A year after US withdrawal from Afghanistan, some frustration at lack of lessons learned
Voice of America – 12-8-2022
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US State and Defense Departments are conducting ongoing internal after-action reports on the withdrawal, but timeline of release remains unclear
The Indonesian Chinese still grappling with discrimination
South China Morning Post – 26-10-2018
Indonesian Chinese make up just three per cent of the country’s population, but they have played a prominent role in its history. A driving force behind Indonesia’s economic growth, they have also been the target of violent riots and xenophobic sentiment, with many leaving the country where their ancestors have lived for generations. Although they are allowed to express their ethnicity and culture openly again, a resurgence of nationalist sentiments have brought their place in Indonesian society back into question.
Between two superpowers: Indonesia’s position in the US-China rivalry
South China Morning Post – 25-7-2022
Indonesia is the largest developing economy in Southeast Asia, with a gross domestic product of over US$1 trillion. The country’s size and location have made it Indonesia an attractive strategic partner for China and the United States to influence the Asean region. Indonesia has attempted to remain neutral in the China-U.S rivalry, but if tensions between the two continue to rise, will Indonesia be forced to take sides or adopt a foreign policy that doesn’t align with either superpower?
Published: August 2, 2022 2.16pm BST The Conversation
The views expressed by Dr. Milton are his own and not of the U.S. Military Academy, the Department of the Army, or any other agency of the U.S. Government
Andrew Mines and Haroro J. Ingram do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.
We believe in the free flow of informationAyman al-Zawahri, leader of al-Qaida and a plotter of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, has been killed in a drone strike in the Afghan city of Kabul, according to the U.S. government.
Al-Zawahri was the the successor to Osama bin Laden and his death marked “one more measure of closure” to the families of those killed in the 2001 atrocities, U.S. President Joe Biden said during televised remarks on Aug. 1, 2022.
The operation came almost a year after American troops exited Afghanistan after decades of fighting there. The Conversation asked Daniel Milton, a terrorism expert at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and Haroro J. Ingram and Andrew Mines, research fellows at the George Washington University’s Program on Extremism, to explain the significance of the strike on al-Zawahri and what it says about U.S. counterterrorism efforts in Afghanistan under the Taliban.
Continue reading Who was Ayman al-Zawahri? Where does his death leave al-Qaida and what does it say about US counterterrorism?LÊ QUANG 31/07/2022 06:33 GMT+7
TTCT – Khi người tiêu dùng rên xiết bởi đồng tiền mất giá, lãi bán hàng không đủ mua xăng dầu, hay mùa đông tới châu Âu có lẽ phải hạ lò sưởi xuống 18 độ C – thì chiến sự ở Ukraine là lời giải thích quá vội vã và quá dễ dãi. Về lâu dài, biến đổi khí hậu mới là nguyên nhân chính.
Nhiều nước châu Âu đang trải qua giai đoạn nắng nóng kỷ lục. Ảnh: Reuters
Các nghiên cứu trước đây đã chỉ ra mối liên hệ giữa thời tiết khắc nghiệt và khủng hoảng kinh tế, nhưng chỉ tập trung vào các nước đang phát triển, tình cờ cũng là những quốc gia bị lũ lụt, bão và hạn hán thường xuyên và nghiêm trọng hơn nhiều so với phương Tây. Nói cách khác, người ta đã cố tình lờ đi một điểm yếu của phương Tây, vốn vẫn luôn bị ảnh hưởng bởi biến đổi khí hậu, nay chỉ lộ rõ hơn vì chiến sự Ukraine.
Jul 25, 2022 RICHARD HAASS Project Syndicate
Even before Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his war against Ukraine and set off a global scramble for fossil fuels, the battle against climate change was being lost. With national leaders and international diplomacy proving ineffective, is there any hope of saving ourselves?
NEW YORK – It is often said that no one wins a war, just that some lose less than others. Russia’s war against Ukraine promises to be no exception. One clear loser is already evident: the planet.
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foreignpolicy – This week, Uzbekistan has hosted two major summits with consequences for South Asia. The first was an international conference on Afghanistan held on Monday and Tuesday. And now, the foreign ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO)—a multilateral group that aims to promote stability across Eurasia—have gathered in Tashkent, the capital, for a meeting on Thursday and Friday focused on regional peace and security and global inflation.
July 26, 2022 3:41 PM VOA
Congolese protesters scale the perimeter wall of the compound of United Nations peacekeeping force’s warehouse in Goma, in the North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo, July 26, 2022.”/>
The United Nations said that three of its peacekeepers were killed in ongoing anti-U.N. protests that turned violent in eastern Congo on Tuesday, while several civilians were also killed in the violence.
“At the MONUSCO Butembo base today, violent attackers snatched weapons from Congolese police and fired upon our uniformed personnel,” U.N. spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York.
MONUSCO is the acronym for the U.N. Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Protesters in Butembo, in the eastern province of North Kivu, accuse the U.N. of having failed to protect them from an escalation of violence from armed groups.
Continue reading UN Peacekeepers, Congolese Civilians Killed in Violent Protests Daily News BriefJuly 25, 2022 |
| Top of the Agenda EU Approves Vaccine for Monkeypox in Wake of WHO Emergency DeclarationThe European Union (EU) followed Canada and the United States in approving Bavarian Nordic’s smallpox vaccine for use against monkeypox (Reuters), the Danish drugmaker said. The step comes after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern and urged countries to step up their disease surveillance and response efforts. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus overruled an inconclusive WHO panel of advisors to make the declaration, saying “too little” is understood (NYT) about the current outbreak. More than sixteen thousand monkeypox cases have been reported in seventy-five countries since early May. Vaccines have been made available in some countries, though their global supply is relatively small (Vox). |
The quadrilateral grouping was popularly dubbed as the “West Asian Quad” until last year, has now graduated to become “I2U2″. The signing of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between India and the UAE, the ongoing talks of an FTA between India and Israel, coupled with the already existing FTA between the UAE and Israel, can help this grouping triangulate the economic partnership.
Written by Guest
Updated: July 22, 2022 3:47:03 pm Financialexpress.com
Under the framework of four nation grouping I2U2, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) had announced its decision to invest USD 2 billion to develop a series of integrated food parks across India. (File image)
By Harsh Kumar Upadhayay
The signing of the Abraham Accords and the subsequent normalisation of formal diplomatic relations between Israel and the UAE, followed by Israel and Bahrain, have reconfigured the political alignments of West Asia. In a world which is passing through uncertain times, characterized by power rivalries, armed conflicts, the looming fear of food crisis coupled with pessimistic market sentiments in a post-pandemic era, the Abraham Accords have not only created opportunities for bilateral engagements between the countries of West Asia but also have led to the creation of a Quadrilateral cooperative framework between India, Israel, the United States and the United Arab Emirates.
Continue reading The Abraham Accords and the Genesis of I2U2
Daily News BriefJuly 22, 2022
| Daily News BriefJuly 22, 2022 |
Continue reading Concil on Foreign Relations: Daily Brief July 22, 2022
PacNet #38 – July 21, 2022
China’s “containment” policy against America
By Denny Roy
Denny Roy (RoyD@EastWestCenter.org) is a senior fellow at the East-West Center, Honolulu. He specializes in strategic and international security issues in the Asia-Pacific region.
Chinese officials and government media constantly decry what they call the US “containment” policy against China. They allege that Washington’s intention is to prevent China from becoming relatively stronger or more globally influential, lest Beijing impede the pursuit of the US agenda in international affairs.
Continue reading China’s “containment” policy against America
TTCT – NHẬT ĐĂNG 18/07/2022 15:30 GMT+7
Biến cố Thủ tướng Boris Johnson từ chức một lần nữa cho thấy lề lối chính trị độc đáo ở Anh.
Ông Boris Johnson từ chức sau ba năm nắm quyền thủ tướng. Ảnh: Getty Images
Chưa bao giờ tình hình nước Anh rối ren như hiện nay. Hàng loạt cuộc biểu tình và đình công xảy ra suốt nhiều tháng liền. Trên mặt báo, những câu chuyện chính trị được khai thác triệt để. Vấn đề kinh tế vĩ mô như nợ công, vật giá leo thang hay bất bình đẳng thu nhập được đề cập song song tin tức giật gân về bê bối tiệc tùng và lạm dụng tình dục của giới chính trị gia.
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Days after U.S. President Joe Biden made his tour of the Middle East, the leaders of Iran, Russia, and Turkey meet in Tehran for a three-way summit.
Raisi and Putin are trying to talk Turkey out of war. With Russia engaged in Ukraine, Turkey is planning its own “special military operation”—this time against the Kurds in Syria’s north.
Al Jazeera English – 16/6/2022
The United States is principally responsible for creating the crisis in Ukraine, according to University of Chicago political science professor John Mearsheimer, and it has no current interest in reaching a negotiated settlement now.
Mearsheimer sees US sanctions against Moscow as an attempt to knock Russia out of the ranks of the great powers.
The way he sees it, the US has declared war against Russia, in effect, but the Ukrainian people are doing the fighting.
Join host Steve Clemons for this wide-ranging conversation about how both sides consider themselves locked in an existential threat, with no way out.
Đọt Chuối Non 