ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Written, produced and edited by SF Team: Daniel Deiss, Edwin Watson, AlexD, J.Hawk; Cover art by Sacha Angel Diener ; The role of maritime theater of operations has significantly increased. But to create a traditional fleet of aircraft carriers, cruisers and destroyers, capable of competing on an even level with the strongest fleet today, the US Navy, is extremely complicated. For this reason, the maritime powers are looking for asymmetrical approaches in the construction of the fleet of the future. An interesting asymmetrical solution is presented by the Ekranoplan. Ekranoplan is a high-speed transport vehicle flying within the limits of the aerodynamic envelope, at a relatively low altitude (a few metres) above water, ground, snow or ice. The ekranoplan is much smaller than an aeroplane with comparable mass and wing area. According to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) classification it is considered a sea-going vessel. (A ground effect vehicle (GEV) is a vehicle that is d

By Nick Turse and Tom Engelhardt When Donald Trump enters the Oval Office, awaiting him will not only be his own private air assassination corps (those CIA drones that take out terror suspects globally from a White House “ kill list ”), but his own private and remarkably secret military. Ever since John F. Kennedy first made the Green Berets into figures of military glamour, there’s always been something alluring to presidents about the U.S. military’s elite special ops forces. Still, that was then, this is now. In the twenty-first century, the Special Operations Command, which oversees those elite forces cocooned within the regular military, has gained ever more power to act in ever more independent and secretive ways. In those same years, the country’s elite troops, including those Green Berets, the Navy SEALs, and the Army’s Delta Force, have grown to staggering proportions, while ever more money has poured into their coffers. There are now an estimated 70,000 of them -- a crew

Russian Ambassador to Turkey Andrei Karlov has faced an assasination attempt in Ankara. The Russian state-run news agency ‘Tass’ reported few moments ago : An armed man has burst into the Contemporary Art Gallery in Ankara, where a ceremony to unveil the photography exhibition Russia through the Eyes of Turks was in progress, eye witnesses have told Tass, saying the incident occurred when Russian Ambassador Andrei Karlov was addressing the audience. They say gun shots could be heard and the man cried out “Get away from here”. Russian ambassador in Turkey has come under attack, Turkish diplomatic source said. Karlov in a critical state was rushed to a hospital. UPD: Karlov died in the hospital. Russia describes his assasination as a terrorist act. Video of the attack: According to Turkish NTV broadcaster, 3 other people were also injured in the assasination attempt. Other sources say that 2 more people were injured. Media reports also say say police are engaged in a shootout with the

At least 9 people were killed and more than 50 injured few houres ago in one of Berlin’s largest Christmas markets, located in the western Charlottenburg district. Officials are investigating the crash as an act of terrorism, according to a German intelligence official familiar with the matter. The Iraqi Popular Mobilization Force tweeted that ISIS was taking credit for the attack. According to the police the truck (black Scania) drove 50-80 metres through the market area. The truck was going 40mph. It was in the middle of a square, there are main roads either side, [where it could have come from]. But it showed no sign of slowing down,” said Emma Rushton, a British tourist. A Christmas tree was fallen by the truck. Acccording to The Telegraph , the truck belongs to a Polish firm based in the northern town of Gryfino, just a stone’s throw from the German border. The company owner said the vehicle involved in the incident was new and only had about 30,000 kilometres on the clock. Ge

Terry Pratchett “Interesting times” Written by Alexander Uzunov; Originally appeared at Memoriabg , translated by Valentina Tzoneva Alexander Uzunov has a BA degree in Political Science and is currently continuing his studies in Masters in Diplomacy and National Security at the “St., St. Cyril and Metodiy”. He is the author of analyses in the field of global and regional policy. His interests are in the field of geopolitics and international relations. There is a curse: it says: “May you live in interesting times!” Terry Pratchett has chosen this ancient Chinese wisdom for the beginning of his book, “Interesting times”. I will also start with it because of its particular relevance to the present time. The world is changing at the speed of light and established ideologies and norms sink into oblivion. The first year of my studies at the university was in the not so distant in 2012 and given the bleak scenarios for the coming end of the world, it looked pretty apocalyptic. Of course, eve

Mossad chief makes clandestine trip to US to meet with incoming Trump administration. Mossad chief Yossi Cohen Flash90 JTA - The head of Israel’s Mossad national intelligence agency made a secret visit to the United States to meet with members of President-elect Donald Trump staff and give them a security briefing. Mossad Director Yossi Cohen briefed the Trump staff members on the Iranian nuclear deal, the Syrian civil war, terror threats and the Palestinian issue, Ynet reported Saturday. The report did not say when the briefings took place. The security delegation was organized by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, according to Ynet, and was led by National Security Council head Yaakov Nagel. Israeli ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer reportedly also attended the meetings. The Israeli officials also reportedly discussed with Trump officials a proposed regional conference to jumpstart the Israeli-Arab peace process to be held in Egypt, and an anti-Israel United Nations resoluti

By Norman Solomon News media should illuminate conflicts of interest, not embody them. But the owner of the Washington Post is now doing big business with the Central Intelligence Agency, while readers of the newspaper’s CIA coverage are left in the dark. The Post’s new owner, Jeff Bezos, is the founder and CEO of Amazon -- which recently landed a $600 million contract with the CIA. But the Post’s articles about the CIA are not disclosing that the newspaper’s sole owner is the main owner of CIA business partner Amazon. Even for a multi-billionaire like Bezos, a $600 million contract is a big deal. That’s more than twice as much as Bezos paid to buy the Post four months ago. And there’s likely to be plenty more where that CIA largesse came from. Amazon’s offer wasn’t the low bid, but it won the CIA contract anyway by offering advanced high-tech “cloud” infrastructure. Bezos personally and publicly touts Amazon Web Services, and it’s evident that Amazon will be seeking more CIA contracts

As the Electoral College assembles, U.S. intelligence agencies are stepping up a campaign to delegitimize Donald Trump as a Russian stooge, raising concerns about a spy coup in America. By Robert Parry  As Official Washington’s latest “group think” solidifies into certainty – that Russia used hacked Democratic emails to help elect Donald Trump – something entirely different may be afoot: a months-long effort by elements of the U.S. intelligence community to determine who becomes the next president. I was told by a well-placed intelligence source some months ago that senior leaders of the Obama administration’s intelligence agencies – from the CIA to the FBI – were deeply concerned about either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump ascending to the presidency. And, it’s true that intelligence officials often come to see themselves as the stewards of America’s fundamental interests, sometimes needing to protect the country from dangerous passions of the public or from inept or corrupt politica