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Russia's military satellites |
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Russia's military satellite programme has diminished greatly since the break-up of the Soviet Union. During the 1980s, the Soviet Space programme typically made 90-100 launch attempts annually, the majority being dedicated military satellites. The rate has since dropped by more than half, with military payloads in the minority. With the ending of the Cold War, a scaling down of the programme was to have been expected. Severe economic restrictions have made the decline more swift and obvious. Nonetheless, there have been some indications that the situation will not deteriorate further.
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The UK Royal Navy |
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Very few other navies have the range of capabilities and roles of the UK's Royal Navy. Yet, a growth in tasks and operational tempo, made without a commensurate expansion in financial resources for maintenance and personnel, has imposed severe strains. The Royal Navy's ability to carry out its tasks well is increasingly constrained.
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Peru under Toledo |
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Alejandro Toledo will be sworn in as president of Peru on 28 July. This is an auspicious moment for the country's fragile democracy. For ten years from 1990, Peru was ruled by a regime, led by former president Alberto Fujimori, which used increasingly authoritarian and illegal methods to ensure continuance in office. Toledo will take office amid a broad consensus on the need to repair political institutions needed to underpin democracy. However, the task is formidable. In the short-term, a key priority will be to achieve stable economic growth of sufficient magnitude to blunt the inequalities that have long been a source of political instability.
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North Korea and the 'Agreed Framework' |
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The Bush administration recently announced that it would continue engagement of North Korea, which has as its centrepiece the 1994 'Agreed Framework' (AF). Under the AF, North Korea is to receive two large electricity-producing nuclear reactors and some heavy fuel oil until the reactors are built. In return, North Korea must freeze and eventually dismantle a plutonium-producing reactor and related facilities, while making a complete declaration of how much nuclear weapons material it has. Critics of the AF question whether the new reactors, which will necessarily produce plutonium as a by-product, can be adequately and verifiably safeguarded. US President George W. Bush has emphasised that assurance of verification of the AF's provisions is vital for progress to be made. Recent findings suggest that the AF is technically verifiable, but only if North Korea meets strict conditions and the International Atomic Energy Agency received strong financial and political support in carrying out its tasks.
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The UN 'Firearms Protocol' |
In recent years, international forums have made significant advances in addressing the problem of the criminal violence fed by the transnational trafficking in firearms. This progress was evidenced in March 2001, when negotiations on the UN Protocol Against the Illicit Manufacturing of and Trafficking in Firearms, their Parts and Components and Ammunition were completed. The Protocol creates a baseline for criminal conduct by setting a legal standard for the firearms trade. It provides for an international system to document and trace legal flows of firearms. This is reinforced by requirements concerning the transparent marking of firearms. While there is broad political support for this measure, effective implementation will require international co-ordination efforts to be stepped up.
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