Diario geostrategico, 10 novembre 2021
Buona lettura !
The Science of Where Magazine’s interviews:
– The road to the “new normal” and the role of the G20. The Science of Where meets Priyadarshi Dash. Associate Professor at Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS), New Delhi, he has 14 years of experience in policy research on trade, investment, infrastructure and fintech issues in the context of G20, IORA, BIMSTEC and Indo-Pacific
– Governo dei dati tra geopolitica e tutela del cittadino. The Science of Where Magazine incontra Ivana Bartoletti, Global Chief Privacy Officer a WIPRO Technologies e Visiting Policy Fellow presso l’ Università di Oxford
– Tecnologia e responsabilità: uno snodo decisivo. The Science of Where Magazine incontra Federico Cabitza, Università di Milano-Bicocca
– Inside the ethics of artificial intelligence: for a decentralized approach. The Science of Where Magazine meets James Brusseau, Philosopher, Pace University
– L’intelligenza artificiale contro le discriminazioni sul lavoro. The Science of Where Magazine incontra Keith Sonderling, Commissioner del U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission
– Per Italia e Germania, il futuro è nelle nuove tecnologie. Intervista esclusiva con l’Ambasciatore d’Italia a Berlino, Armando Varricchio
– Gathering strenght, gathering storms. Visions on artificial intelligence. The Science of Where Magazine meets Michael Littman and Peter Stone
Today’s Choice:
– ESA: The journal Environmental Research Letters publishes a research that describes how the visible traces of human presence, or ‘human footprint’, across the Arctic’s land, which is prone to thaw, has increased by 15% during the last two decades. – Satellites pinpoint communities at risk of permafrost thaw
ANZUS:
– Richard Herr, The Strategist: A new ASPI special report, Sliding-door moments: ANZUS and the Blue Pacific, released today, canvasses important lessons from the 70-year history of ANZUS in the Pacific Island region and how those lessons bear on Australia’s Pacific step-up, New Zealand’s Pacific reset and the United States’ Pacific pledge. While most of the moments examined in the report centred on decisions that seemed inconsequential at the time, the same can’t be said of the current pivotal juncture in regional security. The risks of the current period of strategic flux are recognised as both high and escalating. – ANZUS and agency in regional security
Australia-AUKUS:
– Lesley Seebeck, The Strategist: Having a coherent strategy matters. It allows the effective allocation of scarce resources. It provides a framework against which events and trends can be assessed, helping to guide bureaucratic action, diplomatic activity and military posture. It’s essential to statecraft. So, what does AUKUS agreement with the United States and United Kingdom say about Australian grand strategy? – AUKUS and Australian grand strategy
China-Australia:
– Henry Storey, The Interpreter: When Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne landed in Kuala Lumpur at the weekend, she notably lauded the meeting with her Malaysian counterpart as “the first since our relationship was elevated to a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership”. The last year has been particularly fruitful for Australia’s growing bevy of Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships (CSPs). Australia has upgraded – or agreed to upgrade – its ties to CSP status not only with Malaysia but also South Korea and most recently with the Associatiion of Southeast Asian Nations. – Do Comprehensive Strategic Partnerships matter?
– Global Times: While trade tensions between China and Australia continues amid a downward spiral of bilateral relations, some Australian businesses haven’t given up the opportunity to promote their presence in the Chinese market. The Victorian state government of Australia paid for dozens of Victoria-based companies to attend the fourth China International Import Expo (CIIE), according to a report by the Daily Mail on Sunday. The Victorian government said the presence at the CIIE, the world’s largest import fair, will help connect their businesses to the world’s largest market to secure new contracts and help create jobs in the state. – GT Voice: No shortage of opportunities in China-Australia trade
China-Pakistan:
– Liu Xuanzun, Global Times: China on Monday delivered to Pakistan the largest and most advanced warship China has ever exported, in a move that highlights the friendship between the two countries and will contribute to the two countries’ all-weather strategic cooperative partnership. – China delivers largest, most advanced warship to Pakistan
China-Taiwan:
– Carolina Polito, Agenda Digitale: Nell’ultimo mese, la rinnovata tensione tra Taiwan e la Cina si è fatta spazio sulle prime pagine di tutte le testate internazionali. Per i primi quattro giorni di ottobre, infatti, circa centocinquanta aerei da combattimento dell’Esercito Popolare di Liberazione cinese sono entrati nella zona di identificazione per la difesa aerea dell’isola – senza entrare nello spazio aereo sovrano di Taiwan – facendo salire la tensione nella regione ai livelli più alti da quarant’anni. Secondo quanto riportato dal Fatto Quotidiano “da tempo le forze armate cinesi si esercitano per un’eventuale invasione per cui sarebbero già stati individuati i possibili punti di sbarco. Le autorità di Taipei temono che i piani di sbarco potrebbero essere perfezionati e “pronti all’uso” entro tre anni.” – Cyberwar, tra Taiwan e la Cina il fronte caldissimo dello scontro
Global Topics-COP26-Climate Action-Climate Change-Ecological Transition:
– David Dollar and David G. Victor, Brookings: As the global climate change conference (COP26) continues in Glasgow, climate expert David Victor joins host David Dollar to talk about what’s been happening in Scotland and whether it will be viewed as a success. Victor, a professor of innovation and public policy at UC San Diego and co-director of the university’s Deep Decarbonization Initiative, discusses a range of issues, including whether countries are meeting their Paris Agreement commitments to reduce emissions, the target of $100 billion per year in climate aid for developing counties, and where the U.S. and China might be able to cooperate on climate issues. – Will COP26 in Glasgow spur progress on reducing carbon emissions?
Global Topics-Cyber Security:
– Pierluigi Paganini, Security Affairs: Romanian law enforcement agencies have arrested two alleged Sodinokibi/REvil ransomware affiliates on November 4, that are accused of having conducted attacks against thousands of victims. – Police arrested REvil ransomware affiliates in Romania and Kuwait
– Liam Tung, ZDNet: Microsoft has sent an alert about a sophisticated Chinese hacker group targeting an obscure bug in Zoho software to install a webshell. Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) has detected exploits targeting systems running Zoho ManageEngine ADSelfService Plus, a self-service password management and single sign-on solution, with the remote code execution bug tracked as CVE-2021-40539. Zoho is best known as a popular software-as-a-service vendor, while ManageEngine is the company’s enterprise IT management software division. – Microsoft: Chinese hackers are targeting Zoho ManageEngine software
– Laura Brandimarte, Agenda Digitale: Il linguaggio utilizzato nei documenti che descrivono il trattamento dei dati personali (le privacy policies) è spesso oscuro e incomprensibile per la maggior parte di noi. Sappiamo tutti che si tratta di documenti legali in cui un’azienda si impegna con i propri clienti a gestire le loro informazioni secondo determinate condizioni, ma nella maggior parte dei casi ci risulta impossibile comprendere fino in fondo il contenuto di questi contratti – Privacy policies, se per capirle ci vuole l’intelligenza artificiale
– Alessandra Sturabotti, Agenda Digitale: Il diritto alla privacy/protezione dei dati personali è un diritto inviolabile/della personalità oppure un bene strumentale a garanzia di un diritto collettivo? Proviamo a rispondere a questo interrogativo, riprendendo le fila della nostra analisi, svolta sin qui ricostruendo gli orientamenti interpretativi e le polarizzazioni dottrinali sulla commodification dei diritti della personalità e dei dati personali. Procediamo, quindi, addentrandoci nei fondamenti comunitari e internazionali del diritto alla protezione dei dati personali, concentrando i nostri sforzi nel tentativo di far emergere quali siano gli interessi tutelati come libertà fondamentali individuali e come diritti della collettività. – Protezione dei dati personali: diritto collettivo e merce individuale? I principi Ue e internazionali
– Gabriele Faggioli, Agenda Digitale: I dati del Rapporto Clusit 2021 presentati oggi rappresentano uno scenario di totale emergenza. Siamo infatti di nuovo davanti a un forte incremento degli attacchi informatici, sia a livello quantitativo che qualitativo (per la gravità del loro impatto) con parallela crescita delle perdite derivante dalle azioni criminali: nel rapporto si legge di una stima di un trilione di dollari per il 2020 e 6 trilioni per il 2021. – La minaccia cyber fa tremare il mondo, Faggioli: “Ecco le urgenze per l’Italia”
Global Topics-Digital Transformation-Emerging and Disruptive Technology:
– Shital Sarah Ahaley, News Medical: Patients recovering from severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia often suffer from refractory breathlessness. A recent study published on the preprint server medRxiv* conducted at the University Hospital of Geneva in Switzerland evaluates an immersive virtual reality (iVR)-based digital intervention to alleviate refractory breathlessness in patients recovering from COVID-19 pneumonia. – Exercises using virtual reality to relieve COVID breathlessness
– Katerina Stepanova, The Next Web: It takes seven months to get to Mars in an efficiently engineered spaceship, covering the distance of 480 million kilometers. On this journey, a crew would have to survive in a confined space with no opportunity to experience nature or interact with new people. It is easy to imagine how this much isolation could have a severe impact on the crew’s well-being and productivity. The challenges long-duration space travellers experience are not foreign to regular folk, although to a lesser degree. Many Canadians experience isolation and loneliness, at least occasionally. – Virtual reality is fighting loneliness, both on Earth and in space
– Stephen Baer, Forbes: Although we might still be a long way from dialing into the Matrix, virtual reality has evolved significantly since Heilig’s Sensorama in the 1960s, and it isn’t being used strictly for entertainment these days. VR has made its way into the corporate world with incredible success and will only evolve to become more commonplace. Whether employees type away at a computer, ring up items at a register, pilot a forklift in a hectic factory or deliver quarterly sales projections during a shareholder’s meeting, VR can help them be better at what they do. VR turns passive training into an immersive experience by tricking the brain into thinking what it sees in the virtual world is real. VR provides a practice playground for individuals to try new skills, safely fail, learn from their mistakes and succeed on the job. – Three Ways Virtual Reality Is Revolutionizing Corporate Learning
Global Topics-Hydro Diplomacy:
– Stimson Center: Water, a resource that is becoming increasingly scarce, is critical in sustaining human life. The last century has witnessed a multifold increase in global water demand despite its waning availability. The rapidly growing urban populations coupled with increasing impacts of climate change have further exacerbated this challenge: more than two-thirds of the global population live with water-scarce conditions at least one month of the year. If current trends continue, water scarcity, with its cross-sectoral implications on politics and economy, has the potential to challenge national, regional, and international security as countries across the globe compete for shared water resources. – International Hydro-diplomacy: Building and Strengthening Regional Institutions for Water Conflict Prevention
India-China:
– Global Times: Observers had estimated that bilateral trade between China and India might surpass the milestone of $100 billion in 2021 despite a cold political and diplomatic relationship between the two nations. The latest trade data from China’s Customs revealed that the new record was reached in October as two-way trade totaled $102.29 billion in the first 10 months of the year, surging 47.8 percent year-on-year. – Time for New Delhi to reconsider its anti-China economic policy
India-China-Sri Lanka:
– Chulanee Attanayake, The Interpreter: On 30 September, Adani Group, India’s largest private port operator, signed what has been reported as a US$700 million agreement to build a new container terminal in Sri Lanka. The deal to jointly develop the Colombo West International Container Terminal (CWICT) with Sri Lanka’s largest listed company, John Keells Holdings and the Sri Lankan Ports Authority, will function under a “build-operate-transfer” arrangement for 35 years. Adani Ports will hold a 51 per cent stake in the terminal partnership, while John Keells would hold 34 per cent and the SLPA 15 per cent. – India’s answer to China’s ports in Sri Lanka
India-Five Eyes-Pakistan-USA:
– Patrick Tucker, Defense One: Adding India to the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing club would hurt U.S.-Pakistan relations as Islamabad tries to coordinate a regional response to a growing Afghanistan terror threat, a senior Pakistani official said Friday. “It’s a recipe for a new Cold War, a recipe for a new divide, and if you are going to have that, the lines will be drawn,” Sen. Mushahid Hussain Sayed, who leads the Senate Defence Committee, told reporters at a private event hosted by the Pakistani embassy. – Adding India to the Five Eyes Would Cause a New Cold War, Pakistani Official Says
Israel-Cyprus:
– Seth J. Frantzman, Defense News: The governments of Israel and Cyprus signed an agreement Thursday to develop a land surveillance system that would see Elbit Systems create the platform. The deal was signed by Yair Kulas, the head of the Israel Defense Ministry’s Directorate for International Defense Cooperation, known as SIBAT, and his Cypriot counterpart. – Israel’s Elbit to make land surveillance system for Cyprus
Russia-Ukraine:
– Volodymyr Havrylov, The Jamestown Foundation: Recent publications in the Western media about the Russian military buildup along the border with Ukraine (Kyiv Post, October 31) provoked a new round of discussions about whether Moscow intends to resolve the Ukrainian issue by force. This worry was based on satellite images of massed armored units and support equipment at Yelnya, in the Smolensk region of Russia (Kyiv Post, November 2), combined with social media reports of apparent movements of Russian military personnel and materiel in areas close to Ukraine. – The Russian Military Buildup Around Ukraine: Routine, Seasonal Maneuvers
Sudan:
– Amin Saikal, The Strategist: The Sudanese crisis is an epitome of the ongoing struggle between the forces of authoritarianism and those of pro-democracy change that has come to feature in many states of the Arab world for more than a decade now. In Sudan, where mass protests led to the outer of long-term dictator Omar al-Bashir in 2019, the generals have decided to backtrack on military–civilian transitional rule and the public stands determined to see a democratic transformation of their country. How this struggle is handled, and what the outcome is, carry serious implications for authoritarian and concealed authoritarian regimes in the Arab domain. – Could Sudan coup lead to another Arab Spring?
UAE:
– Agnes Helou, Defense News: The United Arab Emirates has created a new border security organization to improve coordination between its seven emirates and their array of capabilities, which the country hopes to bolster with locally made systems. A law passed Sept. 23 brought about the Dubai Council for Border Crossing Points Security, tasked with creating border security plans and policies, advising the government on these issues and ensuring the regulations match the law. The various government entities involved in border control include the General Authority of Ports, Borders and Free Zones Security as well as local, federal, regional and international groups, plus the seven emirates — Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Umm al-Qaiwain, Fujairah, Ajman and Ra’s al-Khaimah. – UAE pursues better border security collaboration, more domestic capabilities
Ukraine-Economy:
– Anna Alberini and Nithin Umapathi, Brookings: Fuel subsidies consumed a whopping $4.7 trillion worldwide in 2015 and are projected to remain large in the near future. Their adverse effects are well known—excessive consumption, adverse environmental consequences, higher inequality, and reduced fiscal capacity for critical expenditures such as health and education. What is less well known is how to address the burden of higher energy prices when these subsidies are eliminated. This issue has become particularly critical today when the world is facing a post-COVID-19 spike in energy costs that is worrying governments and populations alike. Affordable energy during winter is a critical issue for many countries—since the alternative leads to excessive mortality and poverty. That is why the experience of Ukraine which eliminated energy subsidies and replaced them with targeted social assistance is so pertinent to the rest of the world. – Government assistance when household energy bills are high: Lessons from Ukraine
USA-Afghanistan:
– Madiha Afzal, Brookings: To me, as to many, the most haunting images of the end of America’s 20-year war in Afghanistan are those of Afghans crowding an
airport runway the day after the fall of Kabul to the Taliban. Afghans running after a U.S. Air Force plane, hanging onto it as it took off, tragically falling to their deaths — those images reflect the desperation, the chaos, and the shock of that day, and foretold the scenes outside the gates of Kabul airport in the days that followed. – Biden was wrong on Afghanistan
USA-Automation-Pandemic:
– Kristen Broady, Brookings: On November 3, 2021, Brookings Metro Fellow Kristen Broady testified to the U.S. House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth, during a hearing titled Our Changing Economy: The Economic Effects of Technological Innovation, Automation and the Future of Work. – Race and Jobs at Risk of Being Automated in the Age of COVID-19
USA-Infrastructure-Broadband-5G:
– Adie Tomer, Caroline George, Joseph W. Kane, and Andrew Bourne, Brookings: Friday afternoons are typically the place to hide bad news, but that wasn’t this. Late Friday, November 5th, the House of Representatives passed the Senate version of the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The bill now goes directly to President Biden’s desk, where it will certainly become law. America finally has a generation-defining infrastructure bill—and if the reconciliation budget comes through, too, America will begin a building spree larger than what happened during the New Deal. – America has an infrastructure bill. What happens next?
– Alexandra Kelley, Nextgov: Congress passed the long-awaited infrastructure bill Friday evening with bipartisan support after lengthy negotiations surrounding the bill’s provisions. In addition to being a major political win for President Joe Biden, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act also contains fresh funding for expansive technological updates. Calling it a “once-in-a-generation bipartisan infrastructure bill,” Biden highlighted one of the critical portions of the infrastructure bill: expanding high speed internet access across the country. – Broadband Dominates Tech Funding In Biden Infrastructure Bill
USA-China:
– John R. Allen, Ryan Hass, and Bruce Jones, Brookings: The Brookings – China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations (CICIR) Dialogue began in 2019 against the backdrop of the 40th anniversary of the establishment of U.S.-China diplomatic relations. By that time, it already had become clear that the previous framework for managing bilateral relations was fraying, and that a form of strategic rivalry was the new baseline reality of the relationship. – Rising to the challenge: Navigating competition, avoiding crisis, and advancing US interests in relations with China
USA-Cities:
– Amy Liu and Alan Berube, Brookings: Over the past several years, it’s become increasingly convenient to label cities and metro areas as “blue” and prosperous and rural areas as “red” and distressed. This dichotomy pits urban and rural communities on opposite sides of America’s economic, political, and cultural divides. – Big cities aren’t dividing America. They hold the key to our collective future
USA-Cyber Security:
– Pierluigi Paganini, Security Affairs: The Department of State offers up to $10 million for information that can lead to the identification or location of individuals in key leadership positions in the REvil/Sodinokibi ransomware operation. The US government also offers $5 million for information that can lead to the arrest of affiliates. – US offers a reward of up to $10M for leaders of REvil ransomware gang
– Patience Wait, Nextgov: The former leader of U.S. Cyber Command and the National Security Agency shared his vision of a collaborative network of companies sharing cyber threat information in near-real time—a “radar picture,” he termed it—that could be anonymized and shared with the federal agencies tasked with protecting the United States. “We couldn’t see attacks on the country,” retired four-star general Keith Alexander told a Washington Post Live webcast about his time leading the combatant command. “We weren’t doing defense. We were doing response.” – Former CYBERCOM Leader Urges Collective Defense Against Cyber Threats
– Mariam Baksh, Nextgov: President Joe Biden is set to sign into law a $1.2 trillion bill aimed at improving the resilience of the nation’s infrastructure in the face of physical and cyber threats, including a massive investment to defend against malicious attacks. “The Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal is the largest investment in the resilience of physical and natural systems in American history,” reads a fact sheet the White House released Monday reacting to passage of the bill by the House of Representatives Friday evening. “The deal makes our communities safer and our infrastructure more resilient to the impacts of climate change and cyber-attacks, with an investment of over $50 billion to protect against droughts, heat, and floods – in addition to a major investment in the weatherization of American homes.” – White House Highlights Cybersecurity Benefit in Infrastructure Package
USA-Defense-Military:
– Patrick Tucker, Nextgov: The United States needs a better strategy and more advanced tools for information operations, Lt. Gen. Dennis Crall, the Joint Staff’s chief information officer, said Thursday. The government has become slower and less confident in its approach, a reticence it can’t afford as artificial intelligence drastically increases the pace of messaging and information campaigns, said Crall, who is also the Joit Staff’s director for command, control, communications, computers, and cyber. – Joint Chiefs’ Information Officer: U.S. Is Behind on Information Warfare. AI Can Help
– Stephen Losey, Defense News: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and Dynetics proved they can catch an X-61A Gremlin drone in flight and bring it aboard a C-130A mothership. But the next step will be more difficult. In a conference call with reporters Monday, Dynetics’ Gremlins program manager Tim Keeter said the program now must prove it can recover multiple drones repeatedly, reliably and quickly enough for real-world operations. – DARPA has caught a Gremlin drone in midair. Can it grab four in a half-hour?
– Joe Gould, Defense News: The Pentagon doesn’t want to innovate alone. Heidi Shyu, the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, said Monday that she has discussed the Pentagon’s research and development priorities with her counterparts in Australia, Japan, Latvia, Germany and the U.K. in an effort to establish monthly teleconferences with U.S. allies. – Pentagon tech chief seeks to bolster R&D work with allies
USA-Europe:
– Frank Nagle, Brookings: Technology and innovation have long been known to be key drivers of growth allowing companies and countries to better compete. The recent U.S. infrastructure bill aims to foster such growth by providing for investments in
digital infrastructure. However, these investments are nearly exclusively focused on better and more accessible broadband. Complementary to broadband, open technologies—those for which the underlying intellectual property, whether it is source code or hardware design, is publicly available—are playing an increasingly important role in the modern economy and companies’ and countries’ ability to innovate. In particular, open source software (OSS) and open source hardware (OSH) have become critical building blocks for both everyday products (cell phones, cars, household appliances, etc.) and cutting-edge emerging technologies (artificial intelligence, big data analytics, etc.). However, since most OSS and OSH is available for free and created through distributed efforts rather than by one particular company, it can be difficult to understand the full economic impact of these critical technologies. – Digital infrastructure is more than just broadband: What the US can learn from Europe’s open source technology policy study
USA-Fintech Companies-Racial Wealth Gap:
– Kristen Broady, Brookings: On November 2, 2021, Brookings Metro Fellow Kristen Broady testified to the U.S. House Financial Services Committee’s Task Force on Financial Technology, during a hearing titled Buy Now, Pay More Later? Investigating Risks and Benefits of BNPL and Other Emerging Fintech Cash Flow Products. – How Fintech Companies Can Mitigate the Racial Wealth Gap
USA-Robotics:
– Greg Nichols, ZDNet: Another campus, another rollout of roving delivery robots. You may not know it, but delivery robot vendors are making a play for campuses across the country in a bid to grab a market toe-hold in relatively structured environments free of much of the regulatory complications of municipalities. Starship Technologies has delivered 30 autonomous robots for food service to South Dakota State University in the latest example. The robots will deliver from three campus vendors — Grille Works, Papa Johns, and Starbucks — with additional locations added soon. – Delivery robots are taking over college campuses
USA-Russia:
– Pavel K. Baev, The Jamestown Foundation: Russia has not entirely avoided contravening international laws and norms since the Geneva summit in mid-June, but its behavior has been an improvement compared to many periods in recent memory. United States President Joseph Biden impressed upon President Vladimir Putin, over the course of their three hours of talks in the Swiss lake-side city, that he expected Russia’s policies to be “stable and predictable”; and these two descriptors have been evoked many times since, most recently in the context of a surprise visit to Moscow of Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William J. Burns last week (November 2–3) (Kommersant, November 3). In addition to a reported phone conversation with Putin, Burns—who is quite familiar with goings-on around Moscow, where he was an ambassador in 2005–2008—held face-to-face meetings with Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of the Russian Security Council and one of Putin’s oldest lieutenants, and Sergei Naryskin, the director of the Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) (Interfax, November 8; Izvestia, November 3). Official commentary on the results of these discussions has been scarce, but Washington generally has more reasons to be satisfied with the status of the uneasy relations than the Kremlin. – A Stability Check in US-Russian Relations
USA-Social Media-Politics:
– John Villasenor, Brookings: In early September, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed into law House Bill 20, a new social media law targeting what Gov. Abbott
called “a dangerous movement by social media companies to silence conservative viewpoints and ideas.” In late September, NetChoice and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA) sued Texas in federal court, arguing that HB 20 “violates the First Amendment of the Constitution.” – Texas’s new social media law is likely to face an uphill battle in federal court
USA-Tech Jobs:
– Owen Hughes, ZDNet: IT managers, system architects, cloud engineers and cybersecurity engineers took home the biggest salaries last year, according to the latest Tech Salary Report from jobs website Dice, with Texas and other emerging hubs taking big leaps forward. Overall, the salaries of US tech professionals grew 3.6% between 2019 and 2020, reaching an average of $97,859. This was despite many businesses tightening budgets in response to the financial pressures caused by the pandemic. – Tech jobs: These are the highest-paying roles, and here’s where to find them
Uzbekistan-Afghanistan:
– Fozil Mashrab, The Jamestown Foundation: Since the Taliban seized control of Afghanistan in mid-August, it has struggled to win friends. Achieving international recognition and acceptance still remains an uphill challenge, subject to its ability and, perhaps, willingness to meet the international community’s expectations. The ultra-conservative Islam the Taliban preaches and wants to reinstall in Afghanistan could possibly find acceptance among some Middle Eastern monarchies or even (on some level) by the Shiite theocracy next door, in Iran. However, few would have expected that the strongly secularist government of Uzbekistan, which has been suppressing radical Islamism at home for many years, would emerge as one of the Taliban’s most vocal advocates. Now, Tashkent is calling on Western countries to unfreeze billions of dollars of international aid assigned to the previous government of Afghanistan (Vzglyad, September 17). – Economic Interests at Core of Uzbekistan’s Pragmatic Approach Toward Taliban
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