ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Illustrative image On October 14 th , Saudi Arabia vowed to retaliate to any possible economic sanctions undertaken by other countries, after US President Donald Trump warned of “severe punishment” over the disappearance and suspected murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Preceding the Saudi response, Trump spoke in an interview saying that the Arabic country faces strong consequences if they are involved in the disappearance and murder. “There’s something really terrible and disgusting about that, if that was the case, so we’re going to have to see,” Trump said. “We’re going to get to the bottom of it, and there will be severe punishment.” He did, however, also say that  the US would be “punishing” itself if any arms sales deals are cancelled with Saudi Arabia . He said that the weapons deals are a “tremendous order” for US companies and that the Saudis would get it elsewhere if not from the US. In a statement published by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, the kingd...

Soldiers of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China arrive on their armoured vehicles at Tiananmen Square during the military parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War Two, in Beijing, China, September 3, 2015 (Damir Sagolj/Reuters) US President Donald Trump once again threatened to impose another round of tariffs on China. He also claimed that alleged Chinese meddling in US politics is “a bigger problem” than 2016 alleged Russian election meddling. In an interview with CBS he was asked if he wants to push China’s economy in a depression, he said “no.” “I want them to negotiate a fair deal with us. I want them to open their markets like our markets are open,” he said. He also added that more tariffs might be possible. So far, the U.S. has imposed three rounds of tariffs on Chinese imports totaling $250 billion, prompting China to retaliate against U.S. products. The president previously has threatened to hit virtually all Chinese imports with duties....

The  USS America  LHA-6 successfully completed combat systems ship qualification trials (CSSQT) on February 3 rd , in preparation for its first overseas deployment at the head of the 15 th  Marine Expeditionary Unit/Amphibious Ready Group (MEU/ARG). The vessel went to sea several times in January to conduct training exercises in the run-up to its future deployment, testing different mixes of aviation assets to be fielded on the new class of ship. The  USS America  is classified as a Landing Helicopter Assault (LHA), and lacks a well deck to launch and recover LCACs or AAVs. The U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps have to determine exactly how to best utilize the new vessel as an integrated component of an MEU/ARG. USS America LHA-6 as seen from the rear ramp of a V-22 Osprey. There was no small amount of controversy over the new vessel when it was first proposed. Many senior officers in the USMC argued that an amphibious assault ship meant to head an MEU/AR...

AFP 2018 / Thomas WATKINS A US Department of Defense research program to protect crops by changing the genes of insects could possibly violate the international Biological Weapons Convention, according to five European researchers who warned in a research paper published in the journal Science on October 4 th ,  as reported by Sputnik . “If successful, the technique could be used by malicious actors to help spread diseases to almost any crop species and devastate harvests,” said the paper, which was authored by the French and German researchers including geneticist Robert Guy Reeves of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology in Germany and evolutionary biologist Christophe Boete of the Institute of Research for Development in France. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched the project, called “Insect Allies,” in Arlington, Virginia in 2016, with the goal of using insects such as aphids to infect crops with tailor-made viruses that can de...

Meng Hongwei. IMAGE: AP French police have opened an investigation into the disappearance of the president of international police cooperation agency Interpol, after his wife reported he had gone missing after visiting his family in China last week. According to reports, Meng Hongwei’s wife contacted police in Lyon, the French city where Interpol HQ is located, after not hearing from her husband since he travelled to China on September 29. Meng was elected president of Interpol in November 2016 and his term was set to end in 2020. Previously, he held several senior positions in China including vice minister of public security, vice chairman of the national narcotics control commission and the director of the National Counter-Terrorism Office for China.

FILE PHOTO: Dmitriy Vinogradov / Sputnik Originally appeared on  iz.ru ; Translated by  AlexD  exclusively for  SouthFront Three years ago, on September 30, 2015, the Russian operation in Syrian began. On this day, the Federation Council unanimously approved the use of Russian Armed Forces in the Syrian Arab Republic. And the next day, October 1, the Aerospace Forces carried out strikes on militants’ positions. These events were preceded by careful preparation: the Russian military created in Syria the Khmeimim base with all the necessary infrastructure, deployed security posts and transferred the aviation group. The main task of the Russian group in Syria was to fight against international terrorism, in particular, the al-Nusra and Islamic State groups (banned in Russia). The goal was the destruction of extremists on the “far abroad”. In December 2017, President Vladimir Putin said that all the tasks set for the Russian Armed Forces had been fulfilled. By ...

Alleged photos of Boshirov from various documents. Source: bellingcat.com Bellingcat and The Insider continue releasing new speculations and allegations on identities and activities of Skripal poisoning suspects, Russian citizens Alexander Petrov and Ruslan Boshirov. [ previous part ] In a report released on September 26 , Bellingcat and The Insider claim that they “have established conclusively the identity” of Ruslan Boshirov. They claim that he’s in fact GRU Colonel Anatoliy Chepiga, who also has with the highest Russian state award – Hero of the Russian Federation. “Following Bellingcat’s own identification, multiple sources familiar with the person and/or the investigation have confirmed the suspect’s identity. This finding eliminates any remaining doubt that the two suspects in the Novichok poisonings were in fact Russian officers operating on a clandestine government mission,” Bellingcat’s article claims. The article says futher: “Anato...