A deal signed by Washington and Warsaw this week to deploy elements of a U.S. missile-defense system in Poland has further aggravated Moscow's relations with the West.

Assad's visit is likely to become an additional irritant for Washington. In the past, the United States has more than once warned Moscow against selling arms to Syria.

Syria is interested in Russia's Pantsyr-S1 air-defense missile system, the BUK-M1 surface-to-air medium-range missile system, military aircraft and other hardware, Interfax quoted its diplomatic source as saying.

National media quoted Assad as saying ahead of the visit that Syria was ready to negotiate hosting Russian surface-to-surface Iskander missiles, mid-range weapons which Moscow says are capable of beating any missile defense.

Neither leader mentioned arms deals in their initial remarks.

Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, asked by reporters about plans to sell Iskander missiles and other modern weapons to Syria, said, "We are ready to consider requests from the Syrian side on buying more arms."

"We are indeed prepared to sell only defensive weapons that don't break the regional balance of powers," Lavrov said.

Lavrov said arms sales were part of Thursday's talks but did not elaborate.

read more at The Moskow Times 

From The New York Times

Still, although the confrontation over Georgia had been building for years, the outbreak of violence demonstrated just how abruptly the international scene can change. Now Russia is the top focus in Washington and some veteran diplomats fret about the situation spiraling out of control. “Outrage is not a policy,” said Strobe Talbott, who was deputy secretary of state under Bill Clinton and now is president of the Brookings Institution. “Worry is not a policy. Indignation is not a policy. Even though outrage, worry and indignation are all appropriate in this situation, they shouldn’t be mistaken for policy and they shouldn’t be mistaken for strategy.”

For Washington, there are limited options for applying pressure. Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, wants to throw Russia out of the Group of Eight major powers. Such a move would effectively admit the failure of 17 years of bipartisan policy aimed at incorporating Russia into the international order.

Yet Washington’s menu of options pales by comparison to Moscow’s. Masha Lipman, an analyst at the Carnegie Moscow Center, said “there’s a lot more” that the United States needed from Russia than the other way around, citing efforts to secure old Soviet nuclear arms, support the war effort in Afghanistan and force Iran and North Korea to give up nuclear programs. “Hence Russia has all the leverage,” she said.

Researchers in the US say that they have solved the mystery of why flies are so hard to swat.

They think the fly's ability to dodge being hit is due to its fast acting brain and an ability to plan ahead.

High speed, high resolution video recordings revealed the insects quickly work out where a threat is coming from and prepare an escape route.

The research suggests that the best way of swatting a fly is to creep up slowly and aim ahead of its location.

The study has been published in the journal Current Biology.

Most people will have experienced the curiously frustrating sensation of carefully attempting to swat a fly, only to swing and miss while the intrepid insect buzzes off to safety.

read more at the BBC.

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Gus: may I give my two bob worth of information here on this important subject?

Having studied the behaviour of flies and insect for many years (and I've seen some big ones), just for my "personal" understanding on how to control "pests" in the house and the garden without the use of insecticides (we're killing the planet...), I have come to some interesting conclusion in regard to the "swat".

I did not calculate the living articulated bizo's brain reaction to the nanosecond in order to be swatting ever faster, but I discovered an important fact: A WET SWAT, A WET HAND will actually be far more effective than a dry one. Either, the fly has little ability to detect the WET surface or it thinks it's raining and only move a little (as if to avoid a drop), either the WET surface changes the resonance of airflow around the swatting instrument, disguising the approach. Anyway, WET hands or WET swat works like a charm. Remember you've heard of this amazing discovery first ON THIS amazing SITE.