The United States and Russia on Tuesday began the first round of negotiations aimed at replacing a landmark Cold War-era nuclear disarmament treaty that expires in December, officials said.

The stated goal of the United States in pushing for an anti-missile missile system in Poland and the Czech Republic is to protect Europe against nuclear attacks from Iran or other "rogue states." But a joint analysis by top U.S. and Russian scientists has concluded the system as proposed wouldn't be able to do that, The Washington Post reported Tuesday.

The EastWest Institute, an independent think tank based in Moscow, New York and Belgium, determined that no missile threat from Iran to Europe is imminent within the next five years because Tehran doesn't possess the technical prowess and won't for at least six to eight years.

EWI vice president Ortwin Hennig appearing on Euronews, discussed the strategic benefits and challenges of Turkey’s integration into the EU. Hennig emphasized the strategic importance of Turkish accession, but cautioned that Turkey still has many hurdles to overcome before it becomes an EU member state.

EWI vice president Pal Sidhu appeared on Iran’s Press TV discussing security challenges the U.S. faces in Iraq and Afghanistan. Among other topics, Sidhu discusses the eradication of poppy fields in Afghanistan, instability in Pakistan, and the prospects for regional approaches to ensure the stability of Southwest Asia.

Greg Austin suggested on Euronews, Europe’s leading international news channel, that NATO must invest in a “civilian surge” in Afghanistan, similar to the strategy under consideration in the U.S.

Tensions remain high after the launch, condemned by the West for its nuclear-arms ramifications. North Korea declares a success. Officials elsewhere say the rocket and satellite fell into the sea.

Reporting from Seoul -- South Korea and Japan scrambled to interpret the fallout from a North Korean rocket launch today that the regime said placed a satellite into orbit -- a claim contradicted by both Washington and Seoul.

National security officials met in separate meetings in Tokyo and Seoul, where anti-Pyongyang demonstrators clashed with police for the second time in three days, this time burning a missile replica and a photograph of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.

EWI President and CEO John Edwin Mroz was interviewed by the China People's Daily on issues in international affairs.

The article ran on the heels of the Chinese Communist Party's 17th Congress, at which Chinese President Hu Jintao gave a report that mentioned the need for all countries to "uphold the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter, observe international law and universally recognized norms of international relations, and promote democracy, harmony, collaboration and win-win solutions in international relations."
 
In the interview, Mr. Mroz makes the point that as the world develops at a faster pace and becomes increasingly complex, no one country or entity can undertake the responsibilities of managing today's global challenges alone. 

He notes that EWI is unusual among think tanks in that it is action-oriented and does not take a US-centric approach to resolving global problems.  EWI advocates a "P5-plus" model that revolves around the five permanent members of the UN Security Council and other important countries, that are brought in on relevant issues.

Mr. Mroz contends that world has reached a new "tipping point," wihch could tilt either in a positive or negative way, depending on the actions of the major powers.

Lowering defence spending around the world has always been a utopian dream for idealists. Yet growing numbers of mainstream politicians from around the world believe they have finally come up with a way of making it possible.

The argument is a simple one – with money, unsurprisingly, at its heart. Defence spending is a huge commitment to the public purse; recent military interventionists in Iraq and Afghanistan are cases in point. It would be much more attractive not having to spend the money in the first place.

The Archbishop of York's keynote speech at the House of Commons

John Donne said that no one is an island and this has never been truer today. We rely on each other throughout the world. Because of our global interdependence, no country can be isolated from what is happening in the rest of the world be it economic turmoil, climate change, poverty or violent conflict.