ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Protesters chant slogans during a demonstration against the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia, at Imam Hussein square in Tehran January 4, 2016. © Raheb Homavandi / Reuters What we are seeing now are Saudi efforts to build a regional bloc, a Wahhabi Muslim Brotherhood bloc, says Ali Rizk, a MidEast affairs expert. Given Saudi Arabia’s irrational policies, it’s likely that Riyadh’s current row with Iran will only escalate, he adds. Bahrain and Sudan have followed the lead of Saudi Arabia, in cutting diplomatic relations with Iran. On top of that, the United Arab Emirates has downgraded ties with Tehran. It's the latest escalation of a sectarian row over the Saudi execution of a prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. RT: Iran has called the Saudi-led diplomatic breakoff a dangerous move that would only lead to further escalation of tensions. What are your thoughts on that? Are the Saudis being shortsighted here? Ali Rizk: I wouldn’t only use the term ‘shortsig

(Image: SWAT team , tea bags via Shutterstock; Edited: JR / TO) If you've shopped at a gardening supply store in the last year, and if you happen to live with someone who drinks tea, guess what? Your local sheriff could just send a SWAT team into your house. It's not a far-fetched scenario, in fact it actually happened, here in the US, just three short years ago. Back in 2012, a Kansas SWAT team raided the home of Robert and Addie Harte and tore their house apart looking for evidence of a major marijuana growing operation. The investigation began when a state trooper stationed at a gardening supply store (yes, they had the gardening store staked out!) spotted Robert Harte and his son purchasing supplies to grow hydroponic tomatoes. According to the Washington Post, having seen the Hartes buying hydroponic growing accessories, the Johnson County Sheriff's Department started investigating the Harte family. They searched the family's trash and found "saturated plant

By Gareth Porter Peace talks between the Saudi-supported government of Yemen and the Houthi rebels ended in late December without any agreement to end the bombing campaign started by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies with US support last March. The rationale for the Saudi-led war on Houthis in Yemen has been that the Houthis are merely proxies of Iran, and the main alleged evidence for that conclusion is that Iran has been arming the Houthis for years. The allegation of Iranian arms shipments to the Houthis - an allegation that has often been mentioned in press coverage of the conflict but never proven - was reinforced by a report released last June by a panel of experts created by the UN Security Council: The report concluded that Iran had been shipping arms to the Houthi rebels in Yemen by sea since at least 2009. But an investigation of the two main allegations of such arms shipments made by the Yemeni government and cited by the expert panel shows that they were both crudely

By Moon Of Alabama The Saudi government executed 47 longtime prisoners who had be sentenced to death over terrorism and general revolting against the government. From its viewpoint it was a smart political move. The Saudis are in trouble over their war on Yemen. After nine month of bombing the hell out of the country there is no chance that the aim of their war, reinstalling their proxy government in Sanaa, will be reached anytime soon. Meanwhile Yemeni forces raid (vid) one Saudi town after another. The Saudi regime change projects via Salafi jihadists in Iraq and Syria are also faltering. The low oil price make it necessary for the Saudi government to introduce taxes on its people. New taxes are hardly ever popular. To divert from these problems the Saudis decided to get rid of a bunch of prisoners and to use the event to regain some legitimacy. Many of the 47 killed were truly al-Qaida types who a decade ago had killed and blown up buildings in Saudi Arabia and wanted to violently

Saudi Arabia has cut diplomatic ties with Iran over the storming of its embassy in Tehran on Saturday. The move comes while relations between the regional rivals are plunging over the execution of a top Shiite cleric. Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir demanded that the Iranian diplomatic mission and related entities leave the country within 48 hours. He said Riyadh would not allow the Islamic Republic to undermine the Sunni kingdom’s security. Jubeir claimed the Tehran attack was similar to what he called earlier Iranian assaults on foreign embassies there, accusing Iran of creating “terrorist cells’ inside Saudi Arabia. “The kingdom, in light of these realities, announces the cutting of diplomatic relations with Iran and requests the departure of delegates of diplomatic missions of the embassy and consulate and offices related to it within 48 hours. The ambassador has been summoned to notify them,” the foreign minister said. The Saudi diplom

By Mark Taliano The “War On Terror” and “The War On Drugs” are both fraudulent, and they are both related. In a classic example of “reverse projection” , ”the War on Terror” is literally a “War for Terror”, and the “War on Drugs” is literally a “War for Drugs”. Terror, coupled with the illegal trade in narcotics, particularly heroin, is enabling the orchestration, and funding, of illegal warfare which serves the interests of an international oligarch class as it destroys humanity. The barbarity of the military operations conducted by the West is beyond the imagination of most domestic audiences, even when details are publicized . Broadly speaking, we can decode the 9/11 terror wars using a simple formula: Problem Reaction Solution NATO imperialists engineer or exploit problems to create reactions, with a view to creating previously planned solutions. Typically, problems (i.e 9/11 crimes) serve to engineer public consent (reaction) for illegal invasions (solution). The

After a last minute delay by the White House of new sanctions on Iran connected with its ballistic missile program, a top Iranian official wrote on Friday that Tehran will develop missiles with a range of 5,000 kilometers – if they are imposed. “Iran has dismantled thousands of centrifuges to prove its right for enriching uranium. The new sanctions come as a slap to our country,” wrote Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei in an open letter to President Hassan Rouhani, according to Mehr news agency. “The US will regret its behavior and realize that such actions cause no benefit,” Rezaei stressed. Rezaei also thanked Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani for his quick response to US threats. The new sanctions prepared by the Treasury Department could affect a number of individuals and international companies for their alleged role in supporting Iran’s missile program, a US official said Wednesday. In response, president Rouhani ordered an increase in Iran’s missile capabilities, adding

The Russian Air Forces have eliminated several Islamic State commanders striking a building in Raqqa, where they were holding a meeting. The intelligence data for the operation was provided by opposition forces, Russia' Defense Ministry said. “The reported area was constantly surveyed from air for two days. After the arrival of commanders was confirmed, a Su-34 targeted the building used as the venue of the meeting. The building was totally eliminated by a guided bomb,” the ministry reported on its website Wednesday. In total, Russian bombers carried out 121 sorties over the last two days, hitting a total of 424 targets across Syria. The raids were undertaken by Su-24, Su-25 and Su-34 warplanes. In the Aleppo province, Su-25 planes conducted a number of airstrikes against terrorist targets. As a result, a tank and three vehicles were destroyed. Attacks in the Idlib province also targeted Al-Nusra Front forces, while an IS arms depot, which contained weapons and machinery, was