ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Image copyrightREUTERSImage captionTrump's inauguration (left) and Obama's in 2009, viewed from the Washington Monument President Donald Trump has accused the media of dishonesty over the number of people attending his inauguration. Mr Trump was speaking after photographs were published appearing to show more people attended the inauguration of his predecessor Barack Obama in 2009. Mr Trump's press secretary said it had been "the largest audience to ever see an inauguration" even though figures he cited add up to under 750,000 people. He said the new US administration would hold the media accountable. On Saturday, millions in the US and around the world took part in protests to highlight women's rights, which activists believe to be under threat from the new administration. The largest US rally was in the capital, Washington DC, which city officials estimated to be more than 500,000-strong, followed by New York with some 400,000 and hundreds of thousands else...

US says air strike killed more than 100 al-Qaeda fighters just a day before President Obama left office. Jabhat Fateh al-Sham and other affiliates have in the past been targeted by US air strikes in Syria [Ammar Abdullah/Reuters] A US air strike on Thursday targeting an al-Qaeda training camp in Syria killed more than 100 fighters, a US defence official said on Friday. The strike took place just a day before the end of President Barack Obama's presidency and a day after more than 80 fighters of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) were killed in US air strikes in Libya, according to the Pentagon. The official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the air strike in Syria was primarily carried out by a B-52 bomber and dropped 14 munitions. The official added that the strike against the camp took place in Idlib province, west of Aleppo, and there was a high level of confidence that there were no civilian casualties. A US-led coalition has been ca...

According to head of the Russian Federation Council’s defense committee, Viktor Ozerov, Russia is not conducting talks on creating military bases in Libya. Commander of the Libyan Armed Forces, General Khalifa Haftar (R), and Deputy Commander of the Russian Northern Fleet, Vice Admiral Victor Sokolov (L), on the deck of the Admiral Kuznetsov heavy aircraft-carrying missile cruiser Russia is not conducting talks on creating military bases in Libya, the Sputnik news agency reported on Sunday, citing head of the Russian Federation Council’s defense committee, Viktor Ozerov. “Such talks are not being conducted,” Ozerov told Sputnik. Earlier, Libyan media reported that Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, Valery Gerasimov, and a number of Russian military officials allegedly arrived to the Libyan city of Tobruk in order to hold talks with Supreme Commander of the Libyan Ar med Forces, General Khalifa Haftar. According to the Switzerland’s Neu Zuercher Zeitung...

Reuters has released an interesting map of various protests and rallies that have been officially permitted. About 270,000 protersters or Trump backers will participate in these events on January 20 and January 21. The total number of people that are set to attend the inauguration is about 900,000 .

President-elect Donald Trump arrives for the inauguration ceremonies to be sworn in as the 45th president of the United States on the West front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington, U.S., January 20, 2017 © Lucy Nicholson / Reuters Originally appeared at ZeroHedge In an inaugural speech that appealed to the core tenets preached during his presidential campaign, tinged with an overtone of palpable anger and a suggestion of protectionism, Trump addressed the core promises that brought him into the White House, and vowed to bring back jobs, fortify America’s borders and restore America’s wealth, while transferring power from Washington and giving it back to “you, the people.” “Today we are not merely transferring power from one administration to another or from one party to another,” Trump said in his inauguration speech. “We are transferring power from Washington, D.C. and giving it back to you, the people.” In his speech, Trump described an America riven by crime and social tumult, as O...

Ankara has admitted that a settlement in Syria without Assad “is not realistic.” Syrian President Bashar al-Assad (Photo: SANA / AFP / File) Ankara refuses to promote an idea, according to which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad must be overthrown, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister, Mehmet Simsek, said during the International Economic Forum in Davos. According to Simsek, the Turkish government does not believe that the process of a settlement in Syria should be considered only after Assad’s resignation. “We have to be pragmatic, realistic. The facts on the ground have changed dramatically,” Simsek said. “Turkey can no longer insist on a settlement without Assad. It is not realistic.” At the same time, Simsek said that Assad is responsible for the multiyear war in Syria, as well as for hundreds of thousands of victims of this bloody war. “As far as our position on Assad is concerned, we think that the suffering of Syrian people and tragedies clearly… the blame is squarely on Assad,” the Tu...

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...