ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

New York, SANA- Syria’s Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Bashar al-Jaafari stressed that the Syrian Government has the right to retaliate against the terrorist groups if they target the civilians even with a single shell. In a speech after the Security Council voted on a resolution calling for the cessation of combat activities in Syria for 30 days at least, al-Jaafari said that over the past two days, thousands of shells fell on Damascus as the Syrian Arab Red Crescent HQ in Damascus was targeted by 10 shells fired by the so-called “moderate” terrorists located in Ghouta, killing and injuring people including a doctor. He added that the shells which fell on Damascus claimed the lives of hundreds and injured others. Al-Jaafari stressed that the Syrian government has dealt in a serious manner with all initiatives and was committed to them due to its care for the lives of Syrian citizens, and that the government has called on armed groups in the Eastern Ghouta to lay down th

By Peter Koenig   As this article goes to print, Globovision TV quotes Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announcing the launch of a new cryptocurrency, the “Petro Oro”. It will be backed by precious metals. The launch of the new cryptomoney is scheduled for the next week. No details of quantities offered for sale are available at this point.   “I do not want to rush things, but we have a surprise regarding the petro and the gold, which will have the same dimension as it has been related to oil, but it is the theme of next week,”  the President says. The first public offering, the ‘Pre-sale’ of 38.4 million of the oil-backed “Petro” on 20 February, has raised US$ 735 million equivalent which is considered a great success. ---- Imagine an international currency backed by energy? By a raw material that the entire world needs, not gold – which has hardly any productive use, but whose value is mostly speculative – not hot air like the US dollar. Not fiat money like the US-dolla

On February 23, a booby-trapped car exploded near the president palace in the Somali capital, Mogadishu. Soon after, a second booby-trapped car exploded near a hotel away from the palace, according to Reuters. “So far we carried 18 dead people and 20 others injured from the blasts tonight,” Abdikadir Abdirahman, the director of Amin Ambulances, told Reuters. Right after the first explosion, several armed fighters attacked a checkpoint near the presidential palace, according to the France-Press Agency (AFP). However, according to the Somali National News Agency (SONNA), Somalia’s Security Minister Mohamed Abukar Islow said that security forces had foiled the attack on the palace. He added that at least five attackers had been killed. Moreover, Islow revealed that security forces had a prior intelligence about the possible of terrorist attacks and that they had been on high alert when the attack had happened. According to Reuters, the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Shabaab group cl

Photo: Reuters/ Gleb Garanich Written by  J.Hawk   Introduction After four years of “freedom” and “European integration”, Ukraine is in the throes of a crisis that makes the “wild ’90s” seem like a picture of stability. The economy is continuing to decline, to the point of the country becoming a net importer of agricultural products. The International Monetary Fund is increasingly reluctant to extend new loans, which are now necessary simply to service Ukraine’s ballooning national debt. The country’s Western partners are visibly tired of Ukraine and its problems, seeing in it more of a liability than an asset that could be used to exert political pressure on Russia. Even erstwhile ardent supporters of the Maidan, like the poet Evgeniya Bilchenko, has traded her Right Sector membership for an exile in Russia, and her support for Western values for a rediscovered fondness of Russian traditionalism. Millions of ordinary Ukrainians have likewise voted with her feet and found new

Click to see the full-size image On February 22, helicopters of the Syrian Arab Air Force (SyAAF) dropped thousands of leaflets over the Eastern Ghouta pocket, in which the Syrian Arab Army (SAA) called on the civilians to leave the pocket through several safe routes and warned them that a military operation will begin soon in the  region. Click to see the full-size image The SAA promised the civilians that it will move them to secured area, provide medical care and food and then allow them to return to their homes once terrorists there are eliminated. Similar procedures were taken by the SAA and its allies during the battle of Aleppo in late 2016. This allowed tens of thousands of civilians to leave the battle areas safely. The SAA’s plan to evacuate the civilians from the East Ghouta pocket hints that the SAA and its allies are planning to clear the entire pocket from militant groups operating there: Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), Ahrar al-Sham, Faylaq

By Bill Van Auken The US State Department has issued a fresh ultimatum on the Iran nuclear deal to Washington’s ostensible major allies in Europe, demanding that Germany, Britain and France commit themselves to altering the agreement along the lines demanded by President Donald Trump or face its unilateral abrogation by the US. A secret State Department cable obtained by Reuters presents what are essentially the same demands made by Trump last January. At that time, he announced that he was prepared to relaunch all-out US economic warfare against Iran unless the European powers joined Washington in imposing a rewritten nuclear accord on Tehran, including provisions that the Iranian government cannot and will not accept. The occasion for Trump’s threat was his reluctant announcement on January 12 that he had decided to waive the reimposition of US sanctions that were lifted as part of the nuclear agreement, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). He vo

Pictures of what appears to be a ship-mounted electromagnetic railgun have surfaced on Twitter. The weapon, semi-obscured by cloth, was spotted aboard the  Haiyang Shan , a landing ship tank (LST), under the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN). No official word has been given on the authenticity of these photos. But if true,  this makes the  Haiyang Shan  the world’s first railgun-armed ship . There are several clues to suggest that it is indeed a railgun, however.  As per  TechCrunch.com , first is the ship itself. The  Haiyang Shan  is a Type 072-class landing ship. The test bed ship most commonly used in China is the Type 909 weapon trials ship. According to the Twitter user, Dafeng Cao, PLAN chose to use a Type 072 to test the railgun because it’s capable of bearing the power load required for such a powerful weapon. Moreover, a Type 072 is easier to retrofit with, say, shipping containers storing power equipment. Another clue lies in the railgun: it has a relativel

The US Embassy in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, has been hit by a grenade attack by an unknown assailant, who subsequently blew himself up with another explosive device. 10 h Govt. of Montenegro ✔ @MeGovernment At 00:30, in front of the @ USEmbassyMNE building in # Podgorica , # Montenegro an unknown person committed suicide with an explosive device. Immediately before, that person threw an explosive device from the intersection near the Sport Center into the US Embassy compound. (1 of 2) Govt. of Montenegro ✔ @MeGovernment (2 of 2) Most probably, the device was a hand grenade. Police investigation and identification is under way directed by the prosecutor. Police Administration of Montenegro 04:57 - 22 Feb 2018 51 116 people are talking about this Twitter Ads information and privacy The US embassy also issued a warning urging people to avoid the area. Cafe del Montenegro @cafemontenegro #