ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Google's newly updated maps show unprecedented detail in aerial imagery of isolated labour camps and missile launch pad While citizen cartographers have been compiling detailed information on North Korea for years, on Monday Google announced the publication of mapping data that had previously been missing. The release follows a private " humanitarian mission " by Google executive Eric Schmidt to Pyongyang with Bill Richardson, the former governor of New Mexico. After the trip, commentators speculated on the mix of business and political motives by Schmidt, while the US government emphasised that it had no connection to the visit. Commenting on what he saw, Schmidt criticised the North Korean decision to be "virtually isolated". Schmidt was apparently unable to meet with a detained Korean-American, but said he urged the country to increase internet access . The country has minimal connectivity with the outside, and only a small percentage of citizens can even

The bodies of at least 80 persons have been found along a river bank in Aleppo with single gunshot wounds to the head The bodies of at least 80 young men and boys, all executed with a single gunshot to the head or neck, have been found in a river in the Syrian city of Aleppo, a watchdog and rebels said. The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 65 bodies were found in the Quweiq River, which separates the Bustan al-Qasr district from Ansari in the southwest of the city, but that the toll could rise significantly. A Free Syrian Army fighter at the scene said the death toll is higher, pointing out that many more bodies were still being dragged from the water, in a rebel-held area. "Until now we have recovered 68 bodies, some of them just teens," said Captain Abu Sada, adding that all of them had been "executed by the regime." "But there must be more than 100. There are still many in the water, and we are trying to recover them.&quo

North Korea's state-run media reported Sunday that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the country's top security officials to take "substantial and high-profile important state measures," which has been widely interpreted to mean that North Korea is planning its third nuclear test . Kim said the orders were retaliation for the U.S.-led push to tighten U.N. sanctions on Pyongyang following North Korea's missile test in October. A few days before Kim's statement emerged, the North Koreans said future tests would target the United States, which North Korea regards as its key adversary along with Washington's tool, South Korea. North Korea has been using the threat of tests and the tests themselves as weapons against its neighbors and the United States for years. On the surface, threatening to test weapons does not appear particularly sensible. If the test fails, you look weak. If it succeeds, you look dangerous without actually having a deliverable

In the two decades since the dissolution of the USSR, Russian and Western experts, human rights activists, and journalists have become accustomed to the political violence of the North Caucasus. Terrorist bombings and acts of sabotage in Dagestan, Ingushetia, and Chechnya are perceived as somehow intrinsic to the region. But a recent tragedy in the Volga region suggests that this sort of violence—and the Islamist terrorists who perpetrate it—may not be confined to the Caucasus. On the morning of July 19, 2012, simultaneous terrorist attacks wounded the Tatarstan chief mufti, Ildis Faizov, and killed Valiulla Yakupov, the former deputy chairman of the Tatarstan Spiritual Board of Muslims (TSBM), a well-known Islamic theologian and public figure and one of the most consistent opponents of what Russian politicians and media refer to as Wahhabism. For the first time, official Islamic religious leaders from outside the North Caucasus became victims of Islamist terrorism. Three months late

Malian and French troops enter the ancient city of Timbuktu, but one northern town remains in rebel hands French and Malian troops have taken control of the historic Malian city of Timbuktu, after rebel occupiers fled the ancient Sahara trading town and torched several buildings, including a priceless manuscript library. The French-led coalition troops were welcomed by residents of the town, AFP news agency reported with some residents saying that the rebel fighters had left the city several days ago. "The Malian army and the French army are in complete control of the town of Timbuktu. Everything is under control," a colonel in the Malian army told AFP on condition of anonymity. A French military source said there were fears they could have dotted the city with mines, adding that they were in the process of "securing" it. Al Jazeera's Jacky Rowland, reporting from Timbuktu said that the streets were almost empty when the coalition troops arrived. "As we g

WEEKLY UPDATE JANUARY 28, 2013   Uncertainty and complacency   Yesterday  The New York Times  published an  editorial  criticising UK Prime Minister David Cameron for the  speech  he gave last week on the  future of the UK-EU relationship . The basic argument is that  the United Kingdom will find it hard to renegotiate the terms of EU membership  and that Cameron's referendum pledge "presages four or five years of costly uncertainty for potential investors". The first part of this criticism has merit. The United Kingdom's European partners may indeed resist any effort at renegotiation. However, the second part of the criticism is more open to question. There is no doubt that Cameron made a big gamble with this speech. His goal is to silence eurosceptics within his Conservative Party without shedding votes to the UK Independence Party (UKIP). Cameron also hopes to  keep the Liberal Democrats inside the coalition  while at the same time catching Labour leader

January 28, 2013 - In a recent interview with the London Telegraph, Bill Gates has now claimed that his Foundation's massive push for vaccination is not just an exercise in philanthropy but that it is, in fact, "God's work." Gates, who, according to the Telegraph, is worth an estimated $65 billion, is now dedicating his life to the "eradication of poliomyelitis," or, at least he is dedicating himself to the vaccination program allegedly aimed at achieving these ends. As reported by the Telegraph, "My wife and I had a long dialogue about how we were going to take the wealth that we're lucky enough to have and give it back in a way that's most impactful to the world," he says. "Both of us worked at Microsoft and saw that if you take innovation and smart people, the ability to measure what's working, that you can pull together some pretty dramatic things. "We're focused on the help of the poorest in the world, which really d

The Pentagon has approved a major expansion of its cybersecurity force over the next several years, increasing its size more than fivefold to bolster the nation’s ability to defend critical computer systems and conduct offensive computer operations against foreign adversaries, according to U.S. officials. The move, requested by the head of the Defense Department’s Cyber Command, is part of an effort to turn an organization that has focused largely on defensive measures into the equivalent of an Internet-era fighting force. The command, made up of about 900 personnel, will expand to include 4,900 troops and civilians. Details of the plan have not been finalized, but the decision to expand the Cyber Command was made by senior Pentagon officials late last year in recognition of a growing threat in cyberspace, said officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the expansion has not been formally announced. The gravity of that threat, they said, has been highlighted by a string