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BY: Ben Judah | ISN Security Watch
In 2010-2011, Russia will not have enough conscripts to continue to man its army at current levels, and the strategic and resource-rich Siberian expanses are facing depopulation. How the Kremlin manages this coming crunch will determine whether or not Russia has the human capacities to remain a great power.
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BY: Arieh O'Sullivan | The Media Line
The current crisis between Ankara and Jerusalem erupted when Turkey suddenly cancelled the Israeli air force’s participation in an annual large-scale joint military exercise together with US, Italian and NATO forces.
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BY: Sebnem Arsu | The New York Times
Turkey and Syria held a day of meetings and ceremonies on Tuesday that signaled an era of improving relations between the countries, signing agreements to remove visa restrictions on their shared border and pledging to build “a common future.”
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BY: Sudarsan Raghavan and Peter Finn | The Washington Post
As President Obama's promised January deadline to close Guantanamo approaches, the fate of 97 Yemenis remains the administration's biggest obstacle to closing the facility and forging a new detention policy. They are the largest community left at Guantanamo, roughly half of the prisoners who remain there, and are viewed as among the most radicalized, with deep jihadist roots inside Yemen, Osama bin Laden's ancestral homeland.
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BY: Haley Sweetland Edwards | Los Angeles Times
More than 150,000 people have fled fighting between troops and rebels in the northwest, according to news reports and U.N. records. The government is also battling insurgents in the south.
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BY: Rory Carroll | The Guardian
Palestinian political leaders have expressed acute disappointment in the Obama administration, saying their hopes that it could bring peace to the Middle East have "evaporated" and accusing the White House of giving in to Israeli pressure.
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BY: Timothy Williams | The New York Times
In its drive to expand and modernize Iraq’s oil sector, the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki is stumbling over the competing demands of attracting foreign investment and acting as a vigilant guardian of the nation’s natural resource wealth as parliamentary elections loom in January.
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BY: Nada Bakri | The Washington Post
American officials in Baghdad urged Iraqi lawmakers Tuesday to pass an election law crucial for organizing a January vote that the Obama administration considers key to withdrawing U.S. combat troops.
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BY: Nasser Karimi | The Independent
Iranian authorities have opened an investigation into the former presidential candidate Mahdi Karroubi, a report said yesterday, in a possible first step toward unleashing the judiciary on opposition leaders.
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BY: Adam Nossiter | The New York Times
Guinea’s military government, facing international sanctions and heavy strictures over a mass killing of unarmed demonstrators, is highlighting a recent agreement with a Chinese company that could provide it with billions of dollars.
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BY: Delia Lloyd | Politics Daily
Europe is struggling to emerge from the worst recession since World War II. It's an economic crisis in which the excesses of capitalism -- and capitalists themselves -- are regularly held up as the culprits. So where on Earth is Karl Marx just when he got his curtain call?
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BY: Ana-Maria Tolbaru | European Voice
The Romanian government has collapsed after losing a vote of no confidence. The parliament voted 257-176 to oust the minority government led by Emil Boc of the Liberal Democratic Party, the first time that a government has fallen by such a measure since the fall of communism in 1989.
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Der Spiegel
A French documentary has revealed that radioactive materials from nuclear power plants are being being stored in containers in a Siberian parking lot. Meanwhile the largest power company in Europe, France's EDF, which sent the materials there, says it is not responsible.
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BY: Mark Landler and Clifford J. Levy | The New York Times
Denting President Obama’s hopes for a powerful ally in his campaign to press Iran on its nuclear program, Russia’s foreign minister said Tuesday that threatening Tehran now with harsh new sanctions would be “counterproductive.”
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BY: Dierdre Tynan | Eurasianet
Signaling a sense of strategic urgency to counter recent Taliban gains, the Northern Distribution Network is being adapted to handle the transit of weaponry and hardware destined for US and NATO troops fighting in Afghanistan.
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BY: Saurav Jha | World Politics Review
Following the Nuclear Supplier Group's waiver in September 2008, India seems ready to take its place in the world of nuclear trade -- not just as a purchaser, but as a supplier, too. It appears that Kazakhstan is in line to be India's first customer for indigenously developed 220 megawatt electric Pressurized Heavy Water Reactors.
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BY: Jeremy Page and Zahid Hussain | The London Times
Officials of the two countries were locked in last-minute negotiations on how to salvage the Kerry-Lugar Bill, which triples US civilian aid to Pakistan. It seeks to broaden the campaign against Islamic militancy by fighting poverty in regions along the Afghan border and tries to ensure that military aid is not misspent.
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BY: Jonathan Adams | Global Post
The show is the first-ever direct cooperation between the rival Palace Museums in Beijing and Taipei. As such, it's a sign that warming cross-strait relations are now moving beyond commercial ties and into culture, too.
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BY: Sunny Lee | The National
Even though the Chinese premier, Wen Jiabao, returned from Pyongyang last week and called on his South Korean and Japanese counterparts to seize the opportunity to engage North Korea on its nuclear programme, analysts believe the next significant move must be made by the United States.
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BY: Juan O. Tamayo | The Miami Herald
Bills in Congress to allow all travel to Cuba are increasingly drawing support among U.S. lawmakers and the public -- but they still face an uncertain future.