ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

On Wednesday, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) spokesperson brigadier general Restituto Padilla said that ISIS fighters in Marawi city are now weaker than before and unable to defend their positions. “They were not able to protect their controlled area that’s why their strongholds are declining. If they remain strong, the government would not have pushed through their strongholds,” Padilla said. According to Gen. Padilla ISIS fighters are now mainly using IEDs to stop the advance of the AFP units in Malawi city. Moreover, Gen. Padilla stressed that the AFP is committed to liberating Marawi city as fast as possible. “We are trying to end this clashes at the soonest possible time because what we want is to totally liberate the city of Marawi so that its residents could go back to their normal lives,” said Padilla. In a related development 27 unidentified remains were discovered by the Philippine authorities in the Muslim cemetery in Marawi city. According to Philippine au

By investigative historian  Eric Zuesse.  Who is the author, most recently, of   They’re Not Even Close: The Democratic vs. Republican Economic Records, 1910-2010 , and of    CHRIST’S VENTRILOQUISTS: The Event that Created Christianity .  This article was originally published by  Strategic Culture Foundation. Here’s a common example of authentically fake-news journalism, the type that’s pervasive in the U.S. — not something like «Saddam’s WMD», which changed history, but the ordinary everyday type of lies by the American press, being mixed-in with truths so as not to be 100% fictitious, but just enough truths so as to gild the lily of lies that all of the ‘news’media, right and left, glorify, in a bipartisan way, as ‘Truth’, which is the most normal type of American ‘news’-reporting of all — bipartisan, while still being extremely partisan against truth, which is carefully (and assiduously) hidden: On Wednesday, August 30 th , the  New York Times  headlined   «U.N. Peacekeepers

FILE PHOTO An Israeli F-16 fighter jet © Amir Cohen / Reuters On September 7, the Israeli Air Force’s warplanes conducted a missile strike on an alleged “chemical weapons plant” in the town of Masyaf located west of Hama city in central Syria, pro-Israeli media reported. According to other sources, the missiles hit a medium-range ballistic missiles plant located in the area. Earlier this year, Israel repeatedly claimed that Iran was building missile plants in Syria. The Syrian Defense Ministry said the missile strike was made from the Lebanese airspace at 02:42 local time and hit a military facility in the area. 2 Syrian soldiers were killed as a result of the incident. So far, Israel has refused to comment on the reports to the media. An alleged photo from the scene: The Israeli missile strike took place amid an intense fighting between the Syrian Army and ISIS in the province of Deir Ezzor where government forces were aiming to liberate the provincial capital from t

Travelers who keep an eye on U.S. State Department warnings may know by now that the department has issued cautions for the Mexican states of Quintana Roo and Baja California Sur. The addition of those states to the government's periodic updates of travel dangers caused a significant stir, largely because they are the homes to two of Mexico's most popular resorts: Cancun and Cabo San Lucas. It is not surprising that these states were included in the warning, which was issued Aug. 22.  As Mexico's powerful drug cartels have splintered , a spiral of crime and violence has enveloped all parts of the country, to include its storied resorts. However, I believe that by understanding what drives the violence, and the types of the incidents that result, companies operating in Mexico and travelers to the country can avoid most of it. Cartel Balkanization and the Spread of Violence For well more than a decade, Stratfor has kept an eye on Mexico's powerful drug-traffi

© AFP 2017/ KIM JAE-HWAN US President Donald Trump has found a way to thrive on tensions with North Korea. The US president claimed on Tuesday that the US would allow South Korea and Japan to buy more “highly sophisticated” US military equipment in response to the so-called North Korea threat.  Follow Donald J. Trump   ✔ @realDonaldTrump I am allowing Japan & South Korea to buy a substantially increased amount of highly sophisticated military equipment from the United States. 14:36 - 5 Sep 2017   18,954 18,954 Replies     30,341 30,341 Retweets     111,338 111,338 likes Twitter Ads information and privacy Trump did not reveal what kind of equipment he had in mind. However, the White House said the president was willing to approve the sale of “many billions of dollars’ worth of military weapons and equipment” to South Korea. Trump’s statement followed North Korea’s six nuclar test that took place on Sunday. The US preside