Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stopped by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace to talk about missile defense, NATO enlargement, the conflict with Georgia, nuclear proliferation, past/future U.S.-Russia relations, and his favorite recipe for quiche.  OK, maybe he didn't share any culinary insights, but he did cover just about everything else.  For the impatient, I recommend fast forwarding to the Q&A session for the more interesting material.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates made some pretty interesting comments a couple days ago during a speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. With regard to the proposed anti-ballistic missile shield in Poland and the Czech Republic, Secretary Gates commented that Russia's military appeared to understand and accept that the system would not be aimed at deterring from Russia, but politically, the leadership decided to make issue of it. He also said the argument that 10 interceptors could put the Russian arsenal in jeopardy "is laughable on its face." Coincidentally, today Russia denied that it has been slowing cutting down oil exports to the Czech Republic as punishment for hosting the missile system.

CHINA’S economy will overtake that of the United States by 2035 and be twice its size by midcentury, a study released today by a US research organisation concluded.

The report by economist Albert Keidel of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said China’s rapid growth is driven by domestic demand more than exports, and will sustain high single-digit growth rates well into the 21st century.

“China’s economic performance clearly is no flash in the pan,” Mr Keidel said.

“Its growth this decade has averaged more than 10 per cent a year and is still going strong in the first half of 2008. Because its success in recent decades has not been export-led but driven by domestic demand, its rapid growth can continue well into the 21st century, unfettered by world market limitation.”

Mr Keidel said the rise of China to the world’s biggest economy will happen regardless of the method of calculation.

Under current market-based

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