ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

According to a researcher of the US Military Academy, the most effective weapon on the modern battlefield is concrete barriers. Photo: mwi.usma.edu Concrete is the most effective weapon on the modern battlefield, a former coach of the US Army, Major John Spencer, who is currently engaged in theoretical researches in the US Military Academy (USMA), also known as West Point, concluded. In his essay, posted on a website of the academy, Spencer unequivocally states that concrete barriers that are used in Iraq and Afghanistan today, have made to security of American soldiers, involved in these conflicts, much more than any other military hardware that they have, including the most complex ones. “Many soldiers deployed to Iraq became experts in concrete during their combat tours. Concrete is as symbolic to their deployments as the weapons they carried. No other weapon or technology has done more to contribute to achieving strategic goals of providing security, protecting populations, establ

A new photo, showing an upgraded variant of the BMP-1 infantry combat vehicle, was published online. Photo: twitter.com / MathieuMorant In recent months, the Syrian Army regularly demonstrates upgraded pieces of various armored vehicles. So, lately we can more and more often see fundamentally altered variant of the BMP-1 infantry combat vehicle , which in fact turned into an assault vehicle. At the beginning of this week a new photo of such a vehicle, which is in service in the Desert Hawks Brigade, was published in social media. The first unusual thing, which we can easily notice, is an armored cabin, mounted over the troop compartment and equipped with one or two machine guns. The photo clearly shows the Chinese W-85 heavy machine gun, which is currently in service of the Syrian Army . According to military experts, thanks to such a cabin an ability to monitor land environment was improved, and soldiers got an opportunity to respond to identified threats more quickly. In addition

AlMasdarNews reports: Reports have emerged that ISIS started withdrawing their heavy military equipment from from the towns of al-Qa’im, Rawah and Anah in Iraq’s Anbar province, to the Syrian desert city of Raqqa, which is also the terrorist groups defacto capital. Much of the equipment is rocket launchers, battle tanks and armored vehicles. This comes at a time when Mosul in Iraq’s Nineveh province is completely cut off from Syria and the terrorist group being battered by Iraqi forces, including the Kurdish Peshmerga and Shi’ite militias.

Since November 30, the media has been full of horrific reports about 45 civilians killed by the “regime artillery” in Aleppo city. According to reports, at least 45 civilians were killed by artillery strikes in the militant-held part of aleppo city on November 30. The story also exploded in the social media with numerous posts blaming the Syrian government/  Follow Louisa Loveluck   ✔ @leloveluck Horrific photos show aftermath of government shelling attack in east Aleppo's Jub al-Qubba district. 45 dead. Bodies line the streets. 10:18 AM - 30 Nov 2016     1,204 1,204 Retweets     351 351 likes  Follow Samantha Power   ✔ @AmbassadorPower Force yourself to view images from E  # Aleppo .  # Russia &regime deny killing civilians, seeking post-truth world,but carnage is fact& it's now. 10:22 PM - 30 Nov 2016     1,468 1,468 Retweets     954 954 likes However, the further dev

A new concept of foreign policy of the country has been approved by Russian President Vladimir Putin. Russian President Vladimir Putin (Photo: RIA Novosti / Aleksey Druzhinin) Russian President Vladimir Putin has approved a new concept of foreign policy of the country. A relevant decree and text of the concept have been published on the official web portal of legal information. The document focuses on a wide range of issues, including relations with the US and NATO, the situation in Syria, reduction of armaments, and development of relations between Russia and other countries. At the same time, the concept also lists main tasks of the country, such as consolidation of position of Russia as one of the most influential centers of the modern world, ensuring of global security, stability and fair democratic international system, based on equitable and partnership relations between states, and promotion of creation of networking alliances. Reduction of armaments According to the document,

This is the newst update of the ‘U.S. Carrier Strike Groups Locations Map’ exclusive series showing the approximate locations of U.S. Carrier Strike Groups on a weekly basis. SouthFront: Analysis & Intelligence tracks locations of U.S. aircraft carriers using the available open-source information. No classified information was used in production of the map. Click to see the full-size map Carrier strike group (CSG) is an operational formation of the United States Navy. It is centered on an aircraft carrier and a carrier air wing (CVW) of 65 to 70 aircrafts. It’s composed of roughly 7,500 personnel, an aircraft carrier, at least one cruiser, a destroyer squadron of at least two destroyers and/or frigates. A carrier strike group also, on occasion, includes submarines, attached logistics ships and a supply ship. Carrier strike groups comprise a principal element of U.S. power projection over the world’s oceans.

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