The 2010 CIA World Factbook. United States. Central Intelligence Agency
all major cities; major networks are entirely digital and the availability of telephone service is improving
domestic: microwave radio relay, fiber-optic cable, and a domestic satellite system with 40 earth stations serve the trunk network; fixed-line teledensity is increasing gradually and mobile-cellular subscribership is increasing rapidly; broadband Internet services are gaining ground
international: country code - 54; landing point for the Atlantis-2, UNISUR, South America-1, and South American Crossing/Latin American Nautilus submarine cable systems that provide links to Europe, Africa, South and Central America, and US; satellite earth stations - 112; 2 international gateways near Buenos Aires (2009)
Broadcast media:
government owns a TV station and a radio network; more than 2 dozen TV stations and hundreds of privately-owned radio stations; high rate of cable TV subscription usage (2007)
Internet country code:
.ar
Internet hosts:
6.025 million (2010) country comparison to the world: 16
Internet users:
13.694 million (2009) country comparison to the world: 28
Transportation ::Argentina
Airports:
1,141 (2010) country comparison to the world: 6
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 156
over 3,047 m: 4
2,438 to 3,047 m: 27
1,524 to 2,437 m: 65
914 to 1,523 m: 51
under 914 m: 9 (2010)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 985
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 43
914 to 1,523 m: 530
under 914 m: 410 (2010)
Heliports:
2 (2010)
Pipelines:
gas 28,248 km; liquid petroleum gas 41 km; oil 5,977 km; refined products 3,636 km (2009)
Railways:
total: 31,409 km country comparison to the world: 8 broad gauge: 27,301 km 1.676-m gauge (94 km electrified)
standard gauge: 2,780 km 1.435-m gauge (26 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 1,328 km 1.000-m gauge (2008)
Roadways:
total: 231,374 km country comparison to the world: 22 paved: 69,412 km (includes 734 km of expressways)
unpaved: 161,962 km (2004)
Waterways:
11,000 km (2007) country comparison to the world: 11
Merchant marine:
total: 43 country comparison to the world: 74 by type: bulk carrier 3, cargo 7, chemical tanker 4, container 1, passenger/cargo 3, petroleum tanker 23, refrigerated cargo 2
foreign-owned: 12 (Brazil 1, Chile 6, Spain 3, UK 2)
registered in other countries: 17 (Liberia 3, Panama 7, Paraguay 5, Uruguay 2) (2010)
Ports and terminals:
Arroyo Seco, Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, La Plata, Punta Colorada,
Rosario, San Lorenzo-San Martin
Military ::Argentina
Military branches:
Argentine Army (Ejercito Argentino), Navy of the Argentine Republic
(Armada Republica; includes naval aviation and naval infantry),
Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Argentina, FAA) (2011)
Military service age and obligation:
18–24 years of age for voluntary military service (18–21 requires parental permission); no conscription (2001)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 16–49: 9,934,765
females age 16–49: 9,868,008 (2010 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16–49: 8,366,206
females age 16–49: 8,344,321 (2010 est.)
Manpower reaching militarily significant age annually:
male: 340,570
female: 323,953 (2010 est.)
Military expenditures:
0.8% of GDP (2009) country comparison to the world: 146
Military - note:
the Argentine military is a well-organized force constrained by the country's prolonged economic hardship; the country has recently experienced a strong recovery, and the military is implementing a modernization plan aimed at making the ground forces lighter and more responsive (2008)
Transnational Issues ::Argentina
Disputes - international:
Argentina continues to assert its claims to the UK-administered Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas), South Georgia, and the South Sandwich Islands in its constitution, forcibly occupying the Falklands in 1982, but in 1995 agreed no longer to seek settlement by force; territorial claim in Antarctica partially overlaps UK and Chilean claims; unruly region at convergence of Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay borders is locus of money laundering, smuggling, arms and illegal narcotics trafficking, and fundraising for extremist organizations; uncontested dispute between Brazil and Uruguay over Braziliera/Brasiliera Island in the Quarai/Cuareim River leaves the tripoint with Argentina in question; in 2006, Argentina went to the ICJ to protest, on environmental grounds, the construction of two pulp mills in Uruguay on the Uruguay River, which forms the boundary; both parties presented their pleadings in 2007 with Argentina's reply in January and Uruguay's rejoinder in July 2008; the joint boundary commission, established by Chile and Argentina in 2001 has yet to map and demarcate the delimited boundary in the inhospitable Andean Southern Ice Field (Campo de Hielo Sur)
Illicit drugs:
a transshipment country for cocaine headed for Europe, heroin headed for the US, and ephedrine and pseudoephedrine headed for Mexico; some money-laundering activity, especially in the Tri-Border Area; law enforcement corruption; a source for precursor chemicals; increasing domestic consumption of drugs in urban centers, especially cocaine base and synthetic drugs (2008)
page last updated on January 19, 2011
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@Armenia (Middle East)
Introduction ::Armenia
Background:
Armenia prides itself on being the first nation to formally adopt Christianity (early 4th century). Despite periods of autonomy, over the centuries Armenia came under the sway of various empires including the Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Persian, and Ottoman. During World War I in the western portion of Armenia, Ottoman Turkey instituted a policy of forced resettlement coupled with other harsh practices that resulted in an estimated 1 million Armenian deaths. The eastern area of Armenia was ceded by the Ottomans to Russia in 1828; this portion declared its independence in 1918, but was conquered by the Soviet Red Army in 1920. Armenian leaders remain preoccupied by the long conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh, a primarily Armenian-populated region, assigned to Soviet Azerbaijan in the 1920s by Moscow. Armenia and Azerbaijan began fighting over the area