World Today, The

China Card Fails

To the now familiar problems associated with American intervention in the Middle East; Iran's push to acquire nuclear weapons; the upsurge of self-styled Jihad inspired terror activity in Europe, south and southeast Asia; Washington can now add the reality of a North Korean state with a demonstrated nuclear capability. The likely effects of such a Chinese position are as predictable as they are dangerous for Chinese interests: closer security collaboration between the US and Japan against No...

Fact and Fiction

The remarkable reduction by the United States and Russia in the number of their strategic nuclear missiles through arms control initiatives, the decision taken by South Africa and Ukraine to abandon their nuclear devices, and agreement by Argentina and Brazil not to pursue military nuclear activities, all seemed to demonstrate that the non-proliferation arrangements were controlling the vertical and horizontal spread of such weapons. The relationship between North Korea and the non-prolifera...

Too Little...

The competing demands for security and development require two inter-connected strategies; the first focused on national, environmental and human security and the other, security-sector reform with the creation of a professional Afghan military and police service that can take full responsibility for national affairs without international assistance.

Rudderless in Riga

Meanwhile in the bandit territory of the south and east, special forces, helicopter gunships and fighters under US control continued to seek the fleeting targets that were claimed to be Al Qaeda. In the same month that NATO declares the Response Force ready to deploy as a major fighting force at a moment's notice, the secretary General is touring capitals with a begging bowl looking for 2500 soldiers to reinforce Afghanistan.

Waiting for Another Day

A global stability provider for the twenty-first century has evolved from the geographically-limited defence alliance of the Cold War. A collapse of the reconstruction effort would spell disaster, first of all for the international security situation, as the region would once again become a breeding ground for Islamist terrorism.

Doors Open and Close

The Senate bill aimed again at that elusive goal that had also been behind the last significant attempt at an immigration system overhaul in 1986: in the phrase of that time, 'closing the back door but opening the front door' to legitimate immigrants. House Republicans' unusual recent strategy of convening nationwide hearings on the immigration reform bill involved unabashed political theatrics aimed at keeping the issue at the forefront of the political and electoral agenda and creating a k...

Battle for Sakhalin

The terms of the Sakhalin-II production-sharing agreement mean increased costs and delays extend the point of cost recovery after which the Russian government shares in the energy production, so-called profit oil and gas. In its defence, Sakhalin Energy points out that it is funding research on the whale population, has re-routed one of its pipelines and created an independent advisory panel to monitor the impact of the project on the whales. The Sakhalin projects are a key part of the futu...

Gassy Issues

European fears about Russia's energy policy began with the arrest and trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, head of Yukos, then Russia's largest oil company, and the completely opaque take over of Yuganskneftegaz, the most valuable Yukos asset, by the state-owned Rosneft in December 2004. There is a clear correlation between its increasingly independent foreign policy stance and the growth in the economy as a result of the rise in world oil prices.

Speaking Frankly

Living standards for most Russians are also vastly improved, but this masks a number of serious underlying ailments, including corruption, organised crime, collapsing public health and above all the problem of a population which is shrinking at the rate of seven hundred thousand per year - a decline to a large extent caused by a high death rate. [...] the oil and gas companies, despite their current profits, are, the authors say, extremely inefficient and in need of long-term foreign investm...

Nationalist Hopes

The Radicals, still formally led by Vojislav Seseli, awaiting trial for war crimes at The Hague, score as much as forty percent in current opinion polls. The Pentagon is believed to have offered Serbia fast-track progress in its relationship with NATO, the opportunity to send substantial numbers of men into US-led coalitions, and some hardware, a critical element of which might be modernisation of the air defence system.

Faction Fighting

The international community refuses to deal with the Hamas government of the Palestinian Authority and has reduced its budgetary support and humanitarian aid. The Palestinian Authority had previously relied on substantial funding from the international community, much of which was withdrawn with the formation of the Hamas government, leaving a massive hole. Even if it is assumed that neither the Israelis nor the international community are going to take any positive initiatives, then there ...