ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

The recently released ethnographic map of the Iraqi city of Mosul, controlled by the ISIS terrorist group, explains the military developments in the area. This week Iraqi security forces (ISF) have easily sieged the Kurdish village of Gagjali in Mosul’s western outskirts (some sources even describe Gagjali as a Mosul neighborhood, but it is not true). This sucess allowed pro-government media outlets claim a rapid success in the operation to liberate Mosul and to ‘forecast’ significant advances in the coming days. But ‘signficant advances’ have not been made. This situation can be easily explained if somebody wants to take a look at the ethnographic situation in the city. In its propaganda ISIS aims mostly the Suni Arab population of Syria and Iraq. And Kurds are a minority among the terrorist group’s members. This is why some initial success by ISF is expected in the western Kurdish populated outskirts of the city. However, when the ISF reaches the first non-Kurdish (non-Assyrian or ...

The KPV heavy machine gun, which is actively used by terrorists of the Islamic State (IS) group and the Peshmerga forces against each other, has become one of the most brutal weapons during the Iraqi war. A member of the Kurdish Peshmerga with the KPV heavy machine gun (Photo: Reuters) The KPV heavy machine gun, designed to shoot down aircraft, is one of the most brutal weapons that is used by both sides of the Iraqi war: by soldiers of the Iraqi Army and fighters of the popular forces, as well as by terrorists of the Islamic State (IS) group . The 14.5×114-millimeter KPV, whose weight is about 50 kilograms, is not as pervasive as the smaller DShK heavy machine gun, but, nonetheless, it is a big and extremely dangerous threat for the Peshmerga forces and the Iraqi Army during their offensive on the city of Mosul. Dozens of KPVs were seized by IS terrorists in Syria and Iraq and mounted onto their pickup trucks that allowed to increase mobile and intermediate range firepower of the ter...

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks with Saudi Arabia's King Salman © Kevin Lamarque / Reutersudi Arabia has become by far the number one purchaser of US weapons, with $115 billion deals under the Obama administration alone. Congress has just rubber-stamped every single one, says author and activist Medea Benjamin. Chris Hedges discussed US-Saudi relations with Medea Benjamin. Saudi Arabia carried out 158 executions, 63 for non-violent drug crimes last year, often through public beheadings. Early this year, it executed 47 men for terrorism-related offenses, including the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. It practices gender apartheid against women, who are not allowed to drive, are banned from most jobs, and are controlled by male guardians. It prohibits freedom of expression, including freedom of religion. Homosexuals can be put to death. It promotes a fundamentalist form of Sunni Islam throughout the Muslim world known as Wahhabism, which sanctifies violence aga...

The Russian general staff announced on November 2 that President Vladimir Putin had ordered a humanitarian pause in Aleppo from 9am to 7pm on November 4. General Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the Russian General Staff reported that joint militant forces failed to break the government forces’ defenses in the city and lift the siege from militant-controlled areas. “Considering that our American colleagues were unable to separate the opposition from terrorists, we are addressing all militant leaders directly, urging them to cease hostilities and leave Aleppo with their arms,” he said. “Two corridors will be opened, from which Syrian troops and weapons would be pulled back.” The corridors for militants will lead to the Turkish-Syrian border and the province of Idlib. Six additional corridors will be opened for civilians. Since November 1, the fighting in the area has become stationary. The western part of the al-Assad Neighborhood is contested. The al-Nusra led coalition, Jaish al-Fatah...

Click to see full-size image The Destert Hakws Brigade (or Liwa Suqur al-Sahara), the Syrian Arab Army’s Tiger Forces and Hezbollah are playing a crucial role in the ongoing clashes in western Aleppo where the al-Nusra Front-led coalition, Jaish al-Fatah, seeks to break the government forces’ defenses and to lift the siege from the militant-controlled areas of the city. The Desert Hawks Brigade and The Syrian Arab Army’s Republican Guard were in the al-Assad Neighborhood and in the Minyan area November 2 morning: While the Tiger Forces and Hezbollah are widely known among the international audience, the Destert Hakws Brigade remains a dark horse of the Syrian war. Meanwhile, it’s one of the most capable units affilated with the Syrian Arab Army. It’s one of the formations that operate advanced T-90 main battle tanks , donated by Russia to the Syrian military.

© / AFP NATO’s former deputy military chief in Europe says his book, a fictional story which describes a nuclear war with Russia over the Baltic nations taking place in 2017, is based on an “entirely plausible” scenario. General Sir Richard Shirreff, from Britain, served at the second-highest NATO military office in Europe between 2011 and 2014. He says his experience acquired in the alliance of war-gaming future conflicts helped him model the narrative for the book. According to his scenario, starting next year Russia would first occupy Ukraine to secure a land route to Crimea and then invade the three Baltic nations, all of which are members of NATO. The move, Shirreff argued, would be driven by the perception of NATO’s weakness and Russia’s opposition to what it sees as the alliance’s attempts to encircle it. We need to judge President [Vladimir] Putin by his deeds not his words,” the retired general told BBC Radio 4’s Today program. “He has invaded Georgia, he has invaded the C...

by JOHN PILGER Photo by Diego Torres Silvestre | CC BY 2.0 The American journalist, Edward Bernays, is often described as the man who invented modern propaganda. The nephew of Sigmund Freud, the pioneer of psycho-analysis, it was Bernays who coined the term “public relations” as a euphemism for spin and its deceptions. In 1929, he persuaded feminists to promote cigarettes for women by smoking in the New York Easter Parade – behaviour then considered outlandish. One feminist, Ruth Booth, declared, “Women! Light another torch of freedom! Fight another sex taboo!” Bernays’ influence extended far beyond advertising. His greatest success was his role in convincing the American public to join the slaughter of the First World War. The secret, he said, was “engineering the consent” of people in order to “control and regiment [them] according to our will without their knowing about it”. He described this as “the true ruling power in our society” and called it an “invisible government”. Today,...

By Mike Whitney “Nation state as a fundamental unit of man’s organized life has ceased to be the principal creative force: International banks and multinational corporations are acting and planning in terms that are far in advance of the political concepts of the nation-state.” — Zbigniew Brzezinski, “Between Two Ages: The Technetronic Era”, 1971 “I’m going to continue to push for a no-fly zone and safe havens within Syria….not only to help protect the Syrians and prevent the constant outflow of refugees, but to gain some leverage on both the Syrian government and the Russians.” — Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Third Presidential Debate Why is Hillary Clinton so eager to intensify US involvement in Syria when US interventions in Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya have all gone so terribly wrong? The answer to this question is simple. It’s because Clinton doesn’t think that these interventions went wrong. And neither do any of the other members of the US foreign polic...