ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Why Mitt Romney will not become the US Secretary of State but with the Big Donald one must keep their eyes open. Written by Dmitri Dvornitsky; Originally appeared at Life , translated by AlexD exclusively for SouthFront Almost in any documentary or artistic film about magicians you know that the most important always happens not where the audience is looking. Donald Trump and his closest aides already have proved to the world that they are masters in this magic. During the election campaign and even during the election night itself the majority of “talking heads” were discussing Nevada, Colorado, Florida and North Carolina but Trump and his team at that time were taking the so-called Rust Belt – Ohio, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Michigan. The co-authors of this success were the people that were first to enter the future administration of the White House, the young Republican functionary Raines Pribus and the brilliant media manager Steve Bannon. Following this, the advisor for national...

Photos and videos evidence show that the Erdogan regime have suplied a high number of various military equipment to pro-Turkey militants (the mainstream media calls them the Free Syrian Army), including ACV-15 amphibious armored combat vehicles. The FSA’s First Squad operates an ACV-15: The ACV-15 is a Turkish-made combat vehicle based on the YPR-765A1 Advanced Infantry Fighting Vehicle.

A large buildup of pro-government forces took place in southern Aleppo. Hezbollah and Harakat Hezbollah al-Nujaba deployed a significant number of manpower to the area. This move has once against fueled massive speculations in pro-government media outlets that the Syrian army and its allies are going to advance in the direction of Khan Tuman. However, this move can be hardly expected in the near future. Now, the Syrian military’s main goal is to develop momentum in eastern Aleppo in order to push militants to surrender and to set a full-control over Aleppo city. Government forces deployed contingent in southern Aleppo to strengthen the pressure on militants in the southern part of eastern Aleppo pocket, tacking advantage on their lack of manpower and military supplies. While Jaish al-Fatah militant coalition will try repel government attacks in southern and northern directions, the Syrian military will likely launch a splitting attack in the direction of Aleppo Citadel, putting the en...

By Paul Antonopoulos The US Defense Department has said that it's strikes against the Syrian Army in Deir Ezzor that killed over 80 soldiers in mid-Septemer was an “unintentional error” and did not violate international law. The Pentagon made the claims in a statement on Tuesday, saying that the US-led coalition had launched the air raids based on wrong intelligence and as it was not a deliberate mistake, it would not constitute a breach of law. "The evidence showed there was not a deliberate disregard of targeting procedures or the rules of engagement," the statement said. The statement then went onto defend the legality of the deadly airstrikes. “The decision to strike these targets was made in accordance with the law of armed conflict and the applicable rules of engagement," the statement continued. “We made an unintentional, regrettable error, based on several factors in the targeting process,” said Richard Coe, US air force brigadier general and the investigatin...

According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Armed Forces launched its military operation on the territory of Syria in order “to end the rule of the tyrant al-Assad.” Photo: CC The Turkish Army launched its military operation on the territory of Syria in order to put an end to the rule of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at the first Inter-Parliamentary Jerusalem Platform Symposium in Istanbul on November 29. “In my estimation, nearly 1 million people have died in Syria. These deaths are still continuing without exception for children, women and men. Where is the United Nations? What is it doing? Is it in Iraq? No. We preached patience but could not endure in the end and had to enter Syria together with the Free Syrian Army [FSA],” Erdogan said during his speech. “Why did we enter? We do not have an eye on Syrian soil. The issue is to provide lands to their real owners. That is to say we are there for the establishment ...

Russia is going to dispatch several mobile hospitals to the city of Aleppo in order to medical care to residents of the city and its surrounding areas. Photo: Russian Defense Ministry Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the country’s Defense Ministry and the Russian Emergencies Ministry to promptly dispatch mobile hospitals to Syria in order to provide medical care to residents of Aleppo and its surrounding areas, the RIA Novosti news agency reported, citing spokesman for Russian President, Dmitry Peskov. “The President instructed the Defense Ministry and the Emergencies Ministry to dispatch mobile hospitals to the area of the Syrian city of Aleppo to provide medical care to residents of the city and nearby settlements,” Peskov said. He also noted that the Russian Defense Ministry is going to deploy a medical special operations unit and a multi-functional hospital for 100 places with a special children’s therapeutic department. The daily admission rate of the hospital for ambul...

Two Great Weapons Born from Different Design Philosophies Photo: kalashnikov-usa.com Introduction I have read many articles and reviews comparing the American AR-15 and the Russian AK-47 family of assault rifles. Most reviews attempted to definitively label one or the other as the superior weapon. I have found that this entire chain of reasoning missed the point, and showed a deep misunderstanding of the design philosophy behind the genius of both Eugene Stoner and Mikhail Kalashnikov. I like to believe that both men would appreciate the competition often superimposed upon their work, as all great and gifted minds do; however, their designs are so different in substance and philosophy that such an idea is quite artificial and truly an artifice of official propaganda or idle conjecture. Anyone that has fired either weapon recreationally, or more importantly, trusted his life to the weapon in battle, would walk away with a profound love of either rifle, for a host of shared and differ...

Global Empire or Fortress America?   Written and produced by SF Team: J.Hawk, Daniel Deiss, Edwin Watson While on the campaign trail, President-Elect Donald J. Trump made a range of statements suggesting a shift away from a policy of interventionism, combined with a focus on safeguarding US borders and jobs at the expense of the dominant ideology of globalism. Can and will he deliver on these promises? There are many reasons to believe he will genuinely push US foreign policy in this direction, but at the same time he will face obstacles on his path. One of the factors clearly helping him is the increasingly indisputable fact that globalism as an ideology has been discredited, except, ironically, among the liberal “creative classes” and among the financial elites. The rest of the society and of the elite is increasingly skeptical of such policies if not downright opposed to them, which means they are willing to experiment with...