I-BRIDGE's blog (Link Campus University's Research Centre on Global Affairs) - editor, Marco Emanuele - Critical thinking, complexity, international relations (Twitter, @Glob_Eye - Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/marco.emanuele.50)
Monday 31 October 2016
Invisible fathers of immigration detention. The British state has regulated relationships between its citizens and certain foreigners since at least the Colonial era. Today’s border controls continue to police people’s intimate lives and retain sexist and racist assumptions. (Melanie Griffiths, openDemocracy)
Sunday 30 October 2016
Saturday 29 October 2016
Friday 28 October 2016
Thursday 27 October 2016
Tuesday 25 October 2016
Thursday 20 October 2016
Why Rabies Still Kills (Melvin Sanicas, Project-Syndicate)
A virus that infects your brain, makes you want to bite things, and is almost always fatal after symptoms appear probably sounds like something from a zombie movie. But this has been the modus operandi of rabies at least since 2300 BC, when it was described in the Eshuma Code of Babylon. The word’s Sanskrit etymology – rabhas, meaning “to do violence” – dates back even further, to 3000 BC.
Why Can’t We End Polio? (Ilona Kickbusch, Stephen Matlin, Michaela Told, Project-Syndicate)
October 24, 2016, should be a unique day in the history of polio. If all goes according to plan, it will be the last annual World Polio Day before the disease is eradicated. But now is not the time for celebration or complacency; while we know how to eliminate polio, we have not yet finished the job.
A National Security Blind Spot (Anne-Marie Slaughter, Elizabeth Weingarten, Project-Syndicate)
Erin Saltman saw a disturbing trend. For months, the senior counter-extremism researcher at the Institute for Strategic Dialogue had obsessively tracked the profiles of more than 130 Western women who had joined the Islamic State (ISIS). Saltman and her team noticed that instead of journeying through Turkey to reach ISIS headquarters in Syria, the women were heading straight to Libya. Because women’s roles within ISIS are related mostly to reproduction and consolidating territory, Saltman was able to deduce the reason: “ISIS wasn’t just looking to have combat forces in Libya, but also to build statehood there,” she explained. “We flagged and highlighted that before security forces were aware of it.”
Taking North Korea Seriously (Carl Bildt, Project-Syndicate)
We are living in dangerous and uncertain times. The United States is engaged in a bizarre and highly polarized presidential election. Its relationship with an increasingly revisionist Russia is undergoing what is essentially a “re-set” in reverse, while Russia’s revisionism is also putting pressure on a Europe already plagued by uncertainty in the wake of the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union. Meanwhile, the Middle East is imploding, with wars in Syria and Yemen fueling a large-scale refugee crisis.
President Hillary Clinton: be careful what you hope for (Allan Behm, The Strategist)
With the spectre of a Trump presidency on the wane, governments everywhere—especially the allies of the US—are breathing a collective sigh of relief. What they really need to do is to begin thinking about the strategic and diplomatic direction that a Clinton presidency might take. For, as Oscar Wilde noted, in his sardonic way, ‘when the gods wish to punish us, they answer our prayers’.
The Indo-Pacific and the nature of conjoinment (Rod Lyon, The Strategist)
Let’s cut to the chase. Few strategic assessments have ever recommended the deleting of a hyphen in favour of a dash as a principal policy recommendation. So Andrew Phillips’ recent ASPI Strategy paper, From Hollywood to Bollywood?, is distinctive on those grounds alone. But much more importantly, it’s a nicely-weighted exploration of the concept of the Indo-Pacific in Australian strategic thinking. Underlying Andrew’s claim—that we’d be better off emphasising Indo/Pacific differentiation rather than Indo-Pacific aggregation—is an argument about the important strategic differences between the Indian and Pacific oceans, and the practical difficulties of conjoinment in an increasingly interconnected world.
Why is the TPP facing headwinds in the United States? (Charles R. Hankla, East Asia Forum)
If the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is not yet politically dead in the United States, it certainly seems to be on life support. Last month Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader of the Senate, confirmed his intention not to seek a vote on the TPP until the new president takes office in January.
Wednesday 19 October 2016
BCIM-EC could be a game changer for Bangladesh (Rupak Bhattacharjee, South Asia Monitor)
Bangladesh, China, India and Myanmar-Economic Corridor (BCIM-EC) is a sub-regional grouping that seeks to strengthen friendly cooperation among the four member nations and linking South Asia with Southeast and East Asia by establishing multimodal connectivity and harnessing economic complementaries. The four countries have agreed to build road, rail, air and waterways connecting each other, lay power transmission and oil pipelines along the corridor, promote trade and investment, alleviate poverty and enhance people-to-people contacts.
Nepal is showing the way on Climate Change (Micheal Northrop, South Asia Monitor)
You wouldn't know it driving around polluted Kathmandu, but Nepal is very much a leader in the fight against climate change. For a poor country struggling with severe poverty, it is more than a little admirable how much Nepal has done already to decarbonize its economy.
Pakistan. Can Bilawal revive the party (Zahid Hussain, South Asia Monitor)
Slowly but surely, Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari is making his presence felt on the national political scene. Though still raw and a novice, he has infused new life into the PPP that many thought was on the ventilator. He has certainly inherited the charisma and the mass appeal of the Bhuttos that has been missing from the party since the assassination of his mother.
Hard choice for peace in Afghanistan (Barnett Rubin, South Asia Monitor)
On September 29th, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, the leader of the Hezb-e-Islami (Islamic Party) of Afghanistan, signed a peace agreement with the Afghan government, by prerecorded video, from an undisclosed location. In the nineteen-eighties, Hezb-e-Islami was the most extreme of the seven mujahideen parties recognized by Pakistan, and Hekmatyar’s unblinking black eyes were framed by a black turban and full black beard. Three decades later, Hekmatyar, now sixty-nine, has a different look. On the video, he wore the same black turban, but his beard has turned white and his heavy-lidded eyes peered out from behind bookish wire-rimmed glasses.
A burning problem (P Tauro, South Asia Monitor)
Every year at the beginning of the winter season, Delhi and the adjoining areas face the problem of air pollution due to the burning of rice stubble and straw in Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and the National Capital Region. The poor farmers, who are responsible for the prosperity of these states, are blamed for the pollution by the governments and the courts.
Don't stop the music (Salman Ahmad, South Asia Monitor)
All of a sudden, art and cultural cooperation look like becoming a casualty in the latest confrontation between India and Pakistan. We must not let that happen.
Fixing the weak links to growth (Shivaji Sarkar, South Asia Monitor)
India and neighbouring countries are growing at a decent pace while the developed world is struggling to maintain its economic impetus. But these countries need reform-minded global financial institutions to further boost their growth
Retreat by Moscow? With old ally no longer looking out for India, it must redo its strategic math (South Asia Monitor)
India’s diplomatic drive to isolate Pakistan encountered a determined Chinese block at the Goa Brics summit, and the bad news from New Delhi’s point of view is that old ally Russia is more in China’s corner than India’s on this one.
The need for a lesson in civil-military relations (South Asia Monitor)
It seems the first round is finally over. But given the schedule of the forthcoming state assembly elections, more rounds of my-surgical-strikes-versus-yours are expected between the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Congress party. Defence minister Manohar Parrikar has been widely panned for saying that “Indian troops were like Hanuman who did not quite know their prowess before the surgical strikes”. There have also been banners put up by workers and allies of the BJP in a bid to gain political advantage from the surgical strikes.
Why are American desis celebrating Trump? (Mohan Guruswamy, South Asia Monitor)
Some years ago Joel Stein wrote a witty and perfectly appropriate column in Time magazine titled ‘My Own Private India’, about a town called Edison in New Jersey. Stein was thoroughly excoriated as racist and anti-Indian by people purporting to represent the Indian community in the United States.
BRICS Summit: Why China and Russia did not name Pakistan on terrorism (Praveen Swami, South Asia Monitor)
In 1216, Genghis Khan sent envoys to Samarkand, the capital of Ala ad-Din Muhammad II, Emperor of Khwarezm, bearing gifts of gold, jade, ivory and cloaks spun from the hair of white camels. “I know your power and the vast extent of your empire”, his letter read, “and I regard you as my most cherished son. For your part, you must know that I have conquered China and all the Turkish nations north of it; my country is an anthill of soldiers and a mine of silver, and I have no need of other lands. Therefore, I believe I have we have an equal interest in encouraging trade between our lands”.
Black Money in India and its current status (Sudip Bhattacharyya, South Asia Monitor)
The term ‘black economy’ typically refers to the economic activities outside formal banking channels and includes cash transactions in high-value assets like gold and real estate. Money generated in ‘black economy’ is ‘black money’. It is essentially money which has been earned but on which taxes have not been paid.
Can BBIN work as antidote to failures of SAARC? (Amitava Mukherjee, South Asia Monitor)
As Pakistan is now aiming for a greater South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) with China and the Central Asian states in its fold, the importance of the emerging Bangladesh-Bhutan-India-Nepal (BBIN) grouping has become more important for not only Indian diplomatic initiatives but for economic progress of landlocked countries like Nepal and Bhutan. It is better to admit that not much thought was given behind the conceptualization of the SAARC in the mid 1980s and sub-regional initiatives like the BBIN may work as an antidote to much of the maladies that afflict South Asia now.
Maldives: It's back to square one (N. Sathiya Moorthy, South Asia Monitor)
Even as reactions continue to pour in over the weekend on Maldives’ decision to exit the Commonwealth, alleging ‘unfair and unjust treatment’, the leadership of President Abdulla Yameen has moved on with the next political move, this one nearer home. The Yameen faction of the ruling Progressive Party of Maldives (PPM) got a civil court order removing former President and half-brother, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, as party head and replacing the latter’s team with another one of the President’s choice.
The Public Core of Internet: Towards an International Agenda for Internet Governance (Observer Research Foundation)
The Internet’s core of key protocols and infrastructure can be considered a global public good that provides benefits to everyone. Countering the growing state interference with this public core requires a new international agenda for Internet governance that departs from the notion of a global public good.
Enhanced Role of Japanese SDF in UN Peacekeeping Operations (Adarsha Verma, IDSA)
On 8 October 2016, the Japanese Defence Minister Tomomi Inada visited South Sudan to assess the prevailing security situation for the deployment of Self Defence Forces (SDF) which would be assigned an enhanced role of protecting UN personnel, civilians and other peacekeepers. This enhanced role will be a major change from the current SDF role in peacekeeping operations, which is based on provisions of Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution that permit the SDF to use their weapons only to protect themselves once they are fired upon.
A New Player in Sabah Politics (Farish (Badrol Hisham) Ahmad-Noor, RSIS)
Malaysia continues to witness the emergence of new political parties in the public domain, further complicating its complex political landscape. The new Parti Warisan Sabah (Warisan) points to growing political awareness among the people of Sabah. They may be following in the footsteps of Sarawakians, who have been vocal in demanding more political autonomy for themselves.
Malaysia’s Secular Versus Religious Divide: Mediation Could Be Key (Saleena Saleem, RSIS)
The uneasy co-existence of civil and Shariah law in Malaysia and the polarising ethnic and religious divides within its population could be ameliorated by establishing an independent mediation committee.
Globalisation Under Pressure: International Trade Suffers (Barry Desker, RSIS)
An era of globalisation is drawing to a close as international trade comes under pressure of protectionist policies. TPP has yet to be ratified while RCEP has stalled.
Large Scale Central Bank Asset Purchases, by Currency (Brad Setser, Emma Smith, Council on Foreign Relations)
In an earlier post, I added reserve purchases by the world’s major emerging market central banks, Japan and Switzerland to the bonds purchases by the Fed, the BoJ, the ECB and Bank of England. I wanted to highlight that the central banks of the world were buying a lot of U.S. and European bonds before the big central banks started quantitative easing (QE). China and others bought a ton of bonds prior to the global crisis.
Latin America’s Populist Hangover (Shannon K. O'Neil, Council on Foreign Relations)
In my piece published in the November/December 2016 issue of Foreign Affairs, I lay out the economic and political characteristics of populism, analyze why it is receding in Latin America today, and describe what a next wave might look like. I also argue that Latin America’s historical experience with populism provides some bracing warnings to other countries now flirting with such politics. You can read the first three paragraphs of the article below:
Is it Still 1968? A Conversation with Michael A. Cohen (Micah Zenko, Council on Foreign Relations)
Today, I spoke with Michael A. Cohen, regular contributor at The Boston Globe, about his new book, American Maelstrom: The 1968 Election and the Politics of Division (also available on iTunes here). We talk about the chaotic U.S. presidential election of 1968, which not only bears a striking resemblance with the 2016 election, but sowed the seeds for many political currents running through the United States today. Michael also offers his advice to passionate aspiring journalists and writers. Listen to our conversation, check out his last book, Live From the Campaign Trail: The Greatest Presidential Campaign Speeches of the Twentieth Century and How They Shaped Modern America, and follow him on Twitter @speechboy71.
Global Polio Eradication Initiative’s Response to Polio outbreak in the Lake Chad Basin (John Campbell, Council on Foreign Relations)
The public reappearance of polio in northeast Nigeria is a disappointment.
What the Hell Happened to My Republican Party? (Max Boot, Foreign Policy, Council on Foreign Relations)
The party of principled conservatism, of promoting freedom at home and abroad, has become a party of conspiracy-mongering, authoritarianism, and white power.
Sustaining Fuel Subsidy Reform (Varun Sivaram, Douglas Dillon, Council on Foreign Relations)
Fuel consumption subsidies threaten the fiscal and economic health of countries around the world. Economists widely agree that the subsidies, which reduce consumer prices for petroleum and natural gas below free-market prices, often strain government budgets, fail to target poverty efficiently, and distribute benefits unfairly. Yet, political barriers often obstruct practical policy changes; for example, the prospect of street protest discourages sensible subsidy reform. Still, over the last two years, governments around the world have taken advantage of the plunge in oil prices and reduced or eliminated subsidies. Recognizing that low oil prices can mitigate the increase in consumer bills caused by subsidy reform, ten countries have, since 2014, completely eliminated subsidies on at least one type of fuel, and a further twelve countries have reduced subsidies. This advances U.S. economic, geopolitical, and environmental goals because subsidy reform can reduce world oil prices, instability in strategically important countries, and wasteful use of fossil fuels, which contributes to climate change. In particular, recent reforms in India, Indonesia, Ukraine, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Nigeria all bring strategic benefits to the United States.
The cyber-war on WikiLeaks (Srećko Horvat, openDemocracy)
WikiLeaks is not only influencing the US elections, but transforming the US elections – as they should have been from the very beginning – into a global debate.
How war dehumanises everyone it touches (Paul Tritschler, openDemocracy)
All acts of mass murder are crimes against humanity, and require a gross debasing of other people.
Resurgent Sikh fundamentalism in the UK: time to act? (Sukhwant Dhaliwal, openDemocracy)
Growing confidence among resurgent Sikh fundamentalist networks in the UK was evident in recent protests against inter-faith marriage. A desire to control Sikh women’s relationship choices is a key focal point for their mobilisation.
Magento card-swiping malware hides stolen card data in legitimate images (Pierluigi Paganini, Security Affairs)
Security experts have spotted an interesting exfiltration technique adopted by crooks to exfiltrate card data from Magento platforms.
Political Cyberattacks: Senior Turkish Government Officials Affected by Advanced Malware (Pierluigi Paganini, Security Affairs)
Experts at ElevenPaths, a Telefonica’s cyber security unit, provided further details on political cyberattacks leveraging on advanced malicious codes.
New Zealand's relentless housing crisis (Caitlin McGee, Al Jazeera)
New Zealand now tops the IMF list of unaffordable places to live, hurting some communities more than others.
Mosul battle creates competing IDP and refugee crises (D. Parvaz, Al Jazeera)
In fight to retake Mosul, some fear Syrian refugee funding might fade as focus shifts to internally displaced Iraqis.
Controversial new nuclear plant ignites Belarus (Jonathan Brown, Al Jazeera)
Thirty years after Chernobyl catastrophe, construction of new nuclear station on border with Lithuania stirs debate.
KRG: Mosul victory depends on ISIL fighters' morale (Tanya Goudsouzian, Al Jazeera)
Iraqi Kurdish Foreign Minister Falah Mustafa Bakir speaks to Al Jazeera about the battle for Mosul and post-ISIL plans.
Mosul will fall again, but at great cost (Tallha Abdulrazaq, Al Jazeera)
The battle for Mosul will be long and the city's remaining 1.5 million civilians will bear the brunt.
Aleppo and the myth of Syria's sovereignty (Alia Brahimi, Al Jazeera)
The narrative of sovereignty by the Syrian government is based on a number of myths.
DRC opposition rejects vote delay, calls for strike (Al Jazeera)
Move to postpone this year's presidential election to April 2018 called a "flagrant violation" of the constitution.
WikiLeaks: Ecuador admits cutting Assange's internet (Al Jazeera)
Leftist government says it exercised "sovereign right" by temporarily restricting WikiLeaks founder's connection.
Mosul battle enters third day (Al Jazeera)
Shelling intensifies, Al Jazeera reporters on the front line say, as fight for ISIL's last bastion in Iraq continues.
Spaceplanes on the high frontier (Malcolm Davis, The Strategist)
A transformation in military space capabilities is occurring hundreds of kilometres above the Earth’s surface as the US Air Force X-37B Space Plane logs over 500 days in orbit in its latest mission. The unmanned X-37B Space Plane is designed for long-endurance missions that are highly classified. It’s officially referred to as the ‘Orbital Test Vehicle’, and is described as a platform for testing ‘reusable spacecraft technologies for America’s future in space and operating experiments which can be returned to, and examined, on Earth.’ A total of four missions have been flown since April 2010, with the fourth in progress since 20th May 2015. It’s designed to be launched on an expendable Atlas V booster, and there are currently two operational X-37Bs in the USAF’s inventory.
10 things you need to know about passport cancellations (Jacinta Carroll, The Strategist)
Passport cancellations are one of the few tangible and public measures of how Australia’s going in the fight against terrorism. ASIO made the latest number of passport cancellations public last week, when it tabled its Annual Report to Parliament.
How will institutions adapt to accelerating change? (Jack Karsten, Brookings)
The last three decades have brought about a series of global changes from the fall of the Berlin Wall to the rise of ISIS. Increasingly, domestic and international forces interact to make local issues “go viral.” On October 17, Governance Studies Vice President Darrell West moderated a panel discussion of these and other ideas presented in his new book, Megachange: Economic Disruption, Political Upheaval, and Social Strife in the 21st Century. The book aims to put recent developments in a broader historical context, reaching beyond recent memory to find analogues to today’s events several centuries in the past. In his introduction of the event, West advocated for reforms that will make slow-moving institutions more resilient to rapid social and economic changes.
WATCH: ‘African voices on research, policy, and international development in sub-Saharan Africa’ (Francesco Obino, Christina Golubski, Brookings)
Too often there is a disconnect between the advice of research of scholars on the ground and the international actors and African policymakers themselves, despite their shared goals of positive impacts on social and economic development. The opportunities to leverage the interface and implicit synergies between these three groups of actors, each bringing different assets to development efforts, are multiple. Too often, however, their mandate and work overlap without being connected or coordinated, ultimately to the detriment of development outcomes.
Domestic risks to Africa’s growth: Navigating local content regulation and taxation (Amadou Sy, Mariama Sow, Brookings)
Sub-Saharan Africa is currently experiencing its slowest growth pace since 1994. The International Monetary Fund predicts that this year the continent will grow at a rate of 1.4 percent, down from 3.6 in 2015. Africa’s economic powerhouses—Nigeria and South Africa—are seeing their lowest growth rates in years. Nigeria is predicted to experience a 1.7 percent decrease, while South Africa’s growth rate will lie at 0.1 percent. The decline in Africa’s GDP growth is a reflection of the challenging global macroeconomic climate. Amid the slump in commodity prices, policymakers have urged African countries to diversify their economies and trigger structural transformation. In order to do so, African countries must attract foreign capital.
Energy and climate: Moving beyond symbolism (David Victor, Brookings)
Energy touches virtually every aspect of public policy. Dramatic revolutions in U.S. shale oil and gas supply over the last decade and their massive economic benefit have shown that energy production is a major contributor to job creation, investment, and economic growth. The electric power grid, which supplies nearly half of all the energy ultimately used in the country, is a prime target for terrorist attack; thus, policies surrounding the grid are a central element of homeland security strategy, since reliable electric power is essential to water supply, sewage treatment, traffic control, computer servers, national security infrastructure, and so much else in modern society. Energy is also central to foreign policy. Large revenues—especially from oil sales—often flow to overseas energy producers who can enrich malicious governments and non-state actors, giving them capabilities to harm U.S. interests. One of today’s greatest policy challenges—the threats of unchecked global warming—is an intrinsically foreign problem, as the buildup of greenhouse gases in the global atmosphere has arisen from how the whole planet has used and depended upon carbon-based fossil fuels.
Countering violent extremism in America: Policy recommendations for the next president (Robert L. McKenzie, Brookings)
Since 9/11, the U.S. government has spent well over $100 billion and mobilized thousands of employees to thwart jihadi terrorist plots in America and abroad.[1] Measured by American lives saved, the U.S. government has had extraordinary success using all elements of its national security toolbox to capture, arrest, and kill terrorists worldwide. Yet it is clear that kinetic operations alone will not solve the problem. The rise of the Islamic State has energized an estimated 27,000 jihadi foreign fighters from around the world to travel to Iraq and Syria, and recent attacks in Paris, Brussels, San Bernardino, Orlando, and Nice have demonstrated the organization’s reach and ability to both inspire and guide homegrown violent extremists across the globe.
WATCH: The power of the educated white female vote in election 2016 (William H. Frey, Brookings)
As we move closer to Election Day, it is becoming clear that college-educated white women will be a key voting bloc for Hillary Clinton, serving as a counterweight to Donald Trump’s support from working-class white men. This is evident in polls taken since mid-summer and could translate into a sizeable vote advantage for Clinton, according to simulations I conducted and depicted in our latest video of the Diversity Explosion: Election 2016 series.
Has a presidential election ever been as negative as this one? (Elaine Kamarck, Brookings)
Many Americans think the bloodbath between Trump and Clinton is unprecedented in American history, but the reality is that short term memories and a sugarcoating of our nation’s presidential history mask some contentious races for the White House.
Truly winning the battle of Mosul (Daniel L. Byman, Brookings)
True victory in the battle of Mosul, the Islamic State’s capital in Iraq and the largest city it controls, will be difficult. It may take months or only a few short weeks, but I expect the Iraqi military, Kurdish Peshmerga, and other various militias—along with the U.S. forces that support them—to defeat the Islamic State defenders and liberate one of Iraq’s largest cities from their brutal rule. Far harder will be the political struggle. Iraqi forces need to maintain their unity as they go forward and a broader political settlement must be forged. Here the prognosis looks poor.
Learning to live with a nuclear North Korea (Andrei Lankov, East Asia Forum)
North Korea has done it again. On 9 October they conducted yet another nuclear test, so far the most powerful and arguably the most successful. To make matters worse, there are good reasons to expect that another test is in the making.
Tuesday 18 October 2016
Middle East’s Migrant Population More Than Doubles Since 2005 (Pew Research Center)
Regional conflict and economic opportunity boost number of migrants from 25 million to 54 million
Trump, Clinton Supporters Differ on How Media Should Cover Controversial Statements (Pew Research Center)
Trump supporters split on whether news media should highlight offensive statements, but nearly three-in-four Clinton supporters favor it
America's Assad Quandary (Robert D. Kaplan, The National Interest)
An excruciating fact confronts us: it does not necessarily follow that Bashar al-Assad’s departure would improve the situation in Syria.
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