Intelligence Review 

*Tsar wars - Protests mar Putin's presidential bid
In September 2011, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced he was throwing his support behind his predecessor, patron and prime minister, Vladimir Putin, to succeed him....
31-Jan-2012
*Power struggle - Iraq's political deadlock threatens security
Three weeks after the last US troops left Iraq, a series of major bomb attacks provided an unwelcome reminder of the fragility of the country's...
12-Jan-2012
*After the storm - Côte d'Ivoire in the wake of the 2011 conflict
The December 2011 legislative elections in Côte d'Ivoire were unusually peaceful, albeit with a low turnout of 37%. This came about despite the political crisis...
12-Jan-2012
*Absolute beginner - North Korea after Kim Jong-il
"We must envelop our environment in a dense fog, to prevent our enemies learning anything about us," late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il is once...
11-Jan-2012
*Fist of iron - Guatemala's strategy against the drug gangs
On 14 January 2012, retired General Otto Fernando Pérez Molina will become the first military officer to hold Guatemala's presidency since the end of military...
09-Dec-2011
*Gulf apart - Bahrain faces political and sectarian divide
Nine months after Bahrain's Shia-led uprising was crushed with help from nervous Arab Gulf neighbours, resolution of the country's underlying political conflict remains as elusive...
08-Dec-2011
*Beyond the bid - The PA's move towards statehood
On 23 September, Palestinian Authority (PA) President Mahmoud Abbas formally presented the PA's application for full statehood to the UN General Assembly. This bid, which...
11-Nov-2011
*Polls apart - Liberia prepares for successive elections
The Liberian republic, founded in 1847, is old by regional standards but its institutions are not. The past five years of multi-party democracy are a...
06-Oct-2011
*Déjà vu - Afghanistan prepares for another withdrawal
The 10-year anniversary of the arrival of US troops in Afghanistan in October 2001 has focused international attention on the prospects for stability in the...
16-Sep-2011
*After Ghadaffi - Libya enters a new era
Libya entered a new era in late August, when rebel forces stormed the last bastions of Colonel Muammar Ghadaffi's regime in Tripoli. With the stability...
16-Sep-2011
*In from the cold - Serbia maintains security service reform
The arrest of General Ratko Mladic in May and his extradition to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague later...
08-Aug-2011
*Unravelling ties - Yemen's power vacuum
Almost six months of anti-government protests in Yemen have failed to topple the regime of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. While Saleh is undergoing medical...
15-Jul-2011
*Capital return - Honduras welcomes back former president
Sixteen months after his ignominious removal from office - rudely awoken by soldiers and bundled on to a plane dressed only in his pyjamas in...
13-Jun-2011
*Edge of darkness - Syria's future hangs in the balance
In January, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad gave an interview to The Wall Street Journal in which he commented on the popular uprisings then spreading ...
09-Jun-2011
*Total deadlock - Libya conflict reaches military stalemate
By mid-April, Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Ghadaffi appeared to have agreed in principle to an African Union (AU) plan to halt the ongoing conflict between...
15-Apr-2011
*Band of brothers - The Muslim Brotherhood and the revolution
In the wake of Egypt's uprising in January and February, the question of what role the Muslim Brotherhood played and will continue to play in...
12-Apr-2011
*Rebels with a cause - Libyan rebels struggle to hold the east
Colonel Muammar Ghadaffi's military background has stood him in good stead. For 41 years, he has ruled Libya, holding the country's various tribes and factions...
18-Mar-2011
*Rebel rousers - Tunisia's Jasmine Revolution
The toppling of Tunisia's President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali in January after 23 years in power was unexpected; the regime was viewed as one of...
18-Feb-2011
*Out of time - Egyptians force out Hosni Mubarak
No one could say that Egypt's Hosni Mubarak was not a fighter. The former army commander, who had held Egypt in his grip for 30...
17-Feb-2011
*Exit strategy: Nepal seeks new route out of political crisis
The failure of Nepal's political elite to agree on the formation of a new government throughout the second half of 2010 and into early 2011...
14-Jan-2011
*The division bell - Ringing the changes in southern Sudan
For the Sudan People's Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A), a referendum in southern Sudan on 9 January could be the culmination of its efforts since it was...
09-Dec-2010
*Drugs of choice: Mexico faces security dilemma
Four years after President Felipe Calderón launched a military-led crackdown on the drug groups operating across Mexico, his initiative has achieved little tangible success. ...
07-Dec-2010
*Achieving succession - Transition poses challenges for North Korea
On 28 September, the first glimmerings of the shape of North Korea's long-discussed leadership transition came into view. Kim Jong-un, the third son of ailing...
10-Nov-2010
*Free rein - Domestic security forces take over in Iraq
The commencement of Operation New Dawn on 31 August marked the formal change of mission for US Forces in Iraq (USF-I), ending the United States'...
04-Nov-2010
*After shock - Haiti prepares for presidential elections
Haiti is not a country famed for its good luck, but even by those standards 2010 has been a particularly bad year. In January, the...
13-Oct-2010
*Guarding the guards - Fault lines in Thailand's military
That Thailand is politically divided is no secret. The two-month occupation of central Bangkok between March and May 2010 by thousands of protestors from the...
05-Oct-2010
*Cosmetic change - Kenya votes for new constitution
On 4 August, Kenyans voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new national constitution, to replace the much amended Independence Constitution of 1963. The referendum marked...
10-Sep-2010
*Pressure point - Venezuela's president feels the heat
For years Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has denied that his government provides a haven for rebels from Colombia's main insurgent group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces...
12-Aug-2010
*Survival techniques - Zimbabwe's unity government clings on
Since it was created in September 2008 and implemented in February 2009, Zimbabwe's Government of National Unity (GNU) has faced numerous threats to its continued...
01-Jul-2010
*Threat perception - differing counter-insurgency techniques in Southeast Asia
The Philippines and Thailand are currently waging protracted military campaigns against entrenched Islamist separatist insurgencies emanating from the 'deep south' of their respective territories. In...
01-Jun-2010
*Divide and rule - Sudan's elections maintain north-south split
The old adage of 'better late than never' is one that appears to have been applied to Sudan's first multi-party legislative and executive elections in...
24-May-2010
*Red rising - Protests in Thailand widen the political divide
Hopes that Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's 3 May offer to hold early elections would end the political crisis in Bangkok were almost immediately crushed....
14-May-2010
*Victor's spoils - Is Sri Lanka becoming an authoritarian state?
Sri Lanka's first parliamentary elections since the defeat of the country's separatist insurgent group in May 2009 resulted in a resounding victory for the coalition...
12-May-2010
*No man is an island - Fiji's post-coup politics
May 2010 marks the 10th anniversary of the Fijian coup that overthrew then prime minister Mahendra Chaudhry and saw the beginning of Commodore Voreqe 'Frank'...
23-Apr-2010
*Going underground - Egypt's new wall may destabilise Gaza
The enormous hydraulic excavators on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border with the Gaza Strip had been standing idle for the past 10 ...
12-Mar-2010