ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By Finian Cunningham This week Ukraine marks 25 years of independence following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and American news channel CNN was only too willing to lend an audacious rewriting of history to sanitize current conflict in that country. A TV newscast on Wednesday, featuring CNN anchorwoman Rosemary Church, ran the following headline: «Ukraine still fighting for independence from Moscow». The channel then cut to a report by its correspondent Phil Black from eastern Ukraine purporting to show Kiev-controlled armed forces coming under heavy gun and artillery fire from «Russian-backed separatists». Viewers were told that the separatists launched their attacks against Ukrainian Armed Forces (UAF) two years ago in August 2014. Between whistling bullets, the intrepid CNN reporter also informed viewers, without verification, that the Russian army was amassing troops on its side of the border with Ukraine. This absurd reduction of history provides a much-needed makeover for

TURKEY - AUGUST 24 : An Infographic with the title "Operation Euphrates Shield", created on August 24, 2016 in Ankara, Turkey. The sources said that the operation, called Euphrates Shield, is aimed at clearing terrorist groups from the Turkish border region, tightening border security, and supporting Syrias territorial integrity. (Photo by Ahmet Tamkoc/Anadolu Agency/Getty Images) The Asayish (Kurdish police) began its aggression against the pro-government militia force the National Defense Force (NDF) on 16th of August when it launched an RPG attack at a checkpoint without provocation. This was not the first provocation the Asayish have committed against the NDF in Hasakah in Syria’s northeast. This has been a long ongoing issue for well over a year with the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) doing very little to control the situation. In fact the YPG had encouraged the Asayish’ aggression against government forces in Hasakah.What transpired were on and off battle

The situation in Syria’s largest city of Aleppo has taken a dramatic turn as government troops and rebel forces managed to seize each other’s supply route, all within two weeks. These supply lines have otherwise been in place since 2013. Aleppo has been dubbed ‘the mother of all battles’ with good reason – some 5,000 to 12,000 fighters were lined up by Jaish al-Fateh and Fatah Halab for the southwestern Aleppo offensive, completely overwhelming the Syrian Arab Army’s (SAA) manpower. Although Islamist factions have definitively broken through the SAA’s defensive line in southwestern Aleppo, they are yet to secure a road safe enough for them to reach insurgents in eastern Aleppo. However, it is indeed possible for Islamist rebels to sneak into eastern Aleppo districts through tunnels and makeshift doorways in the Ramouseh district which is entirely under Jaish al-Fateh and Fatah Halab control. Meanwhile, the SAA has established a supply road along the Castello-Bani Zaid axis in northe

By Pepe Escobar So Turkish President, a.k.a. Sultan Recep Tayyip Erdogan is about to make a high-profile visit to Tehran – the date has not yet been set - to essentially kick start the ATM (Ankara-Tehran-Moscow) coalition in Syria. Anyone as much as hinting at such a massive geopolitical tectonic shift a few weeks ago would be branded a madman. So how did the impossible happen? A major strategic game-changer – Russia using an airfield in Iran to send bombers against jihadis in Syria – had already taken place, with its aftermath spectacularly misreported by the usual, clueless US corporate media suspects. Then, there’s what Turkey’s Prime Minister, Binali Yildirim, said last Saturday in Istanbul: “The most important priority for us is to stop the bloodshed [in Syria] as soon as possible.” The rest are irrelevant “details.” Yildirim added Ankara now agrees with Moscow that Bashar al-Assad “could” – and that’s the operative word – stay in power during a political transition (although

“Russia is ready to respond to any provocation, but the last thing the Russians want is another war. And that, if you like good news, is the best news you are going to hear.” A whiff of World War III hangs in the air. In the US, Cold War 2.0 is on, and the anti-Russian rhetoric emanating from the Clinton campaign, echoed by the mass media, hearkens back to McCarthyism and the red scare. In response, many people are starting to think that Armageddonmight be nigh—an all-out nuclear exchange, followed by nuclear winter and human extinction. It seems that many people in the US like to think that way. Goodness gracious! But, you know, this is hardly unreasonable of them. The US is spiraling down into financial, economic and political collapse, losing its standing in the world and turning into a continent-sized ghetto full of drug abuse, violence and decaying infrastructure, its population vice-ridden, poisoned with genetically modified food, morbidly obese, exploited by predatory police dep

"Here it comes" may be the simplest explanation of developments inside Syria one day after Turkey sent troops and tanks across Syria's border. Russia has asked Iraq to close its northern airports due to a pending Russian military strike. Russian government has announced that it aims to launch an operation in Syria "against ISIS," urging Iraqi officials to cancel all flights in Erbil and Sulaimaniyah airports in order to prevent any hazardous incidents from happening. According to Itartas, Russian news agency, Russia announced that it is set to launch an extensive military operation under the title “pervasive destruction,” using 69 Sukhoi fighters, Tupolev bomber 160, submarines and ships in Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, Russian state has urged Iraq to put a halt to the operation of Erbil and Sulaimaniyah airports in a move to prepare for the upcoming military operations. Russia, which has already launched its air strikes since some time ago aims to extend its p

Russia is trying to coordinate with the United States in Syria and has denied any violation of UN resolutions in its use of an Iran air base, according to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. "The main task is to finally establish coordination in resolving the Syrian crisis...We are discussing this through military, intelligence and foreign ministries," Lavrov said Wednesday at a press conference after meeting with his New Zealand counterpart Murray McCully in Moscow. Lavrov said the talks were focused on specific mechanisms to implement agreements reached during a visit by U.S. State Secretary John Kerry to Moscow last month. He said Moscow and Washington are discussing with the United Nations the possibility of opening additional humanitarian corridors in the northern city Aleppo and its vicinity controlled by the Syrian army and opposition militants. The two countries were also examining the prospect of increasing control over cargo crossing the Turkish-Syrian border