ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

(AINA) -- The sexual molesting of over 100 women in several German cities on New Year's Eve has triggered outrage in Germany and throughout the Western world. It strikes at a core value of the contemporary West: the right of women to be treated with dignity and respect and not to be subjected to unwelcome sexual advances. The reports that the perpetrators were hundreds of men of North African and Arabic appearance have unleashed a bitter debate in Germany between those who have linked the event with the massive influx of refugees to Germany in 2015 against those who refuse to link the sexual attacks with the refugee issue. Can a direct line be drawn between the sexual assaults and refugees? To answer that question, thought should be given to the profile of refugees entering Germany last year. They represent many nationalities: Syrians, Iraqis, Libyans, Moroccans, Algerians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Nigerians and a host of other nationalities. The diverse nationalities involved sug...

The raw Sunni recruits in crisp camouflage uniforms, popping off rounds at the firing range at a U.S. training camp here, illustrate the dilemma for the United States as it seeks to form a strong military force to drive the Islamic State from its capital, Raqqah. The United States could try to build the Sunni army it would want, ideally, to capture Raqqah, a Sunni city. But that might take years. Or it can go with the army it has, which is dominated by the tough, experienced Kurdish fighters from the YPG militia. They're anathema to Turkey, to the north, and to the official Syrian political opposition. But the rampaging Syrian Kurds get the job done. The United States is trying to do some of both, by building a new opposition coalition under the makeshift banner of the "Syrian Democratic Forces," or SDF, which integrates Sunnis, Christians, Turkmen and other inexperienced fighters with the larger, powerhouse that is the YPG. That's not ideal politically but it makes m...

At least 125 militiamen with the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front and likeminded groups have been killed by the Syrian army in the central province of Hama, state news agency SANA reported on Saturday. Those militants were killed during a military offensive near the town of Hur Binafsuh in Hama countryside, said SANA, adding that the military forces managed to break the siege imposed by the rebels on the Thermal Station of the nearby town of Zara on Saturday. During the actions, over 125 militants were killed, said SANA, adding that armored vehicles have also been destroyed. The Nusra Front and the Ahrar al-Sham have recently unleashed a broad offensive on the town of Zara south of Hama, committing a massacre against civilians of the town, who are largely adherent to the Alewite sect, to whom the ruling elite in Syria belongs. Hundreds of civilians have been killed or wounded, and tens kidnapped by the Nusra militants in Zara, which prompted the Syrian army to carry out a counter offensive ...

By Jay Syrmopoulos Washington, D.C. – In 2015, the United States spent more on its war machine than the next six countries combined, with a total of $596 billion spent on military expenditures . This week the U.S. House of Representatives passed its version of the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), with roughly $602 billion slated to be spent on military programs and armaments in the 2017 budget. To put this amount in perspective, the U.S. spent more on its military than the next six nations combined, with China coming in second at $215 billion, followed by Saudi Arabia at $87 billion, Russia at $66 billion, with the United Kingdom, India and France spending roughly $50 billion each on defense expenses. When looking at this spending in context, the U.S. not only spends more than the next six countries combined, but spends almost triple the amount on military expenses than the second biggest defense spender in the world, China, according to data from the Stockholm Intern...

Italian military analyst Manlio Dinucci explains what he believes is the biggest danger emanating from the US deployment of its missile defense network in Romania and Poland. NATO officials' explanations aside, everyone, including the Russian president , seems to understand perfectly well that the US's shiny new Aegis Ashore missile defense system in Deveselu, Romania, and the one being built in Redzikowo, Poland are directed against Russia. And the reason, writes Il Manifesto military analyst Manlio Dinucci, is not because the system threatens to intercept Russian ICBMs and put the nuclear balance of power in jeopardy. "The reality," he writes, "is much worse." © SPUTNIK/ ALEXANDER VILF US Missile Defense in Eastern Europe: How Russia Will Respond In the course of his meeting with leaders from Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Iceland and Norway in Washington last week, President Obama reiterated his 'concerns' "about Russia's growing aggressiv...

By Pepe Escobar Let’s start by examining what the Dragon himself – President Xi Jinping – has to say about China being largely derided in influential Beltway circles as a House of Cards. Xi has forcefully dismissed the notion that a House of Cards power struggle has been raging at the rarified heights of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Yet at the same time he’s adamant; “conspirators”, “careerists”, “cabals” and “cliques” are attempting to undermine the CCP from within. Thus, with ironic/poetic justice, a 42-part series on corruption in China – titled In the Name of the People and financed by the Middle Kingdom’s top law enforcement agency – is bound to go live before the end of 2016, featuring a CCP stalwart as the bad guy (that’s a first). Call him the Chinese Frank Underwood. This means that what Xi is saying – and acting — live will be mirrored on hundreds of millions of Chinese screens, pitting conflicting factions within the 88 million-member CCP. Xi’s war on corruption has ...

The Worldwide control of humanity’s economic, social and political activities is under the helm of US corporate and military power. Underlying this process are various schemes of direct and indirect military intervention. These US sponsored strategies ultimately consist in a process of global subordination. Where is the Threat? The 2000 Global Report published in 1980 had outlined “the State of the World” by focusing on so-called “level of threats” which might negatively influence or undermine US interests. Twenty years later, US strategists, in an attempt to justify their military interventions in different parts of the World, have conceptualized the greatest fraud in US history, namely “the Global War on Terrorism” (GWOT). The latter, using a fabricated pretext constitutes a global war against all those who oppose US hegemony. A modern form of slavery, instrumented through militarization and the “free market” has unfolded. Major elements of the conquest  and world domination s...

Post-colonial empires are complex organizations. They are organized on a multi-tiered basis, ranging from relative autonomous national and regional allies to subservient vassal states, with variations in between. By James Petras In the contemporary period, the idea of empire does not operate as a stable global structure, though it may aspire and strive for such. While the US is the major imperial power, it does not dominate some leading global political-economic and military powers, like Russia and China. Imperial powers, like the US, have well-established regional satellites but have also suffered setbacks and retreats from independent local economic and political challengers. Empire is not a fixed structure rigidly embedded in military or economic institutions. It contains sets of competing forces and relations, which can change over time and circumstances. Moreover, imperial allies and clients do not operate through fixed patterns of submission. While there is submission t...