ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

At the beginning of 2013, Stratfor said this would be the year that the deep, structural weaknesses in Europe and China would present the leaders of these two pillars of the international system with a painful reality: The short-term remedies implemented so far will not be enough to prevent greater instability down the line. Indeed, in the past quarter, Europe's leaders began a critical discussion on ways to address youth unemployment while grappling with existential questions on the costs and benefits of deepening European integration in order to manage the crisis. And as the third quarter begins, China is making painful moves to address major imbalances in its financial system amid slowing worldwide growth. Europe's crisis is still at a stage in which a deceptive calm will prevail in the street and in the financial markets. Softer deficit targets, a guarantee of European Central Bank intervention in sovereign markets, healthy tourism receipts from the still-sizable number of ...

By George Friedman In recent weeks I've written about U.S. President Barack Obama's bluff on Syria and the tightrope he is now walking on military intervention . There is another bluff going on that has to be understood, this one from Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin is bluffing that Russia has emerged as a major world power. In reality, Russia is merely a regional power, but mainly because its periphery is in shambles. He has tried to project a strength that that he doesn't have, and he has done it well. For him, Syria poses a problem because the United States is about to call his bluff, and he is not holding strong cards. To understand his game we need to start with the recent G-20 meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia. Putin and Obama held a 20-minute meeting there that appeared to be cold and inconclusive. The United States seems to be committed to some undefined military action in Syria, and the Russians are vehemently opposed. The tensions showcased at the G-20 be...

By Adrian Salbuchi September 09, 2013 - " RT " - A young, soft-spoken girl living the Syrian tragedy spells it out with far more common sense, truth and honesty than powerful Western governments and their money-controlled mass media puppets. Identifying herself only as “Syrian, Patriot, anti-Neocon, anti-NWO, anti-Zionist”, early last year she set up her own YouTube Channel (YouTube/User/SyrianGirlpartisan). In a short (nine-minute) video she explains “eight reasons why the NWO (New World Order) hates Syria.” We would all do well to listen in… Her ‘Top Eight Reasons Why They Hate Us’ is an excellent wrap-up, applicable to just about every self-respecting country in the world: no Rothschild-controlled Central Bank, no IMF debt, no genetically modified foods, oil and pipelines, anti-secret societies, anti-Zionism, secularism and nationalism. Her brief message unravels as a sort of common sense manual which explains why the United States of America, the United Kingd...

By Matthew Schofield | McClatchy Foreign Staff By Matthew Schofield BERLIN — Syrian President Bashar Assad has repeatedly rejected requests from his field commanders for approval to use chemical weapons, according to a report this weekend in a German newspaper. The report in Bild am Sonntag, which is a widely read and influential national Sunday newspaper, reported that the head of the German Foreign Intelligence agency, Gerhard Schindler, last week told a select group of German lawmakers that intercepted communications had convinced German intelligence officials that Assad did not order or approve what is believed to be a sarin gas attack on Aug. 21 that killed hundreds of people in Damascus’ eastern suburbs. The Obama administration has blamed the attack on Assad. The evidence against Assad was described over the weekend as common sense by White House Chief of Staff Denis McDonough on CNN’s "State of the Union." “The material was used in the eastern suburbs of Damascus that...