ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

By  David Hungerford Pres. Trump’s “pay up or else” demand at the recent NATO summit in Brussels scuttles NATO’s Article 5: the principal that an attack on one is an attack on all. Now the approach is “If you pull some stupid stuff with Russia and get yourself in trouble the United States will think about what to do.” Source: http://www.nato.int An alliance is either an alliance, or is it not. NATO is no longer an alliance. It is something else. Hopefully it will not exist much longer. German Chancellor Angela Merkel understands that. She is looking around to rearrange Germany’s international relations. She has a lot of options. Already it seems too late to go back. The NY Times is furious. It is retaliating with an attack on Trump advisor Jared Kushner for setting up backchannel diplomatic communications with Russia. That is standard operating procedure for governments. The NYT wants to prevent normalization of relations with Russia. Discussion between the Trump administr

FILE IMAGE: U.S. Air Force Photo by Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III South Korea has conducted a joint drill with a US supersonic B-1B strategic bomber. The North Korean state media said that the military exercises was “a nuclear bomb dropping role drill” and were held on Monday. However, Moon Sang-gyun, a South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman did not provide details on what was drilled during the exercises. The South Korea-USA military drill took place after North Korea tested a new shor-range ballistic missile. The missile traveled about 450km and landed in the Sea of Japan, some 300 kilometers from Japan’s islands. The fired missile was reportedly a North Korean modification of the Soviet Scud-type projectile. The North Korean media declared the launch a success on Tuesday, adding that it is “capable of making ultra-precision strike on the enemies’ objects at any area.” Photos of the ballistic missile test released by the North Korean state media:

On Tuesday, clashes continued between ISIS terrorists and Philippines security forces in the city of Marawi. The Philippines government is using the army and the police, backed up by military equipment, warplanes and helicopters, against ISIS in the city.However, the battle is still ongoing. The government says that about 2,000 civilians are trapped in the ISIS-held area. According to the military, at least 65 ISIS-linked gunmen, 15 Philippine troops, and 19 civilians have been killed in the fighting so far. However, local sources argue that the civilian death toll is much higher. ISIS-linked gunmen entered Marawi and size large areas inside it including the Police Station and the jail last week. Since then, the fighting has been ongoing in the area. Click to see the full-size image

Reuters/Francois Lenoir Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has slammed US threats to use force the Syrian Army adding that the situation “is rather alarming as it directly affects Syria’s sovereignty.” “As you know, there have been not only threats, but a fact of using force in this area [Al-Tanaf],” Lavrov said, according to  the Russian state-run news agency TASS . “ I believe this situation is rather alarming as it directly affects Syria’s sovereignty. Certainly, these issues need to be solved, and our troops are doing this now. “ Lavrov added that the effort is now underway through a channel set up between the Russian Aerospace Forces and the US-led coalition. Thehe sides will reportedly discuss the results a next meeting on the Syrian crisis, which is due to take place soon in Astana.

SOURCE: EPA The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation  declared : We would like to draw attention to reports, which are received regularly, of “unidentified” aircraft that have been seen providing support to local ISIS militants in various parts of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan (IRA). In particular, this month, according to Jowzjan Province authorities, unmarked aircraft were spotted air-dropping consignments of weapons and other supplies to ISIS groups in at least three northern provinces of Afghanistan (Jowzjan, Faryab and Sar-e Pol). A representative of the Province of Gazni council in southern Afghanistan spoke publicly about the presence of unmarked helicopters in areas controlled by terrorists in the Waghaz and Khogyani districts. It is noteworthy that even amidst an anti-Russia campaign in some Afghan and Western media that aim to accuse Russia of supporting the Taliban, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Defence Intelligence Agenc

By Caitlin Johnstone “What we’ve been undergoing to a large extent is a form of psychological abuse, actually, by very narcissistic, hegemonic governments and officials for a very long time. It’s a form of gas lighting where actually our own faith in our ability to judge a situation, and to some extent even our own identity, has been eroded and damaged to the point where we’re effectively accepting their version of reality.”  ~  Vanessa Beeley   The only thing keeping westerners from seeing through the lies that they’ve been told about Syria is the unquestioned assumption that their own government could not possibly be that evil. They have no trouble believing that a foreigner from a Muslim-majority country could be gratuitously using chemical weapons on children at the most  strategically disastrous time possible and bombing his own civilians for no discernible reason other than perhaps sheer sexual sadism, but the possibility that their government is making those things up i

In early May, ISIS forced traders to use its currency in the areas controlled by the terrorist group, especially in Raqqa and Deir Ezzor. ISIS has also published an infographic explaining the new currency. Click to see the full-size image ISIS has presented the currency with three values: -Copper fils: 6 fils weighing 3 grams of copper; -Silver dirham: 1 dirham weighing 3 grams silver; – Golden dinar: 1 gold dinar weighing 4.25 grams gold 21 caliber. Each silver dirham equals 100 fils of copper, and each gold dinar equals 85 silver dirhams. According to ISIS, the value of currencies determined by its “Monetary Authority”. ISIS is trying to promote its currency by claiming that it has “real value unlike paper currencies.” ISIS also claimed that its currency maintains its value during wars and crises becauseit is made of valuable metals. It is believed that ISIS came to impose its currency after the great collapse that hit its financing. This was a result of the destru