ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

It looks that even mainstream think tanks, supporting the NATO, don’t care about providing real facts about the military bloc. On July 12, Stratfor, often described as a CIA-linked organization,  released a map designed to show NATO member states and years when they joined the alliance . The only problem that the map includes mistakes obvious for any informed person: According to the map, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), also known as East Germany, joined the NATO in 1982. The GDR has never been a NATO member state. Slovenia, a NATO member state since 2004, is shown by Stratfor as a neutral country. The map says that Spain joined the NATO in 1990. Indeed, Spain joined the bloc in 1982. Strtfor also failed to mention Montenegro as a NATO member. The country joined the bloc in 2017. Click to see the full-size image These mistakes were obsviously noted by Twitter users. However, Stratfor has ingored the feedback so far. Click to see the full-size image

AP Photo / Vahid Salemi The US is considering an option to impose sanctions against Russia, China and EU states for buying Iranian oil, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. “We intend to enforce sanctions on them [China], on Russia, on Europe and others against Iran oil,” Mnuchin answered to a question if the US would impose sanctions on China for importing Iranian oil. Washington has repeatedly threatened that it is set to impose new sanctions on Iran and urged all world countries, including its allies, not to stop purchasing Iranian oil and to cut trade ties with the country. The Trump administration claimed that those states that fail to do so will be blacklisted by the US. Earlier this year, President Trump announced that the US is withdrawing from Iran nuclear deal and is increasing pressure on the country.