Israel and the Palestinians - a history | guardian.co.uk. Vietnam | China, What's Next? China’s excessive territorial claims in the South China Sea are pushing Vietnam toward the United States. By Hung Nguyen for The Diplomat February 15, 2011 Facebook5 Twitter0 Google+0 LinkedIn0 Since the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, Vietnam-China relations have gone through roughly four major phases. The first phase, which ran from 1949 to 1978, was characterized by ideological comradeship, mutual trust and support. The second phase began with Vietnam’s invasion of Cambodia in 1978 and China’s border war with Vietnam in 1979, and ended in 1990. The third phase began in 1991, with the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries through 2007. The fourth phase, which began in 2008, pitched China’s increasing assertiveness against Vietnam’s efforts to preserve its sovereignty and territorial integrity in the face of the China challenge.
Geographically, Vietnam is a small country living in the shadow of a huge neighbour. South Korea Intelligent Surveillance and Guard Robot. India to help train Vietnam in submarine operations. Iran confident Israel won't launch 'stupid' attack. "In our calculations, we aren't taking these claims very seriously because we see them as hollow and baseless," foreign ministry spokesperson Ramin Mehmanparast told reporters in a weekly briefing. "Even if some officials in the illegitimate regime [Israel] want to carry out such a stupid action, there are those inside [the Israeli government] who won't allow it because they know they would suffer very severe consequences from such an act," he said. Iran's defence minister, General Ahmad Vahidi, was quoted by the ISNA news agency saying that Israel "definitely doesn't have what it takes to endure Iran's might and will".
He called the Israeli threats "a sign of weakness" by "brainless leaders". The comments were a response to bellicose rhetoric from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak in recent days suggesting they were thinking more seriously of military action against Iranian nuclear facilities. Syria conflict: Jihadists' role growing. 2 August 2012Last updated at 06:51 ET By Murad Batal al-Shishani Islamic Groups Analyst, BBC Arabic Jihadism in Syria: What you need to know When peaceful protests demanding regime change in Syria erupted 16 months ago, there were no signs of the presence of jihadist groups on the ground other than the claims of the regime.
In reaction to the violent measures the regime has implemented against peaceful protesters, some Syrians have resorted to arms. In this context, the Free Syrian Army (FSA) was formed from defecting army soldiers in order "to protect protesters and to fight against the Bashar al-Assad regime", according to their statements. Simultaneously, however, jihadists - those committed to establishing an Islamic state by violent means - have started to be seen on the battlefield in Syria, which became a highly streamed topic on the jihadist online forums. Col Nimah, like many opposition figures, insists that the jihadists' role and presence in Syria are limited.
Reproducing Iraq. Syria – Iran – Russia: is the West ready for any kind of compromise? Syria is just a transitory object for Western pressure. The real long-term targets are Iran and in future, most probably, Russia. Fruitless talks on the Iranian nuclear program in Moscow and the still raging Western media campaign on presumed deliveries of Russian arms to Syria reveal the general vector of the strategies of the US and the EU better than any official statements.
The question remains, although: are the United States and the European Union ready for ANY kind of compromise? Talks between the EU’s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jallili ended in Moscow with no result in terms of nuclear security. But, obviously, the results desired by the EU and the United States lay in a very different field. Catherine Ashton’s spokesman, Michael Mann, told reporters in Moscow that there remained “no doubt” that economic sanctions, imposed on Iran by the EU, will gain full force on July 1, as scheduled. Persian Gulf Militarization.