ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

James Corbett Last week we attempted to dispel some of the confusion surrounding the World Bank and the IMF, how the two are differentiated, and what the World Bank actually does. As you’ll recall, Bretton Woods architect John Maynard Keynes admitted that the confusion over the bodies was embedded in their names; the World Bank should rightly be referred to as a fund (for development projects) and the International Monetary Fund as a bank (to help countries cover balance of payment deficits and ensure financial stability). The World Bank itself is a body that ostensibly provides long-term low interest or no interest loans secured on the global bond market to fund sectoral reforms and infrastructure development projects in some of the poorest countries in the world. As we saw last week, however, the Bank is used as a weapon by the economic hitmen identified by John Perkins and others, directing infrastructure development funds to crony corporations and forcing countries into debt obli

RT Image from Twitter‏ @Vieze_Freddy Irregular armed forces have to rely on their ingenuity to arm themselves. And while rifles and mortars can be bought on the black market, getting hold of a tank or two can be a bit tricky. But you can always make a DIY version with your own hands. At least that’s what fighters of the Kurdish militias in northern Syria do. Called People's Protection Units, or YPG, they have been dedicated to protecting Kurds from whatever the three-year-long war in the country may throw at them. Lately it’s been the Islamic State, the terrorist group that proved to be worthy of being bombed by America itself. The People’s Protection Units don’t have killer drones or stealth bombers. They are mostly armed with small arms, with some heavier weapons such as mortars and rocket launchers, pickup trucks turned into mobile gun turrets and an occasional piece of artillery. #jazza #ypg controlled rocket launcher pic.twitter.com/8tIEYbjyLB — Coldkurd™ (@ColdKurd) August

RT U.S. President Barack Obama (Reuters / Jonathan Ernst) Publicly announcing that US intelligence agencies “underestimated” the presence and activity of Islamic State militants in Syria, US President Barack Obama in an interview with CBS called the country a “ground zero” for international jihadists. “Over the past couple of years, during the chaos of the Syrian civil war, where essentially you have huge swaths of the country that are completely ungoverned, they were able to reconstitute themselves and take advantage of that chaos,” Obama said in an interview made on Friday but aired on Sunday. “And so this became ground zero for jihadists around the world,” he added. Obama echoed comments previously made by James Clapper, US director of national intelligence which acknowledge how IS in Syria had been underestimated. At the same time, Obama admitted that the Iraqi army’s capabilities in dealing with militant groups were also overestimated. Clapper made similar comments to a Washingt

By Andre Vltchek The West is striking again; it is stabbing the very center, the heart of the Arab World. This time it is targeting the group – ISIS – which it created itself, and which it had been arming, feeding and pampering until just very recently. Airplanes and missiles are flying, and bombs are falling. The war has begun. But is it really a war, or just a brutal game, a gigantic PlayStation operated by thousands of hooked-up maniacs in the Pentagon and all over Washington, Brussels and some servile capitals in the Middle East? A war is, after all, when two sides are facing each other, when two sides fight, when two sides are risking their lives. In this surreal and post-modern ‘war’, the only victims will be the people of the Middle East, most likely civilians. Their lives will be risked by those who are sitting, in safety, on their destroyers and in control rooms, hundreds and thousands of miles away, drinking coffee and cracking jokes. The Übermenschen of the West will not des

The Royal Saudi Air Force participated in US-led bombing strikes against Islamic State (ISIS) insurgents in Syria, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said on Wednesday. Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter and birthplace of Islam, has funneled cash and arms to rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad but has also opposed Islamist militants within the anti-Assad insurgency. “An official source revealed that the Royal Saudi Air Force took part in military operations in Syria against the Islamic State group and to support the moderate Syrian opposition, within an international coalition, to combat terrorism..., and to support the fraternal Syrian people in returning security, unity and development to this devastated country,” SPA said. Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal Al Saud told SPA that the war against terrorist organizations would take years and require hard work and commitment from all parties. “Today we face a very dangerous situation where terrorist cells ha

Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group engages in everything from trolling to honey traps by Kurt Nimmo Glenn Greenwald has posted a story showing how the NSA and government agents work to “manipulate, deceive, and destroy” the reputations of journalists. “Over the last several weeks, I worked with NBC News to publish a series of articles about ‘dirty trick’ tactics used by GCHQ’s previously secret unit, JTRIG (Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group),” Greenwald wrote on Wednesday. GCHQ stands for Government Communications Headquarters, a British intelligence and security agency that works closely with the National Security Agency in the United States. JTRIG, exposed by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, specializes in dirty tricks to “destroy, deny, degrade [and] disrupt” enemies by “discrediting” them, planting misinformation and shutting down their communications,” according to NBC News . In addition to cyber and denial of service attacks, JTRIG engages in propaganda efforts, c

Subway system in New York, December 19, 2012. (Reuters/Andrew Burton) Islamic State militants plan to launch terrorist attacks in US and Paris subways, said Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, citing "credible" sources. US officials dismissed the Iraqi claim, stating they have no evidence of terror plots.  Abadi made the remarks at a meeting with reporters on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Thursday. "Today, while I am here, I am receiving accurate reports from Baghdad where there was the arrest of a few elements and there are networks planning from inside Iraq to have attacks," he said. "They plan to have attacks in the metros of Paris and the US," he added. "From the details I have received, yes, it looks credible." Abadi added that it is not clear whether the attack was imminent, adding that the intelligence was gleaned from arrests of IS militants in Iraq. An Iraqi official at the UN also told the BBC that severa

RT The rise of violent extremism around the world is the fault of “certain states” and “intelligence agencies” that have helped to create it and are failing to withstand it, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in an address to the UN General Assembly. Speaking at the 69th session of the UN General Assembly on Thursday, Rouhani stressed that extremism is not a regional but a global issue, and called on states worldwide to unite against the extremists. “Certain states have helped to create it, and are now failing to withstand it. Currently our peoples are paying the price," he said. "Certain intelligence agencies have put blades in the hand of the madmen, who now spare no one.” Rouhani also said the current anti-Western sentiment in certain parts of the world was "the offspring ofyesterday's colonialism. Today's anti-Westernism is a reaction to yesterday's racism.” The Iranian president urged “all those who have played a role in founding and supporting these