SADAT: The Turkish mercenaries who support Islamist groups

Editor’s note: This article was written by Eren Ersozoglu and originally published on Grey Dynamics.  This Grey Dynamics African Intelligence Article analyses the SADAT paramilitary group, and the political de facto implications placed on Turkish-African relations and security amid an increase in cooperation between Turkey and African states. Turkey’s private military contractor, SADAT, has been conducting military […]

Political clash over Russian Bounties heats up

Nothing gets the blood boiling faster in Washington than political infighting. The most recent case concerns the alleged Russian practice of paying the Taliban for killing American soldiers. According to a report by the New York Times, U.S. intelligence officials had determined that a Russian military intelligence unit (GRU) had offered militants allied to the […]

Russia in West Africa: Trying to replace the West?

Editor’s note: This article was written by Ana Maria Baloi and originally published on Grey Dynamics. This report examines the likelihood of a Russian power projection in West Africa, based on the country’s ambitions, military doctrine and previous and current actions in other parts of the continent Key Judgements KJ-1: Russia’s interest in Africa is […]

The Russian bounties and the danger of politicizing intelligence

SOFREP recently identified the problems surrounding the bombshell New York Times piece claiming a secret Russian military intelligence unit was offering Afghan militants bounties to kill US troops. Namely, if the intelligence is true and accurate, why was no action taken to hold Russia accountable? This damning intelligence report was allegedly briefed to President Trump […]

Russia’s Afghan bounties isn’t the most alarming part of the case

Last Friday, in an exclusive story, the New York Times reported that a Russian military intelligence unit had been offering bounties to militias linked to the Taliban for the killing of American and Coalition troops in Afghanistan. They did so in an attempt to derail the peace talks between the U.S and the Taliban. At […]

Israeli airstrikes target and kill six Iranian-backed militiamen in Syria

The Iranians keep pushing Quds Force troops into Syria and supplying their proxy forces with arms, ammunition, and missiles… and someone, supposedly Israel, keeps hitting them hard with airstrikes. According to reports coming out of Syria, at least six Iranian-led militia members were killed in an alleged Israeli airstrike on Saturday night. The strike hit […]

US calls for a ceasefire in Libya while Egypt threatens military intervention

The ongoing civil war in Libya has now reached a critical stage. Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi has threatened military intervention if there are any attacks by Turkish-backed forces on Sirte or the airbase at Jufra. Sisi stated that any move against either of these locations would amount to crossing a “red line.” The United States […]

India vs China, who would the US support in a conflict?

Following a savage clash in the Sino-Indian border, thousands of Chinese and Indian troops have been in a standoff within the Ladakh region, high within the Himalayas. On June 6, the two countries reached an agreement to de-escalate by the mutual withdrawal of troops from the Galwan Valley. That agreement went dramatically wrong on June […]

Arctic: The neglected frontier

On June 9, President Trump released the “Memorandum on Safeguarding U.S. Interests in the Arctic and Antarctic Regions.” The Memorandum flew mostly under the radar, yet it is indicative of increased U.S. interest in the polar regions and a response to the adverse power balance in the Arctic. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean […]

French military chief wants to overhaul military to prepare for a major conflict

General Thierry Burkhard, the French Army’s Chief of Staff, believes that a major conflict is now a relative possibility. He has a strategic plan to flip the French military from an emphasis on asymmetric warfare to symmetric and to toughen it up by 2030. Burkhard, who was the Commander of the Combined Operations Center, the […]

From the Kryptia to the CIA: A historical view of intelligence gathering

CIA. KGB. MSS. All acronyms that anyone familiar with the intelligence world would know. (For those who may not be familiar, they stand for: Central Intelligence Agency — United States, Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti — Soviet Union/Russia, and the Ministry for State Security — China). They are all well-represented in the modern media. But what about […]

The Pic of the Day: BALTOPS 2020

A photo with Latvian Navy LVNS Talivaldis (M-06), Estonian Navy ENS Sakala (M-314), German Navy FGS Werra (A-514), British Royal Navy HMS Ramsey (M110) and Estonian Navy ENS Wambola (433) in the Baltic Sea during BALTOPS 2020, June 16. BALTOPS is the premier annual maritime-focused exercise in the Baltic region, enhancing flexibility and interoperability among […]