IL RISCHIO NUCLEARE

FOCUS

July 18, 2022. Ramesh Thakur, The Strategist. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it’s fair to say, has already profoundly shaped the global discourse on nuclear weapons. In the deliberations at the inaugural meeting of the states parties of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Vienna last month, the Ukraine war cast a long shadow over the utility and limits of nuclear weapons as a deterrent and as a tool of coercive diplomacy, the wisdom of having given them up, the incentives to either acquire them or shelter under another country’s nuclear umbrella and, above all, the cataclysmic risks of an all-out nuclear war that no one wants but everyone dreads. How much damage have Putin’s threats done to the nuclear non-proliferation regime?

AROUND THE WORLD

Japan

• July 18, 2022. Donna Weeks, The Interpreter. From the breaking news notification in Japanese media around 11:30 in the morning on 8 July to vision a few days later of his hearse driving by the institutions of party and government in Tokyo’s political district Nagatacho that Abe Shinzo was shaped by and that he ultimately re-shaped during his tenure as Prime Minister, the sense of shock across the nation remained palpable. The shadow of Abe

• July 18, 2022. East Asia Forum. On 8 July 2022, former Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe was gunned down while giving a campaign speech in support of candidates for the 10 July upper house election. The killing of Japan’s longest serving prime minister shocked Japan and the world, and cast a sombre shadow over the election. Shinzo Abe’s legacy

• July 17, 2022.  Fuma Aoki and Yves Tiberghien, East Asia Forum. Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s initial easing of COVID-19 restrictions was dramatically reversed following the arrival of Omicron in late November 2021. He most notably shut down the Japanese border — bucking the trend of reopening in East Asia and causing consternation abroad. Is Japan ready to reopen its borders?

• July 17, 2022. Yusaku Yoshikawa, East Asia Forum. On 10 June 2022, Japan finally started allowing international tourists into the country for the first time in two years after the COVID-19 pandemic began. Seeking to balance its reopening and preventing the spread of infection, the Japanese government requires all tourists to wear face masks, and to be privately insured and chaperoned. The prospects of Japan’s post-pandemic tourism

Japan – India

• July 16, 2022. Shashank Mattoo, ORF. As the votes came in, they confirmed what many had known. The LDP had triumphed in Japan’s Upper House elections and had paved the way to the great white whale of national politics: A revision of Japan’s pacifist post-war constitution. However, celebrations, if any, were muted. The death of former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cast a heavy pall over the proceedings. Even as the slain leader’s body made its way back to Tokyo, observers at home and abroad began to speculate about the implications of Abe’s assassination for Japan and the world. After Abe: Implications for India

• July 16, 2022.  Rajeswari (Raji) Pillai Rajagopalan, ORF. Abe’s role and legacy in transforming Japan’s role in global affairs, as well as in enhancing India-Japan ties, cannot be emphasized enough. Abe Shinzo’s Indo-Pacific Legacy

Pacific

• July 18, 2022. Graeme Dobell, The Strategist. Last week’s meeting of Pacific Islands Forum leaders celebrated the region while confronting deeply familiar regional pressures. Geopolitics looms larger than ever at Pacific Islands Forum summit

USA

• July 18, 2022. Minxin Pei, Project-Syndicate, The Strategist. US President Joe Biden has framed America’s confrontation with China and Russia as an open-ended contest between democracy and autocracy. If that’s true, an American victory will depend not only on the country’s ability to outcompete its adversaries, but also on its success at safeguarding democracy at home. Can America’s ailing democracy continue to hold global sway?

USA – Red Sea

• July 16, 2022. Sankalp Gurjar, Vivek Mishra, ORF. Two recent developments underscore the resurgent geopolitics of the Red Sea which is caught between great power politics and regional rivalries.  The United States (US) decision to establish a new multinational task force to focus on preventing the smuggling of arms and narcotics in and around the waters of Yemen; and the Iranian decision to bolster its presence in the Red Sea region point to opposite trends that may intensify the geopolitics of the Red Sea. The US and changing geopolitics of the Red Sea

USA – Taiwan

• July 15, 2022. Harshit Sharma, VIF. The American policy of Strategic Ambiguity towards the “Taiwan Question” profoundly impacts stability in the Taiwan Strait. The United States of America has been following this policy to foster the maintenance of the status quo between the two countries across the Strait for a long time now. Strategic ambiguity discourages the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China (Taiwan) from taking unilateral military actions and effectively helps in maintaining the status quo. However, since the dynamics of the China-Taiwan-U.S. triangle have started changing enormously, the author opines that the long-standing American policy of strategic ambiguity can no longer be deployed by the United States to foster the status quo between the two countries across the Strait and maintain peace in the region, but a renewed policy of strategic clarity can. A Case for the USA to Embrace Strategic Clarity in the Taiwan Strait

Yemen

• July 18, 2022. HRW.  Governments should immediately support a salvage operation to prevent a supertanker moored off Yemen’s coast from spilling hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil into the Red Sea, 19 human rights and humanitarian groups said in a joint statement released today.   Yemen: Act to Avert Humanitarian Catastrophe

TOPICS

Cybersecurity

• July 18, 2022. Jagmeet Singh, TechCrunch. Cleartrip, one of the popular travel-booking platforms in India, has confirmed a data breach after hackers claimed to post the stolen data on the dark web. Flipkart’s Cleartrip confirms data breach after hackers put data for sale

• July 18, 2022. Phil Muncaster, Info Security. The Tor Project has updated its flagship anonymizing browser to make it easier for users to evade government attempts to block its use in various regions. Tor Browser Adds Automatic Censorship Circumvention

• July 18, 2022. Fabien Rech, Info Security. As cyber-criminals constantly adapt their attack methods, SecOps teams are under increased pressure to keep businesses secure against emerging threats. The pressure of dealing with the constant onslaught of attacks is exacerbated when working with siloed technologies in teams that are often stretched too thin. #HowTo: Overcome Burnout in Cybersecurity Teams

• July 18, 2022. Phil Muncaster, Info Security. The UK’s financial regulator has issued a multimillion-pound fine to a London-headquartered stock broker after the latter failed to crack down on fraudulent trading and money laundering. Broker Fined £2m for Financial Crime Control Failings

• July 18, 2022. Phil Muncaster, Info Security. Most global organizations aren’t fully confident in the effectiveness of their security controls in the public cloud, despite storing sensitive data there, according to a new Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) study. Public Cloud Customers Admit Security Challenges

Defense, Military, Security, Space

• July 18, 2022. Lauren C. Williams, Nextgov. The House passed its version of the annual national defense authorization bill 329-101 late Thursday with several new tech amendments packed into the massive policy legislation.  A Look At Tech Amendments In The 2023 House NDAA

• July 18, 2022. Naval News. Dragonfire, the UK’s Laser Directed Energy Programme (LDEW) led by MBDA, has successfully begun a series of trials to prove the accuracy and power of the novel laser weapon. UK’s Dragonfire Laser Directed Energy Weapon Started Trials

• July 18, 2022. H I Sutton, Naval News. The future of aircraft carriers is assured. Tomorrow’s oceans will be more complex and contested, with new threats emerging. Yet the carrier will continue to provide unrivaled conventional superiority to the few navies which can operate them. Only the United States, China and France are building the largest and most capable category of carriers, the Super Carrier. U.S. Navy, China And France’s Future Aircraft Carriers Compared

• July 18, 2022. Xavier Vavasseur, Naval News. The German Navy (Deutsche Marine) commissioned its fourth and final F125 Baden-Württemberg-class Frigate on Wednesday, July 13, 2022. The “Rheinland-Pfalz” joined the German fleet during a ceremony at Naval Base Heppenser Groden in Wilhelmshaven. German Navy Commissioned Its Fourth and Final F125-class Frigate

• July 17, 2022. Jeff Foust, Space News. Firefly Aerospace is preparing for the second launch of its Alpha rocket in late August or early September, hoping that a successful mission can enable a “step change” in activity for the company. Firefly gears up for second Alpha launch

• July 18, 2022. Jeff Foust, Space News. The United Arab Emirates will develop a radar satellite constellation as part of a new fund worth more than $800 million to support the country’s space sector. UAE announces plans for radar satellite constellation and space fund

• July 18, 2022. Breaking Defense. The UK’s wonderful airshows this summer are the next milestones on the countdown toward historic new strides in British and European aviation – an adventure playing out nowhere else in the world. UK Protector leads MQ-9B development in Europe

• July 18, 2022. Andrew White, Breaking Defense. BAE Systems has unveiled a new set of Air Domain Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) concepts, the first UAS designs BAE has put forward since the Taranis unmanned combat aerial vehicle demonstrator in 2013. BAE unveils two new unmanned designs with attack, ISR capabilities

• July 18, 2022.  Jen Judson, Defense News. The Pentagon’s plan to defend the U.S. homeland from cruise missiles is starting to take shape after a prolonged period of development because until recently, the threat was perceived as a more distant regional one, a senior Air Force official said. Pentagon plan for homeland cruise missile defense taking shape

• July 18, 2022.  Courtney Albon, Defense News. The chief of the Swedish Air Force said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and Sweden’s membership in that NATO alliance are driving the service to develop a new strategy for its next-generation fighter aircraft. Swedish Air Force crafting new fighter strategy amid Russian aggression, NATO ascension

• July 18, 2022. Megan Eckstein, Defense News. A Peruvian ship participating in the biennial Rim of the Pacific naval exercise in Hawaii suffered a fire in its engine room, and two sailors were flown ashore for medical treatment, an exercise spokesman said. Two sailors injured after engine room fire starts on Peruvian ship during Pacific exercise

• July 17, 2022. Courtney Albon, Defense News. As military demand for data processing and distribution grows, General Atomics wants to provide users a one-stop shop for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance collection, analytics and tasking. General Atomics to deliver integrated ISR analytics suite to Japan this fall

• July 17. 2022.  By Valerie Insinna, Breaking Defense. Over the past several years, Boeing’s defense business has racked up billions of dollars in cost overruns on fixed-price contracts like the KC-46 tanker and new Air Force One planes. But while the unit’s new chief executive declined to say for certain that company will be less aggressive in offering low-ball bids for future programs, he said it does plan to “take a different approach” in some cases based on lessons learned from past mistakes. New Boeing Defense CEO signals ‘different approach’ in future fixed-price contracts

• July 17, 2022. By  Stephen Losey, Defense News. The new head of Boeing’s defense unit said the company has learned lessons from contracts on programs such as the new Air Force One and will take different approaches to contracting in the future. Boeing applying lessons learned from Air Force One contract, defense CEO says

• July 17, 2022. By Stephen Losey, Defense News. The Air Force is encouraged by successful back-to-back tests of a key hypersonic weapons program, but hasn’t yet decided how to proceed once it moves beyond the middle tier acquisition phase, its top acquisition official said July 16. US Air Force weighing future of key hypersonic program after two successful tests

• July 17, 2022. By Courtney Albon, Defense News. As the U.S. Space Force eyes a new mission to track ground targets from space, the Air Force needs to make sure the foundational battle management system infrastructure is in place, according to the Air Force’s top acquisition official. ‘Space is where we need to go’: US Air Force preparing networked infrastructure for new mission

• July 17, 2022. By  Stephen Losey, Defense News. The Air Force is trying to find ways to speed delivery of the E-7 Wedgetail, but the service’s top acquisition official said July 16 there may not be much that can be done. US Air Force says options limited for speeding deliveries of Wedgetail

• July 17, 2022. Stephen Losey, Defense News. Lockheed Martin is eyeing a mix of expendable drone wingmen and more advanced autonomous systems for the U.S. Air Force to team up with its manned fighters. Lockheed working on expendable, advanced drones to team up with Air Force fighters

• July 17, 2022. Ma Xiu, Peter W. Singer, Defense One. A future in which China is the world’s dominant scientific power fills the imagination of leaders in both East and West. In Beijing, China has entered its latest policy-planning period, the 14th Five-Year Plan. Building on strong performance in common science-and-technology indicators and advances in cutting-edge areas such as AI, quantum computing, and hypersonic flight, China is now striving to achieve two of the remaining milestones outlined in its 2016 Innovation-Driven Development Strategy: joining the front rank of innovative countries by 2035 and becoming a “global scientific great power” by 2050.  China’s Roadblocks to Becoming A Science Superpower
• July 17, 2022. Marcus Weisgerber, Defense One. Boeing is making investments to build new combat fighters, even though it hasn’t designed a front-line warplane in more than three decades, the company’s new defense boss said. Boeing’s Fighter Jet Business Is Not Dead Yet, New Defense Boss Says

• July 18, 2022. Sohini Bose, Anasua Basu Ray Chaudhury, Harsh V. Pant, ORF. The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is standing on the threshold of a new inning, as it marks its 25th year in 2022. The past months have been momentous for BIMSTEC, as it adopted a charter at the fifth Summit Meeting in March to outline a clearer purpose for the organisation. During the summit, BIMSTEC rationalised its 14 diverse sectors of cooperation into seven core areas of interest, including Security. As competition for resources like energy heightens, BIMSTEC must ramp up its efforts to ensure security in the hydrocarbon-rich Bay. It must also deal with the other threats to this maritime space, such as transnational crime and natural disasters that are growing in intensity because of climate change. This brief reimagines BIMSTEC’s agenda on regional security and its priorities in the immediate future. BIMSTEC on the Cusp: Regional Security in Focus

• July 16, 2022. Rahul Rawat, ORF. India’s defence budget for 2022-23 demands a close examination in the context of the country’s changing geopolitical environment and the modernisation of the Indian armed forces. India’s defence budget: The navy and its Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission

• July 18, 2022. Abhijnan Rej, The Interpreter. If there is a cumulative lesson from the past few years, it’s that the era of “polycrises” is firmly upon us. A polycrisis is defined as the net effect from the non-linear interaction of many systemic risks spanning several natural and human-designed systems. One is playing out right in front of our eyes, whereby the economic effects of Covid-19 have amplified – and in turn, have been amplified by – those flowing from Vladimir Putin’s naked aggression, seriously rattling global commodities markets. Coupled with the worsening effects of climate change, the two shocks, cutting across systems, could lead to a dramatic upsurge in global hunger, United Nations agencies warned last month. That, in turn, could potentially trigger serious social unrest across the world, analysts fear. The Quad needs a futures focus

Digital & Tech 

• July 18, 2022. Ingrid Lunden, TechCrunch. Facebook parent Meta’s been putting up a strong fight appealing the U.K. antitrust decision investigating and ultimately ordering Meta to sell Giphy, the GIF marketplace that it acquired back in May 2020 for around $315 million; and now it has gotten a small stay of execution: the U.K.’s Competition Appeal Tribunal has sent the case back to the antitrust regulator, the Competition Markets Authority, to be reassessed, after it found that the CMA didn’t provide full, un-redacted disclosure to Meta representatives of documents related to its decision. Meta’s Giphy deal lives to fight another day: Competition appeals tribunal blocks forced sale on disclosure grounds

• July 18, 2022. Brian Heater, TechCrunch. It’s been more than two decades since Moonfruit launched as the first SaaS website builder. It was a good run for a service launched at the height of the dot-com boom, finally winding down quietly late last year. Intrinsic CEO Wendy Tan White discusses robotics software and acquiring Vicarious

• July 18, 2022. Carly Page, TechCrunch. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) used mobile location data to track people’s movements on a much larger scale than previously known, according to new documents unearthed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). New documents reveal ‘huge’ scale of US government’s cell phone location data tracking

• July 18, 2022. Christine Hall, TechCrunch. SupplyPike, a supply chain SaaS company, took in $25 million in Series B funding to continue developing software so that consumer packaged goods companies and brands are compliant with retailer needs and able to more efficiently deliver products on time. SupplyPike’s supply chain software helps CPG brands get products to stores on time

• July 18, 2022. Anita Ramaswamy, TechCrunch. Privacy is a core concern in crypto. Once you know a crypto wallet address corresponds to a certain individual, you can track all the transactions that individual has made through their wallet on any public blockchain, including Bitcoin and Ethereum. This niche cryptographic technique could transform privacy in web3

• July 18, 2022. Aisha Malik, TechCrunch. Snap announced today that it’s introducing Snapchat for Web to let users send snaps and chat with friends via video calls all from their desktops. To start, Snapchat for Web will be available to Snapchat+ subscribers in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. After the initial launch, the company plans to roll out Snapchat for Web to Snapchat+ subscribers in France, Germany, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, before making it accessible to all users around the world. Snap launches Snapchat for Web to bring the app’s core features to desktop

• July 18, 2022. Anita Ramaswamy, TechCrunch. Investing in private markets has long been reserved for the ultra-rich. Thanks to tech startups, though, the process is becoming much more accessible for those who aren’t members of the “one percent” of wealthiest Americans. Real estate investing giant Fundrise breaks into venture capital

• July 18, 2022. Paul Sawers, TechCrunch. Acast, the Swedish tech company that helps businesses and individuals publish and monetize podcasts, has announced plans to acquire podcast database Podchaser. Acast acquires podcast database Podchaser

Energy

• July 18, 2022. World Nuclear News. Westinghouse Electric Company has been awarded an engineering contract by Norwegian Nuclear Decommissioning (NND) to plan the decommissioning of the country’s two nuclear research reactors, located in Halden and Kjeller. The three-year agreement includes options up to six years and is valued up to NOK1 billion (USD99 million). Westinghouse to help decommission Norwegian research reactors : Waste & Recycling

• July 18, 2022. World Nuclear News. The Environment Agency has launched a four-week public consultation on NNB Generation Company (HPC) Limited’s decision to store used nuclear fuel at the Hinkley Point C nuclear power plant under construction in Somerset, England, in a dry storage facility rather than a wet facility as originally planned. Dry used fuel storage facility now planned for HPC : New Nuclear

• July 18, 2022. World Nuclear News. The Belgian government has asked energy company Engie to see if it can extend the operating life of Tihange unit 2 until the end of the winter peak electricity season. Belgium asks Engie to extend Tihange 2’s life : Regulation & Safety
• July 18, 2022. World Nuclear News. Decommissioning of nuclear power plants can take many years and involve complex safety and storage issues. But one firm is doing its best to minimise waste by cleaning up old kit and selling the ‘pre-loved’ items at auctions. The auctions helping to recycle old nuclear power plants : Waste & Recycling

Health & Digital

• July 18, 2022. Shania Kennedy, Health IT Analytics. NewYork-Presbyterian, with physicians from its affiliated medical schools, Weill Cornell Medicine and Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons (Columbia University VP&S), is collaborating with Cornell Tech and the Cornell Ann S. Bowers College of Computing and Information Science (Cornell Bowers CIS) to improve cardiovascular care with artificial intelligence (AI). $15M Collaboration Aims to Advance Cardiovascular Care with Analytics, AI

Global

• July 16, 2022. Navdeep Suri, ORF. The emergence of this new grouping is clearly an outcome of the Abraham Accords of Aug 2020 and the possibilities that they have created for Israel and the UAE to be on the same platform with India and the US. As President Biden moves to Saudi Arabia for the second leg of his visit to West Asia, we are likely to see a push towards integrating Israel through trade, technology, direct flights and people-to-people contact even with countries where full diplomatic ties may take some time to mature. I2U2 brings hi-tech food, clean energy projects