ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By Pepe Escobar Your honors, in this venue I announce my separation from the United States… both in military and economics also». Thus Philippines President Rodrigo «The Punisher» Duterte unleashed a geopolitical earthquake encompassing Eurasia and reverberating all across the Pacific Ocean. And talk about choosing his venue with aplomb; right in the heart of the Rising Dragon, no less. Capping his state visit to Beijing, Duterte then coined the mantra – pregnant with overtones - that will keep ringing all across the global South; «America has lost». And if that was not enough, he announced a new alliance – Philippines, China and Russia – is about to emerge; «there are three of us against the world». Predictably, the Beltway establishment in the «indispensable nation» went bananas, reacting as «puzzled» or in outright anger, dispersing the usual expletives on the «crude populist», «unhinged leader» . The bottom line is that it takes a lot of balls for the leader of a poor, developing c...

The Russian Armed Forces received the new advanced Buk-M3 surface-to-air missile system, Russia’s Deputy Defense Minister Yuri Borisov has announced. “Two Buk-M2 batteries and one Buk-M3 battery are in the interests of the Land and Airborne Forces,” Borisov said in a statement . The newest Russian 9K317M Buk-M3 medium-range surface-to-air missile system (NATO reporting name: SA-17 Grizzly) entered in service in 2015. The new type of missile used by the launcher is more compact than the previous versions. This allows Buk-M3 to carry a payload of six instead of four missiles. The new missile also outclasses previous models in technical characteristics. The missile can destroy any type of airborne target in existence, can be used against naval and ground targets and it is resistant to electronic.

The Russian Navy’s the Kamov Ka-31 military helicopter has been spotted in Jeblah in the Syrian province of Latakia. The Ka-31 is a Russian-made military helicopter, designed to play the naval airborne early warning and control role. Its visually distinctive feature is the large antenna of the early-warning radar, rotating or folded and stowed under the fuselage. The Ka-31’radar has a 360° coverage and can spot aircraft-size target from 150 km range.

Damascus, SANA-General Command of the army and armed forces said on Thursday that warplanes of Erdogan regime perpetrated on Wednesday a massacre that killed more than 150 innocent civilians through targeting the villages and towns of Hasajk, al-Wariyah, Hassiya, Ghoul Srouj, Sad al-Shahba, Ehris and Um Housh in Aleppo northern countryside. The army’s command affirmed that this flagrant aggression which targeted innocent citizens is considered as a dangerous development that could escalate the situation. It warned that any attempt to repeat the violation of the Syrian airspace by the Turkish warplanes will be responded and downed with all available means. Mazen

Death and Life in the Lost Town of Leer By Nick Turse LEER, South Sudan -- There it is again. That sickening smell. I’m standing on the threshold of a ghost of a home. Its footprint is all that’s left. In the ruins sits a bulbous little silver teakettle -- metal, softly rounded, charred but otherwise perfect, save for two punctures. Something tore through it and ruined it, just as something tore through this home and ruined it, just as something tore through this town and left it a dusty, wasted ruin. This, truth be told, is no longer a town, not even a razed one. It’s a killing field, a place where human remains lie unburied, whose residents have long since fled, while its few remaining inhabitants are mostly refugees from similarly ravaged villages. The world is awash in killing fields, sites of slaughter where armed men have laid waste to the innocent, the defenseless, the unlucky; locales where women and children, old and young men have been suffocated, had their skulls shattered, ...

ISIS have announced that it has broken into Kirkuk prison, the site of many detained terrorists, in which all were freed. This is a report corroborated by the Popular Mobilzation Units (PMU). In response, PMU have announced that they will move even more units to assist the Peshmerga in routing ISIS. The PMU have announced that this far, at least 70 ISIS fighters have been killed. The Kurdistan Workers Party have also arrived in Kirkuk to assist in the anti-terrorist operations. The US have conducted airstrikes over Kirkuk which demonstrates that the situation is not under control yet as the mayor had claimed many hours ago.

NATO officials have confirmed that the Russian aircraft carrier Kuznetsov has sailed past Norway and appears to be heading in the direction of Syria.  — Senior Nato Diplomat Says Russia Is Deploying All of Northern Fleet and Part of Baltic Fleet to Reinforce Syria Campaign  — Deployment Is Russia’s Largest Naval Deployment Since End of Cold War – Nato Diplomat  — Deployment Will Increase Number of Russian Fighter Bombers in Syria, Moscow May Launch Final Air Assault on Aleppo in Two Weeks  – Nato Diplomat THE LINES ARE DRAWN It is expected that the aircraft carrier and its cargo will arrive in Syria within a period of two weeks. The carrier was escorted by seven other Russian ships.  This deployment represents the most powerful and largest Russian military issue since the Cold War. According to General Morton Haga Lunde, the head of the Norwegian military intelligence service, it is almost certain that this deployment “will probably pl...

The picture below depicts the comparison of military situation in Damascus countryside in 2013 and in 2016. The Syrian government showed an incontestable progress in securing the area of its capital. Click to see the full-size map