ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Moscow has strongly warned Washington against providing Ukraine’s military with lethal arms in its operations against pro-Russia forces in the east. “We repeatedly heard confirmations from the (US) administration that only non-lethal weapons would be delivered to Ukraine. If there is a change in this policy, then this is a highly destabilizing factor that could seriously influence the balance of power in the region,” Russian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Alexander Lukashevich told a news conference in the capital, Moscow, on Thursday. “That (would be) a direct violation of agreements reached, including (agreements reached) with the participation of the United States,” the Russian official added. Lukashevich’s remarks came a day after Tony Blinken, the US deputy national security adviser, told a US Senate committee that Washington should consider strengthening Ukraine’s armed forces through supplying weaponry. “I believe that, given the serious Russian violations of the agreement that the

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif will not leave the nuclear talks with the P5+1 in Vienna to come to Iran for consultations, a source in the Iranian negotiating team says. Earlier reports had suggested that Zarif, who is Iran’s top nuclear negotiator, may return to Tehran for consultations with “high-ranking officials.” Responding to a question about reports that US Secretary of State John Kerry has put proposals on the negotiating table, the Iranian source said the reports are not true, according to IRNA. “It’s been us who have offered various proposals since the Muscat talks up to now,” the source said, referring to the trilateral negotiations between Iran, the US and the EU held earlier in the Omani capital. The ideas raised in the talks have not yet reached a level to make it necessary for Zarif to take them to Tehran, the source said, adding that the negotiations will thus continue. Earlier, Zarif held fresh three-way talks with US Secretary of State John Kerry and EU

Finian CUNNINGHAM It’s long overdue but better late than never that Europe might just be back-pedalling on America’s aggressive agenda towards Russia. The business-like visit to Moscow this week by Germany’s Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier suggests that Europe can come to its senses to seek a diplomatic resolution of the escalating tensions over the Ukraine crisis – tensions that could spark a wider continental war, or worse. Steinmeier met with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in which the pair stressed the need to find a political end to the violence in Ukraine. The German diplomat – the first high-level European envoy to Moscow in several months – also talked about normalising relations between his country and Russia and of finding a way to rescind the economic sanctions that Brussels has imposed on Moscow over recent months. EU ministers in Brussels balked at imposing a fourth round of sanctions earlier this week, showing a growing division over the policy among Europ

The Iraqi government has transferred USD 500 million to the semi-autonomous Kurdistan region in northern Iraq as part of a deal hoped to end long-running domestic oil and budget disputes, Iraqi finance minister says. Hoshyar Zebari said in Baghdad on Wednesday that his ministry transferred the sum to the account of the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) earlier in the day under the deal which requires Iraq to resume funding Kurdish civil servant salaries in return for a share of Kurdish oil exports. He said the KRG began supplying 150,000 barrels of crude oil per day to State Oil Marketing Organization (SOMO) storage tanks in the Turkish port city of Ceyhan on Tuesday. "This mutual implementation means that the two sides are ready to resolve all the other issues and all the issues are up for discussion," Zebari stated. Iraqi Oil Minister Adil Abdul Mahdi has praised the deal between Baghdad and the KRG, saying it reduces friction "that threatens not only economic, secur

Screenshot from RT video To prevent European converts who listen to extremist preachers from fighting for ISIS, European governments should revoke their travel documents, defense consultant Moeen Raoof told RT. Jihadists released a video of the beheading of a foreign hostage, US aid worker Peter Kassig, on the weekend. The footage also shows at least 14 Syrian soldiers beheaded by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS) fighters. It revealed that several of the executioners which appear on the video were Europeans: a former UK medical student and 22-year-old Frenchman Maxime Hauchardt. Allegedly, there were more British, French and German militants, but no names have yet emerged. Kassig is the fifth foreign hostage to be executed this way. He was captured a year ago in Syria while he was helping war causalities. RT: What reaction do you expect from foreign governments after their citizens were recognized as jihadist killers? Moeen Raoof: [Foreign governments] will have the normal reaction of

By William Blum – Published November 19th, 2014 “Russia reinforced what Western and Ukrainian officials described as a stealth invasion on Wednesday [August 27], sending armored troops across the border as it expanded the conflict to a new section of Ukrainian territory. The latest incursion, which Ukraine’s military said included five armored personnel carriers, was at least the third movement of troops and weapons from Russia across the southeast part of the border this week.” None of the photos accompanying this New York Times story online showed any of these Russian troops or armored vehicles. “The Obama administration,” the story continued, “has asserted over the past week that the Russians had moved artillery, air-defense systems and armor to help the separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk. ‘These incursions indicate a Russian-directed counteroffensive is likely underway’, Jen Psaki, the State Department spokeswoman, said. At the department’s daily briefing in Washington, Ms. Psaki a

Myanmar army soldiers hold a guard of honor during a ceremony at the Martyrs' Mausoleum in the city of Yangon, July 19, 2012. Myanmar’s army has voiced its opposition to the potential amendment of the constitution that would allow opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi to run for president. Myanmar’s military representatives told MPs during a debate in the parliament on Monday that the army would reject amending the constitutional charter that bans Suu Kyi from high political office. “I would like you all to remember that the constitution is not written for just one person but for the future of everyone,” Colonel Htay Naing said during the debate, which was televised on Tuesday. Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent 15 years under house arrest during the military rule in Myanmar, has announced her intention to run for president. The National League for Democracy (NLD) leader is predicted to post big gains at the election scheduled for October or November next year

The golden Dome of the Rock (C) in Jerusalem's old city is seen in the distance beyond a section of the controversial Israeli barrier in the West Bank city of Abu Dis, October 29 , 2014. (Reuters/Finbarr O'Reilly) Israel could soon find itself in trouble and face the wrath of Brussels: any further attempts to pose obstacles to a two-state solution with occupied Palestine could result in sanctions, Haaretz revealed, citing a 'confidential' EU document. The classified paper was originally intended for internal circulation among the 28 member states, but word of its existence reached Israel after some of its diplomats in the EU leaked the fact to the Foreign Ministry back home. Although the Israelis could not secure the full text of the document, some important details have come out, thanks to three EU diplomats and two senior Israeli officials. Speaking to Haaretz on condition of anonymity, they say the paper outlines a “sticks and carrots”approach (consisting mainly of