More subtle are the national security parallels of these pivotal energy deals.

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Unnamed officials speaking to the New York Times questioned whether Bureau of Diplomatic Security officials had the authority to offer such deals - making the legal validity of the offers unclear.

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It is obviously something, as every President deals with because of security and staff, a significant undertaking.

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As the biggest overall consumer of energy in the world, no one is in any doubt that China has to step up equity deals, both for security of supply, and more importantly, to hedge price risk exposure in future.

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The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (Siac) is a semi-secret court that deals with national security deportations where some of the sensitive material cannot be disclosed in public.

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And we committed to working together so that we can find an approach and configuration that is consistent with the security needs of both countries, that maintains the strategic balance, and deals with potential threats that we both share.

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And of the other five permanent members of the UN Security Council, China and France have also signed oil deals with Iraq over the past few years.

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So that just deals with the issue of what's going on with Social Security.

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