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World Investment Report 2010 – UNCTAD

Global foreign direct investment (FDI) witnessed a modest, but uneven recovery in the first half of 2010. This sparks some cautious optimism for FDI prospects in the short run and for a full recovery further on. UNCTAD expects global inflows to reach more than $1.2 trillion in 2010, rise further to $1.3–1.5 trillion in 2011,… »

Economic and Social Survey of Asia and the Pacific 2010 – UNESCAP

Even at the height of this crisis, Asia and the Pacific displayed a new-found resilience. Its developing economies achieved an annual growth rate of 4.0%, making it the fastest-growing region in the world, thanks to growth in China and India at 8.7% and 7.2%, respectively. However, the rest of Asia-Pacific’s developing economies contracted in 2009… »

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… »

The PLA at Home and Abroad: Assessing the Operational Capabilities of China’s Military – SSI

The chapters presented in this volume have demonstrated first, Chinese and PLA leaders have a strong sense of mission and concern for China’s security and well-being. Second, the PLA is committed to the transformation in military affairs with Chinese characteristics. Third, the PLA is eager to learn from the U.S. military to expand and improve… »

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 –… »

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… »

The Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization: Origin, Development and Outlook – ADB Institute

This paper discusses the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralization (CMIM); its origin, development and future outlook. It puts forward a number of proposals to make the liquidity support role of the CMIM more effective. It is further argued that the CMIM can bring about major changes to the policy institutional infrastructure of the East Asia region,… »

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… »

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… »

Kyrgyzstan receives donor pledges of $1.1bn to rebuild – Bbc

International donors have pledged $1.1bn (£643m) in aid to Kyrgyzstan at a conference in Bishkek.
The money will be used to fund reconstruction in the Central Asian state following deadly ethnic violence in the south last… »

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… »

Iran nuclear sanctions by EU unacceptable, says Russia – Bbc

Russia has branded EU sanctions against Iran as “unacceptable”, saying they undermine international efforts to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions. The European Union on Monday adopted new sanctions targeting Iran’s foreign trade, banking and energy… »

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… »

The Russian-Iranian road map – the Hindu

The mixed signals on Iran that Russia has been sending in recent days have puzzled many western analysts. A little over a month after it went along with the United States in supporting tougher sanctions on Iran, Moscow signed a framework pact on wide-ranging cooperation with Tehran in hydrocarbons and announced a similar plan for… »

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… »

Land grab or development opportunity? Agricultural investment and international land deals in Africa – IIED

Large-scale acquisitions of farmland in Africa, Latin America, Central Asia and Southeast Asia are making headlines in a flurry of media reports across the world. Lands that only a short time ago seemed of little outside interest are now being sought by international investors by the tune of hundreds of thousands of hectares. And while… »

“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… »

The World’s Ever-Increasing Hunger for Coal – Der Spiegel

Coal-fired power stations are a major producer of the greenhouse gas CO2, but there is no alternative to the fuel in the near future. Energy companies are hoping that carbon capture and storage technologies may be the answer, but many local residents don’t want CO2 stored under their… »

China’s Policy in the Wake of the Second DPRK Nuclear Test – the Asia Foundation

North Korea’s May 2009 nuclear test has infuriated Beijing. Signaling its extreme dissatisfaction with North Korea’s unrelenting defiance of China’s advice and interests, Beijing voted in favor of a new UN Security Council resolution that includes tougher sanctions than the resolution passed following North Korea’s first nuclear test in 2006. China remains firmly committed to… »

Asia’s Response to Climate Change and Natural Disasters – CSIS

This new report examines the politics of climate change in Asia, the region’s response to natural disasters, and the implications for the future geometry of Asia’s institutions and U.S. policy in the region. The assessment looks broadly at two areas of nontraditional security cooperation in Asia: (1) climate change, including the domestic political factors in… »

Japan Rebalancing: China Calling – Chatham House

For years Japan’s economic and technological superiority meant that it seemed to belong to a category of its own – an offshore archipelago that had more in common with the United States and western Europe than its immediate neighbours. Now China is challenging Japan for the title of the world’s second largest economy and, against… »

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… »

Inside China’s gated communities for the poor – The Globe and Mail

Gated villages in China have for years been symbols of affluence; places where the rich can live in villa-style homes, surrounded by private schools and swimming pools, with fences to keep out those who don’t belong. Now China is gating off low-income villages, where migrant labourers from the countryside (the people who built those expansive… »

Executive Order–Stewardship of the Ocean, Our Coasts, and the Great Lakes – the White House

The ocean, our coasts, and the Great Lakes provide jobs, food, energy resources, ecological services, recreation, and tourism opportunities, and play critical roles in our Nation’s transportation, economy, and trade, as well as the global mobility of our Armed Forces and the maintenance of international peace and security. This order adopts the recommendations of the… »

US announces new sanctions against North Korea – Forbes

The Obama administration moved to push new sanctions against North Korea over its nuclear weapons program, as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Defense Secretary Robert Gates showed solidarity with South Korea during a visit to the area that separates it from the North. Clinton announced the new measures – targeting the sale or… »

Speak softly and carry a blank cheque – the Economist

Without attracting much attention, Brazil is fast becoming one of the world’s biggest providers of help to poor countries. Official figures do not reflect this. The Brazilian Co-operation Agency (ABC), which runs “technical assistance” (advisory and scientific projects), has a budget of just 52m reais ($30m) this year. But studies by Britain’s Overseas Development Institute… »

Is Haiti Ready for Hurricane Season? – TIME

Meteorologists predict this year’s hurricane season to be an active one. The Haitian government has yet to come up with a unified contingency plan for the hurricane season. Some good news is at hand, however. A few precautionary preparations are well under way. There are plans in place for the distribution of food and other… »

Water Dispute Increases India-Pakistan Tension – the New York Times

Water has become a growing source of tension in many parts of the world between nations striving for growth. Several African countries are arguing over water rights to the Nile. Israel and Jordan have competing claims to the Jordan River. Across the Himalayas, China’s own dam projects have piqued India, a rival for regional, and… »

China’s Billion-Dollar Aid Appetite – Fp

Back in 2001, I was the lead U.S. negotiator in international talks meant to transform the way that poor countries fight some of the world’s most pernicious diseases — HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Over the eight years since the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria first launched, China has applied for and been… »

Myanmar’s nuclear plans under fire – Asia Times

When Southeast Asian foreign ministers gather in Hanoi this week for a series of annual security meetings, the region’s most troublesome member, military-ruled Myanmar, is due to come under scrutiny after reports of its alleged nuclear ambitions. Alarm bells have been going off in Southeast Asian capitals since the early June expose by the Democratic… »

Futility and North Korea – Asia Sentinel

Too many South Korean analysts are predicting the collapse of the North – by Lee… »

Clinton pumps millions into Pakistan to secure public support – the Nation

Hillary Clinton, the US secretary of state, crowned four months of strategic dialogue with Pakistan by announcing yesterday funding for public projects that Washington hopes will reduce suspicions that many Pakistanis hold about its strategic intentions in South Asia. The project-specific economic aid announced by Mrs Clinton sought to address water and power shortages, improve… »

Lebanon-Israel gas dispute reaches UN – Globes

In an apparent worsening of a dispute between Israel and Lebanon, “The Financial Times” reports that Lebanon has filed a complaint with the UN after Israel unilaterally placed a line of buoys extending two miles into the sea off the two countries’ land border, citing security reasons. Israel claims that the line marks the maritime… »

Actions, Not Just Attitudes: A New Paradigm for U.S.-Arab Relations – The Washington Institute for Near East Policy

The latest Pew poll on Middle Eastern political behavior illustrates the media’s post-9/11 tendency to report on America’s standing on the Arab street — without analyzing whether attitudes toward the U.S. have any significant effect on actual Arab behavior. To remedy this striking diagnostic gap, The Washington Institute presents a new study that utilizes hard… »

Economic Development in Africa Report 2010 – UNCTAD

The increasing role of large developing countries in global trade, finance, investment and governance, coupled with their rapid economic growth, has stimulated debate on the implications for Africa’s development. The Economic Development in Africa Report 2010 examines recent trends in the economic relationships of Africa with other developing countries and the new forms of partnership… »

Aiming for New Vigour: The UK in the Global Economy – Chatham House

The UK’s role in the world is inextricably linked to its economic strength and prosperity. Maintaining a vibrant economy and financial stability is vital to enable the UK to benefit from global growth and pursue its ambitions at home and abroad. Britain’s international influence, in turn, complements and supports its comparative advantages in global services… »

EU reaches out for new powers at United Nations – EU Observer

European Council President Herman Van Rompuy will in future be able to address the UN chamber no differently from US President Barack Obama or Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmedinejad under draft reforms agreed by member states. EU countries at meetings in Brussels and New York have agreed to table a resolution in the UN General Assembly… »

Congo army clashes with Ugandan rebels, 40,000 flee – Reuters

Democratic Republic of Congo troops are fighting Ugandan rebels in oil-rich eastern Congo in clashes that have killed two dozen combatants and forced thousands of civilians to flee, military and humanitarian sources said. These are the first clashes in years between Congo’s FARDC army and the Allied Democratic Forces-National Army for the Liberation of Uganda… »

Green energy market ‘resilient’ to downturn in 2009 – CNN

The creation of new power capacity from renewable energy has exceeded new fossil fuel power generation in the United States and Europe for the second year running, according to two United Nations reports published. Renewables accounted for over 50 percent of new capacity in the U.S. in 2009 while in Europe the figure was 60… »

Military Action Against Iran: Impact and Effects – Oxford Research Group

This report concludes that military action against Iran should be ruled out as a means of esponding to its possible nuclear weapons ambitions. The consequences of such an attack would lead to a sustained conflict and regional instability that would be unlikely to prevent the eventual acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran and might even… »

The Political Economy of Piracy in the South China Sea – Naval War College Review

(PDF) – This article attempts to analyze piracy through the perspective of political economy, with an emphasis on state and market stakeholders and on the economic, technological, and institutional factors affecting ocean governance of piracy. The major area of concern here is the South China Sea, where approximately half of the world’s reported incidents of… »

Improving Security Policy in Colombia – ICG

President Álvaro Uribe’s eight-year military campaign against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) has taken a heavy toll on Colombia’s largest insurgent organisation. The government is now working to consolidate security gains by expanding state presence in several of the formerly most conflict-ridden regions. This strategy faces numerous challenges, not least because FARC’s command… »

China-India Relations: Regional Rivalry Takes the World Stage – China Security

This year marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and China. The pleasantries accompanying this event will strengthen the bilateral relationship, which has significantly improved in recent years amid growing levels of economic interaction, political cooperation on international issues (ranging from climate change to agricultural subsidies) and confidence-building initiatives, including… »

Internal Conflict in Lebanon Over Control of Oil and Gas Resources – MEMRI

The recent discovery of a large natural gas field off the Israeli coast, near Haifa, sparked an intense conflict in Lebanon between the camps of Prime Minster Sa’d Al-Hariri and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri – an ally of Hizbullah – over the control of Lebanon’s potential oil and natural gas resources, which could generate enormous… »

UN starts talks on global arms trade treaty – Ap

The United Nations began negotiations on a legally binding treaty aimed at regulating the global arms trade to help prevent the illegal transfer of guns that kill and injure thousands of people every… »