ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By Paul Craig Roberts The English language Russian news agency, Sputnik, reports that former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger is advising US president-elect Donald Trump how to “bring the United States and Russia closer together to offset China’s military buildup.” https://sputniknews.com/politics/201612271049024500-kissinger-trump-russia/ If we take this report at face value, it tells us that Kissinger, an old cold warrior, is working to use Trump’s commitment to better relations with Russia in order to separate Russia from its strategic alliance with China. China’s military buildup is a response to US provocations against China and US claims to the South China Sea as an area of US national interests. China does not intend to attack the US and certainly not Russia. Kissinger, who was my colleague at the Center for Strategic and International studies for a dozen years, is aware of the pro-American elites inside Russia, and he is at work creating for them a “China threat” that they...

By Moon Of Alabama As planned by the Russian forces the liberation of east-Aleppo was completed before Christmas. There are no longer beheadings by Takfiris in East-Aleppo. Instead a Christmas mass could be held in the damaged Elias Cathedral in the Old City in east-Aleppo. A total of about 88,000 people left the area during the evacuation of east-Aleppo. According to the International Committee of the Red Cross some 35,000 (13,000 militants and their immediate families) left to al-Qaeda held areas in Idleb governate. The UN Humanitarian Relief Organization found that 54,000 entered the government held west Aleppo. Currently the area is searched by sapper teams and several hidden bombs were found. Several exploded and killed dozens of Syrian army soldiers. Mass graves were found of Syrian soldiers and civilians executed by al-Qaeda, Ahrar al Sham and other U.S. supported groups, presumably shortly before their evacuation. The Syrian government had wanted to negotiate their release b...

Click to see the full-size map 44 ISIS militants were killed and over 117 injured by Turkish forces in the ongoing offensive in the Syrian town of al-Bab, the Turkish military said in a statement on December 28. According to the statement, Turkish forces hit 154 ISIS targets, destroying their defense positions and headquarters on the 127th day of Operation Euphrates Shield. Nonetheless, the Turkish Armed Forces and pro-Turkish militants failed to make notable gains against ISIS terrorists in the area of al-Bab. Turkish forces have been still attempting to seize the al-Bab hospital. Turkish warplanes and artillery strike ISIS targets in al-Bab:

A stockpile of arms, produced in Bulgaria, Germany and the US, has been discovered by Russian sappers in one of the terrorists’ headquarters during demining of the Syrian city of Aleppo. Photo: YouTube / Ruptly TV During demining of the Syrian city of Aleppo , Russian sappers have discovered a stockpile of arms, produced in Bulgaria, Germany and the US, in one of the terrorists’ headquarters, commander the Russia’s bomb disposal squad, Maj. Ivan Gromov, told the Rossiya-24 TV-channel. “There were various ammunitions: from cartridges for a heavy machine gun to rocket projectiles for the Grad system. [We discovered] 122-millimeter mines, rounds for grenade launchers, hand grenades, shells for howitzers,” Gromov said. “The munitions we found were German, American, Bulgarian… The amount they had was somewhat disconcerting.” The Russian Defense Ministry released a video of the ongoing demining operation, which shows crates full of various munitions; some of them marked “Produced in Yugosl...

According to head of the joint command of the coalition forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, the defeat of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group, including the capture of the cities of Mosul and Raqqa, will take two years. Head of the joint command of the coalition forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend (Photo: Brigitte N. Brantley, TSGT, USAF / Defense. Gov) The defeat of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group , including the capture of the cities of Mosul and Raqqa, as well as clearing the remnants from other, less important areas, will take two years, head of the joint command of the coalition forces in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, told The Daily Beast on Sunday. Townsend noted that the enemy is dangerous and cruel – very often terrorists use children as a human shield in order to prevent airstrikes of the coalition. “A fighter walking out of a building will hold a child over his head so we can see him through ISR [intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance] until...

The People’s Protection Units (YPG) intend to establish control over the town of Tabqa and a hydroelectric station, located there on the Euphrates River. Photo: safa.ps The People’s Protection Units (YPG), also known as the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in mainstream media, consisting mainly of Kurds, are going to establish control over the town of Tabqa and a hydroelectric station, located there on the Euphrates River , the Izvestiya newspaper reported on Tuesday. The combat actions are conducted within the framework of an operation to encircle Raqqa, which is considered as the capital of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group. As Abd Salam Ali, a representative of the Democratic Alliance, a Syrian Kurdish party, told Izvestiya, the YPG intends to knock the IS out from Tabqa town and a dam, located there. According to Ali, “the battle is currently taking place to the north-west of Raqqa , which is considered as the capital of terrorists. On December 25, there were armed clashes i...

The second flying prototype of the China’s FC-31 fighter jet has made its first flight. The second flying prototype of the China’s FC-31 fighter jet (Photo: weibo.com) The second flying prototype of the China’s FC-31 fighter jet has made its first flight, the Sandrermakoff blog reported. In contrast to the J-20 aircraft, which was developed and is produced for the Air Force of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Chengdu, the FC-31 light fighter jet of a new generation is developed primarily for export. However, developers of the new fighter jet of the Shenyang Aircraft Corporation do not lose a hope to get a contract from the country’s Air Force or Navy in the future. As far as is known, the development of the FC-31 is conducted entirely at the own expense of the Aviation Industry Corporation of China without direct involvement of the Chinese government that greatly restrains the process of the development of the project. So, more than four years have passed since the firs...

By Paul Antonopoulos The head of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Director of John Brennan said in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR) the the bloodshed in Syria was partially because of their role in the war. "I think we always like to say that we wish that we would have been able to make a difference, in a way that would have prevented the slide and the situation there," Director of John Brennan said in an interview with National Public Radio (NPR). "There's no way you can divorce yourself, emotionally or mentally, from these situations that you play a role in," Brennan said, adding that he “felt some responsibility for the horrific bloodshed” in the Syria war. He then went onto predict that the terrorist forces loss in Aleppo will not end the war in Syria. "This insurgency is not going to go away until there is some type of viable and genuine political process that will bring to power in Damascus a government that is representative of the...