Middle East Trip Suggests Change in Policy by China The New York Times | BEIJING — Premier Wen Jiabao heads on Saturday to the oil-producing nations of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, a six-day tour of Iran’s Persian Gulf neighbors that is the first Saudi trip by a Chinese premier in two decades, and the first ever to the other two states....
Eight Strategic Factors to Consider in 2012 Pakalert Press Share | by Strategic Studies | Rarely in the past six decades has global context counted for as much in strategic forecasting — trend analysis — as it does at the dawn of 2012. Reliance on stove-piped analysis of “strategic sectors” — such as economic and financial issues, security issu...
Making sense of Twitter's censorship Al Jazeera | In an announcement on its official blog, the micro-blogging service Twitter has said it will enable country-specific censorship of content on the site. | True to the form of the medium, the service was immediately abuzz with questions, critici...
Nigeria: Thrown into Chaos and a State of Civil War: The Role of the IMF GlobalResearch | Nigeria, Africas most populous nation and its largest oil producer, is from all evidence being systematically thrown into chaos and a state of civil war. The recent surprise decision by the government of Goodluck Jonathan to abruptly lift subsidie...
Obama's State of the Union Address: Militarism mixed with "Empty Liberal Rhetoric" GlobalResearch | "If we have to use force, it is because we are America. We are the indispensable nation. We stand tall. We see further into the future." Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, 1998 | America remains the one indispensable nation in world affa...
The Carbon Noose Around Asia's Neck Huffington Post | Mumbai, India -- The story is buried in the business section of the Times of India. India's largely government-owned monopoly, Coal India, is changing its pricing system -- and the result will be a staggering 25 percent projected increase in the pr...
Will the West interfere in Syria? Al Jazeera | The six Gulf monarchies have withdrawn their observers from Syria, taking a cue from Saudi Arabia. | The announcement came as the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) said Syria had failed to implement Arab League decisions, and had failed to stop its vi...
Syria agrees to extend Arab observer mission Al Jazeera | Syria has agreed to extend a widely criticised Arab League observer mission for a second month, hours after launching an angry tirade against the bloc's efforts to mediate in the crisis. | League officials had warned that the monitors, already depl...
Tehran Pushes to Ditch the US Dollar GlobalResearch | Rumors are swirling that India and Iran are at the negotiating table right now, hammering out a deal to trade oil for gold. Why does that matter, you ask? Only because it strikes at the heart of both the value of the US dollar and today's high-tens...
Yemen president arrives in U.S. for treatment The Los Angeles Times NEW YORK — The embattled president of Yemen arrived Saturday in the United States for medical treatment for burns he suffered during an assassination attempt in June. | President Ali Abdullah Saleh arrived at an unspecified U.S. location, according to the Yemeni foreign press office. His journey had taken him from Oman, through London. | The ...
