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The 2003 invasion of Iraq and the ensuing conflict in that country fostered the rise of Iranian power in the region, but with more limitations than is commonly acknowledged. It also diminished local confidence in U.S. credibility and created opportunities for China and Russia.
By rand.org

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The increasing importance of the G-20 summits is testimony to the growing role emerging states now play in managing the international economy. But integrating these newcomers into the global community is unlikely to be straightforward or simple, writes Lowell H. Schwartz.
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The damage done by the financial crisis now seems to require not a refurbishing job but an extreme makeover. While soul-searching and even self-loathing are inevitable during a crisis, this is no time for America to shy away from a capitalist system that has produced decades of economic growth, writes Krishna Kumar.
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The story of how President Obama engineered a grass-roots campaign, mobilizing formerly disengaged U.S. citizens with new media and new technologies, has reached almost mythological proportions. Less well known is the story of similar grass-roots efforts emerging in local communities around the world, write Cherl Benard and Edward O’Connell.
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The proliferation of weapons of mass destruction ranks as one of the biggest challenges facing the Obama administration. Luckily, Mr. Obama has a tool to combat this threat, in the form of the Proliferation Security Initiative…. The trick now will be to convince key Asian countries to participate, writes Charles Wolf Jr.
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The U.S. military training system is the envy of many countries around the world, but the militaries of China, France, the UK, India, and Israel can help the U.S. identify different approaches to readiness, adaptability, and operational issues.
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The 8th PLAAF Flight Academy is home to the SU-30MKK fighter-bomber “Blue-Army Aggressor Squadron”. It is trained to act as the “bad guy” in war-games by simulating the US F-15E or other SU-30 equipped Asian air forces. There are a total of three Blue-Army Aggressor squadrons under the PLAAF orbat; the other two are equipped with J-10A (60x8x) and J-7E (15xxx) to simulate lighter, single
By Coatepeque

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The consistent US arms sales to the ROC and the EU’s perpetual “consideration” to lift the arms embargo to China have almost become ritualized. At the end of the day, despite all the diplomatic protest by the PRC, the US will sell most of the non-head line items to the ROC (here). And as a gesture to the PRC, the US will leave the big ticket items out, such as F-16s. The EU will continue to
By Coatepeque

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The current issue of Aviation News (HangKong Bao) displays a dozen manufactured J11Bs sitting at SAC without engines. This highlights the problem the PLAAF faces due to Shanyang Liming Aircraft Engine company’s inability to fulfill all FWS10A (Taihang) orders. As indicted by the SAC’s press release on its 2009 performance, it said it had fulfilled its PLAAF contracts “fairly” well. Which is
By Coatepeque

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The recently aired CCTV documentary has confirmed that the secretive Chinese underwater guns are based on the Russian designs*The Russian SPP-1 4.5mm underwater pistol can accommodate either a twin or quad-barrel arrangement with a cartridge in each which is inserted into the pistol’s breech. The Chinese QSS-05 5.8mm adoption (or 山寨) has a tri-barrel pistol arrangement.The Chinese also “山寨-ed”
By Coatepeque

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The PLAN navy chased off four pirates on January 22nd in response to a distress callAfter a year of deployment to the Gulf of Aden, the PLAN has not resorted to the use of deadly force in its dealings with the pirates (here). Richard Weitz offers a possible explanation.Priorities and Challenges in China’s Naval Deployment in the Horn of AfricaBy: Richard Weitzhttp://www.jamestown.org/programs/
By Coatepeque

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The PLA’s Multiple Military Tasks: Prioritizing Combat Operations and Developing MOOTW CapabilitiesPublication: China Brief Volume: 10 Issue: 2January 21, 2010 02:42 PM Age: 2 hrsCategory: China Brief, Home Page, Foreign Policy, Military/Security, China and the Asia-PacificBy: Michael S. Chase, Kristen Gunnesshttp://www.jamestown.org/programs/chinabrief/single/?tx_ttnews[tt_news]=35931&tx_ttnews[
By Coatepeque

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The first of the 10 Ka-28 ordered by the PLAN on October 11th 2009 has arrived (here)(here). Judging from the pennant number of 9234, this new Ka-28 has been assigned to PLAN’s existing Ka-28 unit: the 4th Naval Independent Aviation Regiment. Since there was no sign of a new unit being created to accommodate this new addition, it can be assumed that the new birds would augment the existing
By Coatepeque

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The 15th ABC’s organic helicopter regiment was first revealed during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake rescue work and then by a high profile fly-by during the 60th national day celebration.It is now time for the 15th to test its newly found air mobility assault capability in a large military exercise. The advantage of air mobile assault over airdrop are many: ranging from entire unit delivery in one
By Coatepeque