ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Written by  Peter Koenig ; Originally appeared at  Global Research Pyonyang’s urban skyline, competing with Manhattan and the Trump Tower? The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) is being choked into submission if not starvation by the UN Security Council, by a vote of 15 : 0; i.e. unanimously.  None of the 15 UNSC states, let alone the five permanent members, have had the guts to say no to a killer Resolution , drafted and proposed by the United States of America, a name that increasingly stands for international rogue and crime nation. The New York Times reports on 22 December 2017: “President Trump has used just about every lever you can use, short of starving the people of North Korea to death, to change their behavior,”  the White House homeland security adviser, Thomas P. Bossert, said Tuesday.  “And so, we don’t have a lot of room left here to apply pressure to change their behavior.” Two immediate questions come to mind –  firs...

Illustrative image A user of  the Russian military forum Lostarmour.info  has found an interesting example of the Pentagon’s magic math used in the coverage of the US war on ISIS in Afghanistan. In March, 2017 the US military claimed that there were about 700 ISIS members in the country. “We believe that there are approximately 700 members of ISIS, perhaps even less now based on the operations, that are still contained to less than three districts down in southern Nangarhar,”  Breitbart quoted  Brig. Gen. Charles Cleveland, the Kabul-based spokesman for the US-NATO mission in Afghanistan. In December, 2017 Gen. John W. Nicholson Jr., the top American and NATO commander in the war-torn country, said that 1,400 operations and airstrikes had “removed from the battlefield” more than 1,600 members of ISIS since March. Thus, since March, the US-NATO mission in Afghanistan had eliminated 2.28 times more members of ISIS than there were in the country.

Written by  Patrick J. Buchanan ; Originally appeared at  buchanan.org In the run-up to Christmas, President Donald Trump has been the beneficiary of some surprisingly good news and glad tidings. Sunday, Vladimir Putin called to thank him and the CIA for providing Russia critical information that helped abort an ISIS plot to massacre visitors to Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg. Monday found polls showing Trump at his highest in months. Stocks soared 200 points at the opening bell in anticipation of pre-Christmas passage of the Republican tax bill. The Dow has added a record 5,000 points in Trump’s first year. And the Russiagate investigation may have busted an axle. Though yet unproven, charges are being made that Robert Mueller’s sleuths gained access to Trump transition emails illicitly. This could imperil prosecutions by Mueller’s team, already under a cloud for proven malice toward the president. Recall: Daniel Ellsberg, who delivered the Pentagon Papers to ...

Director of National Security James Clapper told a House panel Sept. 10 that cyber threats to U.S. military, civilian, corporate and financial infrastructure are growing exponentially, as well as becoming much more sophisticated. In  testimony [PDF]  before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, Clapper said threats from cyberattacks and hacking to U.S. national and economic security “are increasing in frequency, scale, sophistication and severity of impact.” “Overall, the unclassified information and communication technology (ICT) networks that support US Government, military, commercial, and social activities remain vulnerable to espionage and/or disruption,” Clapper said. While the threat of “Cyber Armageddon” remains small at the present time, the DNI nevertheless said the intelligence community foresees “an ongoing series of low-to-moderate level cyber attacks from a variety of sources over time,” which he says will cost the U.S. in terms of “eco...

Illustrative image On December 25, the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) reportedly acheived another strategic victory in the coutnryside of Damascus. According to pro-government sources, units of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra, the Syrian branch of al-Qaeda) and other armed groups operating in the Beit Jinn pocket accepted a withdrawal agreement and declared their readiness to surrender their positions to the SAA. Negotiations between the local militants and the SAA started in the pocket last week  after government forces had cut off the road between Beit Jinn and Maghar al-Mir and entered the village of Maghar al-Mir itself. If the surrender of militants in the Beit Jinn pocket is confirmed, this will be a major vicory for the Syrian military that eliminates one of the few remaining militant-held pockets in the Damascus countryside and secure and this important area near the Golan Heights. Click to see the full-size map

This map provides a general look at the military situation in Yemen after  the recent advances of Saudi-led forces against the Houthis and their allies in the western part of the country. Click to see the full-size map

Click to see the full-size image During the Qatari National Day parade on December 18, the Qatari Army revealed its newly acquired Chinese-made SY-400 missile systems. The Qatari-Chinese deal was not announced beofre and its unknown when exactly Qatar received the advanced missile system. Photos from the Qatari National Day parade showed that each of the Qatari SY-400 systems was armed with two BP-12A solid-fueled short-range ballistic missiles (SRBMs), that have the range of 300-400km, and 480 high explosive warheads. The BP-12A SRBM is guided by an Internal Navigation System (INS) that’s aided by a satellite navigation system. Click to see the full-size image The SY-400 can be also armed with up to eight SY-400 missiles, that have the range of 180km. The SY-400 is also guided by INS and a satellite navigation system. The SY-400 can also carry up to twelve PH-03 heavy rockets that have the range of 90km. However, it’s unknown if Qatar bought these rockets too, or only BP...

Major General Ali Alqahtani Major General Ali Alqahtani, who was detained in November as part of the Saudi ‘anti-corruption crackdown’, has reportedly died under torture, the London-based newspaper Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported. According to the report, Major General Alqahtani was a member of the royal guard forces and the manager of the private office of Prince Turki Bin Abdullah, the son of former king Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz. He and many other high profile persons were held at the Ritz Carlton. Alqahtani allegedly died on 12 December after being tortured with electric shocks. Furthermore, the newspaper said that his family struggled to recognise him after receiving his body. In November, reports appeared that Saudi princes and billionaire businessmen arrested in the crackdown were tortured by by US private security contractors hired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.  MORE DETAILS ON THE ISSUE HERE