ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Its government has no real power; militias are ever more entrenched, and now the state itself is under threat By Patrick Cockburn The Libyan former prime minister Ali Zeidan fled last week after parliament voted him out of office. A North Korean-flagged oil tanker, the Morning Glory, illegally picked up a cargo of crude from rebels in the east of the country and sailed safely away, despite a government minister's threat that the vessel would be "turned into a pile of metal" if it left port: the Libyan navy blamed rough weather for its failure to stop the ship. Militias based in Misrata, western Libya, notorious for their violence and independence, have launched an offensive against the eastern rebels in what could be the opening shots in a civil war between western and eastern Libya. Without a central government with any real power, Libya is falling apart. And this is happening almost three years after 19 March 2011 when the French air force stopped Mu'ammer Gaddafi...

Russia's lower house of parliament will pass a legislation allowing Crimea to join Russia as soon as possible, Interfax reported March 17. About 75 percent of the ballots have been counted and of those 95.7 percent are in favor of Crimea's annexation by Russia. President Vladimir Putin has said he will respect the will of the people in Crimea, ignoring Western leaders who say the referendum was illegal. The Japanese Government does not recognize the referendum in Crimea and urges Russia not to annex the region, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Reuters reported March 17. Tokyo will respond on sanctions against Russia in coordination with the Group of Seven leading economies

Then-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev (R) and U.S. President Barack Obama sign the New START agreement in Prague on April 8, 2010. (Getty Images) Summary As Russia and the West continue to trade threats over the Ukraine crisis , the Russian Defense Ministry has raised the stakes by saying it is considering halting foreign inspections of its strategic nuclear arsenal. If it followed through on the threat, Moscow would be in clear violation of the New START arms control agreement. To this point, most of the threats or enacted measures over the Crimea standoff have centered on economic reprisal, not anything that could affect security. Russia certainly has concerns about New START and other weapons treaties with the West, but it has no intention of withdrawing and rekindling an arms race it may not be able to afford. Analysis Russia has threatened in the past to break or withdraw from New START or the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty, which differs from New START in that it bans...

Former Knights Templar informants now in a self-defense group in Michoacan state in February 2014. (ALFREDO ESTRELLA/AFP/Getty Images) Summary In the latest in a string of counternarcotic successes for Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, top Knights Templar leader Nazario Moreno Gonzalez was killed in a confrontation with Mexican authorities March 9 in Tumbiscatio, Michoacan state. Though on the surface a success, the elimination of Nazario Moreno could wind up creating additional security distractions for Mexico City as rival groups rush to fill the vacuum left in Michoacan by the Knights Templar cartel's reversals of fortune. Analysis Throughout Mexico, military pressure continues to break organized crime groups into separate, autonomous crime networks. A number of major organized criminal group leaders have been killed or captured lately, including Los Zetas leader Miguel "Z-40" Trevino Morales and Sinaloa Federation leader Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman Loera....

Investigators say the missing Malaysia Airlines jet was hijacked and steered off-course. A Malaysian government official said people with significant flying experience could have turned off the flight's communication devices, meaning the plane could have flown for up to six hours after it was lost by satellite. The representative said that hijacking theory was now 'conclusive', and police are now believed to be searching the home of one of the pilots. While Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak refused to confirm that flight MH370 was seized, he admitted 'deliberate action' on board the plane resulted in it changing course and losing connection with ground crews. Conclusion: Malaysian officials say flight MH370 could have been hijacked by one or several people with flying experience and deliberately diverted It is not yet clear where the plane was taken, however Mr Razak said the most recent satellite data suggests the plane could have headed to one of two possible...

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky " GR "- A Russian Internet news site Iskra (“Spark”) based in Zaporozhye, eastern Ukraine, reported on March 7, that “Ukraine’s gold reserves had been hastily airlifted to the United States from Borispol Airport east of Kiev”. This alleged airlift and confiscation of Ukraine’s gold reserves by the New York Federal Reserve has not been confirmed by the Western media. According to Iskra News : At 2 a.m. this morning [March 7] an unmarked transport plane was on the runway at Borispol Airport (right) [east of Kiev]. According to airport staff, before the plane came to the airport, four trucks and two Volkswagen minibuses arrived, all the truck license plates missing. Fifteen people in black uniforms, masks, and body armor stepped out, some armed with machine guns. They loaded the plane with more than 40 heavy boxes. After that a mysterious man arrived and entered the plane. All loading was done in a hurry. The plane took off on an emergency basis...

By Eric Margolis Many Americans have trouble understanding modern Russia or leader Vladimir Putin. That’s in good part because they have little or no understanding of Russia’s history or geopolitics. “The Soviets Union will return” I wrote in 1991 after the collapse of the USSR deprived the Russian imperium of a third of its territory, almost half its people and much of its world power. A similar disaster for Russia occurred in 1918 at the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Defeated by the German-Austrian-Bulgarian-Turkish Central Powers in World War I and racked by revolution, Lenin’s new Bolshevik regime bowed to German demands to hand over the Baltic states and allow Ukraine to become independent. As soon as Josef Stalin consolidated power, he began undoing the Brest-Litovsk surrender. The Baltic states, Ukraine, the southern Caucasus and parts of “Greater Romania” were reoccupied. Half of Poland again fell under Russian control. Stalin restored his nation to its pre-war 1914 borders, killing...

By RT " RT "- Russia has vetoed a UN Security Council’s resolution declaring the upcoming referendum on the future status of autonomous republic of Crimea invalid and urging all states not to recognize its results. China abstained as 13 council members supported the resolution and Russia voted against. Security Council resolution on #Ukraine not adopted. Vote: In favour 13. Against 1 (Russia). Abstention 1 (China). http://t.co/WhwXXmV8an — United Nations (@UN) March 15, 2014 The draft resolution noted that the Ukrainian government in Kiev has not authorized the referendum and said that it cannot be valid. “This referendum can have no validity, and cannot form the basis for any alteration of the status of Crimea; and calls upon all States, international organizations and specialized agencies not to recognize any alteration of the status of Crimea on the basis of this referendum and to refrain from any action or dealing that might be interpreted as recognizing any such altered...