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What Extremists Say About Jihad

IASC Visiting Fellow Stephen Coughlin's thesis draws on the most important Islamic scholars to describe the relationship betweem Jihad and Islamic law.read more

Taxing Terrorism

Jeffrey Breinholt, Deputy Chief of the Justice Department's Counterterrorism Section, discusses a largely overlooked aspect of U.S. federal criminal law enforcement--criminal tax law--and its implications for prosecuting terrorists and their supporters.read more

Salafists, China and West Africa's Growing Anarchy

Douglas Farah explores the challenges the U.S. faces in Western Africa from Islam, China and a growing dependence on oil and natural gas from the Gulf of Guinea.read more

Closer Look: Shenzhou-7’s Close Pass by the International Space Station

by Richard Fisher, Jr.

October 9th, 2008

On September 27, 2008 during its 31st orbit, China’s Shenzhou-7 space mission achieved two of its main objectives: China’s first manned extra vehicular activity (EVA) or space walk, and the first launch of the 40kg BX-1 microsatellite for the purposes of testing new microsatellite technologies, and observing and operating in cooperation with the Shenzhou.  The spacewalk by Chinese astronaut Zhai Zhigang received massive coverage in China and internationally and the microsatellite mission was also covered well by the Chinese media.  What the Chinese media did not cover, and even more surprisingly has so far gone unremarked by the United States or Russian governments, was the fact that about 4 hours after launching the BX-1, the Shenzhou-7 flew to a distance of about 45km (27 miles) from the International Space Station (ISS).

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