ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Reuters/Stringer Dr. Can Erimtan is an independent scholar residing in İstanbul, with a wide interest in the politics, history and culture of the Balkans and the Greater Middle East. The Islamic State has become part and parcel of global news cycles, but its goals remain little discussed. Instead, Westerners focus on determining whether or not IS should be understood as representing Islam or rather as an aberration of the faith. Ever since the terror group, also known as ISIS or ISIL, conquered the city of Mosul and wide swathes of territory straddling both Syria and Iraq in the summer of last year , the West and its mainstream media have been near-obsessed with this clear and imminent danger to various countries and populations in the Middle East - all the way from Turkey down to Saudi Arabia. In spite of this really rather localized threat, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi (aka Caliph Ibrahim) now even seems able to exert a certain influence on the 2016 US presidential elections, arguably as a r

German Chancellor Angela Merkel (Reuters / Hannibal Hanschke) German Chancellor Angela Merkel has defended her staff’s conduct amid the BND/NSA spying scandal, following reports that her administration had purposely misled the public about Washington’s willingness to negotiate a “no-spy agreement” with Berlin. “I can only say that everyone worked according to their best knowledge and conscience – that goes for today's chief of staff but also his predecessor,” Merkel said defending her chief of staff Peter Altmaier as well as predecessors Ronald Pofalla and Thomas de Maiziere. The chancellor's statement follows allegations in the German media last week that just ahead of 2013 German general elections, her then-chief of staff Pofalla lied that Berlin and Washington would start negotiating an agreement not to spy on each other. In reality, as Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported based on email exchange between the governments, there was no firm commitment at the time in Washing

A group of hackers affiliated with ISIS are threatening to carry out a cyber attack—dubbed “Message to America”—against a number of targets 2 p.m. EST today. The targets were not identified on ISIS forums and social channels but the hackers are promising something “surprising” that “will frighten America”. ISIS supporters calling themselves the Cyber Caliphate hacked into the Twitter account of the United States Central Command in January. Twitter suspended the account detailing the planned attack about 9 a.m. EST.

Smoke billows from a Saudi-led airstrike, in Sanaa, Yemen, April 8, 2015. | Hani Mohammed AP By John Zarocostas The United Nations and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are locked in a bitter dispute over Riyadh’s insistence that humanitarian aid for Yemen be coordinated through Saudi authorities. Senior diplomats in Geneva say that U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was taken aback when Saudi King Salman scheduled a May 17 conference in Riyadh to discuss aid to Yemen. Ban had planned to hold such a conference in Geneva on Monday, at which he hoped to restart the failed U.N. peace process. The scheduled Saudi conference and a proposal that the Saudi capital be the coordinating point for aid also violate the U.N.’s principle that aid delivered to a war zone should not be controlled by one of the belligerents in the conflict. “The active engagement of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is appreciated,” Johannes Van Der Klaauw, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator for Yemen , said Friday. “However, in

. FILE - In this May 1, 2015 file photo, state police stand next to a charred passenger bus, that was extinguished by firefighters in Guadalajara, Mexico. Authorities in western Mexico asked residents to stay at home as they scrambled to extinguish burning vehicles that blocked roads in various parts of Guadalajara. Such blockades are a common cartel response to the arrest of important members or are used to foil police and military operations. (AP Photo, File) MEXICO CITY (AP) — It has the drugs and distribution system of a traditional cartel — and it has the modern weapons and audacity of an army. After attacking federal forces, downing a military helicopter and shutting down streets in Mexico's second-largest city last week, the New Generation Jalisco cartel is now the main enemy in the country's fight with drug cartels. In just a few years, New Generation has grown from being an offshoot of the powerful Sinaloa cartel to one of Mexico's strongest criminal groups in its

Sanaa (AFP) - Warplanes from a Saudi-led coalition have struck Yemeni rebels in their northern stronghold as Riyadh vowed "harsh" punishment for deadly cross-border bombardments, shortly after proposing a humanitarian ceasefire. The UN children's agency warned Friday that restrictions on delivering food and fuel are hampering aid efforts and threaten the lives of tens of thousands of Yemeni children. Thursday's raids targeted control centres, a communications complex, a landmine factory and other rebel positions across Yemen's northern Saada province bordering Saudi Arabia, state media in Riyadh said Friday. Witnesses in Saada said coalition jets dropped leaflets urging residents to leave and an AFP correspondent in Sanaa reported scores of families arriving on Friday. The coalition warned that "all of Saada will be a military target to coalition strikes after 7:00 pm (1600 GMT)" Friday, Saudi media said. Saudi Arabia, which has led six weeks of air stri

Chilling CCTV footage has been released of the moment two Libyan soldiers who were training in Britain allegedly scouring Cambridge city centre for security cameras before raping a man. Moktar Ali Saad Mahmoud, 33, and Ibrahim Abugtila, 23, left their base at Bassingbourn Barracks in Cambridgeshire to meet their alleged victim, it is claimed. A court heard the British victim had consumed a 'formidable amount of alcohol' and the pair acted like 'hunting dogs' before taking it in turns to hold down and rape him. The pair had been undergoing training in Britain as part of an agreement by the UK government to help war-torn Libya after the 2011 collapse of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi's regime. Scroll down for video +10 The CCTV allegedly shows defendants circled in red (Ibrahim Abugtila) and green (Moktair Mahmoud) first approach members of the public as they ancient city streets +10 The footage allegedly showed Abugtila, 23, first approach a woman in the early hours of Oct

Fixr.com's map of the world with the most-Googled things The cost of flying a MiG fighter in Russia, buying kidneys in Iran, prostitutes in Ukraine and rhinoplasty in S. Korea are just a few of the most popular Google requests worldwide, a new map shows. It does give some weird insights into the countries. Fixr.com, a cost-estimating website has put together a map of the world with the most-Googled things in each country, using the autocomplete formula of “How much does * cost in [x country]." The search results turned out to be hilarious and informative, and gave a peek into humanity’s cost obsessions per country. “Looking at some of the most popular Google searches throughout the World reveals some cultural differences, but also many key similarities. It also provides insights into the sometimes strange things people think about when they are alone,”says fixr.com website . Russians are most interested in “How much does it cost to fly a MiG [military aircraft] in Russia?”