The SWISH Report (16)
Issue:Global militarisation
On the anniversary of Barack Obama’s inauguration as United States president, the al-Qaida movement invites the respected SWISH management consultancy to assess its prospects.
Read more »Posted on 26/01/10
Israel's shadow over Iran
Issue:Global militarisation
Excerpt: Most of the international attention on Iran in the second half of 2009 focused on the political turmoil following the presidential election of 12 June. The discussion of Iran’s nuclear capabilities and plans receded from the foreground, though it continued behind the scenes among all the states and international agencies involved. The signs are that, whatever the outcome of the domestic confrontation between the Mahmoud Ahmadinejad regime and the opposition, the coming months will see a sharpening of tension over the nuclear issue. This raises the question of whether there will be a military assault on Iran’s nuclear facilities – most likely by Israel, since there is little likelihood that the Barack Obama administration would countenance direct United States military action against Iran - in an attempt to stop the country from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Image: Globalsecurity.org
Read more »Posted on 19/01/10
Global Warring
Issues:Climate change, Competition over resources
In Global Warring: how environmental, economic and political crises will redraw the world map, Cleo Paskal combines climate research and interviews with geopolitical strategists and military planners, to identify the environmental problems that are most likely to start wars, destroy economies and create failed states.
Global Warring is available for purchace from palgrave macmillan.
Himalayan Sub-regional Cooperation for Water Security
Issues:Climate change, Competition over resources
Trans-boundary collaboration over the issue of shared water is critical since water is scarce in most areas. Today, the Himalayan region is facing severe water stresses. To overcome the challenge, there is a need to promote Himalayan Sub-Regional cooperation to ensure water security and a climate of peace and progress. There is no alternative to cooperation in view of the retreat of glaciers, resulting decline in river flows in parts of the region and flooding in other parts, tectonic changes in the Himalayan region, threat to food security and the risk of increase in inequity. A cooperative and open approach to Himalayan rivers, starting with new fundamentals has become imperative in this regard.
In this backdrop, BIPSS hosted the Second International Workshop on “Himalayan Sub-regional Cooperation for Water Security” in Dhaka on January15-16, 2010 in collaboration with the Strategic Foresight Group, India.
Speaker presentations, participant lists and previous reports are available here.
Yemen: Latest U.S. Battle Ground
Issue:Global militarisation
Excerpt: The United States may be on the verge of involvement in yet another counterinsurgency war which, as in Iraq and Afghanistan, may make a bad situation even worse. The attempted Christmas Day bombing of a Northwest Airlines flight by a Nigerian apparently planned in Yemen, the alleged ties between the perpetrator of the Ft. Hood massacre to a radical Yemeni cleric, and an ongoing U.S.-backed Yemeni military offensive against al-Qaeda have all focused U.S. attention on that country.
Read more »Posted on 19/01/10
The New Faces of Violence and War: Peace and Security Challenges
Issue:Marginalisation
In this recent article, Mariano Aguirre, Director of the Norwegian Peacebuilding Centre in Oslo, examines the complex and unpredictable challenges to peace and security.
Excerpt: The new vision on war, low intensity armed conflicts and violence is increasingly based on the inter-relation among different factors that generate the use of force. This is not a new approach, but is is the way that has been adopted, and there are several factors that are considered direct or indirect roots of conflicts as poverty, climate change, scarce resources and lack of democracy and representation are aggravating the competition for political power, territories, natural resources and cultural hegemonies among different countries and particular communal groups.
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