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82. Strength In Numbers
- Author:
- Wendy Cutler
- Publication Date:
- 03-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Asia Society
- Abstract:
- Tensions in U.S.-China economic and trade relations have steadily increased over the past year, leading to the imposition of tariffs and counter-tariffs impacting nearly USD $400 billion in two-way trade. At the time of writing, a negotiated solution has yet to materialize, but the two sides have continued to make progress, with a deal seemingly imminent. At the heart of the conflict are challenges posed by China’s state-led economic model, including excessive and under-reported industrial subsidies and other financial assistance, operation of state-owned enterprises (SOEs), opaque regulatory measures that advantage domestic producers, forced technology transfer, and centrally directed strategic guidance
- Topic:
- International Political Economy and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
83. The Avoidable War: Reflections on U.S.-China Relations and the End of Strategic Engagement
- Author:
- Kevin Rudd
- Publication Date:
- 01-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Asia Society
- Abstract:
- 2018 REPRESENTED A FUNDAMENTAL STRATEGIC TURNING POINT in the 40-year history of U.S.-China relations. This is not just an American view; it is also the Chinese view. Just as it is my own analytical view based on 40 years of observation of this relationship, going back to the time when I was an undergraduate student at the Australian National University. The nature of this change is that the United States, after 40 years of strategic engagement with China following China’s decision under Deng Xiaoping to pursue a domestic policy shift toward economic reform and opening, has concluded that China is no longer a trustworthy strategic partner. The analytical underpinnings of the period of engagement were that China, having embarked upon a series of economic, social, and some political reforms, was incrementally integrating itself into the American-led international rules-based order. This, in turn, was based on China’s decision in 1978 to abandon its policy of support for communist revolutionary movements around the world. This change followed the abandonment of a decade-plus of political radicalism pursued by Mao during the Cultural Revolution. And it followed, perhaps most significantly, China’s decision to embrace one series after another of market-based economic reforms, beginning with the introduction of price-based incentives in agriculture, then light manufacturing, then the services industry before extending across much of the rest of the Chinese economy. On top of this, the normalization of political relations between the United States and China, from Richard Nixon’s visit in 1972 to formal diplomatic recognition under Jimmy Carter in 1979, led to a sustained period of fundamental strategic realignment between China and the United States against a common strategic adversary in the form of the Soviet Union
- Topic:
- International Relations and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
84. Understanding China’s Rise Under Xi Jinping
- Author:
- Kevin Rudd
- Publication Date:
- 01-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Asia Society
- Abstract:
- NEXT WEEK MARKS THE 216TH ANNIVERSARY of the founding of the West Point Military Academy. Its founding came less than 20 years after the defeat of the British at Yorktown in 1781. It followed the decision by President Thomas Jefferson to establish the United States Military Academy just after his inauguration in 1801. Indeed, the United States Continental army first occupied this place on January 27, 1778, two years into the Revolutionary War, when things were not proceeding all that well against the British in that great conflagration. So you have been here at West Point since virtually the first birth-pangs of this great Republic
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
85. Xi Jinping, China, and the Global Order: The Significance of China’s 2018 Central Foreign Policy Work Conference
- Author:
- Asia Society Policy Institute
- Publication Date:
- 01-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Asia Society
- Abstract:
- ON JUNE 22–23 2018, THE CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY concluded its Central Conference on Work Relating to Foreign Affairs, the second since Xi Jinping became General Secretary of the Party and Chairman of the Central Military Commission in November 2012. The last one was held in November 2014. These are not everyday affairs in the Party’s deliberations on the great questions of China’s unfolding global engagement.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
86. NATO at Seventy: Filling NATO’s Critical Defense-Capability Gaps
- Author:
- Wolfgang Schroeder
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- As a young, single-seat fighter pilot based in Germany in the Royal Air Force of the early 1980s, I enjoyed a degree of certainty about my role in life. The world was, to all intents and purposes, a bi-polar place. We knew exactly from where our threat emanated and, indeed, had comprehensive standing plans for dealing with it. In the event of an attack by the Warsaw Pact on NATO’s eastern flank, we had pre-designated areas in which we would interdict any enemy military force heading westwards. We had pre-planned missions for systematically taking down all elements of Soviet air power — be it through suppression of enemy air defense sensors and surfaceto-air systems or denial of his airfields’ operating surfaces. In the event that the conflict escalated too rapidly, or went too far, we even had plans to resort to the ultimate sanction of the pre-planned and graduated employment of tactical nuclear weapons. Our plans, and our skills, were tested on a frequent and regular basis. It was no rare experience to be woken by a siren in the middle of the night to be called to duty. Our response time was measured, as was the ability to demonstrate our preparedness to brief our wartime missions, arm our aircraft, and prove our abilities to be airborne within the allocated time period. The results of these exercises—known as NATO Tactical Evaluations (TacEvals)—were equally rigorous in the Land and Maritime domains. Their results were widely shared within Alliance circles. Achieving a “one” for a TacEval result was every commanding officer’s goal
- Topic:
- International Relations and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
87. Ecology Meets Geopolitics
- Author:
- Peter Engelke and David Michel
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- Himalayan Asia is a shorthand term referring to the Asian countries that depend on river water from the high mountain ranges of the Tibetan Plateau. As the rivers produced by the Himalayas and other mountain ranges on the Plateau are under increasingly serious pressure, water insecurity threatens much of the continent’s peace and security. Himalayan Asia’s transboundary water dynamics threaten to erode interstate cooperation, including among the continent’s major powers, risk worsening geopolitical competition, and heighten the odds of domestic and interstate conflict. Yet there are viable pathways for avoiding such outcomes, the most important of which treat water as a shared resource to be managed cooperatively.
- Topic:
- Peace Studies and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Asia
88. Transatlantic Air Power and What to Do Now: Key to Deterrence, Key to Collective Defense
- Author:
- Frank Gorenc
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- As the world enters an era of great-power competition, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) faces a renewed challenge from an old adversary. A Europe whole, free, and at peace is now at risk as Russian aggression challenges the traditional rules-based world order. Russia’s activities in and against Ukraine and Georgia, rampant intrusion on Western democratic processes and political discourse, blatant assassination attempts on NATO soil, support for rogue regimes in Syria and Iran, and military deployments and force accumulation in Kaliningrad and Crimea, as well as in the Sea of Azov, demonstrate that the threat is as real and compelling as it ever was.
- Topic:
- International Affairs, Democracy, and Geopolitics
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
89. Dealing with the Offshore Economy
- Author:
- Alan Riley
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- Given that offshore tax havens are largely located in small, independent states or self-governing territories, it could be assumed that they have little connection to OECD states and major financial centers such as London and New York. This is not the case. The so-called tax havens are in fact part of a much larger network of financial and corporate services that depends on lawyers, accountants, and bankers located in major Western cities. Only one part of the havens’ business actually involves providing lower tax rates to individual foreign account holders
- Topic:
- International Affairs and Global Political Economy
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
90. Navigating the Energy Transition
- Author:
- David Koranyi
- Publication Date:
- 01-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- Atlantic Council
- Abstract:
- As energy markets and technologies rapidly change, international oil companies (IOCs) are facing a set of interconnected challenges that will fundamentally affect their business models. From changes in the supply and demand picture, to shifts in how energy is produced and consumed, to public pressure to decrease greenhouse gas footprints, companies have a wide range of issues to consider as they decide how to prepare for an unpredictable future. In a new issue brief, “Navigating the Energy Transition: International Oil Company Diversification Strategies,” Global Energy Center Senior Fellow David Koranyi provides a macro picture of select IOC’s strategic (re)thinking and explores some of the strategies IOCs have undertaken to diversify their portfolios and prepare for the unfolding energy transition.
- Topic:
- Energy Policy and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
91. Protests Challenge Gulf Counterrevolution
- Author:
- James M Dorsey
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies (BESA)
- Abstract:
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Much of the Middle East’s recent turmoil stems from internecine Middle Eastern rivalries spilling onto third country battlefields and Saudi and UAE-led efforts to roll back the achievements of the 2011 popular Arab revolts and pre-empt further uprisings. The recent successful toppling of ailing Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika and months of anti-government demonstrations that have put Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir on the defensive suggest that the Saudi-UAE effort may be faltering.
- Topic:
- International Political Economy and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Israel
92. The False “Nakba” Narrative
- Author:
- Raphael G. Bouchnik-Chen
- Publication Date:
- 03-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies (BESA)
- Abstract:
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The term “Nakba,” originally coined to describe the magnitude of the self-inflicted Palestinian and Arab defeat in the 1948 war, has become in recent decades a synonym for Palestinian victimhood, with failed aggressors transformed into hapless victims and vice versa. Israel should do its utmost to uproot this false image by exposing its patently false historical basis
- Topic:
- Corruption, Post Colonialism, and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Palestine
93. Belarus Could Be Russia’s Next Big Geopolitical Target
- Author:
- Emil Avdaliani
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies (BESA)
- Abstract:
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Russia’s geopolitical projection has shifted over the past two decades. The country has tried to reverse its losses in Ukraine and the South Caucasus, but it is in Belarus that Moscow will most likely try to further extend its leverage to keep the EU and NATO at bay.
- Topic:
- International Affairs and Geopolitics
- Political Geography:
- Israel
94. Sanctions on the IRGC Will Be Judged by Results – and by Iran’s Reaction
- Author:
- Yaakov Lappin
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies (BESA)
- Abstract:
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The Trump administration’s decision to designate Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist entity will ultimately be judged by how successful it is in changing Iran’s conduct.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Israel
95. US Designation of Revolutionary Guards Risks Escalation
- Author:
- James M Dorsey
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies (BESA)
- Abstract:
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The US designation of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a terrorist organization, and the Iranian response, has potentially put US military personnel in the region in harm’s way. The designation increases economic pressure on Iran because the IRGC is not only an army but also a commercial conglomerate – but it remains to be seen to what degree the sanctions will affect the IRGC
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Israel
96. With Italy on Board, China’s BRI Gets a Major Boost
- Author:
- Emil Avdaliani
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies (BESA)
- Abstract:
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: China’s grand Belt and Road Initiative, which is intended to connect the Asia-Pacific with the European market, had a major boost in March when Italy – the first of the G7 states – effectively signed onto the project. This event illustrates how difficult it is becoming for European countries to resist Chinese investment at a time of economic troubles in the EU
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Israel
97. A New EastMed Friendship, with US Support
- Author:
- George N Tzogopoulos
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Working Paper
- Institution:
- The Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies (BESA)
- Abstract:
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: The prospective EastMed pipeline would be the flagship project of the Cypriot-Greek-Israeli collaboration, a developing friendship that enjoys deep foundations. The US has now made its support for that partnership official.
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Israel
98. Mariupol: An On-Site Report
- Author:
- Jiri Valenta and Leni Friedman Valenta
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Policy Brief
- Institution:
- The Begin-Sadat Centre for Strategic Studies (BESA)
- Abstract:
- EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: Although Vladimir Putin has not articulated the final objective of his proxy war in eastern Ukraine, his actions seem to indicate that he is determined to create a land bridge from Mariupol to Odessa – two major seaports vitally important to Ukraine's economy. Putin's overall strategy in Ukraine seems to be to strangle it economically by disrupting shipping between the Odessa and Azov Sea ports, with the aim of eventually subjugating Ukraine to Russia
- Topic:
- International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Israel
99. How Can NATO Contribute to Regional Cooperation in the Field of Training and Education?
- Author:
- Marija Ignjatijevic
- Publication Date:
- 01-2019
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Belgrade Centre for Security Policy
- Abstract:
- NATO shares its expertise with partner countries in order to assist them with defence education and training reform through a set of mechanisms. By joining different NATO initiatives partner countries open up the opportunity to exchange insights and experience in areas of common interest, gain access to the advice and support of NATO experts, as well as to take part in various NATO events and activities. Partnership education and training mechanisms are predominantly designed as bilateral tools - focused on enhancing cooperation and interoperability between the Alliance and the partner.
- Topic:
- International Cooperation, Regional Cooperation, and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Global Focus
100. Romania: NATO's Frail Anchor in a Turbulent Black Sea
- Author:
- Teodore Stan
- Publication Date:
- 04-2019
- Content Type:
- Commentary and Analysis
- Abstract:
- As the North Atlantic Alliance (NATO) foreign ministers gather this week in Washington to mark the 70th anniversary of the most successful military alliance in history, trouble is brewing over Brexit and the rise of populism in the western front and the challenges brought by autocratic leaders on its eastern front. Democratic backsliding, particularly in Turkey, Poland, and Hungary, has painted a bleak picture for the shared values-centered rationale of the alliance. Not unlike its troubled neighbors, Romania also presents its own frailty with regards to the challenged independence of its justice system and its defanged prosecution of high-level corruption.
- Topic:
- International Organization and International Affairs
- Political Geography:
- Romania