-30 advanced fighter aircraft, Mi-17 transport helicopters, Il-72 transport aircraft, A-50 warning and control aircraft, SA-10 and SA-15 air defense missiles, T-72 main battle tanks, Kilo-class diesel submarines, and two Sovremenny-class destroyers [1]. Furthermore, in early November, Beijing and Moscow appeared to be finalizing a deal in which China would purchase the Su-33, an advanced carrier-based variant of the Su-27 (Sankei Shimbun, November 6).

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tags: arms , china , military , russia

Russian Expert Predicts Deterioration of Relations With U.S.
· 72 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Relations between Russia and the United States will continue to worsen regardless of which political party is at the helm of the American legislature, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted a leading Russian expert as saying.

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China-Egypt nuclear energy deal
· 73 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China says it has reached an agreement with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, to co-operate on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Egypt plans to revive its nuclear energy programme, frozen 20 years ago after the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

Russia has also said it is willing to help Egypt to develop a nuclear energy programme.

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tags: china , egypt , nuclear , russia

Watch out for Putin, say peril mappers
· 74 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Businesses operating in Russia are expected to confront increasing hostility in the next year as President Putin tries to force through a renationalisation programme before he steps down, global security experts have predicted.

The warning by the Control Risks Group in its RiskMap for 2007 comes amid the dispute over foreign licences in the Sakhalin oil and gas project and question marks over exploration licences in the Shtokman gasfield.

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tags: business , oil , russia

Russia: Kremlin Pursues Special Relationship With Germany
· 74 days ago by Matthew Wilson PRAGUE, November 7, 2006 (RFE/RL) — First there was “sovereign democracy,” the Kremlin’s euphemism for its tightening controls over society. Now Kremlin spin doctors are talking more and more about a new strategy: “sovereign economy.”

Given Russia’s growing international confidence, the strategy comes as no surprise. It is now affecting Russia’s relations with the European Union, in particular Germany.

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tags: germany , russia

CSTO/SCO: learning to act together
· 76 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti defense commentator Viktor Litovkin) – In an announcement that would have been sensational if it had not been so logical, Chief of Staff of the Russian military Army General Yury Baluevsky said that the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) were planning their first theater-level military exercise.

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tags: csto , military , russia , sco

Russia: The Enemy
· 77 days ago by Matthew Wilson

There was a glorious time when the Berlin Wall came down and Russia seemed headed toward democracy. At long last, the Cold War was over. All things seemed possible.

Thanks first to Boris Yeltsin and now Vladimir Putin, those happy days are in the distant past. So far back we can barely remember our optimism. Democracy is as dead in Russia as the hundreds of thousands who perished at Stalingrad and elsewhere in the Second World War. In its place has come a new autocracy that — minus the communist rhetoric — slams the doors of freedom shut all the same.

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How Russia Arms Terror
· 78 days ago by Matthew Wilson

But it is Russia’s supplying of weapons to rogue countries like Iran and Venezuela that is causing friction with America. Sadly, Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose outward democratic façade hides the heart of the former Cold War KGB official that he once was, sees nothing wrong with arming nations that have made no secret of their intent to use them against their neighbors and to destabilize their regions. Russian arms have also been used against American forces and allies, making one wonder with friends like Russia, who needs enemies?

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tags: arms , military , russia

Russia, China won't back Iran sanctions
· 79 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW — Russian and China indicated that they will not support a draft U.N. resolution imposing tough sanctions on Iran for its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program.

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tags: china , iran , russia

Russia-Iran Arms Trade
· 79 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Last year, Russia surpassed the United States as the developing world’s leader in arms deals, according to a new report by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). But Russia has increased military shipments to anti-U.S. states like Iran and Venezuela, not to mention potential adversaries like China, which concerns U.S. policymakers far more. Experts say Iran—as well as Syria—may have transferred some of these small arms to groups like Hezbollah and Hamas. Also, Russia’s arms relationship with Iran, the thinking goes, further complicates efforts to impose punitive sanctions against Tehran for its alleged pursuit of nuclear weapons.

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tags: arms , iran , military , russia

PUTIN'S MILITARY NUMBERS JUST DON'T ADD UP
· 79 days ago by Matthew Wilson Last week Russian President Vladimir Putin held a well-staged national televised phone-in to answer rehearsed questions from selected citizens. Such phone-ins are performed in Russia once a year and provide an opportunity to state the Kremlin’s position on different aspects of Russian political and bureaucratic life.

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The Russian-made antitank missile Metis-M9 is returning to the battle field – this time to the Gaza Strip
· 80 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Exclusive to DEBKAfile’s military and intelligence sources: Early Wednesday morning, Nov. 1, the IDF embarked on a large operation in the Beit Hanun area in northern Gaza to halt the firing of Qassam rockets and eliminate terrorist cells. But the primary purpose is to thwart the new military option Hamas has been using against the IDF – squads that fire antitank missiles, a tactic Hizballah employed during the recent war in Lebanon.

IDF troops exchanged heavy fire with Palestinian gunmen in the northern Gaza Strip. Nine Palestinians were killed and 40 were wounded, the IDF reported.

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tags: gaza , israel , middle-east , military , russia

Russian Moves in Mideast Raising Concern and Questions in Jerusalem
· 80 days ago by Matthew Wilson

JERUSALEM, Oct. 30 (JTA) — A Russian plan to send a separate peacekeeping force to Lebanon has raised eyebrows in Israel, but officials say they have no objections to it.

But other steps by Russia — such as ties and arms supplies to radicals like Syria and Iran, and differences with Israel on key issues like Iran’s nuclear weapons drive — are raising questions about Russia’s role in the region.

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tags: iran , middle-east , russia , syria

Russia defends sale of missiles to Iran
· 80 days ago by Matthew Wilson

AP – The Russian defence minister defended Moscow’s deal to supply air defence missiles to Iran, saying they were purely defensive weapons with a limited range.

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Russia calls for gas alliance with Iran
· 80 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A SENIOR Russian parliamentarian has called for a gas alliance to unite former Soviet republics and Iran to help Russia stand up to the European Union’s “cartel” of gas consumers, Russian media reported.

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Iran and Russia: The Who-e and the P-mp
· 80 days ago by Matthew Wilson

It’s time to wake up and smell the roses – before they are blown to smithereens.

Iran and Russia are in cahoots. Iran wants nuclear capability and Russia has the capability to make it happen. And unless they are stopped, it will happen. It is up to us. Neither of these countries has a global conscious. Neither country could care less.

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tags: iran , nuclear , russia

Gas pipeline threatens Europe's energy security
· 81 days ago by Matthew Wilson

New pipeline has the potential to increase the dependence of the European Union (EU) on Rus­sia, thereby making Russia even more powerful and, possibly, more assertive in the international arena.

Russia is building a strategic new pipeline to Europe that will affect European energy security for years to come. Called the North European Gas Pipe­line (NEGP), it will cross the Baltic Sea, directly con­necting Russia to Germany, and will bypass the Soviet-era, land-based energy transit infrastructure that traverses several former Soviet Bloc countries, including Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland.

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tags: energy , europe , russia

US criticises Russia-Germany gas deal
· 82 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Germany’s big gas pipeline deal with Russia has been criticised by a US official, in a sign of Washington’s mounting unease about Berlin’s ties with Moscow.

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tags: gas , germany , russia , u.s.

The Really Cold War With Russia
· 82 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The Berlin Wall fell almost 17 years ago. At the time, the future seemed clear: The fall of the wall would unleash an unstoppable tide of free markets and free people – and for about 15 years it did just that. Today, though, when you stand where the Berlin Wall once stood and look east, you see a counter tide coming your way. It is a black tide of petro-authoritarianism emanating from Russia, and it is blunting the Berlin Wall tide of free markets and free people.

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Argentina interested in Russian armaments
· 84 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW, October 27 (RIA Novosti) – Argentina is interested in Russian armaments, Russia’s defense minister said Friday.

“The Argentine side has handed over to us a specific list of military equipment it is interested in,” Sergei Ivanov, who is also a deputy prime minister, said following a meeting with his Argentine counterpart. “We have created a commission on military-technical cooperation, which will soon work on specific items.”

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tags: argentina , military , russia

Russia to adjust its military policy due to NATO transformation
· 85 days ago by Matthew Wilson MOSCOW, October 26 (RIA Novosti) – Russia will have to adjust its military policy in response to NATO’s political transformation, the Russian defense minister said Thursday.

Russia has in the past expressed concern over the expansion of NATO bases into the Baltic Region and Central Asia, and has voiced its displeasure over the proposed accession of Georgia and Ukraine to the military alliance.

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tags: military , nato , russia

Colloids in Russia: Have Plutonium, Will Travel
· 85 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Among the list of environmental disasters created by Soviet central planning, Mayak must rank high. Commissioned as a plant in southern Russia to manufacture plutonium for bombs in 1948, it soon segued into a long life as a reprocessing center for nuclear material from reactors and decommissioned weapons. But Mayak, or “beacon” in Russian, created its own radioactive waste as well—uranium, plutonium and other actinides—and, at least in the beginning and possibly well into the 1950s, dumped them into surrounding waterways, including the now dry Lake Karachai as well as two adjacent rivers: the Techa and Mishelyak. “If you need a well-contaminated site, it’s a dream come true,” deadpans Rod Ewing, a nuclear materials scientist at the University of Michigan. “They put a lot of actinides right into the groundwater.”

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Putin's Superpower Play
· 85 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The pipeline came too late for the Soviets but Putin never forgot what he was taught in Moscow: Russia’s massive energy resources are a powerful weapon in the global power stakes. He reheated the idea in 1997 when he wrote an influential article for a Russian journal recommending that Russia regain control of its energy industry; now, at the height of his powers as President of Russia, he is busily putting his old plans into practice. In doing so this veteran Cold War warrior is waging a new Cold War, as was all too apparent from a disastrous meeting with European ministers last week, though this time Russian power – and the threat that goes with it – is dependent not on Marxism or missiles but on oil and gas.

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Putin says he'll step down in 2008, suggests he'll still have influence
· 85 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday reaffirmed his intent to leave the presidency in 2008 at the end of his second term, as required by the constitution, but suggested that he might continue to wield influence.

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tags: politics , putin , russia

The North European Gas Pipeline Threatens Europe’s Energy Security
· 85 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Russia is building a strategic new pipeline to Europe that will affect European energy security for years to come. Called the North European Gas Pipe­line (NEGP), it will cross the Baltic Sea, directly con­necting Russia to Germany, and will bypass the Soviet-era, land-based energy transit infrastructure that traverses several former Soviet Bloc countries, including Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland.

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tags: energy , europe , russia

Vanishing Russia
· 86 days ago by Matthew Wilson

According to a recent Los Angeles Times article, Russia “has lost the equivalent of a city of 700,000 people every year since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.” We’re talking about the population of San Francisco or Baltimore—a grim reminder of how fruitless some worldviews can be.

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tags: demographics , russia

New strategic nuclear subs to join Russian fleet soon - Putin
· 87 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW. Oct 25 (Interfax-AVN) – New strategic nuclear submarines will join the Russian fleet in the near future, Russian President Vladimir Putin said during Wednesday’s televised question and answer session on Wednesday.

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tags: military , nuclear , russia , submarines

THE EMERGING RUSSIAN GIANT - Washington's nightmare
· 87 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Ironically, the aggressive Washington foreign policy of the era of Vice President Dick Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld since 2001 has done more to nurture the one strategic combination in Eurasia most dreaded by Washington political realists such as Henry Kissinger or Zbigniew Brzezinski, namely a strategic military and economic cooperation on a deep, long-term basis between two former Cold War foes, China and President Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

This is part II.

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Here’s part I of this article – Moscow plays its cards strategically.

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Russia Holds the Cards, West Folding in Foreign Policy Game
· 87 days ago by Matthew Wilson

I volki syty i ovtsy tsely. “The wolves are full and the sheep are still alive.” That Russian version of “having one’s cake and eating it too” describes the current state of Russian foreign affairs in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). In the few past weeks, Russian President Vladimir Putin has not only intensified Russia’s policy regarding Georgia, but convinced the United Nations Security Council, led by the United States, to pass a resolution that gives Russia unprecedented clout in the sovereign territory of its struggling southern neighbor.

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tags: foreign-policy , russia

Warmth in Moscow; reality in Iran
· 89 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Prime Minister Olmert received a very welcoming reception from President Putin, but only on the surface.

Vlada, the name Russian cynics have given Putin, serves Russia’s interests. Russia’s path back to the golden era passes through Teheran and Damascus. The prime minister’s office on Kaplan Street in Jerusalem may serve as the location for a polite courtesy call, no more.

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tags: iran , israel , middle-east , russia , syria

5 Russians, 1 Spaniard & a Drunk Dead Bear
· 91 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Except for the communists, terrorists and animal rights activists, Juan Carlos is fairly beloved in Spain. On the other side, Spain was home to the Spanish Inquisition.

Right now, the Russian government is investigating whether the king, on a recent visit, shot a drunk bear.

The King of Spain shot a Drunk Bear.

Sounds like a song from a naughty light opera, doesn’t it?

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My Comments:

This is another one of those off-beat articles that I stumbled onto why researching new articles to post.

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tags: russia , spain

Russia Suspends Scores of Foreign Groups
· 92 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW, Oct. 19 — Scores of foreign private organizations were forced to cease their operations in Russia on Thursday while the government considered whether to register them under a new law that has received sharp international criticism.

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Israel Finds 39 Russian-Made Missiles in Hezbollah Hides
· 92 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Military sources said the Israel Army has collected 39 Russian-origin anti-tank missiles from Hezbollah outposts in southern Lebanon, the World Tribune has reported. They said the missiles included the AT-14 Kornet and the AT-13 Metis.

“Some of the missiles were still in their original packaging, which identified them as having been manufactured in Russia,” a military source said.

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tags: hezbollah , israel , missiles , russia

Poll indicates Finns distrust Putin as Russian leader heads to Finland for EU summit
· 92 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Two-thirds of those polled said they had little or no trust in Putin, while 19 percent disagreed. Thirty-three percent said they felt threatened by Finland’s huge neighbor, while 45 percent said they felt no danger from Moscow.

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My Comments:

Putin is an evil leader that is capable of bringing the world to a major world war.

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tags: europe , finland , russia

Russia, between the hammer and the anvil
· 93 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The Olmert-Putin meeting, just a week after the UN vote for sanctions against North Korea because of its nuclear test, could not wish for a better agenda. The very concrete punishment inflicted upon the regime of Pyongyang ought to cause Russia — and hopefully also China— to think twice about mistaken alliances which could turn out to be disastrous for its diplomatic future.

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tags: israel , middle-east , russia

Olmert in Russia: Iranians should be afraid
· 93 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW – Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said Wednesday that Israel will not allow a situation in which Iran gains access to unconventional weapons and warned Iranians to “be afraid.”

“I will not address sensitive issues, if we will do this or do that, but the Iranians should be afraid,” Olmert told reporters following his meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov in Moscow.

“The Iranians need to be afraid that something will happen that they do not want to happen to them,” Olmert continued.

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tags: iran , israel , nuclear , russia

Deployment of U.S. Missile Defense in Europe Is Threat to Russia — Military Chief
· 93 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A top Russian general said his country would view the planned deployment of U.S. missile defense components in eastern and central Europe as a security threat and take retaliatory measures, according to an article published Tuesday and quoted by AP.

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tags: europe , missiles , russia , u.s.

Tyrants and the Bomb
· 94 days ago by Matthew Wilson

During his May 2006 state of the nation speech President Vladimir Putin raised the specter of a new Cold War. Russia’s president portrayed the United States as his country’s “main adversary” and pledged to increase the nuclear triad of land, sea and air-based strategic weapons. “It is premature to speak of the end of the arms race,” he said in his televised address to the Russian people. “Moreover, it is going faster today. It is rising to a new technological level.”

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tags: china , north-korea , nuclear , russia

The Dangers of Russia's Statism
· 95 days ago by Matthew Wilson

There are two certainties in today’s Russia under Vladimir Putin’s government: the country’s economy will likely implode before long, and a major confrontation with the United States and Europe may occur even sooner.

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Axis of oil
· 96 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Earlier this year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in China – and quickly made himself at home. The occasion was a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional group linking China, Russia and Central Asia. During the summit, Mr. Ahmadinejad seemed to be everywhere. He delivered a major address broadcast on Chinese state television. He touted Moscow, Tehran and Beijing’s “identical” views on world issues. And he proposed making “the SCO into a strong and influential economic, political and trade institution [to] thwart the threat of domineering powers.” One can guess which domineering power he had in mind.

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tags: china , iran , oil , russia , sco

Once-mighty Russia fades to a dying population
· 96 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Russia is the only major industrial nation that is losing population. Its people are succumbing to one of the world’s fastest-growing AIDS epidemics, resurgent tuberculosis, rampant cardiovascular disease, alcohol and drug abuse, smoking, suicide, and the lethal effects of unchecked industrial pollution.

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The case of the vanishing Russians
· 97 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Concern is rising in the US about the rapidly changing face of Russia after a government expert on Russian nationalities recently predicted that Russia could have a Muslim majority within the next 30 years.

In addition to its own citizens, many of the up to 10 million illegal immigrants working in Russia come from predominantly Muslim former Soviet republics in Central Asia and the Caucasus.

The city of Moscow has swelled to 10.4 million people, and one-fifth are Muslims. The Russian capital has the biggest Muslim population of any city in Europe.

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tags: demographics , muslims , russia

Russian energy: Europe's pride, US's envy
· 99 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Buried beneath the heaps of hot words on North Korea’s nuclear test, the announcement in Moscow on Monday about the Shtokman natural-gas deposit off Russia’s Arctic coast almost escaped attention, despite its comparable lethal fallout in world politics.

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Russia, Egypt Bet on Nuke Cooperation
· 100 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Russian and Egyptian Presidents Vladimir Putin and Hosni Mubarak will pay special attention to bilateral cooperation in the field of peaceful usage of nuclear energy during their next meeting, national media highlighted on Monday.

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U.S. Fears Export of Technology
· 100 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Preventing North Korea from selling nuclear materials would depend on China and Russia.

WASHINGTON — The sanctions demanded by U.S. officials in response to North Korea’s announcement this week that it had tested a nuclear device would focus on closing pathways to proliferation of weapons technology.

But U.S. officials say any such effort would have to focus on the air and land routes through China and Russia that the government in Pyongyang has used in response to American monitoring on the high seas.

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Russia is playing with fire
· 100 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Ever since the fall of the Soviet Union there have been worrying signs of a virulent strain of radical nationalism in Russia. The popularity of Vladimir Zhirinovsky’s ultranationalist and inaptly named Liberal Democratic Party, the rise of neo-Bolshevik racist groups that combine Nazi and communist imagery, and the rising tide of racially motivated attacks on anyone who looks vaguely foreign has worried many, but the Russian government has managed to steer a relatively steady course through the treacherous waters of ethnic nationalism.

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Putin has joined the "Axis of Evil"
· 100 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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For about 45 minutes, we discused how since taking office in 2000, former KGB chief-turned Russian President Vladimir Putin has built strong personal, political and military ties to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il. Putin has sold Iran and North Korea billions of dollars worth of arms and even nuclear technology. He is arming America’s worst enemies for war, and in so doing, Russia has joined the “Axis of Evil.” Yet on this critical issue, official Washington seems to be in a true state of denial.

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China and Russia: North Korea Enablers
· 101 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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A Chinese-Russian alliance is forming. The Chinese client state is North Korea; the Russian and Chinese trading partner is Iran. Like China, Russia is a capitalism-utilizing dictatorship with a history of Marxism and a belief in its eventual historical conquest. Like Russia, China is a Machiavellian political actor willing to play both sides of the Islamic-Western conflict against the middle. China and Russia are the global beneficiaries of the Islamic-Western clash of civilizations. They remain largely outside its purview while benefiting from its externalities. Stalinist Russia and Maoist China began as allies. History has conspired to force them once more into the same bed.

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KGB had regularly told Russia on Pakistan-China-North Korea nuke ties
· 101 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Moscow, Oct 10: The Soviet-era intelligence agency had regularly updated Kremlin about the atomic technology transfer by Pakistan and China to North Korea, which has conducted its first nuclear test, a top Russian nuclear expert said on Tuesday.

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Russia Seeks Greater Economic Influence in Europe
· 102 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Armed with oil and natural gas revenues worth billions of dollars, Russian President Vladimir Putin plans to buy his way into Germany’s and Europe’s key industries. But he is likely to encounter a skeptical Chancellor Angela Merkel when he visits Berlin this week.

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Nuclear Exercise: Russia Supports North Korea in Nuclear War
· 102 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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When nuclear war breaks out in December between the United States, Russia and North Korea, American taxpayers should be furious.

The war is just another U.S. military exercise.

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The Emerging Russian Giant Plays its Cards Strategically
· 105 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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The September 2006 summit in Paris between Russia’s Vladimir Putin, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, underscored the re-emerging of Russia as a major global power. The new Russia is gaining in influence through a series of strategic moves revolving around its geopolitical assets in energy—most notably its oil and natural gas. It’s doing so by shrewdly taking advantage of the strategic follies and major political blunders of Washington. The new Russia also realizes that if it does not act decisively, it soon will be encircled and trumped by a military rival, USA, for which it has little defenses left. The battle, largely unspoken, is the highest stakes battle in world politics today. Iran and Syria are seen by Washington strategists as mere steps to this great Russian End Game.

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RUSSIAN-GEORGIAN ROW COULD SERIOUSLY SOUR RUSSIA-WEST RELATIONS
· 105 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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The latest crisis in the chronically uneasy relationship between Moscow and Tbilisi is not likely to fizzle out any time soon, as the positions of the two sides appear to be irreconcilable. This poses a painful dilemma for the West: do the United States and the European Union want to make the fate of Georgia and its breakaway regions a central issue in their relationship with Russia?

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A Ballistic Missile Defense Arms Race
· 106 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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If December full-scale tests of interceptor missiles by the United States are successful, they will mark a watershed in today’s contradictory history of strategic missile defense. Is there a danger in this? There is. Lieutenant-General Henry Obering, director of the Pentagon’s Missile Defense Agency, said the December tests would attempt an actual capture of a target rocket in outer space. He described the coming firing as a final stage in the testing.

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Russia's Rising Oil Star
· 106 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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According to the Oil and Gas Journal, an industry publication, Russia holds the world’s largest natural gas reserves, the second largest coal reserves and has the eighth largest oil reserves. The once hopelessly outdated Russian energy sector has accelerated production to over 9 million barrels per day (bpd), making the country the world’s second largest producer of crude oil behind energy giant Saudi Arabia.

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Between Washington and Beijing
· 106 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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I worked in China in the 1980s as a Soviet diplomat and had many contacts among Chinese scientists, journalists and military personnel. Some of them complained that they were so afraid of Soviet missiles that they could not sleep well at night. At the time, my colleagues and I made fun of these fears. Now, however, these old acquaintances of mine have a condescending attitude toward Russia, its armed forces in particular.

As China’s ambitions grow, the security situation in Asia is changing. China is competing with the United States for leadership—not only in Asia, but globally—and this rivalry is one of the factors pushing Russia and China towards the current state of rapprochement.

The reasons behind this are obvious. In Beijing’s rivalry with Washington, China is definitely the weaker side, lagging behind in its development. Therefore, Beijing needs partners. Moscow can be such a partner, but this kind of relationship would be one of “fellow travelers” rather than allies.

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Brothers in Arms
· 107 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Military Cooperation a Hallmark of Sino-Russian Relations

While the Pentagon views China as a future military threat, Russia’s Defense Ministry seems happy to have China as a neighbor. The Russian government does not appear to be overly concerned with the advancement of Chinese troops into the Far East, and for good reason the recent state of Sino-Russian relations has been consistently good. All territorial claims and border disputes have recently been resolved and all detachments of regular Chinese soldiers have been moved from the Russian border 200 kilometers into China under a bilateral agreement aimed at increasing trust in the military sphere.

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Russian nuclear forces, 2006
· 107 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Russia continues to transition from its Cold War nuclear stockpile, further reducing its total nuclear forces in 2005 but also announcing plans for new weapon systems and upgrades of existing ones. [1] The Russian government appears to be attempting to reassert its nuclear strength after years of decline in order to underscore its status as a powerful nation. To this end, President Vladimir Putin said Russia has reinstated large-scale military exercises, and military officials made several statements about the role of Russia’s nuclear posture.

We estimate that as of early 2006, Russia has approximately 5,830 operational nuclear warheads in its active arsenal. This includes about 3,500 strategic warheads, a decrease of some 300 from last year’s level due to the withdrawal of approximately 36 intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) from operational service. Our estimate of operational nonstrategic nuclear weapons is 2,330 warheads, more than a thousand warheads fewer than our previous estimate (see “Russian Nuclear Forces, 2005,” March/April 2005 Bulletin) due to a recount of operational launch platforms and Russian statements about reductions.

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Defeating Islam, Russian Style
· 108 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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The rest of the world may not have noticed, but Russia’s president has won the Chechen war. He did not start it, but he prosecuted it with the full might of Russia’s military. The conflict was as brutal as any Europe has known in the last century. Grozny was bombed flat, along with half of Chechnya’s towns. Nearly a million Chechens were displaced; 80,000 were killed, mostly civilians, and thousands more disappeared into a nightmarish network of Russian “filtration” camps, never to be seen again. There were atrocities, mass killings, the most flagrant of human-rights abuses. Yet all the while the Kremlin claimed that the conflict was little more than a police operation.

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Unswayed by West, Russia Continues Georgia Blockade
· 108 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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MOSCOW Oct. 3—Russia signaled Tuesday that it would not lift a transportation blockade on Georgia despite the release of four Russian officers detained on espionage charges and calls from the European Union and the United States for the two countries to find ways to ease tensions.

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Russia's space defenses stage a revival
· 108 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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By the end of the year we plan to put the station on trial combat duty, and in 2007 on full combat duty. A network of such stations will be deployed both at existing sites and in new areas threatened by missiles. The first step will be to replace old stations outside Russia – one in Azerbaijan, two stations in Ukraine, and stations in Kazakhstan and Belarus. Strategic priority will be given to the southern border. Such a network will spell the end of the problems related to perimeter coverage created by the break-up of the U.S.S.R.

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UK: Fox warns over Russian military
· 108 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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The UK underestimates the threat to its future security posed by Russia, shadow defence secretary Liam Fox has warned.

Dr Fox claimed Russia was increasing its defence spending this year by 25%.

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Syria, Iran and Russia provided Hezbollah with intelligence information
· 109 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Russia also operated indirectly in favour of Hezbollah through the many anti-tank rockets it sent to Syria and transferred to Hezbollah. Moreover, Russia not only got out arms sales but also first-hand intelligence data collected by the listening posts it manages with the Syrians.

If Syrian-Russian intelligence cooperation goes back a few years, that with Iran is more recent and is part of broader strategic cooperation agreements signed in November of last year and confirmed during Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s recent visit to Damascus earlier this year.

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Russia warns US on placing missile defenses in Poland
· 109 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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MOSCOW – Russia warned the United States on Tuesday against basing elements of a planned missile defense system in Poland, saying this would undermine strategic stability and require a ‘corresponding’ response from Moscow, Interfax news agency said.

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Intelligence Brief: Escalating Tension between Georgia and Russia
· 109 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Russian troops in Georgia were put on “high alert” on Sunday and ordered to “shoot to kill if provoked” while defending Moscow’s two military bases in the Caucasian country. Tensions between Russia and Georgia are escalating after Tbilisi arrested four Russian officers on September 27 on spying charges.

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Oil weapon: It's time for a long, hard look at Russia
· 110 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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LONDON A global economic challenge has been presented by Russia, driven by energy markets and threatening to distort the foundations of international trade.

This challenge to the world follows grand-scale state theft and the subjugation of the rule of law in Russia. It is based on a flawed meta-narrative avowing that Russia is a victim: The West victimized Russia in the 1990s through shock therapy and Market Bolshevism, resulting in the domination of the country by oligarchs and its enfeeblement on the geopolitical stage.

Therefore whatever path Russia takes today is somehow deemed acceptable as an antidote or corrective to the penuries of the 1990s.

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Rosneft and Gazprom ready to give Putin his ultimate weapon – control of worldwide energy sources
· 111 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Rosneft and Gazprom is in the process of acquiring more oil and gas resources to control not only Russian but also global energy resources.

They will control soon more than half of Russian fossil based energy resources. That gives a tremendous power for Putin and Kremlin.

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Senate Passes Iran Sanctions Bill
· 111 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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(AP) The Senate, with no debate Saturday, passed and sent to the president legislation that would impose mandatory sanctions on entities that provide goods or services for Iran’s weapons programs.

This means you, Russia and China.

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Photo of NORAD jet intercepting Russian bomber
· 111 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) has released this photograph, taken on Thursday, of an F-15C Eagle from the 12th Fighter Squadron at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska, flying next to a Russian Tu-95 Bear Bomber during a “training opportunity” provided by the Russian 137th Air Army.

The following statement was issued by NORAD:

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Reports: Russia's long-range bombers approach Alaska during massive military exercise
· 112 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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MOSCOW The Russian air force held a massive exercise that involved strategic bombers flying across the North Pole and approaching Alaska, the Aleutian Islands and Japan, a top general said Friday.

Lt. Gen. Igor Khvorov, the commander of Russian long-range aviation, said the exercise that began Tuesday and finished Friday had nothing to do with heightening tensions between Russia and Georgia, Russian news reports said.

Russian Bombers Penetrate N. American Buffer Zone, Intercepted by U.S., Canadian Jet Fighters

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A new U.S. push for greater Russian military openness collided with Cold War habits last week as Russian long-range bombers flew within 15 miles of U.S. airspace off Alaska, Denver Post website reported.

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Russia deploys military to the border with Georgia
· 112 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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He said Russia has deployed military units of 58th troop dislocated in Northern Ossetia to the border with Georgia. Russia military bases have become active in Akhalkalaki, and they will conduct military trainings in the Black Sea soon.

“Russia’s such actions are unacceptable,” he said.

Speaking about Russian officers’ espionage, Minister said that video films proving their espionage have been displayed in all TV channels of the world. They pay money to Georgians for fulfilling their instructions.

Georgia hits out at Russian military’s ‘sabre rattling’

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Georgia has accused Russia of redeploying troops closer to its border and said it expected the Russian Black Sea fleet to start maneouvres in the next few days.

Vano Merabishvili, Georgia’s Interior Minister, said the fleet maneouvres and the movement of Russian ground troops closer to the border had caused bewilderment in Georgia. “I would advise our colleagues to stop sabre-rattling,” said Mr Merabishvili. “This is unacceptable for a democratic country and we don’t understand that.”

Russia Suspends Withdrawal From Georgia

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ROSTOV-ON-DON, Russia—Russia said Saturday that it has suspended plans for further withdrawal of its troops from Georgia amid worsening relations between the two neighbors.

Russia has been gradually withdrawing equipment and troops from its two military bases in Georgia, which it had planned to close completely by the end of 2008.

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Russia worried by NATO expansion
· 112 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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PORTOROZ (Slovenia), September 29 (RIA Novosti) – Russia is concerned about the expansion of NATO’s infrastructure in the new member states of the northern alliance, Russia’s defense minister said.

Sergei Ivanov, who is also deputy prime minister, said at a session of the Russia-NATO Council: “We are worried by the reconfiguration of NATO’s infrastructure without prospects for the ratification of the Adapted Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe [CFE].”

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China Brief's Coverage of the PRC's Weaponization of Space
· 5 hours ago by Matthew Wilson

WASHINGTON, DC (1/19/07)—China’s recent anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons test comes just a few months after the release of its “China’s Space Activities in 2006” white paper, in which Beijing declared that it would only “utilize outer space for peaceful purposes.” Is this launch a marked departure from China’s space doctrine or simply evidence of Beijing’s long-standing strategy to bolster its military capabilities, particularly in the areas of information and space warfare? Moreover, given that China’s current ASAT capabilities are based on kinetic kill vehicles in the form of land-based ballistic missiles, what does the modernization of the Second Artillery Corps, China’s strategic missile force, tell us about the direction of its developments?

These and other questions have been previously explored and answered by China Brief’s analysts and may be found below:

January 19, 2007 – Volume 7, Issue 1
“Competing Perceptions of the U.S. and Chinese Space Programs”
By Kevin Pollpeter

December 19, 2006 – Volume 6, Issue 25
“China’s Second Artillery Corps: New Trends in Force Modernization, Doctrine and Training”
By Michael Chase

November 22, 2005 – Volume 5, Issue 24
“Shenzhou and China’s Space Odyssey”
By Jing-dong Yuan

March 15, 2005 – Volume 5, Issue 6
“China’s Long March into Space”
By Eugene Kogan

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U.S. tells China concerned by satellite-killer test
· 1 day ago by Matthew Wilson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States, Australia and Canada have voiced concerns to China over a test in space of a satellite-killing weapon last week, the White House said on Thursday.
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“The U.S. believes China’s development and testing of such weapons is inconsistent with the spirit of cooperation that both countries aspire to in the civil space area,” National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said. “We and other countries have expressed our concern regarding this action to the Chinese.”

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Chinese Test Anti-Satellite Weapon
· 2 days ago by Matthew Wilson U. S. intelligence agencies believe China performed a successful anti-satellite (asat) weapons test at more than 500 mi. altitude Jan. 11 destroying an aging Chinese weather satellite target with a kinetic kill vehicle launched on board a ballistic missile.

The Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency, NASA and other government organizations have a full court press underway to obtain data on the alleged test, Aviation Week & Space Technology will report in its Jan. 22 issue.

If the test is verified it will signify a major new Chinese military capability.

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Australia, a longtime U.S. ally, drifting towards new suitor China
· 2 days ago by Matthew Wilson So it may come as a surprise that a recent poll found that Australians feel about as warmly toward a new suitor in the region – China – as they do toward longtime ally America. Moreover, the poll found that Australians think China is the strongest power in Asia, eclipsing the United States.

The results of the poll, conducted for the Lowy Institute, a think tank in Sydney, and released in October, underscore the intensifying ties between Australia and China. Australia increasingly feels the gravitational pull of China’s rise as a global power, and the trend is leaving ripples in its traditionally warm relations with Washington.

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Report Says US Military Equipment Gets to Iran, China
· 3 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A U.S. news agency reports that surplus American military equipment has made its way to Iran and China through unscrupulous dealers and a lack of security in a Defense Department program. VOA’s Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon.

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US-China and a New Cold War
· 4 days ago by Matthew Wilson

What about US-China relations?

‘Now there is a two sided military competition underway – it’s limited and constrained compared for example to the Cold War military competition between the Soviet Union and America, but its underway and its serious and its accelerating….’ There are those that choose to argue that ‘terrorists’ and the ‘axis of evil’ are the real forces behind America’s foreign policy, but Iran or North Korea are not even close to China’s military capability, while terrorists are unable to threaten the overwhelming dominant (and extremely sophisticated) United States’ space-based military arsenal. I will not use this platform to deal with the myriad of flaws in the ‘War on Terror’ thesis in South East Asia alone, except to say that it will prove interesting meal for later journalistic endeavors. iiHowever for those who are still skeptical, let us briefly examine other factors that have illuminated the real focus of US foreign policy:

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Paper unmasks China's military
· 4 days ago by Matthew Wilson While US political leaders and citizens are concentrating their attention on Iraq, the Chinese appear to have embarked on a long-range plan intended to challenge the US for military superiority in Asia.

China’s latest white paper on defense asserts: “To build a powerful and fortified national defense is a strategic task of China’s modernization drive.” Using code words for the US, the paper says: “Hegemonism and power politics remain key factors in undermining international security.”

The white paper envisions three phases: to lay a solid foundation by 2010, to make “major progress” by 2020 and to reach the strategic goal of building armed forces capable of winning high-tech wars “by the mid-21st century.”

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Overtones ominous for 2007 global woes
· 5 days ago by Matthew Wilson

In the realm of foreign affairs, many issues will appear to be the same in 2007: the threat of global terrorism, the struggle in Iraq, tension in the Middle East, global warming, international drug trafficking, the spread of infectious diseases, the U.S trade deficit, etc.
The most pressing issues, however, and the ones most likely to plunge the world into crisis in the next year or two are interconnected:

? the spread of nuclear weapons;
? the ambitions of Russia and China; and
? the competition for energy resources.

A cloud over Putin

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The prickly side of China's foreign policy
· 5 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China’s growing thirst for oil is one of the primary reasons the government of Sudan has been able to continue its support of the bloodthirsty Janjaweed militias’ genocidal rampages in Darfur, according to Peter Navarro, a business professor at the University of California, Irvine.

The Chinese ties to the atrocities in Darfur are one of the blatant examples of the hypocrisy of Chinese foreign policy underscored by Navarro in his new book, “The Coming China Wars.” In this comprehensive examination of China’s mushrooming economy, Navarro masterfully illuminates the dark sides of China’s leaps into privatization and globalization.

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China Seizing Chance to Power Up
· 5 days ago by Matthew Wilson

While American political leaders and citizens are concentrating their attention on Iraq, the Chinese appear to have embarked on a long-range plan intended to challenge the United States for military superiority in Asia.

China’s latest White Paper on defense asserts: “To build a powerful and fortified national defense is a strategic task of China’s modernization drive.” Using code words for the U.S., the paper says:

“Hegemonism and power politics remain key factors in undermining international security.”

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U.S. presses China on armed submarine encounter
· 7 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The admiral in charge of the U.S. Pacific Fleet pressed Chinese military leaders to explain why an armed submarine challenged a U.S. aircraft carrier in the western Pacific by sailing within five miles of the warship, U.S. defense officials said. The Chinese responded by claiming the Song-class submarine that surfaced near the USS Kitty Hawk on Oct. 27 was there by accident, and that it did not shadow the warship before making its presence known, the officials said. Defense officials familiar with reports of closed-door military meetings in Beijing, Shanghai and Zhanjiang privately doubted the Chinese explanations and said it is more likely the Song-class diesel electric submarine was practicing anti-aircraft carrier operations.

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The Single Most Important Thing About China
· 7 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The single most important thing you need to know about China does not concern its economy — impressive though that is.

...

The most important thing about China isn’t its military expansion — in many ways, comparable to the re-arming of Germany in the 1930s.

...

But neither China’s booming economy nor its alarming military growth is the root of the problem. In any discussion of China, the place to start is with an understanding of the reality of political power on the Mainland.

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The Chinese Century
· 7 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The railroad station in the Angolan town of Dondo hasn’t seen a train in years. Its windows are boarded up, its pale pink façade crumbling away; the local coffee trade that Portuguese colonialists founded long ago is a distant memory, victim of a civil war that lasted for 27 years. Dondo’s fortunes, however, may be looking up. This month, work is scheduled to start on the local section of the line that links the town to the deep harbor at Luanda, Angola’s capital. The work will be done by Chinese construction firms, and as two of their workers survey the track, an Angolan security guard sums up his feelings. “Thank you, God,” he says, “for the Chinese.”

That sentiment, or something like it, can be heard a lot these days in Africa, where Chinese investment is building roads and railways, opening textile factories and digging oil wells. You hear it on the farms of Brazil, where Chinese appetite for soy and beef has led to a booming export trade. And you hear it in Chiang Saen, a town on the Mekong River in northern Thailand, where locals used to subsist on whatever they could make from farming and smuggling—until Chinese engineers began blasting the rapids and reefs on the upper Mekong so that large boats could take Chinese-manufactured goods to markets in Southeast Asia. “Before the Chinese came here, you couldn’t find any work,” says Ba, a Burmese immigrant, taking a cigarette and Red Bull break from his task hauling sacks of sunflower seeds from a boat onto a truck bound for Bangkok. “Now I can send money back home to my family.”

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China Facing Major Gender Imbalance
· 7 days ago by Matthew Wilson

BEIJING – China will have 30 million more men of marriageable age than women in less than 15 years as a gender imbalance resulting in part from the country’s tough one-child policy becomes more pronounced, state media reported Friday. Traditional preferences for sons has led to the widespread – but illegal – practice of women aborting babies if an early term sonogram shows it is a girl.

The tens of millions of men who will not be able to find a wife could also lead to social instability problems, the China Daily said in a front-page report.

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China: Shot Across Our Bow
· 17 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Defense: China’s president announces that the world’s most populous nation is preparing to challenge U.S. naval supremacy on the high seas by building a blue-water navy. The dragon sets sail.

In comments made last week to Communist Party delegates and published in the People’s Liberation Army Daily, Hu Jintao, Chinese president and commander in chief, urged his country to build a “powerful navy that adapts to the needs of our military’s historical mission in this new century and at this new stage.”

Hu also urged “sound preparations for military struggles and (to) ensure that the forces can effectively carry out missions at any time.”

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China: New Trends in Force Modernization, Doctrine and Training
· 17 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The transformation of the Second Artillery Corps, which is the arm of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) responsible for most of China’s conventional and nuclear ballistic missiles, is one of the centerpieces of China’s military modernization program. The number of short- and medium-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs and MRBMs, respectively) in China’s inventory has increased dramatically in recent years, posing an increasingly potent threat to Taiwanese and U.S. forces in parts of the region. This development is particularly striking given that China had no conventional ballistic missile capability until the Second Artillery added conventional strikes to its mission in the early 1990s [1]. In addition to these conventional augmentations, China is also modernizing its nuclear missile force to enhance its survivability. Accompanying these improvements in force modernization have been advances in the Second Artillery’s doctrine and training, which are greatly increasing the operational capability of the conventional missile force and strengthening the deterrence posture of the nuclear missile force. These developments have tremendous implications for military planners and policymakers in both the United States and Taiwan.

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Russia to assist China in space
· 18 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW – Russia will cooperate with China on space projects, but will not transfer sensitive technologies that could enable Beijing to become a rival in a space race, the head of Russia?s space agency announced last week.

Anatoly Perminov, chief of Russia?s Federal Space Agency, said Moscow and Beijing would cooperate in robotic missions to the moon. He added, however, that Russia would maintain restrictions on sharing technology.

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China’s military spending to reach $36bn
· 20 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China’s defence spending is expected to reach Rmb283.8bn ($36.4bn) this year, up nearly 15 per cent from last year, according to rarely released government data that are likely to heighten concerns over Beijing’s military build-up.

The boost in funds, which many experts argue greatly underestimates actual military expenditures, is aimed at modernising the 2.3m-strong People’s Liberation Army (PLA) into a nimbler, more technologically-advanced entity, said a white paper released by the government yesterday.

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Guide to Taiwan flashpoint
· 20 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Taiwan has one of Asia’s few functioning democracies and one of its strongest economies. But for the island’s 23 million people, the future is overshadowed by an unresolved dispute with China.

China sees the island as a breakaway province which should be reunified, by force if necessary. Hundreds of Chinese missiles now aim across the Taiwan Strait to bring home the point.

Both sides are used to dealing with this fraught relationship, and closer economic ties may eventually make conflict less likely. But until that happens, any flare-up over Taiwan would have much wider implications. Most importantly, it could quickly suck the US into conflict with China, because of US security assurances to Taiwan.

The BBC News website looks at the issues behind what some analysts see as one of the world’s most dangerous flashpoints.

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China Offers Glimpse of Rationale Behind Its Military Policies
· 20 days ago by Matthew Wilson

BEIJING, Dec. 29 — China warned Friday that the military landscape in northeast Asia is getting “more complicated and serious” because of North Korea’s nuclear weapons program and tighter defense cooperation between Japan and the United States.

The Chinese views on regional security, articulated in a government white paper on national defense, provided a rare glimpse into the strategic assessments that underlie decisions and priorities of the secretive Chinese military and the Communist Party’s policymaking Central Military Commission.

In part, the paper was designed as a response to repeated complaints from the Bush administration that China has not explained the rationale behind its long-term military improvement program. China’s announced military budget has risen about 10 percent a year recently, reaching $35.4 billion in 2006, and Pentagon specialists estimate that also counting equipment expenditures would more than double it.

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TAIWAN: US writer questions legality of China's claim to Taiwan
· 28 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A commentary on the Foreign Policy in Focus Web site by US-based journalist Ian Williams says that “China’s arguments against Taiwanese self-determination are not particularly legal or ethical.”

Questioning Beijing’s arguments of China having a billion people and a huge economy, Williams said that the fact that China has more than 900 missiles pointing at Taiwan was indicative of the weakness of Beijing’s arguments.

“In the modern world, few governments can pledge with a straight face to `liberate’ an island full of people it pretends are compatriots by blowing them off the map,” he added.

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Dragon's teeth - Chinese missiles raise their game
· 31 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China now builds and supplies missiles that can be used in combat from the beach, across the coastal/littoral environment, and out to extended-range engagements far over the horizon. This has largely been achieved through an evolutionary process of staged improvement.

At the same time, China has shown that it can embrace entirely new concepts to serve the essential operational requirements of the People’s Liberation Army, the navy and naval air force, and the air force.

The potential use of tactical ballistic missiles against targets at sea is the best example of this and the intent that drives the process is clear: China has spent a great deal of time analysing how best to neutralise US naval forces in the Pacific – in particular the carrier strike groups.

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China: The coming fight for oil
· 31 days ago by Matthew Wilson

ATASU, Kazakhstan — The wind-raked scrub of this barren plateau reveals little hint of the revolution gurgling 9 feet beneath.

China’s first international oil pipeline, buried in the Kazakh steppe, is a milestone for the world’s newest empire—one forged not in the name of destiny or God, but in pursuit of the planet’s most valuable resources.

From the Himalayas to the Yellow Sea, China’s cities are exploding in size. Their factories are filling shelves around the globe. The country’s brand-new middle class is buying cars so fast that China is on pace to have more vehicles than America in two decades.

China had enough oil to sustain itself just 15 years ago. Now it is one of the world’s thirstiest oil addicts, importing 40 percent of what it needs. Only the U.S. consumes more.

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China and the Uses of Uncertainty
· 38 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The regional status quo in Northeast Asia appears to have self-destructed over the last few years. North Korea has announced that it possesses nuclear weapons and, with its most recent test, may have kicked down the door to the nuclear club. Japan has already stepped out from under its “peace constitution,” and it is no longer quite so taboo for Japanese politicians to discuss a preemptive strike option or even a formal nuclear capability. The U.S.-South Korean security alliance is beginning to fray at the edges as Seoul prepares to strike off in a more independent direction. China has embraced multilateralism, has significantly encroached on U.S. economic and diplomatic influence in the region, and has even participated as an observer (for the first time in June 2006) in a large-scale joint military exercise in the Asia Pacific conducted by the United States, Japan, and South Korea.

And yet, certain salient features of the old security order persist. China and Taiwan, despite considerable cross-investment, continue to face off across the Taiwan Straits. North and South Korea, despite movement toward rapprochement, remain divided at mid-peninsula. Still asserting its role as an honest broker with no territorial ambitions, the United States maintains the most powerful military force in the region even as it calls upon reserves from the Pacific theater to bolster its presence in the Middle East. Japan and the United States have never been closer. China and North Korea abide as nominal allies.

Northeast Asia seems, in other words, to be caught half in and half out of order.

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U.S. dollar facing imminent collapse?
· 39 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Fed in bind as Paulsen, Bernanke head to China.

Even as the stock market is hitting new record highs almost every day, the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department are quietly coordinating a devaluation of the dollar that the Bush administration hopes will be a slow decline rather than a dollar collapse.

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An Updated Look at the China-Taiwan Status Quo (Part III)
· 42 days ago by Matthew Wilson ET: In the past people assumed the United Nations would play a vital role in bringing human rights abuses into line. But as we see, the United Nations continues to allow countries with known abysmal human rights records full participation in their human rights committees.

BH: The United Nations organization is worthless. In fact it is worse than worthless because it leans toward non-democracies. And it just isn’t Kofi Anan. They have had seven Secretary Generals since the birth of the U.N., and other than the first two, the rest of them were just awful, really awful.

“One Good Example of How the United Nations Leans Very Heavily to the Left is How the PRC Got in”

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Related Articles
1. An Updated Look at the China-Taiwan Status Quo (Part II) Thursday, November 16, 2006

2. An Updated Look at the China-Taiwan Status Quo (Part I) Thursday, November 09, 2006

3. The Taiwan Policy Challenge and Status Quo Conundrum (Part I) Friday, March 24, 2006

4. The Taiwan Policy Challenge and Status Quo Conundrum (Part II) Friday, March 31, 2006

5. The Taiwan Policy Challenge and Status Quo Conundrun (Part III) Friday, April 07, 2006

6. The Taiwan Policy Challenge and Status Quo Conundrum (Part IV) Monday, June 19, 2006

7. The Taiwan Policy Challenge and Status Quo Conundrum (Part V) Monday, July 24, 2006

8. The Final Battle between Slavery and Democracy has Shifted to Asia, (Part I) Wednesday, January 25, 2006

9. The Final Battle between Slavery and Democracy has Shifted to Asia (Part II) Monday, January 30, 2006

10. Irvine Changes Policy After Sister City Program Shanghaied Thursday, June 29, 2006

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Target America
· 42 days ago by Matthew Wilson

EDITOR’S NOTE: Jeane Kirkpatrick, U.S. ambassador to the U.N. under Ronald Reagan and recepient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, died Thursday .

This piece by Kirkpatrick appeared in the February 22, 1999, issue of National Review.

A good many Americans still have trouble understanding why the United States needs a missile defense — this despite the only slightly veiled threat made by a Chinese general during the Taiwan Straits crisis in 1996 to bomb Los Angeles. Since then the reach and accuracy of China’s missiles have increased, with the help of generous infusions of advanced U.S. missile technology.

At the end of January, news surfaced that the Chinese army had conducted exercises against Taiwan and — most remarkably — U.S. troops in the area. Reluctant to face, much less to publicize, China’s new posture and power, the Clinton administration is said to be delaying a report to Congress on these developments. It has had too great an investment in its special relationship with China and too great a stake in the longheld conviction that the United States does not need, and will not need, an effective missile defense. Meanwhile, the role of the “People’s Liberation Army” in the Beijing government grows.

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America and Japan Approach a Rising China
· 42 days ago by Matthew Wilson

America’s post-Cold War China policy was premised on the hope that multidimensional engagement with Beijing would result in a strong, rich, peaceful, and democratic China. Almost two decades later, America’s attitude toward China reflects the fear that engagement has led instead to a China that is indeed stronger and richer, but still authoritarian. It appears increasingly likely that China will use its growing power to challenge American leadership in Asia. The United States and Japan can meet this challenge through greater military cooperation and by strengthening and supporting democratic ideals.

The Bush administration’s China policy today looks like that adopted by the Clinton administration in its latter years. Although many in the foreign policy community mocked a late-1990s study by the RAND Corporation that proposed a policy of “congagement” (containment and engagement) with China,[1] the two administrations have followed just such a policy. America is heavily engaged with China economically, diplomatically, and culturally, but at the same time is trying to contain its regional and global ambitions. It appears that there is an underlying reality to relations with China that neither Republicans nor Democrats can avoid.

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The Rise of the Red Dragon
· 43 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China has very suddenly become a major world power—a strong ally to some, but a threat to others. Its economic growth and ability to produce goods is virtually unrivaled. But what are the implications? What lies ahead for China, and how will it affect the world?

China, the world’s largest country by population, and one of the largest by area, has been a topic of great interest in recent years.

Many items purchased in the “Western world,” particularly North America, have a “Made in China” label on them. North American businessmen now refer to the “China price” with a look of either fear or glee in their eyes.

When international oil and gas prices rose recently, part of the blame was directed at China’s near-insatiable demand. Natural resource companies are just now experiencing a major influx of Chinese interest, investment and even control. Diplomatic and financial deals have been made in order to secure key commercial and strategic shipping routes and ports. Modern Chinese cities have greatly expanded in only ten years—indeed, they are virtually unrecognizable from 20 years ago.

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Chinese fast developing advanced submarines
· 44 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China could have its first aircraft carrier battle group composed of 11 warships in place by 2020, a high-ranking official from the Ministry of National Defense told a recent symposium hosted by the Institute for Taiwan Defense and Strategic Studies to discuss the purchase of diesel-electric submarines. His remark is probably an understatement and the ministry has seriously underestimated China’s capability to develop and deploy submarines.

The ministry estimated that China will have two Type 093 nuclear-powered attack submarines in this planned aircraft carrier battle group. Named the “Shang-class” by NATO, Type 093 is a refined model of the Russian Victor-III class and an engineering project complementary to the construction of China’s Type 094 Jin-class nuclear-powered guided ballistic missile submarines. Deploying two nuclear-powered attack submarines in a middle-sized aircraft carrier battle group is adequate.

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The Unexpected New World: Russia and China against America
· 49 days ago by Matthew Wilson

In the aftermath of the recent Middle East war, it is not difficult to imagine that the map of the recent world, but after the Lebanon war, has, like an undeveloped photographic print, just been dipped into a pan of solution, and we are watching as an image emerges before our eyes. That image is very different both to what we have known and what we have expected.

The new map, now out of the developer and drying, shows new problems and new international configurations that will pose serious issues for the United States, her democratic allies, and even her undemocratic allies.

Above all we see the two powers that we have tried hardest of all to befriend over past decades, China and Russia, working actively against us, strategically and militarily, and not just in the Middle East, but effectively everywhere.

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China’s Military Buildup Suggests She Seeks to Change the Status Quo
· 49 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China’s government has become wealthy through world trade. She has nearly a trillion dollars in foreign exchange reserves and 11% of her GNP is accounted for by exports to the United States alone.

But China’s military and strategic purpose is not to join the world that has made her rich as it is today, but rather to remake that world. That is the almost inescapable conclusion for anyone reading the just-released Pentagon report on Chinese military power.

China’s goal would seem to be to make herself the greatest military power in Asia, able to intimidate or defeat any of her neighbors in actually conflict, and to deter the United States or anyone else from intervening.

These conclusions are profoundly worrying to anyone who knows the history of war in Asia over the past century. They are also profoundly at odds with the conventional wisdom of several decades following U.S. establishment of relations with Beijing in 1979, which maintained that China had neither the desire nor the ability to become an important military force. Many outside of China will dismiss the report, or argue that China is simply responding to actions by the United States or other countries.

Reality, however, is rendering more and more untenable both the long-standing position of complacency and the desire to see China’s actions as responsive, rather than self-directed.

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Bypassing the NMD: China and the Cruise Missile Proliferation Problem
· 49 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The PLA has had a long standing commitment to the development and deployment of modern cruise missiles. Recent reports that a Taiwanese businessman, acting on behalf of the PRC, was arrested in the US after trying to purchase a stealthy AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missile from undercover Federal agents, should come as no surprise. China’s deep involvement in the illegal acquisition of the Russian Kh-55 / AS-15 Kent is well documented. What is less well known is the ‘collateral damage’ to the global cruise missile non-proliferation effort produced as a result.

Last year Pakistan revealed the Hatf VII Babur Ground Launched Cruise Missile, which bears a remarkable resemblance to the Kh-55 and US BGM-109 Tomahawk. The Babur is the first ‘indigenous’ cruise missile deployed by an Islamic nation. This April, Malaysian analyst Prasun K Sengupta connected Iran and China’s acquisition of Kh-55s from the Ukraine with Pakistan.

Moreover, a series of media reports in June last year centered on the issue of North Korea acquiring cruise missile technology from Russia via Iran. The Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun, claiming ruling party and government agency sources, alleged that Iran had supplied the Kh-55 / AS-15 Kent to the DPRK [North Korea] for the purpose of reverse engineering. The Sankei Shimbun quoted a Defence Ministry source claiming ‘They [Iran and DPRK] are linked by a network beneath the surface regarding the development of weapons of mass destruction.’

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Chinese hackers prompt Navy college site closure
· 50 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Chinese computer hackers penetrated the Naval War College network earlier this month, forcing security authorities to shut down all e-mail and official computer network work at the Navy’s school for senior officers.

Navy officials said the computer attack was detected Nov. 15 and two days later the U.S. Strategic Command raised the security alert level for the Pentagon’s 12,000 computer networks and 5 million computers.

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China Sees Its Military Future in the Stars
· 50 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Space capabilities are likely to become a key component of China’s modernizing military, making it imperative that Washington and Beijing engage in a broader defense dialogue to avoid surprises, analysts say.

Military journals and scholarly articles published by China’s defense academies clearly indicate that Beijing sees space capabilities as critical to its modern defense forces, said Larry Wortzel, chairman of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission.

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Energy-hungry China breaks ground in Middle East
· 51 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China is striving to build economic and political ties in a region which the International Energy Agency expects to supply 70 percent of its oil imports by 2015, but in doing so it risks antagonizing its key trading partner, the United States.

For China woos U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia with the same fervor it uses to court Iran, Syria and Sudan — all at odds with the West and seen by Washington as “sponsors of terrorism.”

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New Report: Chinese Nuclear Forces and U.S. Nuclear War Planning
· 51 days ago by Matthew Wilson

An incipient nuclear arms race is emerging between China and the United States, according to a new report published today by the Federation of American Scientists and the Natural Resources Defense Council.

The 250-page report, Chinese Nuclear Forces and U.S. Nuclear War Planning, outlines the status and possible future development of China’s nuclear weapons, describes the history of U.S. nuclear targeting of China, and simulates nuclear strike scenarios between the two nuclear powers.

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Is China Stalking Us?
· 52 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The close encounter between a Chinese diesel sub and the American carrier USS Kitty Hawk on October 26 near Okinawa, first reported openly in the U.S. in mid-November, has already generated quite a lot of commentary. Some of what’s been said, though, seems to have had its objectivity compromised by hewing first to one or another ideology on how to interpret current post-electoral gamesmanship and geopolitics, then forcing conclusions that fit the preferred ideology. This vituperative polarization can obscure worthwhile analysis that’s truly germane to U.S. national security and world peace.

China’s seaward ambitions for deterrence — both nuclear and conventional — and for self-proclaimed regional hegemony need to be understood in the context of Beijing’s own evolving, translucent (not opaque) strategic culture. The modern Song-class passive sonars are certainly good enough to know at a range of 10,000 yards that a group of big and noisy surface ships was there. No PLAN submarine captain in his right mind would surface in such conditions unless he wanted to be absolutely sure that his presence, previously undetected within the carrier’s inner defense zone, was made unmistakably clear to theater U.S. admirals and their higher-ups inside the Beltway.

China is progressively drawing wider and wider deep-water redlines, warnings that her self-perceived inviolable defense interests lie thousands of miles beyond her coast, and American naval forces will in future cross those redlines at their perile.

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The Grand Chess Masters: The Bear and the Dragon
· 53 days ago by Matthew Wilson

While the Iraq crisis continues, the strategy of the Grand Chess Masters—Russia the bear and China the dragon along with their pawns the Leftists, Marxists and Islamists continue to develop and put in place their strategy for the ultimate goal of world domination.

General John Abizaid, the top US commander in the Middle East and John McCain argue about toop strengths. Many Democrats, including Carl Levin, who will become chairman of the Senate armed services committee in January, argue that the US needs to pressure the Iraqis by announcing a timetable to start withdrawing troops within four to six months. The Baker-Hamilton “Iraq Study Group” (ISG) is deciding whether to talk to Syria and Iran to request assistance in establishing stability in Iraq. And most are attempting to wage the war on the basis of Political Correctness and Social Justice. Few are addressing who are the enemies and what are their goal. In effect the West is still rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic, deciding how may tables to have and what time the games should start and of course when they should end.

The game has started, the strategies for “Checkmate” are in place. It is time for the America and the West to wake up. The “Cold War” has not ended, the nuclear armed totalitarian regimes have united, and this time they have added the Isalmists who are willing to die for the cause.

Likud leader Benjamin Netanyahu on Novemeber 13 drew a direct analogy between Iran and Nazi Germany.

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The Importance of the Spratly Islands
· 53 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The Spratly Islands, located at the southern end of the South China Sea, remain crucial to the region’s geostrategic setting. In late October and early November this year, Beijing and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (A.S.E.A.N.) tried to re-launch friendly talks related to the territorial disputes of the islands. They discussed broad Southeast Asian security issues and opened the way for possibly fruitful, structured diplomatic dialogue. The context, however, remains extremely complicated.

Claimed in their entirety by China, Taiwan and Vietnam, and partially by the Philippines, Malaysia and Brunei, the contested isles and reefs are a potential catalyst for major inter-state conflict in the coming years. In fact, all traditional geopolitical issues are at work in the Spratlys controversy: sovereignty, control of the vital hydrocarbons, control of the Sea Lines of Communication (S.L.O.C.s), and the capability to project power and influence across a broad region.

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tags: brunei , china , malaysia , philippines , spratly-islands , taiwan , vietnam

Iran and China poised to sign pact on oil field
· 53 days ago by Matthew Wilson

25-year deal could be worth $100 billion

TEHRAN: Iran and China have moved a step closer to signing an energy deal worth as much as $100 billion, with the Islamic republic saying it had invited China Petrochemical’s managing director to Tehran to sign an accord first reached in 2004.

The contract for Sinopec Group, as China Petrochemical is known, to develop the Yadavaran oil field in Iran and secure oil and gas supplies over a 25-year period is complete and ready to be signed, Petroenergy Information Network, the Iranian oil ministry news agency, said Saturday.

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tags: china , iran , oil

Russia-China Security Cooperation
· 54 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Russia and China have joined together in a strategic partnership aimed at countering the U.S. and Western “monopoly in world affairs,” as was made clear in a joint statement released by the Chinese and Russian presidents in July 2005. The long standing border disputes between the two countries were settled in agreements in 2005, and joint military exercises were carried out in the same year. Furthermore, Russia, in addition to its arms exports, has been increasing its oil and gas commitments to China. Clearly, the recent comprehensive improvement of bilateral relations between China and Russia is a remarkable development. What is the meaning of this military and security related cooperation, and is the Sino-Russian military liaison likely to expand? Should this rapprochement be considered as a structural shift of power with the goal of repelling Western influence from Central Asia and the adjacent areas?

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tags: china , russia

New Saudi alignment with China could challenge US
· 54 days ago by Matthew Wilson

RIYADH – When Haytham Zamzami began studying Chinese, the rising superpower had only just begun to register on the horizon for Saudi Arabia.

ME-China ties graphEight years later China is all the rage.

China’s insatiable demand for oil — and Saudi Arabia’s position as the world’s top exporter—have become the basis for a trade partnership that analysts say could upset Riyadh’s decades-old oil-for-security relationship with Washington.

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tags: china , saudi-arabia , u.s.

Sino-Russian Cooperation in Killing Putin's Enemies?
· 54 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MI6 believe the Polonium 210, which killed former Russian spy Alexander Litvinenko, could have come from China. It is one of the few countries – the United States is another – with the specialist laboratory to produce Polonium 210 as a deadly weapon. It is normally used in the Chinese space programme.

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tags: china , russia , spying

China bought bomber secrets
· 58 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China obtained secret stealth technology used on B-2 bomber engines from a Hawaii-based spy ring in a compromise U.S. officials say will allow Beijing to copy or counter a key weapon in the Pentagon’s new strategy against China.

Details of the classified defense technology related to the B-2’s engine exhaust system and its ability to avoid detection by infrared sensors were sold to Chinese officials by former defense contractor Noshir S. Gowadia, an Indian-born citizen charged with spying in a federal indictment released by prosecutors in Hawaii.

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tags: china , spying , u.s.

China buildup seen aimed at U.S. ships
· 59 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China’s military buildup includes new missiles and naval weapons designed to sink U.S. aircraft carriers and deny U.S. forces access to the Asia-Pacific region, a congressional commission official said yesterday.

Daniel Blumenthal, a former Pentagon defense policy-maker and now a member of the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission, said China’s military is building up forces to “deny the United States the use of the commons — the sea, the air, cyber and space.”

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tags: china , military , u.s.

U.S. worries about Chinese espionage
· 59 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Concern focuses on non-traditional agents like students, businessmen.

WASHINGTON – University professor Gao Zhan, a human rights activist once celebrated in Washington, is today in U.S. custody, convicted of selling sensitive U.S. technology to China — microprocessors that could be used in missiles.

Gao’s activities are part of what senior U.S. officials say is an intensified campaign by the People’s Republic of China to steal military and civilian technology.

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tags: china , espionage , spying , u.s.

China pulling North Korea's strings
· 60 days ago by Matthew Wilson

North Korea may be a failed economic and political state based on a Stalinist model, but it has emerged as a strategic player in East Asia as a result of its nuclear policy.

The United States, meanwhile, is a major power by all measures of power but is forced to play a weak hand.

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tags: china , north-korea

Canada Gets a Spine
· 60 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Under almost 13 years of Liberal rule, Canada’s China policy had become increasingly obsequious.

Human rights violations in China were winked at. China’s bad behaviour internationally was ignored and even the revelation by CSIS of 1,000 Chinese spies in Canada was swept under the rug.

If the idea was that being China’s moral apologist would help Canadian businessmen sell to China, that idea failed.

China-Canada trade has increased during the past decade, but it has been China selling their goods to us, not the other way around. Canada buys about triple from China what they buy from us. And what China covets most is our energy and other natural resources — global commodities Canada would sell on the world market.

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tags: canada , china

'China has a plan to contain India by using Pakistan'
· 60 days ago by Matthew Wilson

But China now suspects that Indian negotiators have read its mind — in particular, its keenness to settle the border dispute speedily — and are trying to use the situation to their advantage. “India wants to take advantage of this opportunity… but its intention of occupying more areas will fail… If India feels it can take advantage of China’s psychology and… force China to accept India’s continued occupation of prosperous regions in order to ease its border pressure… to promote its social and economic development… it is wishful thinking,” cautions Deng.

But the commentary noted that the disputed area with India was nearly twice as large as Taiwan.

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Alarm over China's arms pursuit - in space
· 61 days ago by Matthew Wilson

New alarms are sounding over signs that China may be developing space weapons, reinforcing suspicions that the People’s Liberation Army is increasingly interested in the final frontier as a theater of war.

The latest alert came Thursday from an independent panel – created by Congress to assess the economic and security situations in China – that questions Chinese intentions and urges lawmakers to lean on the Bush administration to talk with Beijing about curtailing space militarization.

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tags: china , military , space

Never Trust China
· 62 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Sly and smiling, Beijing excels in making canny moves that can maim India.

“Hide your strength and bide your time” is an old Chinese strategy. This involves lulling their opponent into disarming, while they acquire overwhelming strength. Then they suddenly pounce upon their foe. For decades, China worked behind the veil of being a Third World country, implementing the theory that says development and security must go together; that in the absence of one the other can’t be achieved.

The veil is now slipping off. The Chinese Institute of Contemporary International Relations, a think-tank supported by China’s external intelligence agency, recently unveiled the “Greater Peripheral” theory of emerging as an “independent big power”. This was most recently showcased through a commitment of $5 billion in assistance to 48 African countries. The scheme was earlier applied in its immediate periphery (East and Central Asia) where it had used a varied mix of instruments—diplomacy, political support, economic allurement and military aid—to acquire heft and influence.

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Taiwan: China targeting island with 900 missiles on 5 bases
· 63 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China continues its planning to invade Taiwan and now has more than 900 missile targeted on the island, Taiwanese officials said last week.

“Despite China’s impressive economic rise, it has become more authoritarian, posing a grave threat to our sovereignty and abusing human rights like never before,” Taiwanese President Chen Shuibian said.

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tags: china , military , taiwan , war

China to offer nuclear plants to Pakistan
· 63 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Chinese President Hu Jintao is poised to unveil an ambitious expansion of nuclear power cooperation with Pakistan when he visits next week, testing China’s balance between Pakistan and its wary neighbour, India.

On the first trip to Pakistan by a Chinese president in a decade, Hu is likely to announce that China will help the South Asian nation construct several nuclear plants in coming decades, said analysts and diplomatic sources.

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China may offer nuclear deal to Pakistan
· 64 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Beijing: Chinese President Hu Jintao is poised to unveil an ambitious expansion of nuclear power cooperation with Pakistan when he visits next week, testing China’s balance between Pakistan and its wary neighbour, India.

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Panel slams China over selfish goals
· 64 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A congressional advisory panel yesterday questioned China’s willingness to be a more responsible international player, saying world prosperity depends on China abandoning a single-minded pursuit of its “own narrow national interests.”

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission made 44 recommendations in its annual report to lawmakers. It calls on the United States to combat Chinese attempts to isolate Taiwan by supporting the island’s membership in various world bodies, and to pressure Beijing to help end the bloody conflict in Sudan’s Darfur region.

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The sub incident: China calling
· 65 days ago by Matthew Wilson

In the waters off Okinawa, the communist-controlled Chinese navy was anything but inscrutable.

A Chinese attack submarine stalked the USS Kitty Hawk carrier group until a routine surveillance flight discovered the vessel.

The Song-class sub was on the surface, five miles away, within firing range.

The vessel can be armed with cruise missiles and Russian-made torpedoes. Its purpose is to stop U.S. naval expeditionary forces into the Far East.

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Horrific New Evidence of China Organ Harvesting Revealed
· 65 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A Chinese military surgeon had eight Chinese citizens killed to supply a single foreign patient with a new kidney, said former Canadian Secretary of State for Asia-Pacific David Kilgour on November 14. Kilgour spoke as a special guest at the Asian Human Rights Week forum in Warsaw, on day two of a five day program.

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tags: china , organ-harvesting

China plans to build 25 nuclear plants in the next five years
· 66 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The eyes of the world are on China, as the country begins development of the very first commercial modular high-temperature gas-cooled reactor.

This significant new project is being undertaken by the Chinese government, which has assigned the task of building the reactor to Chinergy, a joint venture of Tsinghua Holding Co Ltd and the state-owned China Nuclear Engineering and Construction Corporation.

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China? The Next Super Power?
· 66 days ago by Matthew Wilson

What a lot of people don’t realize is that China is the new Super Power. They have a lot of new ships, missiles, subs, lets just say a lot of military equipement sold to it by Russia. Russia may not be enemies with the US anymore.

Wink. wink.

But they sure do have a lot of questionable allies. You think that first Chinese rocket mission into space was done by China alone? Russia sold them the equipment and China re-enginered it! So to with its military equipment.

All I can say is that while the US was negotiating arms agreements with the then Soviet Union, China was brushed off as kind of a no need to worry about now thing.

But we should worry about them.

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tags: china , super-power

India ponders China “threat” ahead of Hu visit
· 66 days ago by Matthew Wilson

NEW DELHI – When Chinese President Hu Jintao visits India next week, the talk will almost certainly be of burgeoning trade ties and closer cooperation between the world’s most populous and rapidly growing economies.

But underneath the red carpet lies an accumulation of mistrust between the Asian giants — two very different nations and peoples.

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India and China row over border
· 66 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A verbal spat has broken out between India and China days before Chinese President Hu Jintao visits India to discuss trade and bilateral ties.

China’s ambassador to India reiterated his country’s claim to a large area of north-eastern India.

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tags: border , china , india

Japan policy chief wants China 'discipline'
· 67 days ago by Matthew Wilson

TOKYO – A senior Japanese ruling party politician on Monday criticised China over recent actions in disputed East China Sea gas fields, saying it needed to exercise self-discipline as befitted its status as a growing world power.

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tags: china , energy , gas , japan

India is secretly prepared to take on China and this time use of high tech will surprise China
· 67 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Indian masterminds at the DRDO (Defense Research and Development Organization) in collaboration with RAW and other national security agencies have worked hard for decades to keep India secretly prepared against China.

If there is hostility between India and China, high tech surprise waits Chinese Military establishment. India is prepared to unleash the power of its software technologies in case Beijing dares to proceed against India militarily.

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tags: china , india , military , war

China's naval surveillance of U.S.
· 67 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The incident fits disconcertingly well into a larger framework. China’s intent to shift the balance of power in the Pacific away from the United States is a recurring theme in the Pentagon’s annual reports on China’s military power. “The pace and scope of China’s military build-up already place regional military balances at risk,” the 2006 report states. The report also notes that “[c]urrent trends in China’s military modernization could provide China with a force capable of prosecuting a range of military operations in Asia — well beyond Taiwan — potentially posing a credible threat to modern militaries operating in the region,” referring to the U.S. military. The diesel-powered Song-class submarine that surfaced five miles away from the USS Kitty Hawk on Oct. 26 lags considerably behind its American counterparts, but Washington should expect China to continue investing heavily in modernizing its military force.

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tags: china , military , submarines , u.s.

Commander: China Sub Stalked U.S. Carrier
· 67 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The aircraft carrier and supporting ships were conducting war games at the time but were not engaged in anti-submarine exercises, Adm. William Fallon, the commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told reporters.

But they had been, he said, “and if this Chinese sub came in the middle of this, then it could have escalated into something that could have been very unforeseen.”

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tags: china , military , submarines , u.s.

DEBKA-Net-Weekly: Very recent Iranian-North Korean nuclear collusion revealed
· 68 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A disturbing piece of US intelligence was due to be laid before the US president George W. Bush’s strategy review conference with the Iraq Study Group and talks with the visiting Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert in Washington. It is bound to color the two events which both take place Monday, Nov. 13. Twelve days before North Korea’s first nuclear test on Oct.10, a secret Iranian military delegation of nuclear and missile experts was present in Pyongyang. The visitors were taken round North Korea’s Yongbyon reactor and the Punggye-ri testing site in the far north amid the preparations for the coming North Korean test.

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tags: china , iran , north-korea , nuclear

China sub stalked US carrier, says report
· 68 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A CHINESE submarine approached a US aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean last month and surfaced within firing range of its torpedoes and missiles before being detected, The Washington Times reported today.

The newspaper said the encounter highlighted China’s continuing efforts to prepare for a possible future conflict with the United States despite the administration’s efforts to try to boost relations with the Chinese military.

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tags: china , military , submarines , u.s.

Google Earth cool travel tool
· 68 days ago by Matthew Wilson

It’s good for spying too.

In little more than a year, Google Earth has proved its attractions to individual users. They spend long hours tinkering with it and access the Google Earth Community function to report what they find in its vast store of imagery: a ship on fire off Iceland, spreading oil spills, a scale model of a top-secret military installation in a disputed region between India and China.

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tags: china , google-earth , india

America: The Greatest Menace to Global Stability
· 69 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The 2006 Angus Reid World Poll

Gabriela Perdomo – People in 13 countries believe the United States is the greatest threat to global stability, and residents of eight countries consider American foreign policy as the most menacing issue to the world, the Angus Reid World Poll conducted for Maclean’s found. Overall, most people in the 20 countries surveyed chose the U.S. as the greatest threat from a list that included Iran, China, Iraq, North Korea, Israel and Russia.

The countries with the highest ranking that voted the U.S. the greatest threat are China, Turkey, South Korea and Mexico.

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My Comments:

Yes, our good ol’ friends the South Koreans and Mexicans say that we’re the greatest threat to global stability.

I’ve already explained how South Korea hates the U.S., but did you know that Mexico is not that far behind?

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tags: anti-americanism , china , mexico , south-korea , turkey , u.s.

China and the New World Order
· 69 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A New World Order in the Making

Is a new world order in the making? The answer: yes. Up to now, only about 20% of the world’s people have attained solid development, growth, and modernity. Now the rest are catching up at an unprecedented speed. This sudden surge in so many late developers suggests a brave new world in the making.

Several Key Changes

Huge changes are happening, within a vastly expanded sphere for all people and nations. We can identify four in particular.

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China's four-play
· 70 days ago by Matthew Wilson

With US President George W Bush in essence rendered to lame-duck status and Republican Party stalwarts such as Donald Rumsfeld missing in action, China has a unique opportunity to accelerate its path toward becoming the world’s second superpower.

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Futuristic Novel Explores Possibility of World War III
· 70 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Set in the not-so-distant future, Jaden’s novel focuses on what could happen in the next decade. On Jan. 24, 2012, the world changes forever. After a massive attack on Iranian nuclear/chemical facilities in October 2006 and the bombing of Turkey’s military in December, the leaders of China orchestrate a secret world coalition against the United States, including Russia, radical Islamic sects, North Korea and Indonesia. The plan is to enact Operation Dragon’s Claw, a sprawling plan to invade four continents and take over the world after weakening them with Operation Dragon’s Breath.

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tags: china , nuclear , russia , u.s. , war

THE SINO-RUSSIAN ARMS DILEMMA
· 71 days ago by Matthew Wilson

For over a decade, Russian military exports to China have constituted the most important dimension of the two countries’ security relationship. Since the two governments signed an agreement on military-technical cooperation in December 1992, China has purchased more weapons platforms and hardware-related items from Russia than from all other countries combined. During the 1990s, the value of these deliveries ranged up to US$1 billion annually. In recent years, this figure has approached $2 billion per year. Through these dealings, the various branches of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) have acquired Su-27 and Su-30 advanced fighter aircraft, Mi-17 transport helicopters, Il-72 transport aircraft, A-50 warning and control aircraft, SA-10 and SA-15 air defense missiles, T-72 main battle tanks, Kilo-class diesel submarines, and two Sovremenny-class destroyers [1]. Furthermore, in early November, Beijing and Moscow appeared to be finalizing a deal in which China would purchase the Su-33, an advanced carrier-based variant of the Su-27 (Sankei Shimbun, November 6).

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tags: arms , china , military , russia

More charges filed in US-China military secrets case
· 72 days ago by Matthew Wilson

HONOLULU: A man accused of working for China to produce a cruise missile that is hard to detect and intercept is facing additional charges, some of which carry a possible death sentence, federal officials said.

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China's satellite navigation plans threaten Galileo
· 72 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China’s decision to expand the functionality of its satellite navigation network could undermine the economics of Europe’s nascent Galileo system, according to sources close to the project.

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tags: china , navigation , satellite

China looms in Central America
· 73 days ago by Matthew Wilson

The U.S. can’t let the Asian giant dominate the Panama canal or a new canal being planned in Nicaragua

The war in Iraq, which so dominated the midterm election campaigns this year, is distracting the United States from significant developments occurring among our neighbors to the south. Unless we pay attention, we could be suffering severe economic and political consequences within a few years. The biggest risk is that China will become the dominant economic force in Central America.

Why China?

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tags: central-america , china , nicaragua , panama

China-Egypt nuclear energy deal
· 73 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China says it has reached an agreement with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, to co-operate on the peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Egypt plans to revive its nuclear energy programme, frozen 20 years ago after the Chernobyl nuclear accident.

Russia has also said it is willing to help Egypt to develop a nuclear energy programme.

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tags: china , egypt , nuclear , russia

China’s economic growth is not just ‘economic growth’
· 73 days ago by Matthew Wilson

To begin with, much of ‘economic growth’ consists of things that add military muscle. When China produces modern weapons-systems — apart from many other systems, it has made major advances in cruise and ballistic missiles, space technologies including technologies to disable enemy satellites, electronic warfare capabilities; when it lays out ‘infrastructure’ in Tibet — that is all ‘economic growth’. But it has direct military implications for India. The train that traverses heights of 16,000 feet to reach Lhasa can carry tourists, no doubt; but also men and materials of the PLA. When — as satellite imagery shows and ground information confirms — China builds 39 transport routes from its interior to the borders with India, and upgrades 15 of them for heavy vehicular traffic, including a four-lane highway right up to the border of Sikkim, all that too is ‘economic growth’; but that ‘growth’ should awaken us to what it implies for our security.

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tags: china , india , military

1,000 lakes in China disappear in half century
· 75 days ago by Matthew Wilson

NANCHANG — Nearly 1,000 lakes have disappeared over the past 50 years, an average rate of 20 lakes lost each year, said Zhu Guangyao, Vice Minister of State Environmental Protection Administration of China, on Wednesday.

He said 75 percent of China’s 20,000 natural lakes and thousands of artificial lakes suffered from algae pollution caused by an influx of waste water containing nitrogen, phosphorus and other harmful substances.

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tags: china , environment

China's usurious imperialism
· 78 days ago by Matthew Wilson

At the September meeting of G7 ministers in Singapore, China was severely chastised for overloading many African nations with debt. Left unsaid was China’s hidden imperialistic agenda behind its usurious ways. It is a story that urgently needs telling.

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tags: africa , china , imperialism

Experts Warn China Forging Ties with Africa's Pariah States
· 78 days ago by Matthew Wilson

As China prepares to host a summit with African leaders in Beijing, American experts say they are concerned about Beijing willingness to maintain close relations with pariah states on the continent.

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China's new silk road
· 78 days ago by Matthew Wilson

In the Middle Ages,pioneering merchants who travelled thousands of miles to peddle their wares made the Silk Road between China and the Mediterranean a great early channel of globalisation. As demonstrated by this week’s China-Africa Co-operation Forum in Beijing – attended by 1,500 entre- preneurs from both sides – the Silk Roads are back, albeit in a very different form today.The booming Chinese economy is notoriously hungry for oil and natural resources – and the Chinese government is equally hungry for political influence around the world. The result has been a series of mercantilist deals struck between sometimes unsavoury resource-rich developing economies and China, agreements with huge commercial and geopolitical significance which the West has for too long failed to understand.

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China begins building its own satellite navigation system
· 79 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Beijing, Nov. 2 (PTI): In an effort to end Western monopoly, China has started building its own Global Satellite Navigation System, ‘Compass’, which will also cover parts of neighbouring countries, the state media reported today.

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tags: china , navigation , satellites

Russia, China won't back Iran sanctions
· 79 days ago by Matthew Wilson

MOSCOW — Russian and China indicated that they will not support a draft U.N. resolution imposing tough sanctions on Iran for its refusal to halt its nuclear enrichment program.

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Egyptian President Mubarak hails brotherly ties with China, Africa-China partnership
· 80 days ago by Matthew Wilson

“It will be my ninth visit to China. And just like you, I feel optimistic and happy about this number,” Mubarak said on Monday in an interview with Xinhua and other Chinese media.

At the invitation of Chinese President Hu Jintao, Mubarak is expected to participate in the Beijing summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) scheduled for Nov. 3-5 and make a state visit to China following the summit.

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tags: africa , china , egypt

China displays advanced defence technology
· 80 days ago by Matthew Wilson

ZHUHAI: China displayed its military might by exhibiting a series of brand new precision assault weapons during the on-going Zhuhai airshow, which opened on Monday in South China’s Guangdong Province.

The weapons on show included precision-guided bombs and long-range striking systems hailed by military experts as symbols that the People’s Liberation Army has entered an era of precision attack.

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China defends dealings with Africa
· 80 days ago by Matthew Wilson

BEIJING – Billboards of elephants, giraffes and sweeping African savannas are covering Beijing high-rises. Police have had holidays canceled to help ease gridlock in the capital. Conference centers are being carpeted with grass.
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Beijing is making unusually lavish efforts to welcome leaders and officials from 48 African nations this week for a landmark summit meant to highlight China’s huge and growing role in Africa.

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Is China the new colonial power in Africa?
· 80 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Once the targets of rioting and insurrection in Africa were European colonial overlords. Today, though, jet-setting Chinese businessmen, arriving in ever greater numbers, are causing a backlash in the world’s poorest continent.

Zambia was the scene of the latest trouble early last month, when Chinese shopkeepers in the capital Lusaka were forced to use barricades to protect themselves from looters at the culmination of a bitter election contest fought largely on the issue of China’s alleged “exploitation” of the southern African country.

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tags: africa , china

China cited as North Korea supplier
· 80 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China helped North Korea develop nuclear weapons and in the past year increased its support to Pyongyang, rather than pressing the regime to halt nuclear arms and missile activities, according to a congressional report. The final draft report of the U.S.-China Economic Security Review Commission also says that Chinese government-run companies are continuing to threaten U.S. national security by exporting arms to American enemies in Asia and the Middle East.

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tags: china , north-korea , nuclear

China Not Ready to Be Advocate for Peace, Panel Says
· 81 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Despite its rising power and wealth, China may not be willing or ready to play a responsible role in an international system aimed at encouraging peace and stability, a commission set up by Congress said in a report released yesterday.

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tags: china , peace

In China's shadow
· 82 days ago by Matthew Wilson

U.S. must change to compete.

All Americans are living their lives in the shadow of China’s rising economic power. China is now to the United States what the United States was to Europe in the 19th century: the world’s biggest new market in terms of consumption and production and the place where standards of living are rising most quickly. China is the birthplace of firms with a chance to take leadership in every sector of the global economy.

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tags: china , u.s.

Never too late to scramble
· 84 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China is rapidly buying up Africa’s oil, metals and farm produce. That fuels China’s surging economic growth, but how good is it for Africa?

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tags: africa , china , economic

Mubarak to ask China for help with nuclear program
· 84 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Egyptian president to visit China, Russia and Kazakhstan, expected to appeal to China for help on nuclear energy program. Egyptian official: We could also benefit from Russia’s nuclear knowledge

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tags: china , egypt , nuclear

Leaders of China, France Call For Lifting of EU Arms Embargo
· 84 days ago by Matthew Wilson The leaders of China and France reiterated Oct. 26 their desire for the lifting of a European arms embargo on Beijing that has been in place since 1989.

”The two sides believe that the moment has come for the EU to make the most of the expanding partnership between the EU and China, most notably by lifting the arms embargo which is no longer pertinent to the present situation,” French President Jacques Chirac and his counterpart Hu Jintao said in a joint communiqué issued after they held talks here.

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My Comment:

You can always count on France to stab us in the back and the chest.

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tags: china , france

'China's Policy in the Gulf Region: From Neglect to Necessity'
· 84 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Whereas Chinese policies are clearly aimed at securing access to oil that is so vital to China’s power hungry and rapidly growing economy, energy is not the only agent that is driving China’s diplomatic offensive. China is also seeking to gain a foothold in a region that increasingly resents the U.S. presence. In doing so, China hopes to gently challenge American control by having greater influence in the region, which would complement and project China’s global ambitions. Beijing has been for a long time what historian John Gittings calls a “status-quo power that often punches below its weight in international politics.” China’s policy toward the G.C.C. is one element in Beijing’s overall goal of addressing this.

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tags: china , gulf , middle-east , oil

Chirac's strategic visit to Beijing
· 86 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Accordingly, the French president has been promoting what he believes is the logical and desirable alternative to US-led unipolarity, a “multipolar world” predicated on a new balance of power among major political-strategic and economic poles: the United States, the European Union (politically headed by a strong Franco-German combine), Russia, Japan, India, Brazil and, of course, China.

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tags: asia , china , europe , france

Massive US Trade Deficits Have Not Made China Cooperative
· 87 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Chinese leaders know that if they do not show some flexibility on North Korea in the wake of its nuclear test, this backlash will build further. It could tip the balance of forces in Washington, moving national interests ahead of private interests. The U.S. has enormous leverage on China, which needs the irreplaceable American market to fuel its growth. In contrast, there are plenty of rival producers both here and abroad eager to replace Chinese output. It would be wiser to manage trade so as to strengthen alliances than to empower adversaries.

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tags: china , trade , u.s.

Darker days loom after nuclear test
· 87 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Experts fear a refugee crisis as North Korea’s policies lead to aid cuts that worsen the woes of long-suffering citizens.

Humanitarian experts see even more difficulty ahead for long-suffering North Koreans following their government’s Oct. 9 nuclear test, amid fears that worsening conditions could spur an exodus of refugees across the border with China.

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tags: china , north-korea

China has military edge, US panel says
· 87 days ago by Matthew Wilson

ARMS BALANCE: A US government advisory panel warns that the US might not be able to effectively counter a Chinese attack on Taiwan between 2008 and 2015.

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tags: china , military , taiwan , u.s. , war

The Man in the Middle of Metal Storm
· 87 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Earlier this month several media reported on the attempts made by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China to acquire Australian weapon technology called Metal Storm. One of the approaches used was via Chinese Australian businessman Yang Jun, who reveals to The Epoch Times why he could not continue to play the role as the middleman.

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tags: australia , china , military

Muslims feel the long arm of Beijing
· 89 days ago by Matthew Wilson

n Xinjiang, which is of strategic importance to China, Uighurs try to maintain their culture despite strict oversight.

Powered by a good set of lungs and lots of practice, the cleric belts out the afternoon call to prayer. Despite his best efforts, the chant is all but drowned out by the din of a single-stroke tractor engine and a passing bus.

Beijing bars mullahs from using loudspeakers, one of dozens of rules critics say are designed to mute Islam’s voice in China, particularly among the Uighur minority here in the far-western region of Xinjiang, which the government considers a separatist threat.

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tags: china , islam , muslims

Analysis: Seoul jockeying for position in North to counter China
· 89 days ago by Matthew Wilson South Korea is still sending tourists to a mountain resort in North Korea and maintaining a joint economic zone, despite pressure to cancel the projects after the North’s nuclear test.

The country has its reasons for refusing to shutter key projects that help keep Kim Jong-il’s regime afloat, including competition with China for influence over the nation.

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tags: china , north-korea , south-korea

Report: Japan to deploy new radar to monitor Chinese military activity
· 89 days ago by Matthew Wilson

TOKYO Japan will deploy a new radar to monitor Chinese military activity amid growing concern in Tokyo over Beijing’s arms buildup, a news report said Monday.

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tags: china , japan , military , radar

China’s Milestone, Our Millstone
· 91 days ago by Matthew Wilson

America’s indebtedness to China, as a result, is staggeringly high, although the Bush administration — which needs foreign loans to help finance the budget deficit — seems unfazed. But there is reason for pause. The Wall Street Journal reported this week that China’s holdings of foreign currency and securities would soon top $1 trillion, a fivefold increase since 2000. Roughly 70 percent of that is believed to be in dollars or dollar-based assets.

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tags: china , economy , u.s.

China Trades Weapons for Oil
· 91 days ago by Matthew Wilson

China now imports 25 percent of its crude oil from Africa. And to ensure that the oil keeps flowing, Beijing is supplying lots of weapons to Africa’s oil-producing nations.

For instance, in Sudan, China has invested more than $4 billion in joint exploration contracts. It has also financed the building of a 900-mile pipeline that runs from central Sudan to the Port of Bashair on the Red Sea. But China’s massive investment in Sudanese oil fields has enabled Khartoum to finance militia in the Darfur region responsible for murdering tens of thousands and displacing over two million more.

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tags: africa , china , military , oil , weapons

The Scale of China's Impact
· 92 days ago by Matthew Wilson

You can’t deny the Chinese economy is blowing away the competition. But for the big picture, take a step back and look at the overall stats.

The world is now accustomed to mind-blowing growth numbers coming out of China. On Oct. 19 came yet another one: China reported that third-quarter gross domestic product jumped 10.4% year-on-year after the economy clocked nearly 11% during the first half of 2006. The slight slowdown (at least by China’s hypergrowth standards) was greeted with some relief by economists. When it comes to the mainland, observers are actually more worried about an overheated economy that runs off the rails and goes bust than anything else these days.

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PART 2: The assassin's mace
· 93 days ago by Matthew Wilson

If America ever goes to war with China, Chinese military doctrine suggests the US should expect attacks on a number of key points where it is particularly vulnerable – where a single jab would paralyze the entire nation. China would aim at targets such as the US electricity grid, its computer networks, its oil supply routes, and the dollar. Other vital “acupuncture” points are outlined below.

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Chinese Army finds problems in military exercise
· 93 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A division of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has been criticized for its performance during a recent military exercise.

At a recent meeting of the PLA, Major General Cui Yafeng, general director of the Army’s first ever exercise-based examination, spent 28 minutes of his 30-minute key-note speech assessing the “Queshan-2006” real-war exercise by listing the division’s faults.

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North Korea informs China of plan to conduct 3 more nuke tests
· 93 days ago by Matthew Wilson (Kyodo) _ North Korea has informed China that it is prepared to conduct “as many as three additional tests” following the first nuclear experiment Oct. 9, CNN television reported Wednesday.

Quoting U.S. intelligence analysts and officials, CNN and Fox News said U.S. spy satellites have detected activities which could be preparations for nuclear explosion tests at three North Korean sites.

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China Spying on North Korea
· 93 days ago by Matthew Wilson

October 18, 2006: China and North Korea have been fighting a minor war over the collection of intelligence inside North Korea. While the North Korean border is, technically, closed very tight, the border guards can be bribed, and North Korea has given up trying to stamp that out completely. So China is able to get spies (usually Chinese who are ethnic Koreans, as are millions of people in northern China) into North Korea, and use cash to recruit more North Koreans as spies, so that China will have a better idea of what is going on inside North Korea.

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tags: china , north-korea , spying

Aids Spreads in China "Like Africa"
· 93 days ago by Matthew Wilson BEIJING (Reuters) – AIDS in China has spread beyond high risk groups such as injecting drug users, prostitutes and homosexuals and the country is becoming “like Africa” in how the virus is transmitted, a senior health official says.

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tags: aids , china , health

PART 1: Striking the US where it hurts
· 94 days ago by Matthew Wilson

A noted Chinese theorist on modern warfare, Chang Mengxiong, compared China’s form of fighting to “a Chinese boxer with a keen
knowledge of vital body points who can bring an opponent to his
knees with a minimum of movements”. It is like key acupuncture points in ancient Chinese medicine. Puncture one vital point and the whole anatomy is affected. If America ever goes to war with China, say, over Taiwan, then America should be prepared for the following “acupuncture points” in its anatomy to be “punctured”. Each of the vital points can bring America to its knees with a minimum of effort.

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Tyrants and the Bomb
· 94 days ago by Matthew Wilson

During his May 2006 state of the nation speech President Vladimir Putin raised the specter of a new Cold War. Russia’s president portrayed the United States as his country’s “main adversary” and pledged to increase the nuclear triad of land, sea and air-based strategic weapons. “It is premature to speak of the end of the arms race,” he said in his televised address to the Russian people. “Moreover, it is going faster today. It is rising to a new technological level.”

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tags: china , north-korea , nuclear , russia

Protectionism! The West Must Defend Itself
· 94 days ago by Matthew Wilson

In the global conflict for wealth, Asia is on the attack using brutal methods. Working conditions are appalling and industry is destroying the environment. Asia’s rise is the fall of the West. That is, unless the West can overcome its scruples and defend its interests.

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tags: china , economy , europe , trade

US, China Head for Showdown Over N. Korea Sanctions
· 94 days ago by Matthew Wilson

United Nations, 17 October, (IPS): The United States and China, two veto-wielding permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, may be heading for a political showdown over the implementation of a resolution aimed at imposing tough economic and military sanctions on North Korea.

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64 percent of Chinese people "do not want to be Chinese in their next life."
· 94 days ago by Matthew Wilson

In early September, an online survey conducted by NetEase incited a wave of political uproar with the finding that 64 percent of Chinese people “do not want to be Chinese in their next life.” As a result of this survey, NetEase Chief Director Tang Yan and Chief Commentator Liu Xianghui were dismissed from their jobs. Several world-renowned news organizations were puzzled by the reaction of the Chinese authorities. It is well known that Chinese authorities cannot tolerate disparities in political views, yet this topic is apolitical. One cannot help but wonder where the Chinese government draws the line concerning repression of speech?

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Japan’s New Leader Faces Old Problems with China and South Korea
· 95 days ago by Matthew Wilson

Shinzo Abe took the helm from Junichiro Koizumi in September as Japanese prime minister during a period of chilling relations with Beijing and Seoul, due to China and South Korea’s memory of brutal Japanese aggression in the region during the decades leading up to Hiroshima. Koizumi’s official visits to the Yasukuni Shrine, which honors several Class A war criminals along with about 2.5 million war casualties, had revived memories of Japan’s World War Two-era brutalities in China and South Korea. In recent months, then–cabinet chief Abe’s emergence as the favored candidate for the premiership by the governing Liberal Democratic Party did little to calm Chinese and South Korean fears. The right-leaning leader has been unapologetic about his country’s history, and he supported the revision of Japan’s pacifist constitution. Also, he has not concealed his affection for his deceased grandfather Nobusuke Kishi, a Japanese prime minister after the war, in spite of a war crime indictment. But experts say that the North Korean nuclear test announcement, which came within weeks of Abe taking office, presented the three countries with an opportunity to forge common ground in handling the crisis. Abe’s first official visits, to Seoul and Beijing, prompted hopes that he would bring a new commitment to improving relations with Japan’s important neighbors.

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China diversifies sources as it shops for uranium
· 95 days ago by Matthew Wilson

HONG KONG China will seek uranium from nations including Canada, South Africa, Namibia and Kazakhstan to help meet its target of generating more electricity from reactors, an official from the state nuclear power company said Monday.

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Sharp Rise in Group Protests in China
· 96 days ago by Matthew Wilson

In recent years, group protests in China have risen at a rate of at least 17% a year in response to land expropriation disputes, election embezzlement, state-owned enterprise reforms, environmental pollution, and denial of justice. Official records for 2005 put the number of protests involving more than 15 people at 87,000—an average of 241 group protests a day.

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tags: china , protests

Axis of oil
· 96 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Earlier this year, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in China – and quickly made himself at home. The occasion was a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), a regional group linking China, Russia and Central Asia. During the summit, Mr. Ahmadinejad seemed to be everywhere. He delivered a major address broadcast on Chinese state television. He touted Moscow, Tehran and Beijing’s “identical” views on world issues. And he proposed making “the SCO into a strong and influential economic, political and trade institution [to] thwart the threat of domineering powers.” One can guess which domineering power he had in mind.

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tags: china , iran , oil , russia , sco

Why not sanction China?
· 97 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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The only reason that the North Korean regime continues to exist is because of support from China. In effect, China is funding North Korea’s nuclear program. China is a repressive, communist country that is supporting an unstable, nuclear-outlaw state. China is also a huge trading partner of the United States, so, indirectly, we are funding North Korea’s nuclear program though our trade with China.

My Comments:

Forget North Korea, is it really that smart to trade with countries that hate you and have nuclear weapons pointed at you?

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tags: china , economy , north-korea , nuclear , u.s.

Breaking China
· 97 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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For example, it should be made clear to China’s leaders that if they won’t stand in the way of a nuclear North Korea, we won’t stand in the way of a nuclear Japan – on the contrary, we will strongly encourage such a development. And perhaps Taiwan, too, might be assisted along this path. Free and democratic countries, we should explain, have the right to deter and defend themselves from dictatorships with hostile intentions and escalating capabilities.

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China's actions on North Korea proving a pivotal test for U.S.-China relations
· 98 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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WASHINGTON North Korea’s claimed explosion of a nuclear device could be a rare opportunity for the United States and China: uniting the rival powers on an urgent global crisis and shaping the future of a relationship often plagued by suspicion

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tags: china , north-korea , nuclear , u.s.

Most Indians think positively of China
· 99 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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NEW DELHI, OCT 12 : About 56% of Indians and 46% Chinese feel they are partners rather than rivals, even as 66% of Americans see the two Asian biggies as rivals, according to a public opinion survey on Americans and Asians by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs (CCGA).

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tags: china , india

Chinese official says no radiation found after North Korean nuclear test
· 99 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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BEIJING Chinese monitoring has found no evidence of airborne radiation from North Korea’s claimed nuclear test, an official involved in the monitoring said Friday.

Experts and governments have been unable to confirm North Korea’s claim of a successful nuclear test.

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China, South Korea Agree to Back Sanctions Against North Korea
· 99 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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BEIJING — The presidents of China and South Korea agreed Friday to support sanctions to achieve a nuclear-free Korean Peninsula but want to see stability maintained, a South Korean official said. He said they discussed a U.S.-proposed draft U.N. resolution on penalties but reached no agreement.

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‘Threatening the Whole World’
· 99 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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On China’s border with North Korea, local villagers fear the fallout from Pyongyang’s nuclear aspirations.

The tension is hardly confined to the border, of course. Many governments fear that North Korea could be on the verge of another test—especially as the first may have been less successful than planned. And earlier today, the country threatened Tokyo with “strong countermeasures” should it impose sanctions. Japan, which argues that North Korea’s nuclear capacity is a strong threat to Japan’s safety, is expected to announce new sanctions tomorrow. The measures could include barring North Korean imports and blocking North Korean ships from entering Japanese ports.

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China's Grand Africa Strategy
· 99 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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EVER since the Berlin conference of 1883, which Belgium’s King Leopold II called “the sharing of Africa’s cake,” the West has assumed exclusive rights over sub-Saharan Africa.

But, while centuries of struggle to end colonial rule and apartheid have not changed this much, now Western influence is being challenged by China, which likewise covets Africa’s rich reserves of minerals and resources.

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Defector Hwang says N. Korea's nuclear weapons are war-ready
· 99 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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SEOUL, Oct. 12 (Yonhap)—North Korea has already manufactured several nuclear weapons and is ready to deploy these in the event of a war, a high-ranking North Korean defector claimed on Thursday.

My Comment:

Apparently, North Korea got weaponization technology from Pakistan. We know that Pakistan originally got this technology from China.

Thanks for all the nice help, Pakistan and China.

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tags: china , north-korea , nuclear , pakistan

It Begins In Beijing
· 99 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Geopolitics: After North Korea’s nuclear bomb test, the People’s Republic of China insists that “punishment should not be the purpose” of any response. Maybe the problem isn’t North Korea, but China.

On the surface, China’s unwillingness to get tough with its client is perplexing. North Korea’s intransigence on nuclear weapons increases risks on the Korean Peninsula, something China says it doesn’t want.

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U.S. Fears Export of Technology
· 100 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Preventing North Korea from selling nuclear materials would depend on China and Russia.

WASHINGTON — The sanctions demanded by U.S. officials in response to North Korea’s announcement this week that it had tested a nuclear device would focus on closing pathways to proliferation of weapons technology.

But U.S. officials say any such effort would have to focus on the air and land routes through China and Russia that the government in Pyongyang has used in response to American monitoring on the high seas.

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China sees becoming as influential as US
· 100 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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The Chinese see their country matching the US in terms of global influence within the next 10 years, while a majority of Americans, Chinese and Indians see the US losing its status as the world’s unrivalled superpower within the next half century, according to an international poll released on Wednesday.

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China adapts to US defense transformation
· 100 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Few countries have been more affected and influenced by the United States’ defense transformation than China – and with good reason. The US increasingly regards China as the key peer challenger to its primacy in the Asia-Pacific region. China, for example, was singled out in the 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review as having, among the “major and emerging powers […] the greatest potential to compete militarily with the United States.” And while not explicitly mentioning China, the QDR goes on to say that the US will

“attempt to dissuade any military competitor from developing disruptive or other capabilities that could enable regional hegemony or hostile action against the United States or other friendly countries […]. Should deterrence fail, the United States would deny a hostile power its strategic and operational objectives.”

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Intelligence Brief: China's Policy toward North Korea Remains Unchanged
· 100 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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After North Korea conducted a nuclear weapon test on October 9, analysts were quick to argue that the test was opposed by Beijing and that in response to the test it was likely that China would modify its policy toward North Korea to one that more closely resembled that of the United States’ and Japan’s. Yet regardless of whether Beijing approved of North Korea’s nuclear test, it is unlikely that it will support aggressive punishment against Pyongyang.

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China and Russia: North Korea Enablers
· 101 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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A Chinese-Russian alliance is forming. The Chinese client state is North Korea; the Russian and Chinese trading partner is Iran. Like China, Russia is a capitalism-utilizing dictatorship with a history of Marxism and a belief in its eventual historical conquest. Like Russia, China is a Machiavellian political actor willing to play both sides of the Islamic-Western conflict against the middle. China and Russia are the global beneficiaries of the Islamic-Western clash of civilizations. They remain largely outside its purview while benefiting from its externalities. Stalinist Russia and Maoist China began as allies. History has conspired to force them once more into the same bed.

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Australia: Paul Keating warns of nuclear arms race
· 101 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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MARK COLVIN: The Prime Minister John Howard and his predecessor Paul Keating don’t agree on much, but both said today that North Korea’s actions had delivered a blow to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.

Mr Keating says he’s worried the nuclear tests could spark a regional arms race.

He’s concerned that Japan could respond to these tests by pursuing its own nuclear capability.

A nuclear-armed Japan would have severe ramifications for Tokyo’s relations with Beijing.

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tags: australia , china , japan , north-korea , nuclear

Beyond the Shrine
· 101 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Current hopes for a rapid or sustained improvement in Sino-Japanese relations are probably misplaced. The mutual recriminations over Koizumi’s shrine visits are a symptom rather than a cause of bilateral frictions. Several developments during the past decade have disrupted the previous stable pattern of Sino-Japanese relations. In particular, the demise of the Soviet threat and improvements in Russian-Chinese relations led China to reassess its earlier support for the Japanese-American defense alliance. Previously, Beijing tolerated the alliance because it helped contain Soviet power in the Pacific while simultaneously channeling Japanese military activities within acceptable boundaries. Since the mid-1990s, however, Chinese officials have increasingly feared that the two countries view China as the new target for their joint defense endeavors.

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Nuclear Hotbed
· 101 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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The entire region ‘’is wired with tension – the most dangerous place in the world in the sense that it’s a place where all the great powers could wind up getting in a war,’’ said Ellis Krauss, professor of Japanese politics at the University of California, San Diego.

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KGB had regularly told Russia on Pakistan-China-North Korea nuke ties
· 101 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Moscow, Oct 10: The Soviet-era intelligence agency had regularly updated Kremlin about the atomic technology transfer by Pakistan and China to North Korea, which has conducted its first nuclear test, a top Russian nuclear expert said on Tuesday.

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Communist China has killed non-proliferation. Here's how we should respond (the McGuire Doctrine)
· 102 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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If the Stalinist regime is to be believed, it has become a nuclear power, and so far, the American response has been troublingly weak (second item). The pundits have been loud, but not particularly helpful, largely because in their hyper-focus on Stalinist North Korea, they have missed the larger point: Communist China has enabled their colony to develop nuclear weapons, and SNK is not alone (remember Iran?). The danger is not uncontrolled nuclear proliferation (the motto here: nukes don’t kill people, terrorists kill people). In fact, this nuclear proliferation is hardly “uncontrolled” for it has been aided and abetted by the Chinese Communist Party. Unless this is recognized, any policy coming out of Washington will be too narrowly focused, and likely to fail.

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China: “Hear and tremblingly obey!”
· 102 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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“There is only one China in the world, and Taiwan is part of China’s territory,” Chu lectured. “China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity will brook no division.” The authoritarian tone here (“will brook no division”) is reminiscent of the way China’s emperors used to sign their decrees: “Hear and tremblingly obey!”

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China and Iran: New Friends
· 103 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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China’s search for new regional allies turns up an oil-rich partner in the Middle East

China’s decision to send 1,000 soldiers to South Lebanon with the UNIFIL mission is the latest example of Beijing’s increased involvement in the Middle East. The overall importance of the broader Middle East for China’s geostrategy is growing.

China is searching for new regional allies because it wants to pursue strategic aims such as gaining privileged access to crude oil reserves, finding new markets for its products and technology, and competing with the United States for supremacy in an area that is a fundamental part of the international system. Iran seems to be the best ally for such an approach, thus the strategic relationship between the two countries has increased strongly during the past few years.

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China, Germany vow stronger military ties
· 103 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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China and Germany on Monday vowed to promote cooperation between the two armed forces.

“China-Germany military ties have deepened in recent years,” Chinese Defense Minister Cao Gangchuan told Wolfgang Schneiderhan, Inspector General of Germany’s Federal Defence Forces, who is on a visit to China.

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tags: asia , china , europe , germany , military

China's Iron Grip
· 103 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Beijing Harasses Dissidents—Even in America

It’s no secret that China in recent years has stepped up its repression of political, religious and journalistic freedoms, to only the mousiest of objections from the outside world.

Less well known is that China feels so unconstrained that it is brazenly harassing dissidents in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., too.

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China Arming Iran With Advanced Missile Technology
· 104 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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April 17, 2006

While China publicly states that it is not a threat to U.S. national security, dangerous actions taken by the Chinese government are putting America and her allies at risk.

China is arming Iran with advanced missile technology. Recent Iranian missile tests highlight the close working relationship between Beijing and Tehran.

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UPDATE Japan, China 'at turning point'
· 104 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Beijing (dpa) – Chinese President Hu Jintao on Sunday hailed a visit by new Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as a “turning point” in bilateral relations, which had cooled after Chinese leaders refused to meet Abe’s predecessor for five years.

“Your ongoing visit is serving as a turning point in China-Japan relations and I hope it would also serve as a new starting point for the improvement and development of bilateral ties,” state media quoted Hu as telling Abe during talks in Beijing.

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How India would fight China-India all out war today?
· 104 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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How India would fight China-India all out war today?

I962 will not repeat. Secret Indian initiatives from Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) are ready to knock down every incoming Chinese Missile. However Pakistan is a wild question because China will draw Pakistan into the war.

Since 1962 China has used Pakistan as a first line of offense against India. Pakistani weapon systems, military training, nuclear bombs are all chinese technologies. It was interesting to note when Kargil war broke out Musharraf, the chief of Pakistani Army was in China monitoring the war.

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China on alert over a nuclear neighbour
· 104 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Beijing’s main fear is that if Kim tests a bomb – the CIA believes he has enough plutonium for four; other US experts think more – then Japan will feel it has no choice but to acquire its own atomic arsenal. That would destroy the balance of power in northeast Asia that has kept the peace since the end of the second world war.

China’s secondary fear is that if Kim’s regime collapses, hundreds of thousands of desperate, hungry North Koreans, some armed, will flood across its border to sow unrest and instability.

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Abe risks China fury over war comments
· 105 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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The new prime minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe, risked outrage yesterday when he stated that Japanese war criminals were not guilty under domestic law and should have been pardoned when Tokyo regained self-government.

Mr Abe’s comments were a direct reference to 28 Japanese “Class A” Second World War criminals at the trial staged by the Americans in Tokyo from 1946 to 1948.

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China will be ready. Will India be?
· 105 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Another piece of news should also have triggered concern: a German Google Earth user spotted a military base in China’s northern plains. The free satellite imagery software had shown a startlingly accurate scale model of the disputed Sino-Indian border in the Aksai Chin area of Ladakh. The model is located 2,400 km away in Huangyangtan province. The military complex is said to be used for training and familiarisation of troops.

Whether Delhi consumes Chinese propaganda or not, it is a fact that training on a simulated Ladakh terrain is today still part of the PLA’s training.

And then, one hears that the Chinese authorities are quietly building a dam in a remote part of western Tibet, very close to the Indian border (the Spiti sector). Satellite imagery shows that in the Zada gorge, the access point to Tsaparang (the capital of the ancient Guge kingdom) a dam is under construction.

Of course, Beijing has not informed Delhi about it.

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Rising dragon still sees red
· 105 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Luxury apartments, fine dining, a thriving internet and booming development. It is easy to forget that China is a communist state. But Marxist ideals still have a firm grip on the country’s thirst for economic supremacy, writes Kirsty Needham.

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US, China, India flex muscle over energy-critical sea lanes
· 105 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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The United States, China and India are moving to assert control over the sea lanes through which they receive critical energy supplies amid fears in Beijing of a US blockade of the Malacca Strait in the event of a crisis over Taiwan, experts said here.

The United States at present has vast control over the major so-called “choke points” on the world’s sea lanes, said experts at a recent forum in Washington.

Almost all of China’s energy imports are obtained through sea and it is worried the United States could hold its oil supply hostage.

Beijing is also concerned over its gradually weakening position in the Indian Ocean as New Delhi develops new generations of weapons systems with US support.

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The cold war in Asia: In dangerous waters
· 106 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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The increasing sophistication of South Korea’s economy, and its growing links with China, also have consequences for Japan. South Korea, though a military ally of America’s, is moving into—or returning to—China’s sphere of influence. Japan’s territorial disputes with both China and South Korea over the Spratlys are inflamed by the possibility of rich resources around these wretched specks of rock.

Into this mix, dangerously and unpredictably, comes North Korea. Japan legitimately sees itself as a possible target of North Korean aggression. But though China and South Korea also abhor North Korea’s provocations, they are alarmed almost as much by Japan’s hawkish response. This summer, before he was prime minister, Mr Abe wondered aloud about launching pre-emptive strikes against North Korea, though Japan lacks the capability to do that yet. In north-east Asia the cold war simmers on.

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China and Iran Strengthen their Bilateral Relationship
· 106 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Moreover, China wants to reinforce its relations with Iran and to deepen its presence in Central Asia with the goal of reaching the energy resources of the Caspian Sea region; tapping Caspian energy would help China lessen its dependence on maritime oil imports from the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, thus better securing an uninterrupted flow of oil.

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U.S. Computer System Under Attack By China
· 106 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Hackers operating through Chinese Internet servers have launched a debilitating attack on the computer system of a sensitive Commerce Department bureau, forcing it to replace hundreds of workstations and block employees from regular use of the Internet for more than a month, Commerce officials said yesterday.

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TAIWAN PERILOUSLY PONDERS ITS STRATEGIC MISSILE FORCE
· 106 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Taiwan has long sought an affordable means of deterring the PRC threat. An unnamed Taiwan government official lamented, “Relying on purely defensive systems to protect ourselves from China means we will have to outspend them 10 to 1…That is impossible in the long run” (Financial Times Asia Edition, September 25, 2004). Taipei had explored the possibility of a nuclear weapons capability in the 1970s and 1980s, but was met with strong opposition from the United States. The administration of President Chen Shui-bian, elected in 2000 and re-elected in 2004, has shown a strong interest in another means of addressing the PRC threat: developing a capability for Taiwan to strike back with missiles of its own. In 2002, defense and political analyst Lin Cheng-yi, an adviser to Chen, publicly advocated that Taiwan deploy cruise missiles and medium range surface-to-surface missiles to counter the threat from across the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan’s then-Premier Yu Shyi-kun further elaborated on this idea when he famously declared in 2004, “If you attack me with 100 missiles, I will at least attack you with 50. If you attack Taipei and Kaohsiung, I will attack Shanghai” (China Daily, September 29, 2004).

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China jamming test sparks U.S. satellite concerns
· 106 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) — China has beamed a ground-based laser at U.S. spy satellites over its territory, a U.S. agency said, in an action that exposed the potential vulnerability of space systems that provide crucial data to American troops and consumers around the world.

The Defense Department remains tight-lipped about details, including which satellite was involved or when it occurred.

The Pentagon’s National Reconnaissance Office Director Donald Kerr last week acknowledged the incident, first reported by Defense News, but said it did not materially damage the U.S. satellite’s ability to collect information.

“It makes us think,” Kerr told reporters.

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How China Steals U.S. Military Secrets
· 106 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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A spate of recent spying cases opens the lid on China’s aggressive military buildup. What’s most troubling: It is based largely on U.S. technology.

On a hot Florida day late in 2005, Ko-Suen “Bill” Moo was preparing for the endgame of a covert operation he’d been orchestrating for nearly two years. He had arrived in Fort Lauderdale at 5 am on Nov. 7, as the city was recovering from the onslaught of Hurricane Wilma two weeks earlier. Moo checked into a $350-a-night room at the plush Harbor Beach Marriott Resort & Spa, and now, a day after arriving in town, the Korean-born businessman was ready to sign what promised to be a lucrative contract. In a few days, he’d head back to Hollywood International Airport to see off a plane, chartered for $140,000 to carry a special package. Moo would catch a commercial flight and meet up with his cargo in Shenyang, a city in northeastern China. The cargo was costing him nearly $4 million, but it was worth it. He would clear $1 million in profit once he made the delivery to his clients, senior officials in the Chinese People’s Liberation Army.

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Beijing and Seoul's Dispute on History
· 106 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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IRONICALLY, China and South Korea, the two countries that are putting the most pressure on Japan to face history, are themselves embroiled in a dispute over history that threatens the amicable relationship that the two have largely enjoyed since normalisation in 1992.

Two years ago, Beijing and Seoul’s dispute on history erupted into the open when Chinese academics incensed Koreans by describing Koguryo, the largest of the three kingdoms into which ancient Korea was divided until 668, as a vassal kingdom of China. The dispute quieted down after the two governments agreed not to let academic differences turn into a political dispute.

Recently, however, things have turned ugly.

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Between Washington and Beijing
· 106 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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I worked in China in the 1980s as a Soviet diplomat and had many contacts among Chinese scientists, journalists and military personnel. Some of them complained that they were so afraid of Soviet missiles that they could not sleep well at night. At the time, my colleagues and I made fun of these fears. Now, however, these old acquaintances of mine have a condescending attitude toward Russia, its armed forces in particular.

As China’s ambitions grow, the security situation in Asia is changing. China is competing with the United States for leadership—not only in Asia, but globally—and this rivalry is one of the factors pushing Russia and China towards the current state of rapprochement.

The reasons behind this are obvious. In Beijing’s rivalry with Washington, China is definitely the weaker side, lagging behind in its development. Therefore, Beijing needs partners. Moscow can be such a partner, but this kind of relationship would be one of “fellow travelers” rather than allies.

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China's growing influence in Cambodia
· 107 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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PHNOM PENH – The Cambodian capital is becoming China’s Casablanca. While China’s giant state corporations have recently dropped billions of dollars in oilfields and mines across Africa and South America, low-profile, family-run Chinese firms have come to dominate approved investment in Cambodia.

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Brothers in Arms
· 107 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Military Cooperation a Hallmark of Sino-Russian Relations

While the Pentagon views China as a future military threat, Russia’s Defense Ministry seems happy to have China as a neighbor. The Russian government does not appear to be overly concerned with the advancement of Chinese troops into the Far East, and for good reason the recent state of Sino-Russian relations has been consistently good. All territorial claims and border disputes have recently been resolved and all detachments of regular Chinese soldiers have been moved from the Russian border 200 kilometers into China under a bilateral agreement aimed at increasing trust in the military sphere.

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China’s Charm Offensive
· 107 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Some of the anger toward Bush could be blamed on the war in Iraq, which has been unpopular in Australia. But the contrast in treatment between the American and Chinese presidents had a deeper source. For most of the postwar period, Australians had embraced the U.S. and viewed China warily. Some politicians even argued that Australia should ignore Asia altogether. Today, the situation is much altered. In a poll conducted in early 2005, barely half of Australians reported positive feelings about the United States, while some 70 percent saw China in a favorable light.

In Australia, China is winning friends, often at America’s expense. The same could be said of other places in the world as well.

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Chinese nuclear forces, 2006
· 107 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Newly available information on the Chinese nuclear arsenal requires us to reassess our previous estimate of Beijing’s stockpile (see “Chinese Nuclear Forces, 2003,” November/December 2003 Bulletin). In 2005, the Defense Department published a detailed breakdown of the Chinese missile force, as part of its 2005 Annual Report on the Military Power of the People’s Republic of China (otherwise known as Chinese Military Power 2005). Taken together with a vague 2004 Chinese Foreign Ministry declaration about the size of the Chinese nuclear arsenal and other information, we estimate that China deploys approximately 130 nuclear warheads for delivery by land-based missiles, sea-based missiles, and bombers. Additional warheads are thought to be in storage for a total stockpile of approximately 200 warheads.

China continues to modernize its nuclear forces, though its recent developments are less dramatic than many analyses have suggested. There continues to be a number of substantial unknowns about the composition of China’s future forces, including if and how it will respond to the U.S. deployment of a ballistic missile defense system.

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Implications of a North Korea Nuclear Test
· 107 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Chinese scholar analyzes the reasons and results of Pyongyang’s threat.

Since the DPRK possesses plutonium, it has become more and more a pragmatic issue for it to conduct nuclear weapon tests. Whether the DPRK will conduct nuclear tests, it will apparently proceed from its interests and will weigh the advantages and disadvantages and loss and gain of holding nuclear tests, and not, first of all, according to the interests of other countries.

This article will try to analyze what advantages the DPRK can gain from conducting nuclear tests, as well as why it is unlikely that relevant countries can do much about this issue.

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China Heads Toward Buying Spree
· 108 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Remember when the Japanese were buying up the United States? Fueled by their stock market boom in the late 1980s, Japanese companies began gobbling up prime real estate on the West Coast and in Hawaii, and then started acquiring operating companies by the fist-full. It made people pretty nervous.

Will China follow suit? How will Western countries react?

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The Beijing and Tehran Connection
· 108 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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The disturbing partnership between regimes ruling China and Iran was the main topic of testimony to the US-China Economic and Security Review Commission recently. Delivered by Ilan Berman, Vice-President for Policy of the American Foreign Policy Council, the testimony was presented at a hearing on “China’s Proliferation to North Korea and Iran, and its Role in Addressing the Nuclear and Missile Situations in Both Nations”.

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Iran using Chinese-made feedstock for uranium
· 108 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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May 19, 2006

Iran used stocks of high-quality uranium gas from China in order to hasten a breakthrough in enrichment for a programme the West fears could be hiding nuclear weapons work, diplomats told AFP.

“The Iranians have sought to accomplish a technological achievement for political purposes and chose the Chinese feedstock gas because of its quality, which ensures a better (uranium) enrichment process,” said a diplomat with access to intelligence sources.

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Warfare in Space
· 108 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Over a year ago, I wrote, China continues to build its military and technology. The Clinton administration provided China with a 10-year boost in satellite technology (either as a bribe or gratuity), and the immediate result was China’s move to create a Chinese GPS system separate and apart from the current U.S. global system.

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Japan Between Eagle And Dragon: What Is Behind Sino-Japanese Frictions?
· 109 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Japan accuses China of using the history card as a bargaining-chip in bilateral relations, and more importantly, for China’s domestic consumption. The Japanese believe that they have apologized enough for their wrongdoings in the past and compensated China with large economic assistance and technological contributions. Japan holds that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with its dark history of committing many atrocities against the Chinese people, now abusing history and fostering nationalist sentiments to merely act as uniting force and legitimize the ruling of the current rulers. The Chinese authorities also maneuvering on historical issues to tarnish Japan’s regional and global image, divert attentions of the country’s military expenditures and the threat theory, and deepen China’s rising power and influence in the region at the expense of Japan.

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Beijing holds whip hand over slowing US
· 109 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Relations between Beijing and Washington have become increasingly strained. China is strengthening its ties with Iran, Syria, Venezuela and North Korea – the Bush administration’s arch-enemies. As the US economy falls into recession in 2007 and economic growth slows in China, relations between Beijing and Washington could completely unravel – which poses much greater economic risk to the United States than to China.

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EU firms getting round China arms embargo
· 109 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – European firms such as AugustaWestland and Eurocopter are supplying components for Chinese combat helicopters via networks of global subsidiaries and re-exporters despite the EU’s 17-year old China arms embargo, NGOs have warned.

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Beijing Expands Strategic Underground City
· 109 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Plans related to Beijing’s strategic underground city have been released, which indicate that the city is designed to occupy 20 million square meters, and is scheduled for completion in 2012. Once completed, the underground city will be the largest of its kind in the world.

Around the same time, Chinese authorities disclosed the existence of other underground cities and the roles they might play in case of a nuclear attack. According to a report released from the Research Office of the State Council, Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Jinan, and other major cities were addressed.

Comment::
Is China preparing for an eventual nuclear war with America?

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Japan: U.S. experts warn of possible crises with China
· 110 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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The energy resource dispute in the East China Sea and Japan’s handling of the Taiwan issue are likely to pose thorny questions for new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in addition to the already controversial issue of visits to Yasukuni Shrine, according to U.S. experts on Sino-Japanese relations.

Speaking during a recent seminar at New York’s Japan Society, James Kelly, former U.S. assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs, said he believes the energy issue “has a potential for clashes that can seriously get out of hand.”

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China's desire for inventor's gun just tip of iceberg
· 110 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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NEWLY revealed efforts by China’s military to get the secrets of a Brisbane company’s revolutionary new rapid-fire gun are the latest in what one intelligence expert calls a “hoover”-style espionage operation by Beijing.

The Chinese sweep for technology is providing a heavy workload for traditional counter-espionage for the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation, despite its shift of priorities to counter-terrorism.

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Simmering Discontent In Japan Rekindles Ancient Militarism
· 111 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Beneath the sheen of high-tech tranquillity that characterizes modern, conformist Japan stirs an angry, alienated and deeply pessimistic populace teetering on the edge of a nervous breakdown.

So the ascendance of a hawkish new leader, Shinzo Abe, as the handpicked successor to Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi raises fears that the nation’s long-repressed well of virulent nationalism, buried just beneath the surface, could again rise up, emboldened by a Bush administration seeking a surrogate partner to contain China’s ambitions in Asia.

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World should watch China missile threat
· 111 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Ten years ago, on the eve of Taiwan’s first direct presidential election, totalitarian China test-fired several missiles into waters off the coast of Taiwan to intimidate its voters.

Since then, Beijing has continued increasing its military pressure on Taiwan. Currently, it has deployed more than 800 missiles aimed at the island nation.

It is estimated that the number of missiles increases by 80 to 100 per year.

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Senate Passes Iran Sanctions Bill
· 111 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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(AP) The Senate, with no debate Saturday, passed and sent to the president legislation that would impose mandatory sanctions on entities that provide goods or services for Iran’s weapons programs.

This means you, Russia and China.

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Beijing Gives Out Large-Scale Foreign Aid Whilst Chinese Live in Poverty
· 112 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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By relying on the absorption of foreign investment and development of foreign trade, China has accumulated a foreign exchange reserve of over US$800 billion, surpassing Japan to become number one in the world. As a means to spend such a giant foreign exchange reserve, Beijing is providing massive loans and construction funds to foreign countries, especially its neighbors. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has won a “good reputation” of being “generous”, but it is based upon sacrificing and plundering the Chinese people. There are still 400 million people living in poverty in China and 50 million people do not have enough food or clothing. These people should be the first to receive aid. Unfortunately, the Chinese people, especially the Chinese farmers, who bear extremely heavy burdens, never receive any aid. Instead, they have historically been the object of plundering and exploitation. Government officials and business people in various places scheme together to continuously make forced and violent relocation and land requisitions. The following is a vivid portrayal of the aforementioned plundering and mass exploitation.

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Experts finger China as biggest espionage threat to U.S.
· 112 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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One day last June, FBI agents swooped into two affluent Silicon Valley homes and arrested two engineers. Lan Lee and Yuefei Ge stand accused of stealing proprietary chip designs and software from their employer, NetLogic Microsystems of Mountain View, and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company in San Jose.

Now investigators are asking the Department of Justice to charge Lee, an American citizen, and Ge, a Chinese national, with a more serious crime: economic espionage to benefit China.

The case highlights China’s role as the main adversary in a complex game of 21st-century espionage, in which many agents aren’t trained spies but businessmen, students and researchers. Silicon Valley, counterintelligence experts say, is ground zero.

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China quick to give Abe & Co. warning over Taiwan
· 112 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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BEIJING (Kyodo) China has warned Japan’s new government over its Taiwan policy, reiterating its opposition to including the island in the scope of the Japan-U.S. security alliance and urging Tokyo to act with caution over Taipei’s invitation for former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to pay a visit.

If the Japan-U.S. security alliance “exceeds the bilateral scope, it will trigger neighboring countries’ worries and become a factor for instability and complexity in the regional security situation,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Thursday at a news conference.

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China’s aging population to slow economy: report
· 152 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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BEIJING (Reuters) – China's one-child policy has led to an aging population and labor shortages that could undermine a key basis for the country's economic growth—its seemingly endless supply of cheap workers, a newspaper said on Monday.

Family planning policies started since the late 1970s have prevented the birth of hundreds of millions of people, but incomes have not risen fast enough to support pensioners, the China Youth Daily cited a government report as saying.

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Study Confirms China Forced Abortion Policy Created Gender Imbalance
· 154 days ago by Matthew Wilson

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Beijing, China (LifeNews.com)—A new study has confirmed what observers of China's family planning policies have suspected for years. By forcing women to have abortions, sterilizing them and targeting them and their families for persecution has caused a severe gender imbalance that's resulted in sexually exploiting women, higher crimes and other social concerns.

Conducted by Qu Jian Ding of the Institute of Population Studies at Zhejiang University and Therese Hesketh of London's Institute of Child Health, the study finds men in the Asian nation overwhelmingly outnumber women.

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