(22th Feb 2016) Expansionist China is militarizing the South China Sea. The latest example: It has deployed surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island in the Paracel chain, close to Vietnam and along some of the world’s most important shipping lanes.
Expansionist China is militarizing the South China Sea. The latest example: It has deployed surface-to-air missiles on a disputed island in the Paracel chain, close to Vietnam and along some of the world’s most important shipping lanes. Indeed, it appears the China wants to flex its muscles even more than it already has in the region, at least in part to try to control those lanes when it wants.
Kenneth Lieberthal, a senior fellow and expert on China at the Brookings Institution, summed up the situation to The New York Times: “What China is doing is worrisome because they’re obviously increasing their capacity for surveillance and for sustaining a presence that is well beyond what they’ve had before.’’ (See more)
Mr. Liberthal asked: “Are we going to see a situation where they {the Chinese} turn targeting radar on a ship conducting a freedom of navigation mission?’’
Admiral Harry B. Harris Jr., the head of the U.S. Pacific Command, said that China’s provocative missile move in the Paracel Islands, as has its construction of bases on “islands’’ it has built on reefs in the South China Sea, would seem to contradict pledges by Chinese President Xi Jinping not to militarize the sea. History has shown that pledges by powerful expansionist dictatorships such as Russia and China must be treated with great skepticism.
The Chinese action has drawn more attention to the idea, increasingly discussed by officials, that China’s neighbors in the western Pacific and Southeast Asia need a military alliance modeled on NATO to protect members from what appears to be relentless Chinese expansionism.
Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung seemed to make indirect reference to that when he called on Feb. 15 for the U.S. to use a “stronger’’ voice against Chinese island seizures and military-related actions in the South China Sea. The region’s maritime nations, especially Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia and the U.S., are particularly concerned about China’s move because of their dependence on free navigation on international shipping lanes in the region. See more
(March 22nd, 2016) – Professor JD Bindenagel , The Henry Kissinger Professor for Governance and International Security, University of Bonn, Professor Matthew Smith, Computer Science Professor – The Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and a member of The Boston Global Forum (BGF), will speak on Strategies for Combating Cyber-Terrorism at a talk at 2:00 pm on March, 22nd at Harvard University.
Discussants are encouraged to send questions to [email protected]. Members of the Boston Global Forum’s Special Editorial Board will gather your insights and send them to the speaker.
J.D. Bindenagel is a retired U.S. career diplomat and expert on Germany, where he served as deputy chief of mission in the U.S. Embassy, Bonn, Germany, from 1994 to 1997.
In 1999, Mr. Bindenagel was appointed by President Bill Clinton as U.S. Ambassador and Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues. He also served as Special U.S. Negotiator for “conflict diamonds.”
Following his diplomatic career, he was Vice President of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and subsequently Vice President at DePaul University. Prior to his diplomatic career he was assigned to the U.S. Army’s 3rd Infantry Division in Germany.
Ambassador Bindenagel is now Special Advisor to Strategy XXI Partners, where he advises clients on matters of domestic and international policy and on key multilateral issues that can represent potential risk to clients’ reputations and shareholder value.
Mr.Bindenagel received the State Department’s Distinguished Service Award in 2001, the Commander’s Cross of the Federal Order of Merit from the President of Germany in 2001 and the Presidential Meritorious Service Award from President George W. Bush in 2002.
He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, the German Council on Foreign Relations (DGAP), the President’s Circle of the Chicago Council on Global Affairs, the American Council on Germany and the American Institute of Contemporary German Studies. Mr.Bindenagel is also President of the Japan America Society of Chicago.
Mr.Bindenagel received the U.S. Department of State’s Distinguished Service Award, the Commander’s Cross of the Federal Order of Merit from the President of Germany, and the Presidential Meritorious Service Award from President George W. Bush. He was an APSA Congressional Fellow with Congressman Lee H. Hamilton.
He holds an MA in Public Administration and an AB in Political Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
About Professor Matthew Smith:
Professor Matthew Smith
He is a Computer Science Professor at the Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn and the Fraunhofer FKIE and a full member of the Research Center L3S at the Univesity of Hannover.
His research interests lie in the intersection of technical IT security & privacy and behavioural research.
He study the interaction effects between technical and psychological, social, economic, cognitive, and emotional factors related to the security and privacy behaviour of individuals and institutions.
He is currently particularly focusing on the human factors of experts such as IT administrators and developers, since many of the most catastrophic security incidents were not caused by end-users, but by developers or administrators.
He is also a member of the Research Center L3S – The Univesity of Hannover.
(12th Feb 2016) George Clooney has backed Germany’s open-door policy towards refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict after meeting Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
George Clooney has backed Germany’s open-door policy towards refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict after meeting Chancellor Angela Merkel in Berlin.
Clooney and his human-rights lawyer wife, Amal, enjoyed a one-hour meeting with Merkelon Fridaymorning to discuss the ongoing crisis in the Middle East and the political reaction to it in Europe and elsewhere. Merkel has led Germany’s approach to the greatest movement of refugees since the second world war, which has resulted in Europe’s most populous nation taking in nearly one in two of all asylum applications made by Syrians in EU member states last year.
The actor, director and humanitarian, who was also due to meet refugees in Berlin, earlier told reporters: “I absolutely agree with her”. See more
(15th Feb 2016) U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have discussed by phone North Korea’s menacing. Feb. 6launch of a ballistic missile and called for a strong international response to what the White House called a “destabilizing provocation.’’
U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
U.S. President Barack Obama and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have discussed by phone North Korea’s menacing. Feb. 6launch of a ballistic missile and called for a strong international response to what the White House called a “destabilizing provocation.’’ But perhaps more importantly, Mr. Obama emphasized America’s “ironclad’’ commitment to Japanese security and promised to take all necessary steps to defend Japan and its other allies in the region.
The launch distressed many around the world in part because it showed North Korea’s increasing technological capability, including in cyber-related matters.
The U.S., South Korea and Japan have been urgently discussing tougher sanctions on the North Korean police state – a topic bound to come up at the G7 Summit in May. Japan and the U.S., of course, are both members of the G7.
(15th Feb 2016) China is continuing to conduct cyber espionage operations against the United States, and Beijing’s commitment to a U.S.-China cyber agreement is questionable, the director of national intelligence told Congress on Tuesday.
Director of the National Intelligence James Clapper listens on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2016, while testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
China is continuing to conduct cyber espionage operations against the United States, and Beijing’s commitment to a U.S.-China cyber agreement is questionable, the director of national intelligence told Congress on Tuesday.
“China continues cyber espionage against the United States,” James Clapper, the director, testified during an annual threat briefing to the Senate Armed Services Committee.
“Whether China’s commitment of last September moderates its economic espionage remains to be seen,” he added.
Clapper identified potential cyber attacks against critical infrastructure and advancing cyber warfare capabilities in nations such as China, Russia, North Korea and Iran as the among the most serious U.S. national security threats.
(February, 15th, 2016) The Japanese government today launched an official English language Twitter account for its G7 Presidency in 2016.
This follows the handing over of the @G7 Twitter handle by Germany, which hosted the 2015 G7 Summit in Schloss-Elmau.
Germany’s handover message to Japan was its final tweet on the account. The first tweet by Japan was a thank you to Germany.
The @G7 Twitter account is the place to go for the latest official tweets on the G7 Ise-Shima Summit taking place on May 26-27, and the 10 ministerial meetings Japan will host between April and September.
Tweets will include links to the latest news, agenda updates, facts and figures related to the G7 Summit and ministerial meetings, and the 11 host locations. They will also offer links to photos, video, reference materials and archives.
(March 14th 2016) In a reminder of the vulnerability of physical infrastructure to cyber-attacks, the Obama administration will publicly attribute a 2013 cyber-attack against a New York State dam to Iranian hackers, say U.S. officials familiar with the investigation, CNN reported. Boston Global Forum cyber-experts have warned of such attacks.
The US has more than 57,000 industrial-control systems connected to the internet. They range from office air-conditioning units to major pipelines, dams and electrical-control systems.(From The Australian)
The Justice Department has prepared an indictment against people thought to be behind the attack, according to the officials. An announcement could come in the next week.
CNN reported that the intrusion at the Bowman Avenue Dam, around 30 miles north of New York City, “isn’t considered sophisticated – the hackers managed only to get access to some back office systems, not the operational systems of the dam, U.S. officials say. U.S. investigators quickly determined the attack was carried out by hackers working for the Iranian government.’’
“But the attack alarmed Obama administration officials who have voiced concerns about the vulnerability of U.S. infrastructure to cyber-attacks.’’
Officials have not disclosed why that particular dam was chosen — if they know. Do powerful people live near the dam?
(March 14th 2016) Here are online remarks and a Q&A with Ezra Vogel, the Henry Ford II Professor of the Social Sciences Emeritus at Harvard, a world-renown expert on East Asia and a member of The Boston Global Forum (BGF). He is probably best known for his work on Japan, which will host this year’s G7 Summit, on May 26-27.
Governor Michael Dukakis, Chairman of The BGF introduces the lastest Online Dialogue
His remarks are another in a series of online discussions with experts hosted by the BGF as part of its BGF-G7 Summit Initiative leading up to the G7 Summit of the seven biggest industrialized democracies, on May 26-27. The BGF has been working with summit officials on developing themes and recommendations for the meeting.
Despite the growing importance of East Asia, Professor Vogel noted, Japan is the only non-Western member of the G7. He added that that the G20, while performing a valuable role, is far less able to achieve strong agreements than the far more coherent and unified G7.
He discussed the important historic symbolism of the Japanese venues chosen for the G7 meetings in showing the need for international cooperation to avoid war, the need to be open to new technology and the benefits of a world trade system that encourages each country to develop its comparative advantages. In Japan’s case that means continuing to move even further away from old-line industries and agriculture and toward high technology.
Professor Vogel discussed the challenges posed by the slowdown of the Chinese economy — not to only to China itself but to other nations too. He reminded us that Japan, after years of very rapid growth, has long had to manage the economic, social and political problems associated with economic sluggishness. He said that he’s hopeful that China will manage its slowdown without getting into a very serious crisis.
On China’s expansionism in the South China Sea, Ezra Vogel said such a posture, driven by Chinese desire to expand its defense perimeter, was unwise because it leads nations in East Asia to increasingly fear and distrust China and seek help from America to offset Chinese military threats. He urged nations feeling threatened by China’s expansionism, which includes Japan as well as nations in and near Southeast Asia, to find the right balance of “firmness and restraint’’ in response.
Mr. Nguyen Anh Tuan, CEO and Co. Founder of The BGF discusses with Prof. Ezra Vogel at lastest Online Dialogue as part of The BGF-G7 Initiative
He said that China, and all nations, ought to be part of many multinational organizations to maintain as many opportunities as possible for consultation to protect international peace and security by avoiding dangerous misunderstandings of other nations’ intentions.
Ezra Vogel raised the frightful possibilities of cyber-war, comparing it to the “atomic button.’’ While he noted that new and sold cyber-security agreements would require far more work and will than the sort of discussions to held at the G7, he said that it’s good that summit leaders will discuss such an increasingly important issue, on which the BGF has been focusing this year.
