ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Turkey has begun a defacto blockade of Russian naval vessels, preventing transit through the Dardanelles and the Strait of Bosporus, between the Black Sea and Mediterranean. According to the AIS tracking system for the movement of maritime vessels, only Turkish vessels are moving along the Bosphorus, and in the Dardanelles there is no movement of any shipping at all. At the same time, both from the Black Sea, and from the Mediterranean Sea, there is a small cluster of ships under the Russian flag, just sitting and waiting. The image below shows the situation with the ships using the GPS transponder onboard each vessel: In addition, shipping inside the Black Sea from Novorossiisk and Sevastopol in the direction of the Bosphorus, no Russian vessels are moving. This indirectly confirms the a CNN statement that Turkey may have blocked the movement of Russian ships on the Dardanelles and the Strait of Bosporus. There is a Treaty specifically covering the use of these waterways by nat...

Before and... After

US demands Turkey to "seal" notorious 100 km border region with Syria, but may be pretext to invade and establish long-sought after "safe haven" for terrorists in Syria. (Tony Cartalucci - LD) - In the most open admission yet that NATO-member Turkey has been allowing a torrent of supplies, weapons, fighters, and equipment to flow across its borders with impunity and into the hands of the self-proclaimed "Islamic State" (ISIS), the US has urged Ankara to seal the remaining 100 km border region yet to be closed by Syrian and Kurdish forces. The Wall Street Journal in its article, " U.S. Urges Turkey to Seal Border ," reported that: The Obama administration is pressing Turkey to deploy thousands of additional troops along its border with Syria to cordon off a 60-mile stretch of frontier that U.S. officials say is used by Islamic State to move foreign fighters in and out of the war zone. The U.S. hasn’t officially requested a specific number of soldi...

US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter has criticized Turkey for not using its air power properly since the Daesh (ISIL) terrorists first arose close to its border in Syria. The Pentagon chief told the House Armed Services Committee on Tuesday that most of the air attacks Turkey has launched so far are directed at PKK militants, not ISIL terrorists. “Most of their air operations are not directed at ISIL,” Carter said. “They are directed at the PKK, which we understand their concern about — it’s a terrorist organization within their borders — but we would like to see them do more against ISIL.” Ankara has also failed to control its borders “effectively,” Carter said. “I have been urging, actually, since I’ve come to this job, Turkey to do more.” The US defense secretary said that Turkey’s geography makes it a useful asset to the US-led international coalition against Daesh, but Ankara has failed to show any significant performance in this regard. “We would like them to operate more both in...