ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

EUROPE COMPASS WEEKLY UPDATE JANUARY 14, 2013   Our Europe Compass weekly email presents analytical insights on the events of the past week and an assessment of the risks to monitor in the next seven days. If you're not already subscribed,  sign up for free . Jury is still out   ECB President Mario Draghi was guardedly optimistic on January 10 in his monthly  press conference . Although he noted much improvement in terms of financial market conditions, he cautioned that " the risks surrounding the economic outlook for the euro-area remain on the downside ", that "the present situation is characterised by high uncertainty", that any recovery is "going to take some time" and that the turnaround in the real economy would start in late 2013. He also made it clear that even though the ECB governing council decided unanimously not to loosen monetary policy, they were not looking to tighten monetary conditions and were "not thinking about

China's Chongqing Helicopter Investment Company (CQHIC) has acquired US company Enstrom: a manufacturer of light helicopters for commercial and military applications. The acquisition, announced on 7 January, is one of the most high profile in a series of transactions in which Chinese companies have purchased US companies involved in the aerospace and defence sector. Statements said that CQHIC's acquisition of Enstrom was concluded on 27 December 2012 when the two companies agreed an equity settlement deal, the value of which was not revealed. CQHIC and Enstrom had earlier signed an equity purchase agreement, under which the Chinese company, based in Chongqing in Southwest China, submitted a bid to acquire a 100% stake in Enstrom. The two companies held an "acquisition closing ceremony" on 4 January, and an Enstrom spokeswoman later confirmed to IHS Jane's that the deal had been approved by US authorities. "CFIUS [the Committee on Foreign Investment in the Uni

The US Army's Rapid Equipping Force (REF) deployed its second mobile expeditionary lab - containing some novel technologies - into theatre on 7 January 2013. Each laboratory is a 20 ft ISO container developed by the Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command and engineering company Exponent. It can be transported to a point of need by truck or helicopter and uses 3-D printers and computer numerical control (CNC) machines to replicate parts from aluminium, plastic, and steel. This enables designers to rapidly prototype items in-theatre using computer-aided design software, aiming to accelerate the design and production process, as well as reduce manufacturing logistics. Front line users can then provide immediate feedback. "We are trying to shorten the amount of time, the flash to bang, of idea to actual implementation," REF spokesperson Alison Sanderson told  IHS Jane's . "We definitely want to increase sustainability for the individual

By Ellen Nakashima , Major U.S. banks have turned to the National Security Agency for help protecting their computer systems after a barrage of assaults that have disrupted their Web sites, according to industry officials. The attacks on the sites, which started about a year ago but intensified in September, have grown increasingly sophisticated, officials said. The NSA, the world’s largest electronic spying agency, has been asked to provide technical assistance to help banks further assess their systems and to better understand the attackers’ tactics. The cooperation between the NSA and banks, industry officials say, underscores the government’s fears about the unprecedented assault against the financial sector and is part of a broader effort by the government to work with U.S. firms on cybersecurity. Nonetheless, the assistance is likely to dismay privacy advocates, who say that the NSA has no business peering inside private companies’ systems, even if for the strict purpose of impro

North Korean state media present an easy target, but the latest from the official newspaper, Rodong Sinmun, is a doozy even by the DPRK’s already-monumental standards of lunacy. A recent editorial in the paper repeats the usual exhortation to each and every North Korean to “devote oneself to building an economic giant with burning patriotic enthusiasm to fully demonstrate Korea of the sun.” What’s interesting is that the state-run Rodong Sinmun seems to employ a new, unofficial name for the North Korean people: “space conquerors.” In only 365 short words, it refers to North Koreans five different times as “space conquerors,” according to the official English translation. To give you a sense of how firmly the paper is hammering this home, here are two successive paragraphs (my emphasis added): It is necessary to actively learn from and thoroughly embody the white gem-like loyalty of space conquerors who carried out the behests of leader Kim Jong Il to the letter. It is imperative to st

QUETTA, Pakistan — About 3,500 Pakistani Shiites protested in southwestern Pakistan for a second day on Saturday, blocking a main road with dozens of coffins of relatives killed in explosions to demand better security from the government. Police in the city of Quetta had earlier said that the protest had ended, but a prominent Shiite leader Ibrahim Hazara said it would continue until the city was handed over to the army and the provincial government was dismissed. Some 50 coffins blocked the road near a place where Shiites worship in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province. Shiites protested to condemn security lapses they say were responsible for Thursday’s twin bombings of a billiards hall that killed 86 people. “My son went to a billiards hall to play, but now I am sitting with his body here. I want to know what was the fault of my son and who killed him and why?” said Begum Dilawar Shah. The dead included police, rescuers and journalists who rushed there in respons

By Abigail Hauslohner , Sunday, January 13, 3:49 PM CAIRO—An Egyptian court Sunday ordered a retrial of ousted president Hosni Mubarak, granting an appeal of the former autocrat’s life sentence for failing to prevent the killing of more than 900 protesters during the 2011 uprising that ended his rule. Sunday’s court ruling also overturned convictions for Mubarak’s former interior minister Habib al-Adly and six other security officials who stood trial alongside Mubarak last year. The latter six were acquitted,k but all will now be retried. The ruling is unlikely to spark a public outcry. None of the defendants will go free, due to other cases that are pending against them. And both the defense and the prosecution had appealed the sentences. Many Egyptians have complained that the ousted president’s earlier trial was deeply flawed, marred by political loyalties within the court and an inept prosecution. And some activists hailed the retrial order as a small victory. “The court’s ruling