Diario geostrategico, 17/18 novembre 2021
Buona lettura !
The Science of Where Magazine’s interviews:
– Towards sustainable AI. The Science of Where Magazine meets Abhishek Gupta, Founder and Principal Researcher, Montreal AI Ethics Institute
– 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:
– Michele Koh Morollo, Al Jazeera: The virtual meeting between United States President Joe Biden and China’s leader Xi Jinping helped ease the growing tension between the two countries but did not make headway in resolving lingering US-China trade war disputes. The US-China trade war, which began in 2018 under former US President Donald Trump, has resulted in both nations paying higher taxes to bring in goods from the opposing country. – After Biden-Xi summit, what next for US-China trade war?
Afghanistan-USA:
– Ayaz Gul, VoA: The Taliban foreign minister Wednesday penned an “open letter” to the U.S. Congress, warning of a mass refugee exodus from Afghanistan unless the United States unblocks more than $9 billion in Afghan central bank assets and ends other financial sanctions against the country. Amir Khan Muttaqi wrote that the sanctions “have not only played havoc” with trade and business but also with humanitarian aid to millions of desperate Afghans. Muttaqi’s office in Kabul released copies of the letter in several languages, including English. Muttaqi maintained that his government has managed to bring political stability and security to Afghanistan since returning to power last August but growing economic troubles are worsening humanitarian challenges. – Taliban ‘Open Letter’ Appeals to US Congress to Unfreeze Afghan Assets (voanews.com)
Africa:
– Joseph Atta-Mensah, Brookings: Africa needs about $1.3 trillion a year to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda of Sustainable Development. These needs include, for example, about $93 billion to $170 billion per year in investments for the promotion of adequate infrastructure, which doesn’t include the financing necessary for addressing the increasingly devastating impacts of climate change. Still, despite efforts to improve upon the mobilization of domestic revenues, Africa faces a huge financing gap to support its development agenda. – Commodity-linked bonds and Africa’s search for innovative financing
Asia:
– Arifin Rosid, East Asia Forum: Indonesia has the lowest percentage of individual income tax revenue to GDP compared to neighbouring countries — 1.3 per cent, compared to 1.9 per cent in Thailand, 2.1 per cent in Philippines and 2.7 per cent in Malaysia. Due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the provision of related short-term tax incentives, Indonesian tax revenues in 2020 contracted 19.7 per cent year-on-year and its overall tax-to-GDP ratio is declining. – Indonesia’s new tax law targets its growing middle class
– David Fawcett, The Interpreter: For many Australians, their first-hand experience with the military is the welcome sight of the Australian Defence Force assisting our community in times of drought, flood and fire. It is unimaginable for most Australians that in 2021, a nation’s military would embark on an overt campaign of widespread oppression, arbitrary arrest and use lethal force in an effort to control their own citizens. Largely absent from our daily news, this is what is happening to the people of Myanmar, whose crime was to vote overwhelmingly in favour of democracy, at a general election on 15 November 2020. – Myanmar: Totalitarian terror shouldn’t fly on our watch
– Mike Yeo, Defense News: Taiwan is continuing efforts to develop asymmetrical defense capabilities as it tries to offset the increasing gap between its own forces and China’s military strength, according to its newly released defense report. Taiwan accuses China of building up its capabilities to mount a multidomain offensive against the island. Taiwan’s National Defense Report for 2021, which was released last week in Chinese and English, said Beijing’s anti-access, area denial campaign to prevent outside assistance forces from reaching the island is nearly complete. – Taiwan to continue strengthening asymmetric capabilities, reserve force
AUKUS:
– Brendan Nicholson, The Strategist: Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison has used a keynote address at ASPI’s Sydney Dialogue to add important detail to what’s known about Australia’s AUKUS agreement with the United States and Britain. In his speech delivered online today, the prime minister makes it clear that AUKUS is intended to enable the three allies to develop and share advanced technology to give them an edge in an uncertain future. – Morrison says AUKUS will strengthen cooperation on critical technologies
Balkans:
– Samantha Wong, The Interpreter: Renewed threats to internal political stability are raising alarm bells for citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, only 26 years after the end of the Bosnian war. The memory of the 1992–95 conflict lingers – a conflict driven by ethnic and political tensions, which claimed the lives of 100,000 people, including the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serbs, since recognised as an act of genocide. Ethnic and political frictions have continued under Bosnia’s complicated state system and recent developments see the country facing what the International Crisis Group has described as “its greatest existential threat of the post-war period”. Many now fear a return to violence should international actors fail to take action. – A brewing crisis in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Belarus-Poland:
– Aykan Eerdemir, Defense News: Following her meeting with President Biden at the White House last Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen stated on Twitter that the rising tensions on the Belarus-Poland border were not a “migration crisis” but a “hybrid attack,” a form of irregular warfare that blends military and non-military methods. She proceeded to announce that the European Union and the United States will cooperate on sanctioning third-country airlines involved in human trafficking. The unstated target of von der Leyen’s warning was the Turkish government, whose flag carrier had been delivering migrants to Belarus. When called out, Ankara reversed course, showing how coordinated transatlantic pressure can thwart a hybrid attack. – Swift trans-Atlantic action kept Turkey from fueling Belarus’ hybrid attacks
China-Africa:
– Cornelia Tremann, The Interpreter: In April 2020, China was the first major economy to pilot a digital currency, the e-yuan or e-CNY. The e-CNY, which will eventually replace physical cash and is currently being tested in Chinese cities, is integrated with the Digital Currency Electronic Payment (DCEP) system and data processing network run by the People’s Bank of China (PBOC). In offering citizens an alternative to decentralised cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (which China has banned) and partnering with the country’s tech giants who currently dominate the electronic payment space, China is neutralising key external and internal threats to its governance and control of monetary policy. – China’s digital currency: Next stop, Africa?
Climate Action:
– Barry G. Rabe, Brookings: Methane’s march from obscurity to center stage at the Glasgow climate summit reflects its growing recognition as an intensive global warming driver. President Joe Biden launched a Global Methane Pledge shortly before COP 26, securing dozens of national commitments to reduce global methane 30 percent from 2020 levels by 2030. – How technology can help with methane regulation
Europe:
– Vivienne Machi, Defense News: Three French military signals intelligence satellites are now in space after a successful launch Tuesday morning aboard an Arianespace Vega rocket from the nation’s spaceport in French Guiana. The constellation — called CapacitÉ de Renseignement Électromagnétique Spatiale, or CERES — will allow France to better collect intelligence from electromagnetic origins in space, the country’s Ministry of Defense said in a Tuesday press release. – France launches three CERES satellites aboard Arianespace Vega rocket
– Agnes Helou, Defense News: The European consortium of Thales and MBDA unveiled its new long-range, ground-based air defense system, SAMP/T NG, the updated variant of the SAMP/T already in service with the Italian Army and the French Air and Space Force. “The ground-based air defense system has undergone verification, qualificatio,n and launched production in 2021, and is expected to be delivered by 2025 to the first contractor: France and Italy,” Eva Bruxmeier, Eurosam’s managing director, told reporters at the Dubai Airshow, which is taking place Nov. 14-18. – Eurosam unveils new SAMP/T air defense variant at Dubai Airshow
Georgia:
Giorgi Menabde, The Jamestown Foundation: On November 8, the Blue Ridge–class command-and-control ship USS Mount Whitney (LCC 20) and the Arleigh Burke–class guided-missile destroyer USS Porter (DDG 78) arrived in Batumi, Georgia (1tv.ge November 8). According to a statement released by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), “The port visit highlights an important relationship between NATO allies and vital Black Sea partner Georgia. Georgia has been a consistent and steadfast partner in promoting peace and stability in the region” (Civil.ge, Sfn.nato.int, November 8). – Georgia: A Pillar of NATO’s Wider Black Sea Strategy?
Germany-Nord Stream 2:
– Al Jazeera: Germany’s energy regulator suspended approval of the Nord Stream 2 on Tuesday. To operate the German part of the pipeline, it wants the Russian company behind the project to form a local subsidiary. That has pushed up wholesale gas prices in the United Kingdom and European Union. Last month, President Vladimir Putin announced Moscow could start supplies as soon as it gets the green light from Germany. But what is really behind the German decision? And is politics at play? – Why has Germany halted Nord Stream 2?
Global War on Terror:
– Katja Teodorakis, The Strategist: The Pentagon investigation into the drone strike that killed 10 civilians, including seven children, from one family near Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul on 30 August was released earlier this month. The finding that the strike was an ‘honest mistake’ and ‘not a violation of law, including the law of war’ is a dismaying reminder that the most pressing lessons of the global war on terror are not the oft-cited strategic miscalculations and intelligence failures, but the moral ones. – Fighting assumptions: how are we bookending the global war on terror?
India:
– Anjana Pasricha, VoA: With the Indian capital enveloped in a haze of toxic smog, authorities ordered six thermal plants in the city’s vicinity to shut temporarily, closed schools and colleges indefinitely and imposed work-from-home restrictions to control pollution levels that turned severe on several days this month. – Delhi’s Air Pollution Crisis Prompts Shutdown of Thermal Plants, Schools, Colleges
– Brendan Nicholson, The Strategist: As the world rides the opportunities, and the disruption, of a rapidly rising wave of technological development, its most populous democracy has a vital role to play. India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi will address the Sydney Dialogue this week on the potential for his nation’s tech industry to produce answers for a range of critical global problems. He’ll be introduced by Australia’s Prime Minister Scott Morrison, who will also deliver a keynote speech at the dialogue launched by ASPI to support a more stable rollout of the next wave of transformational technologies. – Modi to unveil India’s innovation agenda
North Caucasus:
Valery Dzutsati, The Jamestown Foundation: Activists in the North Caucasus called on compatriots to use the ongoing Russian census to advance the interests of their ethnic groups. The Russian census took place over the span of a month, from October 15 to November 14, 2021 (delayed by a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic). Dagestani activists from among the Karatins, Kubachins, and Kaytags asked fellow ethnic kin to indicate their precise ethnic affiliation during the census. The activists said this would help draw the attention of the Russian government to the problems of small ethnic groups and preserve their languages, traditions and culture. – Advocates Across North Caucasus Demand Reclassifications of Local Ethnic Groups
Religious Freedom:
– US Department of State: The United States will not waiver in its commitment to advocate for freedom of religion or belief for all and in every country. In far too many places around the world, we continue to see governments harass, arrest, threaten, jail, and kill individuals simply for seeking to live their lives in accordance with their beliefs. This Administration is committed to supporting every individual’s right to freedom of religion or belief, including by confronting and combating violators and abusers of this human right. – Religious Freedom Designations
Russia:
– Daria Litvinova, Associated Press, Defense News: Russian officials on Tuesday rejected accusations that they endangered astronauts aboard the International Space Station by conducting a weapons test that created more than 1,500 pieces of space junk. U.S. officials on Monday accused Russia of destroying an old satellite with a missile in what they called a reckless and irresponsible strike. They said the debris could damage the space station, an assessment backed by NATO’s chief. – Russia rejects accusations of endangering ISS astronauts
– Jessica Brandt, Brookings: In recent weeks, Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen has delivered damning testimony to lawmakers in Washington, London, and Brussels, painting a portrait of a company aware of its harmful effects on society but unwilling to act out of concern for profits and growth. Her revelations have created a public-relations crisis for the social-media giant and spurred renewed calls for stiffer oversight of online platforms. But Haugen’s revelations have also resulted in a less expected outcome: Russian propagandists using her testimony for their own ends. – How the Kremlin has weaponized the Facebook files
Russia-Turkey:
– Paul Globe, The Jamestown Foundation: Since the victory of Turkey’s ally Azerbaijan in the Second Karabakh War (September 27–November 9, 2020), Russian commentators have been concerned about Ankara’s efforts to create a union of Turkic states under its aegis. And that alarm has only intensified now that Turkey has established a Union of Turkic States—a notable rebranding of the organization formerly known as the Cooperation Council of Turkic Speaking States, or more simply the “Turkic Council” (Turan Today, November 12; Kavkaz Geo Club, November 13). Yet some commentators in Moscow, like Dmitry Rodionov, say that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has a more radical vision: one that involves not just a union of Turkic states but of a broader one of Turkic nations, including those within the borders of other countries like the Russian Federation. While the first of these alleged efforts reduces Moscow’s influence in Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan, the second threatens Moscow’s control of Turkic areas within the current borders of the Russian Federation (Rhythm of Eurasia, November 1; Ia-centr.ru, November 14; Stan Radar, November 8). – Moscow Worried by Ankara’s Expansive Vision of ‘Turkic World’
SDGs:
– Brookings: A partnership between the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings and The Rockefeller Foundation, 17 Rooms is an experimental method for advancing the economic, social, and environmental priorities embedded in the world’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In 2021, more than 200 participants contributed to the global flagship process. – Coming together: Forging new paths to action for the Sustainable Development Goals
South China Sea:
– Al Jazeera: Three ships from the Chinese coastguard blocked and fired water cannons on two Philippines supply boats within the country’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ) in the disputed South China Sea, the Philippines has said. Foreign Minister Teodoro Locsin said the incident took place near Ayungin Shoal (Second Thomas Shoal) on November 16 and the Philippine vessels, which were taking food supplies to military personnel stationed nearby, were forced to abandon the mission. No injuries were reported. – Philippines tells China to ‘back off’ after South China Sea clash
UAE:
– Agnes Helou, Defense News: Emirati defense conglomerate Edge Group has had the biggest share of announcements at the 2021 Dubai Airshow between systems unveilings, contracts finalizations and the signing of memorandums of understand understanding. But what arguably stands out the most is the number of autonomous systems at the company’s booth, which made up about half of the offerings on display. Edge is only 2 years old, but its CEO, Faisal Al Bannai, says the business as achieved several milestones, including in autonomous technology, electronic warfare and smart weapons. But one of the most critical is its share of the United Arab Emirates’ export market on both a regional and global level. – Edge Group’s CEO talks drone swarms, 3D printing and export plans
USA:
– Jonathan Rothwell, Andre M. Perry, Brookings: In September, Freddie Mac released a groundbreaking analysis of the U.S. home appraisal industry. Consistent with concerns raised by critics, they found that homes in Black and Latino or Hispanic neighborhoods are much more likely than homes in white neighborhoods to be valued below what a buyer has offered to pay. – Biased appraisals and the devaluation of housing in Black neighborhoods
– Nathan Strout, Defense News: Satellite imagery provider Planet Federal says the National Reconnaissance Office has once again extended its contract with the company, giving the intelligence agency access to new commercial capabilities. The NRO, charged with developing and operating the nation’s fleet of spy satellites, has been a subscriber to Planet’s daily 3-5 meter resolution imagery since 2019, although financial details of the arrangement have not been made public. In July, Planet announced the contract had been extended and expanded to include limited access to the company’s video capabilities. – National Reconnaissance Office further expands contract with Planet
– Donald Norcross. Tammy Duckworth, Defense News: The COVID-19 pandemic exposed how a global superpower becomes critically vulnerable when it depends on foreign nations to manufacture basic components, such as semiconductors, that are vital to the daily life of every American. A nation that once led the world in manufacturing semiconductors watched helplessly this fall as General Motors temporarily shut down production at North American auto plants because the deadly pandemic decimated the overseas factories that our country now relies on to produce the chips that power nearly every device we use with an on and off switch. – ‘Buy American’ is good for the US and strengthens our partnerships with allies
– Jon Gambrell, Defense News: The U.S. remains “fully committed” to a proposed sale of advanced F-35 stealth fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates, despite the Biden administration slowing down the deal, a senior American official overseeing arms exports said Tuesday. Mira Resnick, a deputy U.S. assistant secretary of state in the Biden administration, also told the Associated Press at the Dubai Air Show that Gulf Arab partners are not looking to purchase weapons from Russia as a hedge over American concerns about human rights in the region. – American official: US ‘fully committed’ to F-35 sale to UAE
USA-Canada-Mexico:
– Al Jazeera: United States President Joe Biden, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador are set to meet in person in Washington, DC, for the first time in five years to discuss economic integration, immigration and the pandemic. President Joe Biden has revived the so-called Three Amigos summit – to be held at the White House on Thursday, for the first time since 2016, when former President Donald Trump put an end to them. – US, Canada, Mexico leaders to meet in first summit since 2016
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