ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

A pair of U.S. Air Force F-15E Strike Eagles fly over northern Iraq after conducting airstrikes in Syria, in this U.S. Air Force handout photo (Reuters/U.S. Air Force) The US-led coalition against the Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) in Syria has killed 865 people since the start of the airstrikes in late September, at least 50 of them civilians, a new report from the UN chief reveals. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the strikes alone cannot defeat the militant Islamist group and cited estimates of civilian casualties caused by the bombing. “The international coalition continued airstrikes against ISIL in Syria on a near-daily basis with reports of some 865 people killed, including 50 civilians, in Aleppo, Deir ez-Zor, Hasakeh, Idlib and Raqqa since strikes began,” the report said. Meanwhile, the “armed opposition and designated terrorist groups continue shelling government-controlled areas, including in civilian-populated areas... including in Damascus, Homs, Hama and

The orbital maneuvers of a mysterious object Russia launched earlier this year have raised concerns that the satellite may be a space weapon of some sort. The speculation centers on "Object 2014-28E," which Russia lofted along with three military communications satellites in May. The object was originally thought to be space junk, but satellite trackers have watched it perform a number of interesting maneuvers over the past few weeks, the Financial Times reported Monday (Nov. 17). Last weekend, for example, 2014-28E apparently met up with the remnants of a rocket stage that helped the object reach orbit. [The Most Destructive Space Weapons Concepts] As a result, some space analysts wonder if Object 2014-28E could be part of an anti-satellite program — perhaps a revived version of the Cold War-era "Istrebitel Sputnikov" ("satellite killer") project, which Russian officials have said was retired when the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s. Mi

People with missing relatives stand around mass graves discovered in October, in La Joya, on the outskirts of Iguala, Guerrero state, November 21, 2014 (Reuters / Jorge Dan Lopez) Civilian volunteers and NGOs have found at least four mass graves in a Mexico search operation for the remains of the 43 students who went missing after protests in September. Information about the number of newly found mass graves varies, with Associated Press reporting 10 sites found on Sunday, in addition to at least 15 other mass graves discovered during the two-month operation. Seven of the newly found graves contain human bones, while other sites consist of dirty clothing stained with blood. The new graves were discovered at La Laguna, just west of Iguala, where police officers clashed with protesting students in September, shooting at several buses transporting protesters. The accident claimed the lives of three students and three civilians. The survivors were allegedly handed over to a local Guerreros

Ukrainian soldiers (Reuters / Vasily Fedosenko) Ukraine's anti-government CyberBerkut hacker group published documents allegedly showing Kiev's detailed demands for money from the US military, and Washington agreeing to giving them support. According to hacktivists, who made the documents public on Tuesday, the Ukrainian military have recently been asking for and being promised financial support from the United States, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. The hackers claimed they obtained the confidential State Department documents by breaking into a mobile device belonging to one of the American delegation's members, who had traveled to Ukraine together with US Vice President Joe Biden. The US politician visited Kiev on November 20-21. "After examination of just some of the data, there is an impression that the Ukrainian army is a branch of the US Armed Forces," CyberBerkut said, publishing copies of allegedly official documents, some carrying signatur

Mistral class LHD amphibious vessel (AFP Photo) President Francois Hollande has decided to suspend delivery of the first Mistral-class ship to Russia "until further notice," citing the situation in Ukraine as the reason, media reported an Elysee Palace statement. Le président @fhollande considère que la situation en Ukraine ne permet toujours pas la livraison du premier #Mistral pic.twitter.com/lTaawd9jSg — Élysée (@Elysee) November 25, 2014 "The President of the Republic believes that the current situation in the east of Ukraine still does not allow the transfer of the first Russian Mistral-type ships to Russia," a statement from the Elysée Palace said. In this regard, Francois Hollande felt it necessary to postpone the new order to study the request for permission to supply Russia with the first Mistral vessel, the communique informed. Russian Deputy Defense Minister Yury Borisov said it will patiently wait for the fulfillment of the contract, RIA Novosti reports

By Medea Benjamin Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel was supposed to steer the Pentagon away from a decade of war, including bringing US troops home from Afghanistan and paving the way for a reduction in the Pentagon budget. Instead, the Obama administration has opted for remaining in Afghanistan, continuing the disastrous drone wars in Pakistan and Yemen, and dragging our nation into another round of military involvement in Iraq, as well as Syria. The ISIL crises has also been used as a justification for not cutting the Pentagon budget, as required by sequestration. The issue facing this nation is not who replaces Hagel, but what policy decisions we want to Pentagon to implement. 1) Troops out of Afghanistan: The public has long soured on US military involvement in Afghanistan. President Obama’s recent executive decision to keep the troops there to confront the Taliban is taking us down the wrong path. After 13 years of occupation, it’s time for the Afghan people to control their own n

AFP Photo / Rolex Dela Pena China has cautioned that US warnings to halt construction of a massive artificial island and airfield will not deter it from completing the project in disputed waters of the South China Sea. This is the fourth such undertaking in the last 12-18 months. China’s top general has defended the construction of the 3,000-meter island as “justifiable” in a scornful response to swift American criticism that followed evidence of large-scale military construction on the Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly Islands area. China currently claims almost all of the South China Sea, with some claims being leveled by Malaysia, Vietnam, Brunei, Taiwan and the Philippines. However, its land reclamation projects have been causing the West and its strategic partners in the area a headache, owing to the already-tense political situation in the region. Despite this, of all the claimants in the South China Sea, China is the only one currently not occupying an island with an airfield. &qu

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (3rd L), EU envoy Catherine Ashton (6th L), U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (3rd R) and Britain's Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond (front L) sit a a table during talks in Vienna November 21, 2014. (Reuters/Heinz-Peter Bader) Iran’s nuclear talks with the six world powers will carry on till the end of June, according to British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, confirming earlier reports that negotiations would not reach a conclusion by the deadline of November 24. An Iranian official confirmed Hammond's comments shortly afterwards. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov stated that “considerable progress” had been made but there was no final agreement. Meanwhile, the Geneva agreement remains in place, he added, and he expressed expectations that the "basic principles" of a final agreement would be made within three or four months. Hammond also commented that “significant progress” was achieved. As of yet, the site of next mont