BUB: Around the World in a Single Post!

Today's BUB has quick-hits from everywhere!

Germany is stumping for an integrated European Army.

"The long term goal is the establishment of a European army under full parliamentary control," he said, noting that the German government "wants to advance along this path."

Mr Westerwelle, who is just a few months into the job as Germany's top diplomat as part of a ruling Christian Democrat and liberal coalition, suggested that moving further on common security and defence will be the "motor for greater European integration."

With a nod to Nato, the military alliance which competes with the EU in terms of overlapping members and available resources, he said: "This is not intended to replace other security structures. More Europe is not a strategy directed against anyone. No one has any reason to fear Europe, but everyone should be able to depend on Europe."

Under EU rules, member states with certain military capacities and the political will to move in this direction can club together to move forward on common defence.

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India's army is fielding a new missile that's finished it's operational tests.

India's medium-range nuclear-capable ballistic missile, Agni-III, is ready to be inducted into the armed forces after a successful test, the army says.
The surface-to-surface missile was test-fired off an island near Orissa state in eastern India on Sunday, defence officials say.
With a range of more than 3,000km (1,250 miles), the missile can carry a nuclear payload of 1.5 tonnes.
The Agni series is among India's most sophisticated missiles.
This was the fourth test of the Agni-III missile, a statement by the defence ministry said.

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The US has convicted a Chinese national of espionage.

An elderly Chinese-born engineer convicted of economic espionage for hoarding sensitive documents that included space shuttle details faces sentencing Monday, and prosecutors are seeking a 20-year term.

A judge found Dongfan "Greg" Chung, 74, guilty in July of six federal counts of economic espionage and other charges for keeping 300,000 pages of sensitive papers in his home. The documents also included information about the fueling system for a booster rocket.

Despite Chung's age, prosecutors have requested a 20-year sentence, in part to send a message to other would-be spies.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Greg Staples noted in sentencing papers that Chung amassed a personal wealth of more than $3 million while betraying his adopted country.

"The (People's Republic of China) is bent on stealing sensitive information from the United States and shows no sign of relenting," Staples wrote. "Only strong sentences offer any hope of dissuading others from helping the PRC get that technology."

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The Russians think that NATO and the OSCE are no good at preventing conflicts. Y'know, like Chechnya, Georgia, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, Serbian ethno-cleansing with the wink-and-nod permission of their fellow Slavs...

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov lambasted the present state of European security on Saturday, calling it ineffective and outdated, but he failed to rally significant support for a new security treaty.

The criticism came a day after the Foreign Ministry expressed its concern over Romania's decision to host U.S. interceptor missiles as part of a European anti-missile shield that has been a sticking point in relations with Washington.

"European security has become undermined on all parameters over the past 20 years," Lavrov said during his speech at the Munich security conference.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has become "atrophied," and its role has been reduced to supporting "the politics of expanding NATO, which meant not only keeping the lines dividing Europe but a conscious choice to move these lines eastward," he said, Interfax reported.

As of Sunday evening, the Foreign Ministry had not posted a transcript of his remarks.

"One does not need proof that the principle is not working," Lavrov said, citing the 1999 bombings of Yugoslavia and the conflict in South Ossetia as examples.

He has been lobbying for a new security treaty with Europe, an initiative of President Dmitry Medvedev in 2008, but with little success.

By: Brant