India’s G20 Sherpa: Citizen Stack and the Data Sovereignty – Knowledge Platform for AI

by Editor | Apr 22, 2024 | News

Mr. Amitabh Kant, India’s G20 Sherpa and Former CEO of NITI Aayog, India, will speak and discuss at the Boston Global Forum Roundtable “India’s G20 Sherpa: Citizen Stack and the Data Sovereignty – Knowledge Platform for AI Systems.” This event is scheduled from 12:15 PM to 2:00 PM on April 23, 2024, at the Harvard University Faculty Club.

India’s success in organizing the G20 Summit under the guidance of Sherpa Amitabh Kant has paved the way for further initiatives, notably the promotion of its Citizen Stack initiative. Building upon this momentum, the Boston Global Forum has conceived “The Data Sovereignty – Knowledge Platform for AI.” In this upcoming roundtable, Mr. Kant and BGF leaders will explore opportunities to bridge the Citizen Stack and The Data Sovereignty – Knowledge Platform for AI, fostering collaboration and synergy between the pioneering endeavors.

His expertise and insights are highly regarded, his perspective on India’s role as the G20 Sherpa, and its innovative approaches to AI systems, will greatly enrich discussions. His participation will be invaluable in advancing dialogue on global governance, technology, and policy.

The roundtable will be moderated by Harvard Professor Thomas Patterson, Co-founder of the BGF, and will include the participation of Governor Michael Dukakis, along with distinguished Harvard and MIT professors and scholars. The Editor of BGF Minh Nguyen will interview Mr. Amitabh Kant afterwards.

BGF World Leader for Peace and Security Award recipient Ursula von der Leyen visits the Finland-Russia border to assess security situation

by Editor | Apr 22, 2024 | News

This is an excerpt from the full article published in the AP. Please read it here.

The head of the European Union’s executive branch said Friday that Finland’s decision to close its border crossings with Russia over a surge in migrants is a security matter for the whole 27-member bloc to consider.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made the remarks during a trip to the frontier, visiting a part of the border located in southeastern Finland.

“We all know how (Russian President Vladimir) Putin and his allies instrumentalize migrants to test our defenses and to try to destabilize us,” von der Leyen told officials. “Now Putin is focusing on Finland, and this is no doubt in response to your firm support of Ukraine and your accession to NATO.”

Antti Aimo-Koivisto/Lehtikuva via AP

Japan eyes launch of new dialogue framework on int’l AI regulations

by Editor | Apr 22, 2024 | News

This is an excerpt from the full article published on the Kyodo News website. Please read it here.

Japan is considering establishing a new framework for dialogue involving like-minded nations to discuss international regulations on the appropriate use of generative artificial intelligence technology, a government source said Saturday.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is expected to reveal the plan to launch a “Friends” meeting on AI issues at a ministerial council meeting of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development scheduled for May 2 to 3 in Paris, the source said.

Through the framework, Japan will call for wider support for the “Hiroshima AI Process,” an initiative launched last year by the Group of Seven nations to facilitate discussions on the creation of global rules, according to the source.

The move comes as the world has been looking into how to harness rapidly developing generative AI tools, including ChatGPT, while fears grow that the spread of disinformation through the misuse of AI could threaten democracy and political stability.

The source said Japan aims to play a leading role in international AI rulemaking that would push for both the development of the technology and its regulation.

The creation of the Hiroshima AI Process was agreed at the G7 summit chaired by Kishida in Hiroshima in May.

Reaping the Whirlwind: Four Pillars Roundup

by Editor | Apr 15, 2024 | News

Last week in Four Pillars, we discussed the Israeli strike on the Iranian embassy complex in Damascus and the retaliatory action that Iran promised. And now, that promise has been enacted upon. On April 13, Iran launched waves of drones and missiles headed for Israel. With the amount of drones numbering in the hundreds, Iran and its proxies was trying to overwhelm the Iron Dome and hit targets within Israel such as the Dimona reactor, This strike can be considered unsuccessful though, as Israel, the US, UK, and Jordan were able to shoot down most of the drones and missiles before they got to Israel, with many having been shot down over Iraqi or Jordanian airspace. These forces were able to intercept the attack, as they knew it was happening hours in advance due to the drones launches, with the only injury in Israel unfortunately being a Bedouin girl.

While the immediate threat of danger from the Iranian strike has passed, many variables are still at play in multiple dimensions. If this is the end of Iran’s action, they essentially have “played it safe” in terms of an attack, after all the rhetoric the IRGC and Hezbollah has been publicizing last week. Announcing “the matter can be deemed concluded” while the attack was still ongoing and the constant telegraphing of an attack (eg. shutting down airspace) gave hints that Iran was using the retaliation as posturing, that they do want to politically pick a fight with Israel, but lack the capacity a regional war would demand. On the other hand, launching drones and missiles from within Iranian territory does send a message that Iran itself was ready to ‘play ball’ with Israel, rather than through just proxies.

Essentially though, the ball is now in Israel’s court. It seems that the government is split between not escalating the situation, or to use the strike as a sort of casus belli to strike at their rival directly. The BGF and the Shinzo Abe Initiative urges Israel restraint during this time. While this is an opportune time to retaliate against Iran, it is also an opportunity to consolidate the goodwill into capital regarding the situation in Gaza. Many of the Pillars, especially those belonging to the G7, have condemned the attack and urged restraint in the region. President Biden has also noted that the US won’t support a retaliatory strike.

In addition, it is possible that Iran will continue attacking Israel, not from its territory, but rather through Hezbollah. An interesting note about the attack was that while proxies from Iraq and Yemen did join in the attack, the bulk of the missiles and drones came from within Iran itself. Still, Iran is at its strongest when acting through its proxies, and instead of launching drones that take hours to reach Israeli airspace, they can leverage Hezbollah as a disruptive force – and this is still a path to regional war.

In the end, it seems like none of the world wants a war between Israel and Iran, but the two direct stakeholders in the conflict themselves.

The Japan-US-Philippines Trilateral Summit was overshadowed by the event of the week, but it still brought about some productive results for the Pillars in the Indo-Pacific. One should take heed of PM Fumio Kishida’s words, that the US is not alone in upholding world order. This articulates exactly why the Pillars and their associated groupings (NATO, Quad, AUKUS, etc.) are so important – to resource-pool, cooperate, protect, and strengthen global norms and orders.

Israel Defense Forces handout via Reuters

© Reuters / Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress in Washington on April 11.

Minh Nguyen is the Chief Editor of the Boston Global Forum and a Shinzo Abe Initiative Fellow. She writes the Four Pillars column in the BGF Weekly newsletter.

Statement of the Shinzo Abe Initiative on the Iranian attack on Israel

by Editor | Apr 15, 2024 | News

The Shinzo Abe Initiative condemns the Iranian attack on Israel over the weekend, which has the potential to provoke the crisis in the Middle East even further into a regional war. However, we also urge caution regarding an Israeli response, that their government should not take up a strong or escalatory military action against Iran at this moment. Restraint should be exercised in situations where offramps are exceedingly rare. We agree with the US’s assessment that it does not support a retaliatory strike on Iran, and we agree with G7 member-states in advising restraint in dealing with the situation.

Although this was a bombastic attack by Iran, which included waves of missiles and drone launches from within Iranian territory rather than just its proxies in the region, defense cooperation between not just Israel, the US, and the UK, but also local partners such as Jordan and (reportedly) Saudi Arabia, helped neutralize the attack. Still, it was clear that Iran had been telegraphing a strike for hours and even days, using very slow moving drones and clearing out airspaces, which helped prepare against the attack.

One of the positive points of this unfortunate event is that it demonstrates a capacity for coordination or mutual coexistence between Israel and Arab states, in the face of a common enemy. This can be a track towards normalization of relations in the region, or a track towards peace in the current Israeli-Hamas conflict. There are lessons and issues on conflict diffusion and escalation to be drawn from this flashpoint.

Tomer Neuberg/Associated Press

Considerations and decisions in Asia-Pacific; fogs of war in the Middle East: Four Pillars Roundup

by Editor | Apr 8, 2024 | News

Minh Nguyen is the Editor of the Boston Global Forum and a Shinzo Abe Initiative Fellow. She writes the Four Pillars column in the BGF Weekly newsletter.

As the summit between the US, Japan, and the Philippines approaches next week, more policies and initiatives between the two Pillars and the Southeast Asian country have been reported on or announced. These include enhanced cooperation in clean energy and chips between the three countries; and an agreement on joint defense equipment development between the two Pillars. Furthermore, AUKUS, the working group of Australia, the UK, and the US, of which two are Pillars, are seeking to bring Japan into the fold, which will most likely be announced today. Specifically, they are hoping to involve Japan with collaboration on defense technologies, and this would also help the Pillars connect with each other more easily when faced with flashpoints in the region. These agreements and moves are the seeds of what seem to be one of the more important summits of the decade, as the Pillars deepen their ties in what appears to be an inevitable battle against China and the CCP in the Pacific Rim.

The situation in the Middle East is at a two-fold stage, between the actors of Israel, the US, and Iran. When an IDF airstrike killed 7 foreign aid workers, part of organizations that were replacing the disgraced UNRWA, leading a major international backlash against Israel, the US was able to put more pressure on the Israeli government to be less heavy-handed in their approach in the campaign in Gaza. Biden and the State Department’s attempts to reign in Netanyahu did not seem to be effective in previous months, but recently pressures have been bearing more fruit: the Israeli cabinet approved reopening the northern Gaza border crossing for the first time since October 7th, and the IDF begins to withdraw from southern Gaza.

Outside of Israel’s borders, the IDF allegedly airstriked a top IRGC commander in Syria, attacking the Iranian embassy in Damascus, which now has led to Iran threatening not just Israel, but also the US, with a major rettalion. In fact, US forces were preparing over the weekend for an Iranian attack in the region in the coming week. The tension seems to be in a lull right now between the states, but it could merely be the calm before the storm.