The French defence industry can be pleased with its achievements in 2008, according to a report to parliament presented earlier this week by French Defence Minister Hervé Morin. In fact, arms sales have increased by 13 per cent over 2007, making France ...
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Mosul/Washington/Brussels - Arabs and Kurds must urgently agree to a power-sharing deal, joint patrols in disputed areas and protection of minority groups to prevent escalating violence in Ninewa from endangering what remains highly fragile and uneven progress in Iraq.
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Whoever read yesterday’s yellow press headlines may have had the impression that this was a ground-breaking day for US defence policy. All around the globe one could read that US President Barack Obama scrapped one of the most prominent and controversial plans of the Bush Administration: the missile defence shield to be based in the Czech Republic and Poland to counter a potential ballistic missile threat from Iran.
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A move by the Brazilian President, Inácio “Lula” da Silva, to apparently announce his choice of the Rafale as the new fighter aircraft for the Brazilian Air Force has triggered one of the most convolute stories in recent defence procurement history.
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by Luca Bonsignore
It is not the first time, and it will certainly not be the last, that a war is being fought on two different theatres: One abroad, where aircraft, tanks and soldiers fight against their nation’s declared enemies; and another at home, where politicians fight to win the public’s support for the war - or to undermine it, according to their ideas, goals and positions in the political circus.
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Kathmandu/Brussels - Nepal’s major political players must rebuild their common purpose, bringing the Maoists back into government to prevent a possible return to conflict.
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Jerusalem/Brussels - The issue of West Bank settlements cannot be properly understood without taking into account the increasing role of Israel’s religious right.
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Nairobi/Brussels - Sudan must dismantle its system of impunity for atrocity crimes or there will be no peace in Darfur, and the North-South civil war could again erupt.
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Nairobi/Brussels - The Congolese and Rwandan governments, as well as the international community, must formulate a new comprehensive strategy to dismantle the Rwandan Hutu rebels or face continuing regional instability.
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Baghdad/Erbil/Brussels - Iraqi leaders and the U.S. must manage increasing tensions between the Baghdad federal government and Kurdish authorities or face deadly violence following the U.S. troop withdrawal.
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