ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Boko Haram in failed cross-border attack on Bosso, Nigeria. On February 6, Boko Haram launched an attack along the northeast extremity of its border with Niger. The attack was repelled by a combination of Niger troops and Chadian air power. According to state-controlled news outlets in the country, four soldiers were killed and 13 injured. Boko Haram reportedly suffered over 100 casualties, a figure that should be taken with a grain of salt given the tendency to exaggerate government victories. The Niger military is in need of some good news following the embarrassing rout of a multinational base in Baga (on the shores of Lake Chad) in early January. The attack will likely embolden lawmakers in Niger to pass an upcoming proposal to send troops to Nigeria to fight Boko Haram. The vote comes on the heels of Chad’s recent pledge to provide 2,500 troops to a 7,500-large multinational force under the flag of the African Union (AU).

In Yemen there is no longer a government or a president. On January 22, after the Houthi, (Zaydi Shiites) militiamen in the north besieged the presidential palace in Sana’a, both interim President (since 2012) Abdu Rabu Mansour Hadi and Prime Minister Khaled Bahah (of a caretaker government which secured parliamentary confidence in December 2014), resigned. Washington has closed its embassy and many other countries, Western and non, have done likewise. Four southern governors, including those from Aden and Abyan, which has been the epicenter of the US drone campaign against al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), have refused to resign, in solidarity with President Hadi. Houthi militias dispersed an impromptu pro-government demonstration days after the takeover; the occasion served as an opportunity for the Houthis to wield some power as they brandished weapons in the streets and made numerous arrests. The Houthi religious-political-military movement was born in the eighties in the

Briefing The main points of the ceasefire agreed upon in Minsk by leaders from Germany, France, Ukraine, and Russia are as follows: 1.- A total ceasefire to begin on February 15, 2015. 2.- A withdrawal of heavy weapons by both sides, 50 km – 140 km from the frontline depending on the weapon type. 3.- Day-one monitoring of the ceasefire terms by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) 4.- A full pardon and amnesty for combatants held on both sides. 5.- The launching of a dialogue on self-rule in the rebel-held east. 6.- Restoration of social and economic interactions with war-torn areas. 7.- Full withdrawal of mercenaries and foreign troops from eastern Ukraine. 8.- The launching of a process of constitutional reform in Ukraine, to be completed by the end of 2015. 9.- Kiev to regain control of state borders and international border with Russia. Outlook German Chancellor Angela Merkel characterized the ceasefire agreement as a “glimmer of ho

Readers who have carefully examined the maps of the Caucasus posted recently in GeoCurrents may have noted an area marked “Greek” in south-central Georgia. This Greek zone appears on most but not all ethno-linguistic maps of the region, sometimes as a single area, and sometimes as two. Depicting Greek communities here is historically accurate but increasingly anachronistic. Since 1991, the Greek population of Georgia has plummeted from over 100,000 to less than 20,000, due largely to emigration to Greece. Many of the remaining Georgian Greeks are elderly, and a few locales are reported to have only a handful of remaining Greek residents, putting the survival of the community in some doubt But regardless of the community’s future, its Greek nature raises some interesting issues about identity. Members of the group consider themselves Greek, generally belong to the Greek Orthodox Church, and use the Greek script when writing their own language; they are also reckoned as Greeks by the At

Matteo Salvini, who heads Italy's Northern League party, called NATO’s decision to establish additional command centers in six European countries madness, adding that war is not a game. Matteo Salvini, who heads Italy's Northern League party, called NATO’s decision to establish additional command centers in six European countries madness. "NATO deploys forces on the border with Russia. Another madness after economic sanctions: war is not a game," he tweeted. #NATO organizza forza da schierare ai confini con #RUSSIA . Altra FOLLIA dopo sanzioni economiche: non si gioca alla GUERRA! #Salvini #Lega — Matteo Salvini (@matteosalvinimi) 6 февраля 2015 Russia to Give ‘Adequate’ Response to NATO’s Expansion On Thursday, the defense ministers of NATO member-states agreed to set up six new command and control centers in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania and more than double the size of its response force from 13,000 to 30,000. NATO&#

Officers from both Estonia and other NATO member-states will be working in the new command center, Defense Minister Sven Mikser said. NATO plans to create six new command and control posts in Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Romania. © AFP 2015/ CLAUS FISKER / SCANPIX DENMARK NATO to Nearly Triple Size of Its Response Force (VIDEO) TALLIN (Sputnik) — Estonia is ready to open a NATO command center on its territory in the near future, the country's Defense Minister Sven Mikser said in an interview with Estonian National Television Friday. "We have announced our preparedness to station this kind of center. We are ready to do it even next week. Actually, we have already provided working placement and the necessary means. Right now we are looking for and appointing Estonian staff," Mikser said. According to the minister, officers from both the host country and other NATO member-states will be working in the command center. On Thursday, NATO Sec

A secret online activist, unbowed by threats and murders, is nominated for a free-speech award CATHERINE VERVIER Being a citizen journalist in Tamaulipas, one of Mexico’s most violent states, means living a life of extreme risk and expecting very little by way of reward. For three years, the anonymous administrator of the website Valor por Tamaulipas (Courage for Tamaulipas) has hidden his online identity from everyone he knows and faced a constant barrage of threats against him and his family. He has seen colleagues brutally murdered, while criminal gangs and corrupt officials apparently continue to operate with impunity in his state. In recent years, Tamaulipas, which borders Texas in the US, has become a black hole for reporting, with traditional media outlets resorting to self-censorship to avoid upsetting the drug cartels that dominate the region. But there is one place where citizens can read about stories that the local newspapers, television channels and radio stations dare n