The 2004 CIA World Factbook. United States. Central Intelligence Agency
is presently minimal, and
making telephone service universally available will take time
domestic: microwave radio relay, fiber-optic cable, and a domestic
satellite system with 40 earth stations serve the trunk network;
more than 110,000 pay telephones are installed and mobile telephone
use is rapidly expanding
international: country code - 54; satellite earth stations - 8
Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean); Atlantis II and Unisur submarine cables;
two international gateways near Buenos Aires (1999)
Radio broadcast stations:
AM 260 (including 10 inactive stations), FM NA (probably more than
1,000, mostly unlicensed), shortwave 6 (1998)
Radios:
24.3 million (1997)
Television broadcast stations:
42 (plus 444 repeaters) (1997)
Televisions:
7.95 million (1997)
Internet country code:
.ar
Internet hosts:
742,358 (2003)
Internet Service Providers (ISPs):
33 (2000)
Internet users:
4.1 million (2002)
Transportation Argentina
Railways:
total: 34,091 km (167 km electrified)
broad gauge: 20,594 km 1.676-m gauge (141 km electrified)
standard gauge: 2,885 km 1.435-m gauge (26 km electrified)
narrow gauge: 10,375 km 1.000-m gauge; 237 km 0.750-m gauge (2003)
Highways:
total: 215,471 km
paved: 63,348 km (including 734 km of expressways)
unpaved: 152,123 km (1999)
Waterways:
11,000 km (2004)
Pipelines:
gas 27,166 km; liquid petroleum gas 41 km; oil 3,668 km; refined
products 2,945 km; unknown (oil/water) 13 km (2004)
Ports and harbors:
Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, Comodoro Rivadavia, Concepcion del
Uruguay, La Plata, Mar del Plata, Necochea, Rio Gallegos, Rosario,
Santa Fe, Ushuaia
Merchant marine:
total: 45 ships (1,000 GRT or over) 149,007 GRT/212,620 DWT
by type: cargo 9, petroleum tanker 9, rail car carrier 1,
refrigerated cargo 2, roll on/roll off 1, short-sea/passenger 1,
specialized tanker 1
foreign-owned: Uruguay 1
registered in other countries: 26 (2004 est.)
Airports:
1,335 (2003 est.)
Airports - with paved runways:
total: 144
over 3,047 m: 4
2,438 to 3,047 m: 26
1,524 to 2,437 m: 62
914 to 1,523 m: 44
under 914 m: 8 (2004 est.)
Airports - with unpaved runways:
total: 1,190
over 3,047 m: 2
2,438 to 3,047 m: 2
1,524 to 2,437 m: 50
914 to 1,523 m: 569
under 914 m: 567 (2004 est.)
Military Argentina
Military branches:
Argentine Army, Navy of the Argentine Republic (includes Naval
Aviation and Marines), Argentine Air Force (Fuerza Aerea Argentina,
FAA)
Military manpower - military age and obligation: 18 years of age for voluntary military service; no conscription (2001)
Military manpower - availability:
males age 15–49: 9,901,352 (2004 est.)
Military manpower - fit for military service:
males age 15–49: 8,042,304 (2004 est.)
Military manpower - reaching military age annually:
males: 327,738 (2004 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$4.3 billion (FY99)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
1.3% (FY00)
Transnational Issues Argentina
Disputes - international:
UK continues to reject sovereignty talks requested by Argentina,
whose constitution still claims UK-administered Falkland Islands
(Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands,
but in 1995 ceded the right to settle the dispute by force; Beagle
Channel islands dispute resolved through Papal mediation in 1984,
but armed incidents persist since 1992 oil discovery; territorial
claim in Antarctica partially overlaps UK and Chilean claims (see
Antarctic disputes); unruly region at convergence of
Argentina-Brazil-Paraguay borders is locus of money laundering,
smuggling, arms and drug trafficking, and fundraising for extremist
organizations; uncontested dispute between Brazil and Uruguay over
Braziliera Island in the Quarai/Cuareim River leaves the tripoint
with Argentina in question
Illicit drugs:
used as a transshipment country for cocaine headed for Europe and
the US; some money-laundering activity, especially in the Tri-Border
Area; domestic consumption of drugs in urban centers is increasing
This page was last updated on 10 February, 2005
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@Armenia
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. It was
incorporated into Russia in 1828 and the USSR in 1920. Armenian
leaders remain preoccupied by the long conflict with Muslim
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 in 1988; the
struggle escalated after both countries attained independence from
the Soviet Union in 1991. By May 1994, when a cease-fire