ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

TEHRAN (FNA)- The great Kingdom of Saudi Arabia — the long-time dictator of crude oil prices for the world — is struggling on all fronts, Business Insider said. The Saudis are losing their proxy wars in both Syria and Yemen; their OPEC leadership is under threat; they are not winning the crude oil price war; and its long-running alliance with the West is in question, Business Insider reported. From Saudi Arabia’s perspective, Iran seems to be gaining ground everywhere. Saudi Arabia has several weaknesses that help explain the current anxiety emanating from Riyadh. 1. Saudi Arabia losing its leadership in the OPEC Saudi Arabia has been the default leader of OPEC; however, despite Saudi insistence to the contrary, the U.S. shale boom, increased Russian oil production, and a very resolute Iran are challenging this leadership. The result is that Saudi Arabia now finds itself powerless in supporting oil prices. Instead of the much-needed production cuts, during the 4 December 2015 meeting...

TEHRAN (FNA)- At least 144 Al-Nusra Front terrorists were killed in the heavy airstrikes and artillery fire of the Russian and Syrian armies in Idlib province on Sunday night. The Russian and Syrian fighter jets targeted hideouts of al-Nusra Front terrorist group in al-Arbaeen Mountains in Idlib, killing 124 militants and wounding tens of others. The al-Nusra Front members have released the names of those killed in the attacks on their social media pages. Also, 20 more al-Nusra terrorists were killed in the Syrian army's artillery fire on militants' positions in Kafar Sanjah village in Ma'rat al-Na'man region. Other reports, on Sunday, also said that the Southern battlefields of Idlib province were the scenes of fierce battles between the militant groups and the Syrian Army and its popular allies, adding that scores of the terrorists were killed or wounded in the battle. The Syrian Army and the National Defense Forces (NDF) stormed gathering centers of the Jeish al-Nasr...

Report by UK charity Oxfam calls for a crackdown on tax havens as the world's wealthiest hide $7.6 trillion from taxes. The world's richest 62 people now own as much wealth as half of the world's population, according to a report by the charity Oxfam. Super-rich individuals saw an increase of 44 percent since 2010, taking their cumulative wealth to $1.76 trillion - equivalent to the total owned by 3.5 billion of the world's poorest people. The UK-based charity on Monday also said tax havens were helping corporations and individuals to stash away about $7.6 trillion, depriving governments of $190bn in tax revenue every year. Speaking to Al Jazeera, Helen Szoke, Oxfam Australia's chief executive, said that there were no appropriate mechanisms to check if wealth was being shared appropriately. "We believe there is a need for commitments from global business leaders and political leaders for major tax reform to get rid of the tax havens," Szoke said. "Th...

By Peter Van Buren How can we stop the Islamic State? Imagine yourself shaken awake, rushed off to a strategy meeting with your presidential candidate of choice, and told: “Come up with a plan for me to do something about ISIS!” What would you say? What Hasn't Worked You'd need to start with a persuasive review of what hasn't worked over the past 14-plus years. American actions against terrorism -- the Islamic State being just the latest flavor -- have flopped on a remarkable scale, yet remain remarkably attractive to our present crew of candidates. (Bernie Sanders might be the only exception, though he supports forming yet another coalition to defeat ISIS.) Why are the failed options still so attractive? In part, because bombing and drones are believed by the majority of Americans to be surgical procedures that kill lots of bad guys, not too many innocents, and no Americans at all. As Washington regularly imagines it, once air power is in play, someone else's boots ...