ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

In the 1980s and early 1990s the mantra was holy warriors in Afghanistan against the evil Soviet Union. Of course, not much was holy about these Takfiri Islamist sectarian warriors because soon they would slaughter the Shia, enslave women, support killing homosexuals, threaten to kill all apostates, whip women if not fully covered up and a host of other evils. The logical conclusion was an international jihadist network that was brought together with the help of the CIA, MI6, ISI and other interested parties in the Gulf region. Of course, once this barbaric year zero Takfiri Islamist reality came into being in Afghanistan then the end result was opium,, backwardness, terrorism, enforcement of women into the shadows of society and so many other brutal realities. Yet, the usual Western and Gulf powers – supported by Turkey and Pakistan in several conflicts depending on geopolitics, would continue to destabilize in Iraq, Libya and Syria. In other words, the madness created by the usual pl...

Jax Jacobsen For all the crackdowns on civil society throughout the post-Soviet sphere and Middle East, we’ve heard surprisingly little about Azerbaijan, ruled by Ilham Aliyev since he inherited the position from his father Heydar in 2003. His latest move to silence opposition from international groups is to have police raid the office of US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty on Dec. 26, detaining journalists for hours. Former journalists of the station have also been questioned by police. According to Jeffery Gedmin, former president of RFE/RL and currently at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, at least 10 RFE/RL journalists in Baku were compelled to the prosecutor’s office for additional questioning. The station had also been shut down in 2009, along with the BBC and Voice of America, but listeners were able to access broadcasts via internet and satellite. U.S. Representative Eliot Engel, the top Democrat on the House Committee for Foreign Affairs, called on “leaders in Ba...

Felix Imonti It is Greece against the Troika of the IMF, the EU, and the European Central Bank. The election on January 25th is only the beginning of Greece’s problems; voters are not prepared to grant to any one party the power to implement policies that will satisfy the people at home and creditors abroad. Prime Minister Antonis Samaras gambled and lost. Nominating a new candidate for the figurehead presidency of Greece should have been a simple matter that would have passed with little conflict, except that it was seized on by the opposition as a chance for a vote of no confidence. By failing to confirm the new candidate, it forced the prime minister to call a national election in the midst of widespread discontent. Now, as Antonis Samaras and Alexis Tsipras seek to sway Greek voters, the real subject of political skirmishing is Chancellor Angela Merkel. Whoever wins the approval of the electorate will have to win the approval of the Iron Lady in Berlin. Neither candidate is showing...