The first in a new series of monthly intelligence briefings on transnational organised crime from Dr Mary Young. This month's spotlight on the Americas includes details of a drug smuggling trial of four French citizens that highlights corruption and human rights abuses in Dominican Republic’s judiciary.
Category: Intelligence desks
Kobane, and the failure of Turkey’s Kurdish policy
Heavily influenced by the memories and legacies of the past, Turkey has not demonstrated the required degree of flexibility and imagination in dealing with the issue of Syria’s Kurds. This article from Open Briefing contributing analyst Arman Baisuanov explores Turkey's complex and differing relationships with Kurds in Iraq, Syria and Turkey and sets out some of the failings of its Kurdish policies in light of events in Kobane.
A complex transition to power is in the making in Burkina Faso
Blaise Compaoré’s departure after 27 years at the helm of Burkina Faso was the result of a show of popular resilience and strength. However, the immediate aftermath of this event raises some doubts over whether anything will change at all. While Compaoré resigned due to the popular protests and the anti-establishment violence that ensued, the revolution in Burkina Faso seems to have been hijacked by the military.
Stalled hope? The resource conflict risk to Myanmar’s political and economic transition
In 2011, Myanmar's quasi-civilian government initiated one of the most ambitious economic and political transformation campaigns of the last 50 years. The reformist agenda has the potential to steer Myanmar away from insecurity and economic stagnation. But it will be difficult to leverage significant endowments of natural resources to achieve sustainable security, lasting political settlements with ethnic states and economic growth that supports human development. As such, this briefing paper assesses the trajectory and significance of resource conflict risks and threat multipliers in Myanmar.
Strategic Order of Battle: Russian Airborne Forces
This handbook from Open Briefing provides an in-depth look at the ongoing transformation of Russia’s airborne forces, together with a strategic order of battle that details personnel and equipment levels for each of Russia’s four airborne divisions, four independent air assault brigades, Spetsnaz regiment, headquarters units and training division. As such, it represents the most detailed open source intelligence on Russia’s airborne forces available today.
Iran: The Ayatollah succession question
Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei, recently underwent prostate surgery, following recurrent rumours that he suffers from some form of cancer. The looming succession in Iran is far from straightforward. In this article, Open Briefing contributing analyst Kevjn Lim considers the pool of candidates from which the Supreme Leader's successor may emerge, as well as the possibility of a temporary leadership council or even a Revolutionary Guards-led military takeover.
Intelligence brief: The use of barrel bombs by the Syrian government
Barrel bombs are a type of IED dropped from a helicopter or cargo aircraft. It is estimated that 5-6,000 such bombs have been dropped by the Syrian military since the uprising began, killing at least 20,000 people. This intelligence brief explores the reasons behind the Syrian government's use of these improvised devices and assesses whether targeting helicopter manufacturers or spare-part suppliers might be an effective strategy for international NGOs wishing to put pressure on the Syrian government to end its use of these weapons.
The view from Russia: Suspension of South Stream pipeline redoubles pressure on Russia
A fortnightly series looking at how major events and issues are reported in Russian media. This week we examine
