ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

FILE IMAGE: YPG FIGHTERS Every weapon obtained by the Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) constitutes a threat to Turkey, Turkish Foreign Minister Melvut Cavusoglu said on May 10. View image on Twitter  Follow CNN Türk ENG   ✔ @CNNTURK_ENG # BREAKING  Turkish FM says every weapon obtained by YPG constitutes a threat to Turkey 11:48 AM - 10 May 2017     12 12 Retweets     5 5 likes The YPG and its female version YPJ are a core of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) operating in northern Syria alongside the Turkish-Syrian border. The Pentagon announced on Tuesday that the administration of US President Donald Trump has approved a plan to directly arm Kurdish forces operating in Syria. Spokeswoman Dana W. White said the president made the decision Monday, describing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as “the only force on the ground that can successfully seize Raqqa in the near future.”

Written by  Graham Vanbergen ; Originally appeared at  True Publica Peter Hitchens  recently  mentioned  in his blog that technology will eventually enslave us all. He referred to the recent film “Ghost in the Shell’ thus: “ I was intrigued to see that the future world in which this film is set is – once again – in a place of gloom and decay, much like now but worse. There are gangsters and sordid bars, people smoke, everyone’s crammed into hamster-cage flats in inhuman megacities. Ever since Blade Runner and Alien, and also in Minority Report, new technology is not seen as a road to happiness, liberty or prosperity. I used to think this was pessimistic. Now I think they’ve got it about right.” Today we live in an age where there is a technology battle front being waged against citizens of the West and the people are losing it on every front – nowhere is that battle raging most in Western democracies than in Britain. Britain already has a reputation for deploying the most

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (8:25 P.M.) – Twelve somewhat worrisome images were released by Amaq Agency on Thursday, showcasing a jihadist training camp at an undisclosed in Southeast Asia. Wielding state-of-the-art armaments, the Islamic State insurgents are depicted undergoing extensive training in an open field, likely in the Philippines: Chris Tomson  | Al-Masdar News Chris Tomson  | Al-Masdar News Chris Tomson  | Al-Masdar News Chris Tomson  | Al-Masdar News Chris Tomson  | Al-Masdar News Chris Tomson  | Al-Masdar News Chris Tomson  | Al-Masdar News Chris Tomson  | Al-Masdar News Chris Tomson  | Al-Masdar News Chris Tomson  | Al-Masdar News Chris Tomson  | Al-Masdar News Amaq Agency did not specify in which Southeast Asia country the photos were taken; however, an ISIS franchise group has been active in the Philippines since late 2015.

DAMASCUS, SYRIA (2:00 A.M.) – This evening, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) mobilized its soldiers for a renewed push in northern Hama, targeting a rural area south of Lataminah. Spearheaded by the 4th Division, 8th Division, 5th Legion and National Defence Forces, government assault troops captured the Zaleen checkpoint and overran Ard Zaleen in an area just two kilometers south of Lataminah. According to Al-Masdar News field correspondent Ibrahim Joudeh, some 40 fighters of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) were killed and an estimated 50 militants injured during clashes over the past 48 hours that also involved  three failed rebel attacks  on the  newly liberated  village of Zalaqiyat. The latest government advances caused Jaish Al-Nasr and Jaish Al-Izza to regroup for the all-important defense of Lataminah, reducing the fields between the Islamist stronghold and SAA troops to de facto no man’s land. While listening in over walkie-talkie, the SAA heard FSA commanders desperately

How Americans Remember (and Forget) Their Wars By John Dower  Some years ago, a newspaper article credited a European visitor with the wry observation that Americans are charming because they have such short memories. When it comes to the nation’s wars, however, he was not entirely on target. Americans embrace military histories of the heroic “band of [American] brothers” sort, especially involving World War II. They possess a seemingly boundless appetite for retellings of the Civil War, far and away the country’s most devastating conflict where American war deaths are concerned. Certain traumatic historical moments such as “the Alamo” and “Pearl Harbor” have become code words -- almost mnemonic devices -- for reinforcing the remembrance of American victimization at the hands of nefarious antagonists. Thomas Jefferson and his peers actually established the baseline for this in the nation’s founding document, the Declaration of Independence, which enshrines recollection of “the me