La rassegna di geopolitica di Radio Radicale
- Rassegna di geopolitica: lo status di Gerusalemme 6 August 2010
- Rassegna di Geopolitica: scontri a fuoco tra Israele e Libano 4 August 2010
- Rassegna di Geopolitica. La Birmania tra India e Cina 30 July 2010
- Rassegna di geopolitica. Tensioni tra Usa e Cina nel Pacifico 28 July 2010
- Rassegna di geopolitica: Le ambizioni nucleari dell'Arabia Saudita 22 July 2010
- Rassegna di geopolitica: le nuove prospettive della Cina 9 July 2010
- Rassegna di geopolitica - L'agricoltura globale 7 July 2010
- Rassegna di geopolitica: la politica Usa dello Spazio 2010 emanata da Barack Obama 1 July 2010
- Rassegna di geopolitica: per i Paesi Arabi il rischio di gravi crisi alimentari 9 June 2010
- Rassegna di geopolitica: le nuove Università in Asia 4 June 2010
L’ora di Cindia di Claudio Landi
- L'ora di Cindia 28 August 2010
- L'ora di Cindia 22 August 2010
- L'ora di Cindia 7 August 2010
- L'ora di Cindia 31 July 2010
- L'ora di Cindia 25 July 2010
- L'ora di Cindia 18 July 2010
- L'ora di Cindia 10 July 2010
- L'ora di Cindia 4 July 2010
- L'ora di Cindia 26 June 2010
- L'ora di Cindia 20 June 2010
Spazio
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… »
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 –… »
A transatlantic defence market, forever elusive? – CER
(PDF) – EU member-states and the US would benefit from more open defence markets across the Atlantic. Military forces would find it easier to co-operate in the field, governments could pay less for defence goods, and the transatlantic relationship would be strengthened. But markets remain fragmented. States are often more concerned with creating jobs than… »
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… »
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… »
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… »
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… »
The Arab-Israeli Military Balance in 2010 – CSIS
The Arab-Israeli military balance has steadily evolved in recent years to put more and more emphasis on irregular or asymmetric warfare, and the use of military force for political and ideological leverage – both inside the countries involved and in dealing with their neighbors. At the same time, the conventional arms race has continued to… »
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… »
All Together Now: Missile Defense – the New York Times
No other initiative has more near-term potential to ease the NATO-Russian relationship out of its petulant, impacted state, while giving a positive jolt to the revived but tentative and unfocused interest in an improved and more inclusive European security system, than missile-defense cooperation. Were North America, Europe and Russia to make defense of the entire… »
Balancing on Land and at Sea: Do States Ally against the Leading Global Power? – Belfer Center
(PDF) – Scholars often interpret balance of power theory to imply that great powers almost always balance against the leading power in the system, and they conclude that the absence of a counterbalancing coalition against the historically unprecedented power of the United States after the end of the Cold War is a puzzle for balance… »
U.K., France To Launch ‘Ambitious’ Cooperation Study – Defense News
Britain and France have agreed to a joint effort to examine which defense capabilities the two countries might share and those for which they could depend on each other, in a bid to boost cooperation in Europe, French Defense Minister Hervé Morin told members of the parliament here. “The new British government wishes that we… »
Iron Dome missile defense system aces final test run – Haaretz
Israel’s defense establishment completed its final series of experiments on the Iron Dome missile defense system, which could protect Israeli towns from short and medium-range missiles and rockets. Two Iron Dome defense systems have so far been manufactured, and will become operational this coming November in the Israel Air Force anti-aircraft division. U.S President Barack… »
NASA’s Cloudy Future – the Atlantic
Obama’s FY2011 budget, while narrowly increasing NASA’s $18.7 billion outlay, proposes to redirect that money toward research and development and stronger support for commercial space flight, which would bring NASA’s illustrious 50-year history of manned missions to a close. This is economically and psychologically devastating to communities in Texas, Alabama, and Florida that depend on… »
China flexes its naval muscle – Asia Times
China this week again used the East China Sea as a setting for military maneuvers and exercises that it knew would rattle the United States and its allies. After recently calming Japanese concerns about rising tensions in this area, China shut down all vessel traffic in a large zone off the coast of Zhejiang as… »
U.S. Missiles Deployed Near China Send a Message – TIME
If China’s satellites and spies were working properly, there would have been a flood of unsettling intelligence flowing into the Beijing headquarters of the Chinese navy last week. A new class of U.S. superweapon had suddenly surfaced nearby. The 14 Trident-carrying subs are useful in the unlikely event of a nuclear Armageddon, and Russia remains… »
Power Constrained: Sources of Mutual Strategic Suspicion in U.S.-China Relations – NBR
The U.S.-China relationship is fundamentally stable and will remain so for the foreseeable future. This is so because the relationship is anchored in the two societies’ respective preoccupations with their own domestic problems, the United States’ draining commitments elsewhere, and the requirement for cooperation on transnational issues such as proliferation, global production chain security, energy,… »
Beijing’s Tightrope Walk on Iran – CEIP
(PDF) – China’s stance toward Iran is driven by several very important interests. Front and center among these are two critical strategic imperatives that exist in considerable tension with one another. On the one hand, Beijing wants to strengthen its political and economic ties with all the key powers in the Middle East, including Iran…. »
A global China policy – ECFR
China now affects every global issue from trade and the economy to climate change and nuclear proliferation, as well as every region from Africa to the Middle East. Europe therefore needs to reframe its China policy in global terms. Instead of thinking of their relationship with China in bilateral terms,
EU member states need to take… »
Is India Scared of China? – Indian Defence Review
First, given the importance of China in India’s foreign policy, Indian policy makers, foreign policy analysts and think tanks must understand Beijing well. This is particularly so when India does not have China-experts worth the name. And the best way to improve this state of affairs is to interact with the Taiwanese scholars who are… »
U.S. nuclear forces, 2010 – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
(PDF) – As of January, the United States maintained a nuclear arsenal of an estimated 2,468 operational warheads. The arsenal consists of roughly 1,968 strategic warheads deployed on 798
strategic delivery vehicles and 500 nonstrategic warheads. In addition, approximately 2,600 warheads are held in reserve. That adds up to a total stockpile of about 5,113 warheads…. »
Israeli gas boom could ignite trouble – Upi
Israel’s natural gas bonanza in the eastern Mediterranean just keep getting bigger, with reserves currently pegged at around 25 trillion cubic feet. That’s enough to guarantee the Jewish state, dependent on imported energy since it was founded in 1948, energy security for at least two decades. But the offshore finds may become a casus belli… »
Rare Earth Materials in the Defense Supply Chain – GAO
(PDF) – Rare earth elements are used in many applications for their magnetic and other unique properties. These include the 17 chemical elements beginning with lanthanum, element number 57
in the periodic table, up to and including lutetium, element number 71, as well as yttrium and scandium, which have similar properties. Rare earth materials—rare earth ores,… »
Russia backs away from Iran missile deal – Bbc
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has said Moscow will freeze the sale of surface-to-air missiles to Iran. Russia agreed to supply Iran with S-300 systems several years ago but has not delivered… »
Think Tanks and Public Policies in Latin America – Fundación Siena/CIPPEC
(PDF) – It is not true that democracy and technocracy are necessarily opposite principles. An
active and growing civic participation is not incompatible with the incorporation of expert knowledge
in public policies. Actually, it is not difficult to grasp that democracy fragility grows when
elected Governments fail to solve, efficiently and effectively, the complex problems of economic
and social… »
Afghanistan: A View from Moscow – CEIP
(PDF) – Russia remains cautious about becoming too involved in the conflict, but Moscow fears the prospect of instability in Central Asia and drug trafficking from Afghanistan. Russia wants to prevent an outright Taliban victory fearing that if the Taliban regain control they could export radicalism and support rebel activity in Russia’s near abroad. Stem… »
The Cost of Defence: ASPI Defence Budget Brief 2010-2011
Despite the dramatic improvement in the government’s economic and fiscal outlook, there was little joy to be found for Defence in this year’s budget. Aside from $1.6 billion in routine supplementation to cover the cost of overseas deployments over the next four years, there were no substantive new funding measures in the budget. Moreover, Defence… »
Does Azerbaijan Have the Cash to Finance Its First Satellite? – EurasiaNet
A $203 million commercial satellite project could make energy-rich Azerbaijan the first South Caucasus country to venture into outer space, but some critics ask whether financial problems will interfere with the satellite’s launch and operation. The government sees the development of the space industry as part of its broader plans to transform Azerbaijan’s information communications… »
Les drones MALE : Quelles options pour l’Europe ? – IFRI
(PDF) – Les pays européens, France en tête, doivent prendre sans tarder une décision en matière de développement et d’acquisition de drones MALE. Leurs choix seront cruciaux non seulement pour préserver la souveraineté opérationnelle des Européens au plan militaire, mais aussi pour garantir l’avenir de l’industrie aéronautique européenne. Un engagement en faveur d’une politique industrielle… »
Peaceful Nuclear Explosions – WNA
The USA and Russia have investigated and trialled the use of nuclear explosions for civil engineering purposes, though only one significant construction resulted: a dam in Kazakhstan. Russia has used nuclear explosions to extinguish major gas well fires. Some 150 experiments spanned 1957-75 in the USA and 1965-89 in the USSR. PNEs will be banned… »
Polish Power Projection – ISN
Since the Obama administration cancelled previous plans to install a comprehensive European missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic in the fall of 2009, the US has been particularly concerned with re-assuring a somewhat anxious Polish side, and has made considerable effort to propose and establish new security cooperation platforms. As an initial… »
Secure Border Initiative – GAO
Securing the nation’s borders from illegal entry of aliens and contraband, including terrorists and weapons of mass destruction, continues to be a major challenge. In November 2005, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced the launch of the Secure Border Initiative (SBI)–a multiyear, multibillion dollar program aimed at securing U.S. borders and reducing illegal immigration…. »
Evolving Aerospace Trends in the Asia-Pacific Region – PROJECT 2049
(PDF) – Aerospace power is unquestionably defining the future strategic environment in a region whose vast distances place a premium on speed and agility that defy the laws of gravity. This monograph addresses trends in China’s force modernization, strategy, and doctrine; development of conventional air force, air and missile defense, and long range precision strike… »
Burma’s nuclear weapons intent ‘clear and disturbing’ – Guardian
Fresh claims that Burma is trying to acquire the know-how and material to build a nuclear weapon, based on information provided by a former army officer, are published today, renewing concern about the extent of the junta’s military ambitions – by Richard… »
The price of freedom – the Economist
Since embracing full democracy 16 years ago, South Africa has made huge strides. But in reality South Africa is no more than a middle-income developing country with a GDP per person of around $10,000 (at purchasing-power parity), a quarter of the American figure. On a per-head basis, it is the seventh-richest country in Africa by… »
Hizbullah’s alleged Scuds raise storm clouds over Lebanon – IISS
On 13 April 2010 Israeli President Shimon Peres gave public voice to serious Israeli concerns that Syria had recently supplied Scud missiles to Hizbullah in Lebanon. Damascus dismissed the charge as a fabrication designed to justify Israeli aggression against Lebanon, a line echoed by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri. Scuds in Hizbullah’s hands would pose… »
French Military Attaches Leave Taiwan – Asia Sentinel
A decision made public Monday in Taiwan that the French government is pulling defence personnel from the island over a court order to pay US$891 million to Taiwan because of a monumental scandal involving the sale of stealth frigates raises as many questions as it answers. According to Taiwan media reports, the technical team is… »
Israel stations nuclear missile subs off Iran – the Times
Three German-built Israeli submarines equipped with nuclear cruise missiles are to be deployed in the Gulf near the Iranian coastline. The first has been sent in response to Israeli fears that ballistic missiles developed by Iran, Syria and Hezbollah, a political and military organisation in Lebanon, could hit sites in Israel, including air bases and… »
Maritime Surveillance in suppor of CSDP – The Wise Pen Team
(PDF) – Despite the recession, the long term expansion, scale and importance of maritime trade remain clear. Seaborne trade has doubled every decade since 1945. International shipping infrastructure is massive: shipbuilding tonnage has doubled since 1990; 93,000 vessels are manned by 1.25 million seafarers trading between 8000 ports. As trade has increased so has the… »
Offsetting China in the Pacific – ISN
China’s People’s Liberation Army is building up anti-access and area-denial capabilities with the apparent goal of extending their power to the western half of the Pacific Ocean. Chinese military and political doctrine holds that China should rule the waves out to the second island chain of the western Pacific, which extends as far as Guam… »
How the U.S. Military Can Win the Robotic Revolution – Brookings Institution
When the U.S. military went into Iraq in 2003, it used only a handful of unmanned systems in the air, none of them armed. On the ground, the invasion force used zero unmanned ground vehicles. Today, we have over 7000 unmanned aerial systems in our inventory—48-foot-long Predators, micro-aerial vehicles that a single soldier can carry… »
Turkey may cancel defense cooperation with Israel – Today’s Zaman
Turkish authorities are discussing how to respond to Israel at every level, including at Turkey’s defense industry undersecretariat. The cancellation of defense projects with Israel was discussed; the government and the civilian and military bureaucracy will decide on the future of Turkey’s cooperative projects with Israel. The value of cooperative projects in this area is… »
Delegitimizing Nuclear Weapons: Examining the Validity of Nuclear Deterrence – CNS
(PDF) – Decades of international security institution-building have been based on the Cold War
constructs of nuclear deterrence and extended nuclear deterrence. In order to eliminate nuclear weapons, we first need to deconstruct the nuclear weapons security edifice, examine the beliefs surrounding nuclear deterrence and nuclear weapons, and remove the value that has been assigned to… »
World Telecommunication/ ICT Development Report 2010 – ITU
About 26 percent of the world’s population were online at the end of 2009, and mobile telephony is booming with the number of mobile subscribers likely to reach the 5 billion mark this year, according to a report released Tuesday by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU).
The number of Internet users has doubled between 2003 to… »
Russia’s space defenses in shambles – RIA Novosti
A group of retired Russian generals warned on Thursday that the country’s space defenses are obsolete and have a limited capability to counter possible threats from… »
Getting Ready for Tomorrow’s Space Wars – FOXNews
A U.S. Air Force space plane and a failed hypersonic glider tested by the Pentagon represent the latest space missions to raise concerns about weapons in space. But while their exact purpose remains murky, they join a host of new space technology tests that could eventually bring the battlefield into space. Some space technology demonstrations… »
National Security Strategy 2010 – The White House
(PDF) – At the dawn of the 21st century, the United States of America faces a broad and complex array of challenges to our national security. Just as America helped to determine the course of the 20th century, we must now build the sources of American strength and influence, and shape an international order capable… »
NATO 2020: Assured security; Dynamic engagement
(PDF) – Analysis and recommendations of the group of experts on a new strategic concept for NATO chaired by Madeleine K. Albright. The North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) enters the second decade of the twenty-first century as an essential source of stability in an uncertain and unpredictable world. NATO needs a new Strategic Concept because… »
Evaluating a potential US-China bilateral investment treaty – US-China Economic and Security Review Commission
(PDF) – This paper, prepared by the Economist Intelligence Unit for the US-China Economic
and Security Council, summarises the context, current discussions and implications of a potential US-China bilateral investment treaty (BIT). Simply defined, a BIT is a treaty between two countries designed to promote and protect investments between the two signatory states. A BIT provides… »