ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Abertis has finally taken a majority stake in Spanish satellite operator Hispasat with the purchase of a further 16.4% of shares for EUR172.5 million (USD231.3 million) from the National Institute for Aerospace Technology (INTA), part of the Ministry of Defence. The deal, confirmed by the company with the Madrid stock market on 12 November following clearance from competition authorities, gives Abertis a 57.05% stake. Abertis said that in taking "exclusive control", it would now commit itself to developing "the full growth potential" of Hispasat with public and private sector clients. The Barcelona-based infrastructure group has spent EUR475 million on securing its stake in the operator, having first bought 28.4% of the shares in 2007. It secured a further 5% stake from European defence conglomerate EADS at the end of 2008 before purchasing the stake of former Spanish national telephone company Telefonica. Government participation in Hispasat, which launched it

The modernisation of 16 Tupolev Tu-160 'Blackjack' strategic bombers, which according to the long range plans of the Russian Air Force (VVS) should have been completed in 2017, may be delayed to 2019 or beyond, IHS Jane's has been told by some of the specialists assigned to the project. At present there is still no finalised configuration as to what Soviet-era components will be replaced on these aircraft. Additionally, the manufacturer of the aircraft's Kuznetsov NK-32 engines is unable to come to an agreement with the United Aero-Engine Building Corporation (ODK) on the question of financing. A source close to ODK has relayed to IHS Jane's that the current work on the modernisation of the Tu-160 and the re-opening of the production line that would manufacture the necessary components for these aircraft is "at a phase when it is difficult to project a timeframe in which this process would be completed". The testing of the design and prototype constr

Key Points CAD images that have appeared on Chinese websites suggest a strike version of Shenyang's J-31 stealth fighter The CAD images cannot be verified but would make sense given the PLAAF's lack of interest in the existing J-31 programme Computer-aided design (CAD) images that have appeared on the Chinese internet indicate that the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation (SAC) may be considering a larger "strike" version of its J-31 fighter. It is not possible to confirm whether these CAD images are from a corporate source, such as SAC's 601 Design Institute, or perhaps the work of a student from the associated Shenyang University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which was involved in designing a flying scale model of the J-31 first seen in 2010. However, it is plausible that SAC would be working on additional variants of the J-31, which is an industry rather than military-funded programme. The lack of People's Liberation Army Air Force (PLAAF) support for the

Summary Although the European Commission, after reviewing the economic developments in 16 EU countries, will likely urge Germany to take steps to reduce its trade surplus, it lacks the political will and tools to pressure Berlin into making changes in the medium term. However, fear of protectionism or the dissolution of the eurozone means that Berlin will likely try to curb its trade surplus eventually, albeit with limited success. The commission announced Nov. 13 that it will review Germany's external trade position. Germany has been increasingly criticized by Europe and by the United States over its strong trade surplus. Germany is accused of undermining exporters in other countries and not consuming enough domestically to help troubled eurozone countries. But there are few measures to strengthen exporters in struggling countries, and it is doubtful whether a weakening of Germany's exporters and stronger domestic demand would have the desired results for exporters elsewhere,

Summary Editor's Note: This is a four-part series on the development of transport infrastructure in East Africa as the region looks to expand its economy and increase international trade as it becomes a seemingly attractive destination for low-end manufacturing . Part 3 examines Ethiopia's plans to update and expand its rail and road networks to provide better access to ports and to other countries. Read more in Part 1 and Part 2 . While Ethiopia is a relatively large economy in East Africa, it is not as connected to the rest of the region as Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and other countries in the Great Lakes region are. The country's surface transport infrastructure is focused on sustaining internal economic activity, and even this has been limited as economic development has been concentrated in the center of the country. However, attempts are underway to better connect Ethiopia to other East African markets and to global export markets. Geography has led landlocked Ethiopia

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AND RECOMMENDATIONS Negotiations underway since late 2012 between Turkey’s government and the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) are stalling. A ceasefire announced on 23 March 2013 remains precarious, as maximalist rhetoric gains renewed traction on both sides. While the PKK should be doing more to persuade Ankara that it wants a compromise peace, the government has a critical responsibility to fully address the longstanding democratic grievances of Turkey’s Kurds. One reason it frequently gives for its hesitation is fear of a nationalist backlash. In fact, the peace process has already demonstrated how willing mainstream Turks would be to accept steps towards democratisation. A much bigger risk for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), as it heads into a two-year cycle of local, presidential and parliamentary elections, would be if the three-decade-old conflict plunges into a new cycle of violence. While the nationalist political opposition, including the Repu

South Africa has signed 42 bilateral investment agreements since its transition from apartheid in 1994. Its first was with the United Kingdom in 1994. Over the course of the first several years of rule by Nelson Mandela and the African National Congress, the government reached preliminary deals with dozens of global trade partners. On Oct. 28, Pretoria announced it would annul its bilateral investment treaty with Germany signed in September 1995 and ratified in 1998. In fact, the German agreement is the fourth such treaty Pretoria has canceled, all of them with European trading partners -- Belgium, Luxembourg and Spain being the others. Annulling the treaty with Germany is a legal provision to prevent its automatic renewal. The original agreement, like others Pretoria has negotiated, had a mandate of 10 years followed by renewals every two years. The agreement would automatically renew unless either party stated its intent to terminate it. It is important to note that investments mad

By Robert D. Kaplan and Kamran Bokhari Don't defeat Iran. Shi'ism is not America's enemy. It is not in the long-term interest of the United States to side with the Sunni Arab states against Iran or vice versa. Doing so produces an imbalance of power in the region as we learned with the collapse of the Iraqi state in the aftermath of the American invasion of 2003. Iran was then able to establish a contiguous sphere of influence stretching from western Afghanistan to the Mediterranean -- something that was only averted by the Arab Spring reaching Syria . The two-year-old Syrian crisis has now come to a point where Iran is on the defensive, as its positions in Lebanon and Iraq come under threat . But Washington's talks with Moscow in an effort to reach a negotiated settlement on the Syria crisis may indicate that the United States is not interested in allowing the pendulum to swing in the other direction this time around. Remember that the United States had a bad, decades