ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

TEHRAN, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Iran's former foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, said that Iran will not enter negotiations with the United States under pressures, semi-official Fars news agency reported on Sunday. Iran is under a number of unilateral Western sanctions on its oil and financial sectors over its controversial nuclear program. The U.S. Senate on Friday overwhelmingly approved expanded sanctions on Iran's energy, port, shipping and ship-building sectors. The sanctions will penalize transactions with Iran's energy, port, shipping and ship-building sectors and target individuals who sell or supply materials, such as graphite, aluminum and steel, to Iran. The measures will also slap sanctions on those who purchase Iran's oil with precious metals, including gold, in an effort to prevent Tehran from circumventing the existing economic sanctions. "The Americans think that pressures can sway Iran and they can bring the Iranian nation and government ...

DAMASCUS, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- At least 15 people were killed and 24 others wounded when a car bomb went off in a street in the central Syrian province of Homs on Sunday, Syria's local media said. The initial information has revealed that a car bomb went off near Omar Bin al-Khattab mosque at al-Hamra neighborhood, the state-run SANA news agency said, adding that at least 15 people were killed in the blast and huge damage has also been caused to nearby buildings. Blasts in Syria have become daily occurrences, as the armed radical rebels have seemingly resorted to such tactics to overstretch the Syrian troops as part of the war of attrition which they have waged against the Syrian administration. Meanwhile, SANA said that army troops have clashed with al- Qaida terrorists at al-Sabkha and al-Karama at the province of al- Raqqa and inflicted heavy losses on them. It added that the clashes have resulted in the killing and wounding of tens of terrorists while the others have fl...

TOKYO, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Japan will postpone talks with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) as the latter announced a satellite launch plan on Saturday, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported. The decision was made by Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda after a meeting with Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba, Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto and Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura. Noda said that he has informed the DPRK of his decision and added that it will be "quite regrettable" if the DPRK carries out the launch. Morimoto also issued a destroy order to the Self-Defense Forces, requiring them to be prepared for the satellite launch, according to Kyodo. Japan and the DPRK planed to hold a new round of high-level talks on Wednesday and Thursday in Beijing. After the DPRK's announcement, Noda had ordered the country's ministries to take every possible measure to secure public security, adding he will seek cooperation with the United...

BEIJING, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- China on Sunday expressed its concern about the satellite launch plan of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), saying it hopes relevant parties can act in a way that is more conducive to the stability of the Korean Peninsula. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said the DPRK has the right to peaceful uses of outer space, but that the right should be exercised within limitation of UN Security Council resolutions. China hopes all parties concerned can act in a way that is more conducive to the peace and stability of the Korean Peninsula and can exercise calmness so as to avoid further escalation of the situation, according to the spokesman. With the DPRK announcing on Saturday that it plans to launch another satellite in December after a failed attempt in April, Qin said that China had also took note of the responses of other parties. The second version of Kwangmyongsong-3 will be launched from the Sohae Space Center in Cholsan County, ...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- There is "no possibility" for the United States to put its fiscal house in order without letting tax cuts for the rich expire, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Sunday. Tax cuts for wealthy households that earned more than 250,000 U.S. dollars each year cost America about 1 trillion dollars over a decade, Geithner said during an interview with CNN on Sunday. With the "fiscal cliff" looming, Geithner called for a balanced approach to resolve the nation's fiscal challenge, including increasing tax revenues, cutting entitlement spending and new stimulus programs to bolster economic growth. "There's not going to be an agreement without rates going up," Geithner said. The treasury secretary earlier this week presented a proposal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" to congressional leaders by boosting revenues by 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars over the next decade. The proposal included about 400 billion dol...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- There is "no possibility" for the United States to put its fiscal house in order without letting tax cuts for the rich expire, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said Sunday. Tax cuts for wealthy households that earned more than 250,000 U.S. dollars each year cost America about 1 trillion dollars over a decade, Geithner said during an interview with CNN on Sunday. With the "fiscal cliff" looming, Geithner called for a balanced approach to resolve the nation's fiscal challenge, including increasing tax revenues, cutting entitlement spending and new stimulus programs to bolster economic growth. "There's not going to be an agreement without rates going up," Geithner said. The treasury secretary earlier this week presented a proposal to avoid the "fiscal cliff" to congressional leaders by boosting revenues by 1.6 trillion U.S. dollars over the next decade. The proposal included about 400 billion dol...

By Ben West Poland's Internal Security Agency announced Nov. 20 that it had arrested "Brunon K," a chemistry professor at the Agricultural University in Krakow who allegedly planned to attack the lower house of the Polish parliament. The arrest came Nov. 9, just two days before Warsaw's annual Independence Day parade, which authorities believe could have been another target. During the arrest, authorities seized ammonium nitrate fertilizer, high-powered, military-grade explosive RDX and other bomb-making equipment. They also seized several hundred rounds of ammunition, a bulletproof vest and a pistol. Presumably, the suspect in question is Dr. Brunon Kwiecien, who has published multiple chemistry papers at the Agricultural University in Krakow, according to a Polish academic directory. Kwiecien openly espoused anti-government views and accused the Polish government and the European Commission of tyranny. Specifically, he condemned the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade...

Editor's Note:  Originally published Aug. 24, 2011, this installment on the United States, presented in two parts, is the 16th in a series of Stratfor monographs on the geopolitics of countries influential in world affairs.   Click here for part two . Like nearly all of the peoples of North and South America, most Americans are not originally from the territory that became the United States. They are a diverse collection of peoples primarily from a dozen different Western European states, mixed in with smaller groups from a hundred more. All of the New World entities struggled to carve a modern nation and state out of the American continents. Brazil is an excellent case of how that struggle can be a difficult one. The United States falls on the opposite end of the spectrum. The American geography is an impressive one. The Greater Mississippi Basin together with the Intracoastal Waterway has more kilometers of navigable internal waterways than the rest of the world combin...