ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

It’s now two years since the horrific attacks in Paris that killed 130 people and injured hundreds more at a sports stadium, at sidewalk cafés, and in the Bataclan concert hall. The world was shaken, and the powerful tremors of terror were felt in the United States. Then, less than three weeks later, a husband and wife who’d secretly embraced violent jihad carried out a mass shooting at a Christmas party in San Bernardino, California, that left 14 people dead and 22 injured. Candidate Donald Trump was able to ride a wave of fear that helped him clinch the Republican nomination and eventually the presidency as he called for a ban on foreign Muslims and registration of domestic ones in the United States. But such measures have proved difficult to implement, and would be counterproductive if ever they were put in effect. The following essay by veteran counterterror investigator Ahmet Yayla offers a different approach. —Christopher Dickey, World News Editor The anniversaries of the Bata...

Indian Express  reported  that Indian Ministry of Defense ultimately decided against buying the large shipment of Spike Man-Portable Anti-Tank Guided Missiles (ATGM) for $525 million developed by Israeli Rafael Defense Systems. The decision was made at the last moment. Rafael report that they did not receive any official statement from India, and the contract is still ongoing. In 2009, the Indian Ministry of Defense accepted the requirement of buying 321 ATGM launchers and 8,356 missiles, with 30 per cent offsets and a transfer of technology clause, with 30% offsets and a transfer of technology clause. Two options were considered: Israeli Spike-MR and US FGM-148 Javelin by Texas Instruments and Martin Marietta (now Raytheon and Lockheed Martin). The US refused to transfer the technology, so India had a trial evaluation of Rafael’s Spike missiles in India in 2011-2012, and in 2013 Ministry of Defense gave the go ahead to for procuring the missiles from Israel. The US la...

On November 23, Iranian Navy commander, Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi, revealed during his first press conference that Iran is planning to send its warships to the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean in the near future according to NBC TV. “Our fleet of warships will be sent to the Atlantic Ocean in the near future and will visit one of the friendly states in South America and the Gulf of Mexico,” Rear Adm. Hossein Khanzadi said during the conference, according to the Iranian Fars news agency. Rear Adm. Hossein Khanzadi was appointed as the commander of the Iranian Navy by the Supreme Leader of Iran Sayyid Ali Hosseini Khamenei on November 5. These promises are likely just a part of the ongoing propaganda war between the US and Iran. The Previous commander of the Iranian Navy Rear Adm. Habibollah Sayyari made similar promises back in 2014. However, Sayyari later claimed that the Iranian Navy canceled its plan to send its warships to the Gulf of Mexico “due to a change in s...

On November 24, Turkey President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ruled out any place for the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) and its armed wing, the People’s Protection Units (YPG), in the upcoming Syrian National Dialogue conference in the Russian city of Sochi, according to the Turkish Hürriyet Daily News newspaper. “We discussed the issue of the Syria national dialogue congress in detail. We, as three countries, will decide on who will be invited to the congress. Sub-commissions established by our foreign ministries will make the necessary studies beforehand,” Erdoğan said during the press conference in Sochi. The Turkish president said that Turkey believes that all Syrian groups should be invited to the upcoming Syrian National Dialogue conference in Sochi. However, Erdogan stressed that Turkey’s position on “terrorist organizations such as the YPG and the PYD is clear”. Erdogan also said that he believes that Putin shares Turkey’s “sensitivity about the PYD and the YPG”, and ...