ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By Jon Robberson Today, the Obama administration, in a last ditch effort to further erode relations with Russia on their way out, announced a new round of sanctions on Russia and companies that are purportedly supplying Russia with support for cyber activities, the closure of two Russian facilities, and the expulsion from the country of 35 Russian diplomats that are claimed to be involved in activities that are not consistent with duties of diplomats. This comes as the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Bureau of Investigation released their Joint Assessment Report linking suspicious activities to what they believe to be Russian hacking cells supported by the Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU; note that it is mistranslated by Wikipedia and many in the media as the Main Intelligence Agency). In fact, the sanctions imposed by the administration target these two Russian intelligence agencies specifically for their involvement in suppo...

As planned by the Russian forces the liberation of east-Aleppo was completed before Christmas. There are no longer beheadings by Takfiris in East-Aleppo. Instead a Christmas mass could be held in the damaged Elias Cathedral in the Old City in east-Aleppo. A total of about 88,000 people left the area during the evacuation of east-Aleppo. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross some 35,000 (13,000 militants and their immediate families) left to al-Qaeda held areas in Idleb governate. The UN Humanitarian Relief Organization found that 54,000 entered the government held west Aleppo. Currently the area is searched by sapper teams and several hidden bombs were found. Several exploded and killed dozens of Syrian army soldiers. Mass graves were found of Syrian soldiers and civilians executed by al-Qaeda, Ahrar al Sham and other U.S. supported groups, presumably shortly before their evacuation. The Syrian government had wanted to negotiate their release before the evacuation. ...

The US Army is going to demonstrate a number of various robots and drones, which will take part in the Fort Benning military exercises along with US servicemen, in 2017. Photo: US Army 55th Combat Camera / Sgt. Steven Hitchcock In 2017, the US Army plans to show a number of various robots and drones, which will take part in the Fort Benning military exercises along with US servicemen, the DefenseNews news portal reported. It is assumed that all the demonstrated robots will be put into service in the army until 2023. One of the main tasks will be to attempt to test interaction between robotic systems and manned military hardware in various military branches in the field. For example, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) Shadow and Gray Eagle are going to be used along with the AH-64 Apache helicopters. It is expected that they will play the role of a reconnaissance and attack helicopter, which was previously performed by the OH-58 Kiowa helicopter, before it was decommissioned from the ran...

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) will experience one of the biggest shake-ups in its history after the inauguration of US President-elect Donald Trump on January 20, 2017. Photo: independent.co.uk The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) , whose opinion on almost all international issues is different from the US President-elect Donald Trump’s beliefs, is going to experience one of the biggest shake-ups in its history after the inauguration of the new President on January 20, the French Intelligence Online news portal reported in its article, entitled ‘La CIA attend sa purge’. Some former and current employees of the agency compare these shocks with those ones, which the CIA experienced after US President Ronald Reagan got into power in 1980. According to the news portal, citing circles close to Trump , replacements of personnel on 50 positions can be held in the CIA. The future director Mike Pompeo, a former Republican congressman from Kansas, is already conducting extensive consulta...

According to reports, the Turkish government recruits Syrian male refugees aged 18 to 35 years old in order to send them in northern Syria to fight in the ranks of Turkish mercenaries. A Turkish tank passed a Kurdish militia member on a mission into Syria (Photo: AP / Depo Photos / Mursel Coban) Syrian male refugees aged 18 to 35 years old have been recruited by the Turkish government in order to send them to fight in the ranks of its mercenaries within the framework of Operation Euphrates Shield in northern Syria, the al-Hadath news portal reported on Thursday. While social networks’ activists have confirmed this report and published photos, showing white buses in Gaziantep, which were used to transport refugees back to battlefields in northern Syria, sources, close to terrorist groups, have denied this information. “The Turkish authorities force any Syrian refugee of suitable age to get to the white buses in order to be taken back to northern Syria to fight in Ankara’s Euphrates Shi...