ISDEI Instituto de Seguridad, Defensa y Estudios Internacionales

Written by  Israel Shamir ; Originally appeared at  The Unz Review A few days ago, an Ilyushin IL-62M liner  carried  over a hundred Russian soldiers and officers to Caracas. Symbolically, they made a stopover in Syria, as if saying that Venezuela is the next country after Syria to be saved from ruin and dismemberment. The military mission was led by the Head of General Staff, General Tonkoshkurov (“Thin-Skinned”, a name that would thrill Vladimir Nabokov). ‘Don’t you dare, exclaimed John Bolton, meddle in the Western Hemisphere! Hands off Venezuela! It is our back yard!’ The Russians didn’t buy it. Some time ago they tried to object to the US tanks being positioned in Estonia, a brief drive from St Petersburg, and all they’ve got was preaching that sovereignty means sovereignty, and Estonia does not have to ask for Russian permission to receive American military assistance. Now they repeated this American sermon verbatim to John Bolton and his boss. Get out of Syria first, they a

Arms Wonders For Local Wars   Rhodesia, the predecessor state of modern Zimbabwe, had a relatively short, but interesting history. The Rhodesian Bush War, which raged from from 1965 to 1979, led not only to the creation of the independent state of Zimbabwe, but also gave rise to multiple technical innovations in the art of war. The need for these DIY-style solutions, some of which later went into serial production, was the result of a strict sanctions regime and arms embargo which forced Rhodesians to invent different ways and tools to defend their own lives, property and vehicles as well as various means of offense.  A glut of makeshift self-defense means among Rhodesians started with Ken Goosen who built a DIY four-barrel single use shotgun to defend his homestead in Claremont (near Bulawayo). It was named Kill Quick. The device had four short 12 bore shotgun barrels lined up as a fan. While unarmed the

While the Yemeni conflict remains under-reported by mainstream media outlest, it’s still much hotter than many of those in other regions around the world. Over the past years, the Saudi-led coalition, which is de-facto backed up by the US, has not been able to achieve  decisive victory in the war on Ansar Allah (also known as the Houthis) and its allies. In fact, the coalition has not even captured the country’s capital, which still hosts the government loyal to the Yemeni resistance. Clashes between Ansar Allah and Saudi-backed forces continue in the eastern part of Nar Mountain and in the Ahem triangle; A Yemeni Armed Forces spokesperson announced that more than 200 personnel of Saudi-led forces were killed during the last 4 days in the northern part of Hajjah province; Heavy clashes between Ansar Allah and coaliton forces erupted in Hudaydah city. 1 child was killed and 10 women were wounded; According to the Sana’a-based Ministry of Health, the Saudi-led coaliton preventing h

Despite Saudi Arabia coming under intensified international scrutiny after last year’s brutal murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, a new study shows Riyadh has been on  a record-setting weapons buying spree over the past two years . And who supplies most of these arms? Of course the United States, which has by all indicators done nothing to curtail its perpetual arms pipeline to the Saudis; instead it has grown. According to a new 2019 study published in March from arms transfer monitoring group,  the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute  (SIPRI),  70 percent of the Saudi arsenal now comes from the United States . Prior file photo of Saudi officers take photos during a joint military exercise of 21 Muslim nations (in 2016). Image source: Getty Furthermore, the Saudis have hands down  led the world in global weapons purchases for the past two years , and there’s little sign this trend will let up as Riyadh keeps up its mercile

Click to see full-size image The US recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory is another sign of the ongoing collapse of the establsihed system of international relations. The UN Disengagement Observer Force’s (UNDOF) mandate was renewed  on December 21 st , 2018 to June 30 th , 2019. Thus, it’s peacekeeping operation in the Golan Heights continues despite the recent US move to recignize Israel’s sovereignty over this territory. The latest UNDOF report  was published on February 28 th , underlying that there are on-going issues of numerous violations of the Disengagement of Forces Agreement of 1974 and UNDOF’s ability to implement its mandate, including the deployment of appropriate technologies as recommended. “Given Syria’s reassertion of control over areas of separation and the reopening of the Qunaytirah crossing point, UNDOF may be getting close to an eventual full return to the Bravo side. The return of the situation to pre-2014 conditions may cause the C