Sol W. Sanders Looking around the world, the striking characteristic is waiting out a number of crises. Their outcome seems almost artificially suspended, and their interaction on one another and their ultimate effect on the world is at issue. We start with the Euro. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s supplications in Beijing were perhaps laudable but a […]
Special to WorldTribune.com Geostrategy-Direct TEL AVIV — Israel regards a new Russian missile exported to Syria as a weapon that could change the balance of power between the Jewish state and its Arab neighbors. A report by Haim Rosenberg, a former Israeli defense official, said the Iskander-E rocket, known in the West as SS-26, would […]
Special to WorldTribune.com By Donald Kirk, East-Asia-Intel.com WASHINGTON — North Korea stands to be a major winner if Israeli hawks prevail and Israel attacks Iranian nuclear facilities. With Iran said in some quarters to be only months away from emerging as the world’s 10th nuclear weapons power, North Korea reportedly is producing more middle-range missiles […]
Special to WorldTribune.com MOSCOW — Russia said it intends to complete additional weapons deliveries to the embattled regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad. The Kremlin said Moscow would fulfill several unidentified defense contracts with Syria in 2012. Officials said Russian weapons exports to Damascus have not been banned by the United Nations. “As of today […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The United States has imposed sanctions on senior Kurdish insurgency operatives. The Treasury Department has designated three Kurds based in Europe as drug traffickers for the Kurdish Workers Party. The Kurds, identified as Zeyneddin Geleri, Cerkez Akbulut and Omer Boztepe, were the first PKK operatives designated by Washington as drug […]
Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — The Syrian opposition has reported the rebel capture of a major Sunni city. Opposition sources said the rebel Free Syrian Army has captured most of the central Syrian city of Homs. They said FSA was withstanding heavy missile and artillery shelling by the Syrian Army and security forces. “The rebels […]
Special to WorldTribune.com WASHINGTON — The U.S. intelligence community has assessed that a fragmented opposition and powerful foreign support could sustain the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad throughout 2012. Officials said the assessment took into account the strong military, intelligence and financial support the Damascus regime has received from China, Iran and Russia. The […]
Special to WorldTribune.com HERZLIYA, Israel — Israel’s military has been exploring the prospect of developing projects in the upper tier of the atmosphere. Officials said the Israel Air Force has drafted plans to develop aircraft that could operate in what they termed the stratosphere. They said this would enable unmanned platforms to conduct reconnaissance and […]
Special to WorldTribune.com NICOSIA — Casualties among Syrian security forces have been mounting amid the offensive to quell the revolt against President Bashar Assad. The Assad regime has acknowledged the death of at least 16 Syrian Army soldiers during heavy fighting with rebels on Jan. 29. Ten of the soldiers were killed in a rebel […]
Sol W. Sanders Diverted by the essential — if sometimes burlesqued — pursuit of America’s quadrennial search for leadership, policymakers have tried to put international problems on hold. But dealing with wannabe-totalitarian outcroppings throughout the Islamic world from Casablanca to Zamboanga, is as critical and demanding and may take as long as the struggle with […]