China conducts missile system test following US-Taiwan arms sales. Optimistic poll raises hopes for Afghanistan. Israel plans new fence along Egyptian border. Iranian scientist killed in bomb attack. All this and more in today’s security briefing.
Behind the attack on Togo’s footballers in Angola’s enclave of Cabinda is a complex mix of history, geography, oil and politics, says Alex Vines.
North Korea offers disarmament talks if US ends sanctions. New wave of attacks on Malaysian churches. Violence continues between political factions in Karachi. Sudan dismisses warnings of renewed conflict. President of Yemen declares willingness to talk with Al Qaeda. All this and much more in tod
A relatively stable statelet in the Horn of Africa needs wise international intervention to bolster its nascent democracy, says EJ Hogendoorn.
A series of intelligence failures that stretch from Afghanistan to the American heartland reveals the depth of the United States’s strategic predicament at the dawn of 2010.
President Obama unveils new reforms of the US security bureaucracy in the wake of a White House report criticising intelligence failures linked to the attempted Christmas Day bombing. A leading Iranian opposition politician is attacked by supporters of the regime. In the Philippines, fighting erup
Ukraine is about to go to the polls to elect a new president. Though the election is unlikely to provoke a violent escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, politicians and bureaucrats on both sides should start thinking how to react in case it does happen, warns Andreas Umland
Yemen’s foreign minister rejects possibility of US intervention in its battle against al-Qaeda, suggesting fears that US support might do more harm than good. Aid agencies warn of return to war in southern Sudan. Indian security forces bring day-long siege in Srinagar to an end with death of two m
President Barack Obama criticises intelligence agencies for security failings as airport security undergoes review worldwide. The UN food agency suspends operations in south Somalia. A suicide attack in Dagestan kills six people. Egyptian police clash with Gaza aid activists. Britain and France re
Without strategy, the science of war overtakes the art of war.
Iran's history contains three millennia of despotism, but also three revolutions in the past century alone. The current unrest may suggest that another is on its way. It poses formidable challenges to both the current regime and the moderate reformist leadership
The kidnapping of Peter Moor has unveiled divisions and Iranian influence within the movement of Muqtada al-Sadr.
