ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By John Chan - " WSWS " - In a deliberately provocative move, the US announced yesterday that two B-52 strategic bombers conducted a training mission over the disputed Senkaku Islands (known as Diaoyu in China) in the East China Sea, just days after Beijing declared an “air defence identification zone” (ADIZ) covering the area. The Pentagon’s claim that it was a routine planned mission lacks any credibility. The overflight was clearly designed to challenge China, in line with US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel’s statement that the US Air Force would simply ignore the Chinese rules in the zone. The two B-52 bombers, which are designed to carry nuclear bombs and nuclear cruise missiles, flew from and returned to Guam, the key US base in the Pacific. The flight was aimed at sending an intimidating message to Beijing that the US would support Japan in a war against China over the Senkakus. In his statement, Hagel also reaffirmed Washington’s commitment to the US-Japan Security Trea...

By Finian Cunningham November 28, 2013 - "Forcefulness seems to come easily to Mr Hollande abroad", noted one commentator for the New York Times, who contrasted the French president’s ailing political performance at home with his robust foreign policy. Where Francois Hollande looks weak and beleaguered on the national stage, registering as the most unpopular French president ever, his fortunes seem to rise abroad with a strident interventionist foreign policy. We saw that in September when the French president unseated the British as America’s "special friend" by declaring his country’s readiness to join Washington in a military assault on Syria . Elysée Palace may have subsequently regretted that particular gung-ho gambit after US President Barack Obama got cold feet and eventually backed away from military action in Syria, leaving Paris looking like a tin soldier. Nevertheless, we saw in Hollande’s Syria stance a man who appears more decisive and confident when it...

Previously one church, the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church split in 1054 when the patriarch of Constantinople was excommunicated from the Catholic Church and theological differences broke the church in two. Heralded as the Great Schism (which is different from the schism between Catholicism and Protestantism), this event would create the separate Eastern (Orthodox) and Western (Catholic) churches. The Eastern Orthodox Church is divided by jurisdiction into regional churches such as the Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Greek or Serbian Orthodox churches. Each regional church under the Eastern Orthodox faith has its own patriarch. Starting in the 15th century, when the Ottomans ruled southeastern Europe, the Russian Orthodox Patriarchy in Moscow rose in importance because unlike the other Orthodox churches, it was not under Ottoman rule. The Moscow Patriarchy called itself the "Third Rome," and Russia has since been the largest Orthodox country in the w...

A Slovak ballot box in Bratislava on Nov. 9. The second round of regional elections took place Nov. 23. (SAMUEL KUBANI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary One of Slovakia's eight administrative regions, Banska Bystrica, will soon be governed by a far-right nationalist. On Nov. 24, Marian Kotleba, the candidate for the People's Party-Our Slovakia, won 55 percent of the vote in a runoff election after having received roughly 21 percent in the first round. While moderates still dominate Slovak politics, far-right parties are becoming an acceptable political alternative in the country -- a trend that can be seen elsewhere in Europe. Analysis Kotleba has been involved in far-right politics for at least a decade. In 2005, he created the far-right Slovak Togetherness-National Party (also known as the Slovak Congregation), which had pronounced anti-Roma and anti-Semitic rhetoric. It also had a strong anti-globalization platform, as evidenced by its opposition to Slovakia's membership in NAT...

Pro-European demonstrators, angered at Russia's perceived meddling in Ukraine's attempts to strengthen ties with the EU, protest in the Western city of Lviv, Nov. 27. (YURIY DYACHYSHYN/AFP/Getty Images) Summary The European Union will hold a summit of the Eastern Partnership, its flagship program to build closer ties with former Soviet states in Eastern Europe and the Caucasus (Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan), in Vilnius on Nov. 28-29. The highly anticipated summit was expected to make significant progress with a number of its target states, but the past few months have seen intensified competition between the European Union and Russia over the Eastern Partnership states. Moscow's notable gains over Brussels, particularly in Ukraine and Armenia, have greatly tempered expectations over what can be achieved at the summit. Various obstacles, including Russian opposition, EU divisions and the domestic political constraints of the target states thems...

By Norman Solomon and Abba A. Solomon November 27, 2013 - More than ever, Israel is isolated from world opinion and the squishy entity known as “the international community.” The Israeli government keeps condemning the Iran nuclear deal, by any rational standard a positive step away from the threat of catastrophic war. In the short run, the belligerent responses from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are bound to play badly in most of the U.S. media. But Netanyahu and the forces he represents have only begun to fight. They want war on Iran, and they are determined to exercise their political muscle that has long extended through most of the Washington establishment. While it’s unlikely that such muscle can undo the initial six-month nuclear deal reached with Iran last weekend, efforts are already underway to damage and destroy the negotiations down the road. On Capitol Hill the attacks are most intense from Republicans, and some leading Democrats have also sniped at the agreement r...

The French government said Nov. 26 that it would deploy about 1,000 troops to the Central African Republic , where the government and African peacekeeping forces have failed to put an end to insecurity. The land-locked African nation has been racked by violence since current President Michel Djotodia's rise to power through a rebellion in March . After the Seleka alliance of rebels brought Djotodia to power, he disbanded the alliance, but his lack of control over the rebels and the limited capabilities of the country's security forces have meant that he has been unable to control the spread of local militias or quell continuing violence against civilians. At the moment, 410 French soldiers are already in the country guarding the airport and French interests as well as providing logistical support for the 2,500 African peacekeeping forces from Cameroon, Chad, Gabon and the Republic of the Congo deployed there. However, the African peacekeepers operate mainly in the capital...

Security forces of the Central African Republic patrol in the capital, Bangui, on Nov. 22. (PACOME PABANDJI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary The deployment of French troops to the Central African Republic brings Paris to a new level of commitment in the conflict, where it had previously limited its presence to protecting French interests and providing logistical support to African peacekeepers. The French government said Nov. 26 that it would deploy about 1,000 troops to the landlocked African nation, where the government and African peacekeeping forces have failed to put an end to insecurity. However, the French forces will likely avoid direct engagement with the remaining rebel forces in the country. Analysis The Central African Republic has been racked by violence since current President Michel Djotodia's rise to power through a rebellion in March . After the Seleka alliance of rebels brought Djotodia to power, he disbanded the alliance, but his lack of control over the rebels and th...