Diario geostrategico, 16/17 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 COP26 pledge on deforestation and degradation from over 100 leaders representing more than 85% of the world’s forests is clearly good news in the battle to redress the balance between the amount of carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere through human activity and the amount absorbed by Earth’s carbon sinks. Forests, are, of course an important carbon sink.- ESA’s Biomass on track to target forests
Australia:
– Andrew Rosser, The Interpreter: Over the past two decades, an array of organisations and individuals – including PwC, the Asia Society, the Business Council of Australia, academics and public intellectuals – have called on the Australian government to adopt a diaspora policy to help promote Australia’s economic and social development. – A good idea gone nowhere? Diaspora policy in Australia
Australia-China:
– Anna Boucher, Elisa Choy, The : Of all the negative social effects of Covid-19, one that has been particularly concerning for Australia has been the decline in student migration, including from China, the major source country that provides 30 per cent of overall international migration stock. Numbers of international students present in Australia fell from 620,000 in March 2020 to 423,000 in March 2021, although the relative decline in Chinese migration has not been as strong, and numbers by August had risen to 552,491. – Cautiously optimistic: Chinese students keen to get back to Australia
AUKUS-France:
– Ramesh Thakur, The Strategist: Prime Minister Scott Morrison is embroiled in a tussle with both French President Emmanuel Macron and US President Joe Biden which, given the power asymmetries, risks leaving Australia exposed and vulnerable in a major-power league above its paygrade. Across Africa and Asia, variants can be found of the folklore that the grass is trampled both when elephants fight and when they mate. In the Melian Dialogue of the History of the Peloponnesian War by Thucydides, Melos is sternly admonished by Athens that questions of right and justice apply only to relations among equals in power. For others, ‘the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must’. – AUKUS partners must play catch-up to repair relations with France
Belarus:
– Alesia Rudnik, Atlantic Council: Thousands of migrants from across the Middle East and beyond currently find themselves stranded on the Belarusian-Polish border. They are being cynically used as weapons in Belarus dictator Alyaksandr Lukashenka’s hybrid war against the EU, and their worsening plight represents a potential humanitarian cisis. In response to the migrant build-up in Belarus, Poland has deployed around 17,000 soldiers to the border zone, where they are facing off against a growing Belarusian military presence. Warsaw has also announced plans to build a border wall and is considering closing the border with Belarus entirely. – Belarus dictator turns hybrid war into humanitarian crisis
– Grigory Ioffe, The Jamestown Foundation: The political crisis in Belarus is far from over. Its internationalization along the lines of a geopolitical tug-of-war between Russia and the West began well before the current showdown over Middle Eastern migrants. Stuck at the Polish border (see EDM, November 11), the masses of people apparently being compelled westward by the Belarusian authorities have placed Belarus at the center of global attention, just like the harsh government crackdown on post-election protests did in August–September 2020. It is, however, safe to say that the “balance sheet” of this tug-of-war does not tilt in the West’s favor, at least at the present time. – The Internationalization of the Belarusian Political Crisis Not Working Out in the West’s Favor
Climate Action:
– Mark Muro, David G. Victor, Colleen Dougherty, Adie Tomer, and Joseph W. Kane, Brookings: As U.S. metropolitan leaders return to domestic realities after
COP26, the United Nations climate summit, they face a glaring contradiction. – COP26 shows cities can lead on climate, but must strengthen their data and action plans
Digital Transformation-Emerging and Disruptive Technology:
– Erin McNemar, Health IT Analytics: Using data from the National Institute of Mental Health, UT Southwestern Medical Center researchers created a predictive model to determine how a patient will respond to antidepressants. According to researchers, these findings could provide a strong precision medicine approach in identifying the correct medication for individuals. – Predictive Model Determines Antidepressant Medication Response
– Oliver Peckham, HPC Wire: Nonbiodegradable “forever chemicals” like perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances (collectively, PFASs) were invented in the 1930s as a way to advance nonstick and waterproof materials. Unfortunately, as the chemicals began to accumulate in living bodies over time, researchers started to uncover links between PFASs and a range of diseases, including kidney and testicular cancer. Recently, researchers from the University of California Riverside (UCR) applied supercomputing power at the San Diego Supercomputer Center to investigate methods of removing these dangerous chemicals from drinking waters – one of their primary methods of ingress to the human body. – ‘Forever’ Chemicals? Maybe Not, Thanks to Supercomputing
Eastern Europe:
– Daniel Fried, Just Security: It would indeed be good for Russia’s relations with the United States (and Europe) to be more stable and predictable, as the Biden administration has characterized its short-term objective with the Kremlin. But that’s not where things are. This has become clear with the Belarusian manipulation of migrants at the Polish border and with the Russian military build-up on the border with Ukraine. – Escalating Risks on Europe’s Eastern Frontier: Belarus-Poland, Russia-Ukraine, and How the US Can Work With Its Allies
Europe:
– Robin Emmott, Reuters: The European Union is considering a joint military force of up to 5,000 troops by 2025 to intervene in a range of crises and without relying on the United States, according to a draft plan. – EU to aim for rapid deployment force without U.S. help by 2025, document says
– Christophe Carugati, Center for Data Innovation: Some European policymakers want to ban personalized online advertising as part of the proposed Digital Services Act (DSA) package. Although the DSA would impose additional transparency rules for online advertising, they argue that these do not go far enough, and instead demand an outright ban of personalized online advertising. – European Policymakers Should Not Ban Personalized Advertising
Georgia:
– Beka Chedia, The Jamestown Foundation: On November 13, one of the top leaders of the ruling Georgian Dream party, former parliamentary chairperson Irakli Kobakhidze, issued a statement, in which he referred to Polish member of the European Parliament (MEP) Anna Fotyga as a “patron of criminals” (Facebook.com, November 13). Fotyga, who briefly served as minister of foreign affairs of Poland in 2006–2007, traveled to Georgia on November 12 to meet with incarcerated former Georgian president Mikheil Saakashvili. The latter has been on a hunger strike since his arrest and imprisonment, on October 1, upon return to the country from exile (see EDM, October 4, 27). The Georgian authorities did not grant the MEP permission to see the former president behind bars, because Fotyga, in a letter dated November 9, requesting the visit, identified Saakashvili as a “political prisoner.” In an official response to Fotyga’s petition, Georgian Minister of Justice Rati Bregadze wrote, “Your letter mentions your past visits to ‘political prisoners.’ We would be grateful if you could explain what you mean by this term” (Interpressnews, November 13). – In Face of Western Criticism, Georgian Authorities Adopt Trappings of ‘Sovereign Democracy’ Rhetoric
Global Chip Shortages:
– Julia Hess, Jan-Peter Kleinhans, Stiftung Neue Verantwortung: The global chip shortages and the resulting severe spillover damages in many sectors put the spotlight on questions of the health of the semiconductor supply chain. The struggle to cope with skyrocketing demand, natural disasters and lock-downs – all happening concurrently – reveals the supply chains fragility. Governments ask themselves what their role should and could be to strengthen the resilience of this vital supply chain, beyond mulling substantial subsidies to strengthen their domestic chip manufacturing. From talks within the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC), to US and South Korea exploring the idea of a joint supply chain task force and the US Bureau of Industry and Security asking chip companies a host of questions about their supply chains. These and many more strategies and initiatives are well-intentioned and understandable first steps to better understand to what extend governments can help in strengthening the resilience of this critical value chain. But to identify the root causes of these shortages, policy makers need to understand the dynamics within semiconductor manufacturing. – Understanding the global chip shortages
Global Taxation:
– José Antonio Ocampo, Project-Syndicate: The last two years have thrown into sharp relief the structural injustices that underpin the global economy. As the COVID-19 pandemic drove an estimated 88-115 million people into extreme poverty, the world’s billionaires saw their wealth increase by more than 25%. And while countries in the Global North are now administering vaccine boosters, those in the Global South continue to struggle to secure even first doses for their populations. – Rich Countries’ Double Standards on Taxation
Iran-Turkey:
– Maziar Motamedi, Al Jazeera: Iran and Turkey will continue high-level diplomatic talks to draft a “long-term cooperation road map” to boost ties, Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian has announced. “We hope to finalise the road map in a future visit to Tehran by Mr [Recep Tayyip] Erdogan, the eminent Turkish president,” Amirabdollahian said on Monday, standing next to Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu at a news conference in Tehran, without announcing a specific date for the visit. – Iran, Turkey hope to sign ‘cooperation road map’ in Erdogan visit
Iran-USA:
– Ian Dudgeon, The Strategist: Iran has agreed to recommence negotiations aimed at the US rejoining and fully restoring the Iran nuclear deal (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA) in Vienna on 29 November. But it hasn’t discounted the possibility that the talks may fail, that if the US rejoins effective sanctions relief may not apply in practice, and that a future US administration might dishonour or withdraw from the agreement and reimpose sanctions. – Iran and US hedge their bets on nuclear deal revival
Latin America-ICC:
– Naomi Roht-Arriaza, Just Security: The new chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) recently made his first official trip to Colombia and Venezuela. During the visit to Bogotá, he announced he was moving to reduce the number of cases in the preliminary stage by closing the long-running preliminary examination in Colombia. A few days later, in Caracas, he announced the opening of a formal investigation into crimes against humanity in Venezuela. Both decisions were controversial, featured innovative efforts to advance complementarity through agreements with the respective governments, and created a new panorama in the region going forward. – Closure for Colombia, New Scrutiny for Venezuela: ICC Investigations in Latin America
Russia-China-India:
– John C. K. Daly, The Jamestown Foundation: According to Dmitry Shugaev, the head of Russia’s Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC), Russia may export its most advanced S-500 Prometheus air-defense weaponry to China and India after its own Armed Forces receive their allocations of the systems. Shugaev said, “When the [Russian] Armed Forces contracts are fulfilled, it will then be possible to supply the system for export. We consider India, as well as China and all those states with whom we have long-standing partnerships and stable relationships, as future owners of this latest system” (Radio Sputnik, November 2). Such a development would shift Eurasia’s military balance of power away from the United States and Europe. If exported, the S-500s would not only defend the Russian Federation but cover most of Eurasia with a next-generation anti-aircraft missile-defense shield specifically designed to counter US and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) aerial capabilities, including fighters, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), hypersonics as well as low-Earth-orbit satellites. – Russia Considers Exporting S-500 Air-Defense Systems to China and India
Space & Hearth:
– ESA: After two weeks of negotiations, the summit – which was held in Glasgow in the UK – concluded with world governments working to agree on a renewed commitment to dial back planet-warming emissions. – ESA uses space to supercharge climate action
Timor-Leste:
Joao da Cruz Cardoso, The Interpreter: After two decades of independence, development in Timor-Leste is exemplified by growing economic activity in Dili, the country’s capital city. Businesses are emerging on various corners, new infrastructure and public buildings are being constructed, and much improved information and communication technology has opened doors for the service sector and private enterprises to grow. – Planning for progress in Timor-Leste
USA:
– Associated Press, VoA: Fighting sagging poll ratings, President Joe Biden set out Tuesday on a national tour to persuade everyday Americans of the benefits of his big, just-signed infrastructure plan. First stop: a snowy, rusty bridge in New Hampshire, a state that gave him no love in last year’s presidential primaries. Biden left the state in February 2020 before polls had even closed on his fifth-place primary finish. But he returned as president, eager to talk up the billions in investments in upgrading America’s roads, bridges and transit systems that he signed into law Monday. – Biden Touts Infrastructure Bill at Snowy, Rusty Bridge in NH
– Katherine Gypson, VoA: Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are renewing a push to pass legislation that would boost U.S. competition with China, amid rising concerns about the global supply chain. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Tuesday the long-stalled U.S. Innovation and Competition Act (USICA) would be added to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), the massive annual defense spending bill that needs to be passed by the end of the year. – US Congress Restarts Push for China Legislation by Year’s End
– Ryan Secard, IndustryWeek: In an afternoon ceremony on the south lawn of the White House, President Biden signed the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act into law. The act will allocate more than $1 trillion towards rebuilding U.S. infrastructure including roads, bridges, ports, and more. Biden signed the bill alongside Vice President Kamala Harris, senators from both parties and two union manufacturing workers. The law received praise from a number of manufacturing trade groups after it was signed. – Biden Signs Infrastructure Bill into Law
– ITIF: The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently lifted many guardrails that channeled its rulemaking authority for broad swaths of the U.S. economy. With an expected increase of rulemaking activity, regulation of competition may increasingly shift from ex-post antitrust enforcement to ex-ante regulatory obligations. Intended to intervene before any harm is caused, these obligations suggest a precautionary approach toward market innovations. How should regulators use the FTC rulemaking authority in today’s rapidly changing markets? ITIF hosted the eleventh in a series of discussions on “dynamic antitrust,” in which Aurelien Portuese, ITIF’s director of antitrust and innovation policy, sits down with leading scholars and antitrust enforcers in Washington, Brussels, and elsewhere to discuss the path forward in making antitrust a foundation for innovation. Watch the disucssion about the new FTC’s priorities with Professors Daniel Crane and Andrew Gavil. – Dynamic Antitrust Discussion Series: “FTC Rulemaking Authority: Toward Precautionary Regulations?”
– Eugene Daniels, Alex Thompson, Politico: President Joe Biden says he intends to run for reelection in 2024. But not all Democrats believe him. Nor are they convinced his No. 2 would be the clear heir if he did choose to opt out. As Vice President Kamala Harris grapples with a portfolio of seemingly intractable issues and responsibilities that have drawn her away from the national spotlight — she Zoomed into the infrastructure Cabinet meeting from Paris on Friday — other Democrats have raised their own national profiles. – Biden-successor chatter grows and Harris isn’t scaring off anyone
USA-Cambodia:
– Sok Khemara, VoA: The United States announced sanctions against two high-level Cambodian military officials last week, setting off a storm of invectives from Phnom Penh and ratcheting up tensions related to Chinese development around the strategically located Ream Naval Base. In statements about the decision, the U.S. specifically cited corruption related to the naval base, which has become a geopolitical flashpoint between the superpowers, as the U.S. worries it may become a Chinese military outpost on the Gulf of Thailand. – Phnom Penh Rebuffs US Sanctions of Cambodian Military Leaders
USA-China:
– Anita Powell, VoA: Officials in Washington and Beijing said Tuesday that the inaugural meeting between President Joe Biden and President Xi Jinping was “candid” and could pave the path for progress in their tense relationship on a range of issues of global importance. The two leaders, who have previously met in person when they were vice presidents, held their first, virtual, leader-level meeting late Monday, going beyond their planned schedule to spend more than three and a half hours discussing issues including human rights, economic competition and the status of Taiwan. – US, Chinese Officials Laud Progress in Inaugural Presidential Meeting
USA-Cuba:
– Monique Beals, The Hill: Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged Cuba to “reject violence, and instead, embrace this historic opportunity to listen to the voices of their people” ahead of planned protests against the Communist regime on Monday. – Blinken calls on Cuba to respect rights ahead of planned protests
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