ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

BEIJING (Reuters) - China has successfully tested a self-developed laser defense system against small-scale low-altitude drones, state media said on Sunday. The laser defense system is capable of shooting down small aircraft within a two-km (1.2-mile) radius and can do so within five seconds of locating its target, the official Xinhua news agency said, quoting a statement by the China Academy of Engineering Physics. The academy is one of the drone defense system's co-developers, Xinhua said. The reported development comes as concerns about the country's military preparedness are being raised in state media. A front page article in China's official military newspaper last month said that weaknesses in military training posed a threat to the country's ability to fight and win a war. The paper - the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Daily - said in the same report that China's military authorities had sent a document out to units detailing 40 weaknesses in current tra

The proliferation of U.S. government’s economic sanctions against a growing multitude of countries and individuals has created confusion and animosity around the world, driving some countries, like Iran and China, closer together and threatening the future U.S. economy, say Flynt and Hillary Mann Leverett. By Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett As the world waits to see if Iran and the P5+1 reach a final nuclear agreement by Nov. 24, we remain relatively pessimistic about the prospects for such an outcome. Above all, we are pessimistic because closing a comprehensive nuclear accord will almost certainly require the United States to drop its (legally unfounded, arrogantly hegemonic, and strategically senseless) demand that the Islamic Republic dismantle a significant portion of its currently operating centrifuges as a sine qua non for a deal. While we would love to be proved wrong on the point, it seems unlikely that the Obama administration will drop said demand in order to close

As U.S. and Western-led airstrikes continue to target Islamic State fighters for control of the Syrian-Turkish border town of Kobane, questions have been raised about the U.S. and Turkey’s 60-year alliance. But even prior to the Islamic State’s push there, Turks have held decidedly negative views of the U.S. going back over a decade, and, additionally, do not much like other foreign powers either. Since we began polling the Turkish people in 2002, shortly after the 9/11 attacks, never have more than three-in-ten said they have a favorable view of the U.S. But anti-Americanism really spiked in the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq War, when 83% of Turks held a negative view of America. Today, only 19% in Turkey like the U.S., while nearly three-quarters (73%) share a dislike of their NATO ally. (Unfortunately, we do not have comparable data for American views of Turkey). But Turkish distaste for foreign powers does not begin and end with the U.S. On balance, around two-thirds or more Turks e

Oil pump jacks pump oil in Al-Jbessa oil field in Al-Shaddadeh town of Al-Hasakah, Syria, currently controlled by Islamic State (Reuters / Stringer) The leadership of the Islamic State is headhunting for “ideologically suitable” oil industry professionals to manage oil fields and refineries the terrorist organization has hijacked in Iraq and Syria. The militants of the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) that captured Deir ez-Zor oil fields in Syria in 2012, and added the Ajeel and Hamrin oil fields in Iraq in 2014, propose a competitive salary for those daredevils who dare to venture to the territory they control and get the job done. “They are trying to recruit skilled professionals who are ideologically suitable,” Robin Mills, at Manaar Energy, a consultancy firm in Dubai, told The Times . “The money is good but it’s not that good. A Western oil exec posted to Iraq right now, let alone working for ISIS, would expect to earn a lot more than that.” The right applicant with the rare

By Pepe Escobar  Islamic State leader Caliph Ibrahim - aka Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi - never ceases to amaze us - and most of all his powerful petrodollar-stuffed backers. The Caliph is for all practical purposes now an oil major producer, worth of membership of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). His takfiri/mercenary goons - in theory - have for some time been extracting, refining, shipping and/or smuggling and clinching juicy deals involving vast quantities of oil, reaping profits of roughly US $2 million a day. The Caliph's oil prices are to die (be beheaded?) for; after all, he's implementing the same low-price strategy concocted by the people he wants to dethrone in Mecca, the House of Saud. The caliphate's GDP across "Syraq" has only one way to go: up. And oh, the irony Top customers for The Caliph's cheap oil happen to be "Sultan" Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Earthly paradise, aka Turkey - a North Atlantic Treaty Organizat

By Ismael Hossein-zadeh The dark force of ISIS is apparently an invincible and unstoppable war juggernaut that is mercilessly killing and conquering in pursuit of establishing an Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. In reality, however, it is not as out of control as it appears. It is, indeed, carefully controlled and managed by its creators and supporters, that is, by the United States and its allies in the regions—those who now pretend to have established a coalition to fight it! The U.S., Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and other allies in the region do not really need to fight ISIS to (allegedly) destroy it; all they need to do to extinguish its hellish flames is stop supplying fuel for its fire, that is, stop supplying it with funds, mercenaries, military training and armaments. There are many ways to show the fact that, in subtle ways, ISIS benefactors control its operations and direct its activities in accordance with their own geopolitical interests. One way is to pay attention to its purpor

A convoy of Kurdish peshmerga fighters drive through Arbil after leaving a base in northern Iraq, on their way to the Syrian town of Kobani ,October 28, 2014. (Reuters) The first group of Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga fighters has entered the besieged Syrian city of Kobani via a Turkish border crossing. Damascus has accused Ankara of “blatantly violating” Syria’s sovereignty by allowing the fighters to cross through Turkey. "Minutes ago, about 10 members of the Kurdish Peshmerga forces entered [Kobani] through the border crossing between the town and Turkish territory," the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said on Thursday morning. According to the British-based monitoring group, a convoy carrying Peshmerga fighters arrived near the Turkish town of Suruc on Wednesday night. They, in turn, made contact with other Kurdish fighters who had flown in earlier that day. “The force is equipped with heavy guns including mortars, canons, rocket launchers, etc.,” the Guardian cites Safeen

AFP Photo/ISIL Hundreds of US-led airstrikes and daily multi-million dollar military operations have failed to stem the tide of foreign fighters entering Iraq and Syria, who continue to pour in by their thousands, according to multiple reports. “The flow of fighters making their way to Syria remains constant, so the overall number continues to rise,” a US intelligence official told the Washington Post. Concrete changes might not be apparent for weeks the official said, noting the natural lag between the actual situation on the ground versus the scenario painted by analyzed intelligence. With US intelligence estimating that 1,000 foreign fighters continue to enter Iraq and Syria every month, the Post estimates that their numbers now exceed 16,000. That figure eclipses the number of foreign fighters who took up arms in any analogous conflict over the past decades, including the Soviet military campaign in Afghanistan. #US intel says that despite the ongoing airstrikes, 1,000 new foreign