The Great Game of the 19th Century was played between empire builders Britain and Russia, using Afghanistan as their football in seeking control of central Asia. Today, there is a new great game under way between two very different competitors — China and India. But this time the ball is Burma. In much the same way that Afghanistan was a poor and undeveloped but strategic piece of territory, so Burma now fits that role for the two burgeoning economic giants. But Burma is more than simply a slice of well-placed geography: It is rich in energy resources, which China and [...]
ACCRA, Ghana — Taking a break from work, hotel desk clerk Augustine Kumi, 23, briefly wondered aloud why he and many fellow Ghanaians are poor. After all, his stable country enjoys a democratically elected government and, he pointed out, it boasts valued natural resources such as gold, timber and cocoa. That doesn’t account for the high inflows of foreign aid, perhaps comprising more than 40 percent of the annual budget. But then Kumi answered his own question. “We don’t have good leaders,” he said. “They are greedy.” Kumi’s gripes, in part, are tied to his frustrations with President John Kufuor’s [...]
The Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), which is already changing the way the U.S. Air Force does business, could undergo an evolutionary leap in endurance, or the time the aircraft can stay in the air, in the next few years. Global Hawk, produced by Northrop Grumman Corp., can fly autonomously for up to 35 hours at a time, at an altitude of 60,000 feet or higher, while scanning an area of some 40,000 square miles, according to the company. With a more advanced engine, however, Global Hawk could stay up far longer — weeks, even months at a time, [...]
