ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By Owen Jones " The Guardian " - - The so-called war on terror is nearly 13 years old, but which rational human being will be cheering its success? We’ve had crackdowns on civil liberties across the world, tabloid-fanned generalisations about Muslims and, of course, military interventions whose consequences have ranged from the disastrous to the catastrophic. And where have we ended up? Wars that Britons believe have made them less safe ; jihadists too extreme even for al-Qaida’s tastes running amok in Iraq and Syria; and nations like Libya succumbing to Islamist militias. There are failures, and then there are calamities. But as the British government ramps up the terror alert to “severe” and yet more anti-terror legislation is proposed , some reflection after 13 years of disaster is surely needed. One element has been missing, and that is the west’s relationship with Middle Eastern dictatorships that have played a pernicious role in the rise of Islamist fundamentalist terr

By Alastair Crooke " Huffington Post " - - BEIRUT -- The dramatic arrival of Da'ish (ISIS) on the stage of Iraq has shocked many in the West. Many have been perplexed -- and horrified -- by its violence and its evident magnetism for Sunni youth. But more than this, they find Saudi Arabia's ambivalence in the face of this manifestation both troubling and inexplicable, wondering, "Don't the Saudis understand that ISIS threatens them, too?"  It appears -- even now -- that Saudi Arabia's ruling elite is divided. Some applaud that ISIS is fighting Iranian Shiite "fire" with Sunni "fire"; that a new Sunni state is taking shape at the very heart of what they regard as a historical Sunni patrimony; and they are drawn by Da'ish's strict Salafist ideology.  Other Saudis are more fearful, and recall the history of the revolt against Abd-al Aziz by the Wahhabist Ikhwan (Disclaimer: this Ikhwan has nothing to do with the Muslim Brothe

Following comments from Ukraine’s Defense Minister Valery Geletey of Moscow threatening with a nuclear attack on its neighbor, Moscow said it was shocked by the statement. Russia warned that such rhetoric only deepens the civil stand-off in Ukraine.  “Geletey’s calls to get ready for ‘tens of thousands’ of new victims in what he called ‘Great Patriotic War’ and what in fact is a new punitive operation in his own country are appalling. He only drags the Ukrainian people into a new round of the bloody civil stand-off,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement Monday. Earlier Geletey wrote in his Facebook that the operation “to cleanse Ukraine’s east from terrorists” was over. He, however, proceeded to accuse Russia of direct military involvement in the east that followed the rebels’ “defeat.” “A big war has come to our home, a war Europe has not seen since WWII,” Geletey wrote alleging that Russia not only attempted to secure its position on the rebel-held territories, but also ad

This month marks the 100th anniversary of the start of World War 1, formerly called the Great War. Not surprisingly, this has brought all sorts of stories and op-eds discussing the disastrous events that killed some 16 million people and wounded an additional 21 million others. To this day, most observers continue to claim that World War I was an inadvertent war: that is, that none of the countries involved particularly wanted war but war came nonetheless. Some claim it was the major armament programs and offensive military doctrines adopted by European countries in the run-up to the war that made WWI inevitable. Others claim it was the hypernationalistic populaces that caused the war. Still others blame the tight alliances that European nations formed in the years prior to WWI, which created an environment in which the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand by an anarchist could plunge the entire continent into a bloody war. And then there are those that blame the situation on the

By Stephen Lendman On September 4 and 5, Britain will host a summit meeting of NATO heads of state. NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will chair the proceedings.   At issue is justifying the unjustifiable. It's doing so based on Big Lies. It's wrongfully accusing Russia of "illegal actions in Ukraine."   It's suppressing polar opposite truths. It's supporting Washington's imperial agenda. It's presenting a unified anti-Russian front.   It's deploying thousands of combat-ready forces closer to Russia's border. It's "sustain(ing) a robust (Eastern European) presence…"   It's risking the unthinkable. It's risking open East/West confrontation. it's risking global war.   It's risking the use of nuclear weapons able to extinguish life on earth. If enacted, Senate bill 2277: Russian Aggression Prevention Act (RAPA) increases the possibility.   It's called "(a) bill to prevent Russian aggression toward

By Dmitry Orlov - Last Thursday the Ukrainian government, echoed by NATO spokesmen, declared that the the Russian military is now operating within Ukraine's borders. Well, maybe it is and maybe it isn't; what do you know? They said the same thing before, most recently on August 13, and then on August 17, each time with either no evidence or fake evidence. But let's give them the benefit of the doubt. You be the judge. I put together this helpful list of top ten telltale signs that will allow you to determine whether indeed Russia invaded Ukraine last Thursday, or whether Thursday's announcement is yet another confabulation. ( Credit to Roman Kretsul ). Because if Russia invaded on Thursday morning, this is what the situation on the ground would look like by Saturday afternoon. 1. Ukrainian artillery fell silent almost immediately. They are no longer shelling residential districts of Donetsk and Lugansk. This is because their locations had been pinpointed prior to the o

By Prof Michel Chossudovsky " Global Research " - Read the London tabloids. Russia has launched “a full-scale invasion”. A vast propaganda campaign has been launched. Where is the evidence? The media is spreading “fake evidence” in the week leading up to the Wales NATO Summit. The objective is to herald Russia as the aggressor. What is at stake is a strategic public relations stunt.  Sixty countries will be represented at the NATO Summit in Wales on 4-5 September including the 28 NATO member states. The media lies “fit the military agenda” already formulated by the Pentagon in consultation with NATO and Her Majesty’s Government.  US-NATO requires “evidence” to build a political consensus at the Wales NATO Summit on September 4-5 hosted by Britain’s Prime Minister David Cameron. According to PM David Cameron in a letter addressed to heads of State and heads of government of NATO member states ahead of the Summit:  “Leaders [of NATO countries] must revie

Screenshot from YouTube user Ella oursa The Dawn of Libya, an Islamist militia group, has said that it has secured the US embassy compound in the Libyan capital Tripoli, more than a month after US staff evacuated the building. Although windows at the compound have been smashed, most of the equipment that had been left by the Americans remained untouched, according to an AP journalist who was invited by the militants to have a look around. Islamists in the US embassy in #Tripoli #Libya pic.twitter.com/5sKDTaJZuI — Zaid Benjamin (@zaidbenjamin) August 31, 2014 A commander of the militia group said that his forces have been in control of the former embassy since last week. A poorly-filmed video has appeared on YouTube showing men, who may or may not be the Islamic militants, fooling around by the swimming pool, while some of them perform reckless dives from an upper balcony into the shallow pool. Safira Deborah, the US Ambassador to Libya, said the video appeared to have been filmed i