Muslim Brotherhood vs. Al-Qaeda

Jean-Pierre Filiu, Professor at Sciences Po Paris analyzes the historical competition between Al Qaeda and the Muslim brotherhood for the leadership of the overall Islamist movement as an organizational and ideological alternative to the ruling secular regimes in the Arab world and elsewhere. In an article in Current Trends in Islamist Ideology, a Hudson Institute publication, "The Brotherhood vs. Al-Qaeda: A Moment Of Truth?", he states that the Muslim Brotherhood movement, and especially Hamas, has achieved significant political gains and established a considerably broad political base by championing itself as the leader of a nationalist version of jihad, with deep roots in a people and a territory while al-Qaeda’s ideology of “global jihad” seems increasingly out of touch with Muslim reality and the very Muslim populations it seeks to mobilize.

China and Climate change

Joanna I Lewis, assistant professor at the Georgetown University examines the impact of climate change facing China, its implications, Beijing's response and that of the world. In an article with International Affairs, "Climate change and security: examining China’s challenges in a warming world", she states that China's national stability would come under threat if Beijing staked its future exclusively on a policy of high growth fueled by high emissions and concludes that although it was unrealistic to expect China to sacrifice economic growth to mitigate adverse effects of climate change, these two goals would converge sufficiently to avert open clash with its regional neighbors or Western trading partners.

Yet another East Asia grouping

Stephen Grenville and Mark Thirlwel, fellows at the Lowy Institute for International Policy advocate the creation of a caucus of the six East Asian members of the G-20; China, Japan, Korea, Indonesia, India and Australia, arguing that doing so would provide an opportunity to pool resources for research and the preparation of policy papers in turn helping the region promote an agenda at the G-20 that would support regional interests and establish G-20's relevance.In a Policy Brief, "A G-20 caucus for East Asia", they conclude that the establishment of an East Asian caucus would offer economies of scale in policy research and development and also contribute positively to the development of a regional economic architecture.

Canberra's blind spot

John Lee, fellow at the Sydney-based Center for Independent Studies states that despite the abundance  of  strategic  and diplomatic activity in the region reflecting New Delhi’s growing importance, India remains Australia’s great ‘strategic blind-spot' and as a result Canberra's diplomatic engagement with New Delhi was poor. In a Foreign Policy Analysis paper, "The importance of India: Restoring sight to Australia's strategic blind spot" he traces the rise of 'strategic India' and the continuing weak Canberra-New Delhi link in the wake of India's improving government-to-government relationships with key security partners in the Asia-Pacific.

Al-Qaeda vs Afghan Taliban

Vahid Brown, fellow at the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point Academy, states that there has been an uproar in the online jihadi community due to mixed messages emanating from the leadership of the Afghan Taliban and the al-Qaeda with the Taliban emphasizing the nationalist character of their movement and the al-Qaeda rejecting the nationalist version and reiterating its model of transnational jihad. In a commentary in Foreign Policy, "Al-Qaeda and the Afghan Taliban: “Diametrically Opposed”?", he posits that the recent shift in the Quetta Shura's strategic communications was not to al-Qaeda's liking, and it raised serious concerns among the broader Salafi jihadi movement about the religio-political legitimacy of the Afghan Taliban's leadership, calling into question the notion of an al-Qaeda-Taliban merger.

Reforms in FATA

Shehryar Fazli, South Asia editor at The International Crisis Group states that the encroaching Talibanisation in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) was not the product of tribal traditions or resistance but that of short-sighted military policies and an outdated legal system that isolated the region from the rest of the country, giving it an ambiguous constitutional status and denied political and economic freedom to the populace. In an International Crisis Group report, “Pakistan: Countering Militancy in FATA”, he states that earlier attempts to counter extremism in the tribal areas had failed because they prioritised short-term gain over fundamental changes to the political and administrative set and calls for dismantling of the existing undemocratic system of patronage driven by political agents.

Nuclear Networks and Proliferation

Michael Kraig, senior fellow at the Stanley Foundation states that the future threats of Nuclear terrorism would not come from countries, but from vast networks of operatives with only tenuous links to states who would steal or obtain nuclear material from the growing global black market and this necessitated an overhaul of the existing counterproliferation mindset, currently almost exclusively focused on rogue states to one which focused on law-enforcement to check illicit activities. In a Foreign Policy commentary, "Nuclear Network Theory", he calls for a global buildup in law-enforcement capabilities to detect human networks involved in both conventional and unconventional terrorist acts including real-time data sharing on extremist groups, developing more advanced legal capabilities to identifying phony or "front" businesses used by illicit transnational actors and claims that success in nonproliferation would require the creation of a cadre of national and transnational civil servants trained to crack down on black market trade.

Myanmar's Emergence

Alexander Nicoll and Jessica Delaney, editors of Strategic Comments, a publication of the International Institute for Security Studies state that the Myanmarese military viewed any foreign engagement through the prism of country's sovereignty and unity and that patience, flexibility and pragmatism would be required in copious quantities from the Myanmar regime, Western Governments and the Aung San Suu Kyi led opposition in the run-up towards elections in 2010. In an opinion piece, "Signs of Myanmar's emergence from diplomatic isolation" they argue that if the Myanmar regime could be provided with incentives to allow a relatively free election under its own constitution, if the opposition could see a path to greater participation, and if the US and EU adopted realistic expectations of the regime’s interpretation of democratic rule and begin lifting sanctions, the Burmese people’s prospects could improve significantly.

U.S-India 3.0

Ashley Tellis of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace avers that it was imperative that the United States and India agree on India's vital security concerns, Terrorism, Kashmir, and Asia's balance of power to ensure a deepening in their bilateral relations. In a policy brief "The United States and India 3.0: Cave! Hic Dragones", he states that although there is an active U.S.-India partnership in areas such as education, energy, science and technology, heathcare, and women's empowerment, U.S.-India agreement on India's key strategic concerns was vital or substantive movement on U.S. priorities of climate change, nonproliferation, and economic and defense cooperation.

Arctic Melt

Charles K Ebinger & Evie Zambetakis, of the Energy Security Initiative at Brookings Institution state that the prospect of longer ice-free periods in the Arctic has momentous implications for the region's commercial development, in itself a further risk to melting Arctic ice. In an article in International Affairs, Chatham House' bi-monthly, "The Geopolitics of Arctic Melt",they argue that Arctic melt does and will continue to pose economic, military and environmental challenges to the governance of the region and explore the role of technological factors as both a barrier and an enabler of access and that working within existing institutions and building capacity is preferable to the proliferation of new institutions, although the full structure and scope of the legal and regulatory frameworks that may be needed are, at present, unclear.

China's Indian Ocean Strategy

Vijay Sakhuja, director of the New Delhi-based Indian Council for World Affairs traces the history of maritime multilateralism of China's PLA Navy in the wake of the recent Chinese naval deployment in the Gulf of Aden. In an article for Jamestown Foundation's China Brief, "Maritime  Multilateralism:  China’s Strategy for the Indian Ocean", he outlines the increasing albeit selective multilateral role of the Chinese navy among the littorals of the Straits of Malacca and the Indian Ocean and states that Beijing is leveraging its naval power for strategic purposes and the development of military maritime infrastructure in the Indian Ocean would provide China access and a basing facility for conducting sustained operations and emerge as a stakeholder in Indian Ocean security architecture.