Posted By:  zephyr Posted On:  Aug 21, 2008	From Kosovo to South Ossetia: in search of a precedent
MOSCOW. (Oksana Antonenko, Senior Fellow, International Institute for Strategic Studies for RIA Novosti) - When Europe and the US advocated the independence of Kosovo, many experts warned that its impact on the Caucasus would be destabilising. The Allies responded by repeating that Kosovo...... [view]

Posted By:  zephyr Posted On:  Aug 20, 2008	NATO's 'Caucasus Council'
MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political observer Andrei Fedyashin) - The emergency NATO Council session held in Brussels on August 19 at America's request to give Russia its "comeuppance" did not go smoothly. It took the ministers several hours to hammer out the final communique. In the end it turned...... [view]

Posted By:  CFR Posted On:  Aug 19, 2008	Morning Update: Veterans and Foreign Wars
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) promised that if he is elected, he will provide “young democracies” like Georgia with “ support and solidarity .” He spoke to the convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) on Monday. McCain also said he would create a...... [view]

Posted By:  zephyr Posted On:  Aug 13, 2008	Cannon fodder for the market
Reflections of Fidel: PERHAPS some governments are unaware of the concrete facts, and so for that reason Raúl’s message setting Cuba’s position seemed to us to be very timely. I shall be generous in the aspects that cannot be dealt with in a brief and precise official statement. ...... [view]

Posted By:  zephyr Posted On:  Jul 26, 2008	The Two Koreas
Reflections of Fidel: PART I - THE Korean nation, with its unique culture that differentiates it from its Chinese and Japanese neighbors, has existed for three thousand years. These characteristics are typical of societies in that Asian region, including those of China, Vietnam and...... [view]

Posted By:  zephyr Posted On:  Jul 16, 2008	THE POWERLESS POWERS
Reflections of Fidel: THIS is a serious subject. The summit meeting of leaders of the eight most highly industrialized powers on the planet took place July 7-9 at a mountain retreat on the banks of the Toyako, a lake formed inside a volcanic crater located in the north of the island of...... [view]

Posted By:  CFR Posted On:  Jul 15, 2008	Getting Smart about Soft Power
As the presidential campaign debate intensified today over U.S. military policy in Iraq and Afghanistan, another discussion took place in Washington about the need for deep-seated, bipartisan reform in the projection of U.S. soft power. The touchstone was a survey of U.S. military officers...... [view]

Posted By:  CFR Posted On:  Jul 10, 2008	Morning Update: The Intelligence Vote
Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) on Wednesday voted in favor of a new FISA bill ( WashPost ) which lifted restrictions on domestic spying and granted legal immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated in the Bush administration’s warrantless wiretapping program. Sen. John McCain...... [view]

Posted By:  CFR Posted On:  Jul 8, 2008	Morning Update: Obama’s Defense Agenda
In an interview with the Military Times published Monday, Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) laid out his defense agenda and said he would take advice from military commanders on the ground into consideration when planning the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. The Chicago Tribune details...... [view]

Posted By:  zephyr Posted On:  Jul 7, 2008	The true story and the challenge of the Cuban journalists
Reflections of Fidel: SEVEN days ago I wrote about one of the great men in history: Salvador Allende, a man the world remembered with deep emotion and respect on his first centennial. However, no one quivered or even recalled the date of October 24, 1891, when the Dominican despot Rafael...... [view]

Posted By:  zephyr Posted On:  Jul 6, 2008	The McCain Tour and the Manifest Destiny of the U. S. Fourth Fleet
REFLECTIONS BY FIDEL: While I was preparing a reflection about McCain's relationship with the anti-Cuban terrorist mafia in Miami and other related subjects of historical interest, fresh news was flowing about this character that is being projected by the empire’s hawks as Bush’s...... [view]

Beanies for Baghdad.com
Submitted By:   dsward Website:  http://www.beaniesforbaghdad.com/ Phone:  812 402 1547 E-mail:  info@beaniesforbaghdad.com	Vision:   To provide beanie babies, toys and other items to the soldiers to be distributed to children in war-torn lands. Many of these children have nothing and friendships are made and tense situations are made calm by this......   [view]