ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By Ryan Gallagher " The Intercept " - The National Security Agency is secretly providing data to nearly two dozen U.S. government agencies with a “Google-like” search engine built to share more than 850 billion records about phone calls, emails, cellphone locations, and internet chats, according to classified documents obtained by The Intercept. The documents provide the first definitive evidence that the NSA has for years made massive amounts of surveillance data directly accessible to domestic law enforcement agencies. Planning documents for ICREACH, as the search engine is called, cite the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug Enforcement Administration as key participants. ICREACH contains information on the private communications of foreigners and, it appears, millions of records on American citizens who have not been accused of any wrongdoing. Details about its existence are contained in the archive of materials provided to The Intercept by NSA whistleb

By RT Egypt and the United Arab Emirates have been joining forces in secret to carry out air strikes on Libya, anonymous high-ranking US officials told the media. The two countries have reportedly coordinated and launched the attacks twice in the last week. Both Egypt and the UAE launched the strikes without informing the US or seeking its consent, the officials told the New York Times . “We don’t see this as constructive at all,” one of the officials told the newspaper, which reported that diplomats were “livid” about the strikes. Libya is a conflict-torn area with both the UN and Western powers seeking to quell the violence. While Egypt issued an outright denial, the UAE did not comment on having carried out the attacks. Egypt and UAE are solid military allies and are backed by the US. However, NYT sources said that the UAE was the source of pilots, warplanes and aerial refueling planes while Egyptian bases were used to strike Tripoli in both attacks, one of which took place a wee

This week a Chinese jet conducted a “dangerous” intercept of a P-8 Poseidon aircraft, the Pentagon announced on Friday. “On the 19th of August, an armed Chinese fighter jet conducted a dangerous intercept of a U.S. Navy P-8 Poseidon aircraft, patrol aircraft, that was on a routine mission. The intercept took place about 135 miles east of Hainan Island, in international airspace,” Admiral John Kirby, the spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Defense, told reporters at a press conference on Friday. Kirby elaborated on the incident, saying that the Chinese jet: “crossed under the aircraft with one pass having only 50-100 feet separation. The Chinese jet also passed the nose of the P-8 at 90 degrees with its belly toward the P-8 Poseidon, we believe to make a point of showing its weapons load-out. And then they flew directly under and alongside the P-8, bringing their wingtips, as I said, to within 20 feet. And then conducted a roll over the P-8, passing within 45 feet.” The Pentagon sp

Reuters / Guang Niu Traveling from Shanghai to San Francisco in under two hours may sound like a fantasy, but China believes it’s figured out how to design an underwater vehicle that can make the idea a reality. More worryingly, though, is the possibility that the technology will be used to develop even more dangerous weaponry. According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the super-fast technology was developed by scientists at the Harbin Institute of Technology, and would allow underwater submarines or torpedoes to exceed the equivalent speed of sound under water – about 3,600 miles per hour. The idea is based on the old Soviet concept of supercavitation, which involves creating a large air bubble around an object so that it could avoid facing too much friction and travel through water quickly. Professor Li Fengchen said that when the vessel hits the water, one of its mechanisms continuously sprays a “special liquid membrane” all over the object’s surface. This membrane even

Annie Machon A vehicle belonging to Kurdish security forces fires a multiple rocket launcher during clashes with Sunni militant group Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) on the outskirts of Diyala.(Reuters / Yahya Ahmad) Two horrors have dwelt in my mind for the last twenty years, ever since I read reports about terrorist groups while an impressionable young intelligence officer. The first involves the use of power tools as instruments of torture; drills, industrial sanders, angle grinders. This is no secret now and the meme has been much used and abused by Hollywood and series such as "24", but I still feel uncomfortable every time I am dragged into the "boy toy" section of a home improvement mega-store. The second has recently hit the news as a grim result of ISIS , the ultra-violent Sunni sect that has swept across much of Syria and Iraq, imposing the most draconian form of Sharia law in its wake upon the hapless citizens of formerly secular states. I

Ukrainian parliament members attend a session in Kiev (Reuters / Andrew Kravchenko) Ukrainian president, Petro Poroshenko, has made the decision to dismiss the country’s parliament, the Verkhovna Rada, a message on his official Twitter account says. The decision comes because “the majority of the MPs voted for dictator-style laws,” which cost the lives of Maidan activists, RIA Novosti news agency reports citing Poroshenko's spokesman. Dear compatriots, Today I have taken a decision to early dissolve the Parliament. — Петро Порошенко (@poroshenko) August 25, 2014 The election of the new parliament will be held on October 26, the spokesman Svyatoslav Tsegolko wrote on his Facebook page. Poroshenko has called on “democratic forces” in Ukraine to enter the elections as a united “pro-Ukrainian, pro-European team,” Tsegolko’s Facebook post states adding that the Rada was dismissed “because it is the only right and responsible decision.” “The Fifth Column in the parliament consists

By Peter Lee A think tank called CNA recently issued a 140-page report titled "China versus Vietnam: An Analysis of the Competing Claims in the South China Sea" authored by Raul (Pete) Pedrozo. [1] It provides a further legal rationale for growing US efforts to inject itself into South China Sea exclusive economic zone (EEZ) disputes on behalf of Vietnam and against the People's Republic of China. A few reasons why attention should be paid. First, the institution. CNA is described as a non-profit corporation. A fuller description would be a "US Navy analytic division dating to 1942 that worksexclusively for and is funded exclusively by the US government but was corporatized in the 1990s so it could dip its beak into non-DoD government work through a division called the Institute for Public Research". You could say that "CNA" stands for "Center for Naval Analyses", the name of its antecedent organization. But you'd be wrong, according to C

A screengrab taken on August 24, 2014 from a video released by the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram and obtained by AFP shows alleged members of the Nigerian Islamist extremist group Boko Haram at an undisclosed location (AFP Photo / Boko Haram) The leader of Boko Haram, Abubaker Shekau, has proclaimed an Islamic caliphate in the north eastern Nigerian town of Gwoza, which was seized by the Islamic militants earlier this month. The United Nations humanitarian office (OCHA) confirmed reports earlier this month that Gwoza was under Boko Harem control. In a 52-minute video obtained by AFP Shekau said: “Thanks be to Allah who gave victory to our brethren in Gwoza and made it part of the Islamic caliphate, by the grace of Allah we will not leave the town. We have come to stay.” Boko Haram is also believed to be in control of other areas of north eastern Nigeria including the southern part of Borno state as well as much of the territory of northern Borno and one town in neighbo