Democrazia

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… »

Why Palestinians Will Not Hold Elections, at Least for Now – CEIP

Only seven hours remained until the deadline to submit electoral lists to the Central Elections Commission on June 10 when the Palestinian Authority (PA) called off the local council elections scheduled to take place in July. The PA justified its abrupt decision by claiming that such elections could derail a possible reconciliation with the Islamic… »

The EEAS and the EU-India Strategic Partnership – IDSA

In early July the European Parliament approved the formation of a European External Action Service (EEAS) with an overwhelming majority. The nascent but ambitious EEAS primarily aims to achieve coherence and coordination in the bloc’s foreign policy. It would host an expert’s pool by bringing in desk officers working at the European Commission, area experts… »

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… »

China Building Africa’s Economic Infrastructure: SEZs and Railroads – China Brief

Chinese policymakers see in Africa possible solutions to some of China’s most pressing problems, for instance, Beijing’s need to secure access to energy resources and other vital minerals to sustain the country’s rapid economic growth. Yet Chinese interests in Africa extend beyond energy resources and minerals and clearly include markets, infrastructure development and agriculture. China’s… »

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… »

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… »

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… »

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… »

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… »

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… »

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… »

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… »

Communique of the International Conference on Afghanistan – MEMRI

On July 20, foreign ministers and diplomats from 70 countries and international organizations attended the International Conference on Afghanistan in Kabul. The conference backed Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s peace initiative with the Taliban, noting that the peace move is aimed at those militants who are willing to renounce violence and respect the Afghan constitution. At… »

“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… »

Disaster Politics – Foreign affairs

Governments cannot prevent earthquakes and other natural disasters, but they can prepare for them and ameliorate their effects. Measures to do so are well known. That so many countries in earthquake-prone regions of the world fail to adequately regulate construction, for example, seems to defy logic. It is tempting to suggest that a country’s ability… »

The Washington Consensus: Assessing a Damaged Brand – CGD

It is hard to overemphasize the practical and ideological importance of the Washington Consensus in Latin America. The Decalogue of Consensus policies laid out by John Williamson in his 1989 landmark paper became in the minds of advocates and pundits alike a manifesto for capitalist economic development. For its advocates, the Consensus reflected a doctrine… »

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… »

Japan Facing a New Latin America – AJISS

Japan today faces a Latin America completely different from the one it knew ten or fifteen years ago. The old Latin America was a continent of hyper inflation and turbulent economics. It was rife with political instability, fluctuating between military/autocratic regimes and moderately authoritarian ones. Internationally, the region was subject to the strong influence of… »

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… »

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… »

Recalibrating Germany’s and EU’s Policy in the South Caucasus – DGAP

The European Union’s policy towards the South Caucasus is a typical example of the inability of its member states to develop a common policy towards the post-Soviet space. Furthermore, the EU has been slow to adapt to changes in the region, such as, most notably, the rise in power and relevance of Azerbaijan in the… »

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… »

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… »

The History of BUNCIN: The US Bureau of Narcotics Covert Intelligence Network – Open Democracy

In the Watergate summer of 1972, President Richard Nixon’s adviser for law enforcement, Egil Krogh, and his band of Merry Pranksters, commonly known as the Plumbers, were dreaming up new ways to merge the war on drugs with the political war against “campus bums” and Democrats. One of their more bizarre plots wed the Bureau… »

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… »

Prospects For Regime Change in Belarus – Eurasia Daily Monitor

The approach of a new election always leads political analysts in Belarus to revisit a familiar question: is regime change possible or remote? Are Belarusians in general satisfied with the presidency of Alyaksandr Lukashenka? Will the current rift with Russia lead to the downfall of the leading politician in Belarus and, if so, who is… »

Futility and North Korea – Asia Sentinel

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

Report Exposes Irregularities of Obscure State Department-Funded Organization – Government Accountability Project

A report released by the Government Accountability Project (GAP), based on documents obtained through nearly three years’ of U.S. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests, exposes the highly irregular manner in which the Foundation for the Future (FFF) – an obscure project funded by the U.S. Department of State – was established and operated… »

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… »

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… »

Who’s who among armed groups in the DRC east – IRIN

Armed groups have caused severe suffering in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) over the years. Below are listed some that are active in the Kivu region. This information is gathered from various… »

Israel’s Jewish Divide – ISN

Often sidelined by the media’s focus on security issues, the culture war between secular and religious Jews and within the religious community itself continues to be a defining feature of modern Israeli society – by Dominic… »

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… »

Arid Australia Sips Seawater, but at a Cost – the New York Times

In one of the country’s biggest infrastructure projects in its history, Australia’s five largest cities are spending $13.2 billion on desalination plants capable of sucking millions of gallons of seawater from the surrounding oceans every day, removing the salt and yielding potable water. In two years, when the last plant is scheduled to be up… »

Long stalemate after Maoist victory disrupts life in Nepal – Washington Post

A 2006 peace agreement and a surprising Maoist victory in 2008 elections earned the rebels’ political party a central role in governing the country. But the Maoists and the Nepalese military and political establishment have been unable to agree on a deal to allow the Maoists to govern. The resulting deadlock has disrupted life in… »

Banks Financing Mexico Gangs Admitted in Wells Fargo Deal – Bloomberg

Since 2006, more than 22,000 people have been killed in drug-related battles that have raged mostly along the 2,000-mile (3,200-kilometer) border that Mexico shares with the U.S. In the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso, Texas, 700 people had been murdered this year as of mid- June. Behind the… »

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,… »

Prisoners of the Caucasus – Foreign Affairs

The Russian government seems to have few creative ideas about how to deal with the turmoil in the region, which has become the epicenter of routine political violence in the country. It has tried to will the conflict into a sort of resolution, with little result. In April 2009, the Kremlin announced the end of… »

Guatemala: Squeezed between Crime and Impunity – ICG

The 1996 peace accords formally ended Guatemala’s civil war but failure to address the conflict’s root causes and dismantle clandestine security apparatuses has weakened its institutions and opened the door to skyrocketing violent crime. Guatemala is one of the world’s most dangerous countries, with some 6,500 murders in 2009, more than the average yearly killings… »

The Failed States Index 2010 – Fp/Found for Peace

This year’s index draws on 90,000 publicly available sources to analyze 177 countries and rate them on 12 metrics of state decay — from refugee flows to economic implosion, human rights violations to security threats. Taken together, a country’s performance on this battery of indicators tells us how stable — or unstable — it is…. »

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…. »

Israel’s Foes Embrace New Resistance Tactics – Wall Street Journal

Hamas and Hezbollah, groups that have long battled Israel with violent tactics, have begun to embrace civil disobedience, protest marches, lawsuits and boycotts—tactics they once dismissed. For decades, Palestinian statehood aspirations seemed to lurch between negotiations and armed resistance against Israel. But a small cadre of Palestinian activists has long argued that nonviolence, in the… »