The news release said they chose to carry out the operation in Algeria because the country's president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, had allowed French military forces to cross Algerian air space in attacking Mali.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

"We will also invest -- invest in cyber, invest in space, invest in unmanned systems, invest in special forces operations, " he said.

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In the long run, he must also make political space in Rwanda for the Hutu rebel forces who maraud through eastern Congo and give General Nkunda a pretext for his depredations.

ECONOMIST: Congo

But Sherwood cautions that the same human dark forces that haunt us here will logically dog human settlements in space.

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The story -- about a giant robot from space who must choose to overcome the darker forces in his programming -- turns out to have allegorical significance, thanks to recent events.

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In Operation Desert Storm, Coalition forces enjoyed the uncontested use of space-based assets.

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As the planets congealed, gravitational forces and particle collisions created the high temperatures necessary to melt metals floating around in space, and minerals began their diversification.

ECONOMIST: Minerals

Lessons must be drawn from the decades-long conflict in Somalia, he added, where African forces took the lead in fighting terrorism and the international community focused on providing humanitarian and diplomatic support to create the space for a "legitimate government" to function.

BBC: UK to consider boosting French Mali operation support