ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

On January 24 th , the Organization of American States convened  a meeting on the situation in Venezuela. During his opening speech US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo once more reiterated the US position regarding Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, claiming that his presidency is illegitimate. Department of State ✔ @StateDept . @ SecPompeo : All @ OAS_official member states must align themselves with democracy and respect the rule of law. All member states who have committed to uphold the Inter-American Democratic Charter must now recognize interim President @ JGuaido . 1,266 18:23 - 24 Jan 2019 941 people are talking about this Twitter Ads information and privacy Following the claims that democracy must be upheld by recognizing Interim President Juan Guaido, he also once more called Maduro an illegitimate president and called for regime change. Department of State ✔ @StateDept

The US military appears to be practicing air assault on Russian-style air defense systems and military equipment during  the Southern Strike 19  war games at Camp Shelby, Mississippi. “Southern Strike 19 is a total force, multi-service training exercise hosted by the Mississippi National Guard at training sites throughout the state. The exercise allows participant the opportunity to build partnerships and maintain combat readiness for future missions.,”  the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service website reads.  The website also contains a video of Col Billy Murphy, Southern Strike Executive Director, who discusses the type of training conducted during Southern Strike and what attracts units to the exercise. The exercise will last  from January 15 th  through January 30 th . The 172d Airlift Wing released a video on January 20 th  which showed Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTAC) from the 148th Air Force Special Operations Command (ASOS) coordinating targets, AH-6

ILLUSTRATIVE IMAGE On January 21 st , Jordan reopened its main border crossing with Syria, a key Middle East trade route, after keeping it closed for three years,  an AFP photographer reported. The border gate was opened at 8:00 AM local time, while more than a dozen police officers and customs officials stood nearby. Several cars with Jordanian license plates lined up to enter Syria, with travelers expressing their joy at being able to cross the border, the photographer reported. “Today is a celebration for us and I wanted to be among the first to cross the border,” said Syrian businessman Mohammed Hisham, who resides in Jordan. Jordanian taxi driver Imad Sariheen called the reopening of Jaber a source of “great happiness for all of us” which will help ease “economic hardships” caused by the closure of the crossing. “Our conditions have worsened over the past years. Our work (driving taxis) was halted because of the closure of the border between Jordan and Syria,” he

Click to see the full-size image The oldest of North Korea’s approximately 20 undisclosed missile operating bases – Sino-ri houses a regiment-sized unit equipped with Nodong-1/-2 medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM) has been disclosed by  a study of Beyond Parallel published on January 21 st  discovered. Click to see the full-size image The key claims of the study are as follows: 212 kilometers north of the demilitarized zone is Sino-ri, an operation missile base that houses a regiment-sized unit equipped with Nodong-1 medium-range ballistic missiles. Click to see the full-size image It is presumably the oldest of  approximately 20 undisclosed missile operating bases . It is reported to serve as the headquarters of the Strategic Rocket Forces Nodong Missile brigade. “It may have also played a role in the development of the newest  Pukkuksong-2 (KN-15) ballistic missile first tested or unveiled on February 12, 2017 , shortly after Donald Trump’s inauguration as pre