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

Impartial intelligence in an uncertain world

Cover Story

Internal bleeding - Domestic resistance to Iran's regime

More than 30 years since the 1979 revolution, Iran's 'Ashura Riots' in late December 2009 indicate a watershed event for the stability of the Islamic...

14-Jan-2010

*State of the union - India's demand for Telangana
The Indian government's surprise announcement in December 2009 that it would create a new state of Telangana by dividing the existing state of Andhra Pradesh...
05-Feb-2010

*Pyramid scheme - Egypt's ballistic missile test and launch facility
Relatively little is known about Egypt's ballistic missile programme. Yet, as one of the first developing countries to pursue a serious interest in such weapons,...
04-Feb-2010

*Poll position - Raymond Odierno, Commanding General, US Forces - Iraq
With Iraq's parliamentary elections due to be held on 7 March, General Raymond Odierno, commanding general, United States Forces - Iraq, told Jane's that...
02-Feb-2010

*Sect in the city - Criminal group seeks to expand in Kenya
The Mungiki is a largely clandestine, cult-like organisation. It emerged in the late 1980s as a mass youth movement designed to protect and promote the...
02-Feb-2010

*Marriage of convenience - Colombian insurgents agree alliance
The old adage that 'my enemy's enemy is my friend' appears to have been taken to heart in Colombia, where the country's two largest left-wing...
28-Jan-2010

*Eastern empire - Criminals infiltrate Russia's Far East
The very characteristics that make Russia such a congenial breeding ground for its own criminals - including high levels of official corruption, weak judicial institutions,...
22-Jan-2010

*Attack highlights Angola's Cabinda conflict
Angola has captured two suspects in an 8 January attack on the Togolese football team in Cabinda, in which the team's assistant coach and media...
15-Jan-2010

*Bulgarian police make murder case arrests
Bulgarian prosecutors on 7 January charged a suspected organised crime boss in connection with the murder two days earlier of a radio host and writer....
15-Jan-2010

Mexico murders presage more violence
On 9 January, Mexico recorded its single deadliest drug-related murder toll since President Felipe Calderón launched an all-out offensive on cartels in 2006, suggesting 2010...
15-Jan-2010

*Violence in Sri Lanka highlights poll rivalry
On 12 January, unidentified gunmen killed one person after firing at a bus carrying supporters of opposition presidential candidate and former chief of defence staff...
15-Jan-2010

Israel plans new Egyptian border fence
On 10 January, the Israeli government approved plans to build two new sections of security fence along Israel's border with Egypt to curb illegal immigration...
15-Jan-2010

Key militant commander killed in Russian North Caucasus
Four suspected militants, including a key commander, were killed in a shootout with police officers in the southern Russian republic of Dagestan on 31 December...
15-Jan-2010

*Built on sand - Harnessing the power of the Saharan sun
Europe is facing continuing uncertainty over its future supplies of energy. Traditional sources from areas such as Norway have peaked and Russia remains an unreliable ...
14-Jan-2010

*Fragile web - John Michael McConnell, former US director of national intelligence
The failed attempt to bomb an aircraft bound for Detroit on 25 December 2009 has focused US and media attention on shortcomings within the United...
14-Jan-2010

*Back to the future - Refugees contemplate a return to Iraq
The bombs that exploded in Baghdad on 8 December 2009 not only caused multiple casualties and damage, but also dealt a further blow to relations ...
14-Jan-2010

*Internal bleeding - Domestic resistance to Iran's regime
More than 30 years since the 1979 revolution, Iran's 'Ashura Riots' in late December 2009 indicate a watershed event for the stability of the Islamic ...
14-Jan-2010

*Regional restraint - The uses of nuclear weapons-free zones
Combined with treaties prohibiting the placement of nuclear weapons in outer space and the Antarctic, much of the world is now covered by one of ...
14-Jan-2010

*Return to arms - Hizbullah and Israel's preparations for war
On 3 November 2009, Israeli navy commandos intercepted 500 tonnes of weapons unknowingly being ferried from Egypt to Syria by the cargo ship Francop ....
14-Jan-2010

*Second division - Police-military tensions remain in East Timor
Eight years after East Timor's independence, international peacekeeping forces are scaling down their presence in the country, with the Australian-New Zealand International Stabilisation Force (ISF) ...
14-Jan-2010

*Ballistic trajectory - China develops new anti-ship missile
It seems a cliché to cite Sun Zi's maxim "in war, the way is to avoid what is strong and to strike at what is ...
04-Jan-2010

*Greek fire - The revival of Greece's radical left
Greece has experienced a remarkable escalation in left-wing violence since December 2008, when a 15-year-old boy was fatally shot by police during rioting in Athens....
31-Dec-2009

*Generational shift - Colombia's evolving drug cartel
The capture of suspected drug trafficker John Jairo Anacona Bedoya, alias 'Ghost' in Bogotá, in early October highlighted the growing threat posed by one of...
29-Dec-2009

*Force projections - The future of Russia's military reform
Successive Russian defence ministers, often with the full confidence of respective presidents, have tried and failed to bring meaningful military reform. That it was achieved...
23-Dec-2009

*New tricks - Examining anti-piracy tactics
Piracy may be an age-old problem for the shipping industry, but brand new solutions are needed to combat it. This is the commercial consensus that...
18-Dec-2009

*Conflict of interest - The Taliban's relationship with Al-Qaeda
"We did not have any agenda to harm other countries, including Europe, nor do we have any such agenda today," declared the Taliban in a...
11-Dec-2009

*Borderline crisis - Saudi Arabia intervenes in Yemen
In November 2009 an already multi-faceted rebellion gained yet another layer of complexity. The Huthi rebellion in northwest Yemen, which involves tribal, religious and vague...
11-Dec-2009

*Orange appeal - Ukraine's revolutionary leaders compete
Ukraine will hold presidential elections on 17 January that will pit political rivals who stood on opposite sides of the barricades during the 2004 Orange...
10-Dec-2009

*State of the nations - Changing faces of stability
The year 2009 saw significant changes to global stability. Perhaps of concern for the United States, which currently has a foreign policy focus on the...
10-Dec-2009

*Toxic traps - Weaknesses of the chemical control regime
Under the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), riot control agents fall into a grey area whereby they are permitted for law enforcement purposes, but prohibited as...
10-Dec-2009

Deadline deal keeps Iraq election safe
Iraqi Vice-President Tariq al-Hashemi agreed on 6 December not to veto the country's new election law, thereby avoiding a constitutional and electoral crisis. News ...
10-Dec-2009

*Junta leader attack raises Guinea tensions
On 5 December, Guinea's junta offered a reward for the apprehension of an aide it alleges is behind the 3 December attack on military ...
10-Dec-2009

Key arrest weakens Assam insurgency
On 4 December, Bangladeshi security forces handed over the chairman of the ethnic separatist United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA), Arabinda Rajkhowa, to India. ...
10-Dec-2009

*Burning bridges - Colombia-Venezuela tensions rise
Like the boy who cried wolf, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has made a career out of claiming his country is about to be attacked. Now...
09-Dec-2009

*Temple of gloom - Thai-Cambodian relations deteriorate
In November 2009, Thai-Cambodian relations hit a new low. Following a series of sporadic armed clashes since mid-2008 over a disputed temple, Phnom Penh exacerbated...
09-Dec-2009

*Battle royal - Thailand contemplates life after King Bhumibol
In recent weeks, Thailand has again been forced to imagine a future without its long-standing monarch. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who will be 82 years old...
08-Dec-2009

intelligence review

Internal bleeding - Domestic resistance to Iran's regime