Joint Defense Facility Nurrungar Joint Defense Facility Nurrungar Joint Defence Facility Nurrungar (JDFN), located on the edge of Island Lagoon, approximately 15 km south of Woomera, South Australia, was an Earth station in Australia operated jointly by the Australian Department of Defence and the United States Air Force from 1969 through to 1999. Its official area of emphasis was space-based surveillance, in particular the early detection of missile launches and nuclear detonations using U.S. Defense Support Program satellites in geostationary orbits. The name "Nurrungar" derives from an aboriginal term meaning "listen". During the Cold War the site was crucially important to America's defences, being
Refugees and asylum in Russia abroad". In effect, the laws enacted in 1993 were meant to offer protection first to former Soviet citizens, and second to citizens of all other countries. In fact, the dominant interpretation of the 1993 Law on Refugees was that refugee status was to be granted only to asylum seekers from the "near abroad" (the former Soviet republics). However, as Russia began to develop in the mid 1990s, large numbers of individuals fearing persecution for various reasons in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia viewed Russia as a safe place to migrate to. In response, in 1997, Russia amended and replaced