ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By RT After the Al-Qaeda 9/11 attack on America the US is cooperating with the terrorist group as it did in Libya, Bosnia, and Kosovo, says former US diplomat Jim Jatras. A senior figure from a Syrian rebel group Ahrar Al-Sham with links to Al-Qaeda reportedly visited the United States at the end of last year, according to an American news website. Syrian militant group leader Labib al Nahhas, who calls himself “chief of Foreign Political Relations at Ahrar al-Sham,” allegedly arrived in the US capital for a short visit in December. RT: What’s your take on the visit to the US by a key Ahrar Al-Sham figure? What do you think about the State department response when they were asked about this? They seemed to be quite evasive, didn’t they? Jim Jatras: It is clearly tap dancing. And frankly it begs credibility that a fellow like this could come to the US. What – we don’t have visa controls? We don’t pay attention to who is coming into this country from a war zone? And they expe

By Patrick J. Buchanan If China begins to reclaim and militarize Scarborough Shoal, says Philippines President Benigno S. Aquino III, America must fight. Should we back down, says Aquino, the United States will lose "its moral ascendancy, and also the confidence of one of its allies." And what is Scarborough Shoal? A cluster of rocks and reefs, 123 miles west of Subic Bay, that sits astride the passageway out of the South China Sea into the Pacific, and is well within Manila's 200-mile exclusive economic zone. Beijing and Manila both claim Scarborough Shoal. But, in June 2013, Chinese ships swarmed and chased off a fleet of Filipino fishing boats and naval vessels. The Filipinos never came back. And now that China has converted Fiery Cross Reef and Mischief Reef into artificial islands with docks and air bases, Beijing seems about to do the same with Scarborough Shoal. "Scarborough is a red line," says Gregory Poling of the Center for Strategic and International

BEIRUT: Bombs killed nearly 150 people and wounded at least 200 in Jableh and Tartous on Syria's Mediterranean coast on Monday in the government-controlled territory that hosts Russian military bases, monitors and state media said. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks in the cities that have up to now escaped the worst of the violence in the five-year-old conflict, saying it was targeting members of President Bashar al-Assad's Alawite minority. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said 148 people were killed in attacks by at least five suicide bombers and two devices planted in cars. State media had said 78 people had been killed in what is Assad's coastal heartland. The attacks were the first of their kind in Tartous, capital of Tartous province and home to a Russian naval facility, and in Jableh in Latakia province, near a Russian-operated air base. The Kremlin said the blasts underscored the need to press ahead with peace talks after th

By Pepe Escobar So foreign ministers from the 28 NATO member-nations met in Brussels for a two-day summit, while mighty military power Montenegro was inducted as a new member. Global Robocop NATO predictably discussed Afghanistan (a war NATO ignominiously lost); Iraq (a war the Pentagon ignominiously lost); Libya (a nation NATO turned into a failed state devastated by militia hell); Syria (a nation NATO, via Turkey, would love to invade, and is already a militia hell). Afghans must now rest assured that NATO’s Resolute Support mission – plus “financial support for Afghan forces” – will finally assure the success of Operation Enduring Freedom forever. Libyans must be reassured, in the words of NATO figurehead secretary Jens Stoltenberg, that we “should stand ready to support the new Government of National Accord in Libya.” Stoltenberg duly confirmed, “We have already decided to enhance our forward presence in the eastern part of our alliance. Our military planners have put forward propo

(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