ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Hamas militants fire artillery rockets form south Gaza into Israel, July 19. (JACK GUEZ/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Rockets are at the center of the crisis in Gaza. Despite the Israeli operation to clear Hamas' tunnel networks, which the group uses to move and store its rocket arsenal, Hamas continues to launch artillery rockets. Not only that, but the militants are reducing the weight of their rocket warheads, increasing the range of the projectiles and threatening towns and cities across Israel. Analysis Based on information from Israeli defense sources and Stratfor contacts, as well as a careful examination of impact sites, it appears that Hamas is willing to reduce the explosive lethality of its rockets in order to achieve greater range. By removing weight from the warheads of these medium-range rockets, Palestinian militants can increase the rockets' velocity, in turn extending their flight time. This adjustment enables Hamas to more consistently set off rocket sirens acros

Alexander Hug (c), Deputy Chief Monitor of the OSCE's Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine, visits the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 in separatist-held eastern Ukraine July 18.(DOMINIQUE FAGET/AFP/Getty Images) Analysis Editor's Note: After Ukraine spent years trying to negotiate an association agreement with the European Union, speculation abounded at the end of 2013 that the country was on the verge of stepping out of Russia's shadow and into the European Union's sphere of influence. Kiev seemed to be getting closer to signing the association agreement -- which would have tilted its foreign and security policies, justice and home affairs, and most important, its trade agreements toward Europe. But Russian pressure derailed negotiations at the end of November and then-President Viktor Yanukovich did not sign the agreement at the Eastern Partnership summit held in Vilnius from Nov. 27 to Nov. 29. Pro-EU demonstrations erupted in Ukraine almost immediately

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki votes in parliamentary elections in April 2014.(ALI AL-SAADI/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Nouri al-Maliki, the only prime minister Baghdad has known since the United States invaded Iraq and overthrew Saddam Hussein, may soon lose his job as his country struggles to form a government. Like al-Maliki, Iraq's next head of state will almost certainly be beholden to Tehran, even as he manages an insurgency that threatens to tear the country apart. Analysis Al-Maliki owes his tenure largely to his ability to placate U.S. and Iranian interests. For eight years he was able to keep his Shiite coalition intact, but his tactics alienated Iraq's once-dominant Sunnis and the Kurds, who were once allied with the Shia. In some ways, his exclusion of the country's minority populations explains why the country is fraying. Government Formation There are several factors in Iraq's struggle to form a government. The Kurds have sought more autonomy by assumi

A Ukrainian convoy passes through Konstantinovka in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk province on July 21.(GENYA SAVILOV/AFP/Getty Images) Summary Since a cease-fire expired in early July, Ukrainian security forces have made real gains on the battlefield, siphoning off territory from pro-Russian separatists and forcing them to go on the defensive. With a concert of air power, artillery and thrusts that combine infantry and armor, Ukrainian forces have advanced along three axes. As military operations move farther east toward Russia, however, the operation will face more stubborn and capable resistance -- as long as Russia continues to support the militants. Analysis Before the cease-fire went into effect, the Ukrainian military had been surrounding Slovyansk, slowly strangling rebel positions in the city. Farther afoot, they were putting slight pressure on territory to the west of Donetsk city and north of Luhansk city, but the Ukrainian military had lost control over a large portion of it

A passenger aircraft belonging to Israel's El Al national airline sits on the tarmac of Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv, July 23.(GIL COHEN MAGEN/AFP/Getty Images) Summary The Federal Aviation Administration extended a ban July 23 on U.S. flights to Israel for another 24 hours. The ban was imposed, with Canadian and European airliners following suit, a day earlier after a rocket fell near Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv. As the economic cost of Operation Protective Edge grows in Israel, Hamas is seizing the opportunity to declare victory against Israel amid a flurry of cease-fire efforts. The reality is that the victory Hamas has proclaimed is just as elusive as the terms of a cease-fire, locking Israel and Gaza militants into a continuous cycle of warfare. Analysis Hamas essentially got lucky with the rocket that landed near the airport. It is unlikely that the group could replicate the attack to turn the conflict into an economic battle of attrition.

In April 2014, the service’s director described the drug production developing on planetary scale as “fostered by the US and NATO” and “the legacy Russia and the world will have to deal with” This was a 50% year-on-year increase, he added, in particular a 30% rise in the amount of heroin (1.7 tonnes) and a 150% increase in synthetic narcotics seized (3 tonnes). The drug police prevented 82% of crimes (10,790 of a total of 12,771) in illicit organized drug trafficking. A total of 746 drug syndicates were eliminated. One of the major Afghan heroin supply channels was detected in late June - the drugs flowing to Siberia through Kazakhstan. The police seized 36 kilograms and ended operations of the transnational group of traffickers. Drug production is expanding at a high pace. According to the Russian drug service, it has grown 400% over the last 10 years. The country produced up to 90% of global opium a year, or 150 billion single doses. A surge in drug production occurred after the inte

Meanwhile, the representatives of the intelligence say they have no evidence of Russia's direct complicity to the occurred tragedy © EPA/IGOR KOVALENKO Gallery 2 photo Video allegedly showing Buk system transfer from Ukraine to Russia fake WASHINGTON, July 23. /Dmitry Kirsanov for ITAR-TASS/. American intelligence services believe that Malaysia Airlines’ passenger plane was shot down July 17 by militias as a result of a mistake, since they apparently took it to be a military jet. Representatives of the US intelligence reported this to journalists at a special briefing arranged by the US Administration on Tuesday. They recognized that Washington doesn’t have any information on Russia’s direct implication in the occurred tragedy. At the same time, the briefing’s speakers stated that Russia "created the conditions" that resulted in the air crash in eastern Ukraine. In addition, they blamed Moscow for continuing supplying Ukrainian rebels with weapons, including air defense

A group of experts studied the tape and came to the conclusion that it was made up of numerous unrelated recordings © ITAR-TASS MOSCOW, uly 20 /ITAR-TASS/. A tape posted by Ukrainian security services in the Internet and allegedly recording a talk between self-defense fighters about the destruction of a Malaysian airliner is a fake, experts said on Sunday. A group of experts studied the tape and came to the conclusion that it was made up of numerous unrelated recordings. “This audio recording is not an integral file and is made up of several fragments,” said Nikolai Popov, a reputable expert in sound and voice analysis. 196 people found dead at Malaysian airliner crash site in Ukraine Specifically, the first of the three audio fragments, in which Gorlovka self-defense militia commander Igor Bezler talks about a plane shot down by the fighters, does not say anything about the type of the plane, the expert said. At the same time, the name of the town of Yenakiyevo is clearly heard in th