ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Tensions between the United States and North Korea just seem to be getting worse and worse. According to the  Daily Mail , U.S. cybersecurity experts now believe that a team of North Korean Internet hackers  targeted American power companies  in an attempt to download malware in preparation for a cyber attack. According to a report by the Internet security firm FireEye, the hackers sent emails to these power companies asking them to participate in a fundraiser. Once the invitation was downloaded, the computer network would become infected with malware. It is still unclear how successful the hacking attempts were, but FireEye believes that the attack was the result of heightened tensions between the United States and North Korea in recent months. Similar attacks from the North Korean government have been carried out on South Korean electric utilities and other government institutions in the past. FireEye stated that the hacking attempts on South Korea were most like...

A screenshot from the video Russia’s Aerospace Forces and Navy are puring ISIS positions near the Syrian border town of al-Bukamal as the Syrian Army and its allies push towards the ISIS stronghold. On November 3, six Tu-22M3 strategic bombers and the Varshavyanka class attack submarine Kolpino conducted a massive strike on ISIS positions near al-Bukamal. Spokesperson for the Russian Defense Ministry Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said that the submarine launched six Kalibr cruise missiles from an underwater position in the Mediterranean Sea. Su-24 and Su-34 warplanes were also involved in the strike alongside with the Tu-22M3 bombers. ISIS allegedly suffered heavy losses due to the recent seires of strikes by Russian bombers and submarines. “This enabled General Hassan Suheil’s assault forces to launch active offensive operations with the aim to wipe out the Islamic State’s last stronghold in the east of Syria,” Konashenkov added, according to TASS. [General H...

  1   Share 1     0         146   Donate Taliban commander Mullah Abdul Saeed met the Guardian in the barren backcountry of Logar province. Photograph: Andrew Quilty for the Guardian The Guardian  posted an interview with a Taliban commander. According to the interview, this commander leeds 150 Taliban militants in Logar province. He has has fought foreign soldiers and their Afghan allies since the US-led coalition invaded Afghanistan when he was 14. The Taliban now controls its largest territory since being forced from power, and seems to have no shortage of recruits. Referring to Barack Obama’s surge, he said: “150,000 Americans couldn’t beat us.” And an extra 4,000 US soldiers, as Donald Trump will deploy, “will not change the morale of our mujahideen,” he said. “The Americans were walking in our villages, and we pushed them out.” For the Taliban to consider peace, he said, “foreigners must leave, and the constitution m...

A Ukrainian T-64 © SPUTNIK/ STRINGER In September, 35 Ukrainian T-64 tanks broke down on a firing ground near Melitopol. After working for a few hours, the tanks started losing power, with their engines repeatedly cutting out. At first 21 tanks failed, with 14 more failing in a few days. According to the command, the tanks were equipped with brand new engines, with no more than 3-4 hours of working time. The failures were reasoned out to be because of the faulty fuel. Ukrainian journalist Taras Zhovtenko  investigated  the incident. According to him, a special committee, created to investigate the tanks, received three engines of the failed T-64s. The committee reported that the engines were anything but new, with metal corroded, a lot of dust residue and other evidence of long use. The oil waste from the engines contained dirt, metal, and traces of fuel. This couldn’t have happened to a brand new engine. The real age of the engines was not announced. The commit...