ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Pou r recadrer vite fait : Nous sommes le fin juin 1940. Face aux hordes nazies, la France est « à genou » elle à demandé l’armistice ! Les alliés Anglais nourrissent les plus grand es craintes face à la formidable force navale Française (la Royale) qui pourrait passer du côté obscure, du côté fasciste ! Hitler ayant la main basse sur n otre terre, Winston Churchill ordonne aux Français de neutraliser leurs navires de guerre, « La Royale » Française compte encore beaucoup de navires puissants hors de ses propres ports! Mer El Kébir est une ville d’Algérie, proche d’Oran et port militarisé par la France. Là nous avions les croiseurs de bataille : Dunkerque et Strasbourg (des monstres! ) , des cuirassés Le Bretagne et Le Provence, un porte hydravions, 6 contre-torpilleurs … juillet 1940, vers 7 h 00 du matin une escadre anglaise se présente devant Mers El-Kébir, les marins Français les connaissent très bien, ils ont fait ensemble de nombreux exercices. Les m...

By George Friedman Editor's Note: For more information on purchasing the full PC16 report, which assesses each member of the grouping, and for details on custom briefings and analysis for your organization, please click here . China has become a metaphor. It represents a certain phase of economic development, which is driven by low wages, foreign appetite for investment and a chaotic and disorderly development, magnificent in scale but deeply flawed in many ways. Its magnificence spawned the flaws, and the flaws helped create the magnificence. The arcs along which nations rise and fall vary in length and slope. China's has been long, as far as these things go, lasting for more than 30 years. The country will continue to exist and perhaps prosper, but this era of Chinese development -- pyramiding on low wages to conquer global markets -- is ending simply because there are now other nations with even lower wages and other advantages. China will have to behave differently fr...

Summary While plans for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons stockpiles take shape, the magnitude of the operation should not be overlooked. The effort will take years, will not wholly eliminate the threat of chemical weapons' use in the near term and will be fraught with risk. Analysis The United States and Russia have given the Syrian regime until Sept. 21 to produce a complete list of its chemical agents and munitions types as well as the locations of storage, production and research and development facilities. In the existing plan, international inspectors will enter Syria by November for an initial assessment and to destroy all mixing and filling equipment for chemical weapons. Every component of the chemical weapons program is supposed to be destroyed or out of the country by mid-2014. Destruction Process Following the standard for chemical weapons disposal, the weapons must be incinerated in order to ensure their complete destruction in a safe and efficien...