SATELLITI, INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE, SVILUPPO SOSTENIBILE

FOCUS

• June 23, 2022. By Marshall Burke, Anne Driscoll, David Lobell, and Stefano Ermon, Brookings. Data drives development policy. To determine aid packages and projects, policymakers need good data on everything from population to urban sprawl to economic livelihoods. Yet policymakers creating development policies, whether in response to disasters or with an eye toward the long-term, face a core problem: measuring sustainable development variables. How satellites and AI can fix development data problems

AROUND THE WORLD

China

• June 24, 2022. By World Nuclear News. Unit 6 of the Hongyanhe nuclear power plant in China’s Liaoning province has entered commercial operation, China General Nuclear (CGN) has announced. The unit is the second of two ACPR-1000 reactors built as Phase II of the plant. Sixth Hongyanhe unit enters commercial operation : New Nuclear

Greece

• June 24, 2022. By Eva Cossé, HRW. Human rights defenders in Greece, particularly those working on migration, operate in an environment of pervasive fear and insecurity, according to United Nations special rapporteur on human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor. A Suffocating Environment for Greek Civil Society

Iraq

• June 22, 2022. By Andrew L. Peek, Atlantic Council. The June 12 decision by Iraqi Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr to renounce his electoral victory and collapse the government formation process is a gift to Iran. It is a blow to average Iraqis—who demonstrated in 2019 for the end of the sectarian political system and were killed for it—and a blow to the United States, which had a chance to help expunge much of the malign Iranian influence that has seeped into Iraq since the 2003 US invasion. The immutable Muqtada al-Sadr loses a battle against Iran

Japan – Russia

• June 24, 2022. By Tomohiko Satake, East Asia Forum. Since Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, Japan has actively supported the resistance through the provision of non-lethal defence equipment, emergency humanitarian and financial assistance and the acceptance of evacuees. How Japan’s Russia policy changed after Ukraine

Moldova – Europe – Transnistria

• June 23, 2022. By Paul Globe, The Jamestown Foundation. Today or tomorrow (June 23, 24), Moldova is expected to formally be awarded the status of candidate for membership in the European Union. This outcome will not only emphasize the East European country’s increasing turn away from the Russian Federation and toward the West but will also increase long-standing tensions over the future of Transnistria, the Moscow-backed breakaway republic in the northeast of Moldova (RIA Novosti, June 22). Moldova’s EU Candidate Status Exacerbates Transnistria Tensions

Poland

• June 23, 2022. By Karolina Kozik, HRW. “My child’s nightmare lasted around a year and a half. She was beaten and locked in a caged bed, sometimes for the entire day or even two days.”. This is how a mother described the ordeal her daughter Kasia (pseudonym) went through in a residential institution for girls and women with intellectual disabilities in Jordanów, a small town in southern Poland. Having entered two months before her 18th birthday, when Kasia was removed from the institution almost two years later, her family said she was barely able to speak or walk, a side effect of medication she was given. Horror Behind Closed Doors of Polish Residential Institution

Quadrilateral Security Dialogue

• June 23, 2022. By Kuyoun Chung, East Asia Forum. The Quadrilateral Security Dialogue met in Tokyo late last month to affirm the continued cooperation between the United States, Australia, Japan and India to promote regional stability in the Indo–Pacific. But the leaders left the meeting offering a divided response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, raising questions about the Quad’s ability realistically to serve as a democratic deterrence against unilateral change to the status quo by force. Will the Quad deliver on its promises?

Russia – NATO

• June 23, 2022. By Daniel S. Hamilton and Adrianna Pita, Brookings. Russia has threatened consequences for Lithuania after the NATO member state blocked transit of EU-sanctioned goods through its territory to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad. Ahead of the NATO summit in Madrid, Dan Hamilton explains the new front in tensions between NATO and Russia and the potential for Russian escalation. Why is Kaliningrad at the center of a new Russia-NATO faceoff?

Russia – Ukraine

• June 23, 2022. By Yuri Lapaiev, The Jamestown Foundation. On June 15, several Ukrainian media outlets reported that another top Russian military officer was killed in battle (InformNapalm, June 15). This time, it was Colonel Sergei Postnov, who headed the information response group within the 1^st Bureau of the National Guard’s (Rosgvardia) Media Relations Department. Since the beginning of the Russian aggression against Ukraine back in 2014, information warfare has played a key role in the Kremlin’s efforts. And Postnov’s high officer rank further underscores this fact today. Russian Information Warfare Activities in the Temporarily Occupied Territories of Ukraine
• June 23, 2022. By Karolina Hird, Kateryna Stepanenko, Mason Clark, and Grace Mappes, ISW. Ongoing Belarusian mobilization exercises will continue in Gomel Oblast until July 1 but are unlikely to be in preparation for direct Belarusian involvement in the war in Ukraine.The Belarusian Ministry of Defense announced on June 22 that the Belarusian Armed Forces will conduct a mobilization exercise with the military commissariats of Gomel Oblast to test the readiness of the military reserve from June 22 to July 1.[1] The Ukrainian State Border Guard Service warned on June 23 that Belarusian forces may conduct provocations along the border with Ukraine over the backdrop of these exercises, and Belarusian-Russian military cooperation has seemingly intensified.[2] Belarusian Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin met with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu in Moscow on June 23 to discuss ongoing bilateral military agreements.[3] Belarusian social media users additionally reported that Russian planes transported at least 16 S-400 missiles and one Pantsir system to the Gomel airport on June 21 and 22. Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, June 23

Saudi Arabia

• June 23, 2022. By Jon B. Alterman, CSIS. When I first went to Saudi Arabia more than 20 years ago, everything was black and white—literally. Saudi women were rarely seen without a billowing black abaya. Saudi men all seemed to wear identical white thobes, until you noticed how collars, cuffs, and pockets offered endless options for personalization. Rethinking Saudi Arabia

Turkey

• June 22, 2022. By Yevgeniya Gaber, Atlantic Council. Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression in Ukraine has forced countries around the world to reexamine their geopolitical choices. Turkey, a strategic partner to both of the states at war, has been affected more than most nations. Caught in a lose-lose situation where taking any side in the conflict would lead to a major rupture with the other partner, it has tried to maintain amicable relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Turkey’s wartime bridge to the West is collapsing

UK 

• June 23, 2022. By Alex Firth, HRW. Children sleeping in cold beds, family budgets hammered by spiraling energy costs—this is the reality for many people in the UK. A lot of housing in this country is old and draughty. In fact, the UK’s homes lose heat up to three times faster than the more energy-efficient homes across Europe. The lack of proper insulation in our housing has implications for people’s human rights now – and, with our gas boilers burning fossil fuels and contributing to the climate crisis, in the future too.  Children Need The Great Homes Upgrade

USA

• June 23, 2022. By Margaret Wurth, HRW. As people in the United States prepare for the Supreme Court’s likely overturning of Roe v. Wade, lawmakers in many US states are moving to safeguard abortion access. Removing barriers young people face in accessing abortion care should be a top priority. US States Should Protect Youth Abortion Access
• June 23, 2022. By William A. Galston, Brookings. Many Americans are following the January 6 committee’s hearings, but few minds are being changed, according to national surveys conducted since the hearings began. Here are five major takeaways from these surveys. What are Americans thinking about the January 6 hearings

USA – China

• June 23, 2022. By Doug Fuller, East Asia Forum. More than a year into the Biden administration, many are disappointed by its China tech policy. The China hawks are disappointed by the lack of any movement towards decoupling, while globalists are disappointed by the lack of reversal of many of Trump’s trade and investment policies. Within the administration itself, there are representatives from each policy camp. Biden’s United Front targets China’s fight for silicon supremacy
• June 23, 2022. By Bonny Lin, CSIS. In this episode of the ChinaPower Podcast, Dr. Aaron Friedberg joins us to discuss the current state and shortcomings of U.S. engagement with China.  Evaluating U.S. Engagement with China: A Conversation with Dr. Aaron Friedberg

USA – Iran

• June 23, 2022. By Daniel R. DePetris, Defense One. More than a year after the United States and Iran agreed to resume nuclear negotiations, diplomacy between these two historical adversaries is on borrowed time. U.S. and Iranian negotiators haven’t held serious negotiating sessions since March. Patience is wearing thin on both sides, and accusations about who is responsible for the months-long impasse are getting more pointed. In Iran Nuclear Talks, the US Has No Good Plan ‘B’

DEFENSE, MILITARY, SECURITY, CYBER

• June 24, 2022. By Xavier Vavasseur, Naval News. The U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) yesterday announced it will provide Ukraine with 18 patrol boats. Those are part of the latest package of “security assistance valued at up to $450 million to meet critical needs for Ukraine’s fight”. Ukraine to Receive 18 Patrol Boats from the United States
• June 24, 2022. By Tayfun Ozberk, Naval News. The Pakistan Navy formally commissioned its second Type 054 A/P frigate, PNS Taimur (266). The ceremony took place at the Hudong-Zhonghua shipyard in Shanghai, China, on June 23, 2022. Pakistan Navy commissions 2nd Type 054 A/P Frigate ‘PNS Taimur’
• June 24, 2022. By Xavier Vavasseur, Naval News. According to a letter from the Dutch Minister of Defence to Parliament, the Royal Netherlands Navy’s joint support ship (LPD), HNLMS Karel Doorman (A-833), will be upgraded with a 76mm gun and a RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) in order to improve its self protection. Dutch LPD Karel Doorman to receive 76mm gun and RAM upgrade
• June 24, 2022. By Andrew Eversden, Breaking Defense. House lawmakers want clarity about who is in charge of the Army’s broad modernization effort after a directive from the service, which appeared to suggest a realignment of the acquisition enterprise, caused confusion on Capitol Hill. House lawmakers ask Army: Who’s in charge of massive modernization program?
• June 23, 2022. By Tara Copp, Defense One. The U.S. is sending more rocket artillery, thousands of howitzer rounds, and patrol boats to help Ukraine defend key cities in the Donbas, the White House announced Thursday. The $450 million security assistance package includes four High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems, or HIMARS—truck-mounted weapons that can hit targets out to 40 miles.  US Sending More HIMARS Artillery to Ukraine
• June 23, 2022. By Morgan Bazilian, Emily Holland, Defense One. President Joe Biden took office in 2020 with climate action as a top priority, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and other events have thrown his energy policy into chaos. Yet this crisis also an opportunity: Biden can, and should, reframe the clean-energy transition as an urgent national security priority. The Energy Crisis Is a National-Security Opportunity
• June 23, 2022. By Sebastian Sprenger, Defense News. Spain is set to receive 20 Eurofighter jets to replace a batch of F-18s the country’s air force operates from the Canary Islands, according to Airbus Defence and Space, the largest company of the industry consortium making the aircraft. Spain finalizes $2.1 billion deal for 20 Eurofighters to replace old F-18s
• June 23, 2022. By Megan Eckstein, Defense News. House lawmakers are trying a new approach to recapitalizing the nation’s strategic sealift fleet, after recent efforts to push the Defense Department and the Transportation Department to invest haven’t yielded much progress.  House defense bill calls for US-built ships to modernize strategic sealift fleet
• June 23, 2022. By Jen Judson, Defense News. The U.S. Army has no clear plan for modernizing its AH-64E Apache attack helicopter, leaving the House Armed Services Committee concerned, according to the chairman’s mark of the fiscal 2023 defense authorization bill, released this week. US Army lacks plan to modernize Apache helicopter, lawmakers say
• June 23, 2022. By  Colin Demarest, Defense News. The U.S. Air Force must strike the right balance of old and new, saving and spending, to successfully build out its Advanced Battle Management System, according to the service’s chief of staff, Gen. CQ Brown. US Air Force seeks tech sweet spot for Advanced Battle Management System
• June 23, 2022. By Lolita C. Baldor, The Associated Press and Matthew Lee, The Associated Press, Defense News. The U.S. will send another $450 million in military aid to Ukraine, including some additional medium-range rocket systems, U.S. officials said Thursday. US to send Ukraine rocket systems, other aid in new package

DIGITAL, TECH

• June 23, 2022. By Shania Kennedy, Health IT Analytics. A study published in Scientific Data earlier this month showcases how researchers developed a dataset of simulated medical conversations focused on respiratory conditions to support the development and training of medical artificial intelligence (AI) models in the future. Researchers Develop Simulated Medical Interviews to Train AI Models
• June 23, 2022. By Ayaz Museyibov, The Jamestown Foundation. After implementing a number of trans-Eurasian energy and logistics mega-projects, such as the Baku–Tbilisi–Ceyhan oil pipeline, Southern Gas Corridor and Trans-Caspian International Transportation Route, Azerbaijan has also strategically committed itself to policies designed to turn the South Caucasus country into a regional digital hub (see EDM, May 26, 2020). This initiative has already secured buy in from several countries and major companies in the IT space. Notably, this past April, Italy’s largest internet service provider and one of the world’s leading operators, Sparkle, and Azerbaijan’s top wholesale telecommunications operator, AzerTelecom, signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation within the framework of the Digital Silk Way project (not to be confused with China’s Digital Silk Road), aimed at creating a digital telecommunications corridor connecting Europe and Asia via Azerbaijan (Azertelecom.az, April 21). Previously, the main telecommunications operators of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan signed two memorandums of understanding regarding cooperation on the Trans-Caspian Fiber-Optic Cable Line project (Azertelecom.az, October 12, 2021). Azerbaijan’s Latest Steps Toward Becoming a Regional Digital Hub

• June 23, 2022. By Lauren Burke, Catherine Nzuki, Erol Yayboke, Anastasia Strouboulis, CSIS. As of mid-June, more than 7.3 million people had left Ukraine since Russia invaded in February. An additional 7.1 million people were internally displaced, representing one-third of the prewar Ukrainian population. Though almost 2.4 million people have crossed back into Ukraine, the speed and scale of forced displacement have been unprecedented compared to recent crises, putting tremendous strain on available services. This has prompted EU member states, the United Nations, aid organizations, private companies, civilian volunteers, and many other groups to expand operations and innovate service delivery. Ukrainian Refugees: Forced Displacement Response Goes Fully Digital
• June 23, 2022. By Mike H. M. Teodorescu, Nailya Ordabayeva, Marios Kokkodis, Abhishek Unnam, and Varun Aggarwal, Brookings. Firms routinely utilize natural language processing combined with other machine learning (ML) tools to assess prospective employees through automated resume classification based on pre-codified skill databases. The rush to automation can however backfire by encoding unintentional bias against groups of candidates. We run two experiments with human evaluators from two different countries to determine how cultural differences may affect hiring decisions. We use hiring materials provided by an international skill testing firm which runs hiring assessments for Fortune 500 companies. Determining systematic differences in human graders for machine learning-based automated hiring
• June 23, 2022. By Dan Peleschuk, Atlantic Council. Although it “rarely makes a blast,” disinformation is “potentially even more dangerous” than conventional weaponry, according to Věra Jourová, vice-president of the European Commission for values and transparency. EU vice-president takes on disinformation: ‘We need to end the digital Wild West’
• June 22, 2022. By Lurong Chen, East Asia Forum. Digitalisation — the use of digital technologies and digital-enabled solutions in socio-economic activities — has triggered global changes that are wider and less predictable than ever before. With digitalisation, the world economy is set to become better connected, smarter and more efficient. Accelerating digital transformation is key to unleashing Asia’s potential in global competitiveness and long-term development and is a core component of the region’s policy package for post-pandemic recovery. Accelerating digital transformation in Asia
• June 21, 2022. By Shania Kennedy, Health IT Analytics. A study published in Scientific Reports earlier this month found that artificial intelligence (AI)-based software approved for use in interpreting adult chest radiographs achieved high performance on pediatric patient images that did not include cardiomegaly or patients under 2 years of age. AI Approved for Adults May Aid Interpretation of Pediatric Chest Images (healthitanalytics.com)

HORIZONS

• June 24, 2022. By World Nuclear News. The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) large industrialised nations should incentivise the extension of the operating life of existing nuclear reactors and support the restart of others to help achieve the goal of achieving a low-carbon and secure energy supply, the nuclear industry has said. G7 urged to back nuclear extensions to tackle climate, security issues : Nuclear Policies
• June 23, 2022. By Erin Smith, Carol Graham, Eric Lenze, William Hynes, and Harris A. Eyre, Brookings. Brain Capital conceptualizes brain health (e.g., the lack of mental illness and neurodegenerative disease) and brain skills (e.g., education) as essential to the knowledge economy. This concept is based on the assumption that our brains are our greatest asset and provides a framework to define brain issues, quantify them, and track them. Brain Capital can be driven into policies and investments. The economic and societal effects of COVID-19 on our brains
• June 23, 2022. By Wolfgang Fengler, Brookings. In 2010, I asked the following question in one of my blogs: “Can rapid population growth be good for economic development?” It quickly became the most read blog in World Bank history, as it was part of a broader controversy. At the time, most people still believed the world had an “overpopulation problem” and adhered to some version of the Malthus theorem or Paul Ehrlich’s “population bomb” theory. However, a handful of people, including Hans Rosling, Shanta Devarajan, and me, saw a very different story emerging from the data.  Are Africa’s children our last hope to save us from demographic decline?
• June 23, 2022. By Nassim Oulmane and Thomas Sberna, Brookings. The marine and coastal areas along the eastern shores of Africa contain rich, biodiverse, and under-threat flora and fauna unique for their biodiversity. The region hosts pristine coral reefs, carbon-rich mangrove forests, and sheltered seagrass beds, which support an abundance of marine life including important fish species, sharks and rays, turtles, sea birds, and marine mammals. Moreover, all along the coasts of the West Indian Ocean (WIO) region, coastal communities derive their socioeconomic livelihoods from the sea and its products. Artisanal and commercial fishing is critical for food security and the economy of the over 70 million people living along the coast, as the region’s fishing contributes to 4.8 percent of the global fish catch, equivalent to about 4.5 million tons of fish per year. Marine assets in the WIO are valued conservatively at $333 billion and provide at least $21 billion every year to the regional economy from marine and coastal tourism, carbon sequestration, and fisheries. The Great Blue Wall Initiative: At the nexus of climate change, nature conservation, and the blue economy
• June 23, 2022. By Rebecca Winthrop and David Sengeh, Brookings. Today, the topic of education system transformation is front of mind for many leaders. Ministers of education around the world are seeking to build back better as they emerge from COVID-19-school closures to a new normal of living with a pandemic. The U.N. secretary general is convening the Transforming Education Summit (TES) at this year’s general assembly meeting (United Nations, n.d.). Students around the world continue to demand transformation on climate and not finding voice to do this through their schools are regularly leaving class to test out their civic action skills. Transforming education systems: Why, what, and how