ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

The U.S. intelligence community’s unprecedented assault on an incoming U.S. president – now including spreading salacious rumors – raises questions about how long Donald Trump can hold the White House, says Daniel Lazare. By Daniel Lazare Is a military coup in the works? Or are U.S. intelligence agencies laying the political groundwork for forcing Donald Trump from the presidency because they can’t abide his rejection of a new cold war with Russia? Not long ago, even asking such questions would have marked one as the sort of paranoid nut who believes that lizard people run the government . But no longer. Thanks to the now-notorious 35-page dossier concerning Donald Trump’s alleged sexual improprieties in a Moscow luxury hotel, it’s clear that strange maneuverings are underway in Washington and that no one is quite sure how they will end. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper added to the mystery Wednesday evening by releasing a 200-word statement to the effect that he was

The France 2 TV-channel has published a rare footage, showing the French Special Forces, operating in Iraq. On January 15, the France 2 TV-channel showed a reportage about the French Special Forces , supporting Iraqi troops in the battle for Mosul. According to the TV-channel, 200 French servicemen have been staying on the territory of the country already during two years and operating there along with the Iraqi elite forces. As the TV-channel reported, the main task of the French Special Forces in Iraq is intelligence service. They stay near the frontline and operate dangerously close to positions of the Islamic State (IS) terrorist group , however, never directly act on the frontline. French servicemen assist to pinpoint targets for Syrian troops, as well as search, analyze and destroy explosive devices and weapons, left by the IS in the liberated areas. The France 2’s reportage allows us to see a terrorists’ sniper room and a labyrinth, consisting of interconnected tunnels and dam

CNN TV-channel has considered a scenario of an assassination attempt on US president-elect Donald Trump, his vice-president and senior officials of the Congress during the inauguration on Friday. US president-elect Donald Trump (Photo: CNN / Nigel Parry) The CNN TV-channel showed a reportage about inheritance of the presidential powers in the case of a murder of Donald Trump during his inauguration on Friday. Reporter Brian Todd considered a scenario of an assassination attempt not only on the president-elect, but also on the vice-president and senior officials of the Congress. As CNN reminded, according to the US Constitution, if a president and vice president are killed or incapacitated, a speaker of the House of Representatives and temporary chairman of the Senate will take their seats. If something happens to them too, then ministers, starting with a Secretary of State, will execute the office of a president. In the case of the inauguration on January 20 the situation is even mor

The Turkish Army has already lost at least 10 Leopard 2A4 tanks during their offensive on terrorists’ positions near the Syrian city of al-Bab. Photo: arthaber.net According to the recent report of the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency, the Saudi Armed Forces have lost about 20 Abrams М1A2S tanks in Yemen , the Zone Militaire information website reported. In its turn, the Turkish Army, which has been conducting the so-called Euphrates Shield operation in the north of Syria since August 2016, has faced with the same problem with the German-made Leopard 2A4 tanks. So, according to information from social networks, the Turkish Forces have lost at least 10 Leopard 2A4 tanks during their offensive on terrorists’ positions near al-Bab city. The losses were confirmed by the Die Welt newspaper, which wrote about the tank, manufactured by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann company and considered ‘invincible’ before. The tank (practically of all variants of its modification) was sold to 18 countr

Member of Jabhat Fath al-Sham holds his group flag in Idlib On January 19, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) attacked a number of Ahrar al-Sham checkpoints and local headquarters in the militant-held province of Idlib. After a series of clashes, Jabhat Fatah al-Sham units seized from Ahrar al-Sham the Khirbet al-Jawz crossing on Turkish border, few checkpoints and a local headquarters in Khirbet al-Jawz. Some Ahrar al-Sham members were taken captive. An infighting between the militant groups were also reported near Darkoush, Jisr ash-Shugur and Bdama. Jabhat Fatah al-Sham captured a number of Ahrar al-Sham positions in Jisr ash-Shugur and Bdama. The situation is now unclear in Darkoush. The groups are blaming each other in the social media for undermining the “values of Syrian revolution”. Local sources say that the clashes are result of the ongoing “political” standoff among militant groups for the power in the province of Idlib which b

Dead bodies of Islamic State militants (representational photo) Anbar (IraqiNews.com) Thirty Islamic State militants were killed on Wednesday when Iraqi fighter jets pounded a location where they held a leadership meeting east of Anbar, a senior local militia commander said. Nazem al-Jugheifi, an intelligence official at Al-Hashd al-Shaabi (Popular Mobilization Units), said the deaths included senior leaders of the extremist group who were leading a security meeting in central Rawa. He said the dead commanders belonged to the group’s branch in the Syrian Boukamal region. Jugheifi said the meeting tackled the group’s status in the province’s western regions. Iraqi forces launched last week operations to retake those areas, most notably tee towns of Annah and Rawa. Security sources in Anbar said earlier this week that the operations, backed by tribal militias, had halted until security troops consummate the liberation of Mosul, Islamic State’s largest stronghold in Iraq that has been wit

By The Saker  In my recent article “ Risks and Opportunities for 2017 ” I made a statement which shocked many readers. I wrote: Russia is now the most powerful country on the planet. (…) the Russian armed forces are probably the most powerful and capable ones on earth (albeit not the largest ones) (…) Russia is the most powerful country on earth because of two things: Russia openly rejects and denounces the worldwide political, economic and ideological system the USA has imposed upon our planet since WWII and because Vladimir Putin enjoys the rock-solid support of about 80%+ of the Russian population. The biggest strength of Russia in 2017 is a moral and a political one, it is the strength of a civilization which refuses to play by the rules which the West has successfully imposed on the rest of mankind. And now that Russia has successfully “pushed back” others will inevitably follow (again, especially in Asia). While some dismissed this as rather ridiculous hyperbole, others have aske

The first six Anka-S systems will be delivered to the Turkish Armed Forces in 2017. Photo: Turkish Aerospace Industries The Turkish Armed Forces will receive the first batch of the Anka-S unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), developed in Turkey, until the end of 2017, the Defense News portal reported, citing the Turkish Defense Ministry. According to Tusas Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI), which developed the Anka and Anka-S drones, this year, the Turkish military will get six Anka-S systems, while the remaining four systems will be delivered in 2018. A contract for the design, development and production of ten Anka-S systems was signed by TAI and the Turkey’s defense procurement agency, the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries (SSM), in 2013. In the last quarter of 2016, the Anka-S started its test flights. The UAV is currently going through a qualification process. At the same time, flight simulators for the drone are being developed by TAI engineers. The Anka-S is capable to fly