ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By Arina TSUKANOVA US Ambassador to UN Blames Russia for new violence in eastern Ukraine: U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Nikki Haley, blamed Russia on Thursday for the recent surge of violence in eastern Ukraine and warned Ukraine-related sanctions against Russia will not be lifted until Moscow returns Crimea to Kiev. The speech by the new US permanent representative to the UN Security Council, Nikki Haley, at a Security Council meeting on 3 February backed up the idea that the foreign policies of two American administrations – the previous one and the current one – will be continued. Haley said exactly the same as Samantha Power before her: «Our Crimea-related sanctions will remain in place until Russia returns control of the peninsula to Ukraine». The White House supported Haley’s statement on the need for Crimea to be returned to Ukraine, and the White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer, stated during a briefing that: «With respect to the sanctions, I think Ambassador Haley...

A controversial new monument has been erected in Dresden in honor of the victims of the battle for Aleppo. Photo: Getty Images / AFP / Sebastian Kahnert Syrian artist Manaf Halbouni has erected a controversial new monument in the central square of Dresden city, Germany. According to the artist, he tried to recreate a famous photo, taken by a Reuters’ photo-journalist during the battle for Aleppo in order to honor memory of the victims of the hostilities in the city. However, some people think that the monument may have been inspired by temporary fortifications, set up by radical Islamists, who killed Christians and was linked to the al-Qaeda terrorist group. A photo, which inspired Halbouni, shows three buses, which were vertically set up on one of the streets of Aleppo city and used as a fortification against snipers of the Syrian Arab Army. According to anti-mass migration NGO Einprozent, the flag, which can be seen on the top of one of the buses, belongs to the Ahrar al-Sham group,...

Original by Dr. Evgeniya Bilchenko; translation by J.Hawk My address is intended for those Ukrainian intellectuals who have not lost the remnants of their common sense, my colleagues and kindred spirits. It’s pointless to discuss with closed minds. By intellectuals I don’t mean a specific social class of snobs, but people whose lives revolve around letters, spirituality, and education. Many of them attempt to participate in social and academic life. And I know that the overwhelming majority of these people are not in agreement with what’s happening in the country. Here’s what I’ve seen in recent times: kitchen talk, half-whispers, pleas whispered into ears, claims that still more can be lost, injunctions to act with care. Why are you afraid to speak the truth? Simple truth that our country is under a totalitarian regime. A dumb, lying totalitarian regime only interested in prolonging the war and profiting from it. In sacrificing soldiers for the sake of cheap PR. In repressing civilian...

The Russian Navy intends to use the experience of the voyage of the Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser to Syria for developing of new tactics for the naval task forces. The Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser (Photo: TASS / Russian Navy Northern Fleet Press Office / Andrei Luzik) Russia is going to use the experience of the Syrian voyage of the Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser for developing of new tactics for the naval task forces in the World Ocean, the TASS news agency reported on Thursday, citing Commander of the Russian Navy, Admiral Vladimir Korolyov. “The tactics used in the voyage will also be analyzed by us. We’ll develop new approaches to employing aircraft carrier naval task forces in various parts of the World Ocean,” Korolyov said. He also added that all the positive aspects that were practiced at sea for the first time, will be analyzed by the Russian Navy’s Command. “Each subsequent voyage of a warshi...