Diplomacy & Defense Think Tank News

Fernando Eguidazu. ARI 29/2019 - 6/3/2019

¿Cuáles son las perspectivas para la relación entre España y Gibraltar tras el Brexit?

January 2019 marked the eighth anniversary of the end of the Ben Ali dictatorship – the celebrations however were marred by massive social protests. Opinions both in Tunisia and abroad differ about the state of Tunisia’s political development as it gears up for its second parliamentary and presidential elections since the adoption of the new constitution in 2014. While some consider its democratisation to be virtually complete, others fear a relapse into autocracy. Despite its considerable democratic achievements, Tunisia is in danger of developing into a hybrid system: part democratic, part authoritarian. This is not only due to the difficult economic and regional con­text. Critically, the political, economic and administrative networks of the old system, as well as persistent authoritarian practices and “old” rhetoric in politics and society, complicate the deepening of its fragile democracy. Tunisia’s international partners should make it their explicit objective to weaken these counter-currents.

Carmen González Enríquez. ARI 28/2019 - 5/3/2019

Tras unos años de frenada por la crisis económica, la inmigración hacia España vuelve a adquirir una notable intensidad.

Stefan Stahlberg 2019-03-05T08:13:00Z

Tayyip Erdoğan’s management of the religious realm in Turkey relies on three dif­ferent but complementary components: i) using state institutions and resources to define and control the religious discourse and life, ii) incorporating religious com­munities and organisations into the party and state institutions, and iii) forming new religious organisations and communities through family-controlled religious foun­dations (vakıf).

Les étudiants algériens descendent en masse dans la rue à l'approche des élections. Le peuple hésite entre la révolte face à un régime totalement sclérosé et la crainte de revivre la guerre civile des années 1990.

"Ils ont pillé le pays. Ils nous ont méprisés. Ils nous ont bâillonnés. Ils doivent rendre des comptes", clament les étudiants. "Attention au scénario syrien, cela commence avec des roses, cela se…

Obwohl das Treffen zwischen Donald Trump und Kim Jong-Un keine Ergebnisse brachte: zumindest will man weiter miteinander sprechen. Allein dass das als Erfolg interpretiert werden kann zeigt, wie gering die Hoffnungen auf schnelle Lösungen in der Nord-Korea-Frage sind.

Joint research shows how practitioners reshape climate adaptation measures

Die transatlantische Beziehungen sind heute einem Stresstest ausgesetzt, unterschiedliche Weltsichten prallen aufeinander. Donald Trump ist mehr Symptom als Auslöser dieser Entwicklungen. Auch auf der Münchener Sicherheitskonferenz wurde deutlich: Wir brauchen mehr, nicht weniger Dialog und Engagement mit den USA.

 

 

Event Video: 
Photos

jQuery(document).ready(function(){jQuery("#isloaderfor-rqdtoz").fadeOut(2000, function () { jQuery(".pagwrap-rqdtoz").fadeIn(1000);});});

Some 18 months after 700,000 people fled Myanmar’s Rakhine state, camps in neighboring Bangladesh are now hosting more than one million refugees. Though Myanmar and Bangladesh agreed in November 2017 to a procedural framework for repatriation of these refugees—most of them Rohingyas from Rakhine state—the increased instability there has not allowed for safe, dignified, and voluntary returns.

The resulting humanitarian crisis and what to do about it was the subject of an IPI Speaker Series talk on March 1st by Bangladeshi Foreign Secretary Md. Shahidul Haque. He opened his remarks by saying that the matter had been badly distorted.

“There has been an attempt to make the whole issue from a humanitarian crisis to a military conflict between Myanmar and Bangladesh,” Mr. Haque said. In fact, he said, “this is between Myanmar and its own nationals, the Rohingyas… it is not an interstate fight, it is an ethnic issue.”

In a briefing to the United Nations Security Council the day before, UN Special Envoy for Myanmar Christine Schraner Burgener had reported that the refugees in the Cox’s Bazar area of Bangladesh find themselves in “extremely challenging temporary conditions.” And she said they would continue in danger indefinitely in the absence of moves to end violence, improve humanitarian access, probe the causes of the crisis, and promote equitable development.

Mr. Haque said that the displaced people were in deeply deforested areas, with no infrastructure and no market system even to buy necessities. “But one of the most challenging situations that we are confronted with was not with shelter, not with food, but health,” he said. “Health is an area which often creates a crisis within a crisis.”

The World Health Organization aided in getting necessary vaccines after an outbreak of diphtheria, and individual governments and local NGOs were providing health services, he said. His own government tried to help by sending in troops with health supplies, but women ran away, thinking they were Myanmar soldiers, he said. “It took two or three days to make them understand this is not the Myanmar military, they are not going to kill you, but they are going to help you.” Bangladesh subsequently tried to make sure that those providing aid were women, he said.

Mr. Haque listed three necessary steps for improvement – addressing the “root causes” of the conflict, holding perpetrators of atrocity crimes accountable, and ensuring the safety and security of minority communities, especially the Rohingyas. He added that “international pressure on Myanmar is critical.”

He said that all civilians “irrespective of religion and ethnicity must be protected in Myanmar,” and he proposed accordingly that civilian zones with no military presence be established within the country under UN supervision. He also encouraged international organizations and the UN to collect the evidence that would be needed to investigate and prosecute atrocities. “Unless you bring in the whole issue of accountability and justice,” he said, “you cannot permanently resolve this problem, you cannot ensure that next time there won’t be another exodus.”

IPI Vice President Adam Lupel, the moderator of the discussion, concluded the session, saying, “My takeaway is this really is a multi-dimensional, multi-layered, multigenerational crisis… This really is a long-term problem with very urgent short term demands, but a need for a long-term perspective on both the history and the resolution. In some ways, it’s a real good case for what we’re calling in this neighborhood the ‘triple nexus’, a crisis that is both the peace and security, development, and human rights all in one which makes it very complicated but also in some sense maps out what kind of process needs to be engaged for a resolution.”

Nouveaux acteurs "disruptifs", innovations accélérées, baisse drastique des coûts... Mais qu’est-il en train de se passer dans le secteur spatial ? Comment ces nouvelles réalités, regroupées sous l’expression de "New Space", affectent-elles les acteurs traditionnels du secteur ? Et surtout, quel rôle les Etats et leurs agences devraient-ils jouer dans ce nouveau contexte ? Afin d’aborder ces questions fondamentales, l’Institut Montaigne et l’ambassade…

Le RGPD - Règlement Général pour la Protection des Données - n’en finit pas de faire des vagues. Alors qu’il a été longtemps critiqué comme étant un frein à l’innovation, plusieurs entreprises numériques outre-Atlantique se mobilisent afin de pousser à la création d’une régulation fédérale américaine qui en copierait les grands principes, allant ainsi dans le sens d’une protection accrue des données personnelles. Afin de nous éclairer sur ces enjeux, Annie…

​

La crise migratoire de 2015 a mis en lumière les insuffisances des outils juridiques européens en matière d’asile et, par extension, en termes…

In January 2019, about two weeks before India’s Republic Day, Israel’s National Security Advisor, Meir Ben-Shabbat, flew to New Delhi and met Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi. While such consultations have been routine for the past two decades, the Israeli official chose the direct Air India flight from Tel Aviv – a new flight connection that could only be established due to an unprecedented permit for Israel-bound flights to fly over Saudi airspace. The small incident highlights the distance that India and Israel have traveled since the normalization of diplomatic relations in 1992. Today, the two states share an ever-growing cooperation, especially in the areas of security and eco­nomic development. This rapprochement with Israel is embedded in India’s broader Middle East strategy, in which especially the Gulf Arab states are important partners. Thus, India-Israel relations have also been catalyzed by the improvement in ties be­tween Israel and the Gulf States as well as the diminishing role played by the Palestin­ian issue. This, in turn, has led India, especially under Modi, not only to strengthen its ties with Israel, but also to de-hyphenate those ties from the Israeli-Palestinian con­flict, leading to a marginalization of the Palestinian question in Indian foreign policy.

Sie sind heterogen, stellen widersprüchliche Forderungen, geben keine Ruhe: die Gelb­westen in Frankreich. Seit November 2018 demonstrieren sie für mehr Kaufkraft und mehr Demokratie. Nach finanziellen Zugeständnissen spielt Präsident Emmanuel Macron auf Zeit. Er hat eine »große nationale Debatte« initiiert, in deren Rahmen alle Bürgerinnen und Bürger aufgerufen sind, Stellung zu politischen Zukunftsfragen zu beziehen. Diese Debatte dürfte ihm dazu verhelfen, die Wahl zum Europäischen Par­la­ment (EP) im Mai zu gewinnen und die Spaltung der Gelbwesten voranzutreiben. Um weitere Proteste abzuwenden, die das Land paralysieren, die Regie­rung delegitimieren und seine Präsidentschaft scheitern lassen können, muss Macron seine Reformagenda besser vermitteln. Das bloße Spiel auf Zeit wird Frankreich für den Präsidenten eben­so wenig reformier- und regierbar machen wie für seine Vorgänger.

Die Expansion der Libysch-Arabischen Streitkräfte Khalifa Haftars im Süden Libyens verändert die Kräfteverhältnisse im Land und untergräbt die Bemühungen der Ver­einten Nationen (VN), den gewaltsamen Konflikt politisch zu lösen. Indem Haftar an Macht gewinnt, schwindet seine Bereitschaft für Zugeständnisse. Zentrale Akteure in Westlibyen sehen ihn nun als existentielle Bedrohung an. Bisher hat sich die Einheitsregierung in Tripolis Haftar gegenüber ambivalent verhalten, obwohl er sie offen ab­lehnt. Verbündete wie auch Gegner Haftars werden sie jetzt dazu drängen, Position zu beziehen. Die neue Konstellation birgt erhöhtes Eskalationspotenzial. Ohne eine sta­bile Kräftebalance wird es keine Verhandlungslösung geben können.

As it seeks to support “stability” in North Africa, the international community needs to think less about strong states, and more about strong opposition, says Max Gallien.

 

 

01.03.1844   vor 175 Jahren
"Münchner Bierrevolution" gegen die Erhöhung des Bierpreises.

03.03.1934   
85. Geburtstag Maria Wittmann

05.03.1919   vor 100 Jahren
Der Bayerische Bauernbund veranstaltet den ersten Politischen Aschermittwoch. 

08.03.1949   
70. Geburtstag Marianne Deml

09.03.1949   
70. Geburtstag Jürgen W. Heike

13.03.1919   
100. Geburtstag Leo Wagner (s.a. "Die Geheimnisse des Schönen Leo")

14.03.2009   
10. Todestag Gebhard Glück

15./16.03.1939   vor 80 Jahren
Zerschlagung der Rest-Tschechei durch den Einmarsch deutscher Truppen.

18.03.1894   
125. Geburtstag Max Solleder

24.03.1934   
85. Geburtstag Benno Zierer

25.03.1889   
130. Geburtstag Adam Sühler

27./28.03.1849   vor 170 Jahren
Die Frankfurter Nationalversammlung erarbeitet die Verfassung für einen deutschen Bundesstaat.

28.03.1939   
80. Geburtstag Carl-Dieter Spranger

29.03.1949   
70. Geburtstag Jakob Schwimmer