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USA
Second Quarter Forecast 2011 | STRATFOR
EUROPE
The Rising Influence of Germany's Green Party | STRATFOR
ASIA
India: Domestic UAV Production, Design Under Way April 11, 2011
India began efforts to design and produce its own unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) that can fire missiles at enemy targets with a flying wing design capable of flying at 30,000 feet, weighing less than 15 tons and equipped with low radar cross sections, India’s Defense Research and Development Organization said, The Times of India reported April 11. India’s UAV project team of 15-18 scientists began preliminary design and technology development with the goal of deploying the UAVs in the Indian Air Force in 6-8 years, DRDO’s Research and Development chief Dr. Prahlada said. DRDO said some foreign collaboration in areas like stealth and autonomous short-run landing and take-off has occurred..
RUSSIA
NOTHING SIGNIFICANT TO REPORT
IRAN
Iran: 5 Nuclear Reactors To Be Built April 11, 2011
Iran plans to build about five new pool-type nuclear reactors with a capacity of 10-20 megawatts for the production of radiopharmaceuticals, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI) said April 11, ISNA reported. AEOI chief Fereidoun Abbasi said Tehran would not stop producing uranium enriched to 20 percent and that other stages, including fuel complexes, were under way. The Fordo enrichment facility is ready for centrifuges, but Iran will notify the International Atomic Energy Agency before installing centrifuges there, he added.
IRAQ
NOTHING SIGNIFICANT TO REPORT
ISRAEL
Dispatch: Israel's Iron Dome | STRATFOR
Israel: Cease-Fire With Hamas A Mistake - FM April 11, 2011
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said efforts toward a cease-fire with Palestinian militant group Hamas is a “grave mistake” and Israel should attempt to overthrow Hamas from the Gaza Strip instead, AP reported April 11, citing Israel Radio. Lieberman said Hamas uses the cease-fires and calm to rebuild its fighting forces and to smuggle in more weapons.
The Implications of an Israeli-Palestinian Flare-Up | STRATFOR
Israel: Introduction Of 3rd Iron Dome Accelerated April 12, 2011
Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officials said they will take steps to speed up the introduction of a third Iron Dome anti-rocket battery, making the system available in six months rather than 18, Haaretz reported April 12. Under the accelerated plan, launchers from existing systems will be joined with other components that have already been made to speed up production. The IDF also plans to add another three Iron Dome batteries by the end of 2012.
Israel: Europe Must Stop Gaza Flotilla - PM April 11, 2011
European ambassadors were urged by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to prevent their nationals from participating in a flotilla that is scheduled to depart for Gaza in late May, DPA reported April 11.
Israel: Government May Allow Flotillas To Dock In Gaza April 12, 2011
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is considering allowing Gaza-bound flotillas to dock there, provided they are searched for illegal weapons or illicit materials by a third party, such as Greece, The Jerusalem Post reported April 12, citing Channel 2 News.
AFGHANISTAN
Turkey: Hosting Taliban Militants' Office Considered April 11, 2011
Turkey is willing to consider hosting a political office for Taliban militants in Afghanistan in order to facilitate peace talks, but there has been no official application to the Turkish government to host an office or peace talks, AP reported April 11, citing a Turkish Foreign Ministry official. Arsala Rahmani, a member Afghanistan’s High Peace Council, said Turkey is making plans for the office but it will be some time before they are worked out.
Afghanistan: Domestic Forces Take Over Security In Samangan April 11, 2011
The governor of Afghanistan’s northern province of Samangan said April 11 that Afghan forces have taken control of the province’s security, Press TV reported. After the signing of an agreement between Finnish troops and provincial officials, Finland moved its forces to a NATO air base outside of Mazar-e-Sharif.
Afghanistan: UN Paying Taliban Defectors April 11, 2011
The United Nations has started paying former Taliban fighters who put down their weapons and join the government in the northern province of Kunduz, DPA reported April 11. Abdul Raof Qazizada, an official with the UN’s Afghan Peace and Reintegration Program, said it has started registering more than three hundred armed opposition forces that have agreed to stop fighting and find a job. He said the program is temporary and will last only a few months. A member of the Kunduz Peace Council said defectors are being paid a monthly salary of about 110 dollars.
Afghanistan: NATO Trains Counterintelligence Agents April 12, 2011
NATO forces in Afghanistan are training counterintelligence agents to find Taliban infiltrators in the Afghan army and police, with 222 agents trained since the beginning of the program in the summer of 2010 and a goal of 445 agents by the end of 2011, the Commander of NATO’s training mission in Afghanistan U.S. Lt. Gen. William Caldwell said April 12 at the Chatham House in London, Reuters reported. Caldwell said counterintelligence personnel will be placed into the lowest levels of the organizations in order to look for those involved with the Taliban who may try to infiltrate the organizations.
MIDDLE EAST
More Stirrings of Unrest in Egypt? | STRATFOR
SOUTH OF THE BORDER
A Week in the War: Afghanistan, April 5-April 12, 2011 | STRATFOR
April 7, NBC News – (International) Mexican cartels corrupting more US border officials? In the Mexican drug war, U.S. authorities are finding a disturbing trend: an increase in American law enforcement officials corrupted by wealthy Mexican criminals who pay them to look the other way as illegal drugs and immigrants flow north into the United States. In the last 5 years, nearly 80 U.S. Border Patrol agents and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers have been arrested along the Mexican border, and according to federal authorities, hundreds more officials are under investigation. At a U.S. Senate hearing, it was revealed that Mexican cartel members are infiltrating American law enforcement. There was also testimony that during a hiring push that began 5 years ago to add thousands of Border Patrol and CBP officers, only 10 percent of the initial applicants were given polygraph tests. Of those, 60 percent failed, raising concerns about the integrity of the others hired without screening. Along the border, the federal authorities are not the only ones facing corruption problems. Local authorities, including sheriffs and police officers, have also succumbed to the lure of drug money. To try to stem the corruption, the U.S. President signed a law requiring polygraph tests for all border patrol and customs law enforcement job applicants. Additionally, 13 FBI anti-corruption teams now keep an eye on the 2,000-mile-long border, policing the police. Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/42061290/ns/world_news-americas
Mexico: Los Zetas Responsible For Tamaulilpas Killings April 12, 2011
The Mexican cartel Los Zetas is responsible for the murders of approximately 120 people found in several mass graves in San Fernando, Tamaulipas state, Mexican Prosecutor General Marisela Morales said April 12, El Universal reported. Seventeen people have been arrested in connection with the murders.
Mexico: Los Zetas In Guadalupe Leader Killed April 12, 2011
Mexican soldiers shot and killed Juan Carlos Cordoba Ocana, the suspected head of Los Zetas in Guadalupe, Nuevo Leon state, during a firefight April 11 in the San Sebastian Los Lerma neighborhood, El Universal reported April 12. The soldiers were reportedly fired upon by members of Los Zetas while responding to an unspecified citizen’s complaint in the neighborhood.
MISC
NOTHING SIGNIFICANT TO REPORT
Except where noted courtesy www.stratfor.com
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