ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

- Photos: Askold Krushelnycky MARIUPOL, Ukraine — On the edge of the city here, members of the 37th Mechanized Infantry Battalion are living in cramped bunkers sunk about 8 feet into the black earth of farm fields. The small spaces are jammed with bunk beds, weapons, food and the occasional stray cat or dog. The conditions are rough, but not dismal, and reflect the battalion’s motto, “Nobody But Ourselves,” a nod to the reality that Ukrainians — and particularly members of this volunteer battalion — have to rely on their own resources to defend their country. When the fighting started last spring, Ukraine had approximately 4,000 combat-ready troops, serving in a military debilitated by corruption. The military’s best weapons had been sold off and training was minimal. In response, many Ukrainians began organizing themselves into volunteer battalions, like the 37th Mechanized Infantry Battalion. With about 430 men, the 37th battalion is one of over a dozen private battalions that have

It’s hard for some Americans to understand why the Obama administration is so determined to come to an agreement with Iran on its nuclear capability, given that huge Iranian rallies are constantly chanting “ Death to America! ” I know the chanting makes me unhappy, since I’m part of America, and I strongly oppose me dying. But if you know our actual history with Iran, you can kind of see where they’re coming from. They have understandable reasons to be angry at and frightened of us — things we’ve done that if, say, Norway had done them to us, would have us out in the streets shouting “Death to Norway!” Unfortunately, not only have the U.S. and our allies done horrendous things to Iran, we’re not even polite enough to remember it. Reminding ourselves of this history does not mean endorsing an Iran with nuclear-tipped ICBMs. It does mean realizing how absurd it sounds when critics of the proposed agreement say it suddenly makes the U.S. the weaker party or that we’re getting a bad de

The idea is to repeat the US success in 2006-07 in supporting the Sunni “Awakening Movement” which weakened, though it never destroyed, al-Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor of Isis. Now as then, many Sunnis hate the extremists for their merciless violence and enforcement of outlandish and arbitrary rules on personal behaviour that have no connection to even the strictest interpretation of sharia. The fact that so many Sunnis are alienated from or terrified by Isis should present an opportunity for Baghdad, since Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi’s government is meant to be more inclusive than that of his predecessor, Nouri al-Maliki. Increasingly aggressive sectarian policies pursued by Mr Maliki during his eight years in power are now blamed for turning peaceful protests by Sunnis into armed resistance and pushing the Sunni community into the arms of Isis. This is an over-simplified version of recent history, but with the new government lauded internationally for its non-sectarian stance, t

Sanaa - A dispirited Saleh al-Wesabi, 31, sits with his legs folded in his brother's house in Dar Slim, in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa, recalling when an air strike destroyed his house last weekend. "It all began at 2:30am, when we woke up shaken by the sound of the strike," he told Al Jazeera. "The entire neighbourhood was razed to the ground; young women and children were trapped under heavy boulders." Wesabi's wife and children sustained minor injuries, and the family fled soon after to their village in Ibb province,194km south of the capital. Wesabi is one of about 120,000 people who have been displaced from their homes since the Saudi-led campaign of air strikes began late last month, according to the United Nations. As the air campaign entered its second week, international organisations warned that the country was headed towards a major humanitarian crisis, affecting millions of people. With a population of just under 26 million people, Yemen is the

By Peter Koenig As usual, western media are deliberately confusing in communicating on the latest Mid-East conflict which eventually led to the recent atrocious bombing of Yemen by the US-directed Saudi alliance, including Qatar and other Gulf monarchies. They are proxies, to be sure, for their Washington masters. My heart is bleeding for Yemen, a country of warm and generous people I got to know well, working with them in the 1990s and early 2000s. Yemen is a patchwork of tribes, the result of former colonies, therefore made vulnerable for conflicts; easily ignitable conflicts. A situation left behind on purpose by the old British colonial masters, today servants to the Washington Empire. That’s the name of the game throughout the Middle East – and eventually throughout the world. Divide and rule, – by Zionist-Anglo-Saxon organized and never-ending chaos. It is certainly true, where ever the US and its NATO cronies put their heavy boots, they create lasting misery and chaos. But thes