Jane's Intelligence Review - Impartial intelligence in an uncertain world

Impartial intelligence in an uncertain world

Cover Story

Ploughshare politics - The future of Hizbullah's militia

Hizbullah's performance in Lebanon's parliamentary elections on 7 June showed it will remain a major actor within the country's political scene.

18-Jun-2009

*On dry land - The onshore drivers of piracy
The surge of pirate attacks off the Horn of Africa has focused greater international attention on the perennial problem of maritime piracy. According to International...
03-Jul-2009

Changing the guard - Fehmi Mujota, Minister for the Kosovo Security Force
As part of Kosovo's ongoing process of establishing independent institutions, the Trupat e Mbrojtjes së Kosovës (Kosovo Protection Corps: KPC) was disbanded in January...
26-Jun-2009

*Election unrest shakes Iran to the core
The popular mobilisation against the vote count in the Iranian presidential elections of 12 June has the potential to seriously weaken the foundations of ...
19-Jun-2009

*Nuclear fallout - North Korea returns to proliferation programme
A series of North Korean actions between April and June have amounted to a complete breakdown in non-proliferation efforts on the peninsula. Pyongyang's 5 ...
19-Jun-2009

*Mexican police and military drug raids target politicians
On 26 May, federal police and military raids in the Mexican Pacific state of Michoacán led to the arrest of 10 mayors and 18 ...
19-Jun-2009

Militant attacks strike eastern Uzbekistan
On 26 May, the Uzbek government reported the most serious militant attacks in the country for several years when a suicide bomber and gunmen ...
19-Jun-2009

Fiji extends emergency, courts China
On 9 June 2009, the interim government in Fiji extended the Public Emergency Regulation (PER) for a further 30 days, the second time the ...
18-Jun-2009

*Trouble brewing - Three decades of insurgency in Assam
The northeast of India has been among the country's most restive regions for the past three decades. In particular, the state of Assam has been...
18-Jun-2009

Italian police arrest six over G8 plot
Italian police arrested six people on 10 June on suspicion of planning an attack on the G8 summit due to be held in the ...
18-Jun-2009

*Booster shot - The US increases its forces in Afghanistan
What the Obama administration lacks in definition it makes up for in enthusiasm. Despite failing to clearly enunciate its strategy for Afghanistan, President Barack Obama...
18-Jun-2009

Myanmar launches military offensive against Karen
As many as 3,000 ethnic Karen fled to Thailand from Myanmar in early June, following the launch of a military offensive. Although Thai Army ...
18-Jun-2009

*Ploughshare politics - The future of Hizbullah's militia
Hizbullah's performance in Lebanon's parliamentary elections on 7 June showed it will remain a major actor within the country's political scene. Although the March ...
18-Jun-2009

Gabon in mourning after president Omar Bongo dies
Gabon announced 30 days of mourning following official confirmation of the death of President El Hadj Omar Bongo in a hospital in Spain on ...
18-Jun-2009

*Fourth column - Italy keeps a rein on smallest mafia group
While Italy's three main mafia groups, the Costa Nostra (Sicily), the Camorra (Campania) and the 'Ndrangheta (Calabria), are frequently the focus of media and police...
16-Jun-2009

*Third time unlucky? - Nigerien president risks stability for longevity
After almost a decade of relative stability, the Republic of Niger is confronting a major political crisis that is likely to have severe economic and...
16-Jun-2009

*Just rewards - International judicial bodies and security
Justice is, if not blind, then exceptionally myopic. Despite an arrest warrant on two counts of war crimes and five counts of crimes against humanity...
15-Jun-2009

*Rocking the boat - China prepares to expand its carrier navy
On or about 25 April 2009, the incomplete former Soviet aircraft carrier Varyag made its first voyage in Chinese waters. From its berth in Dalian...
11-Jun-2009

*Path finder - Peru's military combats resurgent rebel group
Seventeen years after Peruvian insurgent leader Abimael Guzmán was captured, his Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) group is continuing to launch attacks in Peru's mountain and...
04-Jun-2009

*Current affairs - Politics and Nepal's hydroelectric potential
When Nepal's government collapsed on 4 May, its various parties and politicians were left struggling for political power. However, across the rest of the country...
27-May-2009

Blood in the water - Loan sharks benefit from the economic crisis
Loan sharking has always been a feature of the illegal financial market, but the combination of the ongoing credit crisis and the seasonal impact of...
26-May-2009

*Meeting of minds - Mehmet Ali Talat, president of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus
Thirty-five years of division do not make for an easy reconciliation process. However, Mehmet Ali Talat, president of the internationally unrecognised Turkish Republic of ...
21-May-2009

*Militant attacks continue in Chechnya
Two police officers and a civilian were killed in a roadside bomb attack in Chechnya on 13 May. The attack took place close to ...
19-May-2009

Pakistan army resumes Swat action
On 7 May, the Pakistani military intensified military operations in Swat district in the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP), with helicopter gunships and jet fighters ...
15-May-2009

Algeria and Mali launch joint operation
Algeria sent military equipment to Mali in early May ahead of a planned joint counter-terrorism operation. The equipment includes fuel, weapons and bivouac (camping) ...
15-May-2009

*North Korean heir becomes more apparent
South Korean Yonhap news agency reported on 26 April that Kim Jong-il's third son, Kim Jong-un, had been granted a position as 'instructor' on ...
15-May-2009

Chilean arms deal pushes Peru into security reform
On 4 May, Peru's Prime Minister Yehude Simón gave his backing to proposals for modernisation of the Peruvian armed forces. Simón said that ¡national ...
15-May-2009

*Silver lining - Norberto Gonzales, Philippine national security adviser
"The era of armed struggle for achieving political change is over", Philippine National Security Adviser Norberto Gonzales tells Jane's. Gonzales is referring mainly to ...
14-May-2009

*Anarchy in the EU - Protest is once again on the rise in Europe
Forty-one years later, and the spirit, if not the fervour, of May 1968 lives on. Then, over a month of student-led protests and a general ...
14-May-2009

*Red alert - China modernises its nuclear missile force
Beijing is now deploying or developing up to five intercontinental nuclear-armed ballistic missiles in what amounts to China's most ambitious increase in intercontinental ballistic missile...
14-May-2009

*Nowhere to turn - The failing strategy of suicide terrorism
Suicide attacks have come to characterise jihadist campaigns in various theatres. From Bali to Baghdad, Jerusalem to Jalalabad, the images of suicide bombers, often accompanied...
14-May-2009

*Punitive power - Combating proliferation with sanctions
The UN Security Council has imposed financial sanctions on three North Korean firms in response to the regime's 5 April rocket launch. The sanctions follow...
14-May-2009

*Provincial concerns - Indonesia faces increasing separatist strife
A recent string of arson attacks and assaults targeting government facilities, security posts and foreign companies in the eastern Indonesian province of Papua has led...
13-May-2009

*Double acts - Joint military operations target rebels in DRC
Two separate government offensives against foreign rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo's troubled east demonstrated a rapprochement with the country's erstwhile enemies Uganda...
13-May-2009

*Transit authority - Guinea's dubious road to democracy
The Guinean coup d'état of 23 December 2008 was the most predicted in recent African history. In the 50 years since its independence, Guinea had...
11-May-2009

*Held to ransom - Kidnapping trends in Latin America
Kidnapping in Latin America is one of the most popular crimes, being carried out both by major criminal organisations and by low-level groups and targeting...
11-May-2009

intelligence review

Ploughshare politics - The future of Hizbullah's militia