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Page 1 Daily News
by Gail Helmer
Tuesday, May 22, 2001
Jane's News Briefs
Jane's Defence Weekly
Rumsfeld considers expanded F-22 buy and mission
US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld is reviewing recommendations that the US Air Force boost its planned acquisition of 339 F-22 Raptor air-superiority fighters by ordering a further 423 aircraft developed for air-to-surface operations, Lockheed Martin officials have revealed.
French to train at Canadian airbase
The French Air Force will send five Mirage 2000M and 50 personnel to train at Canadian Forces Base Goose Bay, Newfoundland, in August.
Czech minister reveals army plans
Jaroslav Tvrdik, the new Czech defence minister, has announced plans to transform the Czech armed forces into an all-professional force by 2007 at the latest. He made the announcement during a swearing-in ceremony earlier this month where he was officially appointed minister of defence following the dismissal of Vladimir Vetchy.
Singapore's shift in policy
Singapore is implementing a major shift in its defence policy with the deployment planned for next month of a 70-strong contingent of combat troops to join the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) peacekeeping force.
South Africa starts corruption probe
South Africa will begin public hearings into allegations of corruption in the multi-billion dollar 'strategic packages' defence equipment acquisition programmes on 28 May. Around 40 witnesses will be called to testify in the first round, with others to be summoned if the hearings find it is necessary.
Boeing to sell ordnance operations
Boeing plans to sell its ordnance operations to General Dynamics Armament Systems, including the Chain Gun Bushmaster series product line. The companies did not disclose the terms of the agreement, which is subject to regulatory review.
Seeking a stronger Chile
Boycotts during Pinochet's regime halted military acquisitions. The armed
forces now plan ambitious upgrades under a civilian government, reports
Jane's Defence Weekly in its Country Briefing: Chile.
Russia to modernise Libyan arms
Moscow is to help Libya modernise its armed forces, which use primarily Soviet-era equipment, following a visit to Tripoli by Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, according to Libyan and Russian officials.
Jane's Intelligence Review
LTTE adopts heavy artillery
While sharpening its terrorist techniques, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has transformed itself from a guerrilla to a semi-conventional force. As well as analysing the heavy weapons capability of the LTTE, Rohan Gunaratna examines the failure of the Sri Lankan state to respond to the LTTE threat.
Oil reserves transform the Sudanese civil war
Sudan's enduring civil war shows no signs of abating but, as Hailes Janney explains, attempts to isolate the regime in Khartoum have been undermined by multinationals seeking to exploit the country's estimated 1.2 billion barrels of oil and 3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves. Terrorist trends suggest shift of focus to national activities The post-Cold War environment is witnessing a worldwide increase in national terrorism and a decrease in international terrorism. Rohan Gunaratna assesses the emerging trends and patterns.
Lebanese factions begin to challenge Syrian domination
While an increasing number of Lebanese citizens are questioning the military, political and economic dominance exercised by Syria over their country's internal affairs, the situation is far from straightforward, as James Bruce explains.
Iran's make or break election
The Iranian elections of 8 June are being held in a climate of increasing hostility between reformers and religious conservatives. Hazhir Teimourian analyses Iran's internal divisions and the prospects for further reform.
Security and stability in the Middle East -the Al-Khobar factor
Continuing suspicion that Iran was implicated in the bombing of the US Air Force housing complex at Al-Khobar in Saudi Arabia could have major ramifications for stability in the Gulf, as Ed Blanche explains.
Macedonia teeters on the brink of disaster
Conflict between Macedonian security forces and armed ethnic Albanians has raised fears that the former Yugoslav republic could be descending towards civil war. Zoran Kusovac assesses the current situation and the prospects for the republic's future.
Missile defence shield set to boost US-India partnership
Antagonism towards China has prompted India to reconsider its relationship with Washington, including, as Mohan Malik reports, showing itself well-disposed towards President Bush's plan for a missile defence shield.
Putin versus the mafiya
Following his reshuffle of the Russian Interior Ministry, President Vladimir Putin promised a renewed fight against organised crime and corruption. Dr Mark Galeotti considers his progress and prospects.
'Failures' prompt India to reform intelligence service
In response to a sequence of security failures India's intelligence agencies are facing radical restructuring. Rahul Bedi looks at what has led to the clamour for change and investigates the possible impact of reform.
Yakuza splits into 'white-collar' and violent crime
In the last 10 years the Japanese yakuza, more correctly known as boryokudan, have lost their status as a protected criminal species. However, as Dr Mark Galeotti argues, reports of their demise are premature. The gangs are, in fact, evolving not dying.
Hizbullah threatens Israeli security
Growing tensions in a strip of land located beside Lebanon's south-eastern border with the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, known to the Israelis as Har Dov and to the Lebanese as Shebaa Farms, could trigger a full-scale regional confrontation, as David Eshel explains.
Jane's Foreign Report
Even worse: FOREIGN REPORT reveals the next stage in the Israel-Palestine
conflict
SUICIDE is forbidden by Islamic law; martyrdom is blessed. The 20-year-old Palestinian who blew himself up and left five Jews dead last Friday was a member of Hamas, one of two leading Palestinian Islamist organisations. Seconds before he detonated the explosives in which he was wrapped, he was seen looking up to the sky saying his last prayer. As violence intensifies in the West Bank and Gaza and spirals out of control, a well-placed Palestinian source has told FOREIGN REPORT what to expect next, following air raids by Israeli Air Force F-16 jets, assuming that America's call for a ceasefire falls on deaf ears.
Not sanctions, says Brussels
Israel asserts that European moves to tax imports of goods from Israeli settlements in the occupied territories are politically motivated and intended to curry favour with the Arabs. The European Commission (EC), however, insists that the issue is technical and legal, and that the Israelis are being over-sensitive.
What's going on in Vanuatu?
Vanuatu's prime minister, Barak Tame Sope, lost a parliamentary vote of no confidence, and his job, on April 13th. His successor, Edward Natapei, proposes to launch an inquiry into Vanuatu's financial situation and Sope's business dealings, said by his critics to involve money laundering, inappropriate business dealings with foreign businessmen and the sale of passports. However, in a press conference on April 2nd, Sope said that he was "not a criminal and did not mix with criminals" and he has taken action in the supreme court to sue Natapei and the then opposition for the equivalent of $1.1 m. What sort of a man is Sope? What is going on in Vanuatu, the former Anglo-French condominium of the New Hebrides?
Murder in Belarus?
OVER the past few weeks, the case of a Ukrainian journalist who had been critical of his government, Hieorhi Honhadze, who disappeared and was subsequently found to have been murdered, has caused a crisis in Ukraine. The case received wide publicity. However, a somewhat similar case in Belarus has been ignored. Why? FOREIGN REPORT asks some awkward questions.
Second thoughts in Syria
AFTER a year of tolerating and even encouraging greater openness in a system where almost every item on the agenda is government-controlled, the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad appears to have taken fright and is now back-peddling furiously. Reformers are being targeted by whispering campaigns hinting that they are 'corrupt', 'agents of foreign powers' or merely 'self-serving'. The information ministry discourages visiting journalists from talking to the 'troublemakers'. FOREIGN REPORT finds out what is going on.
Jane's Intelligence Watch Report
and Jane's Terrorism Watch Report
Egypt
- A court in the capital Cairo has sentenced a prominent human rights activist to seven years in prison, BBC reported on 21 May. Saad Eddine Ibrahim and 27 others were arrested in July 2000. Ibrahim was accused of spying for the US and accepting funds from abroad to make a film deriding the Egyptian government. Ibrahim, who is a professor of sociology and director of the Ibn Khaldun Center for Democracy and is a dual US and Egyptian citizen, pleaded not guilty to the charges. His co-defendants also received prison sentences, ranging from two to five years.
Germany - Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution [Bundesamt
fuer Verfassungsschutz (BfV)]
- The head of Germany's domestic intelligence service, Verfassungsschutz, warned of imminent radical terrorist attacks by Osama Bin Laden's group in western Europe because of the latest violent escalations in the Middle East, the private television news network N-TV reported on 19 May. The terrorists are likely to choose "soft targets" in Europe, which unlike US installations are not heavily guarded. More than 31,000 people reportedly belong to radical Islamic groups among Germany's 3.3 million Muslims.
Angola - National Union for the Total Independence of Angola [Uniao Nacional
para la Independencia Total de Angola (UNITA)]
- UNITA rebels attacked the town of Golungo Alto in Cuanza Norte province, just 125 miles (200 km) east of the capital Luanda, holding it for more than 24 hours before leaving on 22 May, BBC reported. Aid workers said that more than 700 people fled the town and took shelter in the provincial capital Ndalatando, located about 38 miles (60 km) from Golungo Alto.
Colombia
- Police on 21 May defused a huge bomb hidden in the back of a pickup truck parked outside the office of a communist newspaper in the capital Bogota, AP reported on 22 May. Police said that it was too early to tell who planted the bomb, which they said could have destroyed a two-block area of the middle-class neighborhood of apartment buildings and offices.
Myanmar - National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) and United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA)
- The NSCN and ULFA Indian separatist groups with bases in the upper Sagaing division of northwestern Myanmar said they have beaten back a Myanmarese military offensive, killing at least 50 soldiers, BBC reported on 22 May. The rebels said that the fighting broke out earlier in May.
Rwanda - Hutu Rebels
- Rwanda's army said that its troops had killed 46 Hutu ethnic rebels after the insurgents based in the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo (DROC) attacked northern Rwanda in what appeared to be the most serious incursion in three years, CNN reported on 21 May. The fighting between the soldiers and rebels broke out on the morning of 20 May in the foothills of the Volcanoes National Park and lasted all day.
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