FOCUS
La riflessione (Australia’s climate risk assessment and defence review must work together) pubblicata dal think tank The Strategist è di grande interesse per chi, come noi, si occupa di approcci complessi alle relazioni internazionali. Legare il rischio climatico con le questioni della difesa è diventato fondamentale.
Il futuro della difesa e della sicurezza è ormai intimamente legato a tutte le dinamiche che percorrono il mondo e che chiamiamo “megacrisi”; è guardando a essa dall’alto e nel profondo che si potranno trovare soluzioni che, sempre più, chiedono cooperazione. Ci vuole un nuovo pensiero strategico che accompagni, in prospettiva, la riconfigurazione della globalizzazione in glocalizzazione, aiuti le classi dirigenti a cogliere il valore aggiunto della complessità come paradigma ormai indispensabile e ad operare in chiave sistemica ed inclusiva.
WORLDS
Australia
- August 29, 2022. Graeme Dobell, The Strategist. Australia’s parliament has little chance to place legal limits on the profound prerogative of the prime minister and the executive to take the country to war. Creating parliamentary conventions for the Australian way to war
Australia-Indonesia-Quad
- August 29, 2022. Dirk van der Kley, Benjamin Herscovitch and Gatra Priyandita, The Strategist. Australia and the other Quad countries have committed to stepping up their engagement with Southeast Asia and the Pacific. It’s clear that economic development assistance has to be at the forefront of this new engagement. However, large-scale investments and infrastructure projects—while necessary—are difficult. Indonesia needs the tech training Australia and its Quad partners can provide
Australia-USA-China
- August 26, 2022. Zhiqun Zhu, East Asia Forum. US–China competition is a defining challenge of the present. Much attention has focussed on the behaviour of these two great powers and their impact on global affairs. But as the US–China rivalry persists, an important question is what third parties can do — especially countries like Australia that have huge stakes in maintaining productive relations with both powers. Australia to play couples counsellor in US–China rivalry
India
- August 27, 2022. Lt. Gen Ajai Kumar Singh, AVSM, YSM, SM, VSM, VIF. Leadership is a term simple to understand and yet a quality which is extremely difficult to define. The Oxford dictionary defines a leader to be a person who by his personal behaviour sets an example for others to emulate. It inspires the follower in bringing out the best in them even when the work environment or conditions are not conducive. Leaders inspire and lead men under their command to face adverse situations, fight through challenges, make way through odds and walk that extra mile to finally emerge victorious. Revitalising Indian Military Ethical Leadership
- August 29, 2022. Basu Chandola, ORF. India has become the largest and fastest-growing producer of audio-visual (AV) content in the world, with the highest number of hours of content every day. This brief discusses issues of intellectual property (IP) and competition in the AV content sector. Under India’s Copyright Act 1957, the owner of AV content is accorded exclusive copyright over their work, which includes the right to monetise. Effective copyright protection incentivises creativity, and is also necessary to guarantee the investors appropriate returns. However, such exclusivity can also disrupt healthy competition in the market. This analysis highlights the intersection of these two concerns, and argues that the AV content market is competitive due to both the presence of effective competitors and current provisions in the copyright law that deals with market failure. Balancing IP and Competition Concerns in India’s Audio-Visual Content Sector
India-Africa
- August 26, 2022. Abhishek Mishra, ORF. For all the historical anecdotes, common anti-liberation struggles, diasporic linkages, and the common aim of prioritising the voice of the Global South, the India-Africa partnership is set to face a crucial test. As India is on the verge of taking over the Group of 20 (G20) presidency from Indonesia on 1 December 2022 till 30 November 2023, it must work to ensure the African Union (AU) — comprising 54 diverse, sovereign, and innovative economies — is formally admitted to the G20 as a permanent, full-time member, thereby making the G20 a G21. Why India should support greater African representation under its G20 presidency
Indonesia
- August 29, 2022. East Asia Forum. Just as all national politics is local, all international politics is domestic. The intrusion of the domestic onto the international stage gets a bad rap — from Trump to Brexit to the Taiwan Strait. But individual countries’ activism in pursuit of domestic political and economic interests can be good for the international system. Indonesia needs to find international strength on the home front
- August 28, 2022. Shafiah F Muhibat, East Asia Forum. When Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited Ukraine and Russia in June 2022, he made international headlines. Some applauded him as the first Asian leader to make the trip to both Russia and Ukraine after their war. Others wondered about Indonesia’s ability to have any impact on the conflict. Indonesia’s de facto leadership in Southeast Asia and of ASEAN is widely acknowledged, but what about its influence in the rest of the world? Indonesia steps innocently onto the international stage
Indonesia-China
- August 26, 2022. Demas Nauvarian and Putu Shangrina Pramudia, East Asia Forum. On 26 July 2022, Indonesian President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in China. The meeting was a surprise given Beijing’s strict zero-COVID-19 policy. A main outcome was the renewal of the memorandum of understanding on cooperation between Indonesia’s Global Maritime Fulcrum (GMF), a framework to to turn Indonesia into a global maritime hub, and China’s Maritime Silk Road under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Pouring cold water on Jokowi’s maritime ambitions
Russia-Asia
- August 27, 2022. Richard A Bitzinger and Kenneth Boutin, East Asia Forum. Russia’s importance as an arms supplier to Asian states is likely to decline in the short term due to export constraints resulting from the Russia–Ukraine conflict. Russia’s need to use more of its own armaments in the Russia–Ukraine conflict, the sanctions imposed by the United States and European Union, and the perceived poor performance of Russian arms in the conflict itself may provide an opening for exports from competing arms suppliers including the United States and China. Russia’s new arm’s distance from Asia
Russia-Ukraine
- August 28, 2022. Kateryna Stepanenko, Layne Philipson, Angela Howard, and Frederick W. Kagan, ISW. Russian President Vladimir Putin signed two decrees on August 27 in a reported effort to assist stateless peoples and residents of Donbas and Ukraine live and work in the Russian Federation.The first decree allows Donbas residents, Ukrainians, and stateless peoples to live and work in Russia indefinitely. The decree also allows Ukrainian and Donbas residents to work in Russia without a permit so long as they have acquired an identification card within 30 days of the August 27 decree. The order also requires that all Donbas and Ukrainian residents arriving to Russia undergo mandatory fingerprint registration and a medical examination for the use of drugs, psychotropic substances, infectious diseases, and HIV. Russian Offensive Campaign Assessment, August 28
Solomon Islands
- August 29, 2022. Transform Aqorau, Anouk Ride, The Interpreter. In November last year, Solomon Islands’ capital Honiara erupted into three days of riots, resulting in three deaths, estimated property losses of up to SBD$811 million (A$14 million) and the total destruction of the Chinatown district. In the aftermath, regional police and military personnel deployed in a bid to address an internal conflict in Solomon Islands – again. The latest mission followed the 14-year Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI), which had concluded in 2017. Solomon Islands: a blueprint to stop a cycle of strife
Taiwan
- August 26, 2022. Jade Guan, The Interpreter. It is under debate whether we are heading towards a fourth Taiwan Strait Crisis. This month alone, US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, China responded with unprecedented sea and air combat drills in six exercise zones around the island, and Beijing published a White Paper on the question of Taiwan’s reunification with China. This was swiftly followed by another US congressional delegation travelling to Taipei. What are the prospects for stability across the Taiwan Strait?
Thailand
- August 27, 2022. Prem Singh Gill, East Asia Forum. Thailand has been a popular expatriate destination for investment and retirement for decades. But foreign land ownership has long been restricted. Foreigners can own no more than 49 per cent of any condominium development and are restricted from owning most freehold estates. Yet Thailand is keen to attract wealthy international investors — particularly those from China. Thai property gains foreign popularity
TOPICS
Future of democracies
- August 29, 2022. Ben Scott, The Interpreter. Should liberal democracies ever tell lies? That’s one of the questions raised by reports that Facebook and Twitter have recently taken down a web of accounts, originating in the United States, that were “covertly seeking to influence users in the Middle East and Asia with pro-Western perspectives about international politics, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.”. Should democracies ever lie?
