ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Macedonia has just neutralised an armed group whose sponsors had been under surveillance for at least eight months. By doing so, it has prevented a new attempt at a coup d’État, planned by Washington for the 17th of May. The aim was to spread the chaos already infecting Ukraine into Macedonia in order to stall the passage of a Russian gas pipeline to the European Union. By Thierry Meyssan May 26, 2015 " Information Clearing House " - " Voltaire Network " - On the 9th of May, 2015, the Macedonian police launched a dawn operation to arrest an armed group which had infiltrated the country and which was suspected of preparing a number of attacks. The police evacuated the civilian population before launching the assault. The suspects opened fire, which led to a bitter firefight, leaving 14 terrorists and 8 members of the police forces dead. 30 people were taken prisoner. There were a large number of wounded Not a terrorist act, but an attempted coup d’

Reuters/Kacper Pempel Iranian security experts have thwarted an industrial espionage attempt on Islamic Republic's oil ministry, cyber police chief announced, claiming the attack originated in the US. Speaking at a cyber crime forum in Tehran on Tuesday, the head of Iran’s Cyber Police (FATA) Brigadier General Seyed Kamal Hadianfar announced that Cyber Attacks Emergency Center had defended the oil ministry against hackers. The alleged attack took place during a four-day holiday on March 21-24. “These hackers were from the US” Hadianfar said, as cited by FARS news agency. “The IP address for these hackers was in America.” The chief of cyber police said that Tehran had already informed Washington via an official letter and issued an “international judicial order” as FATA passed the issue to the foreign ministry. FATA discovers, identifies and solves some 90 percent of Internet crimes committed against Iran, Iran’s Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said speaking at the same ev

Image from resistart.ir In an effort to reveal the “evil face” of ISIS and expose the atrocities committed by jihadists, Iran has launched a cartoonist contest, offering awards for the best caricatures mocking the terror group as well as “arrogant” foreign leaders supporting it. At least 800 entry cartoons from 43 different countries around the world were received by the Iranian House of Cartoon. The committee then selected 280 from the heap, with winners expected to be announced on 31 May. “In order to reveal the true nature of the Islamic State, we decided to hold this contest and have people submit their cartoons or caricatures. The Islamic State tries to associate itself with Islam but in essence it has no idea about Islam,” event organizer Masoud Shojaei Tabatabai told Iran’s Press TV. The contest is divided between two sections – cartoons and caricatures – that aim not only to expose the evilness of ISIS but the “unwavering support” of “arrogant” governments and leaders that the

By GMA News BEIJING - A Chinese state-owned newspaper said on Monday that "war is inevitable" between China and the United States over the South China Sea unless Washington stops demanding Beijing halt the building of artificial islands in the disputed waterway. The Global Times, an influential nationalist tabloid owned by the ruling Communist Party's official newspaper the People's Daily, said in an editorial that China was determined to finish its construction work, calling it the country's "most important bottom line." The editorial comes amid rising tensions over China's land reclamation in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea. China last week said it was "strongly dissatisfied" after a US spy plane flew over areas near the reefs, with both sides accusing each other of stoking instability. China should "carefully prepare" for the possibility of a conflict with the United States, the newspaper said. "If the Unit

Reuters / Muhammad Hamed Catherine Shakdam ​The very country which brought the world one of the most brutal and intolerant religious ideologies - Wahhabism, while operating the most oppressive modern-day theocracy, is vying for the presidency of the UN Human Rights Council. Saudi Arabia has come to represent many things over the decades - theocracy, oppression, brutality and even at times downright barbarism. And seeing how the Kingdom has become infamous for carrying out death sentences by beheading, it’s safe to say that upholding the principles of human rights is not exactly the regime’s forte. Yet, King Salman, the new self-proclaimed custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, did not flinch when he declared on May, 20 that, “The Saudi Arabian government guarantees freedom of expression and opposes discrimination.” The comment was aimed at Bandar Al-Aiban, president of the Human Rights Commission (HRC), Mufleh Al-Qahtani, president of the National Society for Human Rights, and other senior

Fakhreddin's Castle (top), is pictured in the historical city of Palmyra (Reuters/Nour Fourat) Moscow has condemned the massacre of civilians in the ancient city of Palmyra, urging the international community to denounce double standards in its approach to fighting terrorists, and unite against IS (Islamic State, formerly ISIS/ISIL) aggression. “We strongly condemn the atrocities committed by armed extremists in Palmyra,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. “Once again, we urge international and regional parties to abandon the vicious practice of using double standard approaches to fighting against terrorism, and launch efficient cooperation with the governments of Middle East countries, which are directly repelling the ISIS offensive,” the ministry said. Moscow believes that US-led airstrike campaign against Islamic State positions in Iraq and Syria have not done enough to impede the jihadists’ advance in the two Middle Eastern states. “Despite efforts taken by the s

In a ground mission in eastern Syria last weekend, US special forces killed Abu Sayyaf, a man they described as playing a key role in Islamic State's oil and gas operations. The American commandos were quickly engaged in a firefight, during which Abu Sayyaf was killed. But their original goal was to capture and interrogate him, apparently in an effort to improve their understanding of how IS works. It raised the question of how much is known about the structure of an organisation that rapidly overran large parts of Syria and Iraq last year, and has been able to hold onto much of that territory despite months of air strikes by a US-led coalition. On a broad level the shape of Islamic State may seem fairly clear. Islamic State has seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq There are conflicting reports about the fate of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi Its stated goal has been to establish a "caliphate" to rule over the entire Muslim world, under a single leader and in line w

A deactivated Soviet-era SS-4 medium range nuclear capable ballistic missile is displayed at La Cabana fortress in Havana (Reuters / Desmond Boylan) Washington has blocked the final document of a UN conference that reviewed the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, accusing Egypt of manipulating the gathering to target Israel. Moscow has slammed the US for rendering the four-week meeting futile. The 9th international conference was held in New York from April 27 until May 22. A total of 162 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) participant states were in attendance. These conferences are held every five years to assess the worldwide disarmament process. The blocked document included a plan to establish a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East. To do this, Egypt, who first proposed such a zone in 1980, suggested a regional UN conference on banning weapons of mass destruction. The gathering would have no pre-determined agenda and would go ahead with or without the presence of Israel. This was