ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

View taken from a vantage point in the north of Tehran shows the capital covered in smog on December 3, 2012. Schools, universities and government offices in the Iranian capital will be closed on Saturday for the second time in a month because of high air pollution, Tehran governor Morteza Tamadon said Thursday. Schools, universities and government offices in the Iranian capital will be closed on Saturday for the second time in a month because of high air pollution, Tehran governor Morteza Tamadon said Thursday. Emergency services also advised residents to avoid unnecessary travel in the city, the ISNA news agency reported. Tamadon said a pollution committee took the decision after smog failed to dissipate over the past three days, the Mehr news agency reported. "Closure is not the solution but it is the best decision, considering the prolonged high level of pollution indicators," he said, adding that current level of pollution was expected to last another three days. Only...

Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir are due to meet in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa tomorrow (4 January), as part of an African Union-hosted summit to attempt to overcome obstacles preventing the implementation of a landmark agreement on oil and security signed between the two nations in September 2012. Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and his South Sudanese counterpart Salva Kiir are due to meet in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa tomorrow (4 January), as part of an African Union-hosted summit to attempt to overcome obstacles preventing the implementation of a landmark agreement on oil and security signed between the two nations in September 2012. Both leaders have said they want to establish the demilitarised zone that formed a major part of the September agreement; however, neither side has yet moved its armed forces out of the area demarcated following months of negotiations. Successful implementation of the demilitaris...

Weren't those the greatest of days if you were in the American spy game? Governments went down in Guatemala and Iran thanks to you. In distant Indonesia, Laos, and Vietnam, what a role you played! And even that botch-up of an invasion in Cuba was nothing to sneeze at. In those days, unfortunately, you - particularly those of you in the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) - didn't get the credit you deserved. You had to live privately with your successes. Sometimes, as with the Bay of Pigs, the failures came back to haunt you (so, in the case of Iran, would your "success," though so many years later), but you couldn't with pride talk publicly about what you, in your secret world, had done, or see instant movies and TV shows about your triumphs. You couldn't launch a "covert" air war that was reported on, generally positively, almost every week, or bask in the pleasure of having your director claim publicly that it was "the only game in town." ...

By Tatiana Gabroussenko " ... Young guerrilla girl Kumsuni delivers letters to comrades, and one day is caught by the police. When the policemen demand the girl disclose information about the guerillas, she spits into the faces of her interrogators. As the policemen drag Kumsuni to her execution, the heroic girl cries out 'Long Live General Kim Il Sung!'" ...Pre-teen boy Ri Kwang-ch'un is a member of a secret anti-Japanese children's organization. Along with others, he helps the "Red Guard uncles". However, one day policemen apprehend the boy. When the "bastards" torture the young patriot, Ri cuts off his own tongue in defiance. His last words are "Long Live the Korean Revolution!" Even if one supports patriotic education of the younger generation, one is still likely to find such notions of slicing off one's own. Even if one supports patriotic education of the younger generation, one is still likely to find such notions of sl...