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Although China has been involved in twenty-three territorial disputes with its neighbors since 1949, it has used force in only six of them. The strength of a state's territorial claim, defined as its bargaining power in a dispute, offers one explanation for why and when states escalate territorial disputes to high levels of violence. This bargaining power depends on the amount of contested land that each side controls and on the military power that can be projected over the entire area under dispute. When a state's bargaining power declines relative to that of its adversary, its leaders become more pessimistic about achieving their territorial goals and face strong preventive motivations to seize disputed land or signal resolve through the use of force. Cross-sectional analysis and longitudinal case studies demonstrate that such negative shifts in bargaining power explain the majority of China's uses of force in its territorial disputes.

The announcement of a trial of a National level internet filter in Australia has caused renewed interest in the arena of internet censorship. Whilst details on the schemes being tested have been fairly sparse the announcement of the trial itself, has drawn wide condemnation from privacy advocates throughout the world. Given this announcement it was decided to test and compare three of the most popular free tools available that allow for the bypassing of internet censorship devices such as those used within China. Tests were conducted using three software packages, Freegate, GPass and GTunnel which were analysed through packet capture to determine their likely effectiveness against the speculated methods to be employed by the Australian trials. The tests clearly showed that all three applications provide an easy means of subverting any likely filtering method with GPass and GTunnel the more suitable candidates as Freegate still allowed for plain-text DNS requests.

The fragile détente that dawned after the Cuban missile crisis of October 1962 was a necessary but not sufficient condition to ensure the conclusion of the Limited Test Ban Treaty eight months later. Nikita Khrushchev's political weakness after his Cuban fiasco was the main obstacle. New evidence from the Soviet side shows that by April 1963—three months before John F. Kennedy's conciliatory speech at American University that is usually regarded as the turning point—the Soviet leader became committed to the treaty in principle. Discord within the Communist world inhibited him from pursuing it actively until efforts to mend the rift with China collapsed, underscoring the value of a successful agreement with the West. Once the treaty was signed, however, the two sides failed to build on their common accomplishment and got bogged down by political issues that divided them. The opportunity for a deeper détente and a comprehensive test ban were lost.

On 17 Feb 2008, a unilateral declaration of the "independence" of Kosovo was pushed through by leading Western nations. This paper contends that the act set a dangerous precedent in international relations, as has already been demonstrated by further complications of the military-political situation. Five lessons that can be drawn from this situation are presented: (1) Only 30 of the world's 200 states have welcomed Kosovo's "independence"; among the UN Security Council's five permanent members, the US, the UK, & France approved of, while Russia & China opposed the declaration. (2) Most opposing states see Kosovo's independence as a gross violation of international law. (3) Those charged with negotiating a settlement of Kosovo's status wrongly negotiated instead for its independence. (4) A clear look shows that Kosovo was not ready for independence. (5) A threat exists of repetition of a Kosovo "scenario." A possible solution is suggested. Adapted from the source document.

This article discusses the increasing use of private military companies (PMCs) in United States' security policy in Africa, and examines this phenomenon in relation to the US' various military training programmes on the continent. We argue that the increasing use of PMCs in US security policy has evolved due to two critical and mutually dependent developments; African state weakness and resource stringency on the one hand, and the US's overwhelming security commitments around the world, combined with military downsizing, on the other. The article further argues that the involvement of PMCs is to a large extent informed by US concerns about access to African resources, especially oil, in the face of stiff competition from China. We conclude that the increasing US engagement in Africa is highly militaristic and state-centric, and that it is primarily conditioned by US strategic interests and does not necessarily reflect African security concerns: human security for development.

In this exclusive interview with Therese Delpech, South Korea's new president, elected on February 25, outlines the key themes of his foreign policy. Europe -- which he knows extremely well, having crisscrossed the continent many times -- has a critical role to play. He also hopes to implement an Asian policy aimed at boosting the region's prosperity & promoting Korean culture. Lee Myung-Bak is closer to the United States than his predecessors, & hopes to establish very close ties with Japan & Australia. He will take a harder line on North Korea & is more wary of China, which he criticizes for its lack of transparency in its military build-up. The South Korean president is an intelligent, pragmatic man with strong convictions, particularly with regards to human rights & the need for his country to engage with the rest of the world. This is a man who will do everything possible to achieve his objectives. Adapted from the source document.

AbstractDespite international protests against bonded labor, the flow of indentured laborers during the 19th and early decades of the 20th centuries was extensive compared to the earlier centuries. The focus of this article is on the particularity of the "Chinese coolies experiment" in South Africa's gold mining industry which commenced in 1904. This 20th-century episode of indentured labor is notable for several reasons, and it serves as a springboard for the discussion of some fundamental issues in capitalist development, labor and identity formation. This article emphasizes the last, examining how a "Chinese" identity was formed through the development of the gold fields and, in turn, how this formation reinforced a nascent white labor aristocracy. It discusses two dimensions of this labor "experiment" in South Africa: (1) the heady debate on the decision to look to China for cheap labor and (2) desertion by the indentured Chinese laborers from various mining compounds in the Witwatersrand.

SUMMARY:
In her review of Central Asia within the Russian Empire , Gulmira Dzhunushalieva assesses the scholarly achievements of the team of authors and relates them to the current stage of historical studies in Central Asian republics, particularly in Kyrgyzstan. She praises the objectivity and lack of overt politicization in the presentation of the region's history in this volume. The volume's merits include a balanced view of the contradictions and manifold directions of the policies of the imperial center toward the region; the inclusion of the analysis of Central Asian protectorates and history of relations with China in the semi-open frontier of Eastern Turkestan (Xinjiang). Dzhunushalieva suggests that the volume would have been more balanced had it included an examination of relationships between population groups in the region that were not mediated by the imperial administration, as well as analysis of how the local population adopted colonial language and frameworks and used them to advance their own interests.

The discussion of the energy security of Europe is focused mainly on Russia. However, Russia -- Central Asia energy relations became very important in Eurasia after the dissolution of the USSR. While its reserves of strategic raw materials (especially gas) are not comparable with those in Russia, Central Asia could be an additional source for supplying these raw materials to Europe. Europe should be involved in "The Great Game" for Central Asian gas. The significance of Central Asia regarding the increasing demand for gas in Europe cannot be overestimated. On the other hand, due to the growing interest of China & other Asian powers in Central Asia, maintaining a local gas pipeline network which would move gas in the direction of Europe (rather than in the direction of other Asian countries) should be a priority for both European countries & Russia. The rivalry between Russian & non-Russian pipeline projects for delivering gas is secondary in this context. Adapted from the source document.

The aim in this study was to investigate the characteristics and regularity of changes in mental state of the Chinese public during the period of the SARS outbreak in China (2003). The self-administered SARS Mentality Questionnaire was sent to 8775 people who came from 20 different
professions in the cities of Guangzhou (23.5%), Beijing (37.8%) and Xi'an (38.7%). Of the participants 59.4% were male. Ages ranged from 17 to 76 years. After the pilot study, 33 items were included in the questionnaire. Of the people surveyed, 96.4%
presented marked emotional change and 23.3% showed blind behavior; 76.7% took "access to relevant information" as effective measures against emergencies; 45.5% believed that SARS would cause more harm to human beings than cancer, AIDS and suicide resulting
from depression. The change of emotion during the SARS epidemic was significantly different, as compared to normal circumstances. The uncertainty people have about the epidemic development was a key cause of panic during this time.

"Nordkorea, Myanmar oder jüngst wieder Simbabwe: Immer wieder geraten autoritäre Regime durch Rüstungsprogramme, die Unterdrückung oppositioneller Kräfte, die Missachtung der Leiden der eigenen Bevölkerung und anderes mehr in den Blickpunkt der Weltöffentlichkeit. Gleichzeitig liefern erstarkende 'autoritäre Großmächte' wie die VR China potenziellen Nachahmern ernst zu nehmende Gegenentwürfe zur liberalen Demokratie. Analyse: Die so genannte 'dritte Welle' der Demokratisierung hat mitnichten zu einem Aussterben autoritärer Regime geführt; zurzeit werden mindestens ein Viertel aller Nationalstaaten und damit rund ein Drittel der Weltbevölkerung autoritär regiert. Allerdings zeigt der Vergleich deutliche Unterschiede in regionaler Hinsicht wie auch bezüglich der Stabilität verschiedener Typen autoritärer Regime auf. Seit dem Ausklingen der 'dritten Welle' Mitte der 1990er Jahre hat sich an der weltweiten Verbreitung demokratischer, autoritärer und hybrider Regimen nur wenig verändert. Hohe Anteile autoritärer Regime weisen der Nahe Osten, Afrika, Asien sowie die Nachfolgestaaten der UdSSR auf. Die größte Gruppe autoritärer Regime bilden seit den 1990er Jahren diejenigen, in denen ein staatlicherseits beschränkter Mehrparteienwettbewerb existiert. Die spezifische Natur autoritärer Regime wirkt sich auf deren Überlebensfähigkeit aus. Einparteiregime, Monarchien und personalistisch gefärbte Regime bestehen im Durchschnitt länger als Militärregime. Ressourcenreichtum sowie die Existenz politischer Institutionen wie Wahlen, Parteien und Parlamente erhöhen tendenziell die Überlebensfähigkeit autoritärer Regime, bilden aber keineswegs die einzigen Stützen autoritärer Herrschaft. Erstarkende 'autoritäre Großmächte' stellen die westliche Welt vor neue Herausforderungen." (Autorenreferat)