Global woes pose risks, also openings for US

The economic slump roaring across the world's geopolitical map poses weighty challenges, as well as some unexpected opportunities, for President-elect Barack Obama.

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Oil is the curse of the modern world; it is "the devil's excrement," in the words of the former Venezuelan oil minister Juan Pablo Pérez Alfonzo, who is considered to be the father of OPEC and should know.

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Patty-Cake, Patty-Cake, Catch Me If You Can

Well at least we know where the President's priorities lie these days and they certainly seem counter to what the majority of the country thinks.

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The United States is "woefully behind" other developed countries when it comes to providing opportunities and choices -- the very essence of the so-called "American Dream" -- according to a new analysis ranking the quality of life in the country.

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North Korea's Terrible Price

Has Bill Clinton made the world more or less dangerous by traveling to North Korea to secure the rescue of American hostages from the savage, dictatorial regime that rules the nation? What was conceded to North Korea for the release of the hostages? Why was North Korea's top nucl …

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Noam Chomsky, the MIT professor, author and dissident intellectual, just turned eighty years old this past December.

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Until recently, a twitter was simply a bird making high-pitched mating calls.

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HONG KONG — Worried about heavy reliance on imported oil, Chinese officials have drafted automotive fuel economy standards that are even more stringent than those outlined by President Obama last week, Chinese experts with a detailed knowledge of the plans said on Wednesday.

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Is Islam the biggest problem in the World?

It seems to me we live in a political climate, where blanket statements and sweeping accusations against Muslims are frequent and generally accepted.

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Reporting from Washington -- The Obama administration, already on treacherous political ground because of its outreach to traditional adversaries such as Iran and Cuba, has opened the door a crack to engagement with the militant group Hamas.

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When the issue of racism comes up, the internalised racism that devours the people of the developing world in Asia and Africa, from within, rarely comes up for discussion.

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Islam's goal - as stated in its own scriptures, and proclaimed by its religious leaders when speaking in Arabic - is world conquest.

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from the BBC April 22, 2009 With less than six months to go until Norway's general election, increasing tensions over immigration and Islam appear likely to play a significant role in the vote.

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When rapturous Germans tore down the Berlin Wall 20 years ago it symbolized far more than the overcoming of an arbitrary boundary.

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China isn't in Africa merely to snap up raw materials, exploit African labor, or build geopolitical influence.

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The analysis on offer here would do Machiavelli proud (I mean no disrespect in describing it that way), and Samuels' main point is that, as in any traditional client-patron relationship, what is made public and what is concealed depends on either side's correlated -- but by no me …

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Various post-economic collapse scenarios are discussed at some length. Interesting read. Cuss and discuss

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Those who expected US President Barack Obama to ignore Gloria Macapagal Arroyo, and who were surprised at his calling her last March 14, should have read his speeches and other statements on foreign policy during the campaign for the 2008 US Presidential elections.

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With the United States in a serious recession and under a credit lockdown, there is an interesting geopolitical game in progress. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton paid a low-key visit to Beijing at the end of her four-nation tour of East Asia from Feb. 20-22.

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The "harassment" of the U.S. Navy military survey vessel Impeccable operating in China's Exclusive Economic Zone in the South China Sea is but the tip of an iceberg of maritime legal differences between China and the U.S.

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Why everybody should read spy novels

It probably started around the time I was reading Donald Duck. It got me thinking about how the whole concept of Duckburg is a profoundly American concept: Uncle Scrooge is the stingy capitalist, yet somewhat useful to his work shy nephew Donald and the other inhabitants.

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everything to know about the black sea

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Good Judgement Rules

President Obama's plan to withdraw most of the troops from Iraq over the next 19 months, and leave 35,000 to 50,000 there in a different role for an unspecified time is the right strategy.

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Charting Mankind's course

A revival of balance and a measure to restore.

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The financial and economic crash of 2008, the worst in over 75 years, is a major geopolitical setback for the United States and Europe.

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This country possesses tremendous advantages compared to other great powers in its demographics, its land-to-people ratio, its raw materials, its research universities and laboratories, its flexible work force, etc.

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