ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Written by  Federico Pieraccini ; Originally appeared on  strategic-culture.org The announced meeting between Trump and Putin has already produced a good result by revealing the hypocrisy of the media and politicians. The meeting has been branded as the greatest danger to humanity, according to the Western globalist elite, because of the danger that “peace could break out between Russia and the United States”. Sometimes reality is stranger than fiction. The following so stretches credulity that sources will have to be cited and an exact quotations given to be believed. A case in point is the following  title :  “Fears growing over the prospect of Trump ‘peace deal’ with Putin” .  The Times  does not here fear a military escalation in Ukraine, an armed clash in Syria, a false-flag poisoning in England, or a new Cold War.  The Times  does not fear a nuclear apocalypse, the end of humanity, the suffering of hundreds of millions of people. No, one of the most authoritative and res

Strait of Hormuz / Wikipedia Iran has threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz if its oil sales are blocked because of the pressure from the US. “The most transparent, complete and prompt response was given by Mr [Hassan] Rouhani, the Iranian president, in his last trip to Europe. The response was clear: if Iran cannot export oil through the Persian Gulf, no-one will do this,” Iranian Supreme Leader’s senior adviser for international affairs Ali Akbar Velayati said, speaking at the Valdai discussion club in Russia. “Either everyone will export, or no-one.” Velayati’s remarks are a clear response to the repeated US attempts to cut off Iran’s oil exports after Washington had pulled out of the landmark nuclear agreement between Teheran and other powers. The Strait of Hormuz is a vital artery for oil coming from the Middle East. Most of oil export from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Kuwait and Iraq passes through the strait.

It looks that even mainstream think tanks, supporting the NATO, don’t care about providing real facts about the military bloc. On July 12, Stratfor, often described as a CIA-linked organization,  released a map designed to show NATO member states and years when they joined the alliance . The only problem that the map includes mistakes obvious for any informed person: According to the map, the German Democratic Republic (GDR), also known as East Germany, joined the NATO in 1982. The GDR has never been a NATO member state. Slovenia, a NATO member state since 2004, is shown by Stratfor as a neutral country. The map says that Spain joined the NATO in 1990. Indeed, Spain joined the bloc in 1982. Strtfor also failed to mention Montenegro as a NATO member. The country joined the bloc in 2017. Click to see the full-size image These mistakes were obsviously noted by Twitter users. However, Stratfor has ingored the feedback so far. Click to see the full-size image

AP Photo / Vahid Salemi The US is considering an option to impose sanctions against Russia, China and EU states for buying Iranian oil, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said during a hearing before the House Financial Services Committee. “We intend to enforce sanctions on them [China], on Russia, on Europe and others against Iran oil,” Mnuchin answered to a question if the US would impose sanctions on China for importing Iranian oil. Washington has repeatedly threatened that it is set to impose new sanctions on Iran and urged all world countries, including its allies, not to stop purchasing Iranian oil and to cut trade ties with the country. The Trump administration claimed that those states that fail to do so will be blacklisted by the US. Earlier this year, President Trump announced that the US is withdrawing from Iran nuclear deal and is increasing pressure on the country.

Kurganets-25 IFVs Infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) based on the Kurganets-25 standardized armored platform will arrive for troops for trials in 2019, Russia’s Kurganmashzavod defense manufacturer said in an annual report on July 4. According to the report, the IFVs prototypes are currently being finalized and prepared “for comprehensive trials preceding the acceptance of this armor for service.” The document added that “Kurganmashzavod has concluded state contracts for the delivery of experimental batches of these vehicles in 2019-2021.” The Kurganets-25 is a standardized tracked platform designed for developing an IFV, an armored assault vehicle, an armored personnel carrier and a self-propelled artillery system with a 125mm gun. Click to see the full-size image

Written by  Eric Zuesse ; Originally appeared on  strategic-culture.org The US Government (with France and a few other US allies) bombs Libya, Syria, etc.; and the US regime refuses to accept any of the resulting refugees — the burdens from which are now breaking the EU, and  the EU is sinking in economic competition against America’s international corporations . America’s corporations remain blithely unscathed by not only  the refugees  that are breaking up the EU, but also by the EU’s economic sanctions against Russia, Iran, and other allies of governments that the US regime is trying to overthrow in its constant invasions and coups. The US Government makes proclamations such as “Assad must go!” — but by what right is the US Government involved, at all, in determining whom the leaders in Syria will be? Syria never invaded the US In fact, Syria never invaded anywhere (except, maybe, Israel, in order to respond against Israel’s invasions). Furthermore,  all polling, even by Western