Giustizia

Mexico-U.S. Relations: Issues for Congress – CRS

(PDF) – In recent years, U.S.-Mexican relations have grown stronger as the two countries have worked together to combat drug trafficking and secure their shared border. The 111th Congress has maintained an active interest in Mexico with counternarcotics, border, and trade issues dominating the agenda. To date, Congress has appropriated some $1.3 billion in assistance… »

Mekong Tipping Point: Hydropower Dams, Human Security and Regional Stability – Stimson Center

The October 1991 Paris Peace Accords on Cambodia closed the book on four decades of bitter conflict in the Mekong region of Southeast Asia. The Accords created new opportunities for broad-based economic and social development based on reconstruction, renewal and regional economic development in the 795,000 square kilometer Mekong River Basin, sometimes called the… »

International Statistics on Crime and Justice – HEUNI/UNODC

HEUNI Report series contains a number of studies, seminar reports, and other material on developments in crime and criminal justice in Europe and North… »

The Newly Emerging Arctic Security Environment – Canadian Defence & Foreign Affairs Institute (CDFAI)

(PDF) – The Arctic is changing and, as a result, is garnering unprecedented international interest.
With warming temperatures, melting ice and greater accessibility to resources in the region, concerns for security in the region are at the forefront of the Arctic states’ attempts to maintain their foothold in the Arctic. All of the Arctic states –… »

Russian Analytical Digest No. 82: The Russian Far East

(PDF) – in this issue:
*Putin Is Turning Vladivostok into Russia’s Pacific Capital

*Population Statistics of the Russian Far East

*Russian Opinions on Vigilante Killings of Members of the Militia in… »

Cocaine and Instability in Africa: Lessons from Latin America and the Caribbean – Africa Center for Strategic Studies

(PDF) – The dollar value of cocaine trafficked through West Africa has risen rapidly and surpassed all other illicit commodities smuggled in the subregion. Experience from Latin America and the Caribbean demonstrates that cocaine traffic contributes to dramatically higher levels of violence and instability. Co-opting key government officials is the preferred modus operandi of Latin… »

Lack of Transparency in Russian Energy Trade – CSIS

A major challenge to the new democracies of Central Europe is the corruption and lack of transparency in the importing of oil and natural gas from Russia and other energy producing states once part of the Soviet Union. This situation also undermines good governance and ethical business practices in the large and wealthier countries of… »

Ugandans Edgy Over US Move Against LRA – IWPR

As Washington prepares to unveil a strategy aimed at neutralising the Lord’s Resistance Army, LRA, many in northern Uganda are mindful of how past attempts to deal a knock-out blow to the rebel movement have succeeded only in increasing instability in the region. While welcoming greater support in apprehending Joseph Kony,the leader of… »

Cyber ShockWave: Simulation Report and Findings – Bipartisan Policy Center

(PDF) On February 16, 2010, a bipartisan group of former senior administration and national security officials participated in a simulated cyber attack on the United States—Cyber ShockWave. The simulation, which was moderated by Wolf Blitzer and broadcast as a special on CNN, provided an unprecedented look at how the government would respond to a large-scale… »

U.S. Drone Activities in Pakistan – CFR

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), often referred to as drones, have become increasingly important in U.S. efforts to strike militants in Pakistani regions bordering Afghanistan. In its first eighteen months, the Obama administration authorized more drone attacks in Pakistan than its predecessor did over two terms. Although targeting terror suspects with UAVs in official combat areas… »

Squeezing Iran: Oil and sanctions – Bbc

Sanctions were imposed by the US after the seizure of American hostages in the aftermath of the revolution, and the 1980 Iran-Iraq war. In recent years a fresh wave of UN sanctions has attempted to curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions. But what effect have these measures actually had on the country and its… »

The Development Fund for Iraq / July 27, 2010 – SIGIR

(PDF) – Weaknesses in DoD’s financial and management controls left it unable to properly account for $8.7 billion of the $9.1 billion in DFI funds it received for reconstruction activities in Iraq. This situation occurred because most DoD organizations receiving DFI funds did not establish the required Department of the Treasury accounts and no DoD… »

Caucasian Review of International Affairs (CRIA) VOL. 4 (2) – SPRING 2010

in this issue:
Russian Energy Politics and the EU: How to Change the Paradigm

*Authoritarianism and Foreign Policy: The Twin Pillars of Resurgent Russia

*The Georgia Crisis: A New Cold War on the Horizon?

*Enforceability of a Common Energy Supply Security Policy in the EU: Intergovernmentalist Assesement

*“Assembling” a Civic Nation in Kazakhstan: The Nation-Building Role of… »

Venezuelan ambassador presents letter on Colombia to U.N. – CNN

The Venezuelan ambassador to the United Nations brought his country’s complaints about neighbor Colombia to the U.N. secretary-general Monday in the form of a letter explaining his government’s decisions. Venezuela has cut diplomatic relations with Colombia and accused its government of letting decades-long internal strife spill over its… »

US involvement only complicates South China Sea issue – China Daily

The United States has played up the South China Sea issue again in the international arena. At the ASEAN Regional Forum Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Hanoi last week, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked at length about US “national interests” in the South China Sea. Hintting there is what she called “coercion” in the… »

After Revealing Afghan War Secrets, Wikileaks Prepares Document Dumps on Iraq and Diplomacy – Newsweek

Two sources familiar with material currently in the hands of Wikileaks, who asked for anonymity when discussing sensitive information, said on Monday that the next subject to be featured in media revelations based on documents leaked to Wikileaks was likely to be U.S. conduct of the Iraq War. The sources indicated the type of material… »

Despite rift, Israel-Turkey contacts march on – Washington Post

Trade between Israel and Turkey surged in the first half of this year, Israel just lifted a warning on travel to Turkey and an Israeli volleyball team trained in the Turkish capital on Friday ahead of a regional tournament. Do these positive signals suggest the softening of a dispute that deepened after Israel’s deadly raid… »

India’s Nuclear Push: The Conflicts Within – Asia Sentinel

After years of years of negotiations and sustained backing from the US government to find acceptance as a global nuclear power, India’s plans to go nuclear for a major share of its energy production are in limbo, stalled by the refusal of the Lok Sabha, the country’s lower house of parliament, to pass legislation limiting… »

Could Egypt and Sudan’s 55-year feud be over? – the Nation

Egypt and Sudan are weighing plans to create a co-operative economic zone in Egypt’s southern Halaib Triangle, an underdeveloped and impoverished region that both governments have quietly feuded over for years. The long-simmering dispute over the triangle, a 20,580-sq-km region wedged between Sudan and the Red Sea, came to the fore again on June… »

Iran’s Mini-Empire At The U.N. – Forbes

Iran, despite being under four sets of binding sanctions resolutions by the U.N. Security Council, has learned to manipulate the institution in ways that make a mockery not only of the U.N. itself, but also of U.S. claims of diplomatic competence. Rarely remarked upon, but even more appalling than Iran’s beachhead on the women’s rights… »

France upgrades diplomatic ties with Palestinians – Washington Post

France is upgrading its diplomatic relations with the Palestinian Territories to try to spur international efforts toward creating a Palestinian state, the French foreign minister said. Bernard Kouchner said the Palestinian diplomatic representation in France – which was called a “delegation” and headed by a “general delegate” – will henceforth be considered a “mission” headed… »

Push for Serbia EU accession speed-up in wake of Kosovo court ruling – EU Observer

A number of EU states are in favour of speeding up Serbia’s EU accession process in the wake of Belgrade’s loss at the International Court of Justice over Kosovo’s declaration of independence. The foreign ministers of Italy, Slovakia and Austria pushed for such a move heading into Monday’s meeting of EU foreign ministers, the… »

Hamas leader says group considering Gaza draft – Ap

The top security official in Hamas-ruled Gaza said Tuesday he is considering setting up a bigger military force, first with volunteers and eventually with conscripts as well. Such a step could further tighten Hamas’ control of Gaza and deepen the rift with the group’s Western-backed rivals in the West Bank. Hamas seized Gaza by force… »

Afghanistan’s Other War: Army vs. Police – Mother Jones

Reading through the trove of documents released by WikiLeaks Sunday, one could come away with the impression that members of Afghanistan’s discipline-challenged security forces spend more time fighting each other than they do the Taliban. Among the 92,000 documents released by the group are dozens of reports detailing so-called “green-on-green” incidents, the military’s term for… »

Gaza is a prison camp, says David Cameron – Telegraph

David Cameron has described Gaza as a ”prison camp” and appealed to the Israeli Government to allow the free flow of humanitarian goods and people in and out of the Palestinian territory. Mr Cameron’s comments came during a visit to Turkey. Speaking in Ankara, the Prime Minister denounced the attack on the flotilla as… »

Why India needs Myanmar on its side – Rediff

Senior General Than Shwe, Myanmar’s head of State, is currently on his second visit to India in six years. He comes at a time the international community has initiated the first steps to gradually open up to Myanmar and elections are due in that country later this year. India’s relations with Myanmar, a devoutly Buddhist… »

The Seditious Ahmadinejad? – the Diplomat

Between 2005 and the presidential elections of 2009, this battle was fought mainly between ultra conservatives (who supported President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad) and reformists, ultra conservatives and moderate conservatives, and then again between ultra conservatives and reformists. Yet because the main issue revolves around the Supreme Leader himself, such debates have generally been held behind closed… »

Mitt Romney’s dangerous game – the Week

The new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) signed by Presidents Obama and Medvedev faces stiff resistance in the Senate and from leading figures in the Republican Party. Despite overwhelming support from the military and past Republican national security advisers, secretaries of defense and arms control experts, conservative hawks have targeted the treaty for defeat -… »

Kabul War Diary – Wikileaks

WikiLeaks today released over 75,000 secret US military reports covering the war in Afghanistan.
The Afghan War Diary an extraordinary secret compendium of over 91,000 reports covering the war in Afghanistan from 2004 to 2010. The reports describe the majority of lethal military actions involving the United States military. They include the number of persons… »

L’Italia e gli Stati fragili in Africa: prospettive e linee d’azione – ISPI

(PDF) – La fragilità dello stato in Africa è sempre più ragione di preoccupazione e inquietudine
nell’ambito della politica internazionale: i fenomeni di instabilità locale, regionale e globale possono infatti prendere l’avvio da situazioni di fragilità, assumendo proporzioni incontrollabili anche al di là del singolo caso. Alcuni organismi internazionali hanno sviluppato una classificazione che permette
di verificare… »

China Rejects U.S. Suggestion for Asean Mediation on Territory – Wall Street Journal

Chinese Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi rebutted remarks by U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at a recent forum on the competing claims for territory in the South China Sea, saying the U.S. shouldn’t internationalize the disputes, according to a statement posted Sunday on the website of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The South China Sea… »

Hizbullah Prevents Signing of Lebanon-France Security Agreement – MEMRI

On July 13, 2010, MPs from the Lebanese opposition (led by Hizbullah and comprising also Amal and Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement) prevented parliament from approving a France-Lebanon agreement for cooperation in the areas of internal, civil, and administrative security – even though the agreement had already been effectively approved by both the government and… »

After UN court ruling, fears of global separatism – Ap

Serbia and Kosovo are dispatching competing armies of lobbyists to governments that so far have wavered on recognizing the breakaway province. Serbia, which considers Kosovo the cradle of its statehood and religion, fears Thursday’s ruling by the top U.N. court backing the legality of the 2008 declaration of independence could lead to a wave of… »

Burma’s Than Shwe welcomed in Delhi – Bbc

Reclusive Burmese junta leader General Than Shwe has received a red carpet welcome in the Indian capital on a state visit condemned by rights groups. He met Indian PM Manmohan Singh in Delhi on a rare five-day trip that aims to deepen the economic and strategic ties between the two nations. Officials from the two… »

Indonesia’s special forces have not been brought to justice – Washington Post

In announcing this week that the United States would lift a 12-year-long ban on providing military assistance and training to Indonesia’s special forces unit, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates spoke about the Indonesian military’s reforms and said it is prepared to ensure accountability for any human rights abuses by its… »

“I Saw It with My Own Eyes”. Abuses by Chinese Security Forces in Tibet, 2008-2010 – HRW

Eyewitness accounts confirm that Chinese security forces used disproportionate force and acted with deliberate brutality during and after unprecedented Tibetan protests beginning on March 10, 2008, Human Rights Watch said in a new report. Many violations continue today, including disappearances, wrongful convictions and imprisonment, persecution of families, and the targeting of Tibetans suspected of sympathizing… »

An End to Gaza’s (Literally) Underground Economy – the Atlantic

As Israeli consumer goods saturate Gaza’s markets, the tunnels have lost their clientele. Smugglers understand that their days are numbered, but there’s nothing to replace the jobs the industry provided – by Sarah A…. »

Fighting Zimbabwe’s ‘blood diamond’ greed – Toronto Star

A country economically and politically deranged, soaked in violence for the past decade, has now fallen under the diabolical thrall of gem lucre. Zimbabwe is sitting on vast diamond resources, potentially one-quarter of the world’s unmined stones lying beneath the weird geological rock formations of the Marange diamond fields, 48 kilometres from Mutare and discovered… »

Petraeus’s Baby – the New York Review of Book

The surprising and speedy crash of General Stanley McCrystal has been seen in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and the wider region as just one more sign of the mess that the US and its NATO allies face in what is looking increasingly like an unwinnable conflict – by Ahmed… »

Hong Kong Journal – n.19 july 2010

The Hong Kong Journal is a quarterly, online publication about political, economic and social issues relating to Hong Kong and its neighborhood. Foundation-financed, it is hosted by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in… »

Explosive Leaks Provide Image of War from Those Fighting It – Der Spiegel

In an unprecedented development, close to 92,000 classified documents pertaining to the war in Afghanistan have been leaked. SPIEGEL, the New York Times and the Guardian have analyzed the raft of mostly classified documents. The war logs expose the true scale of the Western military deployment — and the problems beleaguering Germany’s Bundeswehr in the… »

Between Faith and Reason: UK Policy Towards the US and the EU – Chatham House

The UK’s relations with the US and the EU are often viewed as alternative paths to international influence, but Britain should adopt a reasoned, balanced approach to its foreign policy, moving beyond the established primacy of the ’special relationship’ to make the most of opportunities in Europe as well. Britain should rethink its traditional faith… »

Mexico’s Military Malpractice – COHA

President Felipe Calderón’s aggressive counter-narcotics campaign in Mexico has begun to sprout a disturbing trend of abuse emanating from the Mexican armed forces. The human rights violations allegedly authored by the military rest on the underbelly of a drug conflict that has created frenzy throughout much of the country. As the country has seen an… »

Australia’s maritime surveillance capability – ASPI

The ability to know what is going on out in the open ocean is important for a number of reasons. As well as traditional military threats, activities such as people smuggling, drug running and illegal fishing are contrary to the national interest. The problem is that the sheer expanse of the ocean provides natural cover… »

Al-Shabaab’s Regionalization Strategy – ISN

It was the biggest militant attack in sub-Saharan Africa since the infamous 1998 al-Qaida bombings of the US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam. The two coordinated bombings in Uganda’s capital Kampala killed 74 people and wounded dozens of others watching the World Cup final on 11 July. For al-Shabaab it was a successful… »

Secret U.S. Overture to Iran in 1999 Broke Down Over Terrorism Allegations – the National Security Archive

A highly confidential U.S. overture to Iran in summer 1999 foundered because the intelligence community and FBI believed members of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) had a role in the infamous Khobar Towers bombing of June 1996, and because U.S. officials overestimated the Iranian president’s ability to manage the sensitive matter of U.S. relations within Iran’s… »

15 nations agree to start working together to reduce cyberwarfare threat – Washington Post

A group of nations — including the United States, China and Russia — have for the first time signaled a willingness to engage in reducing the threat of attacks on each others’ computer networks. Among other steps, the group recommended that the U.N. create norms of accepted behavior in cyberspace, exchange information on national legislation… »

Abbas: Specific US assurances on borders needed – Ap

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas told his Fatah movement he wants a more specific U.S. commitment on the borders of a future Palestinian state before agreeing to direct talks with Israel, an adviser said. Obama has urged Abbas to resume direct talks that broke off in December 2008. However, Abbas first wants guarantees that a state… »

Former MI5 chief delivers damning verdict on Iraq invasion – Guardian

The former head of MI5 delivered a devastating critique of the invasion of Iraq today, saying it substantially increased the threat of terrorist attacks in Britain and was a significant factor behind the radicalisation of young Muslims in the UK. Invading Iraq and toppling Saddam Hussein allowed al-Qaida to establish a foothold in Iraq which… »

US to send National Guard to Mexican border in August – Bbc

US National Guard troops will begin deploying along the US-Mexico border from 1 August, officials say. The 1,200 troops, ordered to the border by President Barack Obama, form part of efforts to tackle illegal immigration and drug-trafficking. They will be in the four border states, with Arizona getting the largest… »