http://www.janes.comA special collection of articles covering International Relations.en-gbCopyright: (C) Jane's Information Group. All rights reserved.http://www8.janes.com/public/images/janes_rss.gifhttp://www.janes.comVisit http://www.janes.comhttp://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20789.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKEU leaders on 19 November chose two relatively little-known politicians to fill the high-profile new jobs of EU president and high commissioner for foreign affairs established by the Lisbon Treaty. Belgian Prime Minister Herman Van Rompuy, in office for only 11 months, was chosen as the EU's first full-time president, while Catherine Ashton, the UK's EU trade commissioner for just over a year, was chosen as the bloc's new foreign policy chief. New President of the European Union Herman Van ... - 2009/11/20 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41510.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWThe UK government's growing campaign to persuade its European allies to boost their commitment in Afghanistan by 5,000 troops hinges on increased US deployments, NATO and UK defence officials have said. "I want to use this opportunity to strongly encourage you, and your governments, to make more military resources available - extra combat forces for ISAF; extra troops for enhanced partnership and teaming with the Afghan National Security Forces; and extra troops for training, particularly ... - 2009/11/20 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20793.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKKosovo's government coalition collapsed on 19 November, with the decision of the PDK of Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi to break its partnership with the LDK of President Fatmir Sejdiu. Deputy Prime Minister Rame Manaj of the Democratic League of Kosovo (Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës: LDK) told Reuters that he had received a telephone call from Deputy Prime Minister Hajredin Kuci of the Democratic Party of Kosovo (Partia Demokratike e Kosovës: PDK) informing him that the party had decided to form ... - 2009/11/20 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20788.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKThree UN-appointed commissioners who will lead an independent inquiry into the 28 September security crackdown in Conakry, will visit Guinea from 25 November to 4 December. As many as 157 civilians were killed in the violent crackdown on people protesting against speculation that junta leader Moussa Dadis Camara would run for the presidency in the January 2010 election, according to local activists. Media reports have also claimed that foreigners - potentially from South Africa, among others ... - 2009/11/20 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jir/history/jir2009/jir10782.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIRIts candid leader, Alain Winants, tells Jane's the nature of the service's role and how he hopes to increase it. Alain Winants, a former criminal lawyer who worked extensively on Belgian prosecutions of war crimes in Rwanda, is the outspoken administrator-general of the small Belgian Security Service (known as the VSSE under its Dutch and French acronyms Veiligheid van de Staat and Sûreté de l'Etat). To counter this "priority for the service", the VSSE has arrived at a working estimate of the... - 2009/11/20 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41507.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWThe German government has extended the mandates of the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) in deployments abroad including Afghanistan and Lebanon, but not its participation in the deployment of NATO Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft over Afghanistan. German participation in NATO's International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan has been extended for a further year at its existing ceiling of 4,500 troops. German Defence Minister Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg hopes ... - 2009/11/20 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41485.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWDefence Minister Carme Chacón told a 17 November meeting of her counterparts in Brussels that Spain would lead any operation to support security sector reform in Somalia as a cornerstone of its obligations as holder of the rotating EU presidency from January 2010. EU security and defence policy chief Javier Solana told reporters that any EU mission in Somalia would be co-ordinated with other international actors, including the United States, and would have to complement existing African Union... - 2009/11/20 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20792.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKAn alleged commander in the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) was killed in a clash with Ugandan troops in the Central African Republic, according to Ugandan media reports on 19 November. Okello Okutti, an alleged senior commander of the Ugandan LRA, was killed on 17 November in Obo, near the Central African Republic's border with Sudan, according to New Vision newspaper. In September 2009, Uganda confirmed that Bangui had authorised it to pursue the LRA into the Central African Republic. - 2009/11/20 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41484.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWForeign Ministry officials from each of the Baltic states and senior counterparts attended the meeting, arranged through the Nordic Council of Ministers, in Tallinn, Estonia, on 16 November. "It could eventually be widened to include the participation of countries including the Baltic States, particularly in activities such as Baltic Watch in the maritime sphere," Senior Norwegian Foreign Ministry Advisor and report co-author Sverre Jervell told the Tallinn meeting. The Stoltenberg report, ... - 2009/11/19 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20787.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKThe Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO) held discussions on planned counter-terrorism exercises on 18 November, although Uzbekistan's absence points to the limitations on regional security structures. The meeting of representatives from SCO member counties (China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan) and observer countries was held in the Kazakh city of Almaty. The declining participation in Peace Mission exercises highlights the continuing problems in creating ... - 2009/11/19 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41483.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWPoland, Lithuania and Ukraine have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to create a joint peacekeeping brigade that will promote Kiev's transformation towards Western-standard armed forces and boost its aspirations of joining the EU and NATO. Polish Deputy Defence Minister Stanislaw Komorowski said it was "proof of the support that Poland and Lithuania have given Ukraine. The MoU was signed by Komorowski, Lithuanian Minister of Defence Rasa Jukneviciene and acting Ukrainian Defence ... - 2009/11/19 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41493.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWA majority of the European Defence Agency's (EDA's) 26 member nations have agreed to pool their military air transport assets to boost Europe's airlift capabilities, after nearly two years of preparation. The envisaged European Air Transport Fleet (EATF) aims to achieve initial operating capability by as early as 2014, EDA Chief Executive Alexander Weis told reporters in Brussels after the signing ceremonies. The work groups will also study how the EATF should liaise with other air transport ... - 2009/11/19 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41491.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWSyria has declined requests for discussions on a suspected nuclear processing facility, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a report released on 16 November. The report, by now-former IAEA director general Mohamed ElBaradei, is the latest in the continuing investigation of the site at Deir Az-Zur, also known as Al-Kibar, at which anthropogenic uranium particles were discovered after it was destroyed. Following the release of an IAEA report in November 2008 that noted a ... - 2009/11/19 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41502.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWAfter the Strategic Airlift Capability (SAC) was conceived, approved and funded in just three years, the SAC's 12 nations are now scrambling to train the HAW's operational and technical staff and to fill administrative posts. Borch's agency exploits the same complementarities where possible with other allied agencies too, such as BICES (Battlefield Information Collection and Exploitation Systems), NC3A (the NATO Consultation, Command and Control Agency) and NCSA (NATO Communication and ... - 2009/11/19 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41498.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWThe failure to cultivate alliances with moderate militias and to capitalise on growing ruptures in the alliance-of-convenience between extremist Islamist insurgent groups has prevented Somalia's security forces from making any noticeable strides in securing control of the country, analysts and diplomats have told Jane's . The constraints imposed on the 5,300 Ugandan and Burundian soldiers in the African Union peacekeeping force African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) have also contrived to ... - 2009/11/19 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41469.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWWhile details of the latest talks were not available, Tauscher has previously hinted that the command centre for a revised ballistic missile defence (BMD) system could be based in the Czech Republic. A defence co-operation work group headed by Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Alexander Vershbow arrived in Prague on 6 November to discuss the inclusion of the Czech Republic in the revised architecture of the proposed BMD shield. "The Czech Republic, within the ... - 2009/11/18 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41461.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWThe Australian Defence Force (ADF) has released an update of its Network Centric Warfare (NCW) roadmap, showing progress but also some delays in a range of programmes aimed at ensuring the ADF is a fully networked force by 2030. The initial networked air combat force achieved IOC in 2008 as planned, but IOC for a networked combat support force has moved from 2011 to 2016 with FOC in 2018. In the joint force area, the IOC of a networked deployable joint task force headquarters has moved from ... - 2009/11/18 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41478.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWAs Alan Way, International Business Development Manager of Spirent Communications, explained in a recent UK Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) IP Security Seminar: "Today's network security needs a holistic approach in which endpoint or perimeter security could be potentially the weakest link. However well designed the defences, the very complexity of communications networks means they must be exhaustively tested against every known type of attack and also under a whole range of ... - 2009/11/18 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20780.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKThe EU and Russia held a summit in Stockholm on 18 November, with the aim of improving relations following the fallout from the August 2008 conflict in Georgia. After the fighting in Georgia, the EU condemned Russian actions as disproportionate, with some member states accusing Russia of human rights abuses. Despite this downturn, the EU remains Russia's primary trading partner, and Russian natural gas accounts for approximately 25 per cent of the EU's needs. - 2009/11/18 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20779.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKIgnoring specific US demands for restraint, on 17 November Israel approved the construction of 900 housing units in the East Jerusalem suburb of Gilo. Settlement activity there is illegal under UN Security Council resolution 242 but Israel, which regards Gilo as a suburb of Jerusalem and not a separate West Bank settlement, does not accept the resolution restrictions in settlement construction in Gilo. In response to the news, using uncharacteristically exasperated language, White House ... - 2009/11/18 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20769.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKOn 16 November, Peruvian President Alan García held an emergency National Security Council meeting to discuss the case of a Peruvian military NCO detained for allegedly spying for Santiago. The case of Víctor Ariza Mendoza, a Peruvian air force NCO arrested in October and accused of spying for Chile and treason, has dominated the news agenda in Peru, threatening to worsen already delicate relations between the two countries. Peruvian President Alan García speaks about alleged Chilean spying ... - 2009/11/17 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jdw/history/jdw2009/jdw41474.htm@current&Prod_Name=JDWEurofighter has signed a EUR600 million (USD892 million) contract with the NATO Eurofighter and Tornado Management Agency (NETMA) to provide support for the Typhoon fleet of the Italian Air Force (Aeronautica Militare Italiano - AMI). The contract will support AMI technical and logistical support activities at the Grosseto and Gioia del Colle airbases and at the 1st RMV (Reparto Manutenzione Velivoli) at Cameri: the air force's main logistics base. On 21 June the air wing obtained NATO's ... - 2009/11/17 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20771.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKA leaked report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has revealed new fears about the extent of Iranian uranium enrichment activities. The IAEA report into Iran's disclosure about its enrichment facility near the city of Qom was leaked to the media on 16 November, just as pressure is increasing on Tehran to respond to the international community's latest offer to enrich uranium on Iran's behalf. Nevertheless, the leaking of this report will place further pressure on Iran to ... - 2009/11/17 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20763.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKOn 12 November, Hanna Nasser, director of the independent Palestinian Election Commission, recommended postponing presidential and parliamentary polls scheduled for January 2010. Hamas opposed his decision to call elections in January, saying that as his term of office expired in January 2009, he had no legitimacy to call the election. Its refusal in part pushed Abbas to call the January election and, while it may revel in this apparent rebuke to Abbas by the electoral commission, Hamas' ... - 2009/11/16 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20740.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKCrime figures released on 28 October in Canada have highlighted the problem of gang-related crime in Vancouver in the run-up to the Winter Olympics, to be held in the city in February 2010. Van Loan has called Vancouver "the gang crime capital of Canada". Despite gang-related crime in Vancouver being less of a direct security threat to the Winter Olympics than a terrorist incident or an organised protest, it nevertheless poses a problem for Canadian security services. - 2009/11/16 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20758.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKJane's Security Alerts provide a snapshot of global security developments and supplement our assessment of a country's overall stability in our Country Risk Ratings. Despite an ongoing breakdown in diplomatic and trade links between the two countries and a potential for further limited escalation, the risk of all-out war remains low. Jane's Country Risk Ratings shows the stability levels of 10 countries across the world, colour coded to indicate the level of risk. - 2009/11/16 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20752.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKThat 'closure' was achieved with the recognition of Rwasa's National Liberation Forces (Forces Nationales de Libération: FNL) as a political party, his renunciation of armed struggle at a demobilisation ceremony, and the promised sweetener of 33 (mainly minor) positions in government for the group. In fact, such splits are the hallmark of Burundi's political culture, and all the country's main political parties - the FDD, Frodebu and also the Union for National Progress (Union pour le Progrès... - 2009/11/16 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20764.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKPrime Minister Hashim Thaçi said that his Democratic Party of Kosovo (Partia Demokratike e Kosovës: PDK) won 20 of 36 municipalities. President Fatmir Sejdiu's Democratic League of Kosovo (Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës: LDK) claimed victory in the capital Pristina, winning the mayoralty in the first round with an absolute majority of around 57 per cent of the vote, and a majority in the local assembly. Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi casts his vote at a polling station in Pristina, Kosovo... - 2009/11/16 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20765.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKThe opening of Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party's (NDP) conference on 28 October was accompanied by renewed speculation about who will succeed Hosni Mubarak as president. In October, opposition parties launched a campaign against Gamal Mubarak as a future presidential candidate. Gamal Mubarak (left) may be being groomed to succeed his father, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. - 2009/11/16 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20762.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKIsraeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu declared on 12 November that he was ready to resume peace talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Netanyahu was indirectly responding to Assad's statement on 28 October in which he said: "As far as it concerns us in Syria, we have national support to continue talks with Israel." Netanyahu's message was delivered through French President Nicolas Sarkozy. The day after Netanyahu's call, Assad issued a plea for increased French participation in ... - 2009/11/16 00:00:00http://www8.janes.com/JDIC/JMSA/documentView.do?docId=/content1/janesdata/mags/jiwk/history/jiwk2009/jiwk20768.htm@current&Prod_Name=JIWKThe two coalition partners, the Democratic League of Kosovo (Lidhja Demokratike e Kosovës: LDK) of President Fatmir Sejdiu and the Democratic Party of Kosovo (Partia Demokratike e Kosovës: PDK) of Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, a former Kosovo Liberation Army commander, have been locked in municipal tussles across the country. Veteran Serb leaders from Kosovo enclaves were dismissed last week from the Serb National Council, an official forum for Kosovo Serbs, in a clear sign of further ... - 2009/11/16 00:00:00