ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

EU-Turkey relations are like cattle trading with the EU trying to turn Turkey into a prison camp for refugees and Erdogan using it to boost his popularity, says Firat Demir, Associate Professor in the Department of Economics at the University of Oklahoma. Germany’s Chancellor Merkel is heading to Turkey on Saturday to discuss implementing the migrant deal that was sealed with Ankara in March. Under it the EU will deport illegal migrants to Turkey while providing Ankara with financial aid and promises of a visa-free regime for Turks. RT: Merkel's coalition partner the Social Democrats have urged the chancellor to send a message on freedom of speech during her visit. How do you think that will go? Firat Demir: First of all, regarding the visa-free travel for Turkish citizens, that has been a disgrace for the EU since 1963. The EU agreed to visa-free travel for citizens of Turkey in 1963, and confirmed it in 1970 and even as recent as 2009 the European Council of Human Rights struck

Many people have been killed and wounded in a blast that rocked central Kabul during the morning rush hour on Tuesday, President Ashraf Ghani said. Afghanistan's Tolo News channel said at least 28 people were killed and more than 200 others injured in the coordinated attack. The attack, claimed by the Taliban, apparently targeted the offices of Afghanistan's main security agency. In a statement, the Presidential Palace condemned the attack "in the strongest possible terms," saying a number of people had been killed or wounded. A spokesman for an emergency hospital in the city told Reuters that the facility had received eight lightly wounded Afghan soldiers. A thick plume of black smoke was seen rising from the vicinity of the sprawling US embassy in the Afghan capital after the powerful blast. Warning sirens were sounded at the embassy compound, which is also close to NATO headquarters in Afghanistan. An Afghan official said a possible bomber carried out the attack

China says it has sent a military aircraft to one of its controversial islands in the South China Sea in order to evacuate workers wounded during construction work there. The Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement posted on its website that the plane was on patrol on Sunday when it was ordered to head to the Fiery Cross Reef island to evacuate three workers and fly them to the country’s southernmost island province of Hainan for treatment. China has reportedly transformed Fiery Cross Reef into a man-made island. It sent three commercial jets to the island in January after the runway on the island was completed. In recent years, China has built major structures, including radar systems and air strips, over reefs and outcrops. The move, however, has drawn criticism from regional countries as well as the United States, which accuse Beijing of undergoing a massive “land reclamation” program in the Spratly archipelago of the South China Sea. Washington claims that Beijing’s alleged

Why are we asking this now? A British Airways pilot has revealed his flight was struck by a suspected drone as it came in to land at Heathrow Airport. Flight BA727 landed safety with 132 passengers and five crew on board. After being examined by engineers, it was cleared for its next flight. However, the collision has raised concern about the use of drones, especially around sensitive areas such as airports. Why are people worried? The number of near misses involving drones and aeroplanes has quadrupled in the last year, a report released by the UK Airprox Board in March found. Of 23 near misses recorded between April and October last year, 12 were given an A rating of "a serious risk of collision". The aviation industry is fastidious about eliminating so-called FODs (Foreign Object Debris) from the “airside” area at airports. The dangers from debris were highlighted most tragically in the Air France Concorde crash in 2000, when a thin titanium strip left behind on the ru

The international community is ready to help Libya’s unity government with security training, British foreign minister Philip Hammond said on a visit to Tripoli on Monday. Meanwhile, the EU’s foreign and defence ministers gathering in Luxembourg for what is called a “jumbo” meeting on the new major subject of worry: Libya. Two of them, the German and French foreign ministers, have visited the country on Saturday, assuring Libya’s new U.N.-brokered unity government has the international community and Europe’s full support. The visit by Steinmeier and his French counterpart Jean-Marc Ayrault followed a Thursday visit by the ambassadors of France, Britain and Spain who pledged to reopen embassies closed two years ago because of instability in the country. Britain is one of several countries to try to train Libyan security forces abroad after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011, but the efforts stalled until now amid militia infighting and political squabbles. An earlier training scheme in

[Dr. Webster Tarpley] tells Press TV that the Obama administration is using al-Qaeda terrorists as its irregular infantry in its proxy war against Syria. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has said that the West "will pay a heavy price" for pitting al-Qaeda militants against the Syrian government. He also condemned measures taken by Turkey and some of the country's Arab neighbors to support the anti-Syria terrorists, and their attempts to start a sectarian civil war in the country. Press TV has conducted an interview with Dr. Webster Griffin Tarpley, author and historian from Washington DC

Virtually every suspect involved in recent Brussels bombing had been tracked, arrested, in custody - either by European security agencies or the agencies of their allies - but inexplicably released and allowed to carry out both the Brussels attack as well as the Paris attack that preceded it. So obvious is this fact, that the Western media itself admits it, but simply dismisses the obvious and deeper implications such facts pose by claiming it is merely systemic incompetence. The Wall Street Journal would admit that the recently arrested "man in the hat" also known as Mohamed Abrini, was also arrested for suspected terrorist activity - allegedly scoping out potential targets in the UK - but also - like his collaborators - inexplicably released. His brother had been to Syria where he fought and died alongside the so-called "Islamic State" (ISIS), and Abrini himself too appears to have been in Syria. The Wall Street Journal's article, " Brussels Suspect Moham

The Islamic State terrorist group has lost about 30 percent of its revenues since last year due to bombings of oil sites and loss of taxpayers. It is trying to compensate by introducing new levies and taxes, a new IHS report said. “In mid-2015, the Islamic State’s [IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL] overall monthly revenue was around $80m,” said Ludovico Carlino, senior analyst at IHS Conflict Monitor research group. “As of March 2016, the Islamic State’s monthly revenue dropped to $56m.” Some of the drop was due to bombings of oil sites in IS-controlled areas by Russia and the US-led coalition, the report said. Its crude production dropped from 33,000 barrels a day to 21,000 barrels a day, but IHS warned that the terrorists could restore their capabilities quickly. The researchers estimate that about 43 percent of IS revenue comes from oil. The other factor was loss of territory in Iraq and Syria. The report said IS lost about 22 percent of its territory in the past 15 months, which translates