September 2009
“Russia-Japan: towards reaching a compromise”
It would be optimal to develop Russian-Japanese relations and search for mutually acceptable solutions for a peace agreement, said Andrey Nesterenko, Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, at a regular media briefing. Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. We will continue to comment on major events that took place in the [...]
Read MoreA Crisis of Confidence in Central Europe
THE UNITED STATES on Thursday announced plans to redefine its missile defense system, away from one that would be based in Poland and the Czech Republic — and which was intended as a global system — to a phased system, ultimately built around U.S. destroyers based in the Mediterranean and the North Sea and intended [...]
Read MoreMulticulturalism report: policy for a successful future in Australia
Race Discrimination Commissioner, Graeme Innes, today strongly endorsed statements made by Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs and Settlement Services, the Hon Laurie Ferguson MP, about the new report, Perceptions of Multiculturalism and Security in Victoria. Mr. Innes said that multiculturalism was vital to Australia’s social and economic progress. “As a policy that has a particular [...]
Read MoreBuying Friends in Kiev?
A RUSSIAN OFFICIAL ANNOUNCED TUESDAY THAT HIS COUNTRY is considering a $2 billion loan offer to Ukraine, to help the former Soviet state address its seemingly endless list of financial troubles. This announcement comes just days after Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart, Yulia Timoshenko, signed a lucrative natural gas deal. More [...]
Read MoreIraq: The Shifting Balance Between Iran and the U.S.
IRAQ’S MOST INFLUENTIAL, pro-Iranian Shiite leader, Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, died Wednesday after a two-year battle with lung cancer. Al-Hakim, leader of the Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI) — a group created in and with the backing of Iran in 1982 — was also very close to Washington, particularly during the move to topple the [...]
Read MoreThe Long Arm of the Kremlin
ON TUESDAY, THE LEADERS OF SEVERAL EUROPEAN COUNTRIES will be in Gdansk, Poland, for the 70th anniversary of the day Warsaw considers to have been the beginning of World War II. This anniversary has taken an unusual turn, in that Warsaw is using the occasion to extend an olive branch to Moscow. Russian Prime Minister [...]
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