ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

FILE IMAGE Translated from Russian. Originally appeared at  colonelcassad blog Following the meeting of Russia, Iran, and Turkey in Sochi, where the end of the war was announced and the beginning of the post-war regulation process meant to decide Syria’s future took place, the US media began reporting on the fact that the US plans to stay in Syria despite the collapse of ISIS, and also will use the Kurds to pressure al-Assad’s government. This has been mentioned repeatedly: despite officially supporting Syria’s territorial integrity, unofficially they try to strike back for their strategic failure at toppling al-Assad’s government, which was unsuccessful mainly thanks to Russia and Iran. Washington repeatedly voiced its dissatisfaction with the way war in Syria went, along with anxieties regarding the consequences for the US, Israel and Saudi Arabia concerning the growing role of Russia and Iran in the region. The White House does not state this officially, as the US underst

Russian warships are seen during a rehearsal for the Navy Day parade in Sevastopol, Crimea, July 24, 2015. REUTERS/Pavel Rebrov Russian military counterintelligence has detained a civilian employee of the Black Sea Fleet,  RIA  reports, citing an anonymous source. According to the source, the former fleet officer is suspected of “spying for another country”. The country he was sending information to was not specified. The man is detained, and the matter is being investigated according to the source. Local sources say that the detained person is likely an Ukrainian spy. Back in September two people from Crimea  were arrested  on suspicion of being spies for Ukraine. Allegedly they sent classified information about the Black Sea Fleet to Ukrainian special services. One of the arrested was a serviceman stationed in Crimea. Back in April the authorities  detained  a supposed Ukrainian spy in Samara. During interrogations, the man admitted collecting information about transpor

FILE – In this March 27, 2015 file photo released by the official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, commander of Iran’s Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani, right, greets Supreme Leader Ay Undredited/AP The US Treasury Department  designated  on November 20 an Iranian network that has procured “advanced equipment and materials to print counterfeit Yemeni banknotes potentially worth hundreds of millions of dollars” for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ (IRGC) Qods Force in order to supply them with counterfeit currency. One of the four branches of the IRGC, the Qods Force is in charge of external operations. “This scheme exposes the deep levels of deception the IRGC-Qods Force is willing to employ against companies in Europe, governments in the Gulf, and the rest of the world to support its destabilizing activities.  Counterfeiting strikes at the heart of the international financial system, and the fact that elements of the government of Iran are involved in th

The British Army has conducted an initial test of its new line of robotic vehicles during a scheduled exercise in Michigan in the United States. Driverless robotic all-terrain 4x4s were run by unseen British soldiers using Xbox controllers as the Ministry of Defence told the public on Tuesday, November 14 that it will join the United States to trial an improved method of transporting ammunition, food, and fuel to the front lines. Footage from the exercise, which has been three years in the making, shows a robotic convoy of the trucks rampage across the big landscape led by the six-ton British Army MAN SV. The truck and the U.S. Light Medium Tactical Vehicles that immediately follow after the behemoth utilize integrated robotics to decide speed and steering, among other functions. They have also made use of  Hoverbike drones  to simulate delivering supplies in the most dangerous “last mile” up to the battlefield, which is part of a technology called Coalition Assured Autonomo

Hassan Rouhani, Vladimir Putin and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Sochi. Photograph: Tass/Barcroft Images Russian President Vladimir Putin  met  with his Turkish and Iranian counterparts in Sochi on November 22 in first ever three-side summit dedicated to regulating the situation in Syria. The leaders of the three countries, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Iran’s Hassan Rouhani and Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan met at the “Rus” resort. Putin opened the summit by saying that the full fledged action against the terrorist threat comes to a close, thanks to the efforts of Russia, Iran and Turkey, that stopped Syria from dissolution. “The full fledged assault against terrorist groups in Syria are coming to an end,” said Putin. “The efforts of Russia, Iran and Turkey managed to avoid the collapse of Syria, its capture by international terrorist forces, and avoid the humanitarian catastrophe.” Russian leader stated that a truly decisive strike was dealt to the militants and that “a real chanc

Sputnik/ Igor Zarembo Written by  Dmitri Evstafiev ; Originally appeared at  eurasia.expert , translated by  AlexD  exclusively for  SouthFront On November 22, in Sochi, an unusual summit will be held  [SF comment:  It already took place ]  – talks between the leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey. At the centre of attention will be the settlement in Syria, where the three countries come out as guarantors of peace. Along with that, cooperation in the Moscow-Ankara-Tehran triangle can go beyond the Syrian scope. Professor of the NRU “Higher School of Economics” Dmitry Evstafiev assessed the prospects of the “axis” formed between the three countries and the accession of Azerbaijan. Preparing to Redraw Maps On the main agenda of the meeting of the leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey in Sochi on November 22 are issues related to the necessity to start the political reconstruction process of Syria and the prevention of its transformation into a platform for the development of Islami

A screenshot of the video showing a slave market in Libya On November 22, France Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told the French Parliament that France called for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council over the slave-trading issue in Libya. “France decided this morning to ask for an urgent meeting of the United Nations Security Council to discuss this issue … We are doing it as a permanent member of the Security Council. We have this capability and we are using it,” Le Drian told the French Parliament, according to France 24 TV. Le Drian revealed that France had warned the Libyan authorities of the slave-trading problem many times without a result. The French foreign minister added that international sanctions should be implemented if the Libyan authorities fail to address this problem. “Libyan authorities, who have been alerted several times, including by myself because I was there in September, have decided to open an investigation into the facts … We want

A screenshot from the video A firefight has been reported in the Georgian city of Tbilisi where security forces storm a multi-storey apartment building. Georgia’s state security service said a unidentified number of suspects holed up in one of the apartments opened fire on the troops that were conducting the  operation in the area. According to reports, at least 1 suspect was detained and at least one security officer was shot in the head during the operation. The officer is in a critical condition. “According to the preliminary information they are not Georgian nationals and they are members of a terrorist organisation,” Nino Giorgobiani, the deputy head of administration at Georgia’s state security service, commented the situation. “It is important to note, that Georgia’s counter-terrorism department has been conducting negotiations with them for several hours about surrendering but they rejected it.” The situation remains tense.