ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Original in "Mail Online" Leaked emails from defense contractor refers to chemical weapons saying 'the idea is approved by Washington' Obama issued warning to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad last month that use of chemical warfare was 'totally unacceptable' By LOUISE BOYLE PUBLISHED: 14:16 EST, 29 January 2013 | UPDATED: 14:16 EST, 29 January 2013 http://web.archive.org/web/20130129213824/http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2270219/U-S-planned-launch-chemical-weapon-attack-Syria-blame-Assad.html Leaked emails have allegedly proved that the White House gave the green light to a chemical weapons attack in Syria that could be blamed on Assad's regime and in turn, spur international military action in the devastated country. A report released on Monday contains an email exchange between two senior officials at British-based contractor Britam Defence where a scheme 'approved by Washington' is outlined explaining that Qatar would ...

FILE IMAGE: Wikipedia Reports are circulating that yesterday the US army made some very unusual movement at the Syrian-Jordanian border, north of Jordan’s Al-Mafraq Governorate. Local sources said that about 20 US Army armoured vehicles (including battle tanks and artillery pieces) carried on trucks were spotted in Al-Mafraq. US troops were allegedly accompanied with the Jordanian Army’s 3rd Division. Menawhile, ISIS carried out a large attack against the US-backed Free Syrian Army (FSA) in the Syrian desert. The US and Jordanian special forces took part in repelling of this attack. Locals from Al-Mafraq have talked about hearing a large number of explosions and jets flying on the Syrian side of the border. The US Special Operation Forces, the UK Special Operation Forces and units from some other countries have been conducting operations across the Syrian-Jordanian border for a long time. However, it was the first time when a notable number of US amoured vehicles was spotted there. So...

Written and produced by SF Team: J.Hawk, Daniel Deiss, Edwin Watson USSR’s first genuinely intercontinental bomber, the Tu-95 is practically a contemporary of the US B-52 Stratofortress, having entered operational service in 1956 at which time it acquired its iconic NATO reporting name of “Bear”. However, since the Tu-95 production continued until 1992, the Russian Bear fleet is considerably younger than the US B-52 fleet, the youngest of which dates back to the 1960s. It is a testament to the power and reliability of these aircraft that, even though their countries’ respective strategic bomber fleets eventually received more advanced aircraft such as the Tu-160, B-1, and B-2, the 1950s-era bombers remain the mainstay of the aerial strategic deterrents thanks to their conversion into nuclear air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) carriers, the Tu-95MS which is easily distinguished from the earlier variants by having a prominent aerial refueling probe and a large radar blister under its nos...

Source: yahoo.com Written by Daniel Lazare; Originally appeared at consortiumnews.com Donald Trump entered military terra incognita on Thursday by launching an illegal Tomahawk missile strike on an air base in eastern Syria. Beyond the clear violation of international law, the practical results are likely to be disastrous, drawing the U.S. deeper into the Syrian quagmire. But it would be a mistake to focus all the criticism on Trump. Not only are Democrats also at fault, but a good argument could be made that they bear even greater responsibility. For years, near-total unanimity has reigned on Capitol Hill concerning America’s latest villains du jour, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Syria’s Bashar al-Assad. Congressmen, senators, think-tank strategists, and op-ed analysts all have agreed that Putin and Assad are the prime enemies of “peace,” by which is meant global American hegemony, and that therefore the U.S. must stop at nothing to weaken or neutralize them or force them to exit the wo...

Houthi forces and the Republican Guard loyal to Saleh have repelled an offensive of Saudi-backed forces in the Kahboub area in the province of Lahj in southern Yeemen. Two vehicles of Saudi-backed forces were destroyed, according to pro-Houthi sources. The Houthi-Saleh alliance continued operations against Saudi forces along the Yemeni-Saudi borders. The Houthi-Saleh alliance’s artillery targeted Saudi military positions at Farydah and a gathering of Saudi forces in Jizan. Separately, Houthi forces snipers reportedly killed a Saudi soldier at Fatydah. Houthi forces also used artillery and rockets against Saudi military positions near al-Sadid, Dabba and al-Ash in Najran within the Saudi territory. The Houthi’s medi wing released a video showing the storm the site of the communications tower in Musayel in Asir and detonating of the communications tower by the engineering unit of the Yemeni army. The Saudi Arabian Air Force continued bombing targest across Yemen. Seven raids were carr...

GETTY/REUTERS By J.Hawk Given the complexities of both international and domestic US politics, the US cruise missile strike on the Shayrat Airbase in the Homs Province in Syria cannot be subjected to causal reductionism. It is highly unlikely the decision was made on the basis of a single set of considerations. Rather, it was the outcome of several overlapping sets of problems with which the Trump Administration is coping right now. One can clearly argue and disagree over the relative importance of these factors. However, one should not deny all of them are present in the mind of Donald Trump (because yes, he has one) and in the minds of his cabinet and advisers. So, in no particular order: “Only Nixon could go to China” That’s because of Nixon’s impeccable McCarthyite credentials which meant that no matter what he did, he would not be treated as an appeaser at home. Even, in effect, giving away all of South Vietnam did not hurt his standing with the conservatives. Trump has no such cr...

The Operational Command of the Donetsk People’s Republic reported on arrival of the Islamic battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces to Kiev-controlled city of Mariupol. Deputy Commander of the Operational Command of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Eduard Basurin (Photo: RIA Novosti / Igor Maslov) The Islamic battalion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces has been deployed in the Kiev-controlled city of Mariupol, Deputy Commander of the Operational Command of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Eduard Basurin, said on Saturday. “We have discovered an arrival of the Islamic Battalion to Mariupol in the number of up to 500 people, who will operate in the zone of responsibility of the 36th Separate Marine Brigade. The battalion is stationed on Bakhchivandzhi Street. The battalion’s curator is a commander of a squadron of the Ukrainian National Guard, Major Karpenko,” Basurin said. Basurin did not explain why his “intelligence” called this division the “Islamic battalion.” He noted that ...

Originally appeared at ZeroHedge Last August, the intel world was abuzz following the news that a previously unknown hacker collective, “The Shadow Brokers” had hacked and released legitimate hacking tools from the NSA’s own special-ops entity, the “Equation Group”, with initial speculation emerging that the Russians may have penetrated the US spy agency as suggested by none other than Edward Snowden . The Shadow Brokers released a bunch of the organization’s hacking tools , and were asking for 1 million bitcoin (around $568 million at the time) to release more files, however failed to find a buyer. Attention then shifted from Russians after some speculated that the agency itself may be housing another “mole” insider . At the time, a former NSA source told Motherboard, that “it’s plausible” that the leakers are actually a disgruntled insider, claiming that it’s easier to walk out of the NSA with a USB drive or a CD than hack its servers.” As famed NSA whistleblower William Binney – w...