ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By Peter Symonds  A dangerous confrontation is rapidly emerging on the Korean Peninsula between the United States and North Korea, with the potential to plunge North East Asia and the rest of the world into a catastrophic conflict between nuclear-armed powers. Amid a barrage of commentary in the American and international media inflating the threat posed by the Pyongyang regime, the Trump administration is actively considering “all options” to disarm and subordinate North Korea. The immediate pretext is North Korea’s test-firing of four medium-range ballistic missiles last week, following the launch in February of a new intermediate-range missile. However, the drumbeat of US military threats has been preceded by months of high-level discussions in American foreign policy and military circles over action to prevent North Korea building an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of hitting the continental United States. President Barack Obama, who, according to the New York...

A Yazidi woman was killed and 12 othe people were injured when Rojava Peshmerga units loyal to Iraqi Kurdistan President Masoud Barzani opened fire on protersters in the region of Shingal near the Iraqi-Syrian border. The incident took place near the town of Khanasur, controlled by predominantly Shingal Protection Units (YBS) a Yazidi militia affiled with the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK). YBS supporters marched towards positions occupied by pro-Barzani forces. Clashes between YBS and Rojava Peshmerga already took place earlier this month due to tensions between the Barzani clan and the local populations which support the PKK. More info about the tensions can be found in this article. Photos from the site:

The Iranian authorities have promised to grant Iran’s citizenship to Afghan fighters, who are members of the IRGC Fatimiyyoun Brigade, fighting in Syria. Afghan fighters, fighting as part of the Fatimiyyoun Brigade of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) on the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic, will get Iranian citizenship on the orders of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the Anadolu news agency reported, citing an official of the Iranian Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, Mohammad Ali Shahidi Mahallati. According to the news agency, the announcement was made on the Iranian Javanonline information website on Sunday. “According to Khamenei’s instructions, Iran will grant citizenship to Afghans fighting in Syria [as part of the Fatimiyyoun Brigade],” Anadolu quoted Mahallati’s words. Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war, a number of Shia militias, overseen by IRGC commanders, have been sent by Iran to the country to fight alongside the Syrian gove...

Russian private military contractors operate on the territory of Libya and other countries of the Middle East. Contract soldiers of the RSB-Group private military company (Photo: Twitter / PM_company_bot) The post is based on this article by BMPD blog and the info from opex360.com In accordance with Article 359 of the Russian Criminal Code, activities related to mercenarism can be sentenced to up to eight years in prison, however, this does not prevent existence of so-called private military companies, such as Moran Security Group (registered in Belize), Tigr, Antiterror-Orel, Slavonic Corps (registered in Hong Kong) or RSB-Group, headquartered in Moscow, the Zone Militaire information portal reported on Monday. Since 2012, several attempts to legalize activities of private military companies have been failed due to opposition of the Russian Defense Ministry and the Federal Security Service (FSB), which negatively treat establishment of such organizations because of fears that these...