ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Click to Enlarge Low global platinum prices have diminished profits in the platinum sector, and this year major mining companies in South Africa faced further profit losses during the five-month strike by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union. The perceived inability to reform labor and energy costs in South Africa will lead to a greater mechanization of platinum and similar mining sectors in the coming years. Labor costs are only one part of the problem. Many of South Africa's platinum, gold and diamond mines have operated for years, leading to lower ore quality and deeper and narrower mines. Narrower mines limit the amount and type of equipment miners can use. Deeper mines mean that mining companies have to enact more health, safety and environmental measures and laboriously move people and machinery into place. This requires more time, more labor and more expenses. Moreover, South Africa's platinum sector suffers from the rivalry between the Associat...

A Ukrainian air force SU-25 fighter plane flies during exercises near the southern city of Mykolayiv in 2006.(GENIA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Despite a number of recent incidents in which pro-Russian militants have shot down Ukrainian military airplanes and helicopters, aircraft continue to play an effective role in the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Their deployment contributed to Kiev's recent capture of the cities of Dzerzhinsk, Soledar and Rubizhne by providing valuable support to advancing ground forces. Aside from Mi-24 and Mi-8 helicopters , Su-25 aircraft have played the most prominent role in air support and, as a result, have suffered disproportionate casualties. As a simple, reliable and sturdy ground attack airplane, the Su-25 will continue to be useful in eastern Ukraine, although it will come under increasing threat from militant air defense systems. Analysis The Soviet Union introduced the Su-25 in 1975 as its version of the U.S.-produced A-10 Thunderbolt, know...

An Israeli army officer walks in a tunnel said to be used by Palestinian militants for cross-border attacks July 25.(JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Israeli troops have spent nine days in the Gaza Strip, and resistance from Palestinian militants has reportedly been dropping. The Israeli military is reporting that it has been able to secure the areas it has moved into. Thus, the ground invasion seems to have accomplished its initial limited goal of damaging the tunnels leading from the Gaza Strip into Israel. Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has told troops that Israel might significantly widen the Gaza ground operation. The expansion of any limited Israel Defense Forces operation likely will not address a fundamental point in Gaza : There is no long-term military solution apart from occupation, which would come with a high political cost and would create new targets for Palestinian militants. Analysis The Israeli military's ground operation thus far has been li...

Striking platinum miners gather at the Wonderkop Stadium in Marikana, South Africa, waiting for news on a proposed deal to end a strike on June 12.(MUJAHID SAFODIEN/AFP/Getty Images) Summary With the memory of a protracted labor strike in South Africa's platinum sector still fresh, mining companies are looking to cut their losses and lessen future constraints . Anglo American Platinum, the world's largest single producer of the precious metal, is looking for buyers for its more labor-intensive mining operations, shifting its focus toward operations with greater mechanization that are less affected by South Africa's labor issues. Other platinum and gold mining companies are likely to follow suit. Low global platinum prices affected the platinum sector, and this year's profits for major mining companies in South Africa were swept away during the five-month strike by the Association of Mineworkers and Construction Union. The perceived inability to reform labor and energy c...

Customers line up in front of a branch of Bulgaria's First Investment Bank in Sofia on June 27.(NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Over the past two years, the European Union has created an environment in which member states facing economic problems can borrow at relatively low interest rates. Because of the European Central Bank's promise of intervention in debt markets, a sovereign debt crisis similar to what Greece experienced in 2010 seems unlikely. High unemployment and weak economic activity, however, continue to undermine the banking sectors of several EU countries, where a growing number of households and companies are struggling to pay back their bank loans. While it is impossible to predict exactly when and where Europe's next banking crisis will take place, trouble is more likely in states such as Italy or Greece. Outside the eurozone, banks in Hungary, Romania and Bulgaria will also struggle to reduce their portfolio of nonperforming loans. Since a bank...

The West is turning a blind eye to the current humanitarian crisis in east Ukraine, a political analyst tells Press TV as thousands of people are reportedly fleeing their homes amid Kiev’s military operations. “The international response [to the humanitarian crisis] has been a total failure, and it appears to me that it has been very organized because these attacks on the civilians to get them to run have been perpetrated primarily to try to create its mass punishment again,” Jim W. Dean, an editor and columnist with Veterans Today, said in an interview with Press TV on Saturday. He added that the West and media’s silence regarding the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine are considered as an approval for having “terror used as a weapon against east Ukrainian people for them to achieve some geopolitical goal that they have.” The analyst also noted that the shelling by the Ukraine army is “nothing more than a terror weapon to get people to flee.” On Friday, the Office of the United ...

China has investigated more than 25,000 people for corruption in the first half of 2014 amid a nationwide crackdown on graft, state media reports. The investigation of major corruption cases has increased by nearly 14 percent over the corresponding period last year, China’s official Xinhua news agency said on Friday. Approximately 85 percent of the cases involved bribes of over USD 8,000 or embezzlement of at least twice that amount, the news agency said, citing the Supreme People’s Procuratorate (SPP). “The SPP will set up a leading … [task] group to retrieve bribery funds from overseas, enhance its supervision over major cases, and build a database of information about fugitive officials,” the news agency said. The statement comes as the Chinese government embarks on a wide-scale campaign against deep-rooted graft since President Xi Jinping kicked off an anti-corruption campaign two years ago. Since then, several high-profile lawmakers have been expelled from the ruling Com...

Recall what we said earlier today: the proxy Ukraine war just like that in Syria preceding it, "is all about energy." Recall also the following chart showing Ukraine's shale gas deposits, keeping in mind that the Dnieper-Donets basin which lies in the hotly contested eastern part of the nation and where as everyone knows by now a bloody civil war is raging, is the major oil and gas producing region of Ukraine accounting for approximately 90 per cent of Ukrainian production and according to EIA may have 42 tcf of shale gas resources technically recoverable from 197 tcf of risked shale gas in place. Finally, recall our story from May that Joe Biden's son, Hunter, just joined the board of the largest Ukraine gas producer Burisma Holdings. From the press release : R. Hunter Biden will be in charge of the Holdings’ legal unit and will provide support for the Company among international organizations. On his new appointment, he commented: “Burisma’s track record of ...