U.S. Climate change pressure - cyclone in India

Arvind Panagariya, Professor at Columbia University, states that developed countries have chosen to play strategically on climate change by framing the negotiation in terms of mitigating commitments rather than emission rights that could let them claim the moral high ground for large cuts and yet walk away with maximum rights to pollute in the future. In an article for Brookings Institution, “Climate Change and India: Is There a Basis for U.S. Pressure?“, he calls on the developed countries to substantially cut their emissions before asking developing countries to commit to mitigation.

Battling terrorist ideology

Michael Jacobson, fellow at The Washington Institute of Near East Policy’s Stein Program on Counterterrorism and Intelligence states that former terrorists were best-placed to deliver a narrative to terrorists that could contradict Al-Qaeda’s single narrative. In an article “Terrorist Drop-outs: One Way of Promoting a Counter-Narrative” he presents various examples where former terrorists and extremists contributed to reducing terrorist violence and present the terror drop-outs as a potent weapon for Governments in their battle of ideas against terrorist ideologies.

Change in the Land of the Rising Sun

Yukio Hatoyama, President of Japan states that the creation of an East Asian community to support economic cooperation and national security in the wake of declining U.S. power and expanding Chinese power was one of his goals as President. In an op-ed in Wall Street Journal “'My Political Philosophy' The Banner of Party Politician Ichiro Hatoyama” he argues that the underlying structures required for the formation of a regional economic bloc were already in place and that the way to reduce bilateral tensions was to move towards greater regional integration targeting the establishment of a future common Asian currency.

Linkage between public opinion and terrorism

Alan B. Krueger, Assistant Secretary at the U.S. Department of Treasury and Jitka Malečková of the Economics Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences examine the effect of public opinion in a country on the number of terrorist attacks perpetrated by its citizens or groups against other countries by analyzing Gallup poll data of public opinion in 19 Middle Eastern and North African countries who disapprove of the leadership of nine world powers. In an article “Attitudes and Action: Public Opinion and the Occurrence of International Terrorism “ in Science they refute the assertion that terrorists act independently of their countrymen’s attitudes toward the leadership of the countries they attack.

The Long Road to ‘Chindia’

Bernt Berger, researcher at the Stiftung Wissenschaft and Politik (German Institute for International and Security Affairs) states that China and India are once again confronted with multiple issues that strain their path of gradual rapprochement. In an article for ISN Security Watch, “The Long Road to ‘Chindia’ “, claims that the rapid growth of bilateral trade between India and China had not eased the wary perceptions arising out of the unsolved territorial dispute, and that a common interest in global affairs such as climate change could help bring the Chinese and Indian strategic community closer

Fighting corruption in Afghanistan

Michael E O’ Hanlon, Director of Research at Brookings Institution and Jane Harman, member of the U.S. Congress lament that anti-corruption campaign had been largely overlooked in the west’s strategy to address the rapidly deteriorating situation in Afghanistan. In an article for Brookings Institution, “Troops to Progress on Afghanistan’s Corruption“, they argue that the counterinsurgency strategy would not succeed if a larger anti-corruption effort including such measures as ombudsmen at various levels to handle citizen complaints and firing of corrupt officials, were not implemented.

Asia-Pacific Economic Security in the aftermath of the crisis of 2008

François Godement, fellow of the European Council on Foreign Relations, traces the origins of Asian regional integration cautioning that although China may be grooming its currency for capital convertibility and creating a modest role for the yuan as a reserve currency, economic security may not necessarily be improved due to China’s opacity and the fact that Asian currencies are as close to a dollar peg as they’ve ever been. In a paper for Institute for National Policy Research, Taiwan “Asia-Pacific Security in the context of global economic crisis”,  at the Asia-Pacific Security Forum 2009, he states that Asian based approach to enhanced economic security would be complementary to global approaches and would also involve expanded roles for Asian countries like China and India in international institutions.

Revitalizing the dragon

Evan S. Medeiros, analyst at the Center for Asia Pacific Policy at RAND institute analyzes the multiple layers that constitute China’s foreign policy strategy, and assesses the challenges for China in implementing its strategy and implications for U.S. policy and interests. In a RAND monograph China’s International Behaviour - Activism, Opportunism, and Diversification, he posits that Chinese leaders have concluded that their external security environment is favorable and that the next 15 to 20 years represented a “strategic window of opportunity” for China to achieve its leading objective of national revitalization through continued economic, social, military and political development while deftly leveraging the current international system.

North Asia’s nuclear tangle

Rory Medcalf, Director at the Lowy Institute for International Policy focuses on the complications  in North Asia in the wake of a renewed push by Washington towards nuclear disarmament. In an article “Wicked weapons North Asia’s nuclear tangle”, the author provides the background of the intersecting interests of North Asian powers such as the U.S., China, and Japan and highlights potential trajectories that demand mutual and coordinated concessions of Washington, Beijing, Tokyo.

China’s Myanmar Dilemma

China’s Myanmar Dilemma, the latest International Crisis Group report, examines Chinese national and provincial policy towards Myanmar and its implications for international approaches toward Myanmar. The authors suggest that China’s influence on Myanmar may have been overstated and call for continued pressure by the West in the Security Council and other fora while emphasizing to China the unsustainable nature of its current policies.

Terror’s Training Ground

Ayesha Siddiqua claims that South Punjab has become a jihadist hub due to a potent mix of economic stagnation, Islamist fundamentalism, and ideological indoctrination at madrassas. In an article “Terror’s Training Ground” in the Daily News, she also claims that the authorities continue to be in denial while the number of madrassas in the Punjab rose to 3000+, converting people to Salafism and training jihadis and the state apparatus as well as the political parties have tieups with the militant groups. She concludes that a reexamination of the strategic partnership between the militants and the state apparatus as well as investments in social development would be the way to go about fixing the problem, rather than military deployment.